John 2:12-22
Suggested further reading: Daniel 9:1-14
Men may remember words of religious truth long after they
are spoken and may one day see a meaning in them which at first
they did not see. We are told that our Lord said to the Jews,
`Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.' St John informs
us distinctly that `He spake of the temple of his body,' that he
referred to his own resurrection. Yet the meaning of the sentence was
not understood by our Lord's disciples at the time that it was spoken.
It was not till `he was risen from the dead', three years after the
events here described, that the full significance of the sentence flashed
on their hearts. For three years it was a dark and useless saying
to them. For three years it lay sleeping in their minds, like a seed in
a tomb, and bore no fruit. But at the end of that time the
darkness passed away. They saw the application of their Master's words
and as they saw it were confirmed in their faith. `They
remembered that he had said this,' and as they remembered `they believed'.
It is a comfortable and cheering thought that the same kind
of thing that happened to the disciples is often going on at the
present day. The sermons that are preached to apparently heedless ears
in churches are not all lost and thrown away. The instruction that
is given in schools and pastoral visits is not all wasted and
forgotten. The texts that are taught by parents to children are not all taught
in vain. There is often a resurrection of sermons and texts and
instruction after an interval of many years. The good seed
sometimes springs up after he that sowed it has been long dead and gone.
Let preachers go on preaching and teachers go on teaching and
parents go on training up children in the way they should go. Let them
sow the good seed of Bible truth in faith and patience. Their labour
is not in vain in the Lord.
For meditation: In a day when everything has to be instant
and readily disposable, patience in sowing God's Word is
needed
(Eccles. 11:1).
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