Nearly every ancient people and culture has its own creation myth, which does not repair what was broken but simply starts again, in a sort of cosmic version of the film Groundhog Day, but the story of Christ as a recapitulation of the history of Israel may be the exception. This history recapitulates and in the process repairs, corrects and completes, what went wrong and is broken. But maybe as in the film version, getting it right is the true event and the failures turn out to have been dead ends which are erased and forgotten. So true creation, true Temple, true Adam, true Israel, in Christ precede the other versions in terms of reality. Irenaeus first recognized, or at least developed this doctrine of recapitulation, which may be most conspicuously on display in the book of Matthew. Matthew is recapitulating creation, the history of Israel, and the formation of the Temple, in his telling of the life of Christ.[1] The concept may be best illustrated in the case of the Temple; Christ is the true Temple replacing the model which served to point to him.
Jesus as New Creation and True Temple
Jesus as new creation and true Temple are the same idea, as creation and the cosmos are symbolized by the Temple, and so Jesus is the source of life, the realization of the presence of God and the perfection of creation. Just as the Temple symbolically pictured God emerging from his dwelling place into the world, so too Christ is filling the earth through his extended family. Most creation stories tell of the origin of the head of the race and then by providing a genealogy of the royal family, explain the formation of the people. Matthew begins his creation story with the genealogy of Jesus, “the book of the generation” of Jesus, the genesis of divine presence in all creation. This one “who is called Christ” (1:16b) will “make disciples of all the nations” (28:19) and will thus fulfill the mandate given to Adam and Eve to “fill the earth” (Gen 1:28). He fills all things, not through procreation but by endowing with his Spirit, made eternally present (Mt 28:20).
The Temple is not the dwelling place of God, and this was supposed to have been understood: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?” (Is. 66:1). Neither a physical city, nor a building, nor a host of rituals, produced God’s presence, but in Emmanuel what the Temple only represented is realized. God with us in Christ makes the Temple obsolete, just as it is unnecessary in the heavenly city: “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Re 21:22). Emmanuel is the reality of the holy of holies, not through ritual but through his relational presence: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them” (Re 21:3). This is not a limited, mediated or interrupted access but is unrestricted.
Jesus as Universal Temple: As Demonstrated by the Magi
According to S.L. Black, this new “approach” (προσέρχομαι) to God’s presence is reflected in Matthews distinctive deployment of this unique term: “people ‘approach’ Jesus with reverence rather than merely coming to him.”[2] He is approachable, but the term carries the sense of awe before Christ’s majesty and divine dignity. The term is employed some fifty-two times by Matthew to describe the tempter (4:3), angels (4:11), his disciples (5:1) and a host of others who approach him. For example, “a leper approached Him and bowed down before Him, and said, ‘Lord, if You are willing, you can make me clean’” (Mt 8:2). It is the word used to describe approaching God in prayer (in Mark 11:17; Luke 6:12). In Matthew it is combined with bowing down, as in the above instance, indicating what might be typically done in prayer and worship in the Temple.
It is what the Magi do when they find the baby Jesus, and in fact the entire episode of the Magi reflects activity normally associated with the Temple: “After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (Mt 2:11). Gentiles like the magi or the Ethiopian eunuch would normally come to Israel to worship at the Temple where they would offer up gifts. Elsewhere in Matthew, gifts (dṓron) “is used exclusively … for offerings to God” in the context of the Temple.”[3] Norman Francis argues that the gifts themselves are of the kind associated with the Temple: the inner chambers of the Temple are inlaid with gold (1 Kgs 6:20-21) and frankincense myrrh are offered up in the Temple. Pure frankincense was to be offered in the Tent of Meeting (Ex 30: 34-36) and was burnt with the meal offerings (“lay frankincense on it; it is a grain offering” – (Le 2:15)) and it was part of the weekly Sabbath bread offering (“And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the Lord” – (Le 24:7)). Myrrh was sprinkled in the Holy of holies, including on the Ark of the Covenant: “Take the finest spices: of liquid myrrh 500 shekels . . . And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony” (Ex 30:22–26). So the magi are the beginning of the nations converging on the Temple (Is 2:2-3).
Ezekiel’s Vision of the Temple Fulfilled in Christ
At Jesus baptism there are a series of events echoing Ezekiel’s vision of a heavenly temple: the heavens are opened, God speaks, and the Spirit descends. The Spirit “lights” on Jesus like the Spirit hovering over the waters in Genesis (1:2) marking the new creation and its Temple described in Ezekiel. Both occur during a time of foreign domination at a river (Eze 1:1; Mt 3:13) and both are a direct revelation through the voice of God (Eze 1:3; Mt 3:17). Jesus though, is called the “Son of God,” while Ezekiel is called “Son of man.” The Spirit does not “light” on Ezekiel but lifts him onto his feet and speaks to him alone (Eze 2:2). The Spirit descends and lights on Jesus, like a dove. This “lighting” of the Spirit is unique to Matthew and is specific to God’s presence “lighting on the Temple.” According to N. Perrin, “where the Spirit settles, there one finds the Temple.”[5] The proclamation, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Mt 3:17) gives divine notice that God is now with us.
In Ezekiel’s vision “The Lord is there” (Eze 48:35) is the name given to the city in his vision. This city of God’s presence is a picture of the cosmic Temple, which in each of its dimensions is impossibly squared: “The city (48:15-16), the Temple courtyard (41:13-14), its outer walls (42:15-20), inner court (40:47), holy of holies (41:4), and altar of burnt offerings (43:13-17), etc., are all perfect squares.”[4] The square is representative of perfect holiness, and in Ezekiel God departs from the defiled Temple but returns to the perfectly squared holy Temple (43:13ff): “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever” (Eze 43:7). It is a “coming” eschatological city while at Jesus baptism, God has “come.”
In Ezekiel’s vision, waters of life flow from out of the Temple: “It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes” (Eze 47:9). Along the river fruit trees sprout up, and they will never fail to provide fruit and their leaves are for healing (Eze 47:12). Jesus healing in the Temple (Matt. 21:12-17) and his healing ministry follow Ezekiel’s Temple signs. According to Francis, “Like the stream originating from Ezekiel’s visionary Temple, Jesus now becomes the source of healing, wholeness and abundance. Moreover, Jesus’ commissioning of his disciples to ‘make disciples of all the nations’ (28:19) is probably intended by Matthew to be read as analogous to the ever-expanding reach of the Temple’s healing stream in Ezekiel’s vision.”[6]
The Recommissioning of Israel in the Twelve
Jesus sends out his disciples, equipped as priests, serving the Temple rather than travelers: “Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support” (Mt 10:9–10). In Alfred Edersheim’s description this fits preparation for serving in the Temple:
Thus ‘no man might go on the Temple Mount with his staff,’ as if on business or pleasure; nor yet ‘with shoes on his feet’—sandals only being allowed; nor ‘with the dust upon his feet’; nor ‘with his scrip,’ nor ‘with money tied to him in his purse.’ Whatever he might wish to contribute either to the Temple, or for offerings, or for the poor must be carried by each ‘in his hand,’ possibly to indicate that the money about him was exclusively for an immediate sacred purpose. It was probably for similar reasons that Jesus transferred these very ordinances to the disciples when engaged in the service of the real Temple.[7]
The twelve disciples, the recapitulated tribes of Israel, are sent into Galilee and eventually the world to bring God’s kingdom to the world. In their preaching and healing they are carrying out the work of new creation: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give” (Mt 10:8). They are curing the world of fallenness as they radiate out from Jesus, the New Temple, the central presence of God.
Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath is the New Temple
The Temple is the place in which the Sabbath rest for God occurs: “Let us go into His dwelling place; let us worship at His footstool. Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place, you and the ark of your strength” (Ps 132:7–8). It is a symbolic place of rest, promising a true Sabbath. Jesus in proclaiming himself “Lord of the Sabbath” (Mt 12:8) also explains “that something greater than the temple is here” (Mt 12:6). He fulfills the role of the Temple in providing the promised rest: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS” (Mt 11:28–29).
Jesus as the Shekinah
After six days, perhaps echoing entry into the seventh day of rest, Jesus is transfigured and shows forth his divine glory: “Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light” (Mt 17:1–2). Moses and Elijah appear with him, and the scene echoes God’s appearance to Moses: “The glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud” (Ex 24:16). The shekinah refracts off a cloud for Moses, and then his own face shines as a result, but Jesus is the source of light in the transfiguration. “His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light” (Mt 17:2). He is the enduring shekinah represented in Exodus and associated for a time with the tabernacle and temple, but which was withdrawn. Jesus’ influence spreads throughout Israel and beyond (Mt 4:24-25) growing until he is all in all (I Cor 15:28) filling the world with his glory. As Edersheim concludes, “His feet have trodden the busy streets of Jerusalem, and the shady recesses of the Mount of Olives; His figure has ‘filled with glory’ the Temple and its services; His person has given meaning to the land and the people; and the decease which He accomplished at Jerusalem has been for the life of all nations.”[8]
Conclusion: The Body of Christ, the Church is the Temple
I have only begun to introduce the material in Matthew echoing and fulfilling the Temple, but in conclusion of part 1, it is enough to point to the commissioning of the disciples at the end of Matthew to go into all of the world to complete the Temple project: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and he Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mt 28:18–20). Christ, as the new Temple, seeks to expand God’s presence over the whole earth through the work of his disciples. As Paul describes, the church is the ongoing Temple project “being fitted together” and “growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit” (Eph 2:21-22).
[1] Joel Kennedy has developed the concept in the first four chapters of Matthew, as he describes: “the summing up of Israel’s history in Jesus’ early life; Jesus as the corporate representative of his people Israel; and Jesus as the embodiment of Israel in his recapitulation.” J. Kennedy, The Recapitulation of Israel: Use of Israel’s History in Matthew 1:1-4:11 (Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), 3-4.
[2] Stephanie L. Black, Sentence Conjunctions in the Gospel of Matthew: Kai, De, Tote, Gar, Oun and Asyndeton in Narrative Discourse (Bloomsbury, 2002) 221. Cited in Norman O. Francis, Jesus as the Fulfillment of the Temple and its Cult in the Gospel of Matthew (Edinburgh: Unpublished Doctor of Philosophy Thesis: The University of Edinburgh 2020) 141.
[3] Robert Horton Gundry, Matthew: A Commentary on His Handbook for a Mixed Church under Persecution (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub., 1994), 32. Cited in Francis, 144.
[4] Francis, 152.
[5] N. Perrin, Jesus the Temple, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010) 70. Cited in Francis, 153.
[6] Francis, 153-154.
[7] Alfred Edersheim, The Temple–Its Ministry and Services (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library) 29
[8] Edersheim, 6.