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“And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, He [the Lord Jesus] said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Luke 21:5-6).
The temple built by Herod the Great was very beautiful and had taken forty-six years to construct. During His time on this earth, the Lord Jesus honored it as the house of God, but told the disciples that eventually it would be totally demolished. This happened when the Roman general Titus attacked Jerusalem about 70 A.D. Why did God allow this to happen?
It was because a beautiful building could not make up for a lack of reality by those who went there. Sadly, the Jews did not recognize the Lord Jesus as their Messiah, and insisted that He be crucified. Then those same Jews resisted the preaching of the gospel by the apostles and others, and persecuted them. Finally, the Lord allowed their temple to be destroyed, and then later the whole city of Jerusalem was destroyed about 135 A.D. God wants inward reality in our hearts, not beautiful buildings.
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