The words of Jesus were meaningless. I am not saying that His words had no inherent meaning, or that they had no meaning to Jesus. However to the hearers they conveyed no understandable message. Not to the Jewish leaders that were questioning him, nor to his disciples. They spoke the same language, and they understood the definitions of the words He used, but they could not understand what those words meant to Jesus when he spoke them.

Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” Everyone who heard him speak these words thought that, “this temple,” referred to the temple they were standing in. The Jewish leaders thought it was foolishness because the temple had required 46 years to build and they did not believe Jesus could rebuild it in three days even if they had the ability to destroy it.

The followers of Jesus were just as confused. They had not known Him long enough to understand the amount of power He had available at his command. More importantly, even if they had been able to believe that Jesus could rebuild the temple in three days, they knew it was impossible for the Jewish leaders to destroyed it. Not only could they not destroy it, they would never have even tried to destroy it; the temple was the source of all their power and wealth.

The Roman Empire destroyed the temple several decades later but they had to use their armies and they did not leave one stone standing upon another. However, by that time, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus had filled full (fulfilled) His words with amazing life changing meaning. His disciples now understood and believed.

When we walk with Jesus we study the Scriptures. At first, not everything will make sense, and some scriptures may even seem meaningless. However, as we study them, the Holy Spirit will, over time, use scripture to enlighten us and give us understanding, and that understanding leads to belief.