And while some were talking about the temple, that it was adorned with beautiful stones and votive gifts, He said, “As for these things which you are looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down.” Luke 21:5–6 (NASB95)

I’ve never lived in a more volatile time. There is so much going on on all fronts today that a spinning head is my natural state. It’s easy to see and contemplate the scenario of there being no “one stone upon another which will not be torn down.”

There was a time when it seemed all was going quite nicely, recently in fact. It was easy to admire one’s handiwork and plan one’s next adventure. There was a lot of day dreaming going on and a plethora of blue sky. How quickly things change.

We reach a passage in Luke which warns and describes the End Times (Luke 21:7-38). Perhaps in our present turbulence this topic will be of more pressing interest. For some Christians the return of Christ is a virtual reality and constant preoccupation. Others will be caught flat-footed, paying it never no mind.

It’s high time we quit admiring the architecture, in this case the lavish Herodian temple taking some 80 years to construct, and focus on preparing for the Lord’s imminent return and kingdom. This very temple would be leveled by the Romans in 70 A.D., in less than 40 years.