The Temple Built by God

Jesus is the Final Sanctuary where the glory of God dwells, the glory foreshadowed in the ancient Tabernacle and Temple – John 2:13-22.

The disciples discovered that Jesus is the real Temple of God and the one that truly matters. The era in which God “dwelt” in portable tents or stone buildings terminated with the arrival of Israel’s Messiah. No longer does God dwell in structures made by hand. Neither His presence nor His glory can be contained by physical walls or geographical boundaries.

After the Passover feast, Jesus “went up to Jerusalem” to visit the Temple. While there, he observed financial transactions taking place in the “Court of the Gentiles.” Christ reacted by driving the moneychangers and merchants out of the Court of the Gentiles and declaring to one and all: “Take these things from here! Be not making the house of my Father a house of merchandise” - (John 2:13-16).

[Photo by Karsten Würth on Unsplash]

The Temple was the center of the Jewish faith, especially its sacrifices, annual feast days, and related rituals. The hostile reaction of certain “Jews” to Christ’s actions illustrated the words of the Prologue of John’s Gospel: “He came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him” - (John 1:11).

From the start of his ministry, Jesus was opposed by the priestly leaders of the Temple. In this incident, the high priests sent representatives to ask him for a sign demonstrating his authority. This was done in the hope of discrediting Christ.

The Greek noun translated as “Temple” in John’s passage is ‘hieron’ (ίερον – John 2:14). It referred to the entire temple complex (Strong’s Concordance - #G2411). However, in verse 19, the term ‘naos’ (ναος) is found on Christ’s lips referring to his body (Strong’s Concordance #G3485): “Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it.”

The Greek term ‘naos’ refers to the inner Sanctuary within the Temple complex, including the “Holy of Holies.” In other words, Jesus was speaking of the inner sanctum where the presence of God dwelt under the Levitical system.

The disciples observed that Jesus demonstrated great “zeal” when he expelled the merchants and moneychangers:

• (John 2:17-22) – “His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thy house is consuming me. The Jews, therefore, answered and said to him, What sign do you point out to us in that these things you are doing? Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it. The Jews, therefore, said, In forty and six years was this sanctuary built, and you in three days will raise it! But he was speaking concerning the sanctuary (‘naos’) of his body. When, therefore, he had been raised from among the dead, his disciples remembered that this he had been saying, and they believed in the Scripture and in the word which Jesus had spoken.”

HIS RESURRECTION BODY

The disciples remembered the passage cited from the Psalms after Christ’s Resurrection. In the Hebrew Bible, the verse has a past tense verb, and it reads: “The zeal of your house consumed me," but the quotation in the Gospel of John uses a Greek verb in the future tense, “The zeal of your house will consume me” - (Psalm 69:9).

The Greek verb translated as “consume” or ‘katesthiō’ is a compound of the verb for “eat” (esthiō) and the preposition ‘kata’ (Strong’s Concordance #G2719). The compound form intensifies the sense of esthiō or “eat” to express the idea of “eating up, consuming entirely.” Christ’s zeal demonstrated that day contributed later to his arrest, trial, and execution - (Matthew 26:60-61, 27:40, Mark 14:58, 15:29).

There is a double entendre in the use of the word “consume.” Not only was Christ’s “zeal” for God and the Temple all-consuming, but it would also result in the complete destruction of his life, the “Sanctuary of his Body.” The opposition to Jesus from the priestly authorities was a foretaste of what was to come.

Jesus responded. If they destroyed “this Sanctuary,” he would raise it “after three days.”  His opponents took his words literally and therefore failed to understand his point. The Gospel of John added a comment so his readers would not make the same mistake - “But he was speaking of the sanctuary [‘naos’, ναος] of his body.”

Jesus thus declared that he was the True Sanctuary of God. His opponents would destroy “that Sanctuary” when they killed him. After his Resurrection, the disciples remembered this saying and “believed in the Scripture.”

In this way, the Gospel of John presents Jesus to us as the True Temple and Sanctuary where God dwells. Unlike the manmade stone structure in old Jerusalem destroyed a generation later by a Roman army, this “sanctuary” would never be destroyed after God raised Christ from the dead.

God was about to build His True and Final Temple not just in the life and death of His Son, but especially through Christ’s Resurrection.

In Jesus of Nazareth, the presence of God is no longer restricted to any structure “made by hand” in Jerusalem or any other holy site. The glory of God is seen in the face of Jesus Christ for all men to behold:

“But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit<…> Seeing it is God who said, Light will shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” - (2 Corinthians 3:18-4:6).

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SEE ALSO:

• Temple and Worship - (Jesus revealed that worship and the presence of God no longer are limited to geographical locations or man-made structures – John 4:20-24)

• Call His Name Jesus - (The name ‘Jesus’ means ‘Yahweh saves.’ In the Nazarene, the salvation promised to Israel has arrived in all its glory)

• No Other Name! - (Jesus of Nazareth fulfills the promise to bless all nations in Abraham. Christ is the Patriarch’s Heir, and the only source of Salvation)

• Le Temple Construit par Dieu - (Jésus est le Sanctuaire final où habite la gloire de Dieu, la gloire préfigurée dans l'ancien Tabernacle et le Temple-Jean 2:13-22)