Stephen and the Temple Jesus Replaced

1:34 Question number one. Did Jesus say that he would destroy the temple and build it again in three days? Three steps in coming to an answer. The first step is to go back to the trial, Matthew 27 and Mark 14. No, it's Matthew 26, verse 61. The false witnesses have gotten together again. And here's what they say, pointing at Jesus. This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days. And when the high priest stood back and looked at Jesus and said, well, what do you say to this? He didn't make any reply. He just let it stand.

2:21 Go forward a few hours now. He's hanging on the cross, suffering, and he's being mocked by the passersby. And here are the words some of them are using in Matthew 27, 40. You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself. If you were the son of God, come down from the cross. So even the crowds had this in their head. Jesus had said something like this. Now, thirdly, John chapter two, verse 19. Here's the place where we get the exact statement that Jesus said, at least one of them. I suspect he said it more often. But John 2.19, he has just moved through the temple with a whip. He's driven out the cellars and the Jews are angry at him and they say, what sign do you do that you're able to do this kind of thing? You have a right to drive cellars out. What sign do you do? And here's his answer in verse 19.

3:15 Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Jesus said that. Now, their answer was, it took 46 years to build this building. You're going to build it again in three days? He doesn't say any more. But John, the writer of the gospel, inserts these words. He spoke of the temple of his body.

3:46 Now, in the actual words of John 2.19, Jesus says, you destroyed the temple and I will build it in three days. Whereas his accusers had been saying, he said, I will destroy the temple. Which did he say? Or did he say both? I think he said both because of this. We know very clearly now from what John said that the destroying of the temple is the death of Jesus. We also know from John 10, 18.

4:24 No one takes my life from me. I lay it down and if I lay it down, I can take it again. Therefore, if Jesus lays down his life and the laying down of his life is the destruction of the temple, he destroyed the temple. As well as the Roman soldiers, Pilate, the Jews who cried crucify him. He gave himself up to destruction. So my answer to the first question is, yes, Jesus said, I will destroy this temple and I will build it again in three days. And he said it probably in various forms and various ways. Now, the key question is, what in the world did he mean? Did he merely mean, as John hints, I'm going to die willingly and I'm going to be raised again? That's all.

5:16 That's all it means. I'm going to die and I'm going to be raised. If that's all he meant, why did he use the image temple? And worse, why did he walk into the temple and use words that he knew everybody would misunderstand? Why did he go into the temple, stand up and say, destroy this temple? And he probably didn't point like this. He just said, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it.

5:47 What did he expect them to understand? Now, here's what I think Jesus meant. I think Jesus meant, if you destroy this temple, I'll destroy that temple. Or make it even clearer. In the destruction of this temple, that temple comes down.

6:11 If I die, this temple dies. The whole system dies when I die. The sacrifices die. The priesthood dies. The glory no longer is focused on this building, but on me. I become the sacrifice. I'm the high priest. I am the Shekinah glory from this day forward. If you kill me, I'll rise. I'll be the temple. And this one is done for. That's what I think Jesus meant. And it's a glorious truth. It's a glorious truth. You don't have to make any more pilgrimages. You don't have to move one muscle. To get sins forgiven, a priesthood with God and the presence of his glory. That's what happened in the temple. The whole sacrificial system by which sins were forgiven.

7:06 The whole priesthood by which we had intercessors and advocates with God. And then periodically the coming down of the Shekinah glory in the Holy of Holies. It's all gone. In Jesus. That's what happened when the curtain was split and Jesus died. The curtain split, meaning this building is coming down. The walls are falling. Everything in it is crumbling. That's the meaning of I will destroy this temple, this temple, that temple. See the connection now? Does that make sense? When this temple, my body, is slain, it becomes the sacrifice which ends all sacrifices. Get it now?

7:57 I become the interceding priest which ends the whole priesthood. I become the place on which the Shekinah glory rests so that no longer is it bound to any one geographic location. It is over. the temple is done for. It's a glorious, glorious truth.

8:24 In fact, I found this passage, I'm so glad the Lord directed me to this last night, Revelation 21, such a beautiful confirmation of what I was developing in my mind as I meditated on these things. Listen to this word. Here's a glimpse of heaven now that John has in Revelation 21, 22. He says, I saw no temple. In the city. Why not? For its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. That's the temple. And the city has no need of sun. Why? For the glory of God is its light and its lamp is the Lamb. I said, oh, wow. That's so exciting when you're on a track of interpretation, you know, because you see text and then you stumble onto one that just seems to fit so perfectly with it. There will be no temple because Christ is the temple.

9:24 The Lord of glory is the temple. The sacrifice, the priesthood, the Shekinah location is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. In dying for sin and rising again, he becomes our priest, our Passover lamb and our glory. When I die, this temple is finished. Yes, my answer to the first question is yes. Jesus said, I will destroy this temple. And he meant both his body and by means of his body, the Jewish place of worship. Question number two. Did Stephen mean the same thing? when Stephen carried on this teaching and preached it in Jerusalem, was he saying something different or the same?

10:19 Now, the reason I even pose that question is because as I read verse 14, I hear something different. And so I had to stop and meditate until I could see how it fit together. Now, see if you hear what's different. Verse 14, we have heard him say, this is about Stephen. We have heard Stephen say that this Jesus will destroy this place. And that will threw me off. So Stephen was going around saying Jesus is going to destroy this place. Now you see how different that is from what Jesus said? Jesus said destroy this temple in three days. It's over. It's up again. And here's Stephen walking around saying it's going to happen. It's going to happen. And I said well wait a minute. It already happened. Took three days to do it. It came down, it went up, it's over. The new temple is up.

11:13 Is there a conflict here or do these fit? And I think we'd all probably come up with the same solution here. Here's mine. Jesus meant when he said, in three days I'll destroy it and erect one not made with hands, he meant the basis and foundation of the whole system of the temple is done away with, just like that when I die and rise again. The sacrifices are no longer valid. The priesthood is no longer needed. The glory is no longer attached to that place. I'm the sacrifice. I'm the high priest. I am the place where the glory of God dwells bodily. The foundation is gone. But when you remove or you destroy or explode a foundation, it may take a while for the walls to go tumbling down. And that's what was happening in Stephen's ministry.

12:10 What Stephen was doing, I think, is declaring just what I said. He was walking around saying, don't you understand from the Old Testament that when the Messiah comes, And is, according to Isaiah 53, the final decisive sacrifice for sins. No longer do you need to sacrifice animals. And the whole priesthood is not necessary. And he is the Lord of glory because he was raised to the God's right hand. Don't you all see the implications of that? I tell you, this temple's coming down. Is coming down.

12:41 The priests were turning to Christ. And Luke reports that just before he reports this Stephen fellow who's going around talking about the destruction of the temple. I say, oh, I see. He's really making it with the priests. He's walking into the temple, this utterly risk-taking, crazy fellow, shining like an angel, full of wisdom, full of the Spirit. And he walks in among the priests and he preaches the destruction of the temple and convinces them they're out of a job. And hundreds are saying, that really does fit with Isaiah 53. That really makes sense. We do now have one priest. If Christ has died for sins once for all, if he now has an eternal priesthood in heaven to make intercession for many, if God has glorified him in his right hands, we're out of a job.

13:41 This is great. This is wonderful. Nobody has to come to us anymore. Nobody has to trek to Jerusalem anymore. Nobody has to bring animals in here anymore. We'll get another job. We'll preach. We'll preach Jesus. I think that's what was happening in Stephen's ministry. And that was absolutely threatening. I mean, you just can imagine that if you weren't persuaded of that and your livelihood was the priesthood, there were 8,000 priests in Jerusalem in Jesus' day. you could get yourself killed talking good news like that So I don't think there was any conflict between Stephen and Jesus because of this will destroy in verse 14. All Stephen meant was what he decisively accomplished in pulling the rug out from under the system. I'm now accomplishing by pushing the wall over.

14:39 Last question. Does Luke agree that the apostles and Stephen should have been and were changing the Mosaic customs? How does Luke feel about this, the inspired writer of this story? The reason I ask that is because in verse 13, Luke says that the witnesses are false witnesses. And I'm sort of preaching as though what they said was exactly right, you know, that Jesus and Stephen did say that they're going to destroy the temple. And they did say that Mosaic customs would be changed. If that's true, then how are the witnesses false? It sounds like they're true.

15:32 I think the answer is not complicated. I think they are giving a false twist to a true statement. A false twist to a true statement. But now let me illustrate by backing up and showing you that Luke does in fact know that the ministry of the apostles is overturning and changing Mosaic customs. Let me give you two illustrations. Chapter 15, this huge controversy in the book of Acts over circumcision and whether these new Gentile converts who were not circumcised needed to be circumcised in order to be saved. Listen to the wording of Acts 15, 1, where Luke records a certain party saying, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses. Now, note that phrase.

16:28 See, that's the same phrase from back in chapter 6, where the accusers say to Stephen, they're changing the customs of Moses. And, of course, the answer is, you better believe they are. Namely, circumcision, for example. He says, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And so they debated this, and in verses 10 and 11 of chapter 15, they give their decision, no, that's not true. You do not have to be circumcised in order to be a part of the redeemed community any longer. what Moses laid down as a condition for being part of the community and a sign of the covenant, we now are going to drop. The reason is not hard to come by.

17:28 There are several problems with circumcision as the history of redemption makes a turn. History of redemption is turning and the church is no longer identified with any ethnic group called Israel. And therefore, that kind of sign which sets you off from another nation and makes it very difficult for them to come over is being changed. And baptism is the replacement for circumcision. Baptism is superior not only for that reason, it's easier to perform, but it's also performable on women and men, which is highly significant, I believe. The second example after circumcision, this much more brief, is chapter 10 of the book of Acts. What I'm illustrating here is how Luke knew that the apostolic witness was bringing about Mosaic changes. Changes in the Mosaic customs.

18:28 Acts chapter 10, here is Peter sitting on the roof and a sheet in a vision comes down full of animals, some of whom are unclean. You know, the Old Testament said don't eat animals like fish. You don't have scales and don't have cloven hoofs and certain things like that. So you don't eat snake, turtle, catfish, and so on. And the voice comes and says, rise, kill and eat. And Peter says, no, Lord, because I've never eaten anything unclean. And the voice comes back and says, don't call unclean what God has cleansed.

19:07 And then the door, knock at the door, and there's somebody inviting him to dinner at the Gentiles' house, Cornelius. And so the message is real clear. These these Mosaic customs, these dietary laws are going to stand in the way of the new covenant people drawn from every people, tribe and tongue. They were valuable to define the uniqueness of Israel among the nations. When that grace spills over to the nations and the nations are being gathered in, those aren't valid anymore. And so my answer is Luke did not disagree with Stephen and Jesus on this matter. He knew good and well that what the gospel was doing was bringing about both a destruction of the temple with its sacrificial system, its priesthood and its locus of glory and changing customs that made it hard for the gospel to spread among unreached peoples of the world. Now, last question then.

20:12 Why did he call these witnesses false witnesses? If they said everything true. Well, they didn't say everything true. They said, in fact, that he is speaking, Stephen is speaking against the holy place and against the law. And that his words, verse 11, are blasphemous words against Moses and God. In other words, they heard the word. The temple will be destroyed. And they compute. He's against. the sacrifices and Moses and the God who inspired Moses and his blasphemy. That's the computation. And they go wrong. You know why they go wrong? They cannot conceive of a destruction that consists in a fulfillment. That's what they can't conceive of. A destruction that consists in a fulfillment. Stephen did not destroy the temple the way the Romans were going to destroy the temple. Stephen destroyed the temple the way a homecoming from Saudi Arabia destroys the letter writing.

21:13 Christ destroys the temple the way the rising sun destroys the headlights and the street lamps. Here's another analogy, and this one's the most helpful one because it's even a biblical one. If the Messiah is coming, my hand is now the Messiah, and he hasn't yet come to earth. And this is a light here, okay? And you could do this even with those lights probably. But if this light is the light of God's affirmation and blessing upon the Messiah, on my hand. And as the Messiah is coming with the glory of God and the light shining upon him with approval, a shadow is cast upon the earth. And that's what we have in the temple and in the Mosaic regulations. We have a shadow of things to come, the Bible says.

22:09 And as the Messiah comes, the shadow becomes smaller. And when the Messiah lands on the shadow, it's gone. He destroys the shadow. But he doesn't destroy the shadow because he didn't like the shape of the shadow. He doesn't destroy the shadow because of hatred for all that the shadow meant for millions of people with blessing for generations. That's not the sense in which the temple, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the locusts of the glory was destroyed. It was destroyed because the reality had come. And the shadow was gone. And that's only threatening where you don't want the reality, where you love to play with the shadows. And even in the New Testament, there's a warning about those who have the form of religion. Don't know anything about power.

23:09 They don't know anything about reality. And I just plead with you now as I close, receive the reality. Don't play with the forms. Not even our forms. Our forms here. Lights, building, architects, dress, order of service. Don't get hung up on form. Go for the reality. Who is Christ, your sacrifice. Christ, your priest. Christ, the glory of God for you. And you don't have to go to church even to see that. You don't have to go to Jerusalem to see it. You don't have to lift one finger to get right with God.