Audacious Claims

If you overheard a man make the claim that he was going to go out into the parking lot a little later today and lift the biggest truck over his head with nothing but his own hands, you would think this man is either a complete lunatic or a liar. But you would probably go outside and see him try to do what he claimed he would do. What if, to your astonishment, he is able to get underneath the largest truck in the parking lot, stand up underneath its weight and hoist it over his head? You would realize in that moment that you are dealing with a different kind of person. You would either want to run away or get near. One thing is for sure, you would not go on with your day as though nothing significant happened. 

Well, in our text today, Jesus makes the most audacious, bold claim anyone has ever made. And because it actually happened, we cannot, we dare not, go on with life as though nothing much has happened. Verse 19-21 says…

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” [Verse 21 says] He was speaking about the temple of his body. 

Jesus here claims not only that he will be raised from the dead, but that he himself will do it. Destroy this body and in three days “I will raise it up.” That’s quite a claim. He says it even more dogmatically in John 10:17-18 when he says,

17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

This is no small thing. If Jesus said and actually did raise himself on the third day, then everything changes. That’s what we believe. The resurrection changes everything. And you and I need to be confronted with it. Because the worst thing we could do, the most bizarre and inappropriate response we could ever give to the resurrection is simply shrug our shoulders and say, “Okay, whatever” as though it makes no difference. CS Lewis said, with the claims that Jesus made, the one thing we cannot say about him is that he is a good moral teacher. He must be vehemently rejected or wholeheartedly embraced. There can be no neutrality when it comes to Jesus Christ and his resurrection. The resurrection changes everything. Our passage makes it clear that Jesus has been raised from the dead.

The context of our passage is very interesting and important. Jesus came to Jerusalem during the time of the Passover of the Jews. The passover was a celebration during one of the pilgrimage feasts (Unleavened Bread) in which the people remembered how God had delivered his people from Egypt. You remember, God gave instructions through Moses that each family was to prepare a meal which included a lamb. Part of the lamb they would prepare a certain way to eat and each home would take some of the blood and put it over the door and on the doorposts. And that night, God was going to send an angel of death through the camp to kill the firstborn in each house, but when he saw the blood, the angel would passover and leave it unscathed. 

This event and subsequent yearly ceremony was a clear foreshadowing of the Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Passover Lamb and the great work to rescue his people from sin and death. Jesus comes into the temple and what he sees, angers him. People with animals to sell and money changers. It was a racket! It was a shame. God’s house had turned into a place of merchandise. He couldn’t take it. He makes a whip of cords and begins driving the sellers, money changers, and animals out. He overturns the tables with the coins. He was not quiet. I have no doubt he was loud. He was angry. Not the image of Jesus we often think of - nice, quiet, gentle - meek and mild. He is those things. But that’s not all he is. 

But we see that He was eaten up, overwhelmed, consumed by his zeal for God’s house. He still is! What we do here, gathered on the Lord’s Day is not insignificant. We are His house. Our worship and the manner in which we worship matters. All of this leads to an all important question that the Jews pose to Jesus that brings us to Easter, to the Resurrection, to this audacious claim Jesus makes. The Jews (religious leaders) see Jesus doing these things and say,

What sign do you show us for doing these things? 

This is a challenge. Who do you think you are? You better have some way of impressing us, some sign to show in order to prove you have the right to behave like this. And it is here Jesus says, 

Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.  

He says, “I will show you something impressive!” And it says, when Jesus was raised, (it assumes he did… they saw him), his disciples remembered that he had said this and they believed. They believed. That’s the all important thing. They believed. Do you believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead? Do you believe that he not only said “I will raise up my dead body”, but actually did? 

What difference would it make if you believed this reality? This is all important. Sometimes I think we overlook just how earth-shattering the reality of Christ’s resurrection is. The resurrection is not just something which is impressive from afar - like watching the SpaceX Starship take off on the television. The resurrection and how you respond to it, whether you like it to be or not, will be the defining event of your life eternally. So what difference does it make? 

19th century Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck said “The resurrection is the Father’s ‘Amen!’ to the Son’s ‘It is finished!’” And so if the words of Christ “I will raise it up on the third day…” are true… if it happened, then what does this mean? What impact does it have on our lives? I want to spend the rest of our time thinking (hopefully more than just thinking) about this. And of course, this is all true if you are in Christ - if you belong to Him, if you trust in him alone for your righteous standing with God. This is all true for you. I don’t assume that everyone here is a Christian. There may be some here who are not. And my prayer is that you would be by the time you leave. This would be the best day of your life if that happened. 

Glorious Effects of the Resurrection

1. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has inaugurated a new creation of which you are a part. 

The resurrection of Jesus is the first of its kind. 1 Corinthians 15 speaks of Jesus as the firstfruits, which is an agricultural term to describe the first of an entire crop or harvest. Jesus is the first and so we expect the rest to come. And we are part of this new creation spiritually now, which is why Paul says, 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

And so your fundamental identity is that you are a man, woman, boy, girl “in Christ”. You are part of humanity 2.0. Richard Gaffin said, "The resurrection was the beginning of the new and final world order". New World Order baby… except this is the real thing! You are part of this new and final world order - God’s new creation!

2. You can know freedom from condemnation NOW 

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Romans 8:33-34) 

Because Christ died - even more was raised - and is at the right of God interceding for us. No condemnation. God 100% for us in Christ now and forever. 

3. You can know the joy of sins forgiven NOW 

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17) 

But Christ has been raised and therefore you are not in your sins - if you believe in him! Your sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west. What difference does this make? Well all the difference in the world! It is unforgiven sin that weighs people down with real guilt. It is unforgiven sin that will keep people out of the kingdom and send people to hell forever. It is unforgiven sin that will bring God’s wrath upon us. But if we are no longer in our sins, then the wrath has been absorbed by Christ. Psalm 32. 

4. Power to live for God NOW 

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (Romans 6:12-13) 

Do you hear this? You have been brought from death to life. Now you have been freed from sin and are alive to God! 

5. The gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit NOW 

This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. (Acts 2:32-33) 

6. Meaning in life NOW 

Therefore, brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)

7. Freed from the fear of death now

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25-26) 

We will sing in just a bit: “No guilt in life, no fear in death. This is the power of Christ in me…” 

8. The presence and protection of Jesus now

And lo, I am with you always to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:20) 

9. Satan is defeated now

We have a real enemy, but he is a defeated one. Colossians 2:15 says,

He has disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him

Christ has triumphed over the devil. WWII D-Day was June 6 1944, but VE day was almost an entire year later. He may harass, accuse, tempt, and even murder Christians. But “the prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure. For lo his doom is sure. One little word shall fell him.” Through the cross and resurrection, he is defeated and his final doom is at hand. 

10. A living hope in a glorious future NOW.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 

Biblical hope points to the future. And because it’s Christian hope, rooted in reality and absolutely will happen, it empowers our lives now. That future impacts the present powerfully! The resurrection means that we are never without hope. 

11. Comfort now that the trouble that afflicts and haunts you will someday be swallowed up in the victory of Jesus Christ! 

Tim Keller: “Christ’s resurrection not only gives you hope for the future; it gives you hope to handle your scars right now” Our trouble is real; painful. And we are tempted to think it is decisive. We are tempted to think that our pain is the whole thing and the decisive title of our story. It is not. C.S. Lewis said,

“[Some mortals] say of some temporal suffering, “No future bliss can make up for it,” not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.” 

Jesus Christ is decisive! First Corinthians 15:54 says that death itself will be swallowed up in victory.

Brothers and sisters. Jesus Christ said, “I will raise it up on the third day”. He has done it! He has done it! All of this is true. Trust Him! Give yourself unreservedly to Him!