Matthew 24:1-2 Rubble
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: August 6, 2019 Matthew 24:1-2
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
(Revelation of God / Understanding the Text) Jesus had just made a big announcement. He was withdrawing from the nation of Israel, His people that He had formed out of a group of slaves into one of the great nations with the respect of those around, the people who He had constantly tried to save and invested so much emotional energy and effort into, even condescending to be born as one of them. He was finally giving up on them as a people. They had been given their final chance. Now, He was leaving His temple for the last time with sadness and regret. The little bit that was salvageable, Jesus was separating out to become a new people, not a national people, but a multi-national people.
This is an example of grieving the Holy Spirit away. Many times we think that since God is longsuffering beyond any other being’s patience towards us that He will never cut us off from Him, but history shows otherwise. Adam and Eve were not rejected, but they were driven out of the garden of Eden by angels. The world was destroyed by a flood with only eight people salvaged from the multitudes that were living then. The kingdom of Israel was taken into captivity by the Assyrians and dispersed so that their kingdom never rose again. The kingdom of Judah was taken into Babylonian captivity, and even though they survived to return and rebuild the city and temple, they were never again entrusted with the power given to them in pre-exilic days. The temple and city were destroyed a second time by the Romans. God withdraws His protection when He sees that there is no benefit to us from having it. God has and will actively push us out of places where it would not be to our benefit to remain, and God does destroy people when the necessity arises as in the flood and Sodom and Gomorrah. If we reach a point where nothing can reach us, God will withdraw at some point and leave us to our own doom.
Now Jesus walked away from the temple and the religious leaders for the last time. It was at this point that the clueless disciples drew His attention to the beauty of the buildings. This was Jesus’ own house, His palace. He had not used it because He had chosen to live among the people rather than separated from them, but it was still the place for God to dwell among the people, and now God would no longer be dwelling among this people. Now, this was just a big empty building. Jesus was about to give the sacrifice that would end the temple system. The decision had long ago been made that human bodies would once again become the dwelling place of God, and the old temple had to go so that it would not confuse people who might choose to follow God. When Jesus looked at the temple, He did not see the beauty that the disciples saw. Instead, He saw a tomb full of dead men’s bones. A graveyard where many of His former people would die in fire because they refused to believe Him. He saw a place of regret and could-have-beens and lost potential. This was a place of mourning, not of joy.
Jesus informed the disciples of the fate of the building. It would be destroyed totally. As the disciples looked on the solid structure, they would have had a difficult time imagining anything destroying the temple. The Romans were not known for tearing down temples. Instead, they incorporated them into their own system of worship. Even after Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples would be visiting the temple daily. True, it may have mostly been to find people who might be receptive to their message, but their visits to the temple probably still held the reverence of their youth. However, as time went on, they continued to repeat Jesus’ prediction, and when the temple was finally destroyed, the Christians who had been in the city previously were far away from the destruction that had been foretold. The Jews sought safety in the temple, but the Christians knew that their only safety lay in believing the word of Jesus.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that a building or an official group or a job or a specific person other than Jesus should not be the foundation of my security. My only security is Jesus. All else fails, but He will not fail me. He will be my security. He endures when all other ideas and structures and powers fail. I want to trust You and follow You wherever You lead me. I am weak in faith and easily discouraged. Give me the faith, hope, and love that I need to look only to You for my security and to let You guide my life.