Your House Is Left To You Desolate (Matthew 23:38)

As we read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the hostility of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law toward Jesus progressively increases.

The whole pharisaical system was corrupt.

The teachers of the law were corrupt.

They had corrupted the temple in Jerusalem.

The corruption was so bad that Jesus entered the temple and spoke the following words,

Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves “It is written [in the Jewish Scriptures],” he said to them, “ ‘My house [the temple in Jerusalem] will be called a house of prayer [Isaiah 56:7],’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’ [Jeremiah 7:11]

The chief priest, teachers of the law, and Pharisees were all apart of this scheme to use the temple in Jerusalem to make themselves wealthy.

They conspired with the moneychangers and those selling doves (sacrifices needed under the law of Moses).

Jesus, knowing they had corrupted the temple in this way, shut down their scheme.

Notice that Jesus used the words My house when speaking about the temple in Jerusalem.

This was a quote from Isaiah 56:7 about the temple being the house of God.

Within a short time, Jesus did not use the words My house when referring to the temple.

Instead, he used the words Your house when he said to the Pharisees and teachers of the law (Matthew 23:38),

Look, your house is left to you desolate.

With these words, Jesus was stating that the presence of God was no longer in the temple in Jerusalem.

God had abandoned the temple and turned it over to the Pharisees and teachers of the law along with their corruption.

As a result of the corruption, the temple would soon be destroyed by God in judgment and left desolate.

There is some historical background that needs to be understood if we are to have insight into the words of Jesus about the temple in Jerusalem being left desolate.

Under the law of Moses (Leviticus 26), God told the people of Israel that if they violated the law, then their land and cities would become desolate as armies of other nations destroyed Israel.

The prophets God sent to Israel foretold of this desolation (for example, Jeremiah 4:7, 11, 27).

Through the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 6:8), God told the people of Israel that he would depart from the temple before the time of desolation.

And that is exactly what happened.

In Ezekiel 10, God departed the temple in Jerusalem making the way for the Babylonian armies to come into Jerusalem and destroy the city of Jerusalem and temple, leaving it desolate (see 2 Chronicles 36).

NOTE: CLICK HERE to watch a short video on Ezekiel.

Jeremiah wrote about this destruction and desolation in Lamentations 1:4.

The roads to Zion mourn Because no one comes to the set feasts. All her gates are desolate; Her priests sigh, Her virgins are afflicted, And she is in bitterness

Daniel spoke about the desolation of the temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians, saying (Daniel 9:17),

Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary [temple in Jerusalem], which is desolate.

Eventually the city of Jerusalem and temple were rebuilt.

However, like before, the leaders of Israel had corrupted the city and temple.

And Jesus, like the prophets of old, pronounced judgment upon the leaders and people of Israel (Matthew 23:38) because of their violations against the law of Moses, telling the Pharisees and the teachers of the law that Jerusalem would be left desolate.

And that is exactly what happened.

In AD 70, Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Roman armies and left desolate, just as Jesus said (see Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21).

The Book of Revelation foretold of this event:

Revelation 17:6 (NKJV)
“And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot [first century, old covenant, Jesus rejecting and Christian killing Israel], make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire.”

Revelation 18:19 (NKJV)
They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city [first century, old covenant Jerusalem, see Revelation 11:8], in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate.'

To read more about the destruction and desolation of the city and temple, CLICK HERE.

In the Fall of 2024, Brad’s new book on this topic will be available on Amazon. The book is titled: Daniel’s Prayer - 490 Years for Israel and The City of Jerusalem.

In the Summer of 2025, Brad’s book, Revelation: The Destruction of Old Covenant Jerusalem and The Construction of New Covenant Jerusalem, will be available.