Church History Teaching: Destruction of the Temple 

Introduction 

“We learn history not in order to know how to behave or how to succeed, but to know who we are.” (Kolakoski) 

In our study of Church History, Christians can sometimes overlook the events of the Jewish Wars and the Destruction of the Temple in AD 70 because the primary actors and disputes in the drama were Jewish and Roman ones, not Christian ones.

Christians in this era were persecuted by both Jews and Romans. If the Christian thinks about the Jewish Wars at all, perhaps it is only with the same mindset that I have when I watch the Yankees and the Redsox play: can’t they both lose? 

Why then should we care? Well, because in a way, the destruction of Jerusalem is a Biblical event. Even though it happens just “off stage” from recorded Biblical history, nonetheless it was prophesied by Jesus; it was expected and warned about in the Apostilic writings; and it had profound spiritual and theological consequences for Jews, Christians, and Muslims that exist even today. 

In this morning’s talk I hope to communicate three things: 

1. The facts of the Jewish Wars and the Destruction of the Temple 

2. The significance of the Jewish Wars and the Destruction of the Temple in understanding our Bibles

3. The significance of of the Jewish Wars and the Destruction of the Temple in understanding Rabbinical Judaism 

The Facts

1. What and When 
   1. First Jewish War (AD 66 - 73) 
      1. Jerusalem riots of 66 
      2. Masada 
      3. Dead Sea Scrolls 
   2. Siege of Jerusalem (five months in AD 70) 
      1. The first two walls are quickly breached 
      2. The third and final wall is kept
      3. Murder, famine, and cannibalism ensue. 
         1. It is difficult to overstate the misery and destruction that happen here. This is very much a Matthew 24:22 kind of event (“If days had not been cut no human benign would be saved.”) 
   3. Destruction of the Temple (Tisha B’Av) 
   4. Second Jewish War (132)
      1. Bar Kokhba is the Jewish hero. 
      2. Hadrian is the Roman Emperor 
      3. Christians finally and definitely split with Judaism given the messianic features of Bar Kokhba. 
2. Who
   1. Julio-Claudian Dynasty 
      1. Nero dies in 68
   2. Flavian Dynasty (69 - 96) 
      1. Titus 
      2. This is when the Colosseum in Rome is built
   3. Josephus: AD 37 - 100
      1. Moderate (even traitorous to the Jews) 
      2. Very important. Most of what we know, we know from him. 
      3. He was an actual participant and eye witness to these events.
   4. Regular estimated population of 200,000 swelled massively right before the Passover holy day. 1.1 million were killed (Josephus’ number…scholars dispute).

Josephus, The Jewish War

“Before the siege portents had appeared, foretelling impending devastation, but the Jews had disregarded these warnings of God. A star resembling a sword hung over the city, and also a comet which lasted a year. And just before the revolt, when the people were coming together for the feast of Unleavened Bread, a bright light shone around the altar during the night and brightened the sanctuary for half an hour…” W VI, 300 (pg. 362). 

“Now conquerors of the city wall, the Romans planted their standards on the towers in jubilation over their victory…Pouring into the streets, they massacred everyone they found, burning houses with all who taken shelter in them. So great was the slaughter that in many places the flames were put out by streams of blood. Toward evening the butchery ceased, but all night the fires spread, and when dawn broke, all Jerusalem was in flames…Thus Jerusalem was taken in the second year of Vespasian’s reign. It had been captured five times before, and was not for the second time destroyed. Shishak, king of Egypt, Antiochus, Pompey, and the Sossius with Herod had taken the city but preserved it. Before then it had been laid waste by the king of Babylon, 1,486 years and six months from its foundation. Its original founder was a prince of Canaan, called Melchizedek, or “Righteous King,” for such, indeed he was. He was the first priest of God, and the first to build the temple. So ended the siege of Jerusalem.” (367) 

The significance of the Jewish Wars and the Destruction of the Temple in understanding our Bibles

• How many prophecies made in the Bible are fulfilled within the Bible? Lots, right?
• How many prophecies made in the Bible are yet to be filled? Lots, right? (New Heavens and New Earth anyone?)
• How many prophecies made in the Bible have already been fulfilled outside of the Bible? This one. 

AD 70 fits into the theological meaning of the new administration of the covenant and it fits into the practical warnings of judgment that fill the New Testament. 

The goal here is not to minimize or reduce our expectation of the Last Day, but to elevate in our Biblical imagination just how dramatic the time of the generation following Christ’s ascension really was. Strengthen your faith and confidence in Jesus’ words and the historical reality of our true and living faith. 

When a deer is shot it can often continue running for a long time. It can even be technically “dead” and its legs keep running until it finally falls down. The temple system was a little like that. At Jesus’ death and resurrection, the temple and the entire sacrificial system was rendered obsolete. Remember John 2:19, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The moment Jesus rose from the dead, the temple system became spiritually dead. But it didn’t become physically dead for another generation. The deer crashed in AD 70 even though it was dead in AD 33. 

The Theological Importance of the Destruction of the Temple

1. The Gospels Explicitly Record the Inauguration of the new Administration under Christ
2. The Gospels Foreshadow the Resignation of the old Administration under Moses
   1. The destruction of the temple mirrors the glories of its inaugurations in 2 Chron. 
3. Both the Inauguration and the Resignation were equally necessary. The destruction of the temple and the resurrection of Christ are equally historical events that speak to the same spiritual reality. 
4. Christ will have no rival. Christ is the only temple. For Christ to be glorified required the humiliation of the old order. 

How Understanding the Destruction of the Temple Helps Us Understand the NT’s Expectation of Judgment

Look at the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and 25, but also Matt 16:27 and the drum beat of “last day” admonitions in the Apostilic writings. In these passages we see the usual flattening effect of prophecies: prophecies that are in fact far from one another appear close to each other. In Jesus’s prophecies we see predictions of destruction and predictions of glory. My goal is not to steal glory from the Second Coming but to add glory to what happened in that cataclysmic time from the Annunciation to AD 70. The glory of God revealed in history is not a zero-sum game where to add a kind of glory to the destruction of the temple is to take glory from his return. One of my interpretational maxims is that the writers of scripture weren’t stupid. If they are speaking to the immediate audience in terms of certain and extreme “end times” then I think we should take them at their word. They spoke to their immediate audience of events that concerned the events of AD 70 while those same words speak to us the events of the second coming, that are yet to come 

In all apocalyptic writing, there are descriptions of destruction and descriptions of glory. The ultimate destruction and ultimate glory will come at the second coming, but the period from the annunciation to the temple’s destruction is also full of both in a way that has never before or sense occurred in history. Angels and life are everywhere; death and demons are everywhere. 

1. What destruction? (Words in Red)
   1. Persecution and Preservation of Christians 
      1. Slaughter of the innocents 
      2. Letters to the churches of Asia in Revelation to “endure” 
      3. Christians were collateral damage in the destruction of Jerusalem. Persecution from Rome was real and would get worse, but when we are talking about The Jewish Wars we’re talking about Rome versus Judea. Early persecution came from the Jews; later persecution came from the Romans. 
   2. Temporal judgment on Jews (Tisha B’Av) and Romans (Pompeii in AD 79) 
      1. This is where the main weight of the Jewish Wars falls. 
   3. Temple is destroyed (spiritually and physically) 
      1. John 2:19 
      2. Matt 24
   4. Final judgment 
      1. Matt 24 - 25
      2. 2 Thes. 1
2. What glory? (Words in Blue) 
   1. Christ’s Ministry 
      1. Annunciation 
      2. Birth
      3. Presentation 
      4. Baptism
      5. Miracles
      6. Transfiguration
         1. Matt 17 and 2 Peter 1:16-17
   2. Christ Resurrection and Ascension
      1. Matthew 28:2 (earthquake and angels) 
   3. Pentecost 
      1. Joel 2 / Acts 2 
      2. Miracles of the apostles 
   4. Present Rulership 
      1. Stephen’s vision of the Son of Man 
   5. Last Day Return 

Understanding Judaism with AD 70 in Mind

In preparing for this talk I borrowed “A History of Judaism” from the library. The table of contents divides the history of Judaism essentially into two eras: 2000 BC to 70 AD; and 70 AD onward. It functions like the Civil War in its history. 

Think back to your SAT logic games. X is to Y what A is to B. Apples are to fruit what carrots are to vegetables. How about this one: Mormonism is to Christianity what Christianity is to Judaism? That’s how we can sometimes think. But really its the other way around. Mormonism is more like Rabbinical Judaism. It’s a new thing. A new book. 

The last two thousand years of Judaism is not the OT religion that never got the gospel software update. Judaism, after the fall of the temple, is a NEW religion. It was they who took the exit ramp from the OT. Christianity stayed on the highway. 

1. Rabbinical Judaism 
   1. After the destruction of the temple only Pharisaism and Christianity survived as possible choices for Jews. The Sadducees and Esseenes and Zealots and Samaritans all disappear. 
   2. Synagogues in the Second Temple period were used for Torah reading and study and debate (see Mark 1:21). After AD 70, the synagogues became liturgical places of worship. 
   3. Talmud was the “Oral Torah” that Moses supposedly received on Sinai but which had never been written down until the destruction of the temple. Only the Pharisees considered the Oral Torah to be authoritative prior to the destruction of the temple. 
   4. Prayer replaces Sacrifice 
   5. Rabbis took the place of priests 
2. Think about the significance of the Dome of the Rock occupying the temple mount? Even now, in 2023, God prevent the rebuilding of the temple. 
3. Romans 11 and the evil of Anti-Semitism

A Collection of Apocalyptic Scriptures Central to the NT’s Understanding of AD 70 and Christ’s Second Coming. 

In these passages we have three different things going on: (1) Predictions of glory (in blue); (2) Predictions of destruction (in red); and predictions of timing (in bold). Read these and think about how in any given category, there was partial fulfillment in AD 70 and ultimate fulfillment yet to occur. 

Daniel 7:13. I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. 

Acts 2. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor and smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 

John 2:19. Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. 

Mathew 16:27-17:2 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father,and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 

Matthew 24

Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” 3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, 18 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 19 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 20 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22 And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand. 26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. 29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 34 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 

Acts 7:55-56. But [Stephen], full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 

Hebrews 1:1-4. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

1 Peter 4:7. The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

2 Peter 3:1-14. This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,[a] not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.

James 5:7. Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-5. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 

1 Thessalonians 1:5-10. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— 6 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from[b] the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12. Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Josephus, The Jewish War

Before the siege portents had appeared, foretelling impending devastation, but the Jews had disregarded these warnings of God. A star resembling a sword hung over the city, and also a comet which lasted a year. And just before the revolt, when the people were coming together for the feast of Unleavened Bread, a bright light shone around the altar during the night and brightened the sanctuary for half an hour…” W VI, 300 (pg. 362). 

Now conquerors of the city wall, the Romans planted their standards on the towers in jubilation over their victory…Pouring into the streets, they massacred everyone they found, burning houses with all who taken shelter in them. So great was the slaughter that in many places the flames were put out by streams of blood. Toward evening the butchery ceased, but all night the fires spread, and when dawn broke, all Jerusalem was in flames…Thus Jerusalem was taken in the second year of Vespasian’s reign. It had been captured five times before, and was not for the second time destroyed. Shishak, king of Egypt, Antiochus, Pompey, and the Sossius with Herod had taken the city but preserved it. Before then it had been laid waste by the king of Babylon, 1,486 years and six months from its foundation. Its original founder was a prince of Canaan, called Melchizedek, or “Righteous King,” for such, indeed he was. He was the first priest of God, and the first to build the temple. So ended the siege of Jerusalem. (367)