After the Triumphal Entry of Jesus through the Eastern Gate, the scripture records that he then left the city of Jerusalem and went to stay the night at the home of his friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Then the next morning he set out once again to go to Jerusalem, about 2 miles away. It was the time of the most Holy week of Israel called Feast of Passover and the population of the city had increased greatly so that there were overflowing crowds everywhere in the streets and shops, and even in the outer courts of the temple.
Many who came were preparing for the Passover celebration and the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb in the temple on the final day of the feast, and likewise, every family, which was considered a “community” within Israel, was obliged to slay its own Paschal Lamb to symbolize being part of the whole of the nation of Israel.
As Jesus and the disciples came to the temple court, some say it was the court of the Gentiles which was the only place for gentiles to worship, and others say it was Solomon’s Porch. Either way they found themselves in the midst of an overflowing crowd of pilgrims who had traveled from all over the known world, for people had come for the great convocation as God had commanded.
Entering the Temple court, Jesus saw the money changers sitting at their tables stacked with money and coins of all descriptions. Right next, or very nearby were merchants who were selling animals to be offered for sacrifice.
Most of the pilgrims were Jews who came from hometowns and provinces outside of Jerusalem carried coins from their own home and most of their money bore the images of Roman emperors or Greek gods. Of course the priests and guards of the “Holy Temple” could never accept this money with idolatrous images on it. That would desecrate the temple and possibly bring down the wrath of God! That money had to be exchanged for money that was acceptable in the temple.
The High Priest, Caiaphas, had ordered that only Tyrian shekels would be accepted for the annual half-shekel Temple tax. Of course the exchange rate was arbitrary according to what the changers chose because all coins from other places weren’t valued the same, and the Tyrian Shekels contained a higher percentage of silver, making them the more valuable.
The money changers “business” was to exchange ungodly, idolatrous and unacceptable coins for these Tyrian shekels, and in the course of the exchange they took a percentage of the exchange value for themselves. As you can imagine, their percentage was often more than the law allowed, but who was going to know?
The people who came to exchange their money had no choice but to do so, whatever the cost. Each one had to pay the temple tax in order to submit their lamb to the priests for approval and processing in order to observe the Passover.
And even though many had brought their own lamb from home, those lambs had to be examined for blemishes, and of course, in order for the priests, money changers and merchants to each make a profit, most lambs were declared unworthy. This forced the people to go back and exchange more money in order to buy a “worthy sacrifice” to bring to the priests for approval. It was all a racket; an extortion ring, created to make everyone rich at the expense of those who had no choice but to put up with it if they wanted to obey the Law of Moses and partake in the Passover Feast.
It is no wonder that when Jesus entered into this court and saw what was happening, knowing the thievery, trickery, unjust charges and corruption, he was filled with anger at how this desecrated the holy place of the temple and went against every law of the commandments.
He took some cords, leather straps or pieces of rope and wove them into a small whip. Then He went from table to table, knocking over the tables of the money changers, and spilling coins all over the ground. You can imagine the scene as the crowds scrambled to pick up the loose coins everywhere, and the fighting of the money changers as they tried to retrieve their profits! They lost a lot of money I’m sure.
He drove the exchangers out of the area, and then went after the merchants who sold the lambs, pigeons and cattle. Their whole corrupt system was destroyed and the court was closed down forcing everyone to go in another way, where they wouldn’t be trapped in this circle of extortion and theft.
As he cleansed the Temple of greed and profit, Jesus quoted from Isaiah 56:7 and declared in Matthew 21:13, It is written, “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. “
Matthew 21:14-16, And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
The praise that come forth from those who saw Jesus as One sent from God, who performed miracles of healing instead of extorting money from them was what God was looking for! God inhabits those praises and Jesus was overjoyed at the shouts of “Hosanna to the Son of David” for that meant that he was recognized as the Son of David come to bring salvation! God had perfected praise out of those who were the least among the people!
Luke 19:47-48 And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, and could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him
In this same moment in time, at Jesus’ last visit to the temple during his time on earth as a man, Luke tells us on something else that happened that reveals what God considers to be an acceptable offering and it has nothing to do with how much it is, but what matters is the condition of the heart that gives it.
Luke 21:1-4 “And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.”
We forget that “little is much when God is in it!” The giving of our offerings is not to impress others or make us look Holy. It’s given out of a heart of love because we know that it all belongs to God anyway, and we are grateful for the blessings that He has given to us.
The important thing is that it proves our true love for God because there’s nothing in this world that is harder to get people to do than give of their money to the work of the kingdom of God.
And God honors a “cheerful giver” by blessing them in return in ways that money can’t buy, and sometimes by multiplying their gift back to them as he did the widow with the cruse of oil and the prophet Elijah. He will see to it that your needs are met and the well of your blessings never run dry.
I wonder what Jesus would do in some of our churches today? I think that sometimes he might need to carry that whip with him and set some things right.
There are those in the church of today who carry on their own form of extortion, finding ways to get money out of the people for their own purpose of getting rich.
I look around and I wonder, how many offerings for missions did it take to buy a Jet plane and keep up the maintenance and hire pilots? How many widow’s mites did it take to buy two or three mansions and expensive automobiles, or live extravagant, laid back lifestyles while the members of the church are still stuck in the daily routine of trying to make ends meet? Are we in the business of saving souls and worshipping God, or are we in the business of making money and supporting our lifestyles through the selling of commercial products that have little or nothing to do with the Bible and the plan of salvation?
I’m not condemning anyone, or judging anyone, but it sure grates against my understanding of God’s plan for the spreading of the gospel and winning souls to Jesus when I see these things happening and preachers living like kings while the true work of the kingdom goes undone! Many have become to “rich in this world’s goods” to be concerned about souls in need of salvation.
Jesus has a word for the church of today! It’s given to us in the message to the seven churches and the angels, or ministers, of those churches! God and read Revelation chapter 3 again and see what Jesus might have to say to you!
The church is in the Laodicean Age right now where the church is rich and in need of nothing because many in the church have taken the offerings meant for the spreading of the gospel and meeting the needs of people and they have used it only for themselves, building huge buildings only to draw larger crowds and more money, and the cycle just keeps repeating.
Some have become just a glorified extortion ring, offering entertainment at it’s best, and creating an atmosphere of excitement and pleasure that pleases the flesh! But where is the gospel? When do we hear the message of the cross and the sacrifice of the Lamb of God? When was the last time the Spirit of God actually entered into the service because he was welcomed inside?
The last time that Jesus went to the temple he cleaned house and then initiated ministry among the people as it should have been all along. He healed sick, blessed the givers and showed them the true way to salvation through his own sacrifice.
I believe that Jesus is walking through his temples again in this last hour. He is walking in every heart, for we are temples of the Holy Ghost. He is in us either to break out the “whip of correction”, driving us to cleanse our hearts and get right with him” or force us to change and get right with God. If we resist his will, that whip it will cause us to flee from the presence of the Lord and go out into the world without him.
Which will it be for you? Will you run from his presence so that you no longer feel the sting of conviction for sin, and you no longer feel the tug of the Holy Ghost calling you to repent and turn back to God?
Or will you allow the cleansing to come through repentance, and then begin to experience the true presence of Christ in your heart and life and allow him to bring healing to your heart and soul, and blessings of perfect praise from your heart to his?
We are going to observe the celebration of the Passover Seder this Saturday. We don’t do this in strict observance of the Old Testament Law, but we do it in honor of the traditions of Israel, and in recognition of its fulfillment in Christ.
But as we do so, let us remember that it is at this time that we remember the last visit of Jesus to the temple and his cleansing of the house of God.
In the beginning of the Seder you’ll see that in Israel, the women have spent a whole week cleaning the leaven out of the house, and she only leaves one little spot of leaven where it can easily be found.
That’s because the man of the house, acting as Priest of the House, must go behind her checking for leaven. And when he finds that little bit that she left on purpose, and that leaven is taken out and burned, only then can the house be declared sanctified enough to observe the Passover.
Let’s clean the leaven, “the sin”, from our own lives so that we don’t have to face the correcting hand of the Lord! Jesus is visiting our Temple right now. What is he finding?
Is all the leaven gone? Let us examine ourselves to see that we are worshipping the Lord in spirit and in truth, and that our lives are bearing the fruits of righteousness as proof of our love for God, and let us cleanse our hearts every day for we never know when Jesus will come to make his last visit to our temple before we are called to stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ!
