The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning Him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.

   Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"

   Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up." So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"

   Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

   Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the words which Jesus had said.

   Now the Son of God came to earth with the express purpose of liquidating the devil's activities. [He is] a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to the two houses of Israel, a trap and a snare for the residents of Jerusalem. Many will stumble on it and will fall; they will be broken, trapped, and taken. The Lord Jesus is the "stone" that lives. The people of the world did not want this stone. But He was the stone God chose. To God He was worth much. So come to Him. This stone is worth much to you who believe. But to the people who do not believe, He is "the stone that the builders did not want. It has become the cornerstone." To people who do not believe, He is "a stone that causes people to stumble." They stumble because they did not obey what God wants. This is what God planned to happen to them.

Taken from Acts 13, Jn. 2, I Jn. 3, Isa. 8, I Pt. 2, The New International Version, The
New King James, The Phillips Translation, The Modern Language Bible and The Everyday
Bible. For free Lifescope book, write to Box 1575, Carlsbad, NM 88221. Send $1.00, P/H.