The Temple of God

By Pastor Young Joon Park

July 5, 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark 11:15-19

MK 11:15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves;

MK 11:16 and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.

MK 11:17 And He began to teach and say to them, ¡°Is it not written,

¡®My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?

But you have made it a robbers¡¯ den.¡±

MK 11:18 The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.

 

We remember that Jesus¡¯ Character is full of humility, love, gentleness and compassion.

 

However, we overlook His anger, grief and pain.

 

I believe that Anger is one of God¡¯s characters just as Jealousy is a part of His Characters.

 

It may seem as if anger and jealousy are negative characteristics of God, however, it is not so. Satan has twisted the perception of these Godly characteristics for evil.  For example, he uses anger to destroy relationships but we know that this is not from the Lord at all.

 

We can find Jesus¡¯ Anger through the Books of 4 Gospels.

 

At least 3 times He was upset:

1. Jesus became angry when His disciples prevented the children from approaching Him.

 

2. Jesus became angry with the Pharisees¡¯ legalism and religiosity.  He condemned them ¡°Hypocrites!¡± ¡°Woe to you!¡± ¡±Snakes!¡± ¡°Brood of vipers!¡±

 

3. Jesus became very angry when He found the temple of God is corrupted by the high priests for the purpose of making money through the selling of animals.  He was so angry that He made a whip with cords to cast them out from the temple.

 

According to the 4 gospels Jesus cleansed the temple.

John – at the beginning of His Ministry

Matthew, Mark and Luke – during Jesus Passion week at the end of His Ministry

 

Debate between scholars – once or twice

 

Rather than focusing on scholar¡¯s debates, let¡¯s take a closer look at Jesus cleansing the temple.

 

In John 2:13-22,

 

He made a whip with cords:

   He drove the people who were selling animals (cattle and doves) out

   from the temple.

He poured out coins of the money changers and overturned their tables;

To those who were selling the doves He said,

   ¡°Take these things away;

   Stop making My Father¡¯s House a place of business (market place).¡±

The Jews then said to Him,

   ¡°What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?¡±

Jesus answered them,

   ¡°Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.¡±

The Jews then said,

   ¡°It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?¡±

But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

His disciples remembered that it was written,

   ¡°Zeal for Your House will consume Me.¡±

Zeal (the fervor of love) for Your house, I will be consumed with jealousy for the honor

of Your house.

So when He was raised from the dead,

   His disciples remembered that He said this;

   They believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

 

 

In Matthew (21:12-13), Mark (11:15-19) and Luke (19:45-48)

 

He entered the temple

   He began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple,

   He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were

   selling doves;

He would not permit anyone

   to carry merchandise through the temple.

   And He began to teach and say to them,

   ¡°Is it not written, ¡®My house will be called a House of Prayer for all the nations?

   But you have made it a robbers¡¯ den.¡±

The chief priests, the scribes (teachers of the law) and the leaders heard this,

   They began seeking how to destroy Him;

   for they were afraid of Him,

   for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.

 

I. Why was Jesus so upset about the selling of animals and the existence of money changers in the temple?

Regarding the selling of the animals:

Initially, animals were sold to worshippers as a service for them but this system became corrupt and the service lost its purpose, not only for the high priests but also worshipper as well.

 

We do not understand the situation in full detail, but it is obvious how serious Jesus views it.

 

1. Stop making My Father¡¯s House a place of business (market place).

 

Worshipper came to the Lord but they did not worship in spirit and in truth.  This system (turning the temple into a market place) became harmful to worshippers¡¯ hearts.

 

The money-changers were making it hard for common people to worship God.

The outer court was full of bleating lambs,

Sellers were hawking their animals.

The worshippers were more concerned whether they had enough money to worship God.

No one was focused on God.

 

Everyone was focused on money -- or the lack of it.

 

Example:

An indulgence system in Martin Luther time 1500 AD

   They had to buy the indulgence to be forgiven

An asceticism in Martin Luther time 1500 AD

   They continually had to climb the church stairs on their knees to be saved.

 

 

2. You have made the Temple a robbers¡¯ den

 

Both Jesus and Jeremiah were indignant about the violence of sacrificial worship, not the possibility of petty theft by moneychangers. When they said God's house had become a den of "robbers" the Hebrew word that was used (here, transliterated) was "per-eets'" defined as "violent, i.e., a tyrant--destroyer, ravenous, robber." It was the violence of the system,

 

Robber¡¯s den – robber and thief are not the same meaning

Thief: to steal for his own benefit from others with decisiveness.

Robber: to steal, kill and destroy others with violent actions

Jesus condemned them as a robber (same as satan¡¯s work place) – that is why the chief priests, the scribes (teachers of the law) and the leaders wanted to kill Jesus.

 

This system became deadly violent for the worshipper and kept people strayed away from the Lord.

The enemy (satan) steals, kills and destroys people from the Lord.

 

Matthew 23:27

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men¡¯s bones and all uncleanness.

 

Matthew 23:15

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

 

Example:

During Martin Luther¡¯s time 1500 AD, Catholic priests manipulated people¡¯s hearts in order to collect money from them.  The priests told people they needed to purchase indulgence to insure forgiveness and sometimes people were forced to purchase indulgence.

This was not to help people go to the Kingdom of the Lord at all. But the system inadvertently steered people away from the Kingdom of the Lord. People just kept suffering continuously with confusion and hopeless for the unknown eternal future.

 

II. The Temple

 

1. My Father¡¯s House

This place is the Heart of God Father.

This is the place of Father¡¯s Love.

This is the place for our all resources.

This is the abundant place of Father, and there is no lack.

 

Luke 2:49

And He said to them, ¡°Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father¡¯s house?¡±

 

John 14:2

In My Father¡¯s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

 

 

2. House of Prayer for all the nations

The purpose of the Temple is a House of Prayer for all the nations.

Father God wants everyone of the world to come to Him and restore the relationship.

 

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

 

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

 

 

3. Jesus Himself

 

John 1:14

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

 

John 2:19

Jesus answered them, ¡°Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.¡±

 

4. Ourselves (individual and group)

 

I Corinthians 6:19-20

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

1CO 6:20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

 

III. Cleansing the Temple

 

1. Meaning of the Messiah as the Lamb of God

 

Isaiah 53:6

All of us like sheep have gone astray,

Each of us has turned to his own way;

But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all

To fall on Him.

 

John 1:29

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, ¡°Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

 

John 2:19

Jesus answered them, ¡°Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

 

Mark 10:45

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

 

2. Cleared their error

 

John 2:16

Take these things away; stop making My Father¡¯s house a place of business.¡±

 

Mark 11: 17

Is it not written, ¡®My House shall be called A House of Prayer for all the nations? But you have made it a Robbers¡¯ den.

 

3. Clean our life

 

Romans 12:1-2

1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

 

2 Corinthians 10:3-6

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,

4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

6 and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.

 

The chief priests, the scribes (teachers of the law) and the leaders tried to kill Jesus when He cleansed the temple.

 

Our enemy uses every possibility to attack our personal life and the ministry. As a result, we have to guard ourselves at all times.

 

Satan uses our lack of understanding in God¡¯s word against us in our personal life and in the lives of others.

 

We must bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

 

Even though we are under His Full Protection, we could be opening the door to satan, inadvertently.

 

Conclusion

 

One time I visited Abraham Lincoln¡¯s birth place in Kentucky. I expected there to be a small log house with fence. Instead, I found a huge memorial building with many stairs. I found this puzzling since I had learned long ago that he was born to a poor family in a small house.

 

However, upon entering the large building, I found the very small log house. Because it is a treasured national historic landmark for American history, the government is preserving and protecting this log house by keeping it in a huge building.

 

The temple of God is the heart of God.

In the same way, Jesus put us in Him with His full protection with His Precious Blood.

We are under His Full Protection.

 

So we have to clean our body, mind and spirit, and have our hearts and mind captive to the Christ, the obedience.

 

Let our life be a house of prayer for all the nations so the lost nations can come to the Kingdom of God through our life, the Temple of God.