SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/13/2023 10:11 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-2
“He Demonstrated Divine Authority”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
21:12b
Message of the verse: “and cast out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves.”
I have been writing about divine reasons why Jesus
was not resisted in doing the things that He was doing in the Temple, and now I
want to talk about human reasons why Jesus was not resisted. In earlier SD’s we talked about how Jesus
rode into Jerusalem on a colt of a donkey and all the people were praising Him
and believing Him to be their Messiah, and so as Jesus no goes through the
Temple and does what He is doing to it as described in our verse today it is
very possible that the priests and other religious leaders were fearful of the
Jewish populace, many of whom had just proclaimed Jesus as their Messiah. “And they could not
find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging on to every
word He said” (Luke 19:48).
The merchants were also afraid of the people after
all they had been cheating them for a long time, and so the people were probably
happy that Jesus is now doing something about it. John MacArthur writes “Historical records
reveal that several decades later the people did indeed riot against their
mercenary Temple exploiters. But those
reasons fall short of fully explaining what happened to those who were
desecrating the Temple. They were not
merely intimidated but were powerless and speechless before the authority of
this Galilean Teacher whom they despised and refused to recognize as the
Messiah.”
Mark reports the following in 11:16 “and
He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.” MacArthur reports “Because the Temple was
near the East Gate, the Court of the Gentiles was often used as a thoroughfare by
those traveling to and from the southwest side of the city. Jesus also put an immediate halt to that
contempt for the sanctity of God’s house.
The implication seems to be that He made the people drop what they were carrying
and leave empty-handed. Here, too, we
see no hint of resistance or opposition.
Jesus commanding presence was such that it instilled fear and submission
in every person there, regardless of what they thought of Him or what He was
doing.”
As one follows the life of Jesus
Christ through the gospels they can easily see that He came to earth in
humiliation as the incarnate Son of God, but on this occasion, as on several
others, Jesus forcefully manifested divine hatred against sin, and especially
the sin that profanes God’s name and defiles His holiness. In doing what Jesus die in the Temple He made
the Temple symbolically clean. With the
great clutter of animals, tables, chairs, money, and frightened people, it was
far from tidy; but it was for a brief time cleansed of overt moral
defilement. Yes there would be a mess to
clean up but as stated it was cleansed from the defilement of what had been
going on there.
MacArthur concludes “It was in part
out of Martin Luther’s great hatred of indulgences, the supposed buying of God’s
grace for money, that the Protestant Reformation was born. Believers today should cry out as Luther did
for Christ to cleanse the church of its many modern defilements, including
making merchandise of the gospel.
Judgment still must begin with the household of God” (1 Pet. 4:17).”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: The
cleansing of the church is needed today, and I believe that this would bring on
a great revival in our country and around the world.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I am praying
for revival in my life, in my family’s lives, and in our church and
country. I am also praying for revival
to break out in Singapore.
6/13/2023 10:46
AM
No comments:
Post a Comment