In the Gospel of known to be that of Luke, in the context of the Jerusalem temple Jesus says that the temple will be destroyed without a stone upon another. In the year 70 AD, the Jewish community was under great persecution by the Roman emperor and their only temple was completely destroyed. It is widely believed that this Gospel was written in the 80s. Although during his lifetime Jesus may have spoken many things about the temple, the end times, and the persecutions that would occur, it is generally believed that the destruction of the temple and the persecutions that the Christian community was going through in the Roman territories were the reason for Luke's including it in the Gospel. And that must be true.

However, could Jesus' prophecy have only been about the destruction of the temple that had already happened? Was the intention of the Gospel writer only to establish that 'Look, Jesus had predicted the destruction of the temple that you just saw happening.' ? It seems unlikely.

Some say that the physical temple that will be destroyed without leaving a stone upon another -here the temple of Jerusalem- is just an image. Instead, a spiritual temple is to be built. This is not about churches or temples where the faithful meet for worship. Churches where the faithful meet are places for worship, fellowship, spiritual instruction, spiritual encouragement. Just as we need homes to live in, and we need many other facilities for so many other things, so we need physical churches.

However, I believe that the predominantly external church/temple will be replaced by a predominantly spiritual one.