Jesus is the Temple

This morning I am reminded that indeed Jesus is the temple of worship. But isn’t it something that even knowing this, we are taken aback and do not fully understand.

“¹⁹Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ ²⁰The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ – John 2:19-20 (ESV)

At the temple the people were changing money and selling animals for offering and other goods. Jesus took exception to this practice and took action, to which the people asked Him of the authority He had to take such action. Jesus answered. The people, as we all do in the moment, looked to the physical and not to the spiritual. Their literal interpretation was one of skepticism and they were not seeing the true picture as noted in the next two verses.

“²¹But he was speaking about the temple of his body. ²²When 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 2:21-22 (ESV)

Jesus was speaking of Himself as the temple and not of the literal buildings known to the people as the temple, but His disciples knew.

“⁵⁷And some stood up and bore false witness against him, 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.”’ ⁵⁹Yet even about this their testimony did not agree.” – Mark 14:57-59 (ESV)

Now let’s carry forward to Jesus before the council after his betrayal and arrest in the garden. There were witnesses that came forward to testify against Jesus that only provided false witness. In one of these recorded testimonies, it was said that Jesus said “He” would destroy the temple. If you look back at verse 19 from John chapter 2 above, Jesus was referring to the people destroying the temple and on top of that, He was speaking of Himself as the temple which is noted in verse 21.

So where does this leave us. Well, Jesus is the temple. Scripture is clear that the temple is not of man, but of God. God sent His Son to be the savior for us all. He sent Him to be known and be our place of worship. Jesus came and allowed Himself to be destroyed by the people and even so, He rose again, in three days to once again be our place of worship.

I am grateful to have a temple where I can devote my worship. That temple is not the building where I attend church services, but Jesus. No matter where I might be or what circumstances I may encounter, the temple that is Jesus is always available for me to worship.

What is your view of the temple? Do you attribute the temple to a building or structure? What if you were to see that Jesus is the Temple and you can attend worship there with Him always and whenever?

Jesus Built His Church

“¹⁸And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” – Matthew 16:18 (ESV)

And there you have it, Jesus states that He will build His church. And that brings us to where we are today. Jesus built His church and nothing can destroy it (as noted in the third part of the verse).

Let’s look at the first part of the verse where Jesus is addressing Peter. Peter is the rock that the church is built on. Why is that so? Yes, the word Peter is similar to the word rock or stone in Greek. But I also think that there is more to it than just Peter being the rock. And for that look at a couple of verses prior to the above to speak to my thoughts.

“¹⁵He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ ¹⁶Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’” – Matthew 16:15-16 (ESV)

And there it is, Jesus asks the disciples who they say Jesus is. Before anyone else could answer, Peter speaks up to declare Jesus and Christ and the Son of God. Peter beat them all to the punch and stated what I believe the other disciples would have stated as well. I have written in the margin of my bible that the questions asked by Jesus is “the question we all have to ask”, and “can we state the same with conviction” as Peter so boldly declared.

This is where my thoughts come in. I believe that Jesus built His church as the people who have declared Him as Christ, LORD, and Son of God. When we accept the free gift of salvation we declare Jesus as our LORD and Savior. We boldly state, as Peter did, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”.

“¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” – Matthew 16:19 (ESV)

The you here is identifying us all. As noted in the commentary of my bible: “Peter is give the authority to admit entrance into the kingdom through preaching the gospel, an authority that is subsequently granted to all who are called to proclaim the gospel.” We are all called to proclaim the gospel as followers of Christ and therefor all have the authority Jesus mentions in verse 19 above. We are all the church on which Jesus builds. We are not some building that will eventually fall to the ground. We will stand throughout this world and will always prevail.

How do you think about the church? Are you stuck in the idea that it is a building where services are attended? What if the church is the people who follow Jesus and declare, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”?

Do Not Build for Self

God is jealous. He created all things and therefor is deserving of our full attention and allegiance and glory. When we set off to do things on our own, He will right things in such a way to bring us back to Him.

“⁴Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.’” – Genesis 11:4 (ESV)

Isn’t it a good thing as noted above that the people would take out to build a city and a tower. And isn’t it a good thing that they have the capacity to do so. Yes, from a capacity and capability and desire to do the work it is a good thing. God does provide talents and skills to us that we are to use for His glory. And that is it, it is for His glory and not our own. The people built a city for security so that would be able to stay in one place together. They built a tower to praise themselves as others would be able to see what they had built.

The LORD is generous with what He provides for us, and our abilities are certainly from Him. But, we are to be using those provisions and abilities that come from Him to glorify Him and ensure that more and more people have the opportunity to find Him as their LORD. This is not what the people were doing in the building of the city and tower.

“’⁷Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.’” ⁸So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.” – Genesis 11:7-8 (ESV)

As the LORD witnessed the work of the people, He found it to be good work. The people worked together in union to accomplish a task and the LORD recognized this. But their work was pointed in the wrong direction. The people were moving into a place of self sufficiency and were turning away from Him. God rectified this by confusing them and there ability to understand one another. By this they would not lose there abilities and capacity to do the work, but they would turn back to Him and direct there energy to Him.

This is where we should be, building for the LORD, not ourselves. It is easy to get caught up in the actions that we are taking and seeing things as ways to have security and a name. I know that I get caught up in who gets the credit for things in this world. When I am not recognized for the work that I have done by those around me I am frustrated and confused. But maybe, just maybe that is God’s way of bringing me back to Him as I had strayed into building something for myself and not for His glory.

What have you built in this world? Did you take on the build or join in the build for the glory of yourself? What if instead, you turned your energy to building for the LORD for His namesake and security?