Glad to see someone finds my commentary helpful!

In his book The Victory According to Jesus Mark, Mark Horne argues that Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of the temple actually foreshadows his own arrest, sufferings, and death (Victory, pp 166-18). Sadly, for many readers, (myself included) Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of the temple tends to overshadow the story of the persecution, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus.

Here is how Peter Leithart fleshes out Horne’s observation:

– Jesus predicts that the Jews will deliver the apostles to the courts (13:9); but first Jesus is delivered to the courts.

– Jesus predicts that the apostles will be “flogged in the synagogues”(13:9); but first Jesus is flogged (15:15).

– Jesus warns the disciples that they will stand before governors and kings to testify (13:9); but first Jesus stands before Pilate the governor (cf. Matthew 27:2, 11, 14-15, 21, 27) and before King Herod (cf. Luke 23:7ff.).

– Jesus tells the apostles to leave their cloaks behind them when they flee from the city (13:16); in Gethsemane, a young man flees without his cloak (14:51-52).

– Jesus predicts tribulation (13:19), and then suffers tribulation, sorrow, and pain.

-After the days of tribulation, “the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light” (13:24). At the cross, “when the sixth hour had come, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour” (15:33).

-In the coming generation, “the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken” (13:25); at the death of Jesus, the temple veil, which symbolized the veil of the firmament dividing heaven and earth, was torn in two, rent like the heavens at Jesus’ baptism.

-When the temple falls, all will perceive that the Son of Man has received dominion from His Father (13:26). As Jesus dies, as the temple of His body is destroyed, a Gentile centurion confesses that Jesus was the Son of God (15:39).

-Even the Jews who mock Jesus on the cross recognize a connection with His temple predictions: “Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuilt it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” (15:29).

The point here is that Jesus is the true and better apostle who experiences everything that his followers will experience. He is the true and better Israel who experiences the curses of the covenant in place of his people. He is the true and better temple that will be destroyed and raised again in three days.

The apocalyptic vision is not a square peg in a round hole. It is a cross-shaped story within the cross-shaped story. The good news here is that in the midst of all the turmoil, trials, and tribulations, all God’s elect/chosen ones are protected and preserved by God’s mercy. And as the gospel is preached throughout the world and all God’s elect/chosen ones are gathered from the four corners of the world.

via Jesus the Revelator « NEW HOPE CHURCH

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