Daily Archives: November 14, 2025

JOHN’S GOSPEL…DESTROY THIS TEMPLE -8

Bible Study, ,

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.”…

“The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.”

‭‭John‬ ‭2‬:‭13-15, 18‬-‭19‬, ‭22‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus had just driven the merchandisers out of the temple with a whip, scattering money and making mayhem of the birds and animals being sold for sacrifices. Imagine that! So mundane had their worship in God’s “house” become to them that they thought nothing of trading in the very precincts of the temple.  

Jesus was enraged. This behaviour was the most blatant expression of disrespect and lack of the fear of God.  The merchants and money changers deserved the treatment they got from Him!

The religious leaders, who were no doubt at the helm of this disgraceful spectacle for a cut of the profits, were equally enraged. Someone had dared to overstep their authority! The whole issue was not about what Jesus had done but who had given Him authority to go over their heads and do what He had done. He was in serious trouble if He had acted without valid authorisation. 

Jesus’ response was mystifying. If He said, “My authority comes from God,” they could have counter claimed…”but we have God’s authority in Israel.” It was His word against theirs. 

Proof! Evidence! 

Jesus refused to engage in a futile argument. “I’ll show you the evidence of my authority,” was His strategy. Across the whole spectrum of the gospels, Jesus, acting on the Father’s authority, provided the people with signs of His legitimate authority against which there was no argument.  He backed up His claim to be the Son of God with signs they could not explain. Who could argue with that? The Pharisees tried to identify His authority as Beelzebub but this made no sense.  

“Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see…But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” 

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭12‬:‭22‬, ‭24‬, ‭26‬-28‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The Pharisees had no answer! Hard as they tried, because of the evidence, they could not disprove His claims.  They had only one alternative! Silence Him forever, so they thought!

Jesus response to their question, 

“What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” 

…prophetically pointing them to the greatest of all evidence that He was the Son of God to whom the Father has given all authority in heaven and on earth. 

So, John  concludes…

“After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.”

…the resurrection of Jesus is the final and irrefutable evidence and proof that He IS the Son of God, that He IS Lord, and that He HAS all authority in heaven and on earth. 

To be continued…

JOHN’S GOSPEL…NEW WINE -7

Bible Study, ,

“On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding….“Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”

‭‭John‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭2‬, ‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Without going into the details of this story which we know well, let’s examine John’s reason for beginning his record of “signs”, that Jesus was both the Son of God and the Messiah, with a story about a wedding. 

Wine and a wedding? Not unusual in the context of Jewish life but significant in Jesus’ life because it symbolised the purpose of His sojourn on earth. 

Marriage is God’s idea. The Bible begins with a wedding…Adam and Eve joined together in a union authorised by their Creator, the beginning of their love story…and ends with a wedding, between Jesus and His bride, the church joined together forever in a union of love…the culmination of His love story. 

An integral part of a wedding celebration is, of course, wine! Strangely enough, wine is also God’s idea. “Religious” people might repudiate drinking wine but God chose to include it in His Word and in the context of a wedding. 

“He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate— bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭104‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Wine heightens and enhances human enjoyment when taken in moderation but causes havoc when imbibed to excess. So do many other things when taken too far. 

Jesus’ presence at this wedding and His subsequent intervention to provide wine endorses both marriage and the drinking of wine.   However, it has an even greater significance, as John points out, in our understanding of Jesus’ mission on earth. 

Among the many miracles Jesus did, John chose this one to introduce his readers to Jesus’ glory. This is a mystery. How can a wedding and some wine cast light on Jesus and magnify His character and attributes?

We must dig deeper to find the significance of Jesus’ action in these human activities. The entire record of Jesus from Genesis to Revelation is a love story…of a Father seeking a bride for His Son.  After wooing Israel, His chosen people, to no avail, the Father sent His Son in person to purchase, save, and set apart a people for Himself.  

The purpose of the Son was to espouse to Himself a people who would be filled with the “new wine” of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit would restore the joy of the true and eternal union of God and His people. 

Paul endorsed this symbolism in his encouragement to the Ephesian church….

“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The ”sign” of the abundance of the “best wine” at the wedding in Cana of Galilee was the greatest possible way of introducing Jesus to His people… the glory of the God who came in person to find a bride and to fill her with the joy of His own presence in her forever. 

So, this story heads the list of “signs” because it starts with a picture of the end result, the marriage supper of the Lamb and the union of Jesus and His bride forever. We celebrate the anticipation, sealed and filled with the “new wine” of the Holy Spirit, we await the moment of our marriage to our eternal bridegroom on that day when He returns to take us to Father’s house to be with Him forever.