Mark 13:1–2: “Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!’ And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.'”

February 8th, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Peter, James, John, and Andrew approached Jesus later to ask more about His prediction of the coming destruction of the temple, which had been built by Herod. It seemed incredible to them that it could ever be destroyed. Jesus made a prediction that was so exact and astounding, it would forever mark Him as either a true or false prophet.

We are blessed to live in a time when anyone who can scrape together the money, can jump on a plane and see the ruins of ancient buildings, ruins that are even older than this temple Jesus spoke of. If you go to Athens, Greece, you can go inside the ancient Parthenon that still stands on the Acropolis. You can look down from Mars Hill and see the temple of Jupiter still standing, which is much older but less impressive than the Parthenon. They still stand as a testament to the architectural genius behind their construction. Italy, Egypt, and even Israel itself, boast structures that are older than the temple of Herod. So why can’t we find a trace of this temple Herod built as a monument to himself? Because less than 40 years after Jesus’ prediction, the Roman general, Titus, took the city and destroyed it.

According to the ancient historian Josephus, a single torch was accidentally dropped in one of the temple buildings, and the flames quickly spread, engulfing the entire temple. The fire was so hot that the overlaid gold and silver began to melt, and the soldiers watched as millions of dollars worth of gold and silver melted and flowed down between the stones. Even before the fire completely burned out, the soldiers were prying the stones apart to get to the precious metals between the stones. Precisely as Jesus said, “Not one stone [was] left upon another.” The absolute precision of Jesus prediction should be very encouraging to us. If the Savior was right about this specific and verifiable incident, then we can conclude that everything else He has said and promised is also true.

“LORD, we believe and trust Your every word.”