But when I look at Christ...

Old and New

(Mark 13:1-2, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, January 26, 2020)

[1] And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” [2] And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

We live in 2020. 2020 years after what? Are we living in such a new world since the coming of Jesus that we needed to start counting again? Something old went away in the first century and something new came into being. What was it all about, and what did it have to do with the destruction of the Old Testament temple in the year 70?

The story of the Old Testament temple

What happened in the Garden?

The tabernacle

The temple in Jerusalem

The exile and the rebuilding of the temple

The triumphal entry

The end of the Old Testament temple by the Romans under Titus in AD 70, Mark 15:38?

The new temple of the Lord in the present age

Old Testament passages preparing us for a very different temple

The cornerstone

The foundation

The living stones

The extent of the new temple

The new birth

The new heavens and earth

The present heavens

The return of the Lord in glory

The new Jerusalem

The fitting end to an epic drama

THE POINT: Jesus and his church are the new temple of God forever.

Applying these verses:

1. Are we too easily captivated by the sensational and the temporary? Bldgs don't save.

2. There are clues all around us of a more amazing temple. 1 penny, ACEs and 2 friends

3. What Martin Luther knew... What are you looking at? “When I look at myself, I don't see how I can be saved. But when I look at Christ, I don't see how I can be lost.”

Old Testament Reading—Psalm 124 – We have escaped! From what?

New Testament Reading—Romans 15:14-33 – The costly project of building up a new temple of the Lord

Additional Passages:

The story of the Old Testament temple

Genesis 3:24 He drove out the man.

Exodus 40:34 The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle

1 Kings 8:10–11 [10] And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, [11] so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

Ezekiel 10:18 Then the glory of the LORD went out from the threshold of the house.

Ezekiel 43:1–5 [1] Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east. [2] And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. [3] And the vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and just like the vision that I had seen by the Chebar canal. And I fell on my face. [4] As the glory of the LORD entered the temple by the gate facing east, [5] the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

The new temple of the Lord in the present age

Ezekiel 37:24–28 [24] “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. [25] They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. [26] I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. [27] My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [28] Then the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

Isaiah 60:1 [1] Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

Isaiah 61:1 and Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

John 2:18–22 [18] So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” [19] Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” [20] The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” [21] But he was speaking about the temple of his body. [22] When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Ephesians 2:17–22 [17] And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. [18] For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. [19] So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, [20] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, [21] in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. [22] In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (See also Ps. 118:22, Is. 28:16, Jesus: Luke 20:17, Peter: Acts 4:11)

John 8:12, Matt. 5:14, 1 Cor 3:16 [I am/You are] the light of the world. God's temple

The new heavens and earth

2 Cor. 5:8 We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Matt. 25:31 When the Son of Man comes in his glory...

Revelation 21:1,3, 22 [1] Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, ... [3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man...” [22] And I saw no temple ..., for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.