John Series Part 11 Revelation 2: Jesus Is Supreme Over God’s House Series

Revelation 2: Jesus Is Supreme Over God’s House, 2:12–22

(2:12–22) Introduction: Jesus Christ has supremacy over God’s house, that is, over the temple or church. He alone has the right to rule and reign over God’s house.

1. Jesus left Cana (vv.12–13).

2. His discovery of evil in the temple (v.14).

3. His right to cleanse the temple (vv.15–17).

4. His power to erect a new temple (vv.18–21).

5. His objective achieved: the disciples remembered this event and believed the Scripture and the Word of the Lord (v.22).

1 (2:12–13) Jesus Christ, Worship—Faithfulness: Jesus left Cana. He went down to Capernaum and stayed there for just a brief time. Capernaum was His headquarters (see note—Mt. 4:12). He then left for Jerusalem to attend the Passover Feast (see note, Passover—Mt. 26:17–30).

2 (2:14) Temple—Church, Abused: Jesus’ discovery of evil in the temple. Note two facts.

a. He entered the temple ().

b. He found the temple being desecrated. It was the Court of the Gentiles where so much commercialism took place. There was a regular commercial market within its walls. How did a commercial market ever get into the temple of God? Very simply, greed. Worshippers needed animals (oxen, sheep, doves), incense, meal, wine, oil, salt, and other items for their sacrifices and offerings. Pilgrims from foreign nations needed money exchanged. At some point in the history of the temple, the priests had decided to take advantage of the market themselves instead of letting retailers on the outside reap all the profits. Therefore, the priests began to set up booths within the Court of the Gentiles and to lease space to outside retailers. These often turned out to be family members. The owner of the booths or space was apparently the High Priest whose name was Annas. The outer courtyard of the temple, the very worship center for the Gentiles, was filled with booth-like spaces where worshippers could find any kind of service they needed. The atmosphere was one of commercial traffic and commotion, not of worship and prayer.

Remembering the teeming thousands who attended the great feasts, we can imagine the loudest commercial commotion, and our picture would still come short of the actual scene. Who can picture thousands of animals with their peculiar noises, wastes, and smells within the temple of God? And for what? What would cause men to so abuse the worship center of God? As said above, money—the greed of men. It is no wonder Jesus did what He did. He could not do otherwise, for He was the Son of God, the Messiah sent into the world to bring about a true worship of God; and there was no hope of worship within the Court of the Gentiles. Prayer and worship were impossible.

“Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Lu. 19:46).

“Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil” (Ec. 5:1).

“God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him” (Ps. 89:7).

DEEPER STUDY

(2:14) Temple: a person must understand the layout of the temple in order to see what was happening in this event. The temple sat on the top of Mt. Zion, and it is thought to have covered about thirty acres of land. The temple consisted of two parts, the temple building itself and the temple precincts or courtyards. The Greek language has two different words to distinguish which is meant.

1. The temple building (naos) was a small ornate structure which sat in the center of the temple property. It was called the Holy Place or Holy of Holies. Only the High Priest could enter its walls, and he could enter only once during the year, on the Day of Atonement.

2. The temple precincts (hieron) were four courtyards that surrounded the temple building, each decreasing in their importance to the Jewish mind. It is important to know that great walls separated the courts from each other.

a. First, there was the Court of the Priests. Only the priests were allowed to enter this court. Within this courtyard stood the great furnishings of worship: the Altar of Burnt Offering, the Brazen Laver, the Seven Branched lampstand, the Altar of Incense, and the Table of Showbread.

b. Second, there was the Court of the Israelites. This was a huge courtyard where Jewish worshippers met together for joint services on the great feast days. It was also where worshippers handed over their sacrifices to the priests.

c. Third, there was the Court of the Women. Women were usually limited to this area except for joint worship with men. They could, however, enter the Court of the Israelites when they came to make a sacrifice or worship in a joint assembly on a great feast day.