Mark 14:58
We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands. We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.
This saying belongs to the midnight effort to condemn Jesus after He was hurried bound over the brook Kedron to the palace of Annas, the ex-high priest recognized as head of the priestly family, for a preliminary examination before the formal trial before the Sanhedrin in the court of Caiaphas in the judgment hall before the high priest. Under Roman rule the Sanhedrin could not execute a death sentence and had to find charges that were criminal to the Romans and condemning to the Jews, so the priests sought to prove blasphemy against the Jews and sedition against the Romans. Annas first questioned Jesus about His disciples and doctrines to make Him appear the leader of a secret society setting up a new kingdom, but Jesus denied any secret bond or hidden teaching because He had spoken openly in synagogue and temple. The midnight seizure, mockery, and abuse before accusation or condemnation violated the rule that every man be treated as innocent until proved guilty.
It takes place with Jesus standing at the foot of the throne of judgment while Caiaphas as presiding officer sits upon it, with judges and those specially interested on either side, Roman soldiers ranged on the platform below the throne, and the eyes of the multitude upon Him amid wild excitement. While the high priest and the crowd react with hostility, excitement, and malignant deportment, Jesus stands calm, serene, dignified, majestic and akin to God, with a holy influence emanating from Him and pervading the atmosphere. Even the hardened multitude compare His bearing with theirs and question whether a man of God-like presence should be sentenced as a common criminal. Caiaphas presides in gorgeous robe with glittering tiara and costly breastplate once associated with the flashing light of God's glory, in strong contrast to the coarse, homely garments of Jesus, though Jesus had reigned crowned in the courts of heaven in garments of brightness attended by holy angels.
The verse records bought, false and malicious testimony from two witnesses, including a corrupt man who had sold his honor for money and spoke of Christ as on his own low level, whose evidence was less contradictory than the vague and worthless testimony before it. Their testimony did not agree, so the charge was not established. In figurative prophetic language concerning the temple of His body, Jesus foretold His own death and His conflict and victory in raising it again and rising after three days. He said He could destroy it and raise it again in three days.
His hearers mistook the saying for a claim about the Jewish temple, and His enemies twisted and distorted it to make it sound offensive and able to build the Jewish temple in three days if destroyed. The words as Jesus spoke them were truth and verity and had nothing offensive in them, and accurately reported they did not support a charge of blasphemy. Even on the enemies' assumption that He was a mere man, the claim would only show an unreasonable, boastful spirit and could not be construed into blasphemy.
This was the one saying of Jesus the priests could use to condemn Him, and alone could unite Romans and Jews, Pharisees and Sadducees, because all held the temple in great veneration. Other charges would fail because denouncing priests and scribes would weigh nothing with Romans or Sadducees, disregarding traditions would weigh nothing with Romans or Sadducees, and accusing Sabbath-breaking would expose His healing miracles. The Romans had rebuilt and embellished the temple and took great pride in it as a work of science and art, so they would be indignant that a humble man declared Himself able to build it in three days if destroyed.