We know when this will happen from Matt 24:3
and what shall be the sign of thy coming and the end of the world? So this cannot refer to 70 AD. Also, in Matt 24:1 Jesus saw the buildings of the temple. This passage is not speaking of just the temple itself, but of all the related "buildings," which would include the Western Wailing Wall and the temple foundation because both of these were integral parts of that same stone structure. Therefore, we can know for a certainty that Luke 21:5-6 and Matthew 24:1-2 are not speaking of the destruction of the physical temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70
In I Cor 3 God explains how every believer is gold, silver, and precious stones in the temple of God. Each true believer in a church is a living precious stone that has been built into the spiritual temple structure (1 Peter 2:5). However, Christ prophesized that the time would come when there would be not one stone on another. The setting of this time is near the end of the world. Matt 24 describes what happens during this time as Gods judgment falls upon the churches (see also I Peter 4:17).Jesus tells us that the fist sign of this occurring is that men will come as false Christs and deceive many (Matt 24:5). Not one stone upon another means that there shall not remain one church that is recognized by God as a part of the spiritual temple, or kingdom of God because the Holy Spirit has been removed (II Thess 2:4)
As much as we dont want to admit it, this ties in perfectly with the fact that Christ will turn away many who truly believed they were doing His will and thought they were safe (Phil 3:18, Mat 7:13,22-23, 8:15-24, Matt 15:8, 24:4, Luke 13:27, 2 Tim 4:3, I Thess 5:3). But in reality they were following false gospels which cannot provide salvation (Gal 1:9).
This is very similar to the transition from the Synagogues to the NT churches. This was a very traumatic event. Their spiritual leaders were filled with anger at those who left the synagogues to follow Christ. But, never a gain would true believers be found in the synagogues.
However, there was a major problem that continued in churches. The problem was a lack of faithfulness to the teachings of the Bible. God tells us about this in Revelation 2 and Revelation 3, where the Bible speaks about the seven churches that flourished even before the Bible was completed. But they were then destroyed.
The spiritual situation that prevails throughout the churches in many ways parallels the situation that prevailed during the 344 years that Judah existed as a nation. Judah had its high places. They were small places of worship constructed on a convenient hill. But Jehovah was not worshipped there. They were places where false gods were worshipped. Thus, Judah was engaging in spiritual harlotry and they wound up being destroyed.
Amazingly, the same situation prevailed throughout the church age. Doctrines that are held and taught by churches that are not faithful to the Bible are the equivalent of those Old Testament high places. This is true because any church doctrine that is obeyed by the members of the church is an act of worship of the one who commanded that this doctrine be obeyed. If a congregation obeys doctrines that were designed in the minds of church theologians, and those doctrines do not come from the Bible, then in a real sense, the minds of those theologians are being worshipped. Obedience to that false doctrine becomes the equivalent of a high place of the Old Testament.
So we can understand how no stone is left upon another that shall not be thrown down near the end of time. Means that due to the churches pride and lack of faithfulness, God stops using them and uses individual believers to complete the task of bringing the gospel into the world while allowing false gospels to spread to like wild fire throughout the church. This is part of His judgment process. This is why it is so important for us to test our understanding against what the bible alone is telling us.
2 Tim 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
2 Pet 3:16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
I Th 5:3 the shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction
One last comment: The church referenced in Matt 16:18, that "the gates of Hell shall not prevail against" is the spiritual church mentioned earlier of which all truly saved individuals are a part of at the moment God saves them.
