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The body of Jesus Christ was torn, and He shed
His blood on the cross, but what is the significance
of all this? In Old Testament times, the Israelites
would shed the blood of sacrificial animals in the
temple or transfer their sins to a scapegoat that
would be released out into the wilderness. All of
these procedures came to an end the moment Jesus
said, "It is finished," as He hung dying on the cross.
Jesus said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days
I will raise it up" (John 2:19). He was talking about
the temple that Nicodemus had come to find the true temple, the culmination of all the feasts
of the Jews, the body of Jesus. All the teachers of
the Jews who guided others toward this temple
through the Old Testament scriptures were also
gathered there in the physical temple building.
What was the purpose of this temple building? The
temple and all the ceremonies carried out there
were a model, a shadow of the true essence that
was to come.
In Hebrews chapter 9 we have a brief explanation
of all the sacrificial rites of the Jews.
For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and
the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the
unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the
flesh: 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?
(Hebrews 9:13-14)
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If the blood of the animals sacrificed each year
could cleanse the defiled, how could the eternal
blood of Christ not cleanse your conscience from
dead works to serve the living God? Will His blood
not be able to revive man's spirit that died when
Adam sinned? The blood of the sacrificial animals
was a shadow of the blood of Christ.
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But Christ being come an high priest of
good things to come, by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,
that is to say, not of this building.
(Hebrews 9:11)
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There was to be a greater, more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands. Christ had to be destroyed
and killed for the sake of this great temple that He
would complete in the future. It is also for the sake
of this perfect temple that the believers on this
earth continue to have fellowship with one another
through the Spirit of Christ. Thus the temple is
being built up.
In the future, when we go to heaven, we will see
Jesus Christ and then we will understand that He
Himself is the perfect temple. Nicodemus had not
come to meet an ordinary man. Nicodemus was
not aware of it at the time, but Jesus was speaking
to him in order to invite him into this perfect
temple.
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It was therefore necessary that the patterns
of things in the heavens should be purified
with these; but the heavenly things
themselves with better sacrifices than these.
For Christ is not entered into the holy places
made with hands, which are the figures of
the true; but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for us.
(Hebrews 9:23-24)
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Now is not the time for the offering of the blood
of animals. The apostle Paul once spoke of offering
a living sacrifice that is acceptable to God: the
sacrifice that we make when we serve other believers
and guide others to salvation. The time will
come when the believers will meet the Lord as they
stand before Him. It is when we see this perfect
temple that we will meet Jesus.
When Jesus said, "Destroy this temple," He was
not referring to the temple that had taken the Jews
46 years to build; He was speaking of the temple
of His body that was soon to die. The apostle John
wrote, "But he spake of the temple of his body.
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" (John 2:21-22). At the time,
not even the disciples knew what Jesus meant when
He said these words.
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