Matthew 24:1-2 No stone left upon another, prophecy failed?

Question

In Matthew 24:1-2 Jesus makes a prophecy about the temple buildings being totally destroyed and that not a stone shall lay upon another;

1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. 2 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.. (Matthew 24:1-2 - KJV)

1 Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 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.” (Matthew 24:1-2 - ESV)

There are Jewish anti-missionary's and apostate Christans that claim that the temple is not fully destroyed and stones indeed lay upon another and thereof Jesus prophecy failed, that we in fact can see bits of the temple today, the western-wall!

• Could the western-wall that's beyond the court of the gentiles be a part of the temple?
• Could the inner-court C be called a part of the temple?

Answer 1

In Mark, we see more detail of what Jesus said.

And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. (Mark 13:2)

Walls that surround cities, etc. are not "buildings."

Jesus referred to the stones of the temple itself.

The reason these stones were all thrown down was that, during the great conflagration in A.D. 70, the soldiers under Titus threw a burning torch into the temple and instantly the place was all aflame. The gold interior made a dazzling display, and the soldiers, who had not seen all this before, avariciously scrambled for a share of the loot--despite Titus' orders that they should not touch the Temple. The heat of the fires caused the gold to run between the cracks in the stones such that the soldiers had to cast them down to get at the gold.

And Jesus' words were perfectly fulfilled.

Answer 2

1 Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 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.” (Matthew 24:1-2 - ESV)

We do not know exactly what buildings of the temple were being pointed out by his disciples. Today, we know that part of the Western Wall still remains.

To be consistent with Jesus' prophecy, I suppose that the disciples didn't point out the Western Wall.

Answer 3

Let us be very clear about this - the only stones left at the old Herod-temple site are those of the foundations that were not part of the temple.

Matt 24:1, 2 is unambiguous:

the temple: ... 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..

That prophecy has certainly been fulfilled - nothing of the temple is left - another building has been build on the old foundations which were installed to create a large open space for Herod's temple, which has been completely demolished.

Answer 4

Notice, the disciples of Jesus were looking at the adorning stones on the buildings outside of the temple, this clearly indicates that the buildings Jesus referred to as to be left without one stone upon another, were exclusively on the temple mount. And indeed, they were all thrown down and it was recorded by Josephus an eye witness, who states that the city was razed-even with the ground and only part of the western city wall was left standing—-however, this wall is not to be confused with the western wailing wall of the temple mound. Josephus says nothing was left standing at the temple mound, only the enemy’s camp. This means that the western (wailing wall) was also thrown down and must have been erected after the destruction of Jerusalem. Jews, however, like to state that the western wall was still standing to try to debunk Jesus’ prophecy. But the only eye witness record that we have says that everything lay even with the ground or as Jesus said it, “Not one stone left upon another.” Thus, the prophecy was fulfilled perfectly as prophesied by Jesus Christ, and the wailing wall was built after the destruction of Jerusalem.

Answer 5

Temple Complex The Temple area during Jesus's time consisted of a large platform held up by retaining walls built up by King Herod's construction crew and was not finished for decades after Jesus's incarnation. Ironically it may have been considered "finished" just a little while before 70 A.D. when the Romans completely demolished the Temple! (Finished during the reign of Agrippa II, great grandson of Herod; See Flavius Josephus, Wars of the Jews; who described the demolition and conflagration, in loco)

Buildings The use of the plural "buildings" in these scriptures accurately referred to The Temple Complex proper: the Temple, the Levitical storage rooms, as well as buildings that housed the Sanhedrin councils, the rooms for the sacrificial animals, and the many lecture halls where rabbis, scribes---and Jesus with His disciples---argued or taught the precepts of the Law of Moses.

These were all destroyed during the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. just as Jesus prophesied. [regardless of modern Jewish protestation]. A few hundred years later, the anti-Christian emperor, Flavius C. Julianus the Apostate (361-363), destroyed any remaining construction that the Christians pilgrims considered part of the sacred history. He even leveled the hill of Mt. Calvary (Golgotha), such that it is non-existent today! (Don't let tour guides mislead you!) {See Wace& Piercy, A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography, for detailed biography of Emperor Julian, p. 580}

Modern Visible Sights What most tourists today don't realize is the fact that The Wall around the whole city of Jerusalem seen today was built by the Turkish Ottomans in 1517 A.D. (Wikipedia, "Western Wall") Some of the visible wall parts and towers we see today, were also built by the Crusaders. For centuries the Jew were not allowed to live in the city, and often only allowed once a year to go to the "perforated stone (Rock of Moriah) to groan and rend their garments.

The Western Wall, which became the new location for pilgrimage because of the Mosque of the Moslems was built over the Rock, is merely part of Herod's retaining wall for the whole Temple complex. It is NOT part of the Temple where sacrifices were made, and ceremonies carried out. Nor is it part of the "buildings" Jesus designated for destruction.

The Wall consists of 45 stone courses: 28 above ground, and 17 underground. The first seven above ground are from the Herodian era. The next four courses of smaller plainly dressed stones, are Umayyad construction (8th century, Early Moslem period). Above that are 16 to17 courses of small stones from the Malmuk period (13-16th centuries) and later. (Wikipedia, "Western Wall")

Reliable Prophecy The prophecy of Jesus is accurate and the scriptures remain reliable. And the groaning over the loss of the Temple that had been going on for centuries, remains an accurate description of the type of consequence for rejecting the Messiah, and the refusal to accept the one-time Sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

Answer 6

Ray's comment, "And the groaning over the loss of the Temple that had been going on for centuries, remains an accurate description of the type of consequence for rejecting the Messiah, and the refusal to accept the one-time Sacrifice of the Lamb of God" is the most summative presentation of N@zi philosophy in this discussion.