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?

Limits to the Work of Christ’s Redemption?

In short, NO!

There are no limits to the redemptive work of Christ. He did not just come to renew and resurrect me. Jesus came to defeat the totality of the curse. He came to redeem me. He came to redeem my body. He came to redeem the earth. He came to redeem the universe.

As I was studying this morning I came across a sentence that gave me a bit of pause,

“Earth won’t be put out of its misery; it will be infused with a greater life than it has ever known, at last becoming all that God meant for it to be.” – Randy Alcorn

As I am going through this study, I am also doing another on discipleship where we are currently looking at the walking in obedience. Here we are in study of the passage in Ephesians where Paul indicates to fully change.

“²²to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, ²³and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” – Ephesians 4:22-24 (ESV)

If the earth is to be “infused” is it really changing to be new. And then, I reached the end of the study to this,

“Earth cannot be delivered from the curse by being destroyed. It can only be delivered by being resurrected.” – Randy Alcorn

What a great picture of the redemptive work of Christ. The evil in the world, the curse, is destroyed. Sin is destroyed. Death is destroyed. Man is renewed in spirit. Man is renewed in body. The earth is renewed. The universe is renewed. All is renewed.

“⁸He will swallow up death forever;

and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,

and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,

for the Lord has spoken.”

— Isaiah 25:8 (ESV)

There is no limit to the redemptive work of Christ. He came to renew it all. Renew it all back to the way it was created. For that to take place, it ALL is to be renewed and Christ was sent to get it started. He died that we would live. He died that we would be redeemed. All else will follow.

What are your thoughts on the limits of Christ? Are you in the camp that He is only here for the purpose of your redemption? What if you were to see Him as He is, the Limitless Redeemer?

Christ Wins, What Side are We On

We know that Christ wins the war with Satan. It is a certainty. But what about in the meantime. What about until He comes again.

Let’s start with a look into a few of the battles. First, there is the Adam in the garden. Satan won. He successfully enticed Adam to sin. Adam had it all, food, protection, shelter, relationship with God, yet he fell at the temptation of the one thing God asked him not to do. That was where Satan attacked, in the one thing.

Next battle, Jesus in the wilderness. Satan tried to get Him to bow down to him. But, Jesus resisted and won this battle. Jesus overcame the temptation and kept Satan at bay.

Another battle, and a big one, Christ dies. Well, it would seem that Satan has gotten the ultimate victory. He was successful in assassinating Jesus, not by his own hand but through others as he knew he could not on his own. But, just as he was celebrating his victory, Christ rose from the dead and at that point, Satan knew the war was over.

Now, Satan knows the war is not his to win. He knows that he only has this time, before Christ comes again, to continue his work in this world. Satan knows that God will renew and restore Heaven and Earth to New and once done, He is cast into the lake of fire and only has that world forevermore.

“¹⁰and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” – Revelation 20:10 (ESV)

The war’s ending is certain, but until then there are still many battles. Satan is still in this world and as he knows that he will be defeated, he is working overtime to win as many battles as possible to take from Christ all that he can. He is out here tempting all of us, every day.

“⁸Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” – 1 John 3:8 (ESV)

Jesus came to destroy all that the devil has done. The question is, are we going to be on the side of that destruction or on the side of Christ and the victory. Will we practice sinning and be of the devil or will we join Christ and practice glorifying Him to be on the winning side.

What side are you on? Are you on the side of continuing to sin, thinking that you have nothing to lose and there is a chance? What if you were on the side of Christ, knowing that you have everything to gain, as the ending is certain?