Luke 21: 5-13 Build your house upon the rock

- By Jack Robson, Deacon - Last Mountain Anglican Parish

November 18, 2025

key points from this story:

• Jerusalem Temple once seemed indestructible
• Jesus predicts Temple’s destruction
• True faith is based on the Trinity
• Buildings will not last forever
• Jesus is eternal and indestructible
• Faith in Jesus brings peace and hope

We all admire things of beauty, objects of large magnitude, buildings that are constructed very solidly, sturdy, and meant to last. Our financial institutions, such as our courthouses, our government buildings are all built with a visual image in mind, an image that proclaims to all around—this building is sturdy, strong, solid, long lasting, and we, as humans, see this impressive building and the businesses within as stable, honest and trustworthy. This was the type of structure that personified the Temple of Jerusalem. It was massive, towering above Jerusalem at one point, 151 ft. tall. The temple was the centre and the focal point of the Jewish faith. The hearts of all the Jews would lean toward that temple, even more than we do to our own church. This was the temple of the Jews, the one and only.

The Disciples were walking with Jesus, and admiring the Temple and Jesus totally astounded them by saying, “The days will come when not one stone will be left upon another, all will be thrown down.” Jesus’ prediction was right on, as the Romans destroyed the temple 40 years later in the year 70 AD, although a small portion of the wall still stands and is the famous Jerusalem Wailing Wall, where the Jews gather for prayer.

The main lesson to be learned is that buildings are a focus of our faith, they are important, we worship within the sacred walls and grow very attached to them. These are our churches, the churches of possibly our parents, but it is essentially only a building. The bedrock of our faith is not buildings, it is the one, unshakeable, unchangeable, everlasting, always faithful, Father, Son and Holy Spirit—our Trinity, to which we owe our being, our lives, and if we choose, our eternal lives.

The Jerusalem Temple looked indestructible. It was only stone and was destroyed. On the other hand, Jesus is indestructible, He is the same yesterday, today and forever, and will never change. He has proven through the events of Easter that He is beyond the tomb, He is immortal and is forever. That is the rock upon which we must stand and in which we place our faith totally. There is nothing else in all the world. Jesus is our Temple—the bedrock below all bedrock that cannot be eroded or decayed. What a promise, what a confidence, what peace and joy we have because of Jesus promise to us. Jesus said that He will never leave us or forsake us. We can walk each day with happiness and hope for our everlasting future. The next time you pray, please thank Jesus for all these certain promises and all our wonderful blessings. Jesus is our Rock of Salvation forever and forever. “Jesus is our Rock in a weary land, Our shelter in the time of storm.”