When Shadows Fade - Doing Away With the First to Establish the Second
Notes
Transcript
13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 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.
Pray
Last week we worked our way through the first part of this passage, gaining understanding that it was zeal for the worship of God that moved Jesus to drive the animals and the money changers out of the temple. It was a case of a legitimate activity being performed in an unacceptable place. We were challenged to worship God rightly when we come together for corporate worship because God is concerned with how he is worshipped.
Well, Jesus’ actions in the temple drew some attention no doubt. And we find out that there are those, we are told the Jews… meaning the authorities who are in charge of the temple, that are none to happy with what Jesus had done, interrupting the trade… and also interrupting their income stream. He had better be able to demonstrate an authority greater than their’s for his actions. And this is why we read...
18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”
The Greek word here that we’ve translated “sign” means “a marvelous event manifesting a supernatural act of a divine agent. They were, after all, the highest human authority in the temple. So, who was this man, Jesus, to come into the temple and disrupt business? If he thinks he has that kind of authority then he had better be able to prove it with a supernatural event, thus proving his authority.
Jesus’ answer was not at all what they were expecting.
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
I don’t know what kind of an answer or sign they were expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
There are a couple of things that make this response from Jesus interesting. First, the word “Destroyed” is in the imperative. Meaning Jesus is giving them a command… He is saying, “You destroy this temple...”
This is interesting because later on, both Matthew and Mark record men giving false witness against Jesus saying,
58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’ ”
But Jesus didn’t say “I will destroy this temple.” He said, “You destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days.”
The second thing that is interesting is the word that Jesus uses for “temple.” If you recall, last week, when we covered verses 14-17 I mentioned that the word used in those verses for “temple” referred to the “temple area” speaking of the Court of the Gentiles and not the inner temple area. But here, in this passage today (19,20,21) the word for “temple” refers to the inner temple itself.
Of course they were incredulous at Jesus’ response and said,
20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”
Remember last week, when we were learning about the temple, that Herod the Great started rebuilding the temple around 19 BC. 46 years from then is 27 AD, which seems pretty accurate in that the early date for Christ’s death is AD 30… which corresponds nicely with 3 years of ministry. And this event being at the very beginning of Jesus’ first year of public ministry.
So, they misunderstood what he was saying, and so that we do not do the same the Apostle John gives us insight in verse 21...
21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
Now, this is where I want us to really land this morning. I’ve titled this sermon “When Shadows Fade” and the reason I have titled it thus is for this particular reason… the temple… there is a subtle change that happens here that will become clear later on and it all has to do with the temple.
When the Israelites were marching through the wilderness God gave them directions on building a tabernacle… a portable sanctuary, where the presence of God could reside. Exodus 25:8-9...
8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. 9 Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.
And so, they fashioned the tabernacle so that God would dwell in their midst.
Later on, when God had given them their inheritances, each tribe receiving a portion of the land “flowing with milk and honey” (we’ve just within the last week finished reading that in Joshua in our church-wide daily Bible reading program) it was then, after David had subdued the surrounding nations, that the temple was built, directly on the spot God had directed Abraham to sacrifice his only son, on Mount Moriah.
And was here, that the presence of the Lord had dwell among His people. The filling of the temple with God’s presence is recorded for us in 2 Chronicles 7...
1 As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” 4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord. 5 King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.
And this had been the place of God’s presence and the worship of Him by the people from that day forward. If they wanted to be in the presence of God… if they wanted to make atonement for their sins through the shedding of blood… the blood of a lamb, or a bull… they had to travel to the temple.
But now, here in first century Jerusalem, Jesus is making a very subtle statement, that there has been a change, that he will now be the temple; that he will now be the place where the full presence of God dwells among men.
This is the point that Paul was making, after the fact, in the first chapter of Colossians...
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Everything up to that point… the tabernacle, all the articles covered in gold, silver, and bronze. The temple, the rituals, the sacrifices… day after day, month after month, year after year had been a shadow of what was yet to come. And now it had come. Jesus is now the presence of God amongst men. And he is telling the Jewish leaders that, if they destroy him, he will rise from the dead… he will rebuilt the temple again in three days.
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
Of course, no body got it. Even his disciples didn’t get it at the time. John tells us that it wasn’t until Jesus death, and subsequent resurrection three days later that they remembered what he had said back in the temple courtyard years before...
22 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, here at the beginning of his gospel is setting a precedent for all that is to come… That this is more than just a record of his time on earth, but that great things were taking place...
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
John’s record of the temple cleansing immediately after the miracle of turning water into wine offers to us an important key to the whole of Jesus’ ministry.
As one commentator puts it… “these events signal a replacement of the old order… specifically the “water of ceremonial cleansing” replaced with the “new wine” of salvation and the old order of the temple made by hands where the presence of God resided to the incarnation… the fullness of God in bodily form… and then to the coming day where the risen Lamb is the new temple. John in his writing of Revelation reveals of the new Jerusalem...
22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
John is alerting his readers that the old way of doing things is changing. That Christ’s appearance changes EVERYTHING!
I want to wrap up this thought with a passage of Scripture that makes clear what happened when these shadows fade.
Let’s turn to the letter to the Hebrews 7. As we read through this passage you will see, I pray, not only the shadow of what was fading away, but it will be replaced with the glorious understanding of what has been accomplished through the life, death, and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 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. 26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 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. 28 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. 1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. 5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. 8 For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” 13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2 For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. 5 Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. 6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. 8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. 11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 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, 14 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. 15 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. 16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. 23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 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. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 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. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 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. 1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ” 8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” 17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” 18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. 19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
Hallelujah!!! Let’s pray!