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Part 13 of the Series:
“search the scriptures” John 5:39
The Gospels record the Lord Jesus visiting the temple in Jerusalem on at least seven occasions. Luke describes the two early visits in His childhood, while John focuses on four visits during His public ministry. In His final week before the crucifixion, the Lord Jesus was daily teaching in the temple, as recorded by the Synoptic Gospels.
The temple of the Gospels was Herod’s Temple, a magnificent expansion of the second temple built after the Babylonian exile.1 Construction took forty-six years, and the temple became a national point of pride, with the disciples boasting to the Lord, ‘Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!’ Mark 13. 1. This temple was inferior, however, to the first, built by Solomon. The Shekinah glory, the radiant manifestation of God’s presence, had departed from Solomon’s Temple in the days of Ezekiel, borne away by the majestic angelic throne-chariot that so overwhelmed the prophet when he beheld it.2 Accordingly, the ark of the covenant was likewise absent from the Holy of Holies.3 Completed around AD 63-64, Herod’s Temple stood barely seven years before the Roman general Titus and his armies destroyed it.
Despite the ungodliness of Herod, corruption in the priesthood,4 and the absence of divine glory, the Lord Jesus nonetheless identified Himself with the temple calling it ‘my Father’s house’, John 2. 16.5 Today, God’s dwelling place is no longer in physical buildings but among His redeemed people. When believers gather as an assembly they form ‘the house of God’, where His presence is known, 1 Tim. 3. 15. It is encouraging to appreciate that each gathering to His name, Matt. 18. 20,6 however small or weak, still constitutes the house of God, a holy place where the Lord Jesus is personally present.
When Joseph and Mary brought the infant Jesus to the temple with the humble offering of ‘a pair of doves, or two young pigeons’, Luke 2. 24, few were likely to have noticed their arrival. Yet God revealed to Simeon that this was the arrival of ‘the glory of thy people Israel’, v. 32.7 The long-departed glory of God had now returned, not upon a heavenly throne-chariot, but cradled in human arms. Simeon rejoiced, ready to depart in peace, for his eyes had seen the Lord’s Christ, the Saviour of the world.
At twelve years of age, the Lord Jesus again appeared in the temple, conversing with the leading theological minds of His day, Luke 2. 39-50. His parents’ misunderstanding of His absence reflected a deeper truth: His mission was to be about His Father’s business, for He was moving within His Father’s house.
Israel’s males were commanded to appear before the Lord three times each year at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, Deut. 16. 16. John records four temple visits, each marked by increasing hostility and progressive revelation.
His resurrection, chapter 2: Here the Lord Jesus cleanses the temple for the first time at the Passover feast, demonstrating His fervent zeal over His Father’s house. Genuine zeal, though often misunderstood and sometimes even discouraged, is a beautiful mark of Christlikeness. When asked for a sign, He declared, ‘destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’, v. 19. Although the Jews misunderstood His words, the Lord Jesus, at the outset of His ministry, publicly foretold His death and resurrection within the very courts of the temple.
His fellowship with the Father, chapter 5: The feast of the Jews mentioned in verse 1 is not specified.8After healing the man at Bethesda, the Lord Jesus later found him in the temple and said, ‘Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more’, v. 14, perhaps because the man’s sickness had come upon him because of some sin in his life. When accused of violating the Sabbath, the Lord Jesus revealed that He and the Father had been working together in perfect harmony, since God’s rest in His completed creation had been disturbed by the fall. ‘My Father worketh hitherto, and I work’, v. 17. The miracle, together with the discourse that followed, unveiled His divine Sonship and His shared authority with the Father.
His offer of spiritual reality, chapter 7: The Feast of Tabernacles mentioned in verse 2 was the final feast of the Jewish year, celebrating with joy Israel’s time in temporary shelters during the wilderness journey.9 On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus proclaimed in the temple courts, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water’, vv. 37, 38. His momentous words appealed to those left spiritually empty by formal religion, offering the true satisfaction of the Spirit’s transforming power. He Himself was the answer to their thirst.
His oneness with the Father, chapter 10: In verses 22 to 39, the Lord Jesus is found in the temple during the Feast of Dedication, walking in Solomon’s porch, likely the only surviving part of Solomon’s original temple.10 This setting underscores His messianic claim as great David’s greater Son, cp. Luke 20. 41-44. When questioned about His identity as the Messiah, the Lord Jesus affirmed that His true sheep hear His voice, follow Him, and are held securely in His care, vv. 27-29. Then came His profound declaration, ‘I and my Father are one’, v. 30. Recognizing this as a direct claim to deity, the Jews took up stones to kill Him. He did not deny the claim but withdrew, for His hour had not yet come, v. 39.
In the final week of the Lord Jesus’ earthly ministry, before His crucifixion, we find Him once again in the temple. All of the Synoptic Gospels record these solemn events, but here we focus on Luke’s account.
Luke traces the Lord’s determined journey to Jerusalem, beginning when ‘he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem’, 9. 51. At the close of chapter 19, the long journey ends as He enters the city on the colt of an ass. Soon after, He reaches the temple and begins to teach there, v. 47. His words, however, are met with hostility by the religious authorities. They challenge Him saying, ‘Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that gave thee this authority?’ 20. 2. No doubt they regarded themselves as the temple’s guardians, the ones who decided who might teach within its courts.
In divine wisdom, the Lord’s reply silenced them, ‘The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?’ v. 4. Trapped by their own reasoning, they could not answer. The Lord then spoke a parable, a prophetic picture of His rejection, death, resurrection, and the judgement soon to fall upon Israel. In the parable of the wicked vinedressers, vv. 9-18, John the Baptist stood as the last in a long line of servants sent to seek fruit from the vineyard. Like the prophets before him, John was rejected and mistreated. Finally, the lord of the vineyard makes a gracious yet momentous decision, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him’, v. 13. The husbandmen recognized that this was the heir. The vineyard belonged to Him. In fulfilment of the parable, the chief priests and scribes sought to lay hands on Him, v. 19, hoping to catch Him in His words, scrutinizing His every act and utterance. What were they doing? As foretold in Psalm 118 verse 22,11 they were the builders evaluating the stone’s fitness and, after close examination, they rejected Him. Yet He would become the pre-eminent ‘head of the corner’, Luke 20. 17.
He also reminded them that they must also render unto God the things that are God’s. Before them stood God manifest in flesh, yet they denied Him the glory due to His name. He revealed Himself as the ‘Lord from heaven’, 1 Cor. 15. 47, possessing divine knowledge of the world beyond and revealing the realities of resurrection life that human minds had never conceived. He was not only the Messiah, but the Lord. Not only the offspring but also the root of David, Rev. 22. 16.
What right, then, did He have to teach in the temple courts? Quite simply, it all belonged to Him: the temple, the nation of Israel, and, indeed, the whole world. He is the ‘heir of all things’, Heb. 1. 2. Their question was not only misguided but deeply offensive.
Today, we are reminded that the local assembly, the house of God, also belongs to the Lord Jesus. As Paul exhorted the Ephesian elders, ‘Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock … which he hath purchased with his own blood’, Acts 20. 28. Every assembly is His special possession and treasured inheritance.
Although Herod’s Temple is not in existence today the huge platform on which it stood is still visible. Many of the stones comprising this platform give evidence to the grandeur of this temple. For example, the Western stone forms part of the temple foundation and is 45 x 11 x 15 feet, weighing over 500 tonnes.
See Ezekiel chh. 10, 11.
The ark of the covenant is last mentioned in the days of Josiah, 2 Chr. 35. 3. Its disappearance, and possible present location, have been the subject of much and often intriguing, speculation.
Luke 13. 32; John 18. 13, 24.
Note that in this reference the Lord Jesus is present in the temple where it is also described as ‘My house’, Luke 19. 46. In His absence, however, He refers to it to the Jews as ‘your house’, Matt. 23. 38.
The context of Matthew chapter 18 verse 20 is the resolving of a dispute between believers, but the principle can be applied.
See also John chapter 12 verse 41 which is a reference to Isaiah specifically witnessing the glory of the Lord Jesus in the temple, Isa. 6. 1-7. Was He the very shekinah glory described in the Old Testament and the person who departed in Ezekiel chh. 10, 11?
Many believe this was the Passover feast, since John frequently marks the ministry of the Lord Jesus by noting successive Passovers, 2. 13; 6. 4; 11. 55. Others suggest it may have been the Feast of Purim, which remembers the story of Esther, since it is not one of the feasts prescribed in Leviticus chapter 23, and John calls it ‘a feast of the Jews’. Still others think it was the Feast of Pentecost, as the theme of harvest is mentioned in the previous chapter, 4. 35. If the latter is the case, then all three pilgrimage feasts mentioned, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, Deut. 16. 16, are represented in John’s Gospel.
This feast is a picture of millennial joy with the last, eighth day being a picture of eternity.
Solomon’s porch is not visible today although, interestingly, the Victorian missionary-explorer James Barclay described features in his book The City of the Great King (1858) after an underground visit beneath the Temple Mount complex.
Psalm 118 is the last of the Hallel Psalms sung at the feasts. As such, the words of the Psalm would be some of the most familiar scriptures the Jewish nation would have known.
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