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.
“the scripture” probably refers to Psalm 16:10 which is interpreted in Acts 2:31, 13:35 as indicating the resurrection, but it could refer to Isa 53:12 which apparently speaks of activity of the Servant after his death.
Psalms 16:10 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
Acts 2:31 Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay.
Acts 13:35 So it is stated elsewhere: “‘You will not let your Holy One see decay.’
Isaiah 53:12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
It was said of the disciples of Pythagoras that his precepts seemed to freeze in them till they were forty years old, and then they began to thaw. (Matthew Henry) The same appears to have also happened here in the memories of Christ’s disciples. Why did they not remember until after His resurrection? Probably for two reasons: first, because it was then fulfilled and would be easier to see, and second, because then the Holy Spirit was poured out, One Who’s job was to remind them and teach them (John 14:26).
John 14:26 But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
At the moment of the death of Christ, the Temple and its services died, even though it wasn’t physically destroyed until 40 years later. This was verified by God when He tore the curtain in two from the top to the bottom at the instant Jesus died (Matt 27:50-51). No longer could man go to God through the Temple and its sacrifices. The old ways were dead and the Temple was no longer sacred. For three long days the relationship between God and man hung in limbo. Nature itself must have been holding its breath. And then on the third day — that bright and glorious day — Jesus burst forth from the grave and took His sacrificial blood to heaven to be sprinkled on the true mercy seat there.
Matt 27:50-51 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.
The church is not built upon the death of Christ, but upon His resurrection. He came to not only die and thus pay the price for our sins, but to rise from that death so that we, too, may live a new life.
In another sense, man is a temple of God (1Cor 6:19). He has destroyed his temple with sin, but Christ wants to raise him from the dead and build him into the temple that God wants him to be.
1 Co 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
What this means is that it doesn’t matter how far you have fallen. What man can destroy is no big deal for Jesus to rebuild. He built the world in 6 days; how much more can He do with you if you give Him the rest of your life?