WEDNESDAY 22nd
John 2:18-25
NIV (v19) – ‘Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’’
ESV (v19) – ‘Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’’
Yesterday we saw how Jesus cleansed the temple, after which those who heard him and witnessed what he had done demanded ‘What sign do you show us for doing these things?’ What they were saying was, ‘by what authority, or what authority do you have to do what you have done?’ Firstly, if they had listened to Jesus properly, they would have heard him say ‘Take these things away, DO NOT MAKE MY FATHER’S HOUSE a house of trade.’ So, simply put, his authority or his right to say what he did came from the fact that he was the Father’s Son, we could say he was the ‘house owners’ Son! Therefore, he had every right to do and to say.
At the end of the wedding at Cana, you will remember it says, ‘this the first of his signs, Jesus did . . . and manifested his glory.’ Now they were demanding more signs or further evidence regarding Jesus’ credentials. I do not know about you, but I would have been well impressed with the sign of changing the water into not just wine, but the best wine (even as a teetotaller). I guess like me you have watched TV and someone has come on who is what we call a magician, they do magic tricks and we respond with a wow, even though we know it is a trick, sleight of hand or something else. When Jesus turned the water into wine, this was no magic trick, there was no sleight of hand, this was the real deal. And he could do it because he was God in the flesh. But they weren’t satisfied with this they wanted more, further evidence that would back up his claim as to being the Son of God, and Jesus responds with an answer that confused them even more, and they wouldn’t fully realise what the sign meant until after what Jesus spoke about happened. He said, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.’ We now know of course that Jesus was talking about the temple of his body, his future death and resurrection. But I wonder how many even believed after this the greatest of the signs took place a few years later. Incidentally, Jesus being who he was, if the Jews had demolished the physical building of the temple, he could have rebuilt it in three days! In fact, because of who he was he could have built it in a jiffy, after all he created the heavens and the earth and everything that inhabits the earth whether animal, vegetable, or mineral in six days.
I wonder how often we hanker after God to give us a sign, we want confirmation concerning this or that, we want to be impressed before we will commit, we want to be like Gideon and put a fleece out and when God answers we say ‘Ah, but give me one more sign!’ God does not mind, but it would be far better if we could learn to love God and trust him enough to learn to take him at his word! After all he gave the sign and he also fulfilled it, his death and his resurrection is the only proof we really need to know that Jesus is the Son of God, and in that believing we will have life in his name. In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Paul encourages the believer to keep believing the gospel they had heard him preach, and what did it consist of? ‘Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve . . .’
I am trusting thee Lord Jesus, trusting only thee . . . I am trusting thee to guide me, thou alone shalt lead, every day and hour supplying, all my need.
‘Enough this covers all my want; and so I rest! For what I cannot, he can see, and in his care I saved shall be, for ever blest.