Jesus Uses His Authority

GOLDEN TEXT: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” —John 4:24

JOHN 2:13-25

IT IS well attested in Matthew 21:12, Mark 11:15, and Luke 19:45 that Jesus drove the money-changers from the temple toward the close of his ministry, after he had ridden triumphantly into Jerusalem upon an ass and had been acclaimed by his friends as the King of the Jews. Many scholars believe that the account in today’s lesson indicates that there was a similar cleansing of the temple at the beginning of his ministry. The fact that John’s account is included with the record of other events which did occur near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry does not in itself prove this point.

It is said that any Jew under the Law had the right to do as Jesus did, but apparently no one had ever exercised that right before, so the people in the temple at the time were much surprised. They asked Jesus for a “sign,” as though they wished to know what authority he claimed as a basis for his action.

The sign Jesus gave seemed to incense the people still more, for he said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.” It had required forty-six years to build the temple, and for Jesus to indicate that he could rebuild it in three days, to them minimized the importance and glory of this great house of God. However, the record states that Jesus spoke of the temple of his body.

The disciples remembered this, and when Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day they saw in his resurrection a fulfillment of his prediction. But even though the Lord permitted them to take this viewpoint, and by it have their faith strengthened, it does not seem to be the real fulfillment of his prophecy; for actually, while Jesus was put to death in the flesh, he was made alive in the spirit, not in the flesh.—I Pet. 3:18

Furthermore, Jesus explained that he would give his flesh for the life of the world. (John 6:51) Should he have taken his humanity back in the resurrection it would have meant that the human race had not been redeemed from death. Paul wrote, “Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him [so] no more.”—II Cor. 5:16

Jesus’ flesh was consecrated to death at the beginning of his ministry, not to be dead for three days, but for eternity. He was there begotten by the Holy Spirit and became a “new creature.” During the three and one-half years of his ministry this “new creature” matured, and in the resurrection was “born”—“born of the Spirit.”

Jesus’ change from human to spirit nature was the same as that which is experienced by all his faithful followers. Concerning all these as “new creatures” the Apostle Paul wrote that they are sown in weakness, raised in power; sown in dishonor, raised in glory, sown a natural, or animal body, raised a spiritual body.—I Cor. 15:43,44

So, then, our Lord’s body of flesh, destroyed by the Jews at Calvary, was not restored on the third day. The restitution of Jesus’ humanity was not his portion in the resurrection, for as Paul further explains, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.”—I Cor. 15:50

It is apparent, then, that Jesus’ assertion, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” has a much larger meaning than is ordinarily supposed. The Apostle Paul explains that the church is the “body” of Christ. (I Cor. 12:27) Peter explains that we are being built up into Christ as a spiritual temple, or “house.” (I Pet. 2:5) It is this spiritual temple, composed of Jesus and his church, that will be the channel of blessing to the world.

It is reasonable to think of the entire reign of sin and death as a work-week of struggle against the result of transgression. It is composed of six days of a thousand years each in length—“One day is with the Lord as a thousand years.” (II Pet. 3:8) The seventh day in this week would be the thousand years of Christ’s kingdom, the “times of restitution of all things.” It was early in the fifth of these days that our Lord was sacrificed, and when the members of his church began to lay down their earthly lives in sacrifice.

This continued through the sixth “day,” and it is early in the morning of the seventh day that the church’s work on earth is finished and all its members raised up and glorified with Jesus to be that future glorious temple of God, the channel of blessing for all mankind. Thus this larger temple which is the body of Christ is, in keeping with his prophecy, raised up on the third day.

Our Golden Text is significant, for it indicates that no stately edifices are needed as places in which to worship. God is a “Spirit,” and cannot be confined to limitations which so often human wisdom attempts to place upon him. Those who have his Spirit, and rejoice in the revelation of truth which he has given in his Word, can “worship him in Spirit and in truth.”

QUESTIONS

By what authority did Jesus drive the money-changers from the temple?

How do we know that Jesus did not refer to his body of flesh when he said that he would raise it up on the third day?

What was the “temple” of his “body” to which Jesus did refer, and how is it raised up in three days?

What do the words of our Golden Text mean to us today?

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