Have you ever tried to
make a prediction? Here are some predictions from the past. All from people who
were trusted individuals:
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, in 1943 said, "I think there is a world market
for maybe five computers."
Popular Mechanics magazine in 1949 made this prediction: "Where a calculator on
the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in
the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons."
There was an inventor by the name of Lee DeForest. He claimed that "While
theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and
financially it is an impossibility."
The Decca Recording Co. made a big mistake when they made this prediction: "We
don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." That was their
prediction in 1962 concerning a few lads form Liverpool. Their band was called
the Beatles.
As the disciples walked out of the Temple in Jerusalem Jesus paused with his
disciples, looked back at the Temple an predicted, "Do you see all these great
buildings. Not one stone will be left on another." To the disciples this was
bedrock. Nothing could bring down these walls. "Look, teacher! What massive
stones! What magnificent buildings!" they said to Jesus.
The smallest stones in the structure weighed 2 to 3 tons. Many of them weighed
50 tons. The largest existing stone is 12 meters in length and 3 meters high,
and it weighed hundreds of tons! The stones were so immense that neither mortar
nor any other binding material was used between the stones. Their stability was
attained by the great weight of the stones. The walls towered over Jerusalem,
over 400 feet in one area. Inside the four walls was 45 acres of bedrock
mountain shaved flat and during Jesus' day a quarter of a million people could
fit comfortably within the structure. No sports structure in America today comes
close.
You can then understand the disciples surprise. As they walked down the Kidron
valley and up mount olive Peter, James and John wanted to hear more.
Jesus' prediction that a structure so immense would be leveled to the ground
seemed implausible. But they pressed Jesus for more information. They wanted to
know when. What would be the sign that this was about to take place. In their
voice was fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear that their lives were about to change
forever. Jesus had not made any predictions like this one. This was different.
This, they could understand.
Forty years later Jesus' prediction came true. In 70 AD the Temple was destroyed
by Rome. What are we to learn from this prediction and its fulfillment?
1. The bedrock of faith is not in Temples.
2. The bedrock of faith is not in Signs.
3. The bedrock of faith is in Christ.
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