Mar 28 2013
Isaac’s Easter
Look at a full moon on a clear night. Its light is captivating, something that has inspired both poems and paintings. But this light is borrowed. It is just a reflection of the sun. Take away the sun and the moon cannot shine; but remove the moon and the sun will continue to blaze with light undaunted. Such is the relationship between the sacrifice of Isaac and the sacrifice of Jesus on ‘the mountain of the Lord.’ Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son and Isaac’s willingness to be the son of sacrifice reflect the character of God who himself was willing to sacrifice and be sacrificed. The parallels between the sacrifice of Isaac and the cross of Christ are eye opening. Let’s go into the scriptures and take a closer look. More
Aug 6 2014
The Temple – a shadow of heaven
Picture: Jews pray at the Western Wall – the only remaining part of their temple
The temple dominated Jewish society in Christ’s time. It was by far the biggest building in Jerusalem and some Jews attended it daily. So you can imagine the shock when Jesus told the rulers of the temple that he would destroy it and raise it in three days.
Jesus had just driven marketers out of the temple area and the rulers asked him what sign he would give them to show he had the authority to do this. It was a long held belief that the Messiah would cleanse the temple when he came, so they were looking at his actions as a claim to Messiahship. Jesus said ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again’ (John 2:19). They thought he was crazy because it had taken 46 years to build the temple, but Jesus was talking about his body. It would be destroyed at the crucifixion and raised from the dead on the third day.
Now, this statement is big. For Jesus to associate his body with the Jewish temple was quite something. The temple was holy – it contained the Presence of God. Was Jesus’ body holy, did it contain the Presence of God? In hindsight Christians will say yes, but it was not that obvious to Jews at the time. But this was not all. Jesus was about to institute a new order of worship. He was about to declare the old temple obsolete and a new temple – the Church – open for operation. More