I've read a lot of Josephus' accounts of history, and it's never surprised me that Josephus, who wasn't a Christian, and the pious non-believing Jews of his day saw the building that stood in Jerusalem that for 40 years had no more been the holy temple of God, as the holy temple of God, and therefore viewed the abominable things that were taking place in it (as it came closer to the year A.D 70 when that building was finally completely destroyed), as the reason God gave it over to be destroyed.
Not once did you mention that the men you are talking about thought that the people's rejection of Christ and His blood shed as the once-for-all sacrifice of sin, and the continued daily offerings for sin in rejection of Christ, was the reason God gave the temple over to be destroyed. Why? Because that's a Christian understanding of it, not an unbelieving Jewish understanding of it.
From Josephus: THE HEAVY BRASS EASTERN GATE LEADING INTO THE HOLY COURT OF THE TEMPLE OPENS OF ITS OWN ACCORD
QUOTE (from Josephus)
Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner [court of the] temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone,
was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. Now those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it; who then came up thither,
and not without great difficulty was able to shut the gate again.
This also appeared to the vulgar* to be a very happy prodigy,
as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness.
But the men of learning* understood it,
that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies. So these publicly declared that the signal foreshowed the desolation that was coming upon them.
UNQUOTE
* 1. The word vulgar did not carry the same connotations and meaning in the past that it does today. In the past it simply referred to all those who were uneducated, i.e the opposite of the men of learning.
Most of the followers of Jesus were uneducated, and would have been considered part of the "vulgar masses" by "learned" Jews and Romans alike.
So if this report recorded in Josephus' history is true, it would mean that the “vulgar” Christians (considered part of the "vulgar masses") would quite likely
have understood that the gates into the holy court in the temple opening all by themselves, was symbolizing the following:
Hebrews 9:11-16
“But when Christ had become a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
nor by the blood of goats and calves,
but by His own blood He entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
In A.D 70 the Jewish "men of learning", on the other hand, would have "understood" that it was a signal that foreshadowed the desolation that was coming upon them.
The way Josephus, the Pharisees, the priests and the Jewish "men of learning" understood things
is not as Christians we understand them. Those other abominable things that you mentioned and that Josephus mentioned meant nothing in a religious sense because the house was no longer God's house, and it had no longer been God's house since the death and resurrection of Christ. Since the death and resurrection of Christ, God does not dwell in temples made with (human) hands.
But from God's perspective the daily sacrifices for sin being made on the part of the very people who had approved of Christ's crucifixion and were being done in rejection of Christ, were abominations.
Personally, I'm one of the "vulgar" masses who knows that it is not those other abominable things that were taking place in the temple that caused that house to be destroyed - it was the abominations of their sacrifices for sin that caused it.
.. and I remain one of the "vulgar" masses regardless of all the learning of all the learned ones put together, because my Teacher is Christ and my teachers are His "vulgar" apostles and the "vulgar" Pastors and Ministers of today (those who do not teach false doctrines) - those whom the learned Jews considered vulgar and whose beliefs they considered of naught.
@Ed Parenteau I'm adding this here: I don't think any one of us Christians (including myself) fully understands the enormity of the cost to God and to Christ when our sin and the sin of the whole world was laid on Christ, although some of us seem to understand a little more than others.
The enormity of it gave Jesus so much dread that he sweat drops of blood petitioning the Father if at all possible to let that cup pass from Him, but nevertheless giving Himself to the will of the Father.
If we begin to understand the eternal immeasurable value of the blood of Christ then we can understand the degree of the abomination of continued sacrifices for sin.
It causes all those other abominations that took place in their house which you mentioned in your post, no matter how vulgar (in our modern understanding of the word) and detestable those abominations were, to completely and utterly pale in significance when compared with the abominations in the form of continued sacrifices and offerings for sin on the part of those who rejected Christ and His blood shed as the once-for-all sacrifice for sin on the part of the very descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who had handed Jesus over to be crucified.
And the fact was, though their house (called "your house" not "God's house" when Jesus told them it was going to be left to them desolate in Matthew 23:38) no longer was the house of God, yet that was the very place where their abominations in the form of the continued sacrifices and offerings for sin was taking place, and this is why God handed that very place over to the Romans to be utterly destroyed by them.
Were the Temple Institute of the Jews of today to succeed in building such a "house" again, and sacrifices and offerings for sin recommence, they
will may bring upon themselves a swift and even worse destruction than the previous one - and that
without any of those other abominable things being done again. Maybe not. Maybe Christ will return and personally tell them that they have inherited a lie from their forefathers about Him, and they will repent. I don't know what God has chosen to do about every coming action of man, and I don't know what every coming action of man will be.
.. and that is my "vulgar" (uneducated) Christian belief.
