Destroy This House

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Today's reading, titled Destroy This House, was written by Mart DeHaan. In Pontiac, Michigan, a demolition company bulldozed the wrong building.

Investigators believe that the owner of the house scheduled to be demolished nailed the numbers of his own address to a neighbor's house to avoid demolition. Jesus did the opposite. He was on a mission to let his own house be torn down for the sake of others. Imagine the scene and how confused everyone must have been, including Jesus' own disciples. Picture them eyeing one another as he challenged the religious leaders. Destroy this temple, Christ said in John chapter 2, and I will raise it again in three days.

The leaders retorted indignantly. It has taken 46 years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days? But Jesus knew he was referring to the temple of his own body.

They didn't. They didn't understand he had come to show that the harm we do to ourselves and to one another would ultimately fall on him. He would atone for it. God has always known our hearts far better than we do, so he didn't entrust the fullness of his plans even to those who saw his miracles and believed in him. Then, as now, he was slowly revealing the love and goodness in Jesus' words that we couldn't understand even if he told us. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from John chapter 2, verses 13 through 25. He said, Get these out of here!

Stop turning my Father's house into a market! His disciples remembered that it is written, Zeal for your house will consume me. 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.

They replied, It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days? But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture in the words that Jesus had spoken. Now, while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.

He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for sacrificing yourself for us and saving us from the effects of sin and offering a way back into a relationship with you. Thank you for removing the guilty sign that hung around our necks and replacing it with another that reads, Forgiven. Please help us now turn away from our old way of living and reframe our hearts and minds around you. Thank you, Lord. It's in your mighty name we pray. Amen.