At one point in His ministry, Jesus was walking with some of His disciples around the temple courts in Jerusalem. A few of them were admiring the noble stones, the costly materials, and the great workmanship of Herod’s newly renovated temple. It was a sight to behold - one of the wonders of the world at that time to be sure.
"Look Teacher, what wonderful stones and buildings!" After hearing all of this, Jesus drops a bombshell on them. "You see all these huge stones and buildings? Not one of them will be left on another." After a generation passes, this whole thing is going down.
The beautiful temple in Jerusalem they were admiring that day eventually did topple at the hands of the Romans in 70 AD, just as Jesus had predicted. But the temple of His own body was about to begin a major reconstruction. The body that had come riding on a donkey into the city of Jerusalem to great pomp and circumstance, would soon be torn apart and ripped to shreds in His suffering and death on the cross. But in His glorious resurrection, His risen body would become the new temple of the Living God.
As Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday, the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The time of the temple was over. The greater temple, the temple of the body of the Son of God, was now established in His death and resurrection. From now on, God is only to be approached through the death of His Son. No longer in a building, no longer through the blood of bulls and goats, but now through the body and blood of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. That is the place we now go to meet God.
+++
No comments:
Post a Comment