Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you see all these things? Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left upon another that will not be torn down.”
To the disciples’ admiration Jesus responds with words that stand in sharp contrast to what they felt. They saw a magnificent building, but He saw its inevitable destruction. This word is not merely a prediction of a historical catastrophe, but a revelation of the spiritual law that outward glory is empty if faith is absent. Christ’s word sounds with sacred silence, as a sentence upon the people whose heart has become hardened. He shows that temporary structures cannot contain divine glory and indeed, this prophecy is to have both a literal and a spiritual fulfillment.