July 1, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Monday, July 1.
On the morning of July 1, 70 A.D. the Roman army began to attack the walls of Jerusalem. The Romans had a variety of powerful siege engines, including catapults and rams, and by August the Holy City's walls were demolished. The city where Jesus walked was on fire, and the temple where He taught was in ruins.
On a morning forty years earlier, Jesus was walking with his disciples by this temple, the one that King Herod had built. The original sacred building, Solomon's Temple, had been destroyed by the Babylonians five centuries before Bethlehem. As Jesus looked up at the imposing structure he made a prediction. We find it in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. He said "a day will come when there is not one stone upon another."
The siege of Jerusalem was a devastating moment for the nation of Israel. But, looking back, it was a moment that spurred unprecedented growth for the young Christian church, as believers fled Jerusalem and settled in other places, taking their new faith with them, and planting new churches. We recall the promise in Romans 8:28 -
"God works all things for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose."
On this morning, two thousand years later, Herod's Temple remains in ruins, as pilgrims come to worship at its only remaining wall. And we remember the truth found in Acts 17:24 -
"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands."
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
