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.
d. Last, there was the Court of the Gentiles. It covered a vast space, surrounding all the other courtyards, and was the place of worship for all Gentile converts to Judaism.
Two facts need to be noted about the Court of the Gentiles.
1. It was the courtyard farthest removed from the center of worship, the Holy of Holies, which represented God’s very presence (see note, pt.2—Ep. 2:14–15).
2. A high wall separated the Court of the Gentiles from the other courts, disallowing any Gentile a closer approach into God’s presence. In fact, there were tablets hanging all around the wall threatening death to any Gentile who went beyond their own courtyard or center of worship.
3 (2:15–17) Jesus Christ, Duty—Temple—Church: Jesus’ right to cleanse the temple. Three points show His right.
a. The scourge of cords. This was a symbol of His righteous anger, of His right to be obeyed, of His right to enforce obedience within the temple. The scourge was a symbol of the power and cleansing judgment of God—the kind of power and cleansing judgment that causes men to tremble before God (Ph. 2:9–11).
He ran through the temple doing three things: (a) He chased out all who were buying and selling; (b) He threw over the tables of the moneychangers; and (c) He threw over the chairs of the dove dealers.
Thought 1. The temple (church) can be abused by …
• forgetting what worship is all about
• misusing the facilities and buildings of God’s house
• ignoring God’s holiness and forgetting one’s duty to reverence God
• allowing questionable, non-worshipful activities
b. Jesus’ unique relationship to God. He called God “My Father” and called the temple “My Father’s house.”
1) “My Father.” Jesus was continually calling God “My Father” (see notes—Jn. 1:34; 10:30–33 for discussion).
2) “My Father’s house.” Jesus was saying the temple was God’s; therefore, it was to be a house of worship for all people. This included the Gentiles as well as the Jews. All people should be able to worship in quietness and peace within God’s temple. No one should be barred, separated, or discouraged from worshipping God in His temple. All should be welcomed.
Note another fact. The temple (church) was called a house of worship, not a house of sacrifice, offerings, teaching, prophecy, or preaching. Everything done within the House of God is to lead to the worship of the Father and communion with the Father.
Thought 1. The temple is not to be used as a commercial center. It is not to be a place for buying and selling, marketing and retailing, stealing and cheating. It is not to be profaned. The temple is the House of God, God’s House of worship. It is to be a place of sanctity, refined and purified by God Himself. It is to be a place of quietness and meditation, a place set aside for worship, not for buying and selling where man gets gain.
“And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God” (Lu. 24:52–53; see Jn. 4:24).
“LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth” (Ps. 26:8; see Ps. 23:6).
“One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple” (Ps. 27:4).
“Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple” (Ps. 65:4).
“My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God” (Ps. 84:2).
“For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Ps. 84:10).
“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD” (Ps. 122:1).
“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).
Thought 2. A man either believes Jesus is the Son of God and over the Temple of God or else he believes neither (Jn. 20:31).
c. Jesus’ consuming zeal. His zeal fulfilled Scripture and demonstrated that He was the Messiah. The Messiah was bound to be zealous for God’s house and to react in anger at such corruption within the temple. Scripture had predicted the Lord’s zeal (Ps. 69:9); therefore, Jesus had the right to show zeal and anger against such desecration of the temple. He was the Messiah, and His act stirred the memory of the disciples.
“Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD” (Le. 19:30).
“But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him” (Hab. 2:20).
“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).
4 (2:18–21) Temple—Church—Jesus Christ, Death, Predicted: Jesus’ power to erect a new temple. Note four things.
a. His authority was questioned by the religionists. What right did He have to do what He was doing? He claimed that the temple was His Father’s. They knew that He was claiming to be the Messiah; therefore, they wanted proof that His claim was true. They wanted some spectacular sign.
b. His sign was to be given in the future. He was going to build a new meeting place for God. Note His exact words: “[You] destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
c. His puzzling statement was misunderstood. They could not understand how He could possibly build a temple in three days. The present temple had taken forty-six years to build.
d. His puzzling statement had a symbolic meaning. Jesus was speaking of His body, of His death and resurrection.
1) The proof that He was the Son of God with authority over God’s house was to be given. The sign was to be His body, His death and resurrection. The resurrection was to be the supreme proof of His Messiahship. They were to destroy (kill) Him, but He would be raised from the dead after three days (see outline and notes—Lu. 11:29–36).
“And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all” (Ac. 4:33).
“And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead” (Ac. 10:39–41).
“And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Ro. 1:4).
2) His death and resurrection was to provide a new temple, a new meeting place for God and man. It was to be in Him that men would thereafter meet God. The temple of His body was to become the temple of men, the temple whereby men would worship and be reconciled to God (see note, Mediator—Jn. 1:51 for discussion. Also see notes—1 Co. 3:16; 6:19. See Jn. 14:16–21.)
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Jn. 14:6).
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Ti. 2:5).
DEEPER STUDY
(2:19–20) Jesus—Charges Against: this is the statement used to charge Jesus with being an insurrectionist at His trial (Mt. 26:61; Mk. 14:58). It was also used to taunt Jesus as He hung upon the cross (Mt. 27:40). The Jews, showing their spiritual blindness and attachment to a materialistic world, understood Jesus to be saying that He would perform an architectural wonder.
5 (2:22) Prophecy, Belief in: Jesus’ objective was achieved. The disciples believed the Scriptures which had predicted the coming and resurrection of the Messiah ().
“For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Ps. 16:10; see Ac. 2:31; 13:35).
“Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Is. 53:12).
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (2004). The Gospel according to John
