Not One Stone

Mark 13:1-3 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” 2 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down.”
 
ABOUT 40 years after Jesus prophesied, “Not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down.” Rome completely destroyed Jerusalem. Why would God allow his house to be so destroyed?
    The LORD destroyed the city and the temple because the Jews’ faith in God had crumbled. The Jews had killed his Son. Jerusalem’s religious authorities would not repent. As we’ve noted, they lived to worship themselves, putting any true worship under the cloak of legalistic demands and self-glory.
    God had destroyed the first temple in 586 BC because of his people’s unbelief and idolatrous worship. The LORD cleansed his house a second time for essentially the same reason. God’s people rejected his New Covenant of faith in the Son of God. God, then, rejected them.
    Several prophets warned of the Jews fall from grace. Among them is Zechariah 11:8 “In one month I got rid of the three shepherds. The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them.” The three shepherds are the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin and the priesthood. These men appointed to shepherd Israel toward God had led Israel to destruction. This was the end of the Jewish ruling structure. You can also say it is the end of Israel as God’s nation until Jesus will come again. Yes, Israel exists as a political nation now. But it is not God’s house until the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven (Revelation 21). How grieved the LORD must be to have watched his people continually turn from him. They had rejected God’s lessons from the path and refused to learn the right way toward a future joy with God Almighty. The Father in heaven who so loves the world mourns for his people: Luke 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”
    As we consider God’s judgment on his temple, it is good to reflect on the remarkable truth of the Christian life. Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. Saved in Jesus’ redeeming blood, God has done a remarkable work to build his house in you. This is a great responsibility to know the Sovereign God has chosen you and come to dwell within you!
    We have the opportunity to do what the Jews did not do – to have a heart-love for the God who dwells among us. This is his blessing. May it be your joy.