Jesus' Authority and Miracles

August 11th, 2013

Welcome welcome welcome. So glad you are here.

We are in the Gospel of John chapter 2 and will wrap it up today beginning at verse 18. Prior to getting into our verse by verse study let’s take a few minutes and approach our God through prayer and through hearing His word put to music.

Jesus Clears the Temple

Okay, we left off last week with Jesus clearing the temple here at the onset of His ministry. To take such a responsibility upon oneself (back in the day) meant that you either were (or you considered yourself) a prophet, or the Messiah, or one with a special authority to act. In light of the “temple clearing” Jesus just did, the religious rulers of the day came to Him and they wanted some validating done. (verse 18)

18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? 19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. 24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

The Demand for a Sign

Okay, back to 18. Now when the King James reads: 18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What this means is they had watched Jesus clear the temple and they responded to it by (or answered his actions) with a question: “What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?” See, Jesus had assumed the character of a prophet. And in reforming what was being done in the temple it was natural for them to ask by what authority He was acting.

Throughout their history they had been accustomed to miracles being associated with the life and work of Moses, and Elijah, and the other prophets, so it seems (from the question they were asking) that they wanted evidence that He had authority to clear the house of God in this way. Now, when they said a sign – “what sign do you show unto us seeing that you do these things?” perhaps the best way to read this is “what miracle will you do?” The Greek word for sign here is “say-mi-on” and in places throughout the New Testament it is translated “miracle.”

The Ultimate Miracle

For example, when Jesus was being tried and was taken to Herod, Luke 23:8 says: “And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle (say-mi-on) done by him.” This is an important principle to read about here as I will affirm and reaffirm that it was by and through miracles that the people of Jesus' day would KNOW that He and His twelve were who they said they were, the MIRACLES they did were pictures of the miracle Jesus would bring to the lives of all who believe and follow Him today. What was the ultimate miracle Jesus did which sealed His fate as the promised Messiah and Son of God who came down from above? (verse 19).

19 Jesus answered and said unto them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (and we know from verse 21 what Jesus was talking about was the miracle of His resurrection)

I would suggest (and of course could be very wrong) but I would suggest that what we are reading here is Jesus at His best in reading the hearts of Man. See, He was always being confronted by these pious religious men – whenever He went, whatever He did. Here, He took the prerogative to do a little cleansing of His Father’s house and He is confronted.

Ever get confronted by those who do NOT have the best intentions in mind when they confront you? You know they don’t like you or what you represent and their confronting you is merely a formality – they have already made up their minds about you.

The Reaction to Jesus' Authority

What they think of you?

I think this is the situation here. These Jewish leaders come to Him after He takes on doing something NOBODY in their right mind would think they had the right to do (unless they were the Son of God), and in the process, He actually says, “Don’t make MY FATHER’S HOUSE a house of merchandise," and they feign to want more. I’m not sure anything they asked of Him would have changed their mind of Him or His person. And for THIS reason I think Jesus gave them the sign or miracle that He did – His resurrection.

Skepticism and Resistance

It’s like in the process of answering them, He is saying: "You aren’t here seeking truth. You want to be in control and are only using this as a chance to question me as a means to have it. You have had the control of things here and under your watch have allowed my Father’s house to become a den of thieves. Now you come as wolves in sheep’s clothing suggesting it is proper I show you a miracle – but there isn’t a miracle on earth that will change your vile hearts toward my person. In fact, you all will see my miracles and reject them – in fact, you already have. You have been wholly unmoved by anything you have heard or seen but let me tell you something, won’t stop at disbelief. The time comes when your distain for me will grow so strong that you will oppose me directly . . . while now you are only feigning interest. You will reject and despise me, and in the end, you will, as a means to keep control, seek to take my life by destroying my body."

So you want a sign? You want a miracle? I’ll give you a miracle: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”

God's Dwelling Places

Now, God has taken a number of residences in the past while working toward the redemption of humankind. His first home was the Garden of Eden where scripture says he walked in the “cool of the day.” We cannot take this literally but meaning He was present amidst Adam and Eve prior to the Fall. We might refer to this as His Primary or First house. When sin entered, Adam and Eve were cast from the garden, and it appears God abandoned that residence.

Later, in His work among the Children of Israel, He had a prescribed home in which He would visit or live. I say prescribed because it had exact specifications on how it was to be made, what could be done there, and who could approach Him in this home and when. It began as a tabernacle – a portable tent, really – and became a temple. When Solomon built this temple it was small, specific, and extremely refined – the best of the best pertaining to it. Within its confines were all sorts of pictures and symbolisms – one of the most revealing was what was called “the ark of the covenant.” It was made of acacia wood – symbolic of the human Body in which Jesus would live – and then this wood was covered in a thick layer of pure gold – symbolic of His divine nature.

Well this prescribed house was defiled and rededicated over the course of Jewish History. When David was king, he asked God if he could build a temple (1 Chronicles 17:1-15) but God told him no, but that he could gather materials for his son Solomon to do the building (1 Chronicles 22:2-5).

This temple was destroyed and ransacked by the Babylonians in 586 BC (2 Kings 25:9).

Later, one King Darius allowed the temple to be rebuilt (Ezra 1:2), but construction was slow and those who returned from exile concentrated on the wall around Jerusalem and their own livelihoods. (We can read about this rebuilding of the wall in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah).

Over the next four hundred years, a series of Gentile rulers built up and defiled the temple. This cycle sort of culminated in a battle which took place in 39 BC in which Herod took control of the temple, slaughtering many of the priests and defenders.

However, Herod kept the Roman soldiers from going into the sanctuary and then in around 20 BC proposed to renovate the temple as a means to bring peace and happiness to the Nation of Israel who were under His jurisdictional thumb.

Despite the Jews’ fears that he meant to tear it

The Dwelling Places of God

The temple built was a monstrosity, and the finishing touches were never completed until around 63 AD. This temple was wholly defiled by gentile influence and sin by the time Jesus came to earth. And like the Garden of Eden, God moved out.

In the incarnation of “God with us,” we have a third home in which God dwelled – what we might call His perfect home – Jesus Christ. In this sense, Jesus was the temple of God, a title and reference to the body with which the Jews would have been very familiar. This was His perfect home because it was undefiled by sin. But like Eden and the temple made with hands of the Old Testament, sin entered into His perfect home when our Lord took to the cross – our sin – leaving even Jesus to ask: “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?”

It is interesting to note (and I mentioned this to the meat gathering a few weeks back) that while most of us realize that Jesus suffered physical death for us on the cross, I would submit He also suffered spiritual death too. When? We know from scripture that Jesus, while on the cross, made seven statements.

The Seven Statements

The first was “Father, (note He said Father here) “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Then He said to the thief on the cross: "Assuredly I say to you today you will be with Me in Paradise." Then He took note of His mother and John and said: "Woman, behold your son.. behold your mother."

This was about the third hour of the day. We learn from other parts of scripture what darkness fell on the earth for three hours. I would suggest that it was here Jesus experienced God moving out of Him, causing Him, in the sixth hour to cry: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Notice Jesus does NOT call Him Father – this is a rarity in the chronicles of His ministry.

Somewhere after saying these, this light (with Jesus being the light of the world) returned to the earth, symbolic of Jesus overcoming spiritual death on the cross for us. Then He said: "I thirst." And then: "It is finished." "Father,” (He has overcome spiritual death and the Father returned) “into your hands I commend My spirit." And He gave up His physical life – for us.

God's Permanent Residence

With Jesus having overcome spiritual death (by and through the cross) and physical death (by and through resurrection, God now has a new residence – we’ll call it His permanent residence – in believers. Cleansed of all sin past, present, and future, we too – like Jesus – become a permanent house of God. Perfect too – by and through His shed blood. Now scripture is replete with examples of believers becoming temples of God.

1st Corinthians 3:16 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”

1st Corinthians 6:19 says: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”

2nd Corinthians 6:16 says “. . .for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

The Lord Jesus referred to His body as a temple in accordance with the common use of the reference and, more particularly, because we know from Colossians 2:9 in him the “fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily.”

Now, I have labeled these temples or house of God in the following ways: He had a primary or first house in the Garden of Eden. It was invaded by sin and God left. He had a patterned or prescribed house in the Temple of Ancient Israel – it was violated and God abandoned it – left. He had a perfect house in Jesus Christ, and it was violated by sin – and God abandoned it – left, for three hours but for the first time in Jesus existence. And finally, we have His permanent home – us – and it was made permanent by and through the shed blood of His Son. He will never leave us – ever.

The Indwelling of Faith

Listen closely – this is some important stuff. If Jesus PAID for all our sin – past present and future – and we are the house where God permanently dwells, what is it that got God (so to speak) to move in in the first place? (long beat) Our faith. Our acceptance and belief on His Son and His sacrifice and His overcoming sin and death on our behalf.

He certainly didn’t move in because we were good or we had the ability to “powerwash” our hearts clean! Nope. Only the blood can cleanse the human heart and only the blood is effective by faith. And when honest faith, heartfelt faith, faith which God says is legit, does He move right on in. Now (listen carefully) EVEN though He moved in we can defile this temple again to the point where He will move back out. This is something few Christians want to hear. They cover their ears and make sounds to destroy the thought.

Defiling the Temple

Remember when I read 1st Corinthians 3:16 (which said) “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” Well, listen to the next verse. “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” Now, stay with me. The Greek word used here in 1st Corinthians 3:16 for defile is “Fth-row” and it means to make corrupt.” It is used only seven times in the New Testament and two of those times are in this very same passage! Huh?

The best way to read verse seventeen in 1st Corinthians 3 is like this: “If any man “corrupt” the temple of God, him shall God “corrupt;” for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” How do we corrupt the temple of God? Is it through sin? What we eat or drink? This is what religion teaches – and therefore it tries to get people to outwardly dress up their flesh, and to refrain from certain foods and drinks as a means to be holy. NOT SO. God did NOT move into us because we were cleansed vessels. We did NOT have to stop eating pork or drinking wine or smoking cigarettes so that God could move in. He moved in by our faith. And by our faith, we were made incorruptible through grace proffered by the shed blood of His Son!

Faith and Its Enemies

Now, if it was faith AND FAITH ALONE that got Him to move into us in the first place, what will get us to get Him to move out? Losing faith. Loss of faith. This is SOOO vitally important to understand about our Christian walk. We are SAVED by GRACE through FAITH. We are not unsaved, or abandoned, or dropped by God by and through the standard ways we think we can defile our temples. And because we are saved by grace through faith we are also KEPT (tapped into the vine) by grace through faith. No faith, no salvation – simple as that.

And here is where sin like fornication or adultery or alcoholism or drug abuse comes into play – they are enemies to faith. They work on crushing faith. In and of themselves, they are wholly ineffective against God comfortably living in our flesh. His Son’s blood cleansed the apartments in our heart and no egregious act would ever cause Him to move out. But we ARE warned about the sin of possessing “an unbelieving heart” in scripture. And these warnings of our hearts becoming unbelieving are often tied to what scripture calls “the deceitfulness of sin.”

God's Permanent Home

Now, a final thought on this: While we are what I have labeled God’s “permanent home,” it is not a place WE are entirely comfortable being in nor are we entirely comfortable having God as a constant resident. Our home, while inhabited by God by His grace through faith, is still flesh. We might think of Him moving in when our flesh is but a squalid apartment and that over time we get it remodeled time and time again into a place MORE suitable for such an honored guest. What is interesting about this illustration is that where human beings like the idea of Him moving in when it is a squalid apartment and it being remodeled into a palace, the exact reverse (in my opinion) is true. See, spiritually speaking, when God moves into us, we are all residing in mansions made from fleshly ideations. This is because our flesh has dominated over our lives for the majority of our existences prior.

The Temple of Flesh and Spirit

Once God moves in, what we really want is the flesh to become less and less impressive, and more subject to the Ways of the spirit. So in reality we want the temple to go from being a palace to a humble studio apartment. Great spiritual leaders have all understood this principle. In fact, we want to “digress,” so much in our temples of flesh that we begin to experience a spirit/fleshly body disconnect.

Paul addresses this in 2nd Corinthians 5:1-4 where he says:

“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.”

Admittedly, this groaning and earnest desiring to be clothed in our future “heavenly houses” is a process, so don’t get frustrated.

Significance of Jesus' Words

Finally, and back to John chapter 2, where Jesus says: Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up, the Greek word for “destroy” is entirely different than used in 1st Corinthians 3:17 where it says:

“If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.”

In the passage from John the Greek word is LOO-O and it means, to loosen, not to defile or corrupt. In essence, what Jesus said was “loosen my spirit from my flesh and in three days I will raise it up.” That’s significant because all Jesus says to them is: “Loosen this temple (from this spirit) and in three days I will raise it back up again.” This is a complete declaration of His coming resurrection, the miracle of all miracles which would serve to prove His divinity and Messiahship.

“When I rise up out of the grave,” He seems to say, “you will have all the evidence you need to KNOW I have the authority to do what I did in cleansing the temple.” We can see that it was very early on in His ministry that He was foretelling his death and resurrection.

(Verse 20)

20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?

Now either from the ambiguity of his language or from an attempt at playing dumb the Jews seemed or pretended to believe that Jesus spoke of destroying the temple which Jesus had just cleansed. Remember, at His trial and while He was on the cross, they used these very words to mock Him.

Misinterpretation and Belief

In Matthew 27:40, the Jews railed on Him as He hung dying saying: “Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Because the language of Jesus was often in metaphor or by parable the Jews frequently perverted his words. He himself says that He spoke in parables so, "that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand."

In any case they said, “It took forty and six years to built this temple and you will raise it in three days?” John the Beloved makes the whole matter clear for us, writing, remember, after Jesus had ascended into heaven (verse 21)

21 But he spake of the temple of his body. (And the Beloved adds in verse 22)

22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

Where it says that they believed the scripture it is probably referring to two passages in Psalms 16:10 and/or 2:7 (verse 23)

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.

Again, I would suggest, the miracles He did leading to the belief that He was indeed the promised Messiah and the Son of God. To say, “I am the Son of God,” is one thing: to do miracles to back it up is quite another.

When the Jews asked Him to do a miracle to prove His authority He told them that when they loosened His spirit from His body He would raise it up again to life. This is the miracle that proves today Jesus is who

Belief and Trust in Humanity

Jesus’ Perception of Human Nature

He said He is – the new lives of those who follow and believe on Him. And even though many believed on Him as the result of the miracles He did, verses 24-25 reveal something significant to us:

24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,

The word commit here means put “confidence in.” They believed on Him, they probably made all sorts of declarations about His being so wonderful, such the future hope of the world, someone they would die for perhaps, but Jesus did not put or place His trust in their words, because verse 24 says, “he knew all men.” He knew the inconstancy and fickleness of the multitude and of individuals.

Human Nature and Expectations

People are really funny, you know. With the exception of real socio-paths or something, I believe people really feel allegiance and supportive for others. And sometimes that allegiance and support can go a long way. But men are men, women are women, and in spite of our declarations of dedication and unfailing support, we are pretty pathetic when the game gets rough. Don’t put your faith nor trust in human beings – they will let you down. We have too – we’re human! It’s built into our make-up. We have limited capacities for longsuffering with each other. Limited durations of patience. Our form of love is severely tenuous – and is typically best expressed toward our own . . . and even that can be a disappointment.

Mary (my wife) and I over the course of our marriage have had a long-standing difference between the two of us both in our perspectives of people and in our relationship with them. Mary is of the opinion, deep down inside, that there is hope in humanity. She really, truly wants to believe that there are heroes out there who will unconditionally be there through thick and thin – and in her definition, this means NEVER failing her or her family in any way.

Now, I’m not talking bad about her because she is gone I am speaking truth. She has over the years sought to find someone who will perform and react . . . perfectly. As a result, she has been sorely hurt, even embittered at times, by what she has come to call her “humanity sucks” lessons.

And while she is much better today as a believer (because you believers are so “good” right) she really distanced herself from all human beings at one time, embittered by their inability to be unfailing.

Embracing Human Imperfections

On the other hand I have absolutely no expectation of anyone but that they will fail. I not only wait for you to fail I completely expect it. And with this expectation firmly in place, I am able to maintain deep and abiding relations – even with people who are presently selling me down the river. When they do, Mary will say:

“Why would you continue to associate with people, or maintain friendships with this person or that, when you KNOW what they are doing or are capable of doing?”

I always say something to the effect that EVERYONE will fail us at some point in time or another and whether we are aware of it or not. I expect it, and in expecting it, am never hurt when they do, but instead can love them the way we are commanded to love despite being despitefully used.

(Verse 25 wraps up chapter 2 for us, saying (relative to 24 and those who were clamoring all over the Lord because of His miracles):

25 And (He) needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

What this passage is saying is Jesus was God. And as such, He did not need anyone to tell Him what was in the heart or what the intentions of men around Him were – He, having made all things, knew what was in man (or better put) what was in “each or every” man. So it will be when we are standing before Him. He will know what is in us – just as He knows what is in us today, being our great God, our Judge, our Lawgiver, and our King.

Prayer
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