70 AD
In the year 70 AD, Roman legions under the future Emperor Titus besieged and destroyed Jerusalem, fulfilling Jesus' prophecy: 'Not one stone here will be left upon another' (Matthew 24:2). The Second Temple, begun by Zerubbabel and expanded by Herod the Great, was consumed by fire on the 9th of Av (Tisha B'Av), the same date as the destruction of Solomon's Temple by the Babylonians in 586 BC. The catastrophic event marked the end of Jewish temple worship and sacrificial religion, and forced the Jewish people into diaspora.
The destruction of the Temple validated Christian claims about Christ's fulfillment of the Old Covenant. The Catholic Church sees in the Temple's destruction the definitive end of the sacrificial system that prefigured Christ's one perfect sacrifice. St. Paul had already written that 'the glory of this former glory has departed' (2 Corinthians 3:10-11). The event also explains why Christians continued to worship in house churches rather than a central temple β Christ's Body, the Church, had replaced the physical Temple. Key Scripture: Matthew 24:1-2; Luke 21:20-24; Josephus, Wars of the Jews