Why did Rome Destroy the Temple in 70 AD? Did this Fulfill the Book of Revelation?

Question: Why did Rome destroy the Temple in 70 AD? Did this fulfill the book of Revelation?

Answer: When answering any historical or theological question like this, we should always look to the Bible first to see what God has said, if anything, about the subject in question. After reviewing the Scriptures, we can look to history to support what the Bible says, or to seek answers for things that the Bible is silent on. In the case of the two questions posed above, God has spoken through Scripture on these matters, and we can also document with historically factual data. We will answer the questions in the order they are listed, with the Bible speaking first, and history second.

To put it simply, Rome destroyed the Temple (and ransacked Jerusalem) in A.D. 70 because Jesus prophesied that the Temple would be destroyed. As Jesus was coming into Jerusalem shortly before He was to be betrayed and sent to trial, Luke writes that:

Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:41-44^[1]).[2]

While it is true that Jesus did not specifically say that Rome would destroy the Temple, He didn’t need to. The Bible contains numerous events that were brought about by God through agents who didn’t know they were carrying out God’s plans (especially in carrying out judgment on an idolatrous and unrepentant Israel). For instance, Peter told his hearers on the day of Pentecost that Jesus was “delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). Though the Jews who cried for the crucifixion were rejecting their Messiah, they were indeed being used by God to fulfill His purposes. Another example is God “raising up the Chaldeans” to come upon Judah in judgment (Habakkuk 1:6).

Now, let us look at the temporal reason for why the Roman Empire ended up destroying the Temple in A.D. 70. This history is almost as clear as the prophecy of Jesus. In fact, the Romans and Jews had been engaged in an on-again-off-again war for almost 250 years. Many battles were fought over this period, from the “Maccabean Revolt” in the mid-second century B.C. to the “Revolt of the Zealots” in the years 66-73 A.D., even continuing into almost the mid-second century A.D. with “Bar Kochba’s Revolt.”^[3] There is, of course, much more detail that can be addressed on this issue; however, the goal of providing this historical context is to show that even though the Romans thought they were battling the Jews in a “power struggle,” in actuality God was using their hatred and unbelief in Him to further His eternal purposes.

Moving onto the second question, we turn again first to the Bible. While at first glance it may look like some of the events in the book of Revelation are describing the events surrounding the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, when we look a little deeper, especially at the last section of the text, this idea does not hold under the weight of the evidence. For instance, have “the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army” (Revelation 19:19)? Or, has Satan been bound for a thousand years and cast into the “bottomless pit” (20:2-3)? Could it be that the prophesied new heaven and new earth (21:1) have already come? The answers to these questions are “no,” “no,” and “no.” The book of Revelation may have vivid and uncommon imagery, and it might not be the most clear-cut book to understand, but there is no significant amount of data to show that this prophecy (22:18-19) was fulfilled in A.D. 70.

Of course, we can also look to history to document what God has said. It is in this realm, the extra-biblical history of our world, that we can be sure that Revelation was not even written until somewhere around the year A.D. 90 (and therefore could not be a fulfillment of the events that occurred almost twenty years before). In fact, the geographic movement, or migration, of Palestinian Christians from Jerusalem (Judea) into the areas in and around Asia Minor in the second half of the first century A.D. provides clear evidence of a late date. This migration and subsequent suffering of persecution under the reign of Domitian (A.D. 81-96) has been documented, and also provides a glimpse into why Jesus may have specifically wanted to address the seven churches of Asia Minor that He did in chapters two and three of Revelation. The majority of attestation from early church fathers also favors the “late” date of the 90’s A.D.^[4]

So, we can see that clear biblical evidence, both of God’s purposeful working out of His plan along with prophecy that has yet to be fulfilled, supported by history, shows why Rome destroyed the Temple in A.D. 70 and why this was not the fulfillment of the book of Revelation. Though this was not an exhaustive examination, the evidence provided sets the foundation for everything else. In the end the most important thing to remember is that Jesus’ prophecy (promise) that Jerusalem (and the Temple in it) would be destroyed did indeed happen. Therefore, we can be assured that His promises to come again are sure. We share John’s words: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20)!

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^[1] Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1982).

^[2] Many dispensationalists also see Jesus’ comments in the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24; Mk. 13; Lk. 21) as prediction of the events in A.D. 70 as well. However, we must be careful in assuming this because the rest of the discourse focuses on the time of the Great Tribulation (Daniel’s 70^th Week), and it would seem strange for Jesus to comment on something in the near future and then talk mostly about something that was at least 2,000 years further in the future. And while the language used in the Olivet Discourse passage is very similar to what is written in Lk. 19, the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70 seems to be a better fit with Luke’s narrative in this chapter. Even though there is disagreement among dispensationalists on the exact fulfillment of these prophecies, everyone agrees that God’s judgment is the focus of these events.

^[3] Names and dates of specific “battles” or “wars” come from Josephine Bacon, The Illustrated Atlas of Jewish Civilization: 4000 Years of History, ed. Martin Gilbert (London: Quantum Books Ltd, 2005).

^[4] Information in this paragraph comes from Edward Hindson, The Book of Revelation: Unlocking the Future, eds. Mal Couch and Ed Hindson (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2002), 4-5.