From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part two of a series. Read part one.

If Jesus came to your church this Sunday, would His all-consuming zeal for holiness in worship compel Him to cleanse it as He did the temple at Jerusalem?

In our last article we saw that on the Monday after His entry into Jerusalem on the day we commemorate as Palm Sunday, Jesus returned to the temple area. The previous day He had observed what was taking place there, particularly in the large Court of the Gentiles, an area of over ten acres. Under the Mosaic Law this area was supposed so be a quiet place, devoted to prayer and the worship of God. But in Jesus' day, under the authority of apostate religious leaders, it was being used for an entirely different and unconsecrated purpose.  

The Levites had turned the temple area into an animal market and money exchange.

A Scene of Chaos

They were doing this as a matter of convenience. Jews who came from outlying parts of Israel or from foreign lands to worship and offer sacrifices, would wait until they got to Jerusalem to buy a sacrificial animal to offer at the temple. It was too much trouble to bring an animal on the trip with them. So the temple itself had become the animal market.

And because many of these people were coming from foreign countries, they had to change their foreign money into local currency in order to buy an animal. So there were moneychangers - literally, people who exchanged currency.

We are told in contemporary records, by Josephus and others, that the family of the high priest ran this operation. In other words, they had gone into the cattle and banking businesses. They sold sacrificial animals in the Court of the Gentiles at premium prices. And just like your local bank today, they charged heavy transaction fees for changing money.

Also, keep in mind that the event recorded in the Gospel records took place during Passover week. Hundreds of thousands of Jews came to the temple at Jerusalem during this time each year. So picture this scene: This temple area, which is supposed to be a quiet place of prayer and worship, is filled with stalls of baying animals and their refuse, thousands of shouting people, and arguments about prices. Instead of quiet, and prayer, and worship, there is chaos.

And what did Jesus do? The Gospel accounts tell us that He threw out those who bought and sold, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers. The force of the original language is that He did it violently, and with anger. And He said to them, quoting from Isaiah and Jeremiah, "It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves." God incarnate would not tolerate having the place in which He was to be worshipped desecrated in this way. As the account in John's Gospel tells us, Jesus was motivated by an all-consuming zeal for the sanctity of His Father's house, and the worship that was to take place within it (John 2:17).

Let me offer two lessons from this event.

Jesus: A Mighty Man

The first has to do with the Lord Jesus Himself. Sometimes - actually, often - our Lord has been depicted in paintings, and today is portrayed in motion pictures and on television, as almost effeminate. A weak character. But this account puts the lie to that idea. The Man who cleansed the temple was a man's man. What He did was no small task. Think of the size of the area - roughly ten acres of ground. Think of the crowd that was present. Think of the chaos of the scene.

And then think of this one Man, the Son of God, driving out these merchants, and their animals, and turning over the bankers' tables. He was physically capable of single-handedly doing this. The Lord Jesus Christ was a mighty man, like David of old. He was truly the Son of David. Our God incarnate is the mighty God, not a weakling. This mighty God-Man now reigns on the throne of Heaven, and intercedes for His saints with the Father. He is mighty on behalf of His saints.

Today's Church: Houses of Prayer or Dens of Thieves?

The second lesson has to do with our worship. Far too often in our day, what are called churches are chaotic places rather than houses of prayer. They are places of apostasy in which prosperity preachers and other false prophets, as the King James Version puts it, "make merchandise" of the people - exploiting them for their own ungodly gain:

But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. (2 Peter 2:1-3, NKJV)

Later in this chapter and in the one to follow, Peter describes these false worshippers and their followers in detail. He says that "their destruction does not slumber" (2:3) and that they "will receive the wages of unrighteousness" (2:13), being, along with this present earth under the curse, "reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men" (2:7).

But, Peter tells his readers, remember that Christ is surely coming again as He has promised (3:10-13). "Therefore," Peter declares, "what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness"? Godliness and holiness are the keynotes of true Christian worship:

Give [that is, ascribe] unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty [literally, the majesty] of holiness. (Psalm 29:1-2)

Holiness in worship - worship that is set apart from the world, worship that is entirely different from what the world would do, worship that is done as prescribed in Scripture - is beautiful and majestic in the eyes of our mighty God and His Christ. That is why Jesus, with anger and violence, drove out those who desecrated His place of prayer.

Dear friend, are you like those whom Jesus drove out? Is your church like that? If He came to your church this Sunday, would His all-consuming zeal for holiness in worship provoke Him to rise up in anger at what passes for worship in your church? If so, you need to repent, and you need to flee from those who practice what Scripture calls "will-worship" (Colossians 2:23) - ungodly worship that is based upon man's own devices, and is contrary to the true worship of Christ.

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people." Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1)

Next: What Did Jesus Do After He Cleansed the Temple?

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