John 2:25 What is in man_

He did not need anyone to testify concerning man [and human nature], for He Himself knew what was in man [in their hearts–in the very core of their being]. John ‭2:25‬ ‭AMP

‬‬Jesus understood what was in man. This is profound on so many levels. Excavating this thought back to the beginning, Adam was created with a spirit and soul that walked with God in the cool of the day. He valued his relationship with God and the wonder it caused. But other values lurched in. Those that served self. At the fall, man traded that innocent, God-trusting, spirit-centered relationship, for the value of self-interest, self-effort, self-promotion… self. One day man was abandoned and free in the excitement of it all, the next he was aware he was naked. Vulnerable.

This was a complete values transplant. And since then, man has not been the same.

Christ knew this about man. When Jesus was born, he became the second Adam with seed directly from God the Father and he possessed the same disposition and values that Adam originally had. As he grew up, he could see the affect of those altered values on people all around him. Imagine, seeing conflicted man, clawing and scratching for primacy as an individual, as a faith, as a nation. I want… you name it, it eclipsed everything else. And the funny thing is, our values morph regularly. And even funnier, we often don’t even recognize those values for what they are. When was the last time you woke up in the morning saying, “Today the thing most meaningful to me is to show that stupid manager of mine that I’m better than he is, so I can prove I should be promoted so I may make more money. Because my real value is to have more money. Or is it the power? Or is it the validation?” And so on…

Since Eden, all men have been subject to the shifting sands of self-values. This is what Jesus knows about each of us. Those values are sand. They cannot be built upon. But there is something more solid and this is the most incredible part.

Jesus the Messiah provided an opportunity for a values transplant within humans. A reverse operation, so to speak. Something that would reset our system, take us back to the Garden and the innocence we once had. Chapter 3 explains this more fully, but in a nutshell, we may have new DNA planted in us through a born-again experience. New values generated by the Spirit embedded within. Although it would come through death (which he promised if we ate from the tree) we could again have life. If I count myself dead today, in exchange, the Spirit makes me alive. Now it is the presence of God within me and values that are generated from his kingdom that eclipse the old man. I’m learning daily to yield the old values for the new. My mind is being renewed.

For Christ, at this moment in time when confronted by the Jews, none of this had yet been experienced. Jesus knew what was in man. Yet he knew what was possible and what was about to happen. Yes, the temple will be torn down, and a new one will be raised in three days. And with it, the possibility of many more temples coming from that kernel that fell to the ground. And today Jesus may find something totally different within us. And to this, he would and does entrust himself.