That final week: rocking the temple, rocking the world as we know it
It’s very easy for us in our modern world to completely miss the significance of the temple in Jesus’ time and in so doing, to completely miss the significance of all that Jesus has to say about the temple in Jerusalem.
The temple was the physical expression of God’s presence among His people. God was fully invested in the building of the first temple. He entrusted all the details to King David who then passed them on to his son Solomon in 1 Chronicles 28, for he would be the one to actually oversee the building of this temple. Everything was thought out. Everything was just as God intended. The plans for the storerooms and all the other rooms, the Most Holy Place, the courtyards and the rooms around them. The plans for organising the priests and Levites to perform their duties. The instructions as to how much silver and gold was to be used for making the utensils, each lamp and lampstand, the silver tables, each gold table, the forks, bowls, jars and dishes, the altar and the chariot for the winged creatures that spread their wings over the Lord’s Covenant Box.
King David said, “All this is contained in the plan written according to the instructions which the Lord himself gave me to carry out.” I Chronicles 28:19
When Jerusalem fell to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia as recorded in 2 Kings 25, the destruction of the temple was key. The destruction of this nation built on faith in the one true God was fully expressed in the destruction and desecration of its temple, because this was the symbol of God’s presence among His people. And where was this God now? Had he abandoned His people in their time of need? Why was He not delivering them and rescuing them from exile?
Years later, when the exile of God’s people comes to an end and Emperor Cyrus of Persia allows the people to return to Jerusalem, he orders them to rebuild the temple.
The Lord, the God of Heaven, has made me ruler over the whole world and has given me the responsibility of building a temple for him in Jerusalem in Judah. May God be with all of you who are his people. You are to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is worshipped in Jerusalem. Ezra 1:2-3
This rebuilding was the symbol of the restoration of the Jewish people. It represented renewal of faith and hope. This is the temple that Jesus then visited in Jerusalem – this holy symbol of God’s continuing presence among His people, this special place of worship, this centre and foundation of the Jewish faith.
And what Jesus saw there broke his heart and angered him so much that he trashed the place!
Jesus went into the Temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the stools of those who sold pigeons, and said to them, “It is written in the Scriptures that God said, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it a hideout for thieves!” Matthew 21:12-13 (and Luke 19 and Mark 11)
John places this account earlier in Jesus’ ministry and you can read what I wrote about that in What Jesus did #19: he went into rage mode.
When Jesus returned to Jerusalem the next morning, he cursed a fig tree for having no fruit and it withered up and died (Matthew 21 and Mark 11). Whatever Jesus says, happens. He is not like any human who has ever gone before. He has power over the natural world. He can change the world. He invited his followers to play a part in that too – anything they prayed for in His will would be granted. That applies to us too. We are being invited to play a part in this revolutionary world-changing transformation. In Luke 21, Jesus also referred to a fig tree as a parable about the signs of the end times.
When you see their leaves beginning to appear, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, you will know that the Kingdom of God is about to come. Luke 21:30-31
Jesus had a lot to say about what was to come, too much to go into here. He talked about his own death, which in his humanity he was struggling to come to terms with, but which he knew was the path he had to take, because it was part of the plan. It had always been part of the plan.
Now is the time for this world to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be overthrown. When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me. John 12:31-32
He talked about the destruction of the temple, troubles and persecutions, the destruction of Jerusalem and the coming of the son of man. A lot of scary stuff but Jesus was reassuring his followers. Everything was going to turn bad, but he would always be there with them, giving them strength and courage and the words to say.
And when you are arrested and taken to court, do not worry ahead of time about what you are going to say; when the time comes, say whatever is then given to you. For the words you speak will not be yours; they will come from the Holy Spirit. Mark 13:11
He urged them not to let what would go on affect their faith and distract them from the life they were called to live.
Be on watch and pray always that you will have the strength to go safely through all those things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man. Luke 21:36
Wise words for us too, today, I think. There’s a lot of scary stuff going on – a lot to discourage us and distract us. We too need to stand firm in the certain knowledge of what we know to be true. Everything might look like it’s falling apart, but God has promised to never abandon us.
New life can only come about when the old has died. A seed has to be buried to bring forth new life (John 12). We don’t like it and we fight it and do all we can not to think about it, but it’s that circle of life. It’s the way things work. Things come to an end so that something new and exciting can take its place. Nothing lasts forever. God’s new heaven and new earth will be born out of the destruction of this world as we know it. And that’s where our role comes in. We work to bring about glimpses of that restoration and renewal in all that we do as Jesus’ followers here on earth.
Be ready. Live each day as if it might be your last. Not in a morbid way, but in a life-embracing, living life to the full kind of way. Don’t put off getting your life on track. Don’t put off living the life you were always intended to live. Don’t put off using the gifts and talents you’ve been given. Don’t put off living in right relationship with others and with God.
So then, you also must always be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him. Matthew 24:44
None of us know how long we have left to life this wonderful gift of life that we’ve been given.
The temple was going to be destroyed again.
Jesus’ own earthly life was going to come to a horrible end.
And yet this was not the end of the story.
It is never the end of the story.
The end of this live is never the end of the story.
This is a never-ending story.
