LOC: Life of Christ:
Clearing the
Temple
Last time we considered the life of Jesus we looked at his first
public miracle at the wedding in Cana.
Jesus turned the water into wine showing the dawn of the messianic age
and providing the best refreshment for the guests who were present that
day. In the same way, he continues to
provide the best for his people. He gives what is truly needed. He satisfies
the true needs of the souls of men.
The life of Jesus continues with a few incidents that are recorded
only in the Gospel of John. John had
first hand experience of these things.
Therefore, he writes with great detail and specificity about the events
and their significance. He often does this by way of added comments or
narrative. Last time we read John 2:11 where
John the writer of the Gospel told us,
JOH 2:11 This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and
manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.
The water to wine was not a magicians trick. It displayed the glory of God that was Jesus’
to show with great power. Because of
this, some, his disciples believed in him.
They had followed on the basis of John the Baptist’s pointing them to
Christ--now they believe.
Remember, if you count up the days in the first part of John two,
you see that the wedding was seven days after the pronouncement of John the
Baptist that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Adding to the sense of urgency along the timeline of these first
days of Jesus’ public ministry, John gives added direction in verse 12:
John 2:12 After this He
went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and
they did not stay there many days.
Jesus, with his mother, brothers and disciples headed west a few
miles to Capernaum, near the Sea of Galilee.
John also tells us that they did not abide there many days. Jesus and this band of disciples and
relatives was on the move.
John gives more information to fill in the narrative in verse
13. He writes:
JOH 2:13 Now the
Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
John gives us insight into the very human manner in which Jesus
lived and travelled and conducted his business.
The Passover was a time for all Jews to go to Jerusalem to the
feast celebrating the great deliverance of God’s ancient people from slavery in
Egypt. The first passover was the
Exodus. In Exodus Chapter Twelve you can read of the mighty deliverance
celebrated by the Jews each year. In
many ways, they looked to the sentiment and memories of what God had done in
the past rather than practicing a vibrant belief in him in the present or for
the future. It is always easier to tell
ourselves we are okay because of past blessings, rather than to move
ahead. The Jews looked to their natural
descent from Abraham and the fact that their people had been delivered. They had a sentimental faith based on the
past workings of God, rather than an active faith for God to continue
delivering them.
But, for the Gospels, and the New Covenant age, the passover has
special added significance. Let’s take a
peak into another passage that tells us something descriptive about the Lord
Jesus Christ. Using the imagery of the Old Testament work of deliverance and
salvation, the Apostle Paul writes, 1 CO 5:7b For indeed Christ, our Passover,
was sacrificed for us.
Christ Jesus is the one whose blood must be applied to the
doorposts of a life in order for God to passover bringing judgment to all who
have not this benefit. Pack that away in
your mind.
Jesus comes to Jerusalem for the feast. He goes to the one place where God’s special
presence had been promised to the people--the Temple.
1CH 28:2 Then King David
rose to his feet and said, "Hear me, my brethren and my people: I had it in my heart to build a house of
rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of
our God, and had made preparations to build it.
But it was not given to David to build the Temple, but to his son,
Solomon.
PSA 99:5 Exalt the LORD
our God, And worship at His footstool--He is holy.
The Temple was the center of Jewish religious and social
life. It was the centerpiece of the
city. Listen to a few places that convey a sense of the importance and grandeur
of the Temple built for God:
Solomon said:
2 Chronicles 2:4 Behold,
I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to Him, to burn before Him sweet
incense, for the continual showbread, for the burnt offerings morning and
evening, on the Sabbaths, on the New Moons, and on the set feasts of the LORD
our God. This is an ordinance forever
to Israel. :5 And the temple which I build will be great, for our God is
greater than all gods. 6 But who is able to build Him a temple, since heaven
and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I then, that I should
build Him a temple, except to burn sacrifice before Him? 7 Therefore send me at
once a man skillful to work in gold and silver, in bronze and iron, in purple
and crimson and blue, who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are
with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided. 8 Also send me
cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants
have skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and indeed my servants will be with your servants,
9 to prepare timber for me in abundance, for the temple which I am about to
build shall be great and wonderful.
Chapter six records the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the
Temple to God. Immediately after he
finished, we find God’s response:
2 Chronicles 7:1 When
Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt
offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
2 And the priests
could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled
the LORD'S house. 3 When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down,
and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground
on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the LORD, saying: "For He is
good, For His mercy endures forever."
The Glory was immense and
fantasticly awe inspiring.
Then the Lord paid Solomon a
special instructive visit:
2 Chronicles 7:12 Then
the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: "I have heard your
prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.
13 "When I shut
up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or
send pestilence among My people, 14 "if My people who are called by My
name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked
ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their
land. 15 "Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in
this place. 16 "For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My
name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.
17 "As for you,
if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that
I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, 18
"then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with
David your father, saying, 'You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in
Israel.' 19 "But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My
commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and
worship them, 20 "then I will uproot them from My land which I have given
them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My
sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
21 "And as for
this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and
say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land and this house?'
22 "Then they
will answer, 'Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought
them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and
served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.'"
The presence of the Temple was a special grace not to be taken for
granted. But, in the 1000 years since
Solomon dedicated the first temple, the temple and the mount saw many
changes. It was rebuilt after returning
from captivity in the fifth century BC.
It was rebuilt by the Herodians as a goodwill gesture to Israel. It was always, however, a symbol to Israel of
God’s special presence, even when he had actually withdrawn himself due to
their continual and abundant sin. Sins of which Solomon and Israel had been
warned.
Jesus found this sort of degradation in the temple area. Verse 14
is where the narrative of clearing the temple begins:
1 What Jesus Found
JOH 2:14 And He found in
the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing
business.
2 What Jesus Did
JOH 2:15 When He had
made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and
the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.
3 What Jesus Said
JOH 2:16 And He said to
those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's
house a house of merchandise!"
4 What the Disciples Recalled
JOH 2:17 Then His
disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten
Me up."
5 What the Jews asked
JOH 2:18 So the Jews
answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these
things?"
6 What Jesus Answered
JOH 2:19 Jesus answered
and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up."
7 What the Jews Understood
JOH 2:20 Then the Jews
said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You
raise it up in three days?"
8 What Jesus really meant (by
way of comment from John)
JOH 2:21 But He was
speaking of the temple of His body.
9 A Forward-Looking Editorial
Comment
22 Therefore, when He
had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to
them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
10 The Net Effect of Jesus
Ministry
JOH 2:23 Now when He was
in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when
they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them,
because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man,
for He knew what was in man.
Let’s look at a few things
in greater detail:
1 What Jesus Found
JOH 2:14 And He found in
the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing
business.
He found something displeasing where something pleasing ought to
have been. Some had turned the temple
area into a place to market their wares to the travellers in Jerusalem for the
feast. Opportunists are not new, it is
an ancient thing to use any means to gain material advantage. Here we have the ancient art of selling to a
need directly.
Many travellers could not carry with them the sacrifices needed at
the Temple. So, they planned on buying
them after they arrived. A lot of people
would have been looking for sheep and doves.
Perhaps thousands. Can you
imagine the site of animals and birds and people and sellers all in one area in
order to practice a formal religious exercise?
It had to be intense and immense.
What would Jesus DO? He didn’t say, Oh well they are sincere, he went after them in a rather strong
way. And, I believe there are many today
who would suffer the displeasure of Jesus if he were to enter their courtyard
and apprise their formal attempts at religion.
This is what he did.
2 What Jesus Did
JOH 2:15 When He had
made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and
the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.
Jesus made a tool to drive out the animals: the sheep and the
oxen. He poured out the ill-gotten gain
of the moneychangers and he turned the tables on them, literally.
He continued:
3 What Jesus Said
JOH 2:16 And He said to
those who sold doves, "Take these things away!
Get those things hence.
Take them away! Why? His concern
was expressed in the words:
16B Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"
They had altered the purpose of the temple, the place where God’s
special presence was to dwell.
They failed to:
PSA 99:5 Exalt the LORD
our God, And worship at His footstool--He is holy.
These actions and words brought another Psalm to mind. The Disciples realized it spoke of this
moment and the Lord Jesus Christ
4 What the Disciples Recalled
JOH 2:17 Then His
disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten
Me up."
PSA 69:9 Because zeal
for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach
You have fallen on me.
A zeal for the place where God’s presence was to be was
all-consuming. Jesus did not want to
allow any other purpose to eclipse the glory of God on the earth. It was as a cancer that consumed him. His gave all of his energies to promote the
glory of his heavenly father.
What an example! What the
world would call an intolerant spirit, was a manifestation of what Jesus would
rightly tolerate, those things that were in line with the glory of God manifest
on the earth, especially as it touches the special presence of God.
Jesus was a man with a mission.
He didn’t just roll with the punches, he joined the battle--homemade
whip in hand. This is the most humble
man to ever walk on the face of the earth; this is God incarnate. As the God man he engaged those who profaned
the Temple because of the glory of God had been eclipsed by the commerce and
merchandising of man. God had been
robbed by the moneychangers.
But, look at the response of the Jews:
5 What the Jews asked
JOH 2:18 So the Jews
answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these
things?"
They realized the special character of what Jesus did, so they ask
for a miracle, a sign that he might prove he had the right to clear out the
temple.
This was a manifestation of the true character of the doubting
Jews. Show us more, give us a sign, or
as Paul said:
1 Corinthians 1:20 Where
is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God
made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the
world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness
of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign,
and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a
stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because
the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger
than men.
Yet, Jesus answers, not with a sign, but by pointing to the future
speaking of himself as the true temple, the special dwelling place of God.
6 What Jesus Answered
JOH 2:19 Jesus answered
and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up."
Perhaps Jesus directed their attention to his person in some
way. They understood it to be the
material building; Jesus meant something different. Remember, the only recorded external miracle
at this point was the water into wine.
Jesus performed a sign there to manifest the glory of God. Here he does not.
7 What the Jews Understood
JOH 2:20 Then the Jews
said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise
it up in three days?"
8 What Jesus really meant (by
way of comment from John)
JOH 2:21 But He was
speaking of the temple of His body.
Aha, Jesus was speaking of himself and his body as the Temple.
Again, remember, the only recorded external miracle at this point was the water
into wine. Jesus performed a sign there
to manifest the glory of God. Here he
does not. Why? He is the glory of God
manifest as the true temple. Jesus was
speaking of his body. Remember John 1:14
we looked at in the second message in this series when we saw the pre-existence
of Christ and his coming to earth to take up a body of flesh? JOH 1:14 And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
This is why Jesus could make the claim. He knew something those Jews did not. He, himself, was full of the glory of God,
full of grace and truth. Jesus embodied
what the Jews needed--the redeemer of Israel, the Messiah had come.
The effects of his words were not immediate, but came to the
disciples mind three years later.
9 A Forward-Looking Editorial
Comment
22 Therefore, when He
had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to
them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
In Jerusalem, they remembered that a Zeal for his father’s house
consumed Jesus. After his resurrection,
they remembered his self-description as the temple that would be restored in
three days. It was then, that the
disciples believed the Scripture and Jesus words.
God brings things to our minds to remind us of his truth and grace
in many diverse situations. It is a
benefit of hiding his words in our heart.
Getting back to Jerusalem, John adds:
10 The Net Effect of Jesus
Ministry
JOH 2:23 Now when He was
in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when
they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them,
because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man,
for He knew what was in man.
Many believed as they saw many other, unrecorded signs. The fullness of Jesus ministry as the Son of
God and heaven sent Messiah has begun.
There is no way to turn back from the task ahead, yet Jesus did not give
himself to the masses who came out of curiosity wanting his blessing on their
own terms. He knew their
character--their self-centeredness, their selfishness. These who came were like the moneychangers
using what God intended as good for their own purposes.
What we learn from this event in the Life of Christ is the need to
use the gifts of God as he intends them to be used. We have the presence of God with us through
union with Christ the true temple rebuilt.
He is the means to have the presence of God in the life. There is no other way. It is not through attending worship services
with God’s people as you attach yourself to them hoping the blessing will
trickle down in some way. It is not to
please God by giving to him in the offering in hopes that he will give back to
you. That is merchandising for the
presence of God.
The true presence of God will only be gained through a living
all-consuming faith in the one sent by God to bring his glory and grace and
truth to man--the Lord Jesus Christ. He
alone can bring men to God.
The sign given to the Jews in Jerusalem at the Temple is the sign
for us today. The Lord Jesus Christ is risen.
He has conquered death for all who believe. He is the one sacrificed that his blood may
be placed on our doorposts that God’s judgment might pass over us.
Jesus’ zeal for the glory of God ought to be emulated by his
people and seen by the world. It may
cause them to sit up and ask for a reason of our profound hope. May they see the glory of Christ come down to
dwell in his people. It is man’s only hope of eternal salvation.
What would Jesus do to you who profess to be his dwelling
place? Would he upset your tables and
drive out your materialism in order to remove your form of misinformed
worship? Or would he be pleased that
your zeal for his glory drives every fiber of your being. I think for most of us it would be the former
rather than the latter. We need to
recover our zeal for the glory of God manifest in the one Lord and savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. AMEN.
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