“Your House is left to you Desolate” (Matthew 23:38).
(Matthew 23:37-39) “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.’”
This year in 2025 the Temple Mount Institute in Israel continues its preparations for the rebuilding of the third temple with its focus on training priests and Levites including a Levitical Choir Academy to teach the singers the Levitical songbook to prepare them for their roles in the future Temple service.
The preparations include creating the Temple vessels, the Levitical garments for the choir to be worn in the worship in the rebuilt Temple. Most importantly for the Religious Orthodox Jews is that they now have rec-heifers to be bred to be used in ritual sacrifices.
In September 2022, five perfect unblemished red heifers were brought to Israel from the USA and found to meet the qualifications after being inspected by rabbis. The heifers will be fed and cared for until the time that they can be slaughtered and used to create the necessary ashes for purification.
Today there is an increasing excitement in Israel among the Religious Orthodox Jews concerning the rebuilding of the Temple especially in light of the red-heifers.
Added to this there are multitudes of Christians who are also excited about the rebuilding of the Temple because it points to the Second Coming of Messiah our Lord Jesus which it will do when it has been built.
However, I also think many Christians who support the rebuilding of the Temple do not realise that the sacrifices will not be acceptable to God because they bypass the blood of Messiah which has been shed once and for all time and eternity for sin, a sacrifice never to be repeated.
Since the destruction of the Temple in 70AD by the Romans Biblical Mosaic Judaism has not existed as there has been no sacrifices or a royal priesthood in the line of Aaron. Once the Temple has been rebuilt in Jerusalem and the sacrifices have commenced these will not be sufficient to atone for sin?
We know that the blood of bulls and goats used in the sacrifices in Israel could only temporarily cover for sin but not deal with the power of inward sin in the hearts of people or provide a complete and finished atonement (Hebrews 10:4).
In the New Testament we are told that the Messiah our Lord Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
Biblically, all of the Temple sacrifices pointed the ultimate finished and perfect sacrifice for sin once and for all time and eternity through the blood of Messiah, that pure, perfect, spiritually untainted blood that not only perfectly atones for sin, but which also cleanses from the inward stronghold of sin (Hebrews 9:14) (1 John 1:7-9).
Once the Messiah our Lord Jesus had been sacrificed for sin the work of salvation was completed and never to be repeated (Hebrews 9:12, 24-28; 10: 10-18).
We see this when the Lord Jesus cried out “it is finished” and died on the cross that the curtain of the Temple, separating the holy place from the Holy of Holies was ripped from top to bottom, thus ending forever the necessity for sacrifices and offerings to atone for sin.
Now any born again New Covenant Bible believer can come into the very presence of God on the basis of the Messiah’s blood that has fully and forever atoned for their sin (Hebrews 10:19-20).
Any sacrifice now offered for sin is a direct attack on the complete and perfect sufficiency of the blood of Messiah.
The sacrificial system of Mosaic Judaism, which continued for 40 years after the birth, death and resurrection and ascension of Messiah, did not protect Israel from the Romans in 70AD that destroyed the Temple and stopped the sacrifices.
Even though the religious Orthodox Jews rebuild a temple and initiate sacrifices it will be an affront to the complete and perfect sacrifice in the Messiah’s blood offered up to God once and for all to atone for sin.
In the time of the Messiah our Lord Jesus the religious Jews persecuted Him and then after His ascension to the Father in heaven continued to persecute His followers. Even in the Old Testament times we see the religious leaders persecuting the prophets the LORD sent to Israel to turn His people from their sin and rebellion.
In fact right through the Old Testament scriptures from Genesis to Malachi all of the prophets foretold the coming of Messiah to redeem Israel from its sins.
When the Messiah our Lord Jesus came by His sacrifice as we have already said ended the need for sacrifices and offerings for sin.
If the Jewish people, primarily led by their religious leaders, had recognised the Messiah they would have seen that He was the Living Temple of God manifested in a flesh and blood body and that the physical temple with its furnishings and sacrifices all pointed to Him.
More so, they would have had the revelation that through His sacrificial death and shed blood that their redemption had been accomplished and that sacrifices and offerings for sin were no longer necessary (Isaiah 53).
This is why the sacrifice of the mass in Roman Catholicism, which teaches that the bread and the wine become the actual body and blood of Messiah, and that the mass is a perpetual sacrifice for sin is debunked in the Book of Hebrews (Hebrews 7:23-28).
Salvation does not come through the sacraments but only through the blood of Messiah and through faith in Him. (Romans 3:21-26).
This is also why Ecumenism does not work. The Roman Catholic Church teaches another gospel, being a salvation by works and through receiving the sacraments. Those who preach another gospel bring themselves under a curse.
As Rabbi the apostle Paul wrote; “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8).
Roman Catholicism is in fact based on a works based righteousness which is not acceptable to God (Romans 3:19-20).
Salvation is by grace through faith and not by works (Ephesians 2:8-10). We do not do good works to get saved, but do good works because we are saved. The works produced are by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25).
Any sacrificial system for sin is an affront to the blood of Messiah and will in no way save those who offer up these sacrifices whether it is in Roman Catholicism or present day Judaism.
Now in our text we see the Messiah our Lord Jesus grieving over the city of Jerusalem which He loved and His Jewish brothers and sisters for whom He was to pay the ultimate sacrifice for their sins with His own blood (Hebrews 14:12).
And so we read…
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!”
When the Messiah our Lord Jesus preached to the common people the need for them to repent and to believe in Him to be saved, He was very direct but also sensitive in how He approached them, seeing them as “sheep without a shepherd” and many of them who were not “religious” at all.
As we read in another passage of Matthew’s gospel…
“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:35-37).
It was the religious leaders for the most part that kept seeking to turn away the common people from embracing the Lord Jesus and the salvation that could only come through Him.
The religious leaders saw the Lord Jesus as a threat to their misguided unbiblical doctrines and commandments of man which the Lord Jesus pointed out to them when He said…
“These people honour Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men’” (Matthew 15:8-9).
In the same chapter of Matthew 23 from verses 1-36 He had been ruthlessly berating the religious leaders for their hypocrisy and neglect to shepherd the people of Israel and He did not pull the punches with them.
He loved them but confronted them with the sinful motives of their hearts and their hypocritical actions and unbiblical doctrines leading people astray and making them twice as much sons of hell as they themselves were.
He said to them; “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are” (Matthew 23:15).
In effect the Pharisees and the Sadducees were an aristocratic upper class that was in reality fleecing the people of their hard earned cash, just like the hyper- faith, hyper charismatic prosperity money preachers are doing today.
The leaders in these churches, if you can call them that Biblically speaking, are in the same mould as the Pharisees who thought they were “the spiritual gurus” who had the embodiment of truth that their congregations did not have.
It is little wonder that when the Messiah our Lord Jesus entered the Temple and saw what was going on He made a whip and drove the money changers out of the Temple.
It is also a common practice for these “wolves in sheep’s clothing” in the hyper faith hyper Charismatic prosperity camp to curse and to dam all those who seek to restrain their madness and point them back to the real teaching of the Word of God.
These false teachers and prophets will not escape the damnation of hell!
Down through Israel’s long and troubled history God had sent His spokesmen to His people to turn them away from their sin and rebellion and most of His prophets were rejected, persecuted and many stoned and martyred for their faithfulness to God’s Word (Matthew 23:29-36).
The last word of God to Israel was to send into the world the eternal Word of God Himself the Lord Jesus to be the ultimate prophet, priest and king for Israel’s eternal salvation.
However, the Jews by and large, would do to Him what they had done to the prophets that had come to Israel before Him. Even though He knew He would be rejected and martyred He still loved Israel.
Even at the cross as He was dying He prayed; “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).
And then we read…
“How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
Here we see the heart of God towards His people Israel. While God is depicted in male terms in scripture He also portrays Himself as one who has a motherly instinct as He created both man and woman in His own likeness and image.
Man was the head of the woman and the leader of the relationship between them both, and the LORD in creating them gave them unique qualities that would be beneficial to their relationship.
He created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!
Here in our text the Lord Jesus speaks to Israel and uses the analogy of a mother hen and says that He would have gathered His wayward fellow Israelites to Himself as a mother hen gathers its chickens to herself, being the most natural thing a mother hen would do for her chicks needing protection and provision for their well-being.
However, the people of Israel were not willing to receive Him as their Messiah and sacrificial lamb. Only a remnant had received Him to be saved (John 1:12-13).
At His trial before Pilate at the instigation of the religious Pharisees the people called down a curse upon themselves and their children when clamouring for His crucifixion. As they cried out; “All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:25).
The curse is still out there and the works based righteousness of present day Rabbinic Judaism cannot save the soul but only through faith in the Messiah and in His blood can anyone be saved.
At the cross the power of the curse of sin and hell was broken (Galatians 3:13).
When any Jew or Gentile come to a saving faith in Messiah the curse of the law being sin and death and hell hanging over them is broken by the power of His atoning , redeeming and cleansing blood (1 John 1:7-9).
Redemption and forgiveness of sin can only be experienced through the blood of Messiah (Ephesians 1:7).
And then we read what He said…
“See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see Me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
From 70 AD Israel went into exile. The temple was destroyed and Mosaic Judaism terminated even to this present day. Rabbinic Judaism has replaced Biblical Mosaic Judaism.
There is still no Temple, no sacrifice or High Priest in the lineage of Aaron.
After almost 2,000 years of exile Israel as a nation was reborn in a day in 1948 (Isaiah 66:7-9). It was a partial national restoration but the spiritual restoration is to come in the future (Ezekiel Chapter 37).
Since 70AD the desolation has been continuous even to the present day because Israel by and large still rejects the Messiah and the only one whose blood can atone for their sin and deal with the inward problem of sin…
The word “desolate” describes something that is “solitary, lonely, desolate, and uninhabited” which Israel was for almost 2,000 years after 70AD.
The word “desolate” is used of places and describes “a desert, wilderness, deserted places, lonely regions and an uncultivated region fit for pasturage.”
The word “desolate” is also used of persons and describes one or more persons “deserted by others, deprived of the aid and protection of others, especially of friends, acquaintances, and kindred and bereft.”
The word “desolate” can also describe “a flock deserted by the shepherd” or of “a woman neglected by her husband, from whom the husband withholds himself.”
Today Israel is back in the land and this was prophesied in scripture.
However as a nation they are for the most part still aliens and strangers to their own covenants of promise.
While the gospel of the kingdom is being preached in Israel and many Jews are coming to a saving knowledge and faith in Messiah by and large both secular Jews and the religious orthodox Jews are still rejecting Him.
The Lord Jesus used this word desolate to describe the religious climate of Israel, not only in His day but also for the Jewish people down through their long and troubled history even to the present day.
Even though the Temple is rebuilt, the priesthood re-established and the sacrifices and offerings commence and the red heifers are bred, it will be of no value at all for the salvation of the Jewish people.
We are told in the Book of Hebrews that “those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:3b-4).
In fact a rebuilt Temple offering up sacrifices for sin will be detestable to God in that the sacrifices are replacing the total efficacy of the blood of Messiah that has atoned for sin once and for all time, a sacrifice never to be repeated.
Finally we read…
“For I tell you, you will not see Me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD.’”
In His first Coming the people of Israel misunderstood why He came. They thought He had come to free them from their Roman oppressors but did not understand that He came to save them from their sins (Matthew 1:21).
When the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey the people cried out to Him “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD” (Matthew 21:9).
As we read in Psalm 118…
“O LORD, save us, we pray. We beseech You, O LORD, cause us to prosper! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you” (Psalm 118:25-26).
The people were saturated with excitement and laid their cloaks and palm branches down on the road before the Lord Jesus riding on the donkey.
In their minds they thought He was going to rescue them from the Romans as Judas Maccabeus had delivered Israel from Antiochus Epiphanes and the Seleucid Greeks around 160 years before.
They had a Kingdom Now, Kingdom Dominion attitude thinking that the Messiah our Lord Jesus would also establish His Messianic kingdom and bring them prosperity.
They had the right Messiah but had Him all wrong in their thinking.
Where do you see this way of thinking today?
Just look at the hyper Charismatic, hyper faith prosperity camp aligned with their Kingdom Dominion, Kingdom now colleagues in the New Apostolic Reformation camp (now called ICAL (International Coalition of Apostolic Leadership).
This movement teaches that the Second Coming of Messiah is dependent on the Church taking possession of the nations and presenting them to Him as Christianised nations when He returns. Israel is not on their radar.
Kingdom Dominion doctrine is replacement theology personified!
The Biblical truth is that the Second Coming of Messiah is dependent on the survival of Israel, not on New Apostolic Reformation doctrine!
This is why Satan has been trying to destroy Israel over the centuries, because in his twisted and perverse mindset, he thinks that if Israel no longer exists then the Messiah will not have any kingdom to come back to.
Of course this will never happen!
Israel has been reborn as a nation and will remain so, and God is preparing His people to encounter the Messiah when He comes back to earth and to rule over the nations in the Messianic Kingdom to come.
It is only after His Second Coming that the people of Israel will say to Him; “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD” fully understanding why He came the first time.
Before this happens Israel will face the darkest hour of their entire history.
After they pass through this Time of Jacob’s Trouble a remnant will be saved out of it when they see Him whom they pierced with their sins returning in the clouds of Heaven and destroying their enemies before them (Zechariah Chapter 12: 14:1-5) (Isaiah 63:1-6).
At that time the surviving Jews in desperation will gladly cry out; “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!”
Once the Messianic Millennial kingdom has been inaugurated, and all opposition destroyed, Israel will indeed become prosperous in every way and the head of all of the surviving Gentile nations (Isaiah 2:1-5) (Micah 4:1-5).
At present there are many sincere Bible believing brothers and sisters in Messiah who support the Jews in their rebuilding of the Temple.
Sadly these brothers and sisters do not realise that any sacrifices offered up for sin militate against the complete and final efficacy of the Blood of Messiah which has settled forever the atonement for sin, a sacrifice never to be repeated as we are clearly told in the Book of Hebrews.
Epilogue:
Some years ago, when I wrote about this matter related to the rebuilding of the Temple and the re-establishing of the sacrifices, a well-meaning Christian lady emailed me berating me for teaching what I have shared in this article about the coming Temple and told me in no uncertain terms that I should go all out to support the rebuilding of the Temple.
I think in her love for Israel and all things Jewish that she did not fully understand why the sacrifices in a rebuilt Temple at Jerusalem would be unacceptable in God’s sight in light of the perfect redemption and atonement found only in and through the blood of Messiah.
Possibly she had not read or studied the Book of Hebrews?
I love Israel and believe in their complete national and spiritual restoration at the very end of this present age when the Messiah returns to the Mount of Olives to destroy all of Israel’s enemies, to sit on David’s throne to reign as the King of the Jews, and to rule the Gentile nations with a rod of iron that have survived His Second Coming (Revelation 12:5) (Isaiah 9:7) (Luke 1:32-33).
Israel as a nation is yet to enter the Time of Jacob’s Trouble.
This period of the Big Trouble will be something worse than they have ever experienced including the Holocaust but Israel will not cease to exist as a nation (Jeremiah 30:1-7).
I have seen the film footage of the Nazi death camps and I find it hard to reconcile what I have seen with a God who loves His people.
When you read the prophets writings in scripture we can see the terrible and tragic consequences of sin and rebellion against the LORD, not only against His people, but more so among the pagan Gentile nations.
We read where the LORD raised up pagan nations to judge His people time and time again when they turned away from His Word and embraced idolatry and all that comes with it.
The curse of the law is a very serious matter with God and when you think of all of the blood that was shed in the animal sacrifices it shows us the serious nature of sin.
When you consider the curse that fell upon the people of Israel who shouted for the crucifixion of Messiah, and who put a curse on themselves and their children during His trial, we can see the terrible consequences down through history even to the present day of this act of outright rebellion against the only one who could save them.
However, even though Israel will pass through this Time of the Big Trouble a faithful remnant chosen by God’s grace through His foreknowledge will be saved and rescued out of this time to co-reign with the Messiah over the Gentile nations of the world (Jeremiah 30:8-10) (Isaiah 37:31-32) (Zechariah 13:8-9) (Romans 9:27-28) (Romans 11:5) .
In that day the LORD Himself will say to the Jewish people…
“For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer” (Isaiah 54:7-8).
As we also read…
“On that day (when the Messiah returns to Israel) a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity” (Zechariah 13:1).
What happened at the cross will become a reality for the Jews on that day when they are reunited with their long lost brother in the flesh the Messiah our Lord Jesus (Zechariah 12:10-14).
For every Jewish man, woman and child still alive on earth the Messiah’s Second Coming will be for them “life from the dead!” (Romans 11:15).
Those within Christendom who think that God has finished with Israel or find themselves in the replacement theology camp need to read what Rabbi the apostle Paul said concerning Israel…
(Romans 11:25-29) “Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”
And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; “and this will be My covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable!”
As God said through the prophet Jeremiah concerning Israel…
(Jeremiah 31:35-37) “Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, who sets in order the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of Hosts is His name:
“Only if this fixed order departed from My presence, declares the LORD, would Israel’s descendants ever cease to be a nation before Me.”
This is what the LORD says: “Only if the heavens above could be measured and the foundations of the earth below searched out would I reject all of Israel’s descendants because of all they have done,” declares the LORD.”
When the Messiah’s feet stand once again on the Mount of Olives, and His blood redeemed brethren in the flesh cry out for joy, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD,” the House of Israel will no longer be desolate!
