Jesus Redefined Where God Dwells

N. T. Wright on the Significance of Jerusalem’s Temple

For centuries mapmakers put Jerusalem at the centre of the earth. That matches what most 1st century Jews believed about Jerusalem, and its Temple. The Temple was the heart of everything, the holiest spot on earth. It was the focal point of Israel’s holy land…

Jerusalem’s Temple was viewed as the place where God himself had promised to come & live. This was where God’s glory, his tabernacling presence, his Shekinah, had come to rest. That’s what the Old Testament said…

The Temple where Heaven & Earth Meet

For 1st century Jews the Temple was the place where heaven and earth met. In the Jewish worldview “heaven” and “earth” are not far apart, as most people today assume. For Jews heaven & earth actually overlap and interlock at the Temple.

Jesus was saying that this God, Israel’s God …was establishing his long-awaited saving and healing rule on earth as in heaven. Heaven and earth were being joined up — but no longer in the Temple in Jerusalem. The joining place was where Jesus’ healings were taking place …where forgiveness was happening. The joining place, the overlapping circle, was taking place where Jesus was and in what he was doing. Jesus was a walking Temple. He was the living, breathing place where Israel’s God was living…

The Temple—A Signpost

We shouldn’t be surprised at Jesus’ action in cleansing & then forsaking the Temple. The Jerusalem Temple had been a great signpost pointing forward to another reality that had lain unnoticed for generations, like the vital clue in a detective story that’s only recognized in the final chapter. Remember the promise to King David — that God would build him a “house,” a family, founded on the Son of David who would be the Son of God? David wanted to build a house for God, but God replied that he would build David a “house.” David’s coming Son is the ultimate reality; the Jerusalem Temple is the advance signpost to that reality. Now that the reality is here, the signpost isn’t needed anymore.

Jesus acted out a vision — astonishing, risky, and some might say crazy; Jesus behaved as if he was the Temple, redefining sacred space around Himself.

Jesus—the Real Temple, where Heaven & Earth, God & Man Meet

John’s Gospel draws the parallel between Jesus’ person and the Temple. When Jesus cleansed the Temple of money-changers & traders, the Jews asked him, “Why are you doing these things?” Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I’ll raise it up.” The Jews responded, “It took 46 years to build this temple, will you raise it up in three days?” Then John tells us, “Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. When He was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered this.” (John 2:18-22)

Edited from “Redefining Where God Dwells,” by N. T. Wright, in his recent book, “Simply Jesus”

To read more, go to:

http://payingattentiontothesky.com/2011/12/26/redefining-where-god-dwells-n-t-wright/