Series: John
Title: The Sign of Christ’s Resurrection
Text: John 2: 13-22
Date: Dec 20, 2020
Place: SGBC, NJ
John 2: 12: After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother,
and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days. 13:
And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
Picture the streets and the court of the
temple packed with people. They came to observe “the Jews Passover.” In Exodus it is called “the LORD’s Passover”. But by now it was so corrupted it is called “the
Jew’s Passover.”
The Lord Jesus Christ is the one typified in that legal ceremony. Having been made under the law, as Head of
his elect, he observed that ceremony as he did all the laws of the old covenant. He satisfied justice for the sins of his
people. So he is the fulfillment and end
of the law for righteousness to all who believe on him. God passes over his believing people because
he sees the blood of Christ our Passover which covers all our sins.
But when he walked into the temple they were engaged
in vain religion and none knew that THE TRUE Passover Lamb was present. Instead, he found his Father’s house turned
into a money-making den of thieves.
John 2: 14: And found in the temple those
that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
These animal sacrifices all pointed to Christ. They were to take time to examine their
sacrifice to make sure he had no blemish.
The true worshippers did so thinking on the spotless Lamb of God that
Abraham said God would provide. But these
sellers made it convenient to rush into the temple, buy a sacrifice, offer it then
go on about their business with no thought.
The sellers were the only ones who profited and that only monetarily.
The ‘money-changers” were profiting as well. The law required they pay the pure silver
half-shekel of the sanctuary typifying redemption accomplished by Christ. But every region had different money so they
charged a fee to change their money. The
priests were renting these spaces, taking a percentage of the profits. All of this was done in the name of
worshipping God.
It is a good illustration of all vain
religion in our day. The majority of
religion has been turned into a convenience.
They have some kind of service for any day or hour convenient for you
and all is for monetary profit but no spiritual profit.
This was one occasion where the Lord Jesus was provoked to righteous
indignation.
John 2: 15: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them
all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’
money, and overthrew the tables; 16: And said unto them that sold doves, Take
these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. 17: And
his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up.
This
was Christ’s first public act in Jerusalem.
It is called a miracle or miracles at the end of the chapter. The miracle was that he purged the temple. He did it again toward the end of his
ministry. It is called one of his
miracles because it displayed his Authority and Power and none of the rulers
dared stop him. They did not stop him
due to his Authority and Power keeping them from doing so. He called the temple “my Father’s house.” It means to the self-righteous Pharisee’s
that a Man declared himself the Son of God, the Christ. His disciples remembered the scriptures.
Psalm 69: 9: For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the
reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
John 2: 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.
In Isaiah 7 (which we heard in the first hour), God gave Ahaz the one sign
by whom God’s word is ordered in all things and sure. The sign is the Son of God come in human flesh,
the holy GodMan. Here the sign he gives is
concerning his resurrection. Christ
crucified then raising himself the third day is the sign by which Christ
declared that he is the Son of God with Power.
He declared another time that he is the only sign given and it was the
same sign, the sign of his resurrection.
Matthew 12: 39:…there shall no sign be given…but the sign of the prophet
Jonas: 40: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly;
so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the
earth.
Subject: The Sign of Christ’s Resurrection
Proposition: After his crucifixion,
Christ raising himself from the grave declares that his is the Son of God
with all Power and all Authority over his temple, his church.
Divisions: 1) The declaration of his resurrection
2) The power of his resurrection
THE DECLARATION
By Christ raising himself from the grave he
manifest that he is the Son of God with power.
He prophesied what they would do—Destroy
this temple—speaking of his body.
This was the very word they used to bare false witness against him during
is mock trial. Then and here they
thought he was speaking of the temple. Thinking
themselves wise, seeing they saw not. Christ
word trips up the proud who think themselves wise and prudent because they say
they see, apart from his power.
Therefore, Christ leaves them in darkness. But the sign is that after he laid down
his life on the cross in place of his people, he himself would raise
his body from the grave and he did.
John 10: 17: Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my
life, that I might take it again. 18: No man taketh it from me, but I lay it
down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my Father.
By raising himself from the grave he declared
he is the Son of God with all Power and Authority over his church.
Romans 1: 3: [Paul said the gospel is] Concerning his Son Jesus Christ
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 4: And
declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of
holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
The Lord Jesus Christ’s incarnation declares
he is the Power who fulfilled God’s covenant promise to save his people from
our sins and that he has all power over all and as Head over his church.
Ephesians 1: 20: he raised him from the dead, and set him at his
own right hand in the heavenly places, 21: Far above all principality,
and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in
this world, but also in that which is to come: 22: And hath put all things
under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to
the church, 23: Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
In a few days, the world will think of a
little baby born in Bethlehem in a manger.
But that birth is the sign that every word of God’s covenant promise is yes
and amen in Christ. He was born to lay
down his life in place of a chosen people to save us from our sins. Having accomplished the redemption of his
people by his death, Christ’s resurrection is the sign that he accomplished it and
that that same Jesus is LORD of lords and King of kings. All authority and power are his. He is THE HEAD of his church. What does it mean for his temple, his church,
that he has all Power and Authority over us?
THE POWER
Christ’s resurrection manifest that he has
authority and power to purge his temple, his church, his individual
people. God’s elect together as his assembled
church is his temple.
Ephesians 2: 21 In whom all the
building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22: In
whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Each of us born of his Spirit individually are
his temple.
1 Corinthians 6: 19…your
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of
God, and ye are not your own
Christ’s resurrection declares his death was
an accomplishment. He purged his temple—his
elect—by his shed blood.
Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory,
and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of
his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand
of the Majesty on high;
Raising himself from the grave, sitting at
God’s right hand, is manifest proof to us that God accepts Christ’s sacrifice in
our place. “He was delivered for
our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” God accepts Christ as the Righteousness of
his people. Not only that, but Christ’s
resurrection also declares he has Authority and Ability to purge us like he did
the temple that day.
Malachi 3: 1: Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the
way before me:
He sends the gospel to his child like he sent John the Baptist as his
forerunner.
Malachi 3: 1…and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his
temple,…
He enters our bodies in spirit suddenly.
Malachi 3: 1…even the messenger of the covenant,…
He enters his child and his church declaring the truth of God’s everlasting
covenant of grace accomplished by him.
Malachi 3: 1:…whom ye delight in:…
Some of us claimed we delighted in him though we were dead in sins. But after Christ visits effectually we really
do.
Malachi 3: 1…behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. 2: But who
may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is
like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: 3: And he shall sit as a
refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge
them as gold and silver,…
When Christ comes in power he burns up our wood, hay and stubble and
purges our dross so that all that remains is what he created: gold, silver, precious
stones.
Malachi 3: 1…that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in
righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto
the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
By the work of Christ’s power within his child we come to God with
Christ alone by faith in him. By faith
in Christ alone, God receives us because we come with the one offering God is
pleased with, Christ our Righteousness.
But he comes in judgment to those who reject him, to those who are not
his elect, as he did in the temple that day.
Malachi 3: 5: And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a
swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against
false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his
wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from
his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. 6: For I am the
LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Christ finds us worshipping we know not what. In religion or out, we were dead in sins, like
those in the temple. But because he
changes not, he does not consume his elect sons of Jacob. He cleanses us and refines us. Christ comes suddenly to his temple, entering
our body in Spirit with the gospel of sin-cleansing blood.
Hebrews 9:14: How
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God?
Like as he drove out the merchandisers Christ
subdues our sinful flesh. He purifies us
his disciples making us believe on him. He
purifies us that we may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness which
is Christ alone through faith in him.
Then Christ sits in his temple. He never leaves. The remainder of our days, he
abides in us in Spirit. He continues purging
us. He grows us in grace and knowledge
of him. He constrains us to turn from
our sins by his precious blood by which he bought us, speaking effectually into
our hearts, saying,
1 Corinthians 6: 19…your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which
is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20: For ye are
bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit,
which are God’s.
He
personally keeps us separated unto him from sinful works and vain religion.
2 Corinthians 6: 16: And
what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? 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. 17: Wherefore come out from
among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing;
and I will receive you, 18: And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my
sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 7:1: Having therefore these
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the
flesh and spirit, [outward and inward] perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Likewise, Christ’s resurrection declares he
is the Authority over his assembled temple, his assembled church. Christ keeps us as his assembled church
cleansed so that we continue worshipping together with one mind and one accord,
glorying in him alone.
Zechariah 6:12:…Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall
build the temple of the LORD: 13: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and
he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall
be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them
both.
Our resurrected Head has Power to purge his church
from all corruptions of: strife and vain glory, making us endeavor to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; from worldly practices and methods—wood,
hay and stubble; from a false gospel of man’s will and man’s works. The apostle Paul said it was only by Christ’s
Power that he was a minister of Christ.
Ephesians 3:7: Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of
the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
Psalm 29: 9:…in his
temple doth every one speak of his glory.
Christ makes his church build with gold, silver, precious stones by
his working in us. He makes us preach
Christ alone. He makes us ask Christ to
bless it by the Spirit. He makes us wait
on Christ to bless it. Everything else is
wood, hay and stubble. Christ shall graciously
burn it up and save us.
Remember, believer, Christ also makes his people to be precious
stones. So, believer, do not think
it a strange thing when you or your brethren endure the fire of trial. Do not doubt, only believe. Everything precious must be tried.
Proverbs 17:3: The fining pot is for silver,
and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
But those Christ has made precious can abide the fire and it is a law of
God that we must.
Number 31: 23: Every thing that may abide the
fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean:
But Christ promises to be with us and bring us through the fire and the
result will be communion with him.
Zechariah 13: 9: And I will bring the third
part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try
them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will
say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
So one last thing, remember brethren, while we
are his temple, he is our temple.
Isaiah 8: 12: Say ye
not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A
confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. 13: Sanctify the LORD
of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be
your dread. 14: And he shall be for a sanctuary;
Let us abide in him: believe on him, look to him, wait on him. He is our Head with all Authority and Power
to save and he shall!
Amen!