He spoke not of the Jerusalem building but of His own material body as the earthly temple of the Son of God, declaring in figurative prophecy that His enemies would put Him to death and He would rise again in three days. It also carried a further reference to the temple at Jerusalem itself. He gave this answer when priests and rulers demanded a sign for His cleansing of the courts, deliberately leaving its meaning veiled from unbelieving hearers and even from His disciples until after His resurrection, when they remembered and understood it as proof of His divinity. At His trial His enemies seized on the saying and twisted it into a charge against Him, though spoken exactly it contained nothing offensive or worthy of death. The sacrifices and ceremonies of the Jerusalem temple pointed forward to His self-offering, and when the types met their fulfillment those services lost their value, while His victory through suffering and the indwelling of saving grace makes the human body sacred as a temple to be kept in the best condition for service to God.
Meaning and Context
But he spake of the temple of his body, not the Jerusalem building, and His words about destroying the temple and raising it in three days referred to His death and resurrection. That temple was His own material body, the earthly temple of the Son of God. His statement at the same time held a double meaning, referring both to His own body and to the temple at Jerusalem. His body would be destroyed by crucifixion at the hands of His enemies and raised when He rose, while the Jerusalem temple whose sacrifices and ceremonies pointed forward to His sacrifice would lose its meaning when He was rejected and delivered to death and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice.
He gave this answer when the priests and elders demanded a sign for His cleansing of the temple courts. That cleansing was already the strongest proof of His divine commission, and no further evidence would convince them if it failed. The next day He continued ministering to the sick and teaching the people. His hearers in unbelief took Him to mean only the temple at Jerusalem, built in forty-six years, understanding His words literally as a reference to the Jewish temple.
Death and Resurrection Foretold
Jesus spoke in the figurative language of prophecy, foretelling His own death at the hands of His enemies and His resurrection on the third day, His conflict and victory. The temple to be destroyed and raised was His own body, put to death by crucifixion and raised again. His words also exposed the plot of His hearers to kill Him.
He knew the path of death before Him to the end, yet He deliberately kept the hidden meaning veiled from the skeptical Jews and even from His disciples at the time and spoke without explaining it. He did so so His enemies would not learn the outcome of their hostility, and so His disciples would not face sorrow they could not yet bear. After He rose, His disciples remembered what He had said and understood it correctly, believing the Scriptures and His word. They connected it with His saying that He had power to lay down His life and take it up again. Remembered after the resurrection, the words became clear evidence of His divinity and strengthened believers.
At His trial the priests could find nothing else in all He had said to use against Him, so they seized on this saying. It gave common ground where Romans and Jews, Pharisees and Sadducees could meet, since all held the temple in great veneration. The Romans were rebuilding and embellishing it and took great pride in it as a work of science and art, and the priests counted on their indignation that a humble man claimed he could build it in three days. His enemies misconstrued His words to suit their purposes, with a corrupt bribed witness putting Him on a level with himself and misreporting the saying as a claim to be able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days. His words were truth and verity, and reported exactly as spoken they contained nothing offensive and nothing worthy of death. Even if He had been a mere man the declaration would only have indicated an unreasonable, boastful spirit but could not have been construed into blasphemy.
Doctrine and Application
The temple services pointed forward to his death, and when he offered himself as the perfect sacrifice the types met their fulfillment. With that fulfillment those services lost their meaning and value before God, and the need for animal offerings and sacrificial services ceased. The tearing of the temple veil at his crucifixion signified the permanent end of that ceremonial system. His words about destroying the temple and raising it in three days referred to his body being put to death by his enemies and raised again, while they also referred to the Jerusalem temple whose services would lose their meaning when he was rejected and delivered to death.
At his death his body seemed to be destroyed, but the apparent defeat was actually victory. Through his suffering and crucifixion he overcame the powers of earth and hell and broke Satan's hold over millions. His death accomplished the work ordained before the world began, and through his perfect obedience to God's law he restored humanity to the position lost through temptation and sin.
The temple was an object lesson of God dwelling among his people, fulfilled by the incarnation in God's purpose to dwell in humanity. Sin had made the human heart unfit to be God's temple, but saving grace makes it his dwelling again.
The verse identifies the temple he spoke of as his body and teaches that the human body is sacred as a temple. Physical powers and physical life are to be preserved in the best possible condition for acceptable service to God in mind, soul, and body. Rejecting available knowledge of health rejects a means God has provided for physical and spiritual life.
He spoke not of the Jerusalem building but of His own material body as the earthly temple of the Son of God, declaring in figurative prophecy that His enemies would put Him to death and He would rise again in three days. It also carried a further reference to the temple at Jerusalem itself. He gave this answer when priests and rulers demanded a sign for His cleansing of the courts, deliberately leaving its meaning veiled from unbelieving hearers and even from His disciples until after His resurrection, when they remembered and understood it as proof of His divinity. At His trial His enemies seized on the saying and twisted it into a charge against Him, though spoken exactly it contained nothing offensive or worthy of death. The sacrifices and ceremonies of the Jerusalem temple pointed forward to His self-offering, and when the types met their fulfillment those services lost their value, while His victory through suffering and the indwelling of saving grace makes the human body sacred as a temple to be kept in the best condition for service to God.
Meaning and Context
But he spake of the temple of his body, not the Jerusalem building, and His words about destroying the temple and raising it in three days referred to His death and resurrection. That temple was His own material body, the earthly temple of the Son of God. His statement at the same time held a double meaning, referring both to His own body and to the temple at Jerusalem. His body would be destroyed by crucifixion at the hands of His enemies and raised when He rose, while the Jerusalem temple whose sacrifices and ceremonies pointed forward to His sacrifice would lose its meaning when He was rejected and delivered to death and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice.
He gave this answer when the priests and elders demanded a sign for His cleansing of the temple courts. That cleansing was already the strongest proof of His divine commission, and no further evidence would convince them if it failed. The next day He continued ministering to the sick and teaching the people. His hearers in unbelief took Him to mean only the temple at Jerusalem, built in forty-six years, understanding His words literally as a reference to the Jewish temple.
Death and Resurrection Foretold
Jesus spoke in the figurative language of prophecy, foretelling His own death at the hands of His enemies and His resurrection on the third day, His conflict and victory. The temple to be destroyed and raised was His own body, put to death by crucifixion and raised again. His words also exposed the plot of His hearers to kill Him.
He knew the path of death before Him to the end, yet He deliberately kept the hidden meaning veiled from the skeptical Jews and even from His disciples at the time and spoke without explaining it. He did so so His enemies would not learn the outcome of their hostility, and so His disciples would not face sorrow they could not yet bear. After He rose, His disciples remembered what He had said and understood it correctly, believing the Scriptures and His word. They connected it with His saying that He had power to lay down His life and take it up again. Remembered after the resurrection, the words became clear evidence of His divinity and strengthened believers.
At His trial the priests could find nothing else in all He had said to use against Him, so they seized on this saying. It gave common ground where Romans and Jews, Pharisees and Sadducees could meet, since all held the temple in great veneration. The Romans were rebuilding and embellishing it and took great pride in it as a work of science and art, and the priests counted on their indignation that a humble man claimed he could build it in three days. His enemies misconstrued His words to suit their purposes, with a corrupt bribed witness putting Him on a level with himself and misreporting the saying as a claim to be able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days. His words were truth and verity, and reported exactly as spoken they contained nothing offensive and nothing worthy of death. Even if He had been a mere man the declaration would only have indicated an unreasonable, boastful spirit but could not have been construed into blasphemy.
Doctrine and Application
The temple services pointed forward to his death, and when he offered himself as the perfect sacrifice the types met their fulfillment. With that fulfillment those services lost their meaning and value before God, and the need for animal offerings and sacrificial services ceased. The tearing of the temple veil at his crucifixion signified the permanent end of that ceremonial system. His words about destroying the temple and raising it in three days referred to his body being put to death by his enemies and raised again, while they also referred to the Jerusalem temple whose services would lose their meaning when he was rejected and delivered to death.
At his death his body seemed to be destroyed, but the apparent defeat was actually victory. Through his suffering and crucifixion he overcame the powers of earth and hell and broke Satan's hold over millions. His death accomplished the work ordained before the world began, and through his perfect obedience to God's law he restored humanity to the position lost through temptation and sin.
The temple was an object lesson of God dwelling among his people, fulfilled by the incarnation in God's purpose to dwell in humanity. Sin had made the human heart unfit to be God's temple, but saving grace makes it his dwelling again.
The verse identifies the temple he spoke of as his body and teaches that the human body is sacred as a temple. Physical powers and physical life are to be preserved in the best possible condition for acceptable service to God in mind, soul, and body. Rejecting available knowledge of health rejects a means God has provided for physical and spiritual life.