Restoring True Worship – part 3
Isaiah 66:1-24 (5-6)
January 12, 2025
We are now in the final chapter of the book of Isaiah.
We have been on a journey, especially since chapter 50, in which we have been talking about God’s plan to restore the nation of Israel to Himself.
• God made promises to the Fathers that are absolutely irrevocable.
• Though Israel is lost today due to her rejection of Christ,
• There is coming a day in which God will open their eyes and bring them home.
• Isaiah 50-66 discuss how God will do that.
We won’t walk back through all of that,
But what you are most recently familiar with is that
In chapter 64 we saw Israel’s repentance.
It is the equivalent of when Zechariah says “they will look on Him whom they have pierced…”
Isaiah 64:6 “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
Isaiah 64:8 “But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.”
It was a picture of Israel’s coming humility, confession, and submission to God.
The chapter concluded with
Israel asking whether God will save them after all of their rebellion.
Chapter 65 showed us God’s response
• And it was a resounding “YES!”
• Saving sinners is what God does. (Even sinner who don’t deserve it)
• He will save those who seek Him, but reject those who do not.
The reason is because in the end, God alone will be worshiped.
Isaiah 65:16a “Because he who is blessed in the earth Will be blessed by the God of truth; And he who swears in the earth Will swear by the God of truth;”
In other words, in the kingdom, and in heaven, no one who is there is going to give credit or glory to anyone but the true God of heaven.
God will save sinners and He will be worshiped by them.
So we have learned that God will restore Israel to Himself
And the reason is worship.
And that is how the book of Isaiah concludes.
We have titled this 66th chapter: “RESTORING TRUE WORSHIP”
We started looking at it last week, and we want to pick up with it this morning.
How God will restore true worship in this world.
#1 HYPOCRISY WILL BE REJECTED
Isaiah 66:1-6
I know last Sunday I concluded this first point at verse 4,
But I’ve changed my mind and am extending it to verse 6.
The chapter starts with a revelation of the grandeur and glory of God.
“Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool”
• We learn something of the size of God. “earth…footstool”
• We learn something of the authority of God. “throne”
• We learn something of the exclusivity of God. “My”
If you are trying to dumb God down into something
You can control or contain you are in for a rude awakening.
Which is why God asked:
“Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?”
One of the reasons that Israel loved the temple so much,
• Was NOT because it provided a reference point of worship for God,
• But rather because it provided a way to contain God and compartmentalize
or separate Him from everyday life.
Jeremiah specifically confronted this sin in Jeremiah 7 when he spoke of people who go out during the week and commit all kinds of sins and then clean up their game before they come to the temple on the Sabbath.
As though God were cut off from everyday life
And was only aware of the things which occurred in the temple.
But, God is far too big for you to force into your expectations of life.
You don’t get to compartmentalize God.
He is Lord of all, He sees all, He knows all.
Trying to play some game of worship with Him will not work.
There is only one form of worship that is acceptable to God
And that is true worship.
(2b) “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”
• God accepts the lowly and poor.
• God accepts the weak and broken.
• God accepts those who tremble in the face of their judgment.
When that broken beggar cries for mercy and bows his heart to God;
GOD ACCEPTS THAT KIND OF WORSHIP.
But the arrogant man He rejects.
Luke 18:9-14 “And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
And that is what Isaiah revealed.
(3a) “But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol.”
A person who is engaged in even the most dedicated religious ceremony
Is no more acceptable to God than a murderous pagan
If his heart is not right before God.
Not only will God reject such worship, He will PUNISH it.
(3b-4) “As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations, So I will choose their punishments And will bring on them what they dread. Because I called, but no one answered; I spoke, but they did not listen. And they did evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight.”
Isn’t that remarkable?
To know that
• You could come here this morning and go through all the motions and outward expressions of worship and God might reject as no more valuable than if you had gone to the bar?
• But beyond that to learn that not only might God reject it, but He might actually punish you for coming here?
The point is, we are not messing around here.
Worship matters to God.
GOD REJECTS HYPOCRITICAL WORSHIP.
Listen to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
• Then Jesus warned about their hypocritical giving, their hypocritical praying, and their hypocritical fasting.
• Jesus saying in all 3 cases, “they have their reward in full”
They better not be expecting any big reward from God,
He is not impressed.
Or the infamous Matthew 7
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”
Those were very religious people
• But they were not pleasing to God,
• They were also punished for their failure to worship correctly.
Listen to Jesus address the most religious among them:
Matthew 23:23-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
There was just nothing pleasing about their worship.
God rejected it, and God promised to punish it.
• Jesus actually repeating the phrase, “Woe to you…”
• God is not indifferent about hypocrisy.
• He rejects it and He punishes it.
BUT THE ULTIMATE INDICATOR
Of God’s displeasure and rejection of hypocritical worship
Came when God rejected the Jewish people.
Romans 11:7-10 “What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, “GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.” And David says, “LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP, AND A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM. “LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED TO SEE NOT, AND BEND THEIR BACKS FOREVER.”
God rejected their hypocritical worship
And God punished them by breaking them off.
• Today we read that God has blinded them.
• Today we read that a veil lies over their eyes when the gospel is proclaimed.
THE MESSAGE TO US THEN IS CLEAR:
Do not cling to a form of worship which God will reject.
Seek the worship which God accepts.
BUT THERE IS ALSO AN ENCOURAGEMENT
TO THOSE WHO SEEK TO DO IT CORRECTLY.
I can’t help but think about the end of the book of Hebrews.
Where the writer is encouraging his readers
• To leave the old Jewish system behind
• Not to mourn when they get kicked out of the synagogue.
Hebrews 13:9-16 “Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
HIS INSTRUCTION IS SO IMPORTANT.
Don’t get caught up in all the ceremonial sacrifices of the Jewish religion.
• Those things can’t really strengthen the heart, run to grace instead.
And don’t worry about being cut off from the altar,
• He says, “we have an altar from which [they] have no right to eat”
• Our altar is the cross where Christ was crucified.
• Our sacrifice is Christ.
• We figuratively eat His flesh and drink His blood.
• He is the bread which came down out of heaven.
While their worship is not acceptable to God, ours is.
The writer tells us to run to Jesus, offer up praise to God,
Give thanks to His name, do good and share.
And then he says, “with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
So there is an encouragement found for the true worshiper.
THAT IS ISAIAH’S POINT HERE TOO
• (1-4) – A Warning to the Hypocrite
• (5-6) – An encouragement to the true worshiper
(5-6) “Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at His word: “Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name’s sake, Have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy.’ But they will be put to shame. “A voice of uproar from the city, a voice from the temple, The voice of the LORD who is rendering recompense to His enemies.”
We notice the focused audience here.
“you who tremble at His word”
Based on the fact that
• In verse 2 God says He accepts the one who “trembles at My word”,
• We know that God is now addressing the true worshipers.
And we notice that
As true worshipers they have faced backlash.
God says, “Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name’s sake”
These are people who are hated by their contemporaries
And they are hated for one reason.
They are true worshipers.
They hate them “for My name’s sake”.
In the context of the New Testament,
This would have been the Jewish remnant who actually believed in Christ.
Do you remember what Jesus taught His disciples?
Matthew 10:21-23 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. “But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.”
Remember the night before He was crucified?
John 15:18-23 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. “He who hates Me hates My Father also.”
There Jesus spoke of the hatred that comes FROM THE WORLD.
• These are sinners who hate Jesus because He exposes sin.
• And Jesus said that the people that hate Jesus will hate them too.
But we sort of expect that from the world.
It is not surprising to us when the sinner ingulfed in sin hates our message.
But if you will remember,
Jesus taught that it wouldn’t only be the sinner who hated His followers.
John 16:1-4 “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. “But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”
THERE IS A SHOCKING REALITY TO MANY PEOPLE.
If you follow Jesus you might be hated among the religious crowd.
There will be people who will think they are serving God by hating you.
That those who truly worship God
Will always be hated by those who worship Him hypocritically.
Do you remember Abraham’s boys?
Ishmael and Isaac
Do you remember how Ishmael mocked Isaac and Sarah demanded that he be sent away?
Galatians 4:28-29 “And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.”
There are those who love legalism.
There are those who are working for their salvation.
And they hate those who are saved by grace apart from works.
When we say that we have been saved by grace without works
It makes the works of the legalist look foolish and useless
And they hate it.
• They are not willing to fess up to the futility of their efforts.
• They demand glory for what they have done.
• And they persecute those who threaten that glory.
Do you remember the man born blind in John 9
Whom Jesus healed and saved by grace alone?
The Pharisees hated him for that.
John 9:31-34 “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. “Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. “If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out.”
Organized religion has always persecuted true worshipers.
Even the Israelites who escaped Egypt
Were several times convinced to turn on Moses.
HYPOCRITICAL RELIGION HATES THE TRUE BELIEVER.
Perhaps some of you have felt that at times in your life.
Perhaps you have felt the disdain
Of those who do not want their religion questioned.
Well those are the types of people God here addresses in verse 5.
“Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at His word: “Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name’s sake, Have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy.’”
What does that mean?
• These hypocrites actually say, “Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy”?
• If they were hypocrites why did they want the Lord to be glorified?
They didn’t.
THIS IS SARCASM.
Imagine being a true worshiper
Who enters a congregation of false worshipers.
• You love God, you seek to honor God, you seek to worship God.
• But you enter a congregation of people who only want to go through the
motions.
But you begin to speak about the glory of God.
• You begin to speak about what God desires.
• You begin to speak about what God wants.
• You begin to challenge their phony worship.
And one them runs up to you and says, “Well why don’t you just glorify God then, if that’s what you want to do?”
“Go ahead and glorify God, but leave us out of it.”
We don’t want any part of your extreme devotion.
And they call you
• A Bible thumper
• Or a Jesus Freak
• Or a Fundamentalist
• Or a Zealot
• Or a Radical
• Or a Fanatic.
I heard someone say once, “Do you know the definition of a Christian fanatic?”
“It’s anyone who loves Jesus more than you do.”
WELL THAT IS WHAT’S HAPPENING HERE.
These hypocrites were happy in their empty ceremonial religion.
They weren’t interested in a religion that affected their daily living.
And when you come in truly worshiping God
And seeking to honor God with your whole life, they get offended.
And maybe you wondered if you were the problem?
Maybe there is something wrong with me
That I want to fear God and worship Christ all the time?
And God here says, “Nope!”
• You’re the one doing it right
• I’m going to deal with those hypocrites who hate you and persecute you.
God says, “they will be put to shame.”
I will EXPOSE and PUNISH them.
(6) “A voice of uproar from the city, a voice from the temple, The voice of the LORD who is rendering recompense to His enemies.”
God says you’re going to hear it.
• You’re going to hear an “uproar from the city”
• You’re going to hear “a voice from the temple”
And what you will be hearing is
Me “rendering recompense to [My] enemies.”
WOW!
• Did that happen?
• Did God actually do that?
In A.D. 70 the Roman emperor Titus
Sacked Jerusalem and the temple was burned.
There is only one eye-witness account of that day that has survived.
It was written by the Jewish historian Josephus.
“…the Jews let out a shout of dismay that matched the tragedy.”
[READ: Josephus’ Account]
And 750 years before that event Isaiah wrote:
(6) “A voice of uproar from the city, a voice from the temple, The voice of the LORD who is rending recompense to His enemies.”
Can we acknowledge yet that God is a jealous God?
• Can we acknowledge that true worship matters to Him?
• Can we acknowledge that He is offended by hypocrisy?
He is a great God and He demands great worship.
He rendered recompense on that temple and those who worshiped in it.
Just a few years earlier…
• When Jesus entered that city amidst a parade that cried “Hosanna!”,
• Jesus stopped and overlooked the city.
And He said:
Luke 19:41-44 “When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
Jesus knew what was coming.
So did Isaiah…
They wanted to build Him a house to contain Him.
• God said no house could hold Him.
They wanted a place to offer sacrifices.
• God said their empty sacrifices could not please Him.
They mocked those who insisted on true worship.
• God said they would be put to shame for their arrogance.
AND GOD BURNED THEIR TEMPLE TO THE GROUND.
Hypocritical religion will be rejected.
And those who engage in it will be put to shame.
But for you who are humble and contrite of spirit
And who tremble at God’s word…
You will be accepted.
God will vindicate your worship.
God will draw you into fellowship with Him.
SO WHAT DO WE TAKE FROM THIS FIRST POINT?
We’ve spent 3 services talking about this.
What do we do with this truth?
Worship God in Spirit and in Truth.
• Don’t play games with Him.
• Don’t try to fool Him with superficial religion.
• Don’t try to contain Him to just one part of your life.
• Don’t assume you can do a few religious deeds to keep Him appeased while you live in sin.
Give God all that you have.
• Bow your will to Him.
• Confess Him as Lord.
• Humble yourself before Him and confess to Him your sin.
• Be broken in spirit as you beg Him for His mercy.
• Tremble at His holiness and fear His righteous judgment.
He does not want your religion, He wants your heart.
Mark 12:28-34 “One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ “The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE’S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.”
THAT’S IT ISN’T IT?
The biggest, the greatest, the foremost.
LOVE GOD
And nothing less than that will be accepted.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”
Don’t try to give God less than He deserves.
AND IF YOU ARE A TRUE WORSHIPER:
DON’T FRET THE HOSTILITY THAT COMES FROM THOSE WHO AREN’T.
You may be mocked today,
But God promises you will get the last laugh.
When Paul wrote to the Colossians
He wrote to people who were being attacked
• By the religious legalists of their day
• Because they weren’t involved in all the nonsensical religious ceremonies.
Paul wrote:
Colossians 2:23 “These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”
Paul said, “I know they look good on the outside, but don’t let them discourage you.”
He went on to say:
Colossians 3:1-4 “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”
The Lord knows who are His.
He knows who His true worshipers are.
You keep striving to please Christ,
Because one day when all the hypocrisy is destroyed
You will have Christ and they will have nothing.
Be faithful church.
Be a true worshiper of Christ.
HYPOCRISY WILL BE REJECTED.
John 4:23-24 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
“…the Jews let out a shout of dismay that matched the tragedy.”
Our only first-hand account of the Roman assault on the Temple comes from the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius. Josephus was a former leader of the Jewish Revolt who had surrendered to the Romans and had won favor from Vespasian. In gratitude, Josephus took on Vespasian’s family name – Flavius – as his own. We join his account as the Romans fight their way into the inner sanctum of the Temple:
“…the rebels shortly after attacked the Romans again, and a clash followed between the guards of the sanctuary and the troops who were putting out the fire inside the inner court; the latter routed the Jews and followed in hot pursuit right up to the Temple itself. Then one of the soldiers, without awaiting any orders and with no dread of so momentous a deed, but urged on by some supernatural force, snatched a blazing piece of wood and, climbing on another soldier’s back, hurled the flaming brand through a low golden window that gave access, on the north side, to the rooms that surrounded the sanctuary. As the flames shot up, the Jews let out a shout of dismay that matched the tragedy; they flocked to the rescue, with no thought of sparing their lives or husbanding their strength; for the sacred structure that they had constantly guarded with such devotion was vanishing before their very eyes.
…No exhortation or threat could now restrain the impetuosity of the legions; for passion was in supreme command. Crowded together around the entrances, many were trampled down by their companions; others, stumbling on the smoldering and smoked-filled ruins of the porticoes, died as miserably as the defeated. As they drew closer to the Temple, they pretended not even to hear Caesar’s orders, but urged the men in front to throw in more firebrands. The rebels were powerless to help; carnage and flight spread throughout.
Most of the slain were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, and they were butchered where they were caught. The heap of corpses mounted higher and higher about the altar; a stream of blood flowed down the Temple’s steps, and the bodies of those slain at the top slipped to the bottom.
When Caesar failed to restrain the fury of his frenzied soldiers, and the fire could not be checked, he entered the building with his generals and looked at the holy place of the sanctuary and all its furnishings, which exceeded by far the accounts current in foreign lands and fully justified their splendid repute in our own.
As the flames had not yet penetrated to the inner sanctum, but were consuming the chambers that surrounded the sanctuary, Titus assumed correctly that there was still time to save the structure; he ran out and by personal appeals he endeavored to persuade his men to put out the fire, instructing Liberalius, a centurion of his bodyguard of lancers, to club any of the men who disobeyed his orders. But their respect for Caesar and their fear of the centurion’s staff who was trying to check them were overpowered by their rage, their detestation of the Jews, and an utterly uncontrolled lust for battle.
Most of them were spurred on, moreover, by the expectation of loot, convinced that the interior was full of money and dazzled by observing that everything around them was made of gold. But they were forestalled by one of those who had entered into the building, and who, when Caesar dashed out to restrain the troops, pushed a firebrand, in the darkness, into the hinges of the gate Then, when the flames suddenly shot up from the interior, Caesar and his generals withdrew, and no one was left to prevent those outside from kindling the blaze. Thus, in defiance of Caesar’s wishes, the Temple was set on fire.
While the Temple was ablaze, the attackers plundered it, and countless people who were caught by them were slaughtered. There was no pity for age and no regard was accorded rank; children and old men, laymen and priests, alike were butchered; every class was pursued and crushed in the grip of war, whether they cried out for mercy or offered resistance.
Through the roar of the flames streaming far and wide, the groans of the falling victims were heard; such was the height of the hill and the magnitude of the blazing pile that the entire city seemed to be ablaze; and the noise – nothing more deafening and frightening could be imagined.
There were the war cries of the Roman legions as they swept onwards en masse, the yells of the rebels encircled by fire and sword, the panic of the people who, cut off above, fled into the arms of the enemy, and their shrieks as they met their fate. The cries on the hill blended with those of the multitudes in the city below; and now many people who were exhausted and tongue-tied as a result of hunger, when they beheld the Temple on fire, found strength once more to lament and wail. Peraea and the surrounding hills, added their echoes to the deafening din. But more horrifying than the din were the sufferings.
The Temple Mount, everywhere enveloped in flames, seemed to be boiling over from its base; yet the blood seemed more abundant than the flames and the numbers of the slain greater than those of the slayers. The soldiers climbed over heaps of bodies as they chased the fugitives.”
References:
Josephus’ account appears in: Cornfield, Gaalya ed., Josephus, The Jewish War (1982); Duruy, Victor, History of Rome vol. V (1883).
How To Cite This Article:
“The Romans Destroy the Temple at Jerusalem, 70 AD,” EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2005).
