John the Baptist preached the urgent need for all men to repent because they prophesied that the "kingdom of heaven (as Matthew's account of the gospel has it, Matthew 3:1-2) is at hand."

Matthew 24:1-35, the first part of our Lord's Mount of Olives Discourse in Matthew 24:1 to 25:46, is the only scriptural prophetic reference to the collapse of the Jerusalem (Second) Temple which actually happened at 70 AD.

One of the many tribulations Christians face (John 16:33) is the occasional issue or conflict that erupts within the church of Christ.

It so happens that the A.D.70 historical event,- the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple built by the returning Jews under orders of King Cyrus of Persia (Ezra 1:1-2; 6:14-15),- was the subject of Jesus' prophetic teaching some 4 decades before.

What happened in Jerusalem in A.D.70 that marked the year as especially important to a segment of Bible-believers today that they actually do not mind if they are identified as "A.D.70 theorists"?

A necessary beginning point in our attempt to refute any doctrine (i.e. "teaching") is the two-fold step of (a) determining the current supossedly-different doctrine from what we currently believe about the Bible's teaching on a matter, and (b) ascertaining again with scriptural support that what we believe about tbe matter is correct and the different doctrine about it is wrong.

To "refute" is to prove that a statement or theory is incorrect or false through sound reasoning and evidence. It is our verbal or written response to a view expressed by others that we do not agree with, hoping to change their mind about that view.

Although the Law of Moses no longer applies in our Christian Age, having been fulfilled by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and His subsequent resurrection and ascension (Matthew 5:17-18; Luke 24:44-47). these incidents teach us some important lessons concerning the work of religious restoration in our time.

Restoration work must not leave any aspect of the thing restored unaltered to reflect its original pattern. Whether the item to be restored is a thing (eg. a temple), an act (eg. worship of Deity) or a relationship (eg. between husband and wife), perhaps the hardest to put right is a relationship, particularly when it has to be undone.

The pre-Babylonian exile efforts of King Hezekiah of Judah and his great-grandson, King Josiah, to restore the worship of God as commanded by the Divinely-inspired Law of Moses were not continued beyond their respective reigns partly because they were top-down in implementation.

But, more important than physical restoration of the Jerusalem temple (and the defensive walls of Jerusalem city by Nehemiah the governor later) was the restoring of the mind and heart of the Jews who had returned from the exile in Babylon.

Introduction To Subang Jaya Church's Sunday Sermon Series, 1st Quarter 2026

SUBANG JAYA CHURCH SUNDAY SERMON SERIES January to March 2026

Within only 57 years of the death of King Hezekiah, who restored worship and service to God in Jerusalem according to Moses' law, his great-grandson, Josiah, had to undertake all over again the work of religious restoration in Judah.

The work of restoring service to,- and worship of,- our Father is a seriously difficult task to begin and carry through completion

We call Bible things by Bible names and we do Bible things the Bible way

There would be nothing to restore if the "faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3)

There would be NO need for restoration if there is no original pattern of belief and conduct to believe and obey to begin with NOR if that original pattern was never meant to be preserved over time NOR if the original pattern had never been adulterated or deviated from.

At the heart of religious restoration is a commitment to return completely to a previous order of things when conditions,- belief, worship and moral conduct,- were correct by God’s standards.

Over the centuries after the Cross that claimed the physical life of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead, the chief scandal of Christianity is that of division and dispute among Bible-believers.