APRIL 15, 1979
HENRY F. KULP
John 2: 15 - 22 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
Easter Sunday speaks to us of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is not a worn-out dogma, though it has been preached and taught for 2,000 years, it is ever fresh and I am sure no one who knows the Bible ever tires of hearing about it. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the keystone to all the truths in the Bible. If we deny this doctrine, then the Bible means nothing. All is lost, and we are unsaved. So one must believe in a bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
1/ The Scripture before us is a familiar one. I am sure you have read it and heard sermons on it many times. The context reveals that the Lord Jesus Christ sought to save His Father’s house from evil usage.
John 2: 16, 17 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
He sought to cleanse the temple and save it from the awful desecration of the ungodly religious people. But as we start out this morning I want you to realize the total depravity of man. As we look at the temple, which was used to be the meeting place between God and man, and we see how man desecrated that temple.
2/ This is true as we said with other divine institutions that God gave to the nation Israel. Let us think about the Sabbath for a few moments. The Sabbath to the Jew was meant to be a precious institution, and it was intended by God to be a blessing to the nation Israel. Yet the Pharisees, by their traditions had made it an awful burden to the nation of Israel. Why was the Sabbath law established by God?
Mark 2: 27, 28 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
Deuteronomy 23: 25 When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour's standing corn.
Here Jesus Christ wanted the people to realize they did not exist for the Sabbath Day, but that the day was ordained for their welfare by God. Man wasn’t to be a rest day, WHATEVER THE UNREGENERATE HAND OF MAN TOUCHES HE POLLUTES. Man is a polluter, as Jeremiah 17: 9 tells us--The heart is deceitful above alll things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
3/ These same Pharisees degraded the Sabbath Day and made it a burden for the people
Matthew 12: 10-13 And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.
They could see a sheep saved from a pit on the Sabbath Day. They could not stand seeing a poor cripple healed. Of course, this is a very ridiculous thing, it shows how man destroys ritual. That is why God does not have ritual—He does not have days in this present dispensation.
4/ Just as they had treated the Sabbath, they treated the house of God. The Old Testament records how immorality had crept into the tabernacle at Shiloh, then after the building of Solomon’s temple we had idolatry brought in by the very same people, and now in our Lord and Saviour’s Day, it was commerce. The religious Jews thought to justify their attitude toward the Temple in our Lord’s time because their commercial activities were carried on in the outer court where the Gentiles were allowed. To them this part of the Temple could not be a very sacred place, or the Gentiles would not be allowed there. They argued their commercial affairs helped along with the financial burdens of their worship. It was a shrewd business scheme cloaked with religious covering, again showing the total depravity of man.
5/ Our Lord, seeing through all this hypocrisy made a scourge of small cords and drove them all out of the Temple, and the sheep and oxen, and poured out the changers money and overthrew the tables and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence, make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise.
John 2: 15, 16 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.
6/ His act aroused their ire and they wanted to know by what authority He did all this. It was then that Jesus Christ gave them the sign of the destroyed and raised temple. He brought up His resurrection. This is an important point. When they wanted to know by what authority He did these things, He said, by the authority of my resurrection, and it hadn’t happened yet. It was yet future.
7/ Matthew 12: 38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
Matthew 16: 21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Matthew 17: 22 - 23 And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.
On another occasion, certain of the Pharisees came to Him requesting a sign. He gave them the sign of the prophet Jonah. This like the sign of the destroyed temple and its rebuilding had to do with the resurrection, and again He was referring to His resurrection. Even though it was yet future, taking it for granted. I want you to see Him EVERYTHING IN THE PURPOSE OF GOD DEPENDS UPON CHRIST’S VICTORY OVER THE GRAVE.
8/ Of course, the Jews did not understand what He meant. When He said, “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it again.” His hearers misunderstood, as they usually did, and they thought He meant the temple that was in front of them, but He was referring to the temple of His body.
9/ HIS PERSON WAS DIVINE—DEITY
Now as we look at the resurrection that is so important, that Jesus Christ referred to before it even happened and said this is the sign I want you to see, by this sign, by my resurrection I have the authority. We can see this meant that Jesus Christ had to be God. No other man but Jesus Christ had ever experienced deliverance from the grave never to return to it.
II Timothy 1: 9, 10 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
Here, we read, I have brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel, no one else has immortality, but Jesus Christ.
10/ Life and immortality. I must point out because I think you need to know this, there is a great deal of difference between life and immortality. LIFE IS PRESENT POSSESSION. We now possess life in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit. IMMORTALITY IS A FUTURE PROSPECT. We wait for the day when we shall put on the immortal body.
11/ Life deals with the inward man. Immortality deals with the outward man, the body. Now all believers have life, but now only Jesus Christ has immortality. So we see in this verse, Christ alone has immortality. Life gives us a perfect standing in the presence of God. This is why when we die and are absent from the body we can be present with the Lord because we have a perfect standing before God. We could not stand in the presence of God with a corruptible mortal body. So at the Rapture we are going to have a perfect body, a celestial body that has immortality, but Christ Jesus has this right at this present moment, and He alone has immortality, because He is God manifest in human flesh.
12/ Notice, Jesus Christ called the temple, His Father’s house. It was something which had never been done before. Moses, David, Solomon, Elijah, and all the other prophets had not spoken of it in this matter. The familiarity with which Jesus Christ spoke of the temple amounted to blasphemy to the ears of those who heard Him. Then He goes a step beyond this and astonishes the people even more by saying He would destroy this temple, and in three days would raise it up again. They, again, thought He spoke of the material structure, but He was talking of His body.
13/ You will notice that during His earthly ministry, He refers again and again to His resurrection.
Matthew 16: 21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Matthew 17: 22, 23 And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.
The resurrection was proof of His deity, in that He was able to tell the future. He knew what was going to happen to Him. It shows the truthfulness of the Word of God.
14/ Let us make a comparison. In the Old Testament on the Day of Atonement, we are told the high priest went into the Holy of Holies once a year—with the blood of the sacrifice which he sprinkled everywhere as he entered that sacred place of God’s Shikinah presence. The people stood without the tabernacle with every eye fastened upon the door and wondering whether or not their representative would be accepted. As he presented the blood of the sacrifice, would it be accepted on behalf of the people whom the priest represented. That is the nation Israel. When He appeared again they had evidence that His ministry had been approved of God, and with his approval came assurance and satisfaction. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof of our redemption.
15/ Romans 4: 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
He was offered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification. We would never be justified were it not for His resurrection.
16/ THE RAPTURE AND THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE WERE IT NOT FOR HIS RESURRECTION.
I Thessalonians 4: 16 - 18 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Where we read—the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then, of course, the living in Christ. If He is not resurrected from the dead, He cannot ascend in to the heavens.
Titus 2: 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
If He did not rise from the dead, this is a dead hope, not a living hope.
17/ But, of course, the Second Coming would be impossible. All the promises God made to the nation Israel, to the Jews in their religion, would never become a reality if Jesus Christ did not physically raise from the dead.
Genesis 17: 6 - 8 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
The Abrahamic covenant consists of the Seed, the Nation, and a Lamb.
Jeremiah 23: 5, 6 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness.
Here is a covenant made with David. #1, a King, the son of David. #2, a throne. #3, a city, #4, a Kingdom. None of these could be a reality without a resurrected Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
II Samuel 7: 13, 16 He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.
If Christ did not raise from the dead, all the programs of God perish, and there is no hope for the Church the Body of Christ. There is no hope for the world to have a Kingdom in which God’s will will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
18/ The last thing I would like you to see, and this is a really important fact. We would not have union with Jesus Christ. Salvation means union with Jesus Christ. We become one with HIm.
I Corinthians 12: 12 - 14 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.
If Jesus Christ has not been raised from the dead, we cannot have union with a dead person. But we have union with a Living Person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 6: 3, 4 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Galatians 2: 20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
How can Christ live in me if He is dead? But He tells me the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Galatians 3: 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
He tells us, For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. He is a living Saviour, and we, by the Holy Spirit are baptized into Christ. We have put on Christ. Everything in Christianity depends upon the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. You take away this truth and you have nothing. It is just like every other faith in
the world. It is just like all religions of the world, they are empty with no hope, with no future, and with no present power.
480-2 UP FROM THE GRAVE (Easter) / April 15, 1979
