Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” John 2:19

“The Jews then responded to Him, ‘What sign can you give us to prove your authority to do all this?’  Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’

They replied, ‘It has taken forty six years to build this temple, and You are going to raise it in three days?  But the temple He had spoken of was His body.  After He was raised from the dead, His disciples recalled what He had said.  Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

(John 2:18-22)

Jesus had just cleared the temple courts of sheep, and cattle, and money changers and the like, with a whip of cords after He found the religious leaders had allowed the temple to be used for a place of business rather than a house of worship.  When they asked Jesus to prove His authority to do that, He gave them the answer that is the answer for each of us:  “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”  They thought He was talking about the temple made of stone; He was talking about His body.

It was the resurrection of that body that brought life back to the confused faith of the Disciples.  They were devastated, and in total disarray after Jesus died on the cross.  They did not know what to think, or to believe anymore.  But, when Jesus was raised from the dead on the 3rd day; when He showed Himself in His healed and glorified new body to them in the ways He had chosen to do, they locked their faith in on Him, and never wavered again.