1 Synagogue of Satan? The Theological Significance of the Destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in AD 70 Introduction There is a close connection between the crisis of modern Christianity and the embrace of the higher criticism by mid-nineteenth century Protestant theologians. Especially in Germany, the traditional devotional approach to the Bible was replaced by the “objective” techniques of historical and literary criticism. As a consequence, educated Christians turned their attention away from the “supernatural Christ” to the “historical Jesus.” A new sort of Kulturprotestantismus, or cultural Christianity, was born: Jesus Christ became a teacher of ethics rather than the incarnation of the divine. The crisis was real enough; it reflects a continuing failure by Christians to recognize the pivotal moment when the “supernatural Christ” burst back into human history to avenge both the crucifixion of the “historical Jesus” and the persecution of his faithful followers during their fortyyear mission to the ends of the earth. In AD 70, Roman armies under Titus besieged Jerusalem to crush a long-running Jewish rebellion. Their triumph was a bloody affair; not only was the city sacked and pillaged but, according to the contemporary Jewish historian, Josephus, the dead, most of whom “were pure and holy” Jews, numbered over one million. 1 The Romans also utterly destroyed the massive Temple complex. In doing so they ripped out the redemptive heart of Old Israel. The Temple was the hub around which revolved the ritual observance of the Mosaic Law underpinning Israel’s covenant relationship with Yahweh. For Jews and Romans ali ke the event was of world-historical significance. But the providential meaning of the destruction of Jerusalem cannot be confined to the realm of secular history. Christ himself prophesied the he would come again in judgement on Jerusalem. And the disaster that befell the Jews in AD 70 came as no surprise to first-century Christians. Forty years earlier, standing outside the Temple with his disciples, Christ declared that “not one stone here will be left on another” when he came again at the “end of the age. The Day of the Lord’s return was not to occur in some far distant future, perhaps thousands of years later. Christ assured the crowds who heard him that “this generation will certainly not pass away until these things have happened” (Matthew 24:2-3, 34). In the period between the advent of