As if the point is too subtle, Mark would pound on it again and again, and with increasing clarity. Take as an example the parable at the beginning of chapter 12, just a few verses after our passage. We cannot examine it in full, but the ending is sufficient to illustrate the point: "What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven't you read this scripture: 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?" (v. 9-11; also Matthew 21:43). The message is becoming very explicit: "Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them" (v. 12).

By the time we reach chapter 13, figures of speech have been replaced by plain explanation. In the first two verses, we are told – directly and without symbolism – that the temple would be destroyed: "As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, 'Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!' 'Do you see all these great buildings?' replied Jesus. 'Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down'" (v. 1-2).

Jesus even specifies the time as to when this would happen, saying, "I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened" (v. 30). The parable in chapter 12 has informed us that, because the people would kill the son of the vineyard's owner (v. 6-7), "He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others" (v. 9). Later, as the Jews were calling for Jesus to be crucified, they said, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!" (Matthew 27:25). In this manner, they cursed their own generation and prophesied its doom.

History tells us that things happened exactly as Jesus predicted in the year AD 70. The Romans marched into Jerusalem, and destroyed the temple along with its system of worship. Multitudes of Jews were slaughtered, but the Christians were saved, since Jesus had said, "…let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains" (13:14). The believers obeyed, and they were preserved.

In any case, historical verification is infinitely inferior to divine inspiration. The word of God is infallible, so that even if we were to possess no extra-biblical references, on the basis of the Gospels alone, we could be just as certain that the temple was destroyed within one generation of Jesus' prediction. That historians agree with the Bible adds nothing to it, since it is already perfect and complete; rather, it is the Bible that lends credibility to any historian who agrees with it.

(to be continued)

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