Mark 13:2

‘And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There shall not be left here one stone on another that will not be thrown down.”

Jesus dismissed the magnificence of the Temple with a few words. Like Jeremiah before Him (Jeremiah 7:1; Jeremiah 26:1; compare Micah 3:10) He had recognised that the Temple could no longer be accepted as viable because of the behaviour and attitudes of the religious leaders and those who followed them. They could not be allowed to go on. He had pronounced woes on Chorazin and Bethsaida (Matthew 11:21; Luke 10:13). How much more was the Temple deserving of woe. And He had already made it clear in His actions with the fig tree, and within the Temple itself, that it was rejected by God. Only one thing could be done with ‘a brigand's cave' like this. It had to be visited and destroyed. Compare how He had elsewhere already declared the desolation of Jerusalem's ‘house' (Matthew 23:38).

The picture Jesus drew was one of total desolation. ‘Not one stone upon another'. While this was hyperbolic and was not intended to be taken absolutely literally, it was certainly intended to be a description of complete devastation, and today there is not a trace of that great building apart from a few remnants of the outer walls and what we occasionally dig up. But the thought must have been appalling to the disciples, and almost considered impossible, that is, if they could even begin to take it in at all. However, Jesus, Who had caused the fig tree to wither, had also by His words spoken to the fig tree basically prayed for this mountain to be ‘cast into the sea', that is, to be judged and destroyed. (It is worthy of note to remember that this was written down well before the destruction occurred). Indeed the destruction of city and sanctuary after Messiah was cut off was prophetically necessary, as God's judgment on them, in order to fulfil Scripture (Daniel 9:26).

The Temple had failed in its function, which was in any case approaching its end. Instead of lifting the nation up to God it had become to most of them a guarantee of their worldly security, leaving them to carry on as they liked. They thought that God would not allow the destruction of His house (even in its last moments they could not believe that God would not intervene, a belief which resulted in extreme fanaticism). So the Chief Priests were able to sit tight in their complacency, and even the disciples were impressed by its seeming permanence. But once Jesus had offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin its sacrificial function would in fact have ceased to have significance. Its end was therefore inevitable. By then it would have become simply a hindrance. ‘This mountain' had to be got rid of that men may worship God in Spirit and in truth (John 4:20).