It was on this day, in the year 70 AD, that the walls of the upper city of Jerusalem were battered down by the Romans, thus completing the conquest of Jerusalem and Judea. On that day, all Jewish resistance to the Romans came to an end. In this event, we see the culmination of a process that began a generation earlier. Approximately forty years before, Yeshua’s disciples called His attention to the magnificence of the city of Jerusalem and, more specifically, the beautiful buildings of the Temple:
And as some spoke of the Temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, He said, “As for these things which you behold, the days will come when there will not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.” (Luke 21:5-6)
Within this prophecy of Jerusalem’s destruction is implied the reason for its destruction: things we hold dear and, very often, revere must be torn down because we allowed them to take the place of the only One whom we should revere. Sometimes it becomes necessary for God to tear down the things that are important to us because we loose focus of what’s most important, namely Him and His purposes. Those temporal things we focus on, too often, become our idols whether they be a lifestyle, a job or another person in our life. Sometimes those things can be God-related but without God as the focus, in other words, our church or synagogue, and even a ministry.
God’s people have been known to elevate those things that He has given us for our benefit as objects of worship, (e.g. the brazen serpent). Where Jerusalem and the Temple are concerned, we understand that God set His name upon Jerusalem and He ordained the building of His house on Mount Moriah as the place where He would meet with His people. But in time, His people began to worship the House as much as they worshiped the One who resided in the House. They began to turn what He had given them into an idol of sorts and, so, He allowed it to be destroyed. In my own life, there have been times when God has corrected me and provoked me to refocus on what’s important by tearing down what I was trying to build up. We may not want to admit it but working in the ministry can become a distraction. If we’re not careful, we can get so busy with the ministry that we forget about why we’re doing these things and who we’re doing them for.
There are many different ways this can apply to our lives and, perhaps, you are thinking of something in your own situation where this applies. The bottom line is this: we can’t ignore the reason He puts people and situations in our lives — it’s to serve His purpose and advance His Kingdom. It was never intended that we allow what He blesses us with to become self-serving. So maybe its time to consider our lives and determine if we have allowed certain things in our lives to replace Him. Better that we put them in their proper place before He has to tear them down.
Shalom.
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