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Mark 13:2

²And Jesus said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down."

Jesus was teaching in the temple during the week that He would be arrested. As they left the temple, the disciples were marveling at the stones from which it was made. The temple was an architectural wonder. Enormous cut stones made up its foundation, some of which can still be seen in the Rabbi's Tunnel. The upper structure on the southern end was sometimes referred to as the forest of columns, or the Royal Stoa. It was a colonnade with a roof above. Its marble columns, four across and forty in length, were so huge it would take three men to reach around the circumference of one. Josephus wrote that this structure was "more worthy of mention than any other under the sun."

When Jesus said it will all be thrown down, the disciples must have been shocked. Yet Jesus was much more than a prophet. His prophecy would come to pass in AD 70.

In a way, we could say that any structure in the world will eventually be thrown down. Kingdoms rise and fall. Humans are violent in taking what belongs to others. Our houses grow old and someone tears them down to make way for something new. To walk through the rubble of a mound in Israel and see the layers of one period of occupation after another is instructive. How temporal are the works of human hands! We can be certain they will all be thrown down.

Later in the same week, Jesus would do something with His hands that would ring throughout eternity. In a great act of love, He would lie down upon a wooden cross and allow His hands to be nailed to it. That cross would be the altar upon which He would die for the sins of the world. Now our hands and feet can do something eternal. We can take His gospel and the love He puts in our hearts to the ends of the earth and be a part of building an eternal kingdom.

Consider: What are you doing that will make a difference in eternity?