Study Page – Lessons 34 – 36

Lesson 34: The Glory of God at the Second Temple

First, let’s have a little background to our lesson. We previously saw how the Second Temple was constructed under the auspices of the Persian Empire. When the foundation had been laid, many people rejoiced and several people who had seen the previous Temple of Solomon wept. Eventually, the Second Temple was built, but the Ark of the Covenant was missing and the Glory of God did not inhabit the Temple as He did when the Tabernacle or when the First Temple was built.

However, Haggai prophesied that the second Temple would be inhabited by the Glory of God. “Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?” (Haggai 2:3 NIV) But, he goes on with this message from God, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.  I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Haggai 2:6 – 7 NIV)

I’m sure that the Jews were still looking for the Glory of God when Antiochus IV desecrated the Temple and then saw a glimpse of it when the Lamp, which was given fuel to last one day, continued to burn for eight days.

Perhaps the Jews thought that the Glory of God would inhabit the Temple after Herod’s modifications. By all reports, the Temple of Herod (the Great) actually made the edifice of the Temple so much bigger than even the Temple of Solomon. The apostles of Jesus even commented on the greatness of the Temple to Jesus.

However, I would argue that the Glory of God inhabiting the Temple precincts only happened when Jesus came to the Temple. He actually did that a number of times in his life. I suspect that Jesus often fulfilled the law by attending the Temple for the three main feasts which included: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. What’s recorded in Scripture are several times that Jesus went to the Temple.

1. Jesus first came to the Temple when he was presented to the priests as a firstborn child to be dedicated to God. Joseph and Mary brought the baby Jesus to the Temple as part of fulfillment of the law – forty days after the birth of Jesus. Although the priests missed the significance of Jesus’ presence at the temple, it was revealed to Simeon and to Anna who prophesied about the child Messiah. (See lesson – Lesson 2 from this site)
2. Jesus came again to the Temple as recorded in Luke 2 when he was twelve years of age. At the festival of the Passover, Joseph, Mary and Jesus went to Jerusalem. When Joseph and Mary left Jerusalem, they fully expected Jesus to be part of the party that had left the city. However, when they went to look for him among their relatives and friends, they realized that he had stayed behind and they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. (Having been lost in a mall once when I was a young child, I have some semblance of what the parents were going through!) After three more days looking for him in Jerusalem, they found him at the temple courts, listening and asking questions of the teachers. As Luke says, “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and answers.” (Luke 2:47 NIV). When asked by his mother why he had “treated us like this?” He answered, “Why were you searching for me?”. . . “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:48 – 49 NIV) Although some might have understood that the Glory of God had come to the temple, many, including the parents (apparently) missed it.
3. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, his cousin. After receiving recognition from the Father and the Holy Spirt (Matthew 3:16 – 17), he went into the desert and was tempted by Satan. In the third temptation, The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down from here. For it is written:’He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ (from Psalms 91:11 – 12 NIV) Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”(from Deuteronomy 6:16 NIV) (All of this is recorded in Luke 4:9 – 12 NIV) If he had acquiesced to the devil’s temptation, he would definitely have been recognized as the Glory of God by denizens of the temple courts, but he would have gone against the plan of God because that was NOT the time to reveal himself as God’s glory.
4. Jesus cleared out the money changers from the temple. John records in his Gospel that this first time happened a little time after the miracle of turning water to wine at the marriage in Cana. Afterwards, he went to Capernaum and then to Jerusalem because Passover was approaching. When Jesus went to the Temple, he saw the moneychangers and animal sellers and then made a whip out of cords and drove them out. (The moneychangers were monopolizing exchanging Roman coinage for the Temple half shekel and the animal sellers were selling animals that could be offered for sacrifice to those who had traveled from far away.) This activity was happening in the Temple courts where it shouldn’t have happened. As he drove the sellers and moneychangers out, he said, “How dare you turn my father’s house into a market!” (John 2:16 NIV) When asked by what authority he was taking such action, he replied “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days.” (John 2:19 NIV) Of course, he was referring to his coming death and resurrection. The Temple he was referring to was himself. Again, the Temple priests and authorities failed to understand that the Living Temple of God and God’s glory was in their midst.
5. Later in John, his brothers (sons of Mary and Joseph) goad Jesus to go to Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles but he demurs. Instead he shows up half-way through the festival and starts teaching at the Temple. At one point, he is confronted by the Pharisees. Jesus starts telling them about the claims for himself. Jesus tells them that He came from the Father. They also claim God as their father, but their more immediate claim to being the chosen people of God is because of their ancestor, Abraham. In response to the question, “Who do you think you are?” Jesus tells them, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”“You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:54 – 58 NIV) Here Jesus claimed to be God (I AM WHO I AM was the name given to Moses which we know by the Jewish word YHVH or Yahweh) and yet the Temple Authorities denied Jesus claim.
6. After the triumphal entry, Jesus again came to the Temple and drove out the money changers and the sellers from the Temple Courts again. Again he was questioned by the Temple authorities for the source of his authority to do what he does. Jesus knows that at this point they are looking for an excuse to arrest him. Instead of answering, he poses them a question (just as they have and will pose trick questions to try and trap Jesus). “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!” (Mark 11:29 – 30 NIV) The chief priests and temple authorities choose to answer “we don’t know” because if they said it was human origin, the people would be upset because they believed John the Baptist was a prophet and if they said by Heaven, then Jesus would have asked them why they failed to believe John. As such, Jesus didn’t answer their question either. They missed the Heavenly authority Jesus had for his actions.
7. Towards the end of Jesus time in the Temple, no one dared to question him further because every trap they tried to lay for Jesus backfired on them when he answered. Finally, Jesus pronounces seven woes on the “Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, you hypocrites!” and ends with this sad refrain, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37 NIV)

In all these instances, Jesus went to the Temple and those that believed in him recognized Him as the Glory of God, but most who were there, especially the Temple authorities, did not. How do we know that Jesus was the Glory of God. Two times Jesus Glory of God is truly on display. The most obvious one is when He ascends the mountain with Peter, James and John and is transfigured as he speaks with Moses and Elijah. Peter is so dumbfounded by the activity that he proposes building booths for Moses, Elijah and Jesus. In an instant, Elijah and Moses disappear and Jesus is un-transfigured and the voice from heaven tells the disciples “This is my son! Listen to him!”

The other time that Jesus obviously displays the Glory of God was actually on the Sea of Galilee. If you remember, Moses had asked God to “pass by in his Glory.” God put Moses in the cleft of the rock and covered Moses with His own hand as he passed by proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, . . . ” The other time in the Old Testament, Elijah had run away in fear from Jezebel to the mountain of God claiming to God that “He (Elijah) was the only one left.” God told Elijah to stand at the mouth of the cave because he was going to pass by. The fire, wind, and earthquake proceeded before the Glory of God. Elijah never covered his head. Then the Glory of God came in a whisper and Elijah covered his head.

In the New Testament, Jesus had just performed many miracles. He sent the disciples on ahead in a boat. As it was the fourth watch of the night, Jesus was walking on the water and he was about to “pass by” when he is noticed by the disciples who think him a ghost. He assures them that it is Jesus. On the sea of Galilee, Jesus, the glory of God was about to “pass by!” God’s glory was fully on display.

But, there’s an even more important time at the Temple that we should recognize that Jesus was the Glory of God. And Jesus wasn’t even AT the Temple. Instead, Jesus was on a cross being crucified. Jesus says, “It is finished!” and what happens then? The curtain that separated the Holy Place from the most Holy place (where only the High Priest could enter once a year for the expiation of sins for the people) was torn in two, from TOP to bottom. God rent it asunder from his abode (Heaven) to the earth of Man. And many people were brought back to life at that very moment. At the point of Jesus death, God made a way for all mankind to approach Him through the death and ultimately the resurrection of His Son, Jesus.

The Glory of God was on display when Jesus died. Three days later he proved he had conquered sin and death when he was resurrected, never to die again. But remember, he had predicted his death and resurrection when he stated, “Tear down this temple and in three days, I will rebuild it.”

So, the Glory of God showed up at the second Temple, not as was expected, and not because of the grand edifice that was refurbished by Herod.

But, I have one more instance when the Glory of God was on display.

Jesus had resurrected after being dead for three days. Forty days later he ascended into Heaven and had left instructions with the disciples to stay in Jerusalem until the gift of the Holy Spirit should come. They were in a room when a sudden rushing wind enveloped them and fire separated until separate tongues of flame were over the heads of the disciples. The promised Holy Spirit had arrived. The disciples began to speak in languages. People came to see what was happening and began to marvel that they heard the disciples speaking their native tongues! Some said they were merely drunk. And then Peter spoke up and preached the sermon of the Gospel of Jesus during Pentecost at the Temple.

And 3000 were joined to the church on that day. Then the church began to meet at Solomon’s colonnade at the Temple! This continued for quite a while – the body of Christ – the church of God, met at the Temple. Glory to God indeed!

But, remember the lament of Jesus when His Glory was missed and the love that He engendered for the people when he said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I have longed to gather you as hen gathers its chicks. But you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37 NIV) Think of this in terms of Jesus parable about the prodigal son and his father. Substitute Jerusalem for your own name and God as your own loving father. Jesus as the epitome of God, the very Glory of God, saying, “Your name, Your name, how I have longed to gather you as a son/daughter of mine to my very self.”

Are you willing?

Lesson 35: Peter Preaching at Pentecost

The very last sentence of the Gospel of Luke is, “And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.” (Luke 24:53 NIV) This occurs after Jesus appeared to the disciples and ate with them proving that he had been bodily resurrected. It’s not until Luke’s next book, Acts, that we learn a little more about Jesus resurrection. After the resurrection of Jesus, he spent 40 days with the believers and spoke about the kingdom of God. While he was eating with them, he gave them instructions to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promised Holy Spirit. Then, he was asked, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:7 NIV)

Remember, this is the resurrected Jesus. The one who was crucified, buried, and now alive again in a glorified body with the wounds of his suffering still evident in his body. Remember, when Jesus first appeared to the disciples, Thomas had not been present. When Jesus appeared to the disciples again, he told Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” (John 20:27 NIV)

In an online course from Dallas Theological Seminary, Stephen Bremer discusses the Book of Daniel. As part of the discussion of the prophecies in Daniel, Professor Bremer proposes that if Jesus had been accepted by the Jews during that last week of Jesus life before crucifixion, then most likely, the Romans would have executed Jesus (since Jesus would have been accepted as the Messiah, and the King of the Jews and seen as a threat to Roman rule) and the Tribulation (the Seventieth Week prophesied in Daniel) would have happened then. As such, the political kingdom might have been restored to Israel if all that had taken place.

Instead, the Jews rejected Jesus. Jesus answer to their question is cryptic. “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 – 9 NIV)

After Jesus said that, he was taken up in a cloud until they could no longer see him.

Wow. Then we get the prophecy from angels as the apostles are looking up at the sky. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” I wonder how many times they looked up after that!

Afterwards, they went back to Jerusalem, spent time in prayer, chose Matthias (after prayer and by lot) to replace the disgraced, dead Judas Iscariot and waited for the Holy Spirit.

Then, on Pentecost, the promised Holy Spirit arrived.

They were in one place and the sound of a violent wind arrived and tongues of flame separated and came to rest over the individuals. Then they could speak many languages by the power of the Holy Spirit.

That’s when other people started showing up. They wanted to know what was happening. Each one of them heard their own language and they were confused. “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” (Acts 2:7 – 11 NIV)

Then, they ask the most important question, “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:12 NIV)

Of course, a contingent of people present at the event decide to poke fun, “These men are drunk!”

Peter addresses all of the people present and answers the charge. “These men are not drunk as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!” meaning, “Don’t act like idiots, you know it’s too early for drinking.”

Then he quotes from Joel 2:28 – 32 and talks about the Day of the LORD.

“‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ (Acts 2:17 – 21 NIV see Joel 2:28 – 32)

Essentially, Peter says, “These are the last days.”

Since the time of Jesus came to born, his ministry, his death, burial, resurrection and ascension, we are now living in the last days. Granted, those last days have lasted a long time, but Peter also said, “With the Lord, a day is a like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8)

After quoting Joel, Peter gives the interpretation of how the prophecy has been played out in current events.

“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.  But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. (Acts 2:22 – 24 NIV)

Wow. Bold words from a man filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the truth and the message of Pentecost. Three thousand people who heard this sermon from Peter about Jesus repented and were baptized. Although it is not stated, it appears to me that Peter probably preached this sermon at the Temple because, I think that it is about the only place within the walls of the city that could handle such a large crowd.

We do know that is the start of the church because of what else is recorded in Acts 2. “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.” (Acts 2:46a NIV) Once Jesus, the Son of God left the temple, the Glory of God did not return until Peter and the Eleven and the others filled with the Holy Spirit came to the temple. And the Glory of God was on display as three thousand more people came to faith in Jesus Christ.

What about you? Will you answer his call today?

Lesson 36: Paul arrested at the Temple

I can see this picture in my mind. A riot breaks out at the Temple and the Romans looking over the wall of Fortress Antonia come into the Temple Courts and arrest Paul who is in danger of being murdered. Because of the violence of the crowd, he’s carried into the barracks and asks to speak to the commander. At first, Paul is mistaken for another, an Egyptian who led a revolt of four thousand out in the desert. Paul clarifies his identity and asks the commander if he could speak to his fellow Jews. The commander assents and Paul steps forth to the now quiet crowd.

“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.” (Acts 22:1 NIV) Even at this moment, I believe that Paul really thought of his fellow Jews as his brothers and his fathers – even the ones who had just previously beat him and almost killed him.

When Paul first came to Jerusalem from Tarsus, he came to study and follow into the traditions of the Pharisees. He probably revered the Temple and the God of that place, and in his zealousness for his belief in God, he persecuted the followers of the Way. In effect, he missed out on the fact that Jesus was the Messiah.

After his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul returned to Jerusalem as a Christian and Barnabas introduced him to the church leaders. He later went to Tarsus and Barnabas brought him to Antioch. There, Barnabas and Paul were set aside to be missionaries from Antioch. Later, Paul returned to Jerusalem to meet again with the church fathers who wrote a letter to the Gentile Christians. Paul also returned a third time to bring a gift to the Jerusalem church from the Gentile Christians to allay the effects of a famine.

At that point, Paul was well known in Jerusalem. The Apostle to the Gentiles, as he became known in Christendom, was despised by three portions of society. First, he was not liked by the gentile idolators. At one point, he was confronted by a demon possessed girl who provided an income to her masters (due to her fortune-telling skills) and he cast the demon out of her. (Acts 16:16 – 24 NIV) At another, he was accused of wrecking the economy of the idol-makers of Diana. He was not allowed to speak, but an administrator was able to put down the riot. (Acts 19:23 – 41 NIV)

To some of the “Jewish” Christian followers, he was the one who was denying the law. Some of these were teaching that Gentiles needed to be circumcised and Paul corrected them – Circumcision was of the heart not of the flesh. (Galatians 5:1 – 12 NIV) To the traditional Jews, he was a traitor – a pharisee who was zealously following the dictums of the law – even to the point of arresting the upstart “Christians” – but had lost his mind and started following the very one (Jesus) that he had despised.

What they wanted was the Paul of old, the pharisee, zealous for the law, who showed up first in Acts doing a mighty act – he watched over the cloaks of those who had put them off so that they could stone Stephen.

Paul, himself, admitted that he was the “worst of sinners.” And he spoke a lot about how Jesus, in his grace, had forgiven him. And if he could be forgiven, then so could the rest of us. Out of all the Apostles, Paul is probably my favorite. He wrote much of the letters in the New Testament, and because of him, we have a better understanding of the Theology of Jesus and how he is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and the Torah.

And yet, there is one thing I do not envy or want to emulate in Paul. He wanted to embrace the fellowship of Christ’s suffering. Perhaps because he was an inflicter of suffering to members of the early church is why he so adamantly wants to embrace it. I know it’s not as simple as that, it’s more that Paul wants to be so like Christ that he is willing to suffer as Christ did. Remember what he said, “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:8 NIV)

When Paul was in the Gentile churches, planting them, correcting them, talking to Jews in the synagogue and then to the Gentile God fearers when he was kicked out of the synagogue, he learned of a famine in Jerusalem. By the Holy Spirit, he determined to raise funds for the “home church” and thereby demonstrate what the Holy Spirit was doing with the Gospel of Jesus even to the Gentiles.

However, the Holy Spirit began to show Paul that he was going to be arrested and suffer when he came to Jerusalem. Agabus, the prophet, came from Judea to Caesarea and took Paul’s belt and tied himself hand and foot and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’” (Acts 21:11 NIV)

His compatriots, from traveling companions to the church in Ephesus, which he founded, urged him to turn away. But, Paul kept moving to Jerusalem because Paul knew that God had called him to preach in the midst of the coming adversity. So, Paul came to Jerusalem.

The church fathers urged Paul to pay the price for four men who were participating in a Nazarite vow. (Paul had actually taken such a vow once when working in Corinth.) As such, he would demonstrate to members of the “Jewish” Christians that he was not repudiating the law. The problem was that traditional Jews who were out in the towns where Paul had been working began to accuse Paul, because they knew him and some of his Greek companions who had also come to town that they also recognized.

So they accused Paul of bringing his Greek companions into the Temple area where Gentiles could not enter. It was an assumption on their part without proof and was certainly a lie. But a riot started. The Romans, looking over the Temple wall from the Fortress of Antonia, immediately stepped in to quell the riot and Paul was arrested.

Now we return to the scene of Paul having addressed the “Brothers and fathers.”

The account in Acts says it best:

When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.

Then Paul said: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

“About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’

“‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.

“‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.

“‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.

“‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ ¹¹ My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.

“A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.

“Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’

“When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’

“‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. ²⁰ And when the blood of your martyr^[a]Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’

“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’” (Acts 21:2 – 16 NIV)

At that point, the crowd stopped listening. Instead, they called for his blood. “Rid the earth of him!”

However, the significance of this moment cannot be denied. The traditional Jews thought of themselves as the “chosen people of HaShem (the Name)” and the Gentiles as the lowest of the low. No Jew worth his value as one of the chosen of God should EVER associate with the lowest of the low. Instead, that Jew would become “unclean” as specified in the Law and to willingly do so, made that person worthy of stoning.

But Paul understood the truth: when Jesus the Messiah came to save mankind, he came first for the Jew and then for the Greek (Gentiles). The people of God was to be a Kingdom of Priests for the whole world which included the Gentiles. The Jews failed to live up to this God-given calling, but the Christians, of which Paul was one, even though he was trained as a Pharisee, the strictest of Law-followers in Judaism, understood his calling.

Yet, he lamented that his people, the fellow Jews had missed it! In Romans, he even goes so far as to say that he would give up his own salvation to see the Jews turn to Jesus. (Romans 9:1 – 4 NIV) I submit that God gave him the opportunity to reach these Jews in Jerusalem with his testimony. But unlike Pentecost, Paul saw the Jews remain unrepentant.

The anguish of the moment for Paul had to be this unrepentant people because he loved them as God loved them, as Jesus loved them. But, it was not to be. However, Paul was given assurance by God that the Jews still had a part in His plan. (Romans 11:25 – 26 NIV)

And so, the record of Paul being at the Temple closes. In some ways he leaves the Temple behind as he ultimately travels to Rome because of his appeal to Caesar. In a real way we don’t hear about the physical Temple again in the biblical record.

I leave you with these verses, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16 – 17 NIV)

Paul understood that “whosoever” meant his Jewish “Brothers and fathers” as well as the Gentiles. It also includes you. Are you a believer?