Shattered expectations
The invention of explosives has made us forget the permanency that big stones used to project until just a few hundred years ago. Stones that cannot be moved by the strength of men or beast, unless aided by sophisticated systems of levers, pulleys, and counterweights, when piled high, could be deemed indestructible.
Though made of heavy stones, one should never overestimate the value of fixed fortifications. There is always the problem of hunger and the willingness of Roman military engineers to pile up equally large mounds of rubble, as demonstrated in the siege of Masada. Things change. Empires rise and fall and even in ancient times, the ruins of even more ancient empires were visible. Of course, according to God’s promises, rebuilt Jerusalem was supposed to be the exception – surely it was enough judgment for it to be destroyed once? At least that is what many believed.
When Jesus told His listeners: “Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down,” they were no doubt confused, saddened, and had a lot of questions. Even before this, Jesus had pointed to judgments over Israel. In Matthew 23:37-39, He is reported as saying: “‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’”
When His friends, Peter, James, John, and Andrew, asked Him about it, they connected the destruction of the temple to the “end of the age,” as it is formulated more clearly in Matthew 24:3. To us today, it seems obvious that the destruction of the temple does not nearly happen at the same time as the second coming. But it may not have been as clear to Jesus’ disciples.
What about the promises of old?
I doubt that the disciples were merely unable to imagine the destruction of the grandiose Herodian temple fortifications before the end of the world based on their impressive structural strength alone. The disciples were students of prophecy in their own way, and I would expect them to be well-versed in those prophecies that promised Israel and Jerusalem a glorious future after the exile.
Several Old Testament texts and promises may have supported their idea of drawing this connection. Zechariah 14, for example, describes how a large-scale attack of the nations on Jerusalem initially succeeds but is brought to naught by the appearance of the Lord. Judgment over the nations, the coming about of a new age of Jewish dominance, and near Edenic splendor were sure to follow. Just listen to Zechariah 14:1-5:
“Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, the houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Thus, the LORD my God will come, And all the saints with You.”
It would be quite fitting for the disciples to remember this prophecy, given that it features the place they were standing at that moment. Zechariah was one of the post-exilic prophets who helped those who had returned from Babylonian captivity rebuild the temple (Ezra 5:1). Seeing the rubble of their former capital must have been difficult and disheartening for the former exiles, especially for those who remembered old Jerusalem and the splendor of Solomon’s temple. But God used His prophets to bring encouragement to His people.
Apart from Zechariah, God also spoke through Haggai and expressed this sentiment well: “Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing?” (Haggai 2:3) But the Lord mercifully encourages His people and promises them: “‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of hosts” (Haggai 2:9).
Malachi as well relates a divine promise concerning the temple: “’Behold I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,’ says the LORD of hosts” (Mal. 3:1).
How much conditional prophecy have we, as Adventists, blundered away over the years, and how much potential has God still in store for us?
There are many more prophecies about post-exilic Israel given by Isaiah and Ezekiel, but it suffices to say that there was good reason to expect big things to happen in that temple and in that city. The temple’s destruction, only implied in the prophecies of Zechariah, is not consistently included in these prophecies. Where it is plausible, it is connected to the great judgment and the coming of a literal kingdom of God on earth.
Furthermore, at the time of Christ, the temple was not the same relatively humble place of worship built by Zerubbabel, Ezra, and the returnees. King Herod greatly expanded it between approximately 25 and 10 B.C. so that it was once again the nation’s pride when the disciples pointed their teacher to its splendor.
Many of their contemporaries would have remembered the smaller temple, and it seems very plausible that this restoration was deemed part of the fulfillment of the aforementioned prophecies. There is perhaps little wonder then that the disciples connected Jesus’ statements with the end of the world. As readers familiar with the chapter know well, Jesus does not correct them at this point but keeps the connection going in His own prophecy for His disciples’ future until the end of the world.
Mistaken expectations
But if there is an Old Testament prophecy to support their idea, where did the disciples go wrong? The prophecy of Zechariah 14 is part of a series of prophetic announcements, starting in chapter 7, about the national restitution of Israel, the coming of a messianic king, and God’s help in troubles to come. These wonderful promises were not without condition, however. Already in Zechariah 8:16-17, the LORD commands his people: “These are the things you shall do: Speak each man the truth to his neighbor; Give judgement in your gates for truth, justice, and peace; let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor; and do not love a false oath. For all these are things that I hate.” It is implied that the beautiful future Zechariah lays out before his compatriots will not come to pass if Israel does not follow these commands. As a general principle, this implication is supported by texts like Jeremiah 18:1-11, and is deeply rooted in Old Testament theology, as shown by passages like Deuteronomy 28.
As we know, tragically, Jesus was not accepted by the majority of His own people. “He came into his own, and His own did not receive him” (John 1:11). This failure to “know the time of [their] visitation” (Luke 19:44) deprived the Jews and the entire world of a greater and brighter timeline than the one we currently inhabit. The disciples never thought this was possible, but not because they had too much trust in God’s promises; one can never have too much trust in God’s promises when properly understood. They had too much trust in themselves and their people. They thought that in the end, they would come through and certainly fulfill the prophecy. The mistaken expectations in the disciples’ thinking were, therefore, perhaps not just about indestructible stone walls but about the idea that their people could ultimately fail to live out God’s purposes for them.
Thinking about the Hebrews and their bright hope for Jerusalem and the temple makes me wonder how much conditional prophecy we, as Adventists, have blundered away over the years and how much potential God still has in store for us, provided we take His hand and let Him guide our every step. Herein lies the good news for us and this world: God was never surprised by any suboptimal decisions Israel, Christendom, and the Adventist Church have made over the centuries. As a wise and omniscient General, God works out victory from defeat despite our shortcomings. The fact that history continues not only means that we have to wait and endure but also that God still has great plans for His people—to use them as instruments of His grace because there are still so many who might be reached.
Do not be troubled!?
The disciples’ mistaken expectations, despite Jesus’ attempts to give them a clearer picture, led to much anguish and fear when things culminated in the crucifixion. I believe we are prone to experience similar problems. In addition to the Old Testament prophets, we have the New Testament to help manage expectations. Furthermore, there is a real difference between apocalyptic, largely unconditional prophecy, as found mostly in Daniel and Revelation, and classical conditional prophecy.
The prophecies of Daniel and Revelation are descriptions of future events that are certain to occur. However, while they give a general roadmap from the time of Daniel to the coming of Christ, there have been many large-scale dramatic events that were not predicted in detail. I am not aware, for example, of any Adventist who points to World War II as fulfilling a single distinct prophecy, apart from being one of the wars to come before the end.
Neither have I seen any such treatment of the Mongol invasions in Europe and the Middle East, the Black Death in medieval Europe, or the complete collapse of native populations in the Americas after European conquerors and settlers arrived. If far-reaching and terrible events like these were not directly mentioned in the sweeping view of prophetic history found in Scripture, this does not lessen their importance.
But what we should learn for the future is this: among all the things that occur, very few are certain. Many more are unpredictable for us. As Jesus says in Mark 13:7-8: “But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows.”
There is a way, of course, in which we absolutely should be troubled – for the lives lost and upended and for the suffering people experience. Being troubled in this way means you have a heart for others, which will probably lead you to right and merciful action. Unfortunately, whenever something big has happened in the last decades, Adventists are troubled differently. Much unnecessary anxiety has been caused by ill-advised predictions of impending persecution and collapse – and an equal amount of credibility has been lost whenever such anxiety was spread beyond the confines of our church.
It seems prudent, therefore, not to be quick to make connections between current events and biblical prophecy. History has proven, so far, to be long and winding, and it will likely continue to do so until sinful human history is ended and we take our place in the eternal history of the unfallen universe. Until then, let us aim to follow God’s plan for us personally, not be troubled, and manage our expectations with care as we reach the world with the good news in these last days.