Destroy This Temple - John 2:13-22

John 2:13-22

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money- changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money- changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty- six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 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.

The word translated "destroy" comes from a Greek word that includes the meaning of unloosing and unbinding.  Jesus is speaking of the true temple of His body which will be resurrected in three days and will be filled with the church of believers in the days to come. The bonds of death could not hold Him.  Ironically, the temple of the Jews would be destroyed, no longer needed in light of the new temple.  God builds a new temple, setting the cornerstone of a house built from above, without the hand of man.  This is the house of prayer inhabited by worshipers sought by God.