Zechariah 6:12-13
And say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’
God’s people had returned from exile intent on rebuilding Jerusalem and their most treasured structure, the temple. The temple was the very dwelling place of God’s presence among his people, and the Israelites had longed for its restoration ever since its destruction at the hands of the Babylonians. After 46 painstaking years, the temple was completed.
But there was coming another temple, a temple through which God would not dwell among his people in brick or stone but in flesh and bone. This temple too would be destroyed. And while men toiled for decades to rebuild their temple, God raised his in just three days. And this temple would stand forever.
The eternal reign of the Messiah was not an empty promise, but a divine guarantee sealed by a bloodstained cross and an empty tomb.
So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
- John 2:18-22
