Would Christians have been involved in the building of the temple in Jerusalem, or was this temple somehow associated with the coming of the kingdom for Jews who did not believe in Jesus' spiritual kingdom? When the Jews went to war with Rome in 66 AD, was it their way of getting the kingdom for themselves; were they just fed up with their political situation with Rome? Also, I read that the Jerusalem church received a vision warning them of the coming conflict with Rome. Is this true? Also, do you think disciples would have been involved in this conflict? -- Kimba Henderson
Your questions are all related, but for the sake of economy let me address them in sequence and without explicitly connecting them.
(1) Yes, I think it is very possible that some Christians were involved in the ongoing construction (or re-construction) of the "Second Temple" in Jerusalem, which after all started before Christ was born.
(2) Jesus several times warned against following a political or military route "for the kingdom of God" (Luke 17:20, John 6:15, e.g.). Yes, the radicals were fed up with Rome, and began guerrilla warfare against the occupying power in earnest. By 70 AD Jerusalem had been taken; and the Temple, destroyed.
(3) As for the possibility that the Christians fled to Pella in response to an oracle, I believe this is true. They may have recalled Jesus' words (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21), or there may have been an additional prophecy.
Please see my paper on The Destruction of Jerusalem at this website. You may also want to visit this link.
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