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MAY 13
house a house of merchandise!” Then His dis-
17
ciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal
for Your house has eaten Me up.”
18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, 2:23,24 many believed in His name…. But
“What sign do You show to us, since You do Jesus did not commit Himself. John based
these things?” these two phrases on the same Greek verb for
19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy “believe.” This verse subtly reveals the true
this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” nature of belief from a biblical standpoint.
20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six Because of what they knew of Jesus from His
years to build this temple, and will You raise it miraculous signs,many came to believe in Him.
However,Jesus made it His habit not to whole-
up in three days?” heartedly “entrust”or “commit”Himself to them
21 But He was speaking of the temple of His because He knew their hearts.Verse 24 indicates
body. Therefore, when He had risen from the that Jesus looked for genuine conversion
22
dead, His disciples remembered that He had rather than enthusiasm for the spectacular.The
said this to them; and they believed the Scrip- latter verse also leaves a subtle doubt as to the
ture and the word which Jesus had said. genuineness of the conversion of some
23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the (8:31,32). This emphatic contrast between vv.
Passover, during the feast, many believed in 23,24 in terms of type of trust, therefore,
His name when they saw the signs which He reveals that, literally, “belief into His name”
24
did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to involved much more than intellectual assent.It
them, because He knew all men, and had no called for wholehearted commitment of one’s
25
need that anyone should testify of man, for He life as Jesus’disciple (Matt.10:37; 16:24–26).
knew what was in man.
DAY 12:What did Jesus mean by His comments about the temple in John 2?
In John 2:18, the Jews demanded that Jesus show some type of miraculous sign that would
indicate His authority for the actions that He had just taken in regulating the activities of the temple.
Their demand of a sign reveals that they had not grasped the significance of Jesus’ rebuke that
centered in their need for proper attitudes and holiness in worship.Such an action itself constituted
a “sign”of Jesus’person and authority.Moreover,they were requesting from Jesus a crass display of
miracles on demand, further displaying their unbelief.
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (v. 19). At His trial, the authorities
charged Jesus (Mark 14:29,58) with making a threatening statement against the temple, revealing
that they did not understand Jesus’ response here. Once again John’s Gospel supplements the
other Gospels at this point by indicating that Jesus enigmatically referred to His resurrection. As
with His usage of parables, Jesus’cryptic statement most likely was designed to reveal the truth to
His disciples but conceal its meaning from unbelievers who questioned Him (Matt. 13:10,11). Only
after His resurrection, however, did the disciples understand the real significance of this statement
(v. 22; Matt. 12:40). Importantly, through the death and resurrection of Christ, temple worship in
Jerusalem was destroyed (see 4:21) and reinstituted in the hearts of those who were built into a spir-
itual temple called the church (Eph. 2:19–22).
“It has taken forty-six years to build this temple”(v.20).This was not a reference to the Solomonic
temple, since it had been destroyed during the Babylonian conquest in 586 B.C.When the captives
returned from Babylon, Zerubbabel and Joshua began rebuilding the temple (Ezra 1–4).Encouraged
by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah (Ezra 5:1–6:18), the Jews completed the work in 516 B.C.In
20/19 B.C., Herod the Great began a reconstruction and expansion.Workers completed the main part
of the project in 10 years,but other parts were still being constructed even at the time Jesus cleansed
the temple.The famous “Wailing Wall”is built on part of the Herodian temple foundation.

May 13 Achish said to David, “You assuredly know that
you will go out with me to battle, you and your
men.”
2 So David said to Achish, “Surely you know
1 Samuel 28:1–25
what your servant can do.”
Now it happened in those days that And Achish said to David, “Therefore I will
28 the Philistines gathered their armies make you one of my chief guardians forever.”
together for war, to fight with Israel. And 3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had

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