# 39 Razed To Be Raised

Joh 2:18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?" 19 Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 20 Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"

 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

Jesus has just gone into the temple and cleaned house. The Jews were upset. (as you and I would be if Jesus would come into our churches and cold turkey overturn all the abuses we have allowed into the church through the years.)  We talked about some of those abuses yesterday. (racism, sexual sin, divorce, abortion, etc)

Anyway, they demand a sign! “Do something Jesus that proves You have the authority to overturn the way we do church!” “Show us a miracle that proves You are the Son of God!”

Jesus refuses to give them a sign on the spot, rather He answers them with a prophetic riddle. “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”

What do you do with that kind of a reply?

You and I have the advantage of hindsight. We know that He was talking about His death and resurrection, but put yourself in the sandals of those present on that day. How would you react to such a statement?  We, like the disciples might not say anything, but we certainly would be thinking what the Jews stated outright.

“What are You talking about? It took 46 years to erect this building and now you are challenging us to raze it, so you can build us another one in just three days?”

Notice, they never called in the bulldozers to take Jesus up on His challenge!

Notice how we too, when challenged by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, often refuse to bulldoze all the abuses we have allowed into the church through the years. We refuse to believe that the resurrection power of Jesus can straighten us out. We refuse to believe that He has something so much better for us.

On this Day of Pentecost on the church calendar, we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church. Empowered from on high by the Holy Spirit, let us cast aside any and all practices that have infiltrated the church and our lives, and seek to live in accordance with the Word of God!

Let us take Jesus up on His challenge and destroy the old man in us and lead us into the new resurrected life!

Ro 8:11 says: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

Col 3:9,10 we are reminded that we have, “put off the old man with his deeds,

 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,

You have put the old man to rest in baptism, now by faith in the resurrected power of Jesus, live the new life that God intended for you!