The Fall of Jerusalem Foretold

S. Mark xiii. 1–13

Our Lord’s last words of threatening to the rulers of the people, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate,” seem to have taken the disciples by surprise, and made a deep impression upon their minds. Built as the Temple was, it is hardly to be wondered at that they should have been staggered

280 The Fall of by the bare thought of its overthrow. As they were passing out of its courts with the sentence ringing in their ears, all its splendour and magnificence kindled their admiration afresh; and as it were to remind Him of the hard thing of which He had just spoken, they begged Him to look at the building whose impending ruin He had just foretold. There were the porches and corridors and columns of unrivalled magnificence, its different parts vying with each other in beauty and splendour. Indeed, such was the grandeur of the whole that the Rabbis used to say that a man did not know what a fine building was till he had seen the Temple of Herod. There were the huge blocks of marble, quarried on a scale of magnitude never equalled in the history of architecture, and placed in position by a skill that puts to shame even the boasted mechanics of the nineteenth century; and besides all these, there lay around them fresh materials for use, for the work of building was still in progress. Could it be that the fruit of all that labour was about to be destroyed, that the vast preparations with which they were still busied would be thus prematurely stopped?

There was no hesitation in our Lord’s reply. It mattered nothing that all the skill and labour of the world had been concentrated on its building; its purpose had been contravened, its use abused, and nothing could stay the avenging hand. “There shall not be left,” He said, “one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.” How that prediction was fulfilled, history tells us. When Jerusalem was destroyed, the walls were razed to the ground, and even the foundations rooted up. The Jews themselves have recorded how Turnus Rufus, the General whom Titus left to complete his work, “ploughed up the Temple and places about it.” And Gentile writers also testify how three centuries later, in the reign of the Apostate Julian, a great effort was made to defy the ancient prediction and rebuild the Temple. Whether it be only a rhetoric figure to express the unsurmountable difficulties the builders experienced, or a fact of actual occurrence, must always appear somewhat uncertain, but it is said that the attempts to lay those gigantic stones upon their base again, were defeated by an earthquake and lightning, and globes of fire issuing from the foundations, which killed many of the workmen. And though here and there some portions of the walls still remain, many modern writers have narrated how our Lord’s words have literally come to pass, and every trace of building, in the area on which the prophecy was delivered, has entirely disappeared.

The answer of their Master silenced the Apostles. Leaving the Temple by the Golden Gate, they descended together into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and turned up the slopes of Olivet on their way to Bethany. It is said that there is a bend in the road where the view of the Temple is exceptionally grand. It was doubtless at that spot that they sat down to rest. With their minds full of the dark forebodings, the four who were with Him — and we notice that Andrew is for once admitted to the inner circle of companionship — broke the silence that must have followed upon that terrible prediction, and asked, “When shall these things be?” The question was not directly answered, but Jesus gave them certain premonitory signs to prepare them for the event.

They had asked Him to tell them, not only wnen the Temple would be destroyed, but when the end of the world would come; and we can only understand what follows aright, by remembering the twofold object which was before His eyes. The language of His answer has for the most part both a primary and a secondary application; but at the same time some things of which He speaks can be appropriated literally only to one of the two events in view, either the destruction of Jerusalem or the dissolution of the world.

He begins by foretelling a succession of troubles and disasters — agitations caused by religious fanatics, widespread wars, clashing of nationalities, earthquakes and famine. All of these happened as never before within the next generation.

And such convulsions and revolutions as they were to witness He told them they must regard as “the beginnings of sorrows.” We lose a great deal in our translation by not characterising, as the original does, the nature of the “sorrows.” They were the pains as of a woman in travail; the birth-pangs which should issue in the regeneration of the world; x and as such they were in a still higher sense the commencement of that labour, out of which, at the consummation of the ages, the new heavens and the new earth will be born.

From these premonitory warnings of a general character, our Lord proceeds to enumerate those which were more strictly personal. For almost 2 all that follows refers immediately to the Twelve. Before the destruction of Jerusalem all the Apostles except S. John had died. On every one hardship and cruelty, injustice and persecution, had done their worst, and ten of them had crowned a life of suffering with martyrdom; for “Apostle and Martyr” is the title claimed by all in the Calendar of the Church.

The predictions began to be fulfilled when Herod Agrippa, thirteen years later, laid hands upon James, the son of Zabdai, and killed him with the sword. The full tale was told when his namesake James, whom they called the Just, was thrown from the gable of the Temple, and beaten to death by the people. “Immediately after this,” the historian adds, “Vespasian invaded and took Judaea.” We know what supernatural strength they had given to them to bear their trials; and they were led to expect it when Jesus told them not to provide for these terrible contingencies in the ordinary way. He gave them no promise that by the Divine help they should convince the gainsayers, or obtain release for themselves, but that they should be able firmly and fearlessly to bear witness against them.

Read the marvellous defence of S. Stephen when arraigned before the Sanhedrim. His testimony awoke such displeasure and resentment that they rose in a body and cast him out of the city. Can we doubt that it was in fulfilment of this prediction that the Holy Spirit put into his mouth those daring words as “a testimony against them,” “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?”

Or listen to S. Paul’s vindication of the faith before Felix, and that piercing argument for “righteousness and temperance and judgment to come,” which the Governor positively trembled to hear, and the conviction is forced upon us that he spoke under the same promised inspiration.

In the midst of all these grave predictions our Lord assured them that nevertheless before the end “the gospel must first be published among all nations.” Doubtless this will only receive its complete accomplishment in the secondary application of the prophecy, but we hardly realise how near it was to fulfilment before the destruction of Jerusalem. “The Acts of the Apostles” fill us with amazement at the rapid progress of Christianity in Europe and Asia under the teaching of two of them. What should we not learn if the whole Twelve had found chroniclers to record their labours? Scattered traditions, with more or less of certainty, show at least this, that missionary work was carried on throughout the then known world. There is little doubt that S. Thomas established the Church in Parthia and on the shores of India, that S. Andrew penetrated far into Russia, that Bartholomew preached in Arabia and among the fire-worshippers of Persia, and it has been said that even Central Africa, which the present generation burns to win back to Christ, was the scene of S. Matthew’s labours eighteen centuries ago. S. Paul’s appeal to “the hope of the gospel which was preached to every creature which is under heaven,” though doubtless written with Oriental exaggeration, testifies to a widespread diffusion of the truth.

The paragraph closes with the assurance, “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” It was not of temporary deliverance from the impending calamities at Jerusalem that Christ spoke; for the Apostles had perished before that catastrophe came. It was eternal salvation, to be won by all who remained firm to their profession for Christ’s sake. It was the promise that “by their endurance they should gain x their lives,” in the highest sense, that they should survive these earthly shocks and live on through the ages of eternity; for “if we suffer we shall also reign with Him;” and as He said to the Church of Smyrna, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”

Note: It seems almost incredible as we read the descriptions in Josephus: “The Temple was built of stones that were white and strong, and each of their length was 25 cubits, their height was 8, and their breadth 12.” He tells us that as many as 18,000 workmen were employed in the building. — Antiq. xx. 9- 7. - It was begun about 20 B.C., and finished about 65 A.D. — Ibid.

Note: Many things are added by Gregory Nazianzen in his Invective against Julian to heighten the effect. Cyril, however, who was Bishop of Jerusalem at the time, makes no mention of it. The miraculous nature of the interruption is defended by Warbuiton. For further particulars cf. Milman, Hist, of the Jews, in loco. 282 The Fall of

Note: The destruction of Jerusalem was the removal of a great hindrance in the progress of Christianity. For this reason it is characterised as the coming of Christ’s kingdom. — S. Matt. xvi. 28; cf. p. 186.

Note: There is no trace in the history of the Apostles of that strife of creeds which leads” brother to betray brother to death” (v. 12).

Note: Josephus, Antiq. xx. 9, 1, gives a somewhat different account of his death, attributing it to the action of Ananus, by stoning before the Sanhedrim; but that of Hegesippus is confirmed by Epiphanius.

Note: Such hyperbolical expressions are common in the Old Testament, and by no means rare in the New; cf. S. John xxi. 25; S. Matt. iv. 8; Acts ii. 5.

Note: The A.V. “In your patience possess ye your souls” is now abandoned. There is some doubt whether the right reading be KT^aaade, acquire ye, or KT-qaeade, ye shall acquire.