Matthew 24:1 Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 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.”
Ezekiel 8:6 And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations.”
Jeremiah 6:8 Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I turn from you in disgust, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.”
1 Kings 9:7-8 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’
Jeremiah 26:18 “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah: ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “‘Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
Ezekiel 7:22 I will turn my face from them, and they shall profane my treasured place. Robbers shall enter and profane it.
2 Peter 3:11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
Josephus says that “Cesar gave orders that they should now demolish the whole city and temple, except the three towers Phaselus, Hippicus, and Mariamne, and a part of the western wall; but all the rest was laid so completely even with the ground, by those who dug it up from the foundation, that there was nothing left to make those who came thither believe that it had ever been inhabited.”
It is said that for eight whole years together he kept 10,000 men a-work about it; and that for magnificence and stateliness, it exceeded Solomon’s temple.” The Jewish historian Josephus said that the temple was covered with gold plates, and when the sun shone on them it was blinding to look at. Where there was no gold, there were blocks of marble of such a pure white that from a distance strangers thought there was snow on the temple.
Christ foretells the utter ruin and destruction coming upon the temple. A believing foresight of the defacing of all worldly glory, will help to keep us from admiring it, and overvaluing it. The most beautiful body soon will be food for worms, and the most magnificent building a ruinous heap. See ye not all these things? It will do us good so to see them as to see through them, and see to the end of them. Our Lord having gone with his disciples to the Mount of Olives, he set before them the order of the times concerning the Jews, till the destruction of Jerusalem; and as to men in general till the end of the world. (Henry)
Man will try hard to build beautiful righteous structures of themselves. They adorn the outside with nothing but the observed best so that when seen or heard of, the observer of such will be impressed by the appearance given. What is inside of such a structure? How secure is it? The temple was built with large base stones so large it is hard for use even today to know how they were laid, let alone how they could be destroyed. How could such a fortress of strength and beauty come to ruin as if it had never been there? Men will build observable righteousness but their inner being lacks the very thing (righteousness) they are trying to get others to see and admire. One stone after another they apply self-reliance on what they are building. They can build this observable structure with generosity, good works, and acts of kindness, but on the inside, this is lacking grace, mercy, and love for both God and others. It is solely being built to acquire self-worth before man and God. Though a person, as such, may have the observed appearance of righteousness by saying and doing things observed, it is within the heart and mind where God sees the thoughts and intents of each living soul.
Let our righteous structure be built on nothing less and nothing more than the blood of Jesus Christ and His atonement for our sin. Let whatever is observed of our lives by others be for the glory and honor of Him alone.