#3076 John 15 – B

This program is brought to you by Israel Restoration Ministries.
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We will help him cleanse the temple. We won’t object to him cleansing the temple. If we are guilty of making the temple a den of thieves, then we’ll repent, and we’ll make the temple a house of prayer.
Whoa, wouldn’t that have been wonderful? Wouldn’t that have been wonderful if that’s what we read in John chapter two? Boy, wouldn’t it?
Wouldn’t that be wonderful if those Jews would have fallen down and said, our God has come to the temple, his temple? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they said, we remember Malachi 3.1, Malachi 3.1 where God says, behold, I will send my messenger, he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom you delighted. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
Wouldn’t that have been wonderful if the teachers of the word of God there would have said, the word of God in Malachi has told us that the Lord will suddenly come to his temple, Jesus has suddenly come to the temple, he must be the Lord? Wouldn’t that have been wonderful? Wouldn’t that have been wonderful to have seen the nation of Israel convert at that point and worship Jesus Christ at that time?
Don’t forget this is the beginning of his ministry. After all, this was his first public act that Jesus Christ did, and it was in fulfillment of that prophecy in Malachi 3.1 that he was gonna come suddenly to his temples, and the Jews should have hailed Christ at that point and say, God has come to his temple, he’s done a good work of cleansing his temple, purging out the uncleanness, that’s what should have happened. The Jews should have repented for their part, and they should have stood with Christ and helped him.
But sadly, that’s not the history. In chapter two, they did not stand with Christ. As a matter of fact, they stood against Christ in verse 18, verse 18 when they demanded, show us a sign.
And the question that was very significant because they used the words in verse 18, a sign unto us, unto us. What sign, show us thou unto us? See, by using those words unto us, they were saying that they were above Christ and that Christ had to report to them.
And they were saying that it was Christ, onus was on Christ to convince them that he had the right to cleanse the temple. So already, in this first encounter with the religious authorities, they were saying, Christ needs to be brought in to our court, he needs to be judged in our court, he will be convicted in our court, he’ll be condemned in our court, which is what’s gonna happen in the future. So, these religious leaders spoke for Israel, they were representing the Jewish people, they’re representing Israel, and already in the first encounter with Christ, they’ve made their decision for all Israel, which is John 111, John 111, he came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Here they are, making this decision to not receive him. And their first words to Christ, they were establishing what would be their last words about Christ, which is going to be in Matthew 27, 23, Matthew 27, 23, they cried out the more saying, let him be crucified. And Matthew 27, 25, Matthew 27, 25, then answered all the people and said, his blood be on us and on our children.
That was very sad. And their response was not true of all Jewish people. So just in case someone would say, well, right off the Jews, hold on a minute, we’ve got chapter three coming right away.
And chapter three is going to be of another smaller group of Jewish people represented by a man named Nicodemus. But as far as the religious leaders, most of the religious leaders, the vast majority, they sway the majority of the Jewish people. Now, they want to see a sign, they already saw a sign.
They already saw a sign, which was the ability of this one man to single-handedly drive out all those men who were making business in the temple and drive out all those animals that were being sold for profit for sacrifices. That was a sign that Christ had the authority to cleanse the temple. But that didn’t matter to them.
They don’t want to be confused with the facts. As far as they were concerned, wasn’t enough, wasn’t enough to meet the requirements for proving that Christ had the authority to cleanse the temple. As a matter of fact, nothing would be enough for them to be convinced that Christ had the authority to cleanse the temple.
Kind of similar to that man who lifted up his eyes in hell and asked Abraham, Oh, send somebody from the dead. If somebody returned from the bed, that’ll be convincing to my five brothers. And Abraham said, no, it won’t.
No, it won’t. Doesn’t even matter if somebody returned from the dead. It won’t be enough.
They don’t believe the prophets in the Bible. So they were convinced at that point that Christ had to be eliminated because he had crossed them because they were involved in this money making operations of selling the animals and exchanging money in the temple. And they were not willing to repent of all that.
Now, that’s true today. True today of people. If they’re not willing to repent of their sins that God convicts them of, the response is hatred, hatred of God.
And so, they called Christ to give them an answer as to how Christ had authority. And we can picture God the Father watching all this from heaven and asking a question of Psalm 2.1. Psalm 2.1, we can picture God the Father saying, why do the heathen rage?
And the people imagine evade things. He says, they’re taking counsel together against me and against my messiah, saying, let us cast their bands of sun during cast away their courts from them. And then it says in Psalm 2.4, Psalm 2, that God sits in the heavens and laughs.
And he says in Psalm 2.6, Tom 2.6, I have set upon my holy hill of Zion my king. And he declares a decree, Psalm 2.7, Tom 2.7, he says, to Christ, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And then he goes on in Psalm 2.10, Psalm 2.10, he says, he gives advice.
He says, be wise now, therefore, your kings, be instructed, you judges of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son as to be angry. And you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled.
But a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. So we can see God the Father in heaven is being described by Psalm 2.
Now, the temple after all, that’s God’s holy hill of Zion. And God the Father says in Psalm 2 that he set his Messiah on that hill and said, thou art my son. So, but those religious Jews did not take God the Father’s advice to put their trust in Christ, to kiss the Son.
They chose a road of suicide, which for them was standing against Christ and asking him for a sign to convince them. So at the end of verse 18, there’s a question on the table, what sign Christ is gonna show to the Ed Authority? Now, he responds in verse 19.
Verse 19, Jesus answered and said to them, destroy this temple and in three days, I’ll raise it up. So he tells them that. Now, that’s almost like a parable to them.
They didn’t understand what he was talking about. And that was so typical when Christ spoke to them, he spoke in parables. Why?
because if a person wanted to remain in their state of willful ignorance of what Christ was saying, the parables allowed them to remain in the willful ignorance of what Christ was saying. And this goal of letting people who were in willful ignorance stay in the state of willful ignorance was the purpose of the parables, as he explained in Matthew 13.13, Matthew 13.13. Therefore, speak I to them in parables, because they seeing, see not, and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand.
And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which sayeth, by hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. So the parables for Christ enabled Christ to leave those who didn’t want to see in a state of not seeing. And as a matter of fact, it was this parable, like saying in verse 19 about destroying the temple and rebuilding it, that was a stumbling block for the religious Jews there, is they produced these words at his trial as evidence against him that he was a blasphemer.
Matthew 26, 60, Matthew 26, 60, they found none, but they found, but though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses and said, this fellow said I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. The high priest arose and said unto him, answerst thou nothing?
What is this that these witness against thee? Now, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 2, 15, 2 Corinthians 2, 15, we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved and in them that perish. To the one, we are the savor of death unto death, and to the other, the savor of life unto life.
Now, had the religious Jews at that point asked Christ what did you mean? What do you mean when you say destroy this temple and in 3 days I’ll raise it up? If they just would have asked Christ what he meant by destroying and rebuilding a temple, Christ might have been to them at that point a savor of life unto life.
They may have come to eternal life by what Christ would have explained to them about how he was going to die for their sins. But since they didn’t ask Christ what he meant by destroying and rebuilding a temple, then that saying they later used to condemn Christ, Christ became for them a savor of death unto death. So unfortunately for them, they didn’t want to understand the saying.
They didn’t want to understand that saying and so they became hardened, hardened. And when Christ said to them in verse 19, verse 19, when he said destroy this temple in the 3D as I’ll rise it up, what he was saying was you will destroy my body. I know you will and I will permit you to destroy my body and I’ll rebuild it.
And that showed that right from the start of his ministry, Christ had a clear vision of all his sufferings and his death that he was going to face. And he willingly went forward with that death and that sin when he said things like destroy this body in the 3D as I’ll raise it up. He was saying to those religious leaders that he was saying to them in essence, in Jerusalem, he was saying to them, all right, you have defiled one temple here in Jerusalem, and you’re going to destroy the other temple of my body.
But I’m here to correct what you’ve done. First, I’ve corrected the defilement, the defilement that you made of this temple. Now and later, I’ll correct the destruction that you’re going to do of the temple of my body by raising it up again.
And that left the religious leaders with only two alternatives. Either they had to repent and accept the correction, or they had to proceed to destroy him, which is what they decided. Now, there’s two Greek words that are being used here that we don’t see, because in English, it just says temple, temple.
But there are two Greek words used in this passage which are translated as temple. In verses 14 and 15, when it’s talking about how Jesus found in the temple, the profiteering and that he cleansed the temple, the word that’s used is eron, eron, which refers to the temple as a whole. Actually, it was the outer court of the Gentiles where this profiteering was taking place, but refers to the temple as a whole.
But in verse 19, when Jesus referred to the body of his temple, he didn’t use that word, eron, but he used another Greek word, which is naos. And naos refers to the sanctuary, the innermost part of the temple, what we know of as the holy of holies. Now, that’s an important distinction because the body of Jesus is like the holy of holies where God is, whereas the rest of the temple was taken up with service and ceremonies.
Now, when the religious leaders responded to Jesus in verse 20 and said the temple was 46 years in building, in this building project, they used the word naos, which they should not have used because naos refers to the holy of holies, the inner part of the temple where God was. They should have used the word eron, which is what he used first to refer to the whole of the temple construction. The inner part of the temple, the holy of holies, that was already built when they were there, but the other part wasn’t quite built yet, the outer buildings.
But they used naos because Jesus used naos, and what that shows for the religious leaders is that it didn’t matter to them whether you were talking about the inner holy of holies, where God was, or the whole of the temple, because for them, it was all about the service and the ceremonies that took place outside and the whole of the temple that was more important to any place where God was. For them, it was religion, and what’s God got to do with it after all? That reminds me of my biochemistry professor in 1970s at UCSD, Dr. Murray Goodman.
Dr. Murray Goodman was an atheist, but Dr. Murray Goodman was also the president of the synagogue in La Jolla. That’s religion, and what’s God got to do with religion? God has nothing to do with religion, and you can be an atheist and a president of a synagogue.
That’s no problem. So by seeing no difference for them between the holy of holies and the whole temple, it was a message that all the services and the ceremonies associated with the temple is what’s important, like all the sacraments. That’s what’s important, but a personal relationship with the living God, that’s not important.
And that reminds me of what the Israeli man asked me last week, who we hosted, and he asked me if I thought the temple was going to be rebuilt because there was already a red heifer in place. And I told him, I said, I don’t know. But when Jesus said in verse 19, verse 19, destroy this body, Christ probably put his hand on his body, or pointed or finger, something like that.
And the Greek word that he used for destroy is the word luo, which means to untie, to untie. Untie is very graphic because when they drove the thorns, into his head, it was like his head was untied from his body. When they drove the nails into his feet, it was like the foundation of his body was untied from his body.
When they drove the nails into his hands, it was like his hands were untied from his body. When they drove the sword into his side, it was like his heart was untied from his body. But he said, untie this body, and in three days I’ll raise it up.
And he raised it up, he used an interesting word, igeru, which is the same word which is used in Romans 13 and 11, Romans 13 and 11, which says, and knowing that the time, that now it is high time to awake igero out of sleep. In Ephesians 5, 14, Ephesians 5, 14, it says, wherefore he sayeth, awake igero, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee life. That’s the word that describes being resurrected out of death.
It is the word to wake up, wake up. Actually, Daniel tells us that everyone will be resurrected out of death. Everyone will wake up after they die.
In Daniel 12.2, Daniel 12.2. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Everyone’s gonna wake up after they die.
Everyone’s gonna wake up. because death for everyone is a sleep to be wakened up from. And that waking up, it’s either gonna be a wake up in heaven to what Daniel calls Daniel 12.2, Daniel 12.2, waking up to everlasting life, or it’s a waking up where it’s opening the eyes in hell, which Daniel calls in Daniel 12.2.
He calls that waking up to shame and everlasting contempt. That’s what happened to the rich man when he opened his eyes in Luke 16.23, Luke 16.23, and in hell, he lifted up his eyes being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off. Now, when it says that in Luke 16.23, Luke 16.23, in hell, he lifted up his eyes, that means he woke up in hell.
But here in verse 19, Jesus said that in three days, he would wake up or be raised up, and that’s what he meant. And that’s what every believer can expect when he closes his eyes in death. That he’s only going to sleep, and he’s going to wake up in heaven.
What a wonderful hope. That’s why Christ said about Lazarus in John 11. John 11, 11, these things said he, that after he saith unto him, our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.
Then said his disciples, Lord, if you sleep, you shall do well. Albeit, Jesus spake of his death when, but they thought he spoke of taking the rest and sleep. Then said Jesus plainly unto them, Lazarus is dead.
So this idea that it’s all over when you die, it’s not true. It’s not true. And again, it reminds me of Israeli family, again, hosted in Loretto, and they were telling me about a friend they had in Israel who didn’t want to live any longer.
So she went to Switzerland where suicide is legal, and there’s a hotel in Zurich for suicide where people go, and they sit down in a comfortable chair, and they put the IV into their veins, and then they leave the room, so the person is just alone there, and the person has a lever, and when he pushes the lever down, then flows into their vein the poison that kills them. And they think, well, when you’re dead, you’re dead, but the reality is switching that lever does not end at all. There’s a waking up after death that every person will experience.
Now, it’s very interesting that Christ referred to his body as a temple, as a temple. There’s a lot of parallels. For example, a temple was the place where God was, and Jesus is Emmanuel.
He is God with us. In Solomon’s Temple, when it was completed, we read in 2 Chronicles 7-1, 2 Chronicles 7-1, when Solomon had made an end of praying, fire came down from heaven, consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple, filled the house. So as God filled the temple, so we read about Jesus in Colossians 2-9, Colossians 2-9, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Now people came to the temple to be healed. They came to the temple to be healed. And that’s why they came to Jesus.
Acts 10-38, Acts 10-38, God anointed Jesus Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. But from the very start of the temple, that nucleus building called the Tabernacle, God told Moses in Exodus 25-21, Exodus 25-21, now she’ll put the mercy seat above the ark, upon the ark, and in the ark, now she’ll put the testimony, I’ll give thee. There I will meet with thee and commune with thee.
So it was there in the temple where God met man. And it’s in Jesus where God meets man. As it says in 1 Timothy 2.5, 1 Timothy 2.5, for there’s one God, one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus, brings him together.
Worshippers were told, no matter where you are in the world, face toward Jerusalem and pray. Look toward Jerusalem and pray. 1 Kings 8.30, 1 Kings 8.30, hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place, hear thou in heaven and dwelling place, and when thou hearest, forgive.
And when we pray, we look toward Jesus when we pray. Hebrews, Hebrews 12.2, Hebrews 12.2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Tom Cantor’s messages can be listened to and downloaded for free at friendshipwithgod.org. For other free resources, email us at tomcantor at friendshipwithgod.org or call us at 800-247-3051. Join our live services on YouTube by searching Friendship with God with Tom Cantor every Sunday at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
What are you doing Sunday nights? Come join Friendship with God radio Bible teacher Tom Cantor of the Friendship with God Fellowship Church every Sunday night at 5:30 p.m. at The Vine at 9-3-3-6 Abraham Way, Santee, California. Watch and listen live around the world to Tom Cantor Sunday evening on youtube.com by searching for Friendship with God Fellowship or by going to our home page at friendshipwithgod.org.
This program is brought to you by Israel Restoration Ministries.