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John 2:17-21 - Lesson #20 |
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| Jesus traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and found the outer courts of the temple filled with unclean hearts - those who were turning worship into a cheap set of rules used for control and personal gain. His reaction was decisive and harsh, "When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them out of the temple" (John 2:15). Why did Jesus react the way He did? |
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| John 2:17-21 |
| "Then His disciples remembered that it was written, 'Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.' So the Jews answered and said to Him, 'What sign do you show to us, since You do these things?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' Then the Jews said, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?' But He was speaking of the temple of His body." |
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| The primary reason for Jesus' reaction was that He was "eaten up," or consumed, by the powerful passion (zeal) which He had for the house of God - a reference to Psalm 69:9. When Jesus saw His passion trivialized by empty worship and overt thievery, He was greatly offended. What would it mean for us to be so consumed with God that we took offense whenever He was defiled, or misrepresented? |
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| The Jews who had witnessed the temple clearing, and most likely the leaders of the temple, demanded to know by what authority Jesus had done such a thing. He had, through His actions and His words, claimed to be the Messiah. Now they wanted to see a sign to validate His claim. |
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| Though Jesus would perform many "signs" during His ministry, there was only one which would truly show Him to be the promised Messiah, "no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:39-40). And this was the same sign which Jesus promised the Jews at the temple - three days after being "destroyed" He would be resurrected in glory! |
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| But the Jews would not understand. In fact, they would later use His words as a charge against Him when they demanded He be crucified, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days'" (Matthew 26:61). The temple expansion project, begun by Herod the Great, had been going on for forty-six years; how could Jesus ever rebuild it in three days? |
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| It should not be a surprise that people continue to misunderstand the claims of Jesus today, "the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him" (1 Corinthians 2:14). God's Word is truth; His Word is life! Let's refuse to live as the "natural man." Let's receive the promises of God as truth, not as foolishness. This means we acknowledge them as true with our words AND with the actions of our daily life. Let's begin to live with a zeal for the things of God which completely eat us up. |
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| Steve Troxel |
| God's Daily Word Ministries |
