Not One Stone!

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Often people wonder why the prophets of the Old Testament were received as prophets. The truth is it started with Moses. No Jewish person living in Old Testament times ever doubted that Moses was God's prophet and spoke for God. You want to know why, go back at some point, and read Exodus 19. Read the story as God inhabited Mount Sinai – the cloud covered the mountain filled with thunder and lightning, the blowing sound of a trumpet, earthquakes shook the mountain. No one doubted that God was on the mountain. In fact, the people, you remember, said, 'LORD, You said to Moses, 'Don't let the Lord come near us. Instead, you go to Him and let us hear from you.'' They were frightened to death of what they saw.

And Moses went up – first for forty days and then, after an interval, another forty days. So, when Moses came down and said, "I have been with God and this is what He said," no one doubted it because even with the Ten Commandments, they heard out of the midst of that cloud and blazing thunder and the earthquake, the sound of the trumpet which grew louder and louder and then stopped, they heard the voice of God. All the people, according to the record, heard the voice of God speak the Ten Commandments. When Moses came down with them written on stone, no one doubted that he was God's prophet.

Moses predicted in his own writings in Deuteronomy that there would be future prophets that would come. And he laid down two criteria for discerning a true prophet from a false prophet. In Deuteronomy 18, he tells us that a true prophet's predictions will always come true. In Deuteronomy 13, he tells us that a true prophet's message will always be in complete agreement doctrinally with previous revelation. In other words, God doesn't speak out of both sides of His mouth. If He spoke through a prophet and said this, then it will not change. And if a prophet comes and speaks contrary to previous revelation, he's to be thought a false prophet and to be stoned. In addition to that, Moses seemed to indicate that God would often (not always, but often) authenticate the true prophet by empowering him to work miracles. You can see that in Exodus 4.

The true prophets' words were immediately accepted. The people knew they were God's men speaking for God. Joshua, for example, accepted the writings of Moses. Other Old Testament prophets do the same thing. Micah quotes Isaiah, his contemporary, as a prophet. Isaiah quotes Micah. Jeremiah quotes from Micah, who had written 125 years before, and cites him as authoritative. Daniel accepts Jeremiah, his older contemporary, as speaking God's truth. Why were the prophets immediately accepted? Because only God or someone who spoke for God could accurately predict the events of the future in specific terms. The prophets, even during their own lifetimes, and even if they were hated like the prophet Jeremiah, were still believed to be true prophets of God.

Jesus was a prophet, and tonight we come to a prophecy that He made. It's not as well-known as His prediction of His death and resurrection but, frankly, it is no less impressive. And it serves as crystal clear evidence of Jesus' true identity because He makes a prophecy in very clear and graphic terms about something that would happen forty years later. And it came to pass just as He said it would. It happened on Tuesday afternoon of the Passion Week. Let's read it together. Mark 13:1,

As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!" And Jesus said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down." [Here Jesus specifically prophesied the destruction of Herod the Great's magnificent temple.]

Now remember the context in which this statement occurs. It has context that's very important. On that Tuesday of the Passion Week (as we've studied our way through the gospel of Mark together), Jesus and His disciples had left the home in Bethany some two miles away from the temple where they had been staying just over the hill from the Mount of Olives. They, they travelled that couple of miles to the city. And once they arrived at the city, they went directly to the temple.

And Jesus began early on that Tuesday morning teaching the large crowds of pilgrims who had gathered for the feast of Passover, as well as, of course, His disciples. He spent the morning doing that. Intermittent with His teaching, His enemies, the religious leaders of the nation, frequently interrupted Him and confronted Him with a series of theological questions. Their goal was not to gain information. Their goal was instead to trip Him up in His words, to trap Him and to find a cause for either arresting Him for some religious issue, or perhaps even finding a way to accuse Him before the Roman governor with the hopes that He could be sentenced to death. Jesus answered all of their questions, all comers. And His enemies left in retreat, as we have seen, licking their wounds.

Jesus completed His teaching that afternoon by confronting and condemning the leaders of the nation, the spiritual leaders of the nation, in a series of seven woes that He pronounced upon them. And His stern rebuke of them even included castigating them for taking financial advantage of widows. Jesus had been teaching in the court of the Gentile area. You can see here in this, in this sketch, this rendering, over to the close side where you see the red roof – that's the royal portico. Most of the teaching was done in that area, and we think that it's likely that's probably where Jesus was teaching on this occasion – the far side of the court of the Gentiles.

He walked from there over to where you see those four massive candelabra sticking up – the court of the women. And in the court of the women, He sat down and watched as the people deposited their freewill offerings in the brass, trumpet-shaped, shofar-shaped boxes that were there for that purpose. Just to remind you of what we studied last time, go back to verse 41 of chapter 12,

And He sat down opposite the treasury and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples, He said to them, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on."

And I don't want to go back through the message last week. If you weren't here, you can go back and listen to it. But most commentators and scholars believe that the reason for that story is to applaud the sacrificial giving of this woman and to encourage it as a pattern for our own. But as we saw last week, there are a number of legitimate reasons not to take that approach, that interpretation. First of all, in neither of the New Testament accounts does Jesus directly commend the actions of the woman. He simply comments that she gave all she had and more than everyone else. The immediate context, both before and after the passage, doesn't fit with the traditional view in either Mark's gospel or Luke's where it's recorded. In both of the places where it's recorded, there are very few references to widows in their books. The closest reference to widows comes immediately before this paragraph and is exactly the same. Look back in verse 40. Go, back to verse 38,

In His teaching He was saying: "Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places, chief seats in the synagogues, places of honor at banquets, who devour widows' houses, and for appearance's sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation." [In both Mark's gospel and Luke's gospel, that verse precedes the telling of the widow's mite. The context seems to take us a different direction.]

There are some other issues to consider. Scripture never commands anyone to give away all he has to live on. In fact, we're commanded to do various things with our money including support ourselves, be able to give to help others who are in need, but never to give away all we have to live on. The one exception to that is the rich young ruler, and Jesus is doing something very specific in his life – touching the idol of his heart. Scripture demands that widows be cared for and supported by God's people and their leaders. And God personally cares for widows. We looked at all these in detail and what the Scripture teaches about them last time. God even promises to bring severe judgment on those who take advantage of widows. You put all of that together, and the traditional view doesn't really seem to fit.

So, what did we discover this paragraph is teaching? Well, Jesus had just preached one of His longest sermons against the leaders of the nation. He had just condemned the way they take advantage of the vulnerable, the most vulnerable, especially defenseless widows. They devour whatever they have. So, Jesus had just made that point and then He sat down in the treasury and watched it happen. This poor widow was the victim of legal extortion from the scribes and Pharisees. Here is a personal case in point of one poor widow who had everything she owned devoured by the system of false religion that first century Judaism had become. So, Jesus was not commending her act. He was condemning their act. He was not commending her sacrificial giving. He is condemning their religious extortion.

Now apparently after that happened, Jesus gets up to leave the court of the women. Mark very generally says, (you'll notice how verse 1 begins), "As He was going out of the temple…." Matthew, in his account, makes it a little more specific. Matthew says, "Jesus came out from the temple and was going away…." So, Jesus left the court of the women. He walked off the temple mount, through the eastern gate, crossed over the Kidron Valley and up the Mount of Olives toward Bethany where they were staying.

Just to orient you, here is a view from the east. You can see the current Dome of the Rock. That's where the temple would've stood in the first century. The yellow line marks the Kidron Valley. So, He would have come out the gate on this side of the temple mount, across the Kidron Valley and up the Mount of Olives. Here is the Kidron Valley. You see the temple mount there to the left, the Kidron Valley in the middle. So, it's quite a, quite a climb actually as you head up the Mount of Olives. Here again is an orientation a little closer up. And He would have come out – you see where the red circle is. That's the eastern gate. That gate was built about 600 A.D., but they found remnants, what they believe are the, is the older gate, the gate that would have been there in Jesus' time around this.

It can't be excavated because there's a Muslim cemetery there today, but they believe that is also the location of the ancient gate in Jesus' time. So, He would have exited the temple mount, that large open area you see there where the Dome of the Rock stands today. He would have come out the eastern gate, across the Kidron and up the Mount of Olives. There is a close-up of that eastern gate. Again, that gate is from the 600's, but they've found remnants of what they believe is the ancient gate beneath it.

Now the Mount of Olives, as He would have gone up the Mount of Olives – it stands some 150 feet higher than the temple mount. And so, as you move up even in ancient times as today, as you move up the Mount of Olives, you have an amazing view of all of the temple precinct. Here is a view today just not even all the way up the Mount of Olives, just as you begin to work your way up. You can see you have a panoramic view of everything that would, would have been standing there on the temple mount in Jesus' day. It's very possible based on the language of Matthew's account that Jesus and the twelve were on the road that wound up to the top of the Mount of Olives, and they look back and they see this view (of course not with the Dome of the Rock), but with the brilliant magnificence of Herod's temple.

It was in that setting that a remarkable interchange took place between Jesus and an unnamed disciple. Matthew 24:1 says this, "Jesus came out from the temple … was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him." Of course, as normally happened, one of the disciples served as a spokesman for the others. The interchange with this unidentified spokesman disciple begins by pointing out the breathtaking spectacle of Herod's temple. Look at 13:1, "As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, 'Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!'" One of the disciples – all of them were amazed by it, but one of them speaks up and calls Jesus' attention to the beautiful architecture of Herod's temple. The Greek expression translated "what wonderful" is usually translated as a question: "of what sort", "of what kind".

But sometimes as here, it's used as part of an interjection. When that happens, it means "how great", "how wonderful". So, we could translate this, "How great are these stones and how wonderful are these buildings!" They're just absolutely blown away by the magnificence of Herod's temple. And we know from history that it really was magnificent.

Now understand that Herod's temple is really the second of two temples in Israel's history. Of course, you remember the tabernacle in the time of the wilderness wandering. The tabernacle really served them until the first temple was built, which of course, was the one built by Solomon. This is a rendering, the best we can do obviously, based on the description of it. It too was a magnificent structure built by Solomon in the 900's B.C. Solomon's temple stood for several hundred years, but it was fully destroyed in 586 B.C. with the destruction of the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar. Later in that same century when the exiles returned from captivity, they began construction on a new second temple. This one destroyed; the second temple was such a faint shadow of the glory of Solomon's temple that those who had seen Solomon's temple wept when they saw what had been built.

The second temple had been remodeled several times before the time of Christ. But before Jesus' birth, Herod the Great had begun a massive renovation of the second temple. In fact, honestly, it was so great a renovation that it bore little resemblance to the second temple at all. Herod the Great is called great not because of his morals, not because of his rule, but because of his architecture. He absolutely was obsessed with architecture. He wanted to display his own grandeur and picture the permanence of his kingdom. If you travel to Israel, you can see that obsession in, for example, the coastal town of Caesarea on the coast of the Mediterranean that he built.

But without question, his greatest architectural achievement was the temple in Jerusalem. It was considered to be one of the wonders of the Roman world. Solomon's original temple, and its successor built by Zerubbabel, were both built on the same hill. Jerusalem is really composed of three north-to-south hills; the upper hill, which was where the rich people lived and the leaders of the nation; the central hill, which was where the temple was built; and then the Mount of Olives over to the other side of the Kidron Valley. So, Herod, on that hill, that central hill, he built a huge platform over the entire hill. Here is the Jerusalem Hotel model of it which is a great rendition of it. You can see that the temple itself stood on top of it, but over the hill he built this massive platform. It was 400 yards long by 300 yards wide. It was 35 acres of area, the equivalent of some 12 football fields. The platform had a circumference (if you were to walk around the edge of it, it had a circumference) of nearly a mile. On the southeastern corner, just this platform (if you notice here in the far left front, just this platform) rose above the Kidron Valley nearly 15 stories. You see the red roof area; that's Solomon's portico, the royal portico on the left. This is a, a rendition of it. It was a massive thing with 45 feet-high columns – excuse me, 40 feet-high columns. It's 40 feet wide. Josephus tells us these columns were so large that it took three men joining hands to reach around them. On the top was a cedar paneled ceiling.

It was quite the construction. This is very likely where Jesus taught that morning. Much of the teaching went on in this place we're told. But across this massive platform was the temple proper, the temple building itself – that central building where the holy place was and behind it in the back the Holy of Holies, that small square 30x30x30 room. The front of this, the façade, was 50 yards wide by 50 yards high. It was something to see.

Luke tells us that the disciples also pointed out the beauty of the temple. They were captivated not only by the size of the buildings, but by their beauty. Luke 21:5, – "While some were talking about the temple, that it was adorned with beautiful stones and votive gifts…" Tacitus, the Roman historian, described it as a temple of immense wealth. Josephus describes it like this,

The exterior of the building lacked nothing that could have astounded either mind or eye; for being covered on all sides with massive plates of gold, the sun was no sooner up than it radiated so fiery a flash that a person straining to look at it was compelled to avert their eyes as from the solar rays. To approaching strangers, it appeared from the distance like a snow-clad mountain, for what was not overlaid with gold was stone of the purest white.

It was like a mountain of white marble decorated with gold. Understand the rabbis of Herod's time didn't like him, but they were overwhelmed by this temple. Their literature says this, "He who has not seen Jerusalem in her splendor has never seen a desirable city in his life. He who has not seen the temple and its full construction has never seen a glorious building in his life." As one writer describes it, "It was a visual collage of gold and silver, crimson and purple, radiating the rising sun like a snow-clad mountain."

In Mark 13, this disciple also points out the size of the stones. Notice what he says, "Behold what wonderful stones…." And they were massive stones. If you visit the temple site today of course, the temple is gone. That area is completely clean except for what the Muslims have built there. The Dome of the Rock stands in place of the temple. But large portions of the temple mount, that huge platform that Herod built, still stands. There is an area you can go in there called Wilson's Arch. And if you go down below ground level (when a group of us went from our church a couple of years ago, we went down there and took a tour – and if you go down below ground level), you can see the foundation stones of just the platform that held the temple. And some of those stones are unbelievable. You'll find stones the size of a railroad boxcar. One of them is 42 feet long by 11 feet high by 14 feet deep, and it weighs over a million pounds. Josephus tells us that the stones used for the temple building were larger than those used in the foundation. No wonder the disciples were absolutely overcome with emotion on the grandeur of seeing this structure.

But there's a second part of the story – not only the wonderful magnificence of Herod's temple, but also Jesus' remarkable prophecy about the temple. Look at verse 2, "And Jesus said to him, 'Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.'" Wow. We know the story. We know what happens, but imagine the impact in their excitement as they're carried away by the grandeur of that structure.

Jesus had already made this clear. Even in the parable of the withered fig tree, He had implied that the nation, Jerusalem and its temple would be destroyed. But in a specific comment He had made a few minutes earlier, He had said this (Matthew 23 at the end of that great sermon against the leaders of the nation, He had said) in Matthew 23:37,

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!"

It's probably a description of the entire city of Jerusalem. He was saying, "This entire city, including its temple, is going to be utterly deserted." The entire city of Jerusalem would be left a ghost town.

But Jesus had made almost this exact point a few days earlier, a couple of days earlier on Sunday at the triumphal entry. Look at Luke 19, Luke 19:41,

When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, 'If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side [He's predicting the siege of the city of Jerusalem], and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.'"

That was Sunday. Now on Tuesday afternoon with His disciples, Jesus returns to this theme again.

And notice back in Mark 13, He pronounces the destruction, as He had on Sunday, in most graphic and complete terms. In that beautiful, magnificent structure, not a single stone would be left upon another. The Greek word translated in verse 2 "torn down" means to demolish something, to detach a stone from a building. It's going to be demolished to the point that not one stone will stand upon another. It's interesting. In the Greek text to drive home His point, Jesus does something that's acceptable in Greek grammar that's not acceptable in English grammar. He two times in this one verse uses double negatives. It doesn't read very well in English, but let me read it to you as sort of a literal translation. He says, 'Do you see these great buildings? No not shall be left here a stone upon a stone which is no not torn down.' Jesus was serious. This will happen. Wow. What a remarkable prophecy.

But there's a third part of the story that it's important for us to know, and that is the tragic fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy. You see, the work by Herod began just a few short years before Jesus' birth, the renovation of that second temple built by Zerubbabel all the way back after the return from the Babylonian captivity. He began the work just a few years before Jesus' birth. We know that at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, the work had already been going on for 46 years according to John 2:20. You remember, Jesus … [said,] "Destroy this temple, … (and) and I'll raise it up" talking about His own body? And they said, 'They've been building this temple for 46 years. How are You going to do that?'

The final touches on this massive construction project wouldn't be finished until 68 A.D. In other words, at the time of Jesus' ministry, they were halfway through an 80-year construction project. Only two years after it was completed in 68 A.D., in the year 70 A.D., Jesus' terrible prophecy was fulfilled, and the temple was completely destroyed.

You're familiar with the story. It was Titus, the Roman general, the son of Vespasian, who laid siege to the city of Jerusalem. When he breached its walls, we're told that more than a million Jews who had sought refuge within the city itself died. The nation's leaders were killed or carried captive. And the nation really ceased to exist. For the details of what happened, we rely on the report of a man who had once been a Jewish soldier and commander, but who turned to the Roman side. His name was Josephus. He wrote, "The History of the Jewish War", which is a trustworthy narrative of what transpired. Josephus tells us what happened, how Jesus' prophecy was fulfilled. Titus had ordered that when the city was taken, the temple was to be spared. It was to stay standing. But Josephus writes this,

That building, however, God long ago had sentenced to the flames; but now in the revolution of the time periods, the fateful day had arrived, the tenth of the month (relating to our, about August), the very day on which it had previously been burned by the king of Babylon (almost six hundred years before). One of the soldiers, neither awaiting orders nor filled with horror of so dreaded an undertaking, but moved by some supernatural impulse, snatched a brand from the blazing timber and, hoisted up by one of his fellow soldiers, flung the fiery missile through a golden window. When the flame rose, a scream as poignant as the tragedy went up from the Jews. [Josephus continues,] While the sanctuary was burning, neither pity for age nor respect for rank was shown; on the contrary, children and old people, laity and priests alike were massacred.

So, Titus, who had hoped to spare the temple, once it was burning, gave orders for the entire city and the temple to be destroyed. Again, Josephus writes, "Caesar had ordered the whole city and the temple to be razed to the ground. All the rest of the wall encompassing the city was so completely leveled to the ground as to leave future visitors to the spot no ground for believing that it had ever been inhabited."

The temple itself and all of the structures that sat on top of that platform (the platform remained, but everything that had sat on top of the platform''''''0 was completely razed to the ground. And historians tell us that's because the Roman soldiers were eager to get into the cracks and crevices in the stones, trying to get the melted gold that might have been between them. J. Simons, an archaeologist, writes this, "If Christ's prophecy about the destruction of the Herodian temple 'not a stone of which was to remain in place' referred to the temple proper and to the entire block of buildings within the outer enclosure, no prophecy has been fulfilled more literally." Wow.

What are the lessons for us from this remarkable prophecy of our Lord? What do we learn? Well, there are several things that stand out. One is this prophecy, and its fulfillment, prove Jesus' deity. It demonstrated that He was in fact a true prophet. Here is yet another indication of the fact that He was a true prophet. And what had He said about Himself? That He and the Father were one. It validated all of His claims because He proved Himself once again, just as He had with the prophecy eventually of His own resurrection, to be a true prophet. And that meant that all of His claims to be God were true.

There's a second lesson for us and that is, in its context, this prophecy shows Jesus' judgment on a false religious system that took advantage of the poor, the disenfranchised, and even poor, defenseless widows. We saw it last time. God said, 'You put your hand on the orphans and widows, and I will strike you down.' And He fulfilled that promise. That Tuesday afternoon Jesus left the temple for the last time. He would never return. And as He left and His disciples marveled at its beauty, He pronounced its utter destruction. The story of that widow (you remember) and her gift was introduced with Jesus' condemnation of the leaders of the nation, and it's followed by Jesus' pronunciation of judgment on the temple.

Jesus was promising, as God promised in the Old Testament, that He would bring devastating judgment on Israel, its temple and its leaders because first century Judaism had become a false, works-based religion, but also because its leaders were taking advantage of the poor and widows. One commentator writes: "Herod, the disciples and Josephus might marvel at the temple, but Jesus declares it an abortive endeavor, the perversion of God's ordained purpose."

God had promised Solomon how He would respond if Israel were disobedient. Look at 1 Kings. When the first temple was built, God had said what would happen. First Kings 9:6. Here were, here were God's promises and His warnings when that temple was constructed. Verse 6,

"But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before … [them], and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss and say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?' And they will say, 'Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore the LORD has brought all this severity on them.'"

While Israel in the first century was not openly idolatrous, we discovered in what Jesus had to say in His attack of the leaders that they were nonetheless guilty of false religion. He said, "You make people a proselyte; and when you've done that, you've made them twice the (the) child of hell that you are." That was to the spiritual leaders of the nation. And so, God has brought what He promised. You can see it in these other texts there as well.

It brings to mind for me as Jesus walks out the eastern gate of the city, leaving the temple never to return, turns His back on it, pronounces His judgment on it – it reminds me of that scene in Ezekiel (you remember?), the scene where the "shekinah" glory of God picks up from the temple, leaves the temple compound and heads away from the city of Jerusalem. The glory has departed. This is part two. The glory has departed.

There's a third lesson for us from this story. Like the Old Testament prophets and their prophecy, Jesus' prophecy serves as an apologetic for when God finally destroys the nation. I've told you before that one of the reasons God raised up prophets before He allowed His people to be, to be overwhelmed and to be carried off captive was because in that time period, if you captured another nation, then you said it's because our gods are stronger than their gods. So, if they were to capture Israel, the nations would say it's because our god is stronger than Yahweh. And so, God, before it happened, announced it was going to happen, and it was going to happen at His direction as an apologetic for His own strength and wisdom and power.

When Jerusalem and the temple were eventually destroyed, the Christians in Rome (to whom Mark is writing his gospel), they would be shocked that God had allowed it. Remember now, Mark is writing his gospel before that happened, before 70 A.D. When it eventually happens, the Christians in Rome would have been shocked at that. And the pagans, including the Romans, would assume that it was because the gods of Rome were stronger than the God of Israel. Jesus wanted everybody to know that when the Romans came and they destroyed that place, it would not be because of the weakness or lack of power of Israel's God; instead, it was because of His power. The Romans and Titus were merely a puppet in His sovereign hands.

There's one last application, and this is wonderful for all of us sitting here in the twenty-first century enjoying the work of Christ. While the destruction of the temple was a judgment, the destruction of the temple also showed that the temple's work would soon be over. The purpose it had served would be done. You remember at Jesus' death the veil in that temple, that massive four-inch veil, that curtain that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies, was ripped in two from the top to the bottom, signifying that the way had been opened between God and the sinner. For a few decades after Jesus died and that veil was torn, they patched it up and put it back together and continued carrying on as they always had. For a few decades, Jesus' followers would continue to frequent the temple in Jerusalem. But after the book of Hebrews had been written and the temple had been completely destroyed, it was clear that the temple's work was done. It was over. All that it signified had been fulfilled in a person, our Lord Jesus Christ.

That's what the writer of Hebrews says. Look at Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9:1, "Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary." And he talks about the tabernacle and, of course, later these things were fulfilled in the temple. Verse 11,

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternl redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who had been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?...

Therefore, we have a new covenant, and we enter (in, the writer of Hebrews says) into God's presence through the veil which is (what?) the body of Jesus.

He is the veil, and we enter into God's presence through Him. So, the temple would be destroyed in an act of judgment but, at the same time, it would be destroyed because it was no longer needed. Our temple is Jesus Christ. Our priest is Jesus Christ. And He's the One by whom we enter into the very presence of God Himself. What a remarkable prophecy.

Let's pray together.

Father, we are amazed at Your wisdom and at Your power that You could, through Your Son, prophesy this event four years before it happened. And it came to pass just as You said it would – that You held the Romans and Vespasian and Titus and all of its armies in Your hand as a puppet to do what You wanted to do at the time You chose.

But Father, we thank You most of all for the wonderful promise that was in the destruction of that temple to us – that all that it pictured was fulfilled for us in a person. We bless You and thank You for our great High Priest, for the veil that is Christ through whom we enter Your presence, and for Your perfect, spotless Lamb offered as our once-for-all sacrifice. O God, we thank You that someday we will be in Your presence, worshiping You when You are the temple.

We bless you in Jesus' name. Amen.