Exploring God’s Word with Brad Thurston

Zeal for the House

Episode Summary

How does Jesus, with a whip in the temple, driving out the moneychangers affect our understanding of a loving caring and compassionate savior?

Episode Notes

Introduction

The picture in our home of Jesus knocking on the door – all the hidden messages! No way to open the door from the outside - “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”

Revelation 3:20 the heart of Jesus – the darkness on the inside, a ram’s head? rose of Sharon? “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women.” Song of Songs 2:1-2 NIV

Read Text - John 2:13-25

The pictures in the story

They point to the big event setting the stage for the main Passover event
The 3rd day reference to the resurrection
The Passover, the Lamb of God here, John 7 and later comes the climax of salvation…
The whip and purification
Signs of authority – Jonah
Crowds that believe
The staircase events of John 1:51- heaven touching earth
Preparation for persecution
How does this fit in with the image you have of Jesus?
An angry guy? With your image of the loving gentle Jesus?
Notice the whip?
Understanding the situation: the influx of people to the Passover ca. 2 million and the temple tax – ½ shekel was worth 2 weeks labor for a common laborer, or a ½ week for a skilled laborer. (50 shekels was a good wage.) Today a comparison would have been ca. $2000 plus an animal from dove to sheep and goats or oxen. Imagine the noise, the smells, the bargaining, and the shouting going on in a marketplace! Photos! Bargaining and kickbacks in the marketplace that was to be a house of prayer for the nations!
David Pawson suggests 4 reasons why Jesus was so angry:
Laziness and convenience?
Exploitation?
Nationalism?
Misappropriation? – And, and: “for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”” Isaiah 56:7
What authority did Jesus have?
He is the Son of God, the real High Priest: “It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.” Hebrews 9:23-24
He is the Messiah of Israel: Malachi 3:1-4

““I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.” Malachi 3:1-4

He is the temple of God – that is his authority to cleanse
How does it affect us? We become believers when we see the signs

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”

(1 Corinthians 6:19) “In (him) you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:22) Jesus has authority to cleans the temple! Is he cleansing your temple? What are the hindrances? David Pawson writes: “is your body just a library to be stuffed with knowledge? Is your body a bank, a place for gathering money? Is your body a playhouse, simply for pleasure? Is your body a pigsty where slimy passions rule? Or is your body a temple where God lives?”

Let’s examine the 4 possible reasons why Jesus cleansed the temple:

Convenience - Exploitation – Nationalization - Misappropriation