Probably quite a number of you
thought about the question pertaining to the destruction of Jerusalem, even
though you did not write about it. The matter being fresh in your minds, the
following remarks will be of particular interest. They carry us back in spirit
to those awful days, about three years after Paul’s martyrdom, when favored Jerusalem was destroyed after the longsuffering of God proved to be of no avail. Although
this terrible and epochal event does not form a part of Church history, being
distinctly Jewish, yet it does greatly interest us on that very account, and
also because it did most definitely and immediately affect those in that city
who were Christians. Now to quote:

 

The disciples, before the death
and resurrection of Christ, were strongly Jewish in all their thoughts and
associations. They connected the Messiah and the temple together. Their thought
was that He should deliver them from the power of the Romans and that all the
prophecies about the land, the tribes, the city, and temple would be
accomplished. But Israel rejected the Messiah Himself and, consequently, all
their own hopes and promises in Him. Most significant and weighty are the
opening words of Matthew 24:"And Jesus went out, and departed from the
temple." It was now empty indeed, in the sight of God. All that gave it
value to Him was gone. "Behold, your house is left unto you
desolate." It was now ripe for destruction.

 

"And His disciples came to
Him for to show Him the buildings of the temple." They were still occupied
with the outward greatness and glory of these things. "And Jesus said unto
them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be
left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." These
words were literally accomplished by the Romans about forty years after they
were spoken and in the very way that the Lord predicted. "For the days
shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and
compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even
with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee
one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy
visitation" (Luke 19:43, 44).

 

After the Romans had experienced
many disappointments and defeats in attempting to make a breach in the walls,
through the desperate resistance of the insurgent Jews, even until little hope
was left of taking the city, Titus summoned a council of war. Three plans were
discussed:to storm the city immediately; to repair the works and rebuild the
engines of war; or to blockade and starve the city to surrender. The last was
preferred, and the whole army was set to work "to cast a trench"
around the city. But the siege was long and difficult. It lasted from the
spring till September, and during all that time, the most unexampled miseries
of every kind were experienced by the besieged. But at last the end came, when
both the city and the temple were in the hands of the Romans. Titus was anxious
to save the magnificent temple and its treasures. But, contrary to his orders,
a soldier, mounting on the shoulders of one of his comrades, threw a blazing
brand into a small gilded door in the outer building or porch. The flames
sprang up at once. Titus, observing this, rushed to the spot with the utmost
speed; he shouted and made signs to his soldiers to quench the fire; but his
voice was drowned, and his signs unnoticed in the fearful confusion. The
splendor of the interior filled him with wonder. As the flames had not yet
reached the most holy place, he made a last effort to save it, and exhorted the
soldiers to stay the conflagration; but it was too late. Blazing brands were
flying in all directions, and the fierce excitement of battle, with the
insatiable hope of plunder, had reached its highest pitch. Titus little knew
that a greater than he had said, "There shall not be left here one stone
upon another, that shall not be thrown down." The word of the Lord, not
the commands of Titus, must be obeyed. The whole was thoroughly leveled and
razed to the foundations, according to the word of the Lord.

 

For nearly every particular of
this terrible siege, we are indebted to Josephus, who was in the Roman camp and
near the person of Titus at the time. He acted as interpreter when terms were
talked of between Titus and the insurgents. The walls and bulwarks of Zion seemed impregnable to the Roman, and he felt most anxious to come to terms of peace;
but the Jews rejected every proposal, and the Romans at length triumphed. On
entering the city, Josephus tells us, Titus was struck with wonder at its
strength; indeed when he contemplated the solid altitude of the towers, the
magnitude of the stones and the accuracy of their joinings, and saw how great
was their breadth, how vast their height, "Surely," he exclaimed,
"we fought with God on our side; and God it was who brought the Jews down
from these bulwarks; for what could human hands or engines avail against these
towers?" Such were the confessions of the heathen general. It certainly
was the most terrible siege that the whole history of the world records.

 

The accounts given by Josephus
of the sufferings of the Jews during the siege are too awful to be detailed
here. The numbers that perished under Vespasian in the country and under Titus
in the city, from a.d. 67-70, by
famine, internal factions, and the Roman sword, were 1,350,460 besides 100,000
sold into slavery. Such, alas! alas! were the awful consequences of the Jews’
disbelieving and disregarding the solemn, earnest, and affectionate entreaties
of their own Messiah. Need we wonder at the Redeemer’s tears, shed over the
infatuated city? And need we wonder at the preacher’s tears now, as he appeals
to infatuated sinners, in view of coming and eternal judgments? Surely the
wonder is that so few tears are shed over thoughtless, careless, perishing
sinners. Oh, for hearts to feel as the Saviour felt, and eyes to weep like His!

 

The Christians, with whom we
have more especially to do, remembering the Lord’s warning, left Jerusalem in a body before the siege was formed. They journeyed to Pella, a village beyond
the Jordan, where they remained till Hadrian permitted them to return to the
ruins of their ancient city.