MAT 24:1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to [him] for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
A. Mark's gospel tells us that they were remarking about the stones. Josephus tells us that Herod used stones that were 37 feet long, 12 feet high, and 18 feet thick. This sounds exaggerated, however in recent excavations of the retaining wall that Herod built for the Temple mount, stones have been discovered that are 45-feet long and 6-feet high and 8-feet thick, so that we know that Herod did indeed use large stones.
B. Since the excavations made in the late 90's, at the southeast corner of the retaining wall, they have discovered the huge pavement stones that were used for the street in the cheese makers' valley. These huge stones were cracked and fractured by the large stones that lie in random fashion on top of them. They are no doubt the stones that once made up a part of the Temple that were pushed over the wall by the troops of Titus when they demolished the Temple in 70 A.D.
MAT 24:2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
C. This prophecy of Jesus must have sounded very unlikely as to the fulfillment by the disciples because of the size of the stones used in the building.
MAT 24:3 And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what [shall be] the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
D. Note that the disciples were asking for signs of two different events, signs of the destruction of the Temple and signs of His coming and the end of the world. The phrase "the end of the world" does not mean the dissolving of the universe, but the end of the world governments as we know them, and the establishing of the kingdom of God.
MAT 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
E. It seems that one of the most prevalent signs of the last days is that of deception. Jesus warns about deception in verses 5, 11, 24.