Verse 17 says, “His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of Your house shall devour Me.” Within the Lord Jesus there was a zeal for the house of God. This zeal devoured Him, ate Him up, consumed Him. He was absolutely for the Father’s house. The Father’s house was His heart’s desire. When He saw the corrupted situation within the temple, He could not tolerate it, but cleansed it, even with a whip. He was driven by zeal for His Father’s house to drive all the defilement out of it. His heart was pure for the Father. He could not suffer to see that the temple, His Father’s house, was defiled, contaminated by the things of man’s greed. So, He cleansed it.
Satan tries his best to defile and to contaminate the church life with so many sinful and worldly things. Wherever there is a local church this will always happen. But praise the Lord that Satan’s contamination brings in the Lord’s cleansing. The enemy, Satan, is always busy. He never sleeps. Wherever a local church has been established, Satan will try to defile it. If we lack experience, we shall be very concerned about this. We shall be troubled that the church has been contaminated by the enemy. Let me speak a word to comfort you. If your local church has been contaminated, you should not be discouraged. You should say, “Lord, now is Your time. Lord, come in. Satan’s contamination only brings in Your cleansing.”
Satan’s goal was not only to contaminate the temple, but to destroy it. His ultimate aim was to destroy the house of God. But what the enemy destroyed, the Lord raised up in three days (2:19). This means that in His resurrection life the Lord built up what was destroyed by the enemy. It is needless for us to worry about the Lord’s recovery of the church, because the more the enemy damages, the more the Lord will build up in resurrection. The Lord’s word is, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (2:19). In other words, the enemy may damage and destroy the church, which is the house of God, but the Lord will build it up in resurrection and by resurrection. After the enemy has caused damage, the Lord, in resurrection, will rear up a building on a much larger scale. We should not worry about the confusion that may exist in the church, for the Lord’s Body, the church, is in the process of resurrection. The damage done by the enemy is necessary, because everything natural must be destroyed. Only that which is natural can be destroyed by the enemy. Afterward, the Lord will raise up His church in resurrection. Every time, after trouble damages the church, the church will be recovered and raised up in the newness of resurrection life. During the past, I have seen much damage that really hurt the church, but the more the enemy damaged, the more the Lord built up His church in and by His resurrection.
Seventeen years ago, in 1958, the churches in Taiwan were quite strong. Then some things happened which opened the way for the enemy to come in. A great storm assailed the churches. I was there then and I saw the situation clearly, but I was not afraid. That attack began in 1958. In 1959 I was conducting a life-study of John. When I came to the very point in John 2 that I am covering in this message, I told the people, “Some of you are being used by the enemy to tear down the church. I would like to let you know that if the church here has been built by the Lord, the more you try to tear it down, the more it will be built up.” Later, I left Taiwan for the United States. I was not afraid that the churches there would be destroyed and so I left for the United States in peace. Afterward, the leading ones from the churches in Taiwan wrote me again and again, saying, “The enemy has done much. Brother, please come back.” I did not return for four years. During that four-year period, I received many letters from the leading brothers speaking of the damage that the enemy had done, but each time I wrote back, saying, “Brothers, be at peace. If the churches on the island of Taiwan were set up by the Lord, no one can tear them down. The more they attempt to destroy the churches, the more the churches will be built up.” Now, in the year 1975, all the churches in Taiwan are strongly established.
Do not be disappointed at today’s Christian situation. Do not say that the situation is pitiful. That is only one aspect of the picture. Praise the Lord that during the past twenty centuries there has always been another aspect. Do you believe that Satan can defeat the Lord Jesus? This is impossible. Do you believe that Satan is stronger than the Lord Jesus? The answer, of course, is no. Based upon this fact, I have always been restful. Regardless of how much trouble there has been in the church, my wife can testify that I always sleep well. I have the full assurance that Satan can never defeat the Lord Jesus and that the Lord will always prevail over Satan.
The Lord Jesus told His opponents that if they destroyed this temple He would raise it again in three days (2:19). They did not understand what He was talking about. The Lord was saying, “You may put Me to death and you may kill My body on the cross, but I will raise it up again in three days.” Do not try to understand the Bible merely according to the black and white letters, for if you do, you will find yourself in difficulty. On the one hand, the Lord Jesus told the people that after they killed Him He would resurrect Himself (10:18). On the other hand, we are told elsewhere in the New Testament that God raised Him up (Acts 2:24). In the New Testament, there are two ways of recording the Lord’s resurrection—that God raised Him up and that He raised Himself up. How shall we understand or interpret this? Did God raise Him up or did He raise Himself up? In the Gospel of Luke, which shows the Lord Jesus as the Savior who was sacrificed for our sins, we see that the Lord needed God to raise Him up (Luke 9:22). In the Gospel of John the situation is different. In John, the Lord was not slain as a sacrifice for sins. Rather, He Himself laid down His life. Jesus said, “I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again” (10:17-18). In the Gospel of John, there was no need for God to raise Him up. As the sacrifice for sins, He needed God to raise Him up; as the One who is the giver of life, He could lay down His life and take it up again. He could walk into death and walk out again. The Lord seemed to be saying, “In a sense, it is you that kill Me. But, in My sense, it is I who walk into death, take a tour of it, and walk out again.” Each year many tourists come to Washington, D.C. and look at the White House. Likewise, the Lord Jesus took a tour of the region of death and visited the Black House. The Lord seemed to be saying, “Black House, I have come to have a look at you and to see what you can do. Can you do anything with Me? Since you can do nothing with Me, after My tour I will bid you farewell and return to life again.” This is the resurrection in the Gospel of John. The Lord Jesus laid Himself down and raised Himself up again.