In our study of Mark we are in Mark 12:38-40; and the parallel passage in Matt 23; where Jesus is condemning the progressive Jewish leadership because they are no different than their fathers who killed God's prophets.
Before we left off to do our Christmas special we were discussing Matt 23:38; where Jesus tells the Jewish leaders "Look, your house (referring to Herod's temple that had just been completed) is being left to you desolate."
The Greek word "eremos" translated "desolate" means an empty house. In other words, while the design of the temple itself proclaimed Jesus Christ negative volition at the point of God consciousness and negative volition at the point of gospel hearing of those who came to the temple had created and environment that completely obscured the inherent "witness." of the temple.
So now it was simply a temple but it was not the temple of witness; because the witness had been completely obscured by their negative volition.
The Jews understood that their religion was about their heritage but they did not understand what their true heritage was. They were going back to Abraham and Moses and for them everything was Abraham and Moses.
But because they had negative volition at the point of God consciousness and gospel hearing they actually had rejected the whole principle that Abraham represented and that Moses taught concerning about believing in Jesus Christ and in its place they had accepted legalistic religion. They had all the ritual but no reality.
As a result the house ( the temple) that represented Jesus Christ was actually filled with empty headed people. Because they had rejected Jesus Christ as savior and He was not in their thinking they were nothing but whitewashed death.
They walked around with empty religion in their thinking and the temple was filled with the evil of human viewpoint. The temple still had all the furniture and it was a ritual witness of Jesus but at the same time it was desolate because a maximum number of people without Bible doctrine who had rejected Jesus and the cross were occupying it.
Their spiritual heritage was wonderful but when a maximum number of people have negative volition spiritual heritage can be destroyed in one generation.
And that is exactly what they did and it is exactly what is happening in our country. Heritage means nothing. When you do not have positive volition heritage is useless.
So Jesus says the temple is desolate. He used the word "your house" not "God's house" Jesus was speaking from God's viewpoint and at the moment the temple was not God's house it was theirs because of their negative volition and ritualistic religion.
Human viewpoint says: It is great; it is beautiful but it isn't the building that counts, it is the thinking of people who occupy the building that matters.
The temple was filled physically but it was spiritually desolate because of their anti-doctrine human viewpoint thinking and as a result Jesus prophesied about the impending inevitable judgment of the fifth cycle of discipline.
Forty years later in 70 AD, their temple that was filled with spiritually dead people was completely destroyed and razed to the ground and it remains so to this day.
If the people in our nation don't return to the founding principles we are facing the same consequences because without the advantage of Bible Doctrine in the thinking none of the advantages of national heritage, prosperity, abundant natural resources, advanced technology and military power will be maintained.
Too many people in our nation are whitewashed tombstones just like the Jews were in Jesus' day. They are all about doing ritual but there is no reality.
Matt 23:39; For I say unto you, You will not see me from now on, until you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord," This is the same quotation from Psa 118:26; that we saw in Mark 11:9; it was the phrase that had started the temple discourse when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem riding the colt of a donkey on that "Palm Sunday."
The temple discourse shows us that because the Jews had rejected Jesus as their Messiah that there would be two advents, not one. You kept on saying Hosanna, but you rejected Me. I am the one who came to you in the name of the Lord but you refused Me.
Their words were all ritual but their rejection of the Jesus who the words represented demonstrated that they had no clue as to what the words meant.
Because of this the first advent will provide God's solution of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone; but since you have rejected me you will be under the fifth cycle of discipline until I return in the the Second Advent.
That is when I will return to end the fifth cycle of discipline and restore the Jews to Jerusalem and fulfill all of the unconditional promises that I have made.
This brings us back to our passage in Mark 12:40; where Jesus condemns the religious Pharisees for their abuse of widows who are among the most helpless people in a society.
The word translated "devour" is the Greek word "katesthio" that means to forcibly appropriate or to forcibly prey on and completely consume.
In private the religious political party bosses were exploiting the generosity of people of limited means, especially widows while at the same time in public they stood on street corners "and for a pretense" made long prayers.
This was all was done legally, so as to put them above the charge of fraud, and they covered their extortion by making long prayers in public places, thereby maintaining an appearance of great piety in order to gain people's confidence.
This can occur when taxes are levied on property rather than income thereby taxing people out of their homes and farms. We do this in our country with death taxes that force the heirs to sell the property in order to pay the taxes levied by evil plunderers
This evil can also be done "in the name of the so called greater good" when the weak willed "progressive" politicians succumb to the mob and steal property rights from the landowners as has happened in New York in the case of hydrofracking recently.
This will force widows and others to sell their property for less than it is worth because the state has plundered them by stealing their property rights.
In every case we must always remember that a day of reckoning is coming when all the secret things of the heart will be brought into view. Hypocrites such as these will receive just retribution.
What goes around comes around Hosea 8:7; and vengeance is Mine says the Lord I will repay. Rom 12:19;
"These will receive greater condemnation." "These" are those who are in positions of power and authority as a result have a greater responsibility to God for their actions because their actions adversely affect people.
When those with power and authority violate their responsibilities Jesus Christ personally takes up the case. Col 4:1;
Another reason for the greater condemnation is that there are special curses for those who ignore helping the poor. Prov 21:13; Prov 22:16; Prov 28:3; and for those who take advantage of the poor. Prov 22:22;