Eyewitnesses of his Majesty John 2:18-22

The Jews questioned Jesus' authority.  He had just walked in to the Temple, the heart of Jewish religious life, and literally turned the tables.  The Jews that day desired an answer; how could he do this? They wanted a sign to authenticate his authority. 

Jesus gave them what they asked for, but not at all how they expected.  He didn't give them a sign they could see that day, and he didn't explain his actions.  He spoke to them of the ultimate sign.  A sign that would show he had authority over the temple, and over much more: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19)

In his death and resurrection of Jesus Christ accomplished many things he "ransomed people for God" (Rev 5:9), he the Devil and all his spiritual enemies, and he answered the Jews question from John 2.  This was the sign of his authority.  By his resurrection he was,"declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead." (Rom 1:4).  It demonstrated that Jesus was the judge of all men, "he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31)  

That day Jesus pointed the Jews towards his own death and resurrection.  For all men and women this is still the most important thing for them to pay attention to. 

"But he was speaking about the temple of his body." Jesus body was a temple.  Jesus was the reality that the temple was a shadow and a picture of.  In the post about Jesus cleansing the temple I described the purposes of the temple as worship, prayer, and sacrifice for reconciliation. 

The temple was the place for the name of God to be exalted.  Now, "God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth." (Phil 2:9-10)

The temple was where people drew near to God.  Jesus instructed his disciples to pray in his name, "whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you." (John 15:16)

And Jesus body was the sacrifice that truly made reconciliation between God and man. "And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:51)

"When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken." (John 2:22) These men heard him say these words, and the saw him risen again.  We can see the authority these eyewitnesses attributed to Christ by reading what they wrote about him.  John wrote, "every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God." (1 Jn 4:3)  And Peter wrote that his readers were chosen "for obedience to Jesus Christ." (1 Pet 1:2)

We must be mindflul of the authority of Christ which has been demonstrated so definitively in his resurrection.  Let us take his Commandment to heart knowing that he is the Lord of heaven and earth. "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. " (Matt 22:39) And, "do not be anxious about your life" (Matt 6:25) And, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Lk 9:23)

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Matthew 28:18

Man's Failure & God's Goodness Matthew 19:16-26

In this passage the Rich Young Man shows he's coming at things the wrong way from the start.  The way he phrases his question when he comes to our Lord.  He doesn't ask, "How can I be saved?"" instead he asks,  "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" 

Jesus answer showed as usual that he was interested in dealing with he heart of the questioner not just answering the question.  He starts by giving a question back to the young man: "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good."  In Mark's account Jesus said "No one is good except God alone." This correction should have gotten the young man's attention Jesus was showing him where he needed to be looking for goodness: in God alone. 

Jesus went on to point him to the law.  The law is a reflection of God's goodness, and one of the purposes of the law is to show us how sinful we are, and how much we need a savior.  "Through the law comes knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20). 

But the young man doesn't take it that way.  He makes the bold claim: "All these I have kept."  He was still seeking to justify himself.  People seek to justify themselves in many ways.  That is to think or say there good deeds make them right with God. They may or may not refer to the 10 Commandments.  But this man still knew he lacked something.  That is why he came to Jesus and why he continued to question him.  And all people who seek to justify themselves should doubt themselves because they are lacking.  "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight." (Rom 3:20)

And when Jesus offers him the way of salvation it is to great a cost to him.  There is a always a cost to following Jesus.  As he told the young man to repent & believe means turning away from your sins.  It means giving up something.  But what we have to gain is so much greater as Jesus told him "you will have treasure in heaven."  But the poor rich man after seeking Jesus and approaching him with his question preferred his possessions to eternal life. 

Jesus declaration that, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God", shocked his disciples.  And they asked their own question "Who then can be saved?" 

Jesus responded to their question to him with what I think is the most important message of the passage "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  This passage ended the same way it began with man's failure and God's goodness.  With man it is impossible to be saved, but with God it is possible.  The young man was unsuccessfully seeking a good deed he could do to have eternal life, and Jesus pointed him to the only one who is good. 

Man can not save himself.  A man in love with sin can never turn away from it to love God.  "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot." (Rom 8:7) But with God it is possible only God the Holy Spirit can grant men the repentance that leads to life.  


The rich young man is a tragic figure in History.  He stood face to face with the Savior of the world and went away sorrowful.  Don't be like him. Don't try to justify yourself before God.  Don't refuse the great offer extended to you.  Look to him for goodness and the one whom he has sent.  Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinners and rose again on the third day.  Throw away your useless sins and flee to Christ.  Fear not.


"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

A prayer for the overwhelmed

2 Corinthians 9:8 Is a great promise from God's word. "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work."
This is an encouragement to those of us who feel overwhelmed, and like we don't have any more to give. We can turn this promise into a prayer: God make all grace abound to me/us so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times I/we may abound in every good work.
We are a needy people and this Scripture shows us where our sufficiency must come from. Not from ourselves, but from God. God can give us the strength, energy patience, or even the resources we need. Remember what he did with five loaves of bread and a few fish.
It also shows us the direction our lives should be directed in. God doesn't give us the sufficiency we need so that we can feel good about it and serve ourselves. It is so that we can abound in every good work.
I hope as individuals, as families, and as churches we will call upon God for this and with the sufficiency from God (see also 2 Cor 3:5) we would abound in service.

Eyewitnesses of his Majesty John 2:13-17 (The Cleansing of the Temple)

Our Lord's agressiveness in confronting the animal sellers and money changers, in this passage, is undeniable: "And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple". Only here at the beginning of his ministry and again at the temple at the end of his Ministry do we see Christ act in physical aggression.

We naturally question; Why did Jesus respond so passionately? Why would our compassionate gracious Lord act in this way?

The answer has to do with who Jesus is and what the temple was.

Hebrews 1 says of Jesus "You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;" Christ is the exact imprint of the nature of the Father. And the Father feels indignation every day (Psalm 7:11). It was in Christ's nature to hate wickedness when he encountered the evil in the temple he hated it, and he responded.

Man's anger/hatred is corrupted by selfishness and pride so that righteous anger seems like an impossibility. The Scripture has numerous passages warning against man's anger (James 1:20, Eph 4:31 to name a couple). So we should be very careful trying to follow in Christ's foot steps in righteous anger. We must prayerfully search our hearts and ask what is really motivating us. We must also follow the Commandment, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." But Christ had a perfect hatred. It wasn't jealousy and selfish ambition that led our Lord to make that whip.

Christ's motivations were pure. He was fulfilling a portion of what he was sent to do. This was prophesied of him, "And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap." (Mal 3:1-2)

Jesus came like a refiners fire because the temple was supposed to be something very different from what it had become.

In Deuteronomy 12:11 the Temple is referred to as, "the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there." The connection of God's name to the Temple is repeated often in the Old Testament. Honoring God's name is of prime importance in the Scriptures. The temple was to be the center of the worship of God. The temple was a place for God's name to be exalted. "Praise the LORD! Praise the name of the LORD, give praise, O servants of the LORD, who stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God! Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing to his name, for it is pleasant!" (Psalm 135:1-3) That was supposed to be the focus of the people in the house of the Lord.

The Temple was also meant to be a place where God's people drew near to him in prayer. When it was first built Solomon dedicated it and prayed, "that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, 'My name shall be there,' that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. " The Temple was meant to be a place of communion between God & Man.

And of course the Temple was where the sacrifices were to be offered. That is what the oxen, sheep, and pigeons were for. These offerings were to be pleasing to the LORD. And were a means for God's people to be reconciled to him.

As I mentioned Jesus loved righteousness and hated wickedness. As we think about this passage we should ask What did Jesus love and what did he hate that day at the Temple. Jesus loved true religion and was jealous for it. Jesus loved the name of God being honored. He loved people drawing near to God and being reconciled to him. Jesus loved what the temple was meant to be, and he hated what it had become. Jesus called the temple a house of trade. The primary purpose of the temple had become profit. The sellers and the moneychangers weren't concerned with the worship of God, with people drawing near to God, or being reconciled to him. They were concerned with Money. Jesus hated this.

Jesus loves the same things now that he did then and he hates the same things now that he did then. Jesus loves true religion and hates the corruption of it especially for profit. This should be a warning to us today.

In our time the physical temple in Jerusalem is no more. But that doesn't meant that there is no temple. Paul figuratively calls both to the Church as a whole and believers individually a temple.

To the individual he says, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?" (1 Corinthians 6:19). As believers we are to seek to worship God. We must honor the name of our God in word and deed and love him with all our hearts. We are to draw near to him in prayer. And look to Christ constantly for fellowship and reconciliation.

And of the Church he says, " the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit" (Eph 2:21-22) Growing into a holy temple aught to be the purpose of the Church. The purposes of the Old Testament temple were worship, prayer, and reconciliation. The Purposes of the Church are the same. In the church we must honor the name of God in worship. We must seek his face in prayer and encourage people everywhere to call out to him. And we must lift up to everyone God's means of reconciliation Jesus Christ crucified; the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

In our lives as individuals and as members of Christ Church we must put what he loves first, and repent when we do not.

My hope is that we will follow the disciples example and remember what they did.

His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." John2:17