After cleansing the temple in Jerusalem for the first time, Jesus was asked by the Jews what sign there was for His authority for having taken action.

He replied: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19).

Jesus meant His own body, but the Jews thought He was referring to Herod’s temple: "Then the Jews said, It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" (verse 20).

The reaction of the Jews reflects the importance the temple had for them. It was the center of their worship of God.

The early church was Jewish, and the temple figured prominently in the fellowship of the early church. The first chapters of Acts show that the disciples sometimes met at the temple and participated in worship there. John and Peter were about to enter the temple at the afternoon hour of prayer when they were asked by the crippled beggar for some alms (Acts 3). Instead, the man was healed!

Some 25 years after Jesus’ resurrection James and the elders at Jerusalem asked the apostle Paul to participate in a temple ritual to show the Jews that Paul did not preach against the temple (Acts 21:17-24).

Imagine what it must have been like for that first generation of Christians to see the temple destroyed some 39 years after Jesus had been resurrected from the dead. The house where He had worshiped Himself, the house where He was consumed by zeal (John 2:17) was left in ruins when the Romans broke through the walls of Jerusalem after a three year siege and wrecked the city.

As important as the temple may have been for the Jews – and the early church – God allowed it to be destroyed. That is a reminder that the foundation of our Christian life cannot be built upon anything physical – buildings, possessions or even human beings like church leaders (Psalm 146:3-4).

The only right foundation for our walk with God is Jesus Christ Himself, the only foundation that can be laid (1 Corinthians 3:11).

With these thoughts I wish us all a rewarding Sabbath!