Page 113 - Satan in the Sanctuary

/ Will Fill This House with Glory 115

Word, that caused the Jews to overlook again the warn-
ings of their prophets concerning the Temple. The 500-
year-old structure, made even more formidable by Herod's
builders (remade, if the truth be told) was considered
invincible.
But it was only as invincible as its illustrious forerunner.
Haggai's promise that the second Temple would be more
greatly glorified by God than the first (Hag 2:6-9), was
more than justified. Herod's work improved it, of course,
but the prophecy's fulfillment lies in the fact that Jesus
Christ, the Jewish Messiah, graced this Temple with His
presence and His great teachings. This was the very site
of those stirring gospel scenes; here Jesus chastised the
money changers and animal sellers; here He taught the
Word of God to a hostile and skeptical melee; here He was
accused and tormented by those "who knew Him not."
Jesus did not comment on the Temple itself, except to
prophecy its destruction. The Pharisees were horrified at
Jesus' prediction that "There shall not be left here one
stone upon another" (Mt 24:2), but the Lord was as
much a prophet as a fulfillment of prophecy.
Daniel, too, foresaw the Lord's appearance in the second
Temple in the great seventy-weeks prophecy (Dan 9:25-
26).
Zechariah, Haggai's contemporary at the time of the re-
construction after Babylon, adds a fascinating note to the
second Temple destruction. In Zechariah 11:7-14, he dis-
cusses the Lord's good Shepherd (Jesus; see Jn 10:11).
In the prophet's vision the good Shepherd is given the
wages of thirty pieces of silver. This terrible undervaluation
is the same figure Judas accepted to betray Christ (Mt
27:3-10). God considers the payment so repugnant that
He has it thrown away, to the potter in the Temple. Then