THE KING’S BUSINESS
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again and defiled the temple, He told them that they had made His Father’s house a “den of robbers” ,(Matt. 21:13). If v. 17. “And (omit, And) His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten (shall eat) me up." The disciples were greatly impressed with what they saw their Lord do and at once recalled the Messianic prediction of the Old Testament found in Psalm 69:9, and they rightly interpreted our Lord’s action at the present time as being the ful fillment of that prophecy. They did not see what would ultimately be the fatal end of our Lord for His zeal for purity in His Father’s house, though this is predicted in the remainder of the same Psalm which Christ’s action brought to their mind (Ps. 69:19-21). But Christ Himself foresaw it (vs. 19-22). It was simply the zeal of the Lord which impressed them and occupied their mind. It is very suggestive that the Apostle Paul in Rom. 15:3 applies to Christ the last half of the verse, Psalms 69:9, to which the disciples here applied the first half. The expression “zeal of thine house” of course means “zeal for thine house,” as it is rendered in the American revision, but the rendering given in the Authorized Version is a literal translation. The Greek word translated “zeal” ,comes from a word meaning to boil with heat, and it sets forth the intense fervor, the burning jealousy, of our Lord for the purity of His Father’s house and worship. v. 18. “Then answered the Jews (The Jews therefore answered) and said unto Him, What sign showest Thou unto us, seeing that Thou doest these things?’’ We here see a striking contrast between the faith of the disciples, who saw in our Lord’s action an unmistakable fulfillment of prophecy, and the unbelieving attitude of the Jews who were offended at the action of Jesus. All through John’s gospel we see the double effect of our Lord’s work, producing faith on the part of those who were of the truth, and awakening opposition on the part of those who were not of the truth. The whole gospel presents
us a picture of the development of faith on the one hand and of unbelief on the other. So i t . was inevitable that on the occasion of this first public act of our Lord this double effect should be emphasized. There are always those who, when any one does something which it is right should be done, instead of approving the act want to know by what authority he does it. They do not dare to directly question the propriety of the act, and therefore seek to justify their position by a denial of the authority to do the act on the part of -the one who has performed it. There are always those who make such an idol of ecclesiastical authority that they lose all power to recognize an act that is mani festly Divine when they see it, or to listen to the word which is manifestly Divine when they hear it, unless the act is per formed, or the word spoken, under the auspices of the special branch of ecclesias tical authority which they recognize. vs. 19-22. “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews (the Jews therefore said), forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt Thou rear (raise) it up in three days? But He spoke of the temple of His body. When therefore He was risen (raised) from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said (spake) this unto them (omit, unto them); and they believed' the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said." The Jews had asked for a sign, but our Lord pointed to the very greatest sign of all signs of His Messianic calling, namely, the resurrection (cf, Rom. 1:4; Acts 2:24-36; 5:30-32). The resurrection of Christ from the dead is the great proof p f our Lord’s claims, it carries everything else with it. It is also the best proven fact of history. Of course, the Jews did not understand our Lord’s answer at the time, and Jesus was looking beyond those who demanded a; sign then, to a future day and to His followers who would then appreciate the word now spoken. It should be noted that John is the only one who mentions this utterance
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