A Zeal for God’s House
Introduction:
John was the last Gospel writer. He had the gospels of Mark, Mathew and Luke before him when he started to write. He was an old man, at the time of the writing, and pastor of the church at Ephesus. His purpose in writing was so that we would know that Jesus is the “Son of God” and Messiah of Israel. So the events in the life of Jesus that he chose to write about are those that put the emphasis on Jesus’ God hood!
John 2:11 - 25 (NKJV) 11This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him. 12After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days. 13Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” 18So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” 19Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. 23Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.
The Time of the Passover
A. The feast of Passover was to remember the Exodus of the Children of Isreal.
Exodus 13:3 - 10 (NKJV) 3And Moses said to the people: “Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. 4On this day you are going out, in the month Abib. 5And it shall be, when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month. 6Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. 7Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters. 8And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, ‘This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt.’ 9It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord’S law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. 10You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.
B. It was the time of the offering of the Passel Lamb
Exodus 12:1 - 13 (NKJV) 1Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2“This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. 4And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. 5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. 8Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. 10You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. 11And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’S Passover. 12‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. 13Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
A display of Christ’s Majesty
John 2:14 - 17 (NKJV) 14And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”
He made a whip of cords
He didn’t find a whip
He deliberately made a whip from the cords the merchants used to tie the boxes
He didn’t whip them but used the whip to drive them and the animals out of the temple
God had deliberately cleansed the temple before this!
Ezekiel 8:6 - 12 (NKJV) 6Furthermore He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My sanctuary? Now turn again, you will see greater abominations.” 7So He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall. 8Then He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall”; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door. 9And He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.” 10So I went in and saw, and there—every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around on the walls. 11And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. 12Then He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’”
Jesus cleanses the temple
Ill: can you see it? His voice - His eyes - His demeanor - His Kingly presence - His blazing anger – cattle are stampeding – sheep and lambs are crowding near the walls pressing to find a way out – traders are running about trying to separate and get a hand on their animals – money table are overturned and men are scrambling to pick up rolling coins from the pavement covered with the dung and escheatment – some have handfuls of coins covered with filth and its getting on their dress and faces. Caiaphas , Anas and the Sanhedrin, who had set up the unholy practices and were making a prophet from it, are looking on the scene from their balconies.
Blazing indignations gives a background for the majestic demonstration of divine holiness!
The disciples are reminded by the Holy Spirit
Psalms 69:7 - 9 (NKJV) 7 Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Shame has covered my face. 8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, And an alien to my mother’s children; 9 Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
The Reaction of Religion
John 2:18 (NKJV) 18So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?”
They were offended by His power
They challenged His authority
They asked for His credentials
How stupid can religious people be?
ILL: Just this week I received a “Pastor’s marketing” magazine. They offered me a profit for selling.
Sacred key changes signs of the fish, cross or star of David
Sacred door post signs – Christian and Jewish
Sacred scarf – Jewish or Christian Ties
Bottles of Holy Oil or Holy water
One church I visited had a clothing store with copies of the Pastor’s suits for sale, or a gold crested “sword of the spirit.”
I’ve been invited by church members, and other ministers, to sell – cosmetics, vitamins, phone cards, health drinks, insurance policies, - all of it you understand is “anointed” and “holy” – and to sell it in the church and, or, on television. One group even wanted me to open up a place in the Cathedral to sell “fairy stones”
The assembly on the “Lord’s Day” is not a place for you or for me to come in order to merchandise your products! Those who do so have the same motives as the temple merchants.
Exhibiting
Greed
Disorder
Extortion
Dishonesty
Christ’s answer
John 2:19 - 25 (NKJV) 19Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. 23Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.
What’s in your temple?
1 Corinthians 6:12 - 20 (NKJV) 12All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” 17But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
A. There is more than one way to be a harlot!
People sell sex for pleasure
Profit (economic security)
To overcome a feeling of unworthiness
Because they are lonely
B. Other ways to profane the temple
Exhibiting
Greed
Disorder
Extortion
Dishonesty
Conclusion: If Jesus should come to your church, to your home, to your body what would He find?
Mark 11:11 (NKJV) 11And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.
What would be His appraisal?
Matthew 25:21 (NKJV) 21His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
Or would He start looking for some cords to make into a whip?
