Cleansing The Temple
Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:
Matthew 5:3-5
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse is:
Titus 3:3-5
“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”
Today we will be reading from Mark 11:1-18
Try to imagine Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem at least thirty times before He started His three year ministry.
His first visit to the Temple was at the age of 40 days when He was consecrated to the Lord. (I wonder if He remembered that visit!)
(Leviticus 12:1-8) (Luke 2:22-24)
Later, in Luke 2, we see that it was the custom for Joseph and Mary to take the family to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival every year. So, we see that Jesus had a lot of exposure to the Temple long before His thirtieth year and many times after that.
Now … have you ever seen or heard of something going on that was just plain wrong? You knew it was wrong and the people doing it knew it was wrong but the time was not right for you to do something about it.
This is how Jesus must felt on His first visit to the Temple in what would be the last week of His ministry before becoming the Perfect Sacrifice.
Let’s read about it in … Mark 11:1-18
(Prayer for help)
Now, let’s look at two of the verses we just read.
Mark 11:11 where it says,
“Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, He went out to Bethany with the Twelve.”
And Mark 11:15-16 where it says that Jesus went back to Jerusalem the following morning,
“On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.”
Now just imagine the fire that was burning in the heart of Jesus that night in Bethany! For thirty-three years He had witnessed the travesty of what was taking place in the Temple of Yahweh the Lord! And, what He saw that night must have just burned in His heart and exploded the next day!
Jesus took control of His Father’s House and at least for one day the activities of evil were thrown outside where they belonged!
What was Yahweh, the Lord’s, intention for the Temple in Jerusalem? I mean, what was His original intention?
The Temple was to be His dwelling place on earth! From that Temple His presence was to spread out to fill the earth.
His presence would fill the city of Jerusalem.
His over-watching presence would fill the land through the love-driven obedience of His people.
His presence would spread throughout the earth because the surrounding countries would see Yahweh’s great care for His people.
How was that to happen?
Imagine if you would, the nation of Israel living in a love-driven obedience to Yahweh their God and imagine the whole world observing the blessings of that relationship between their God and His people.
Imagine the nations of the earth observing this oddity ...
1) A nation with no significant army. Yahweh, the Lord, commanded them NOT to gather a great number of horses and chariots. Horses and chariots were kind of like the tanks or light armor vehicles of their day. They were swift, could carry more weapons and afforded some protection. If you were going to have an adequate protection for your nation you needed horses and chariots.
Why did Yahweh, the Lord, forbid them to have vast numbers of horses and chariots? Because He was to be their Protector.
Throughout the Old Testament you can see times when the nation of Israel was vastly outnumbered and when they relied on the Lord alone He saved them.
Now, imagine if the Israelites were faithful to Yahweh, the Lord, and every time an army came against them the Lord destroyed the attacking army. It wouldn’t be long before nations would stop trying to attack them.
The nations would be saying, “Their God is too great. Our gods are pitiful compared to Yahweh. Why should they be the only ones with Yahweh as their God? Let’s send an envoy to find out to see if He can be our God as well!”
What a witness, what a testimony to the surrounding nations that would be. Having a great God is vastly superior to having an army of any size!
What’s another thing that would be a witness to the nations of the earth?
Imagine the nations of the earth observing this oddity ...
2) Every seventh year they don’t do any farming!!!
Leviticus 25:1-7 says,
“(Yahweh) the LORD said to Moses at Mount Sinai, ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to (Yahweh) the LORD. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of Sabbath rest, a Sabbath to (Yahweh) the LORD.
“Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year will be food for you - for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.”
So, imagine the bewilderment of the surrounding nations when every seventh year the Israelites do not sow their fields, prune their vines or harvest anything that grows in the fields or on the vines.
Instead they live off what the land naturally produces.
Imagine the surrounding nations sending envoys to Israel asking why they are not planting or harvesting that year? Aren’t they going to starve? And imagine the people of Israel saying, “No, Yahweh our God will provide what we need this year. He has commanded this and since Yahweh is the great God of Heaven and earth and since we are His people, He will care for us.”
What a testimony that would be, right? The people of the other nations would be saying, “Wow! What a God? We have to throw our babies into the fire as an offering to our gods just hoping to have a good crop and your God loves you so much that He gives you and your land a year of rest just because you obey Him. Can Yahweh be our God as well?”
And so the name of Yahweh the Lord would be great among the nations.
Imagine that when famine due to drought or an invasion of locusts no such thing happens in Israel where there is plenty of water, no locusts and the crops flourish and what’s the reason?
“We have a great God. Yahweh the Lord is His name.
Imagine when other nations are battling each other over such as silver and gold, Israel is fully contented with their riches which are found in Yahweh their God. And, the surrounding nations are bewildered at the peace within the borders of Israel and the name of Yahweh becomes greater and greater throughout the earth.
That is what was supposed to happen. That was God’s plan and Jesus knew it when He walked through the Temple because it had been His plan!!!
But, what did Jesus see?
Instead of Yahweh’s protection of Israel He saw His people with the boot of Rome on their throats.
Why? Because of their disobedience His protection was withdrawn and they were conquered.
Instead of His name being great among the nations it was a curse word.
Instead of the blazing glory of God emanating from the Temple, through His people and into the nations darkness was now filling the Holy Temple.
What else did Jesus see when He walked through the Temple?
Instead of seeing the glory of God and holy reverence He saw that the religious leaders of His day were more concerned with maintaining a good relationship with the political figures of the day than they were with their relationship with Yahweh the Lord.
Jesus saw that the marketplace which should have only existed outside the Temple had made its way inside and that those selling sacrificial animals and those exchanging money were ripping off the people who were there to worship.
The darkness of the world had invaded the Temple to fill the spiritual vacuum that was created when Yahweh left.
Jesus cleared the Temple but it only made the darkness boil as it says in Mark 11:18a, “The chief priests and the teachers of the law … began looking for a way to kill Him ….”
OK. So, how can we boil this down? Yahweh is an irresistible power. No one can stand against Him. He could blanket the world with His presence and cause the entire world to bow before Him in awe and fear and He will do that one day. But for now He chooses to work through His people.
His plan to send out His Light of Holiness throughout the world by using His people was thwarted by the rebellious hearts of those very same people.
Instead, His chosen people flirted with the darkness of the surrounded nations, then they embraced the darkness of the surrounding nations and then they fell into bed with the darkness of the surrounding nations.
Instead of the chosen people of Yahweh being a light of life to the nations they chose to embrace the darkness of spiritual death. They were sent as faithful witnesses and ended up being murderous traitors.
So, on that day when Jesus walked through the Temple, He was the only one who was shocked by what had happened to the place where the throne of God had once been.
What does all of that mean to us?
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NASB
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have from God? You are not your own; you have been bought at a price. Therefore honor God in your body.”
You see, we who belong to Jesus are keepers of our temples.
I am the keeper of the temple within me and you are the keeper of the temple within you.
Just as the presence of Yahweh was to emanate from the Temple in Jerusalem through the people of God as a witness to the surrounding nations, so the Holy Spirit is to emanate from us to the people around us.
This plan worked beautifully as long as the hearts of the people were devoted to God; He protected them, guided them and provided for them to the astonishment of the surrounding nations.
But when their love for God grew lukewarm and the relationship with God cooled off sin crept in, the witness was lost and the relationship crumbled. What was supposed to be a witness for Yahweh became a complaint against Him by His own people.
And we see that they ended up making a marketplace filled with hustlers in the Temple that was supposed to be a holy place filled with the presence of God.
The same goes for us. God’s plan for His sons and daughters works beautifully as long as we are devoted to Jesus. He will protect our souls. He will give us spiritual guidance and wisdom in dealing with this world and people will be astonished by the testimony of His care for us.
But, if we take our eyes off of Jesus our love for Him will grow lukewarm and our relationship with God will cool off and sin will creep in; our witness for Christ will be lost and instead we will end up being witnesses against Him. And sinful things that should not be in the temple of our hearts will be moved in and the presence of the Holy Spirit will be quenched.
Jesus was present at the temple at least once each year for His thirty-three years as He walked the earth. What changes do you think He saw during those years? Did things get worse over the years? Did more of the marketers and money changers move in? Did they become more bold in their extortion of those coming to offer sacrifices? Did the Priests and Levites and teachers of the law turn more and more of a blind eye toward the sin that was going on in the Temple?
How long have you been saved, if indeed you are saved?
If you are, what changes do you think Jesus has seen during those years? Have things gotten worse or better over those years? Are the sinful things of the world being tossed out as the Holy Spirit makes you aware of them or are you trying to sneak some in hoping that Jesus won’t notice?
What if Jesus did a “walk through” of the temple of your spirit?
Would He find it to be a proper place of worship where He is welcome and feels at home? Or would He find a bunch of stuff that definitely does NOT belong in the temple of your spirit at all!
We see the heartache caused by the rebellious nature of the people of Israel. Do we want that?
We have been given the chance to do with the temple of our spirit what the Israelites failed to do with theirs.
Do you want to please God?
Which would please your heart more; to please the God you love more than you love yourself or to please yourself whom you love more than God?
How do we know that Yahweh the Lord God of Israel wanted to reach every nation on earth through His chosen people?
Isaiah 56:6-7
“Foreigners who bind themselves to (Yahweh) to minister to Him, to love the name of (Yahweh) the LORD, and to be His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to My covenant -
“These I will bring to My holy mountain and give them joy in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
You, see the Lord wanted to save the world through His chosen people and they failed Him.
Now the torch has been passed to us. Is your temple clean and holy? Are you a living witness to the God who reigns as Lord in your heart?
Or is there anything that needs to be tossed out?
Only you know for sure.
Final thoughts and prayer
