January 29th, 2025
The Upward Look, by Jon Forrest
Cleansing Temples
Based on John 2:13-25 & 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Many of us know Jesus to be a gentle, loving, kind, forgiving, compassionate servant. And he was all that, but did you know he had a temper? What really disturbed Jesus to anger were the false religious arrogance, hypocritical condemnation, and defiling the things of God, especially when practiced by the people who were supposed to be spiritual guides.
When God gave Solomon the job of building the holy Temple, he gave him specific guidelines and rules for how to construct it and what materials would be used. He also gave him specific instructions for how to conduct activities that would honor Him. The last thing God would accept would be violating his house because the Temple was the place where God would meet with his people and where sacrifices for sin would be offered and accepted by God for the forgiveness of sin.
John’s account of this event is fairly early in Christ’s ministry, while Matthew, Mark and Luke have it occurring on the last week of his ministry, the week he would be crucified. It is possible that he did it twice or that John, who was more concerned about themes of Christ’s life than chronology may have simply moved it up in his account. However, there are some small differences in the wording leaving me, and it’s just my opinion, to believe that Jesus did this twice. And really, why not?
It was nearing the most sacred time of the Jewish year; Passover. Jewish people from all over the world had come to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to God. When Jesus entered the Temple, he saw that the priests had set up tables for the sale of cattle, sheep and doves, the animals that would be sacrificed that day. Other people were doing currency exchange for international travelers. Because some had traveled many miles and from other countries, there was a convenience factor involved so that people would not have to bring their sacrificial animals such a distance and could purchase their sacrifices right there at the Temple. The same was the case for the currency exchange for their paying of the Temple Tax.
If you believe all the paintings that show Jesus as some kind of wimpy passive looking sissy, you will have a difficult time imagining how this powerful carpenter strung some chords together to create a make-shift whip to begin driving the cattle and sheep out of the Temple courts. Can you visualize Him grabbing the massive, very heavy tables with gold, silver and coins and flipping them upside down. Notice that not one person in the crowded temple, not even a temple guard, attempted to stop him. If they did, they were unsuccessful in apprehending him because he was not arrested.
Then he called out to the people selling the doves, “Get these out of here! Stop making my Father’s house into a market!” In referring to the Temple as his “Father’s house” Jesus was declaring his personal deity and authority. That is why, when the Jewish leaders confronted him verbally, they demanded from him a sign to prove his authority to make this mess.
Jesus’ response in verse 19 confounded them when he said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
Their reply demonstrated their confusion when they said, “It has taken 46 years to build the temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?”
John explained in verse 21 & 22 that Jesus had been talking about the temple of his body and that following his resurrection from the dead his disciples would recall and believe his words and scripture.
What made Jesus so angry? There were a number of issues at hand.
First, the sale of animals and money exchanged in the Temple had created a convenience for the people that took away from the idea of sacrificing the best of the worshipper’s herd, flock or covey.
Second, the Priests had created the situation by using their power of approving the sacrifice to always reject the animal brought so that they could sell livestock to the one making the sacrifice. In order to “help the traveler” they would take the rejected animal off their hands so they would not have to take it all the way home. Then the crooked priests would take the same rejected animal back through and sell it to another unsuspecting worshipper who’s sacrifice would be rejected. Do you think the people who came were unaware of the game being played? Of course they were. That is why most had just planned to buy the animal for sacrifice upon arrival in Jerusalem.
Third, God had provided financially in the law for his Priests and Levites by allowing a part of each sacrifice to be food for those who served in the Temple. He also provided for them through the tithes and offerings of the people. How dare they seek to make a killing off the backs of those who came to worship God? These religious leaders were making the Temple worship all about themselves and the lining of their own pockets!
In the accounts of the other Gospels Jesus quoted a combination of Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11 when he said, “It is written; My house will be a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers!”
You see, it angers Jesus when he sees the Temple, the House of God, misused and treated inappropriately.
Would you mistreat the Temple of God? Of course not!
But, wait. What is the Temple of God today? The Jerusalem Temple was destroyed by the army of a Roman named Titus about 40 years after Christ’s time on earth and it has not been rebuilt. We must not forget that, when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain to the “Holy of Holies” was ripped in two from top to bottom symbolizing the new covenant where there would no longer be sacrifices made for sins since the ultimate Lamb of God had been sacrificed for everyone through the body of Christ.
The Temple is no longer a building of wood, stones, gold made by man. The Apostle Paul explained in two separate locations of 1 Corinthians that the Temple of the Holy Spirit is the body of each of Christ’s followers. So, to desecrate, or treat sinfully, the body of the person in whom the God dwells is to make Christ a part of our sin. To expose our bodies to sinful actions, and Paul expressly indicates it is mainly sexual sin he is talking about, is to make the Holy Spirit a part of that act.
You see, we make a huge error when we claim, “It’s my body! I’ll do with it what I please,” we are claiming to be God ourselves. Because we belong to God.
This is all expressed in 1 Corinthians 6 and also in the third chapter of that letter.
I had a dear brother in Christ who was single and near my age express to me one time how frustrating it was for him to date because women would not continue to date him when he refused to have sex with them. I was so proud of him for his realization that his body was not his own. His body was God’s Temple.
Many people who claim Christ as Lord today have given in to the theology of Secular Humanism, the belief, “If it feels good, do it!”
God wants us to know that honoring him with our bodies is part of our commitment to him.
1 Corinthians 6:20 concludes, “you were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
You are the Temple, or Sanctuary, of the Holy Spirit.
The most interesting thing about the town of Tifton, Georgia is an abandoned Victorian house filled with thousands of bats. Tift County declared the once-elegant house in the town’s historic district off limits after a bat specialist said that maybe 20,000 bats had moved in, apparently for good.
Now, teenagers call it the bat house. People talk about the smell, which is an unholy mix of animal urine and decaying wood. "In the summer, ooh, does that place reek," said Linda Turner, 69, a retired nurse and neighbor. "You ain’t smelled nothing until you come back here on a hot day."
Brothers and Sisters, I’m not going to visit that bat house. WHAT A SIGHT AND WHAT A STINK IT MUST BE! Vacant houses get infiltrated with all kinds of creatures and probably not just bats. And many of these creatures make a mess, create a big stink, and eventually ruin that dwelling.
But it doesn’t just happen with vacant houses, it also happens with vacant lives! If a person doesn’t fill their life with good stuff, the bad stuff and sometimes, the evil stuff will move in and take over.
What’s going on in your house? That is, the house you live in, the fleshly body you inhabit? Who has moved in? Who has taken over your residence and is now controlling your life? God wants us to stay clean in this world and that will only happen when we let Him move in, that is, when we fill our lives with worship, prayer and service. Does your body belong to Him? Is your Temple cleansed?
This Sunday we will continue our series of messages titled Kingdom Stories with the latest sermon, Small Beginnings/Great Results, based on Matthew 13:31-35. Come and find how God can use even small things to bring Him great glory through your life.
Cleansing His Holy Temple,
Jon
Cleansing Temples
Based on John 2:13-25 & 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Many of us know Jesus to be a gentle, loving, kind, forgiving, compassionate servant. And he was all that, but did you know he had a temper? What really disturbed Jesus to anger were the false religious arrogance, hypocritical condemnation, and defiling the things of God, especially when practiced by the people who were supposed to be spiritual guides.
When God gave Solomon the job of building the holy Temple, he gave him specific guidelines and rules for how to construct it and what materials would be used. He also gave him specific instructions for how to conduct activities that would honor Him. The last thing God would accept would be violating his house because the Temple was the place where God would meet with his people and where sacrifices for sin would be offered and accepted by God for the forgiveness of sin.
John’s account of this event is fairly early in Christ’s ministry, while Matthew, Mark and Luke have it occurring on the last week of his ministry, the week he would be crucified. It is possible that he did it twice or that John, who was more concerned about themes of Christ’s life than chronology may have simply moved it up in his account. However, there are some small differences in the wording leaving me, and it’s just my opinion, to believe that Jesus did this twice. And really, why not?
It was nearing the most sacred time of the Jewish year; Passover. Jewish people from all over the world had come to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to God. When Jesus entered the Temple, he saw that the priests had set up tables for the sale of cattle, sheep and doves, the animals that would be sacrificed that day. Other people were doing currency exchange for international travelers. Because some had traveled many miles and from other countries, there was a convenience factor involved so that people would not have to bring their sacrificial animals such a distance and could purchase their sacrifices right there at the Temple. The same was the case for the currency exchange for their paying of the Temple Tax.
If you believe all the paintings that show Jesus as some kind of wimpy passive looking sissy, you will have a difficult time imagining how this powerful carpenter strung some chords together to create a make-shift whip to begin driving the cattle and sheep out of the Temple courts. Can you visualize Him grabbing the massive, very heavy tables with gold, silver and coins and flipping them upside down. Notice that not one person in the crowded temple, not even a temple guard, attempted to stop him. If they did, they were unsuccessful in apprehending him because he was not arrested.
Then he called out to the people selling the doves, “Get these out of here! Stop making my Father’s house into a market!” In referring to the Temple as his “Father’s house” Jesus was declaring his personal deity and authority. That is why, when the Jewish leaders confronted him verbally, they demanded from him a sign to prove his authority to make this mess.
Jesus’ response in verse 19 confounded them when he said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
Their reply demonstrated their confusion when they said, “It has taken 46 years to build the temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?”
John explained in verse 21 & 22 that Jesus had been talking about the temple of his body and that following his resurrection from the dead his disciples would recall and believe his words and scripture.
What made Jesus so angry? There were a number of issues at hand.
First, the sale of animals and money exchanged in the Temple had created a convenience for the people that took away from the idea of sacrificing the best of the worshipper’s herd, flock or covey.
Second, the Priests had created the situation by using their power of approving the sacrifice to always reject the animal brought so that they could sell livestock to the one making the sacrifice. In order to “help the traveler” they would take the rejected animal off their hands so they would not have to take it all the way home. Then the crooked priests would take the same rejected animal back through and sell it to another unsuspecting worshipper who’s sacrifice would be rejected. Do you think the people who came were unaware of the game being played? Of course they were. That is why most had just planned to buy the animal for sacrifice upon arrival in Jerusalem.
Third, God had provided financially in the law for his Priests and Levites by allowing a part of each sacrifice to be food for those who served in the Temple. He also provided for them through the tithes and offerings of the people. How dare they seek to make a killing off the backs of those who came to worship God? These religious leaders were making the Temple worship all about themselves and the lining of their own pockets!
In the accounts of the other Gospels Jesus quoted a combination of Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11 when he said, “It is written; My house will be a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers!”
You see, it angers Jesus when he sees the Temple, the House of God, misused and treated inappropriately.
Would you mistreat the Temple of God? Of course not!
But, wait. What is the Temple of God today? The Jerusalem Temple was destroyed by the army of a Roman named Titus about 40 years after Christ’s time on earth and it has not been rebuilt. We must not forget that, when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain to the “Holy of Holies” was ripped in two from top to bottom symbolizing the new covenant where there would no longer be sacrifices made for sins since the ultimate Lamb of God had been sacrificed for everyone through the body of Christ.
The Temple is no longer a building of wood, stones, gold made by man. The Apostle Paul explained in two separate locations of 1 Corinthians that the Temple of the Holy Spirit is the body of each of Christ’s followers. So, to desecrate, or treat sinfully, the body of the person in whom the God dwells is to make Christ a part of our sin. To expose our bodies to sinful actions, and Paul expressly indicates it is mainly sexual sin he is talking about, is to make the Holy Spirit a part of that act.
You see, we make a huge error when we claim, “It’s my body! I’ll do with it what I please,” we are claiming to be God ourselves. Because we belong to God.
This is all expressed in 1 Corinthians 6 and also in the third chapter of that letter.
I had a dear brother in Christ who was single and near my age express to me one time how frustrating it was for him to date because women would not continue to date him when he refused to have sex with them. I was so proud of him for his realization that his body was not his own. His body was God’s Temple.
Many people who claim Christ as Lord today have given in to the theology of Secular Humanism, the belief, “If it feels good, do it!”
God wants us to know that honoring him with our bodies is part of our commitment to him.
1 Corinthians 6:20 concludes, “you were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
You are the Temple, or Sanctuary, of the Holy Spirit.
The most interesting thing about the town of Tifton, Georgia is an abandoned Victorian house filled with thousands of bats. Tift County declared the once-elegant house in the town’s historic district off limits after a bat specialist said that maybe 20,000 bats had moved in, apparently for good.
Now, teenagers call it the bat house. People talk about the smell, which is an unholy mix of animal urine and decaying wood. "In the summer, ooh, does that place reek," said Linda Turner, 69, a retired nurse and neighbor. "You ain’t smelled nothing until you come back here on a hot day."
Brothers and Sisters, I’m not going to visit that bat house. WHAT A SIGHT AND WHAT A STINK IT MUST BE! Vacant houses get infiltrated with all kinds of creatures and probably not just bats. And many of these creatures make a mess, create a big stink, and eventually ruin that dwelling.
But it doesn’t just happen with vacant houses, it also happens with vacant lives! If a person doesn’t fill their life with good stuff, the bad stuff and sometimes, the evil stuff will move in and take over.
What’s going on in your house? That is, the house you live in, the fleshly body you inhabit? Who has moved in? Who has taken over your residence and is now controlling your life? God wants us to stay clean in this world and that will only happen when we let Him move in, that is, when we fill our lives with worship, prayer and service. Does your body belong to Him? Is your Temple cleansed?
This Sunday we will continue our series of messages titled Kingdom Stories with the latest sermon, Small Beginnings/Great Results, based on Matthew 13:31-35. Come and find how God can use even small things to bring Him great glory through your life.
Cleansing His Holy Temple,
Jon
Recent
Archive
2024
January
September
November
2023
July
August
October
Categories
no categories
Tags
no tags
No Comments