The Cross Throughout the Scriptures - Part 15
18. Destroy this Temple. Joh 2:19
Merchandise = emporion = a commercialized center, a place of business, a place of trade (your body and soul).

The Temple was prefigured and pointed to the body the Son of God was to live in.

Religion, ceremonialism, and ritual must be replaced by understanding His death on the Cross and the resultant resurrection.

Mic 3:11 Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe, Her priests instruct for a price, And her prophets divine for money.

Mat 10:8b “freely you received, freely give.”

Isa 55:1 “Come there, every one who is thirsty, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.”

19. Jesus Points Nicodemus to the Cross. Joh 3

Without a rebirth through the Spirit, Nicodemus could not even see the Kingdom much less enter in.

The new birth is the direct consequence of the cross.

When the Holy Spirit unveils the cross, hard hearts begin to see their need for the Savior.

20. Following TLJC Means Bearing Your Cross.

Mat 16:13-27

The cross is still a stone of stumbling to the Jews, and foolishness to the Greeks, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians.

If we are unwilling to forsake “self” and take up our cross in identification with the Crucified-Risen Son of God, we are on the road that leads to death.

If we are willing to bear in the body the marks of the Lord and go forth from “self” in the service of others, all is ours.

Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries 2002