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12/12 Reading Portions: 2 Chronicles 13; Revelation 3; Haggai 1; John 2
John 2:19
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
RESURRECTION
The Lord Jesus Christ, from the very beginning of His earthly ministry, in a single sentence both proclaims the gospel truth of His death and resurrection, and that He is very God. John’s commentary upon the Lord’s words tells us Jesus spoke of the temple of His body (John 2:21); and that Jesus would raise Himself from the dead. Moreover, in the Lord’s statement, He prophesies the destruction of His form and image by the Jewish religious leaders. Unholy hypocrites, jealous of their religion but rebellious against the Redeemer, held two illegal trials at night and one official trial at the Sanhedrin in the morning; and during that time, they mocked the Lord, spat in His face, and beat Him with fists and rods (Matt 26:67-68; Mark 14:65; Luke 22:63-64; John 18:22). The Lord Jesus also suffered three Roman trials, two with Pilate and one with Herod, where more mocking and beatings took place. At one point, Christ was scourged, and His beard was pulled completely from His face (Isa 50:6; Mark 15:15). By the time Jesus went to the cross, He was reduced to rubble physically, and He was unrecognizable as a human being (Isa 52:14). Yet this is not what paid for our sins by itself. First, His physical torture demonstrated how wicked men are apart from God’s grace. Second, it placed Jesus in His weakest condition physically so that when He suffered God’s unbridled wrath for sins He did not commit (Psa 75:8), dying in our stead (1 Cor 15:22), and shedding His blood (John 19:34) for the forgiveness of sins (Heb 9:22), that no one could ever say that Christ’s sufferings were not enough.
Moreover, Jesus claimed to be very God by His statement because He equated His power to raise Himself from the dead to be on par with the work and power of the Father (Eph 1:17-20; Gal 1:1) and the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:11). Jesus Messiah is very God, who went to the uttermost to save sinful men. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
“Destroy this temple,” Jesus said,
“And I will raise it up!”
The God-Man rose up from the dead,
For He drain’d God’s wrath-fill’d cup.
