SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/17/2012
8:22:19 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Cleansing the Temple
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Mark
11:15-19
Message of
the verses: In Today’s Spiritual Diary we will look at
the second part of the main point which is entitled “The Servant –Judge.” Dr. Wiersbe wrote the following in his
introductory commentary on this section:
“Our Lord’s condemning of the tree and cleansing of the temple were both
symbolic acts that illustrated the sad spiritual condition of the nation of
Israel. In spite of its many privileges
and opportunities, Israel was outwardly fruitless (the tree) and inwardly
corrupt (the temple).
Cleansing the Temple (vv. 15-19):
“15 Then they *came to Jerusalem. And He entered
the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the
temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those
who were selling doves; 16 and He would
not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. 17 And He began to teach and say to them,
"Is it not written, ’MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL
THE NATIONS’? But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN." 18 The chief priests and the scribes heard this,
and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd
was astonished at His teaching. 19 When
evening came, they would go out of the city.”
The Gospel of John teaches
us that during Jesus’ first Passover after He began His ministry, which would
last about three years, that He cleansed the temple is a similar way that He
did at this time as recorded in the section written above. “13
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14 And He found in the temple those who
were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their
tables. 15 And He made a scourge of
cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and
He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables;
16 and to those who were selling the
doves He said, "Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a
place of business." 17 His
disciples remembered that it was written, "ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME
ME." 18 The Jews then said to Him,
"What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?"
19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy
this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 20 The Jews then said, "It took forty-six
years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"
21 But He was speaking of the temple of
His body. 22 So when He was raised from
the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the
Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.”
We can see that this section from John’s Gospel is very similar, but the
problem is that the Jews did not learn or remember from the first
cleansing. Another thing to think about
is that we see in John’s account of the first cleansing that Jesus told the
leaders that the sign that He would give them for His authority to do this was
to destroy the temple and He would raise it up in three days, and now within
less than a week the Jews would destroy the temple, that is crucify the Lord
Jesus Christ, and in three days He would be raised from the dead, thus
fulfilling His prophecy.
The Jews were doing this
for a service to those who came from faraway places so that they would not have
to bring a sacrifice with them in order to make it more convenient for them. There were a number of problems in this and
the first one is that they were setting up shop so to speak in the court of the
Gentiles. The problem with this was that
this was supposed to be a place where missionary work was to be done, but they
did little of this because the Jews would look down at the Gentiles because
they believed that because they were children of Abraham that they were much
better than the Gentiles. Another
problem was that they would cheat the people who came to exchange their money
in order to buy their sacrifices. I have
even read that some people would bring a sacrifice with them and then the Jews would
say that it was unclean or not good enough to be a sacrifice and then they
would buy it cheap and turn around and sell it to another person stating that
it was actually clean enough for a sacrifice.
This was a business that made money for the priests and took advantage
of the crowds especially the poor who could only afford a dove for their
sacrifice as this is mentioned in both of the accounts. It was Joseph and Mary who came to the temple
in order to dedicate Jesus when He was first born and all they could afford was
a dove.
Jesus quoted from two OT
prophets when He cleansed the temple:
Isaiah 56:7, “’Even those I will bring to My holy mountain And make them
joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will
be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for
all the peoples.’” He also quoted from
Jeremiah 7:11: “’Has this house, which
is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I,
have seen it," declares the LORD.’”
Dr. Wiersbe states that Campbell Morgan points out “a den of thieves” is
a place to which thieves run when they
want to hide.”
We see that when the
scribes and chief priests heard of what Jesus was doing that they wanted all
the more to kill Jesus. We read that
these leaders did not want to kill Jesus during the Passover celebration for
they feared the people, and we read here that they actually feared Jesus. However it was in the plan of God to have
Jesus die at the exact time that the Passover lambs were killed and these
Jewish leaders were powerless were powerless to stop the plan of God.
Dr Wiersbe concludes this
section with some stinging words: “Before
we quickly condemn the Jewish religious leaders for their sins, we should
examine our own ministries to see if perhaps we are making merchandise of the
Gospel. Do the outsiders in our
community think of our church buildings as houses of prayer? Are all notions
welcomed there? Do we as church members
flee to church on Sundays in an attempt to cover up our sins? Do we ‘go to church’ in order to maintain or
reputation or to worship and glorify God?
If the Lord Jesus were to show up in our house of worship, what changes
would He make?”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: There are times
when I have to stop and to ask the Lord to examine my motives to make sure that
I am doing things in the power of God’s Spirit and not in my own power for this
story shows that this was not the case for these Jewish leaders during the time
of Jesus. Having a clear conscience is
important in doing things for the Lord and that can only happen if I ask the
Lord to search my heart (Psalm 139:23-24).
My Steps of Faith for Today: “23
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24 And see if there be any wicked way in
me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Memory verses for the
week: 1Cor. 13:8-10
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of
prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if
there is knowledge, it will be done away.
9 For we know in part, and we
prophecy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child I use to speak like a
child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man I did away
with childish things.”
10/17/2012 9:14:17 AM
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