One of the most significant dates in world history is 70 AD. In that year the Roman army destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and much of the city. The events surrounding the siege and destruction of Jerusalem are recorded most fully by Josephus in his book The Jewish War. While the history of the Jewish rebellion and its defeat is fascinating in and of itself, the destruction of the temple has significance that still impacts us today.
First, the destruction of the temple is the final nail in the coffin of Judaism. While the Mosaic Law and the Jewish religion as such technically came to a close at the death of Jesus, there was somewhat of a transition period in which Christians still interacted with the temple. That is why, for example, we read of Paul going to the temple as part of a vow (Acts 21). With the destruction of the temple, this transition period is brought to a permanent close. There is no more temple, no more animal sacrifice. The shadows are done away with because the true form has come. As if to make this even more clear, God in His providence allowed the Muslims to build a Mosque (The Dome of the Rock) on the temple mount, so far preventing any new temple to be built.
Second, the destruction of the temple is an example of fulfilled prophecy. Jesus, in his Olivet Discourse (Matt 24–25, Mark 13, Luke 21) speaks clearly about the pending destruction of Jerusalem. He mentions specifically that it would happen within one generation (i.e., about 40 years) and that “there will not be left here one stone upon another” (Matt 24:2). Both of these things happened: the temple was destroyed in 70 AD and the temple was completely demolished; the elevated plateau on which the temple stood was wiped clean. Now, some people wonder about the large rocks at the temple mount they see in pictures, commonly called the Wailing Wall. Those rocks are not part of the temple complex itself, but are part of a retaining wall at the bottom of the plateau on which the temple complex sat. Not only did Jesus foretell the destruction of the temple, but He warned His disciples to flee Jerusalem as soon as the signs pointed to the coming destruction. While difficult to prove with certainty, the historical tradition tells of the Christians in Jerusalem fleeing North to safety in Pella before Jerusalem was put under siege by the Romans.
Finally, and related to the point above, the destruction of Jerusalem is a key component of the debate over Jesus’s deity and the date of the New Testament’s writing. Skeptics point to Jesus’s prophetic words and argue as follows: “There is no such thing as prophecy; the gospels record Jesus speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem; therefore, the gospels must have been written after 70 AD.” Christians, on the other hand, accept the historical accuracy of the gospels, including the accuracy and historicity of Jesus’s words in the Olivet Discourse. We can look at Jesus’s words and see that what He declared would happen did indeed come true. He was a prophet, and more than a prophet. The fact that the New Testament never mentions the destruction of Jerusalem – not even to say, “This fulfills Jesus’s words” – is a good indicator that the entire New Testament was written before 70 AD and that Jesus’s words are genuine, not put into His mouth after the fact. Ultimately, it comes down to presupposition. If you begin with the assumption that there is no God and therefore no prophecy, then you must have the words of the Olivet Discourse written after 70 AD and put into Jesus’s mouth after the fact. If, on the other hand, you hold open the possibility of God and prophecy, then 70 AD is one more piece of evidence that Jesus is the Son of God and was able to foretell events that would occur decades later.
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