Today’s Bible Study, Authored by Arthur
Cincotti. 01/28/2024
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Study Discussion at: Zeal For Your House Podcast
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Zeal for Your house
“Then His disciples
remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.’” Jn. 2:17
In this passage of Scripture, the gospel writer is remembering
Ps. 69:9. Turns out that Ps. 69 is quoted four times
in the NT. This is a Psalm of David titled, “An Urgent Plea for Help in
Trouble.” Matthew Henry writes that “in
this, David was a type of Christ, and divers passages in this psalm are applied
to Christ in the New Testament and are said to have their accomplishment in
him.”
Today we are going to
consider what Jesus is so zealous for so that our zeal would be guided by
His.
Jn. 2:13-22 records the first
of two occasions when Jesus aggressively cleansed the temple. This was early in
His ministry and on this occasion He, “made a wipe of cords” and “drove
out…those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing
business.” He said, “Do not make My Father’s house a house of
merchandise!”
The temple in Jesus’ time was
the “Second Temple,” the first being the one built by King Solomon. This second
temple was begun around 516 BC and was destroyed during a Roman siege in 70
AD. Herod the Great undertook a massive
expansion project in 20 BC, and the time of the events of Jn. 2 are estimated
at around 26 AD.
This is also the temple of
which Jesus prophesied, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say
to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be throne
down.” Mt. 24:2
Was Jesus concerned about
architecture, traditions, and tedious ceremonial religious rites? I’m going to
say a big “no” on that. It’s not that the temple was without value or
significance, but it was merely a type, or foreshadow or earthly expression
of heavenly things.
A clue to the real matter at
hand is found in Jn. 2:19&21, “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Destroy
this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’…But He was speaking of the
temple of His body.”
In Hebrew, the word “temple”
and the word “house” are the same.
Strong’s H1004 “bayit” and it
has a vast scope of definitions. Solomon’s temple and subsequently the second
temple were built on the pattern of Moses Tabernacle. Tabernacle is the word
“miskan” and means: dwelling (place), habitation, tent. In the verb form it can
be used as, “to dwell with.”
I think we are starting to
get a clearer sense of what Jesus zealous interest is for. Jn. 1:14 says, “And
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory…” The
word “dwelt” in Greek is, “skenoo,” and the expanded definition is: to occupy
(as a mansion) or (specially), to reside (as God did in the Tabernacle of old,
a symbol of protection and communion)
We see elsewhere that
Christ’s zeal is for us, “his own sheep” Jn. 10:3; His bride,
Rev. 21:9; His brethren, Rom. 8:29.
Heb. 12:2 says, “who for
the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame…”
Sounds pretty zealous to me.
Is the church the NT
equivalent of the temple of Jesus time? In some sense yes, though not the
building, as we have already seen.
“Church” is only mentioned
twice by Jesus in the gospels. The word, “ekklesia” means: a derivative of
G2564; a calling out; a popular meeting place, especially a religious
congregation (Jewish synagogue), or Christian; assembly.
In Heb. 10:25 “not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” the word for “assembling”
is “episynagoge” a form of synagogue.
I Cor. 6:19 helps also by
saying, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,
whom you have from God, and you are not your own.”
This leads us to the very contemporary Christian cultural
notion that “we are the church” or more specifically, “I am the church.” It’s
not surprising that in our self-absorbed, me-centered culture these notions
would seep into doctrine. I would suggest, however, that this notion is a
partial truth, and we all know who loves to traffic in partial truths (Satan).
Indeed, the assembly is the assembling of God’s people;
those “called out” of darkness, into His glorious light, and this assembly
certainly doesn’t require a building. Designating the building as “holy” or
“sacred” may be going too far and typically creeps out most Protestants.
Jesus said, “For where two
or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Mt. 18:20. This doesn’t mean that Jesus doesn’t meet with us individually; in
our prayer closet, or at any given time of day, but it does point to two
substantial and fundamental truths about the church: 1) it’s communal, and 2)
Jesus presence is necessary.
The design of the church is not about nave’s, narthex,
clerestory, or bema, although all these are also types. The design of the
church is about community; intimate community with fellow believers and with
Christ.
I Jn. 4:20 sums it up well, “If
someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who
does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not
seen?”
To the extent that we believe that we are “the
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus” and “the temple of the Holy Spirit”,
and “ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us” and
created in the image of God; we out to love one another as Christ gave us an
example.
“By this all will know
that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Jn. 13:35
I Pet. 2:5, “you also, as
living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
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