"Destroy This Temple" Sermon: John 2:18-22

“Destroy This Temple”

[John 2:18-22]

September 8, 2011 Old First Presbyterian Church

The last time I was with you, we looked at Jesus’ driving the people selling animals and changing money out of the Temple in Jerusalem.  We saw that the reason Jesus drove them out of the Temple was they were cheating the people – selling sick animals and giving the wrong amount of money in exchange.  And we saw Jesus cast them out because He was upholding the holy worship of God – which they were corrupting – and because Jesus is Holy.

The Pharisees responded to Jesus’ action by asking, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”  They wanted to know where Jesus got the authority to judge the animal sellers and the money changers, as well as the authority to cast them out of the Temple.  They wanted Jesus to do a miracle that would prove His Authority.

And Jesus wouldn’t do it – not the way they wanted – not the way they expected.  Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

And the Pharisees began to giggle:  “Are you nuts, Jesus?  This Temple is still not finished – the workmen have been building it for forty-six years – so far – longer than You have been alive!  Are You seriously suggesting that You could destroy this Temple and then rebuild it all in three days?  That’s insane, Jesus!”

And we wonder:  did the Pharisees walk away, shaking their heads, and go to clean up the Temple?  Did they challenge Jesus again, only to have Him walk away?  We’re not told.

“Give us a sign to justify what You have done!”

“Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.”

The Pharisees didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about.  Notice, though – the disciples didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about either.  John tells us that it wasn’t until after the Resurrection that they understood what Jesus had said.  They had no more understanding of what Jesus was saying than the Pharisees.

John tells us it is only upon reflection after the Resurrection that they understood that what Jesus was saying to them.   After the Resurrection they remembered what He said – are you remembering what Jesus said?  “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26, ESV).

God the Holy Spirit helped them to remember what they heard Jesus say; He helped them to understand what His words meant.  The Holy Spirit does the same for us today – if we have heard or read His Word; the Holy Spirit will not help us remember and understand what we have never heard or read.  Do you read your Bible?

Why didn’t Jesus tell them clearly what He was going to do?  Why did He wait for the Holy Spirit to make what He said clear to them?  Why didn’t He just say to the Pharisees:  “My Authority will be proved to you after I am put to death and I raise Myself from the dead on the third day”?

Jesus said, “This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” (Matthew 13:13, ESV).  Jesus spoke in parables – Jesus was purposefully unclear – so they would not understand – because it was not His intention that everyone should understand.  And even if He had spoken clearly, they would not have understood, because they were not meant to understand.

But we who have the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit are meant to understand, just as the disciples did after the Resurrection.

What was Jesus’ saying?

Jesus was prophesying that He was going to be put to death in His Incarnate Physical Body.  Why did Jesus have to die in His Body?  Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a, ESV).  But Jesus didn’t sin.  Right, Jesus died for the sins of everyone who would ever believe in Him.  Jesus took the place of everyone who would ever believe in Him and suffered God’s Wrath for their sin – our sin – and died in His Flesh.

Jesus was prophesying that He was going to rise from the dead on the third day.  Why did Jesus have to rise?  It proved that He is sinless, and He has accomplished salvation for all those who believe in Him Alone.  He suffered God’s Wrath for our sin, but physically rose from the dead because He is Righteous – Holy – unable to be kept in the grave.

And Jesus was prophesying that, since He is God, He would raise Himself up – Jesus would raise up His Physical Body from the dead by His Own Power.  Why did Jesus say that He would raise Himself up from the grave?  To show us that He has the authority over life and death, heaven and hell, that He is indeed God Almighty.

What is the Gospel?

Paul wrote, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:  that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and then he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.  Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.  Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.  For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not in vain.  On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God that is within me.  Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed” (I Corinthians 15:3-11, ESV).

What is the Gospel?

Jesus died for the sins of all those who would believe, as it is written in the Scriptures.  Jesus was buried and physically rose from the dead on the third day, as it is written in the Scriptures.  (And there were more than five hundred eye-witnesses.)

That’s it.

The proof of the authority that Jesus had to do the things He did is the Gospel:  Jesus died for the sins of all those who would believe, as it is written in the Scriptures.  And, Jesus was buried and physically rose from the dead on the third day, as it is written in the Scriptures.

That tells us at least three things in the context of toady’s Scripture:

First, Jesus is God.  In order to take the place of everyone who would believe in Him under the Wrath of God and survive – “destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” – Jesus had to be Divine – no mere human could have survived.  And Paul tells us, “For in [Jesus] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9, ESV).  God the Son incarnated into the Person of Jesus.  So, Jesus, in His Divinity, is the same One God as the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Second, the Resurrection was not merely a spiritual victory, but a physical victory; the salvation Jesus secured is salvation of the whole person, including the physical body.  And Peter wrote about God’s promise regarding Jesus, “For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption” (Acts 2:27, ESV).  Jesus’ Body did not deteriorate in the least, but was raised with Him, a whole human being, glorified by the Father.

Third, that means that in the promise of salvation that Jesus makes to all those who believe in Him, that promise is not merely of a spiritual existence, but of a physical existence, as well.  Paul argued with those who said the five hundred eye-witnesses were delusional, or saw a ghost, not Jesus raised from the dead:  “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.  We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.  Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.  If only in this life we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (I Corinthians 15:12-19, ESV).

“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Jesus died for the sins of all those who would believe, as it is written in the Scriptures.

Jesus was buried and physically rose from the dead, as it is written in the Scriptures.

And our sure hope is that when Jesus returns, we who believe, will also rise in our bodies, perfected and holy, to live in His Kingdom in His Presence for all of eternity.

Let us pray:

            Almighty God, we thank You for the proof of Your Authority through the Death and Resurrection of Your Son.  Help us to hold fast to that Gospel that is found even in these words, “destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  Give us hope, not to merely look with our eyes, but with the Sure Hope that You give us in Your Word.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.