proclaimed as the House of the Lord. Devoid though it was of the Divine accompaniments of earlier shrines accepted of God, and defiled as it was by priestly arrogance and usurpation, as also by the selfish interest of traffic and trade, it was nevertheless recognized even by our Lord the Christ as His Father's House.[1] Therein the Boy Jesus was presented as required by the Law;[2] thereto came He with His people at the time of the Passover;[3] within its precincts He declared Himself and the Father who sent Him.[4] When at last, rejected by His own, and by them brought to the cross. He wrought the sacrifice through which salvation was made possible to man, the veil of the Temple was rent by an unseen power and the last vestige of supreme sanctity departed from the place.[5]
As long as it stood, however, the Temple was held by the Jews in high veneration. An utterance of the Savior, construed by the dark-minded as an aspersion upon the Temple, was used against Him as one of the chief accusations on which His death was demanded. When the Jews clamored for a sign of His authority He predicted His own death and subsequent resurrection, saying, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."[6] They blindly regarded this remark as a disrespectful allusion to their Temple, a structure built by human hands, and they refused to forget or forgive. That this veneration continued after the crucifixion of our Lord is evident from accusations brought against Stephen, and still later against Paul. In their murderous rage the people accused
- ↑ Matt. 21:12; compare Mark 11:15; Luke 19:45.
- ↑ See Luke 2:22-38.
- ↑ Luke 2:42-50. See also John 2:13-23; 5:1; 12:12-20.
- ↑ Luke 19:47; John 10:22-39.
- ↑ Matt. 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45.
- ↑ John 2:19-22; see also Matt. 26:61; 27:40; Mark 14:58; 15:29.
