The Temple at Jerusalem With WorshippersBible World
2:20John 2:20
Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
When the Jews demanded a sign of His authority to cleanse the temple, they took His word temple to mean only the earthly building at Jerusalem that had been forty-six years in building and dismissed raising it in three days as impossible, but He was speaking of His own body to be destroyed by death and raised in three days by resurrection. The weight of the teaching holds that He meant His body as the earthly temple of the Son of God, while those who held the double sense teach that He meant both the temple at Jerusalem and His own material body. The hidden meaning was not to be understood then even by His disciples, but after His resurrection they remembered and understood that He had foretold in figurative language His own death and resurrection, His conflict and victory. He knew beforehand that His enemies would twist the saying into a false accusation at His trial and a taunt at Calvary, yet when He was rejected and put to death type met antitype, the sacrificial system lost its significance forever, and at His crucifixion the inner veil was rent from top to bottom. The temple was an object lesson of God's purpose for every created being and every human body to be His dwelling place, so sin having defiled humanity, saving grace through His incarnation makes the heart His temple again and requires living in harmony with the laws of health in temperance in all things.
Words, Setting and Misunderstanding
The forty-six years answer was given at the cleansing of the temple, when the chief priests and elders demanded a sign of authority to cleanse it, though that cleansing act itself had already given the strongest proof of divine commission. They answered with indignation, astonishment and unbelieving rejection, counting the three-days word as apparent presumption and as proof He had no right to challenge their beliefs, while they were plotting His death and hating Him for disrupting their gain-getting. They took “temple” to mean only the physical building at Jerusalem, the Jewish temple, the earthly building.
They pointed to its forty-six years in building and dismissed rebuilding it in three days as impossible. That building was highly revered by Jews and Romans, and the Romans had engaged in rebuilding and adorning it and took great pride in it as a work of science and art. Jesus was speaking of His own body as the earthly temple of the Son of God, its destruction by His death and its raising in three days by His resurrection, showing His power to lay down His life and take it again.
His saying held a double meaning, referring both to the temple at Jerusalem and to His own material body, given because no further evidence would convince those unconvinced by the cleansing, and He fully knew the path before Him to the end. The hidden meaning was not meant to be understood then, even by His disciples, but after His resurrection the disciples remembered the words and understood them correctly. The cleansing announced His mission as the Messiah and the beginning of His work, and its report spread to Galilee and helped prepare people to receive Him, with many hoping His power to drive out the rulers marked Him as the promised Deliverer.
The cleansing took place during the day before His night meeting with Nicodemus on the Mount of Olives. Through that entire day He healed the sick, relieved the afflicted, received the poor and oppressed with compassion and sent no suppliant away unrelieved, instructed the people, reasoned with the scribes, and silenced the rulers by wisdom. Nicodemus saw this compassion, healing and wisdom, heard His words, and searched the prophecies pointing to Him as the looked-for Messiah.
Prophecy, Trial and Fulfillment
The saying foretold in figurative prophetic language His own death and resurrection, His conflict and victory. He was the foundation and life of that temple, so His crucifixion would virtually destroy it, and its services, priesthood, sacrificial offerings and connected offerings, which were types pointing to His future sacrifice, lost their significance when He was rejected and put to death. When the Jews killed Him, type met antitype in His perfect offering, the whole system of burnt-offerings and blood of beasts became valueless forever, and at His crucifixion the inner veil was rent from top to bottom, signifying that the ceremonial system was at an end forever in the one great and final sacrifice of the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the world.
The temple where He taught, including in the outer court so Gentiles could hear Him, was soon to become the tomb of the departing Jewish dispensation, for its sacrifices and offerings pointed to Him and at His death the symbols met their fulfillment and the need for those sacrifices ceased. He knew beforehand that His words would be misused as an accusation at His trial and a taunt at Calvary, yet after His resurrection their meaning would become clear and provide many people with convincing evidence of His divinity. His enemies twisted the saying to support a false accusation, and of all He had said this was the only saying the priests could use against Him. At His trial bribed false witnesses twisted it to suit their purpose, including one corrupt man who put Christ on a level with himself testifying that He claimed to be able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days.
The priests counted on Roman indignation to unite Romans and Jews, Pharisees and Sadducees against Him, since all held the temple in great veneration. His words were truth while the evidence against Him was false and malicious, and reported exactly as spoken they contained nothing offensive, so that even as the words of a mere man they would only have indicated an unreasonable, boastful spirit and could not have been construed into blasphemy. Those destroying the true temple were Satan and the people acting under his influence. Read with the surrounding sayings about the temple of His body, His death was the apparent destruction of the temple and the apparent bruising of His head, but that appearance concealed victory: through suffering and death He completed the work appointed before creation, defeated Satan and the powers of earth and hell, restored humanity from the position lost through temptation and sin, and by perfect obedience to God's law placed humanity on vantage ground and broke Satan's hold over millions.
Temple Meaning for Life
The temple stands as an object lesson of God's purpose that every created being should be a dwelling place for Him. Sin defiled humanity so that the human heart no longer reflected God's glory. Through the incarnation God dwells in humanity, and by saving grace the heart is made His temple again.
The temple therefore illustrates that the human body is sacred to God and must be kept in harmony with the laws of health, while those who learn this are to teach others the better way. This education is to proceed line upon line and precept upon precept, keeping the subject fresh and never passing it over as non-essential. Conscience is to be aroused to the duty of practicing true reform, with temperance in all things in order to be susceptible to the sanctifying influence of truth.
When the Jews demanded a sign of His authority to cleanse the temple, they took His word temple to mean only the earthly building at Jerusalem that had been forty-six years in building and dismissed raising it in three days as impossible, but He was speaking of His own body to be destroyed by death and raised in three days by resurrection.
The weight of the teaching holds that He meant His body as the earthly temple of the Son of God, while those who held the double sense teach that He meant both the temple at Jerusalem and His own material body.
The hidden meaning was not to be understood then even by His disciples, but after His resurrection they remembered and understood that He had foretold in figurative language His own death and resurrection, His conflict and victory.
He knew beforehand that His enemies would twist the saying into a false accusation at His trial and a taunt at Calvary, yet when He was rejected and put to death type met antitype, the sacrificial system lost its significance forever, and at His crucifixion the inner veil was rent from top to bottom.
The temple was an object lesson of God's purpose for every created being and every human body to be His dwelling place, so sin having defiled humanity, saving grace through His incarnation makes the heart His temple again and requires living in harmony with the laws of health in temperance in all things.
Words, Setting and Misunderstanding
The forty-six years answer was given at the cleansing of the temple, when the chief priests and elders demanded a sign of authority to cleanse it, though that cleansing act itself had already given the strongest proof of divine commission. They answered with indignation, astonishment and unbelieving rejection, counting the three-days word as apparent presumption and as proof He had no right to challenge their beliefs, while they were plotting His death and hating Him for disrupting their gain-getting. They took “temple” to mean only the physical building at Jerusalem, the Jewish temple, the earthly building.
They pointed to its forty-six years in building and dismissed rebuilding it in three days as impossible. That building was highly revered by Jews and Romans, and the Romans had engaged in rebuilding and adorning it and took great pride in it as a work of science and art. Jesus was speaking of His own body as the earthly temple of the Son of God, its destruction by His death and its raising in three days by His resurrection, showing His power to lay down His life and take it again.
His saying held a double meaning, referring both to the temple at Jerusalem and to His own material body, given because no further evidence would convince those unconvinced by the cleansing, and He fully knew the path before Him to the end. The hidden meaning was not meant to be understood then, even by His disciples, but after His resurrection the disciples remembered the words and understood them correctly. The cleansing announced His mission as the Messiah and the beginning of His work, and its report spread to Galilee and helped prepare people to receive Him, with many hoping His power to drive out the rulers marked Him as the promised Deliverer.
The cleansing took place during the day before His night meeting with Nicodemus on the Mount of Olives. Through that entire day He healed the sick, relieved the afflicted, received the poor and oppressed with compassion and sent no suppliant away unrelieved, instructed the people, reasoned with the scribes, and silenced the rulers by wisdom. Nicodemus saw this compassion, healing and wisdom, heard His words, and searched the prophecies pointing to Him as the looked-for Messiah.
Prophecy, Trial and Fulfillment
The saying foretold in figurative prophetic language His own death and resurrection, His conflict and victory. He was the foundation and life of that temple, so His crucifixion would virtually destroy it, and its services, priesthood, sacrificial offerings and connected offerings, which were types pointing to His future sacrifice, lost their significance when He was rejected and put to death. When the Jews killed Him, type met antitype in His perfect offering, the whole system of burnt-offerings and blood of beasts became valueless forever, and at His crucifixion the inner veil was rent from top to bottom, signifying that the ceremonial system was at an end forever in the one great and final sacrifice of the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the world.
The temple where He taught, including in the outer court so Gentiles could hear Him, was soon to become the tomb of the departing Jewish dispensation, for its sacrifices and offerings pointed to Him and at His death the symbols met their fulfillment and the need for those sacrifices ceased. He knew beforehand that His words would be misused as an accusation at His trial and a taunt at Calvary, yet after His resurrection their meaning would become clear and provide many people with convincing evidence of His divinity. His enemies twisted the saying to support a false accusation, and of all He had said this was the only saying the priests could use against Him. At His trial bribed false witnesses twisted it to suit their purpose, including one corrupt man who put Christ on a level with himself testifying that He claimed to be able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days.
The priests counted on Roman indignation to unite Romans and Jews, Pharisees and Sadducees against Him, since all held the temple in great veneration. His words were truth while the evidence against Him was false and malicious, and reported exactly as spoken they contained nothing offensive, so that even as the words of a mere man they would only have indicated an unreasonable, boastful spirit and could not have been construed into blasphemy. Those destroying the true temple were Satan and the people acting under his influence. Read with the surrounding sayings about the temple of His body, His death was the apparent destruction of the temple and the apparent bruising of His head, but that appearance concealed victory: through suffering and death He completed the work appointed before creation, defeated Satan and the powers of earth and hell, restored humanity from the position lost through temptation and sin, and by perfect obedience to God's law placed humanity on vantage ground and broke Satan's hold over millions.
Temple Meaning for Life
The temple stands as an object lesson of God's purpose that every created being should be a dwelling place for Him. Sin defiled humanity so that the human heart no longer reflected God's glory. Through the incarnation God dwells in humanity, and by saving grace the heart is made His temple again.
The temple therefore illustrates that the human body is sacred to God and must be kept in harmony with the laws of health, while those who learn this are to teach others the better way. This education is to proceed line upon line and precept upon precept, keeping the subject fresh and never passing it over as non-essential. Conscience is to be aroused to the duty of practicing true reform, with temperance in all things in order to be susceptible to the sanctifying influence of truth.