In Chapter 13 Jesus gives forewarning about the coming destruction of the temple, about the persecution Christians will face, and about the perilous days of the end times known as the Great Tribulation. This chapter is long and contains so much material that we will have to study it over the next several days.
"As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, 'Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!'" (Mark 13:1) This disciple speaks as if it's his first trip to town, but according to the ancient historian Josephus the temple as restored by Herod the Great was a sight to behold. He describes the gold plates and the white marble and states that the temple could be seen from a distance of "many furlongs". Some of the stones used for the retaining wall were fifty feet wide, so large that no one in Jesus' day could imagine the temple compound not standing forever.
According to Bible scholar David Guzik, by Jesus' day the temple was so great in the eyes of the people that their adoration of it bordered on idolatry. They would make oaths in the name of the temple and it was considered blasphemy to speak against the temple. In addition, as we've seen, the religious system had become corrupt because so many of its leaders had become corrupt. They had been seduced by worldly things. Jesus criticized them for being more concerned with their power and status and wealth than they were with leading the people by the truth of God's word. In Jesus' day the temple was nearing the end of its usefulness and its destruction was drawing near, so He says to the disciple who is so impressed with it, "'Do you see all these great buildings?' replied Jesus. 'Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.'" (Mark 13:2)
This dire prediction, so difficult to believe at the time, came true about forty years later. The Jews began a rebellion against Rome in 66 AD, resulting in a final battle at Jerusalem in 70 AD, when Emperor Vespasian sent his son Titus with an army to take the city and put a decisive end to the rebellion. He laid siege to the city for 143 days, trapping not only the citizens of Jerusalem inside, but also the pilgrims who had come up to Jerusalem at Passover. When the walls were breached, 3,000 Roman soldiers poured into the city, slaughtering hundreds of thousands and taking tens of thousands captive. Many citizens fled to the temple for safety, believing it could withstand the onslaught because of its massive stones, but contrary to the orders of Titus the temple was set on fire by his soldiers "in a frenzy" according to Josephus. The fire was so hot that it raged for a number of days, melting the gold plates and causing the molten gold to run between the cracks in the stones. Later, when the pillaging of the temple began, the stones were literally torn apart so that the gold could be retrieved. Despite the orders of Titus, which he relayed to his generals and which they relayed to the troops, the temple was destroyed just as Jesus predicted. The will of God outweighed the will of a Roman general.
It's possible that those who fled to the temple for safety believed God would not allow it to be destroyed. This is the same thing the people believed in the days before the Babylonian invasion, mainly due to the promises of false prophets who assured them the Lord would protect His temple and His city. The prophet Jeremiah warned them against believing the false prophets, saying, "This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, 'This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!'" (Jeremiah 7:3-4) In Jeremiah's day, before the destruction of Solomon's temple, God reminded the people that He had taken the visible symbol of His presence away from them before, "Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for My name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears My name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors." (Jeremiah 7:12-14) Shiloh is where the tabernacle was located for about three hundred years. The book of 1 Samuel tells us that it was attacked by the Philistines and that the Ark of the Covenant was stolen at that time and later returned, but the final destruction of the tabernacle at Shiloh is not described, although it definitely was destroyed because the area lies in ruins today.
The Lord has the right to remove His protective hand from any nation, temple, or church where His name is not honored and where His word is not obeyed. Our own nation, generally speaking, has fallen far from the Biblical principles it started out with. I've heard a number of preachers say that if God didn't still have so many people in this country who honor His name, and if the United States wasn't a friend to Israel, He would already have taken His protective hand off us. He still may someday allow our country to fall because of the sin that prevails, and especially if our government ever turns its back on His people Israel, for He promised to bless anyone who blesses the descendants of Abraham and to curse anyone who curses the descendants of Abraham (Genesis 12:3). If we want to keep the Lord's protective hand on our nation, then we who are believers would do well to heed this same advice which He gave Israel after the dedication of Solomon's temple, "If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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