Temple Conflict

Introduction

Acts is primarily concerned with the establishment of the Church, the eschatological Israel. The Eschatological Israel is the Israel of promise. The promised restored Israel. The Israel of the New Age, the New Testament, or the New Covenant. What we see in the book of Acts is the transition from the Old Age, the Old Covenant, the old creation to the new.

The implications of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are played out in real-time and recorded for us in this book. The Messiah came and crushed the head of the serpent. What does this mean? We see its results play out in the book of Acts while the remainder of the New Testament expounds on this theme of transition. In Acts we see:

1. The promises given to Israel extended to the world.

2. The presence of God given to the church, not just the physical Temple.

3. The ceremonial types and shadows given to Israel are replaced by reality: Christ’s real presence in and among His body, a nation of priests.

The church is God’s bride, made up of His people. Do you see what this means? Just as Adam and Eve were created as God’s people, as Christians, we are now redeemed to be God’s people. In Christ, our head, we have God as our God. We are living in God’s good earth as God’s people. We are the New Creation in Christ, and the book of Acts is a narrative of how the foundation of this New Creation was laid through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, working through the Apostles.

Acts 1-2: The Triune God establishes His Church (1:1-2:47)

 In the first two chapters of Acts we find the following progression,

1. Luke introduces the book as written to Theophilus and we can see it as a second volume of Luke’s historical narrative. The first narrative, the Gospel of Luke, emphasizes Christ’s proclamation of the good news of the kingdom of God and gives an account of Christ’s life, ministry, passion, death, and resurrection. (1:1)  

2. We then see the risen Christ appearing to the disciples and speaking to them the things concerning the kingdom of God. (1:2-3)

3. Christ then commissions them to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth. This is how the restoration plan will be accomplished. (1:4-8) - Isaiah 42:6, 49:6 – this sets up an outline for the book of Acts which we will see today.

4. Christ then ascends into heaven. (1:9-11)

5. The 11 disciples, now Apostles (sent out ones), choose the 12th man to take the place of Judas according to Peter’s interpretation of Psalms 69 and 109. (1:12-26) - completing the foundation of the New Temple, the New Jerusalem, the church.

6. The Holy Spirit is poured out with theophanic and eschatological language to fill this new Temple with His presence. There is an allusion to the Tower of Babel by Luke’s employment of the term “Bewildered” (συνῆλθε [syncheo]) in verse 6 as we see the exiles of Israel returned to Jerusalem, understanding the signs and wonders being explained in their own languages. (2:1-13)

7. The Apostle Peter explains to these exiles that they are witnessing prophetic fulfillment of Joel 2, that Jesus was the Messiah as prophesied by Psalm 16 and Psalm 132, and that Jesus has taken His rightful place as Lord at the right hand of God in fulfillment of Psalm 110. (2:14-36)

8. With all these events, the eschatological Israel is established, the New Jerusalem has come in fulfillment of Ezekiel 37:

a. The Lord has taken His Davidic Throne at the right hand of God.

b. The 12 foundation stones of the New Jerusalem have been laid

c. The exiled Israelites have returned.

d. The presence of God has filled the Restored Temple. Not the one made with hands, but the body of Christ, the church, found in a house.  

9. The new Israel is made up of all people who repent, are baptized, and who devote themselves to the apostle’s teaching, to communion, and prayer. (2:37-47)

a. This is a true Deuteronomy 6 community: they love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and might as demonstrated by their willingness to sell their possessions for the sake of the kingdom.    

This makes up the beginning of the church, the eschatological Israel. Schreiner offers this title: The Triune God establishes His Church (1:1-2:47).

Acts 3-8: The Witness in Jerusalem

The next section of the book is the witness in Jerusalem. In verse 8 of chapter 1, Christ said that they would receive power, which occurred in chapter 2 at Pentecost. He then said that they would be witnesses in Jerusalem. The capital of the Judaic world.  And if the witness of the New Covenant is coming into Jerusalem, where do you think that this witness would be proclaimed? The Temple. We see the physical temple becoming a place of conflict as the old temple community wages war against the new temple community.

There is a series of three events narrated which all begin with signs and wonders:

· We see a lame man healed in 3:1-10

· The apostles doing many signs and wonders in 5:12

· Stephen doing great wonders and signs in 6:8

These events highlight the fulfillment of the restored temple and the inauguration of a New Covenant Age in fulfillment of the prophecies of old:

“When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the One who is to come, or should we look for someone else?’” At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits, and He granted sight to many who were blind. And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. “Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” (Luke 7:20-23)

Christ pointed to Isaiah 35 and 61 and the signs and wonders taking place to be indications of the “...favorable year of Yahweh And the day of vengeance of our God...” (Isaiah 61:2a).

However, each time signs and wonders happen, and people start to convert, the Old Covenant leadership begins to attack and persecute this New Covenant community. This is exactly what Jesus said would happen:

   “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. “They will put you out of the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. “These things they will do because they did not know the Father or Me. “But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.” (John 16:1-4)

And this is exactly what we see happen:

· In response to the healing of the lame man and Peter’s interpretation, the leadership, the priests, captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees, become “greatly agitated”, lay hands on the apostles, and put them in jail in 4:1-3.

· In response to the “many signs and wonders”, the leadership, the high priest and the Sadducees, are “filled with jealousy”, lay hands on the apostles, and put them in jail in 5:17 and they become “furious” and intend to kill them in 5:33.

· In response to the “great wonders and signs” of Stephen as well as his interpretation, the leadership, the Sanhedrin, “became furious in their hearts”, gnashed their teeth at him, cried out with a loud voice, covered their ears, rushed at him, drove him out of the city, and stoned him in 7:54-60.

So, you can see how the signs and wonders of this restored Israel are being contrasted with the rebellion of the Old Covenant community. Despite this, or better, because of this, the Apostle’s ministry is bringing in very good fruit:

· 3,000 souls are added to the church after Peter’s Pentecost sermon in 2:41.

· The number of men increased to 5,000 in response to the healing of the lame man and Peter’s interpretation in 4:4.

· Multitudes of men and women were being added to their number in response to the many signs and wonders of the apostles in 5:14. They continue to multiply in number in Jerusalem and even the priests start to become obedient to the faith in 6:7.

· In response to the persecutions which began after the stoning of Stephen, the Gospel has even farther reach:

“Therefore, those who had been scattered went about, proclaiming the good news of the word.” (Acts 8:4)

And this is the progress of the Gospel:

Signs and wonders being interpreted by the apostles leads to many Jews being added to the church. The leadership of the Old Age fights and kills thinking that they are serving God. And the followers of Christ die, are scattered, and so produce much fruit:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” (John 12:24-26)

In the book of Acts, we see our Sovereign Lord continue to use the wickedness of evil men for the furtherance of the kingdom. Through the murder of Christ, the world is saved. Through the murder of the early church, the world begins to hear about this salvation. But our just God will not allow these evil men to continue. He had a time established for their judgment: God raised up Titus to come in and sack Jerusalem and destroy the temple, indicating that the Old Age and the Old Covenant were done. God was now restoring the earth.

And this makes sense of so many things:

1. Paul saying the ruler of the darkness of this age after Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, an ascension – he is talking about Satan being the ruler of the Babylon Jerusalem described in Revelation. Jesus graciously gave His whoring people 40 years to repent of their sins and turn back, and many did! During those 40 years, Satan was still ruling the corrupted Judaic system. But his rule came to a crashing end in AD 70.

2. Despite the establishment of the New Covenant, the 7th sabbath is observed throughout the book of Acts (Acts 17:1, 13:13, 16:11). How can this be? It was because there was an overlap between the Old and New Covenant. Both had ordinances that were...salvific? No. They were pointing towards the reality of Christ. The 7thday-sabbath rest was pointing toward our sabbath rest in Christ. The Apostles knew when the Jews would be gathered, on the 7th day, and they gathered with them to tell them the good news of the kingdom.

3. Paul keeps a Nazarite vow and offers sacrifices in 21:26. These sacrifices were pointing toward the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. And during this time of transition, it was not wrong for him to offer them.

There was an overlap between the ordinances of the Old Covenant and the ordinances of the New Covenant. And as the Apostles are bringing in the New Covenant Age, they are still observing some of the Old Covenant Ordinances which was God’s gracious way of easing the Jews into this New Covenant reality. God put a distinct end to this 40 years later by destroying the temple in AD 70.

Application: Life by death

Are we part of this New Covenant community? Do we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and might? Are we dying daily, taking up our cross, and following Christ? Have we been buried with Him? Can we say with Paul, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain”? Or with Joshua, “as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh”?

Or even worse, can we say with Stephen, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Can we love our enemies, lay down our life for our neighbor, and bear much fruit? Do you know where this starts? In your home. Husbands must be laying down their lives for their families, wives must be following their examples. And children then, will learn how to live as God’s people: with love towards one another.

This is life by death. True life, true freedom, true fulfillment can only be found in Christ, when we die to ourselves. When we put to death the god of our own self. Romans 6:7 says,

“...for he who has died has been justified from sin.” 

Nick reminded us last week about Jesus as our better Ark of the Covenant. Where did the Ark lead the people? Through the water. Noah’s ark passes through the wrath of God, Moses’ ark passes through the tumultuous water of the Nile, and then the Ark of the Covenant once again leads the people through the water. Our ark, Jesus Christ, also leads us through, not away from, but through, the wrath of God. We took the wrath of God due to us for our sin, in Christ on the cross. We, in Christ, our ark, may receive the due penalty for our sin just as in Adam we received the curse for our sin. If we die with Christ, we will also be justified and raised to walk in newness of life.

Have you died to yourself? The offer of salvation, of new life, of abundant life, is yours. Repent of your self-will, of your sin, believe in Christ, and you will be granted eternal life with the blessing of God.

Review and Conclusion

In conclusion, we see that the book of Acts was written as a historical narrative concerning the establishment of eschatological Israel. The Israel of promise. And we see this come to fruition in the first two chapters of Acts. Really, Acts 1:8 is the thesis statement for the book,

“...but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to THE END OF THE EARTH.” (Acts 1:8)

They received power in chapter 2, then they are witnesses in Jerusalem in chapters 3-8. The temple, as the center of the old order, becomes the battleground. We will see this come up often as we go through this next section in the coming weeks.

The outline follows the pattern that we looked at: Temple restoration through signs, followed by conflict, then a picture of the New Temple community:   

I. Temple Restoration & Conflict: Peter heals a lame man (3:1-4:31)

a. The People of the Restored Temple (4:32-5:11) - Deuteronomy 6 – resources.

II. Temple Restoration & Conflict: The apostles doing many signs and wonders (5:12-42)

a. The People of the Restored Temple (6:1-7) - James 1:27, Deuteronomy 14:29 – care for widows.

III. Temple Restoration & Conflict: Stephen doing great wonders and signs (6:8-7:53)

a. Temple Death and Resurrection (7:54-8:4) – John 12:20-33 – the scattered and dying seed.

And it was through the conflict, bloodshed, and dying, that the Gospel proclamation spread. For Jesus said,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” (John 12:24-26)