John 2 - Tear Down the Temple

John 2 Part 3 Tear Down the Temple

So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (John 2:18-22 ESV)

Why was Jesus killed? (There could be a bunch of answers for this one)

What was the human reason for killing Jesus?

And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.” (Luke 23:2 NIV)

The Jewish leaders want to kill Jesus for subversion and troublemaking, and for blasphemy. Blasphemy, of course, is the reason religious men want to kill him, but the Romans with their pantheon of Gods would not have cared about Jesus calling himself God. Pilate cared only that there was a riot going on outside his palace and the rioters wanted to kill Christ. Jesus is causing disorder with his popularity and words that the Jewish leaders see as subversive.

The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree. Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.’ ” (Mark 14:55-58 NIV)

It comes out in the trial after Jesus' arrest. This guy says he will tear down the temple and rebuild it. Did you hear that, he's a terrorist! He's a witch, burn him!

Think about it. . .what happens if you post on Facebook, blow up the White House tomorrow and then I'll rebuild it. What will happen? Black helicopters will land in your front yard, Navy Seals will break in your windows and they will haul you off to jail. If you say you will destroy the epicenter of the nation, you are in big trouble, whether it is Israel or America. Semantics will likely not get you off the hook either. I didn't say "I will destroy the White House,". I only said, "destroy the White House, and I'll rebuild it."

If he's going to get in a bunch of trouble, why does Jesus say it?

Jesus's mission earth is to get himself killed. . .but at the proper time, once he has done his preaching and teaching and shared everything the father asked. This is bus stop number one on the road to the cross, and it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. I will be killed and rise again, but I will be killed and rise again because I say publicly that I will be killed and rise again.

How does this story relate to the story about Jesus turning over tables in the temple and why does John put the two stories side by side?

The way worship and forgiveness works is about to change. In the past it had been based on temple sacrifice, the priests going in to the super-holy part of the temple and offering sacrifices for atonement and cleanliness. But Jesus is saying that the temple building will no longer be where forgiveness happens. Forgiveness will happen in Jesus's own body, through his death and resurrection.

So in reality, Jesus is being way more subversive than the Jews even know. They are scared he will destroy the temple. But the temple was already destroyed and rebuilt once (See Nehemiah) and it could be done again. What they don't realize is that Jesus is pledging to destroy their religion, societal structure, and very way of life and rebuild it all upon himself and his sacrifice.

The book of Hebrews describes all of this in super-detail.

The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. (Hebrews 7:23-28 ESV).

For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:11-15, 24-28 ESV)