January
10, 2003
"DESTROY
THIS TEMPLE, AND
IN THREE DAYS I WILL RAISE IT UP"
"The
Jews answered and said to Him, 'What sign do You show to us
since You do these things? Jesus answered and said to them,
'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up"
(John 2:18, 19, NKJV).
Shortly
after the wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus and His disciples
went up to Jerusalem. "And He found in the temple those
who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers
doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove
them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and
poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.
And He said to those who sold doves, 'Take
these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of
merchandise!' Then His disciples remembered that it
was written 'Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up' (Psalm 69:9).
"So
the Jews answered and said to Him, 'What sign do You show
to us since You do these things?' Jesus answered and said
to them, 'Destroy this temple, and in
three days I will raise it up.' Then the Jews said,
'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will
You raise it up in three days?' But
He was speaking of the temple of His body, Therefore, when
He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that
He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture
and the word which Jesus had said."-- John 2:14-23.
"In
the cleansing of the temple, Jesus was announcing His mission
as the Messiah, and entering upon His work. That temple, erected
for the abode of the divine Presence, was designed to be an
object lesson for Israel and for the world. From eternal ages
it was God's purpose that every created being, from the bright
and holy seraph to man, should be a temple for the indwelling
of the Creator. Because of sin, humanity ceased to be a temple
for God. Darkened and defiled by evil, the heart of man no
longer revealed the glory of the Divine One. But by the incarnation
of the Son of God, the purpose of Heaven is fulfilled, God
dwells in humanity, and through saving grace the heart of
man becomes again His temple.
"God
designed that the temple at Jerusalem should be a continual
witness to the high destiny open to every soul. But the Jews
had not understood the significance of the building they regarded
with so much pride. They did not yield themselves as holy
temples for the Divine Spirit. The courts of the temple at
Jerusalem, filled with the tumult of unholy traffic, represented
all too truly the temple of the heart, defiled by the presence
of sensual passion and unholy thoughts. In cleansing the temple
from the world's buyers and sellers, Jesus announced His mission
to cleanse the heart from the defilement of sin,-- from the
earthly desires, the selfish lusts, the evil habits, that
corrupt the soul."-- The Desire of Ages,
p. 161.
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