expressed irresolution and timidity. They
looked with amazement on the works of Jesus, and were convicted
In His Temple 127
that in Him the prophecies concerning the Messiah were fulfilled. The
sin of the desecration of the temple rested, in a great degree, upon the
priests. It was by their arrangement that the court had been turned [164]
into a market place. The people were comparatively innocent. They
were impressed by the divine authority of Jesus; but with them the
influence of the priests and rulers was paramount. They regarded
Christ’s mission as an innovation, and questioned His right to interfere
with what was permitted by the authorities of the temple. They were
offended because the traffic had been interrupted, and they stifled the
convictions of the Holy Spirit.
Above all others the priests and rulers should have seen in Jesus
the anointed of the Lord; for in their hands were the sacred scrolls that
described His mission, and they knew that the cleansing of the temple
was a manifestation of more than human power. Much as they hated
Jesus, they could not free themselves from the thought that He might
be a prophet sent by God to restore the sanctity of the temple. With a
deference born of this fear, they went to Him with the inquiry, “What
sign showest Thou unto us, seeing that Thou doest these things?”
Jesus had shown them a sign. In flashing light into their hearts,
and in doing before them the works which the Messiah was to do, He
had given convincing evidence of His character. Now when they asked
for a sign, He answered them by a parable, showing that He read their
malice, and saw to what lengths it would lead them. “Destroy this
temple,” He said, “and in three days I will raise it up.”
In these words His meaning was twofold. He referred not only
to the destruction of the Jewish temple and worship, but to His own
death,—the destruction of the temple of His body. This the Jews were
already plotting. As the priests and rulers returned to the temple, they
had proposed to kill Jesus, and thus rid themselves of the troubler. Yet
when He set before them their purpose, they did not understand Him.
They took His words as applying only to the temple at Jerusalem, and
with indignation exclaimed, “Forty and six years was this temple in
building, and wilt Thou rear it up in three days?” Now they felt that
Jesus had justified their unbelief, and they were confirmed in their
rejection of Him.
Christ did not design that His words should be understood by the
unbelieving Jews, nor even by His disciples at this time. He knew
that they would be misconstrued by His enemies, and would be turned
128 The Desire of Ages
against Him. At His trial they would be brought as an accusation, and
on Calvary they would be flung at Him as a taunt. But to explain them
[165] now would give His disciples a knowledge of His sufferings, and bring
upon them sorrow which as yet they were not able to bear. And an
explanation would prematurely disclose to the Jews the result of their
prejudice and unbelief. Already they had entered upon a path which
they would steadily pursue until He should be led as a lamb to the
slaughter.
It was for the sake of those who should believe on Him that these
words of Christ were spoken. He knew that they would be repeated.
Being spoken at the Passover, they would come to the ears of thousands,
and be carried to all parts of the world. After He had risen from
the dead, their meaning would be made plain. To many they would be
conclusive evidence of His divinity.
Because of their spiritual darkness, even the disciples of Jesus
often failed of comprehending His lessons. But many of these lessons
were made plain to them by subsequent events. When He walked no
more with them, His words were a stay to their hearts.
As referring to the temple at Jerusalem, the Saviour’s words, “Destroy
this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” had a deeper
meaning than the hearers perceived. Christ was the foundation and
life of the temple. Its services were typical of the sacrifice of the Son
of God. The priesthood was established to represent the mediatorial
character and work of Christ. The entire plan of sacrificial worship was
a foreshadowing of the Saviour’s death to redeem the world. There
would be no efficacy in these offerings when the great event toward
which they had pointed for ages was consummated.
Since the whole ritual economy was symbolical of Christ, it had no
value apart from Him. When the Jews sealed their rejection of Christ
by delivering Him to death, they rejected all that gave significance
to the temple and its services. Its sacredness had departed. It was
doomed to destruction. From that day sacrificial offerings and the
service connected with them were meaningless. Like the offering of
Cain, they did not express faith in the Saviour. In putting Christ to
death, the Jews virtually destroyed their temple. When Christ was
crucified, the inner veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to
bottom, signifying that the great final sacrifice had been made, and
that the system of sacrificial offerings was forever at an end.
In His Temple 129
“In three days I will raise it up.” In the Saviour’s death the powers
of darkness seemed to prevail, and they exulted in their victory. But
from the rent sepulcher of Joseph, Jesus came forth a conqueror. “Having
spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them.” Colossians 2:15. By virtue of His death and
resurrection He became the minister of the “true tabernacle, which [166]
the Lord pitched, and not man.” Hebrews 8:2. Men reared the Jewish
tabernacle; men builded the Jewish temple; but the sanctuary above, of
which the earthly was a type, was built by no human architect. “Behold
the Man whose name is The Branch; ... He shall build the temple of
the Lord; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His
throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne.” Zechariah 6:12, 13.
The sacrificial service that had pointed to Christ passed away;
but the eyes of men were turned to the true sacrifice for the sins of
the world. The earthly priesthood ceased; but we look to Jesus, the
minister of the new covenant, and “to the blood of sprinkling, that
speaketh better things than that of Abel.” “The way into the holiest of
all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet
standing: ... but Christ being come an high priest of good things to
come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,
... by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us.” Hebrews 12:24; 9:8-12.
“Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that
come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
for them.” Hebrews 7:25. Though the ministration was to be removed
from the earthly to the heavenly temple; though the sanctuary and our
great high priest would be invisible to human sight, yet the disciples
were to suffer no loss thereby. They would realize no break in their
communion, and no diminution of power because of the Saviour’s
absence. While Jesus ministers in the sanctuary above, He is still by
His Spirit the minister of the church on earth. He is withdrawn from
the eye of sense, but His parting promise is fulfilled, “Lo, I am with
you alway, even unto the end of the world.” M
