Luke 21:5-7 (NIV) Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”
“Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”
The temple in Jerusalem was a glorious thing to behold. When it was first built by the returning exiles, it was pretty humble, without a lot of beautiful decorations. And over the centuries since then, it had been contaminated and defiled when the Greeks took control of it, sacrificed pigs on the altar, and filled the courtyard with idols.
But Herod the Great had begun to rebuild it in the latter part of his reign, adorning the temple itself with gold leaf and jewels, expanding the area around the temple by shoring up the sides of the hill on which it stood, and building the courtyards around the temple itself. The buildings were of pale stones that reflected the sunlight and were visible for miles. The stones were massive, weighing many tons. The whole place was built to impress, and impress it did!
The disciples were oohing and aahing about the beauty and spectacle of the building and courtyards when Jesus interrupted them with a horrendous prophecy: the whole temple, all of the massive stones, would soon be utterly destroyed, to the point that not one stone would be left standing on another.
Seeing how huge the stones were, and how well the temple and courts were constructed, this seemed impossible to the disciples. But they had been around Jesus long enough to know that He didn’t say things like that lightly. If He said that the temple would one day be destroyed, it surely would be. So their questions were not about how, but about when this would happen, and about the signs that they should look for so that they would know that the destruction was coming, and so that they could flee before it happened.
In a very real sense, Jesus’ prophecy involved much more than the temple buildings. When the city fell and the temple was utterly destroyed in AD 70, it would signify the destruction and dispersal of those that God had chosen to be His people, but who refused to accept Jesus and His final revelation of Him, His character, and His love. Even though Judaism looked as impervious and indestructible as the temple, the Jewish people would be scattered and in disarray, “not one stone left on another,” and it would be centuries before they began to recover and be able to effectively rebuild themselves, much like the city itself.
Father, it is easy for us to look at our own Christian structures and traditions, believing them to be indestructible, able to stand forever. But nothing is indestructible to You. If we get lax in our devotion and our obedience, if we become fruitless trees or sterile sheep by refusing to work to grow Your kingdom, we too can be uprooted and thrown down, completely laid waste. Help us to be faithful to You in every way, and to never place our security in buildings or structures, or traditions, but only in You. Amen.