The Book of John - 17

Introduction - We are in John chapter 2 and looking at 2 events recorded for us.

I do not want us to lose sight of the overall thrust of the book of John which is found in the 20th chapter, verse 30-31 which state, “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

Sometimes we may get the impression that this solely has to do with that singular moment when we receive Christ as our Savior By God’s grace through faith. But life, true life continues from the moment we receive Christ moving forward.

The gospel record should deepen our faith in the Lord and reinforce what we Already know concerning Him.

As we go through these chapters our delight is to know Him and to know His ways.

It also prepares us to be more effectual in communicating truth to others. The better I know my Lord, the better I may speak of Him.

In this chapter the first 12 verses deal the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee.

The latter 12 verses deal with the passover observance in Jerusalem.

In verse 12 we are told that the Lord, Mary, His brethren and the disciples went to Capernaum before travelling down to Jerusalem.

The Bibles says, “After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.”

With that introduction let us read verses 13-25.

Verse 13 gives us also an introduction to the second event, much like we saw in verse 1 concerning the Marriage Celebration.

The Bible says, “And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,”

And so we have...

1. The Lord’s travel to Jerusalem for the Passover.

The Jewish Passover feast as we noted in previous lessons was instituted by God for the nation of Israel in commemoration of the exodus from Egypt.

It was celebrated on the anniversary of that event on the fourteenth day of Nisan.

It was immediately followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread which lasted the entire week.

Pilgrims from all over would assemble in vast numbers for this great national feast.

I cannot overstate its importance to the nation of Israel.

This feast and the week long feast of unleavened bread were a part of the nation’s identity.

For you and I we understand even further the significance of that very event and the foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

“In NT times, all Israelite males were expected to appear in Jerusalem thrice annually, for the Feasts of Passover, of Weeks or Pentecost and of Tabernacles.”- New Bible Dictionary (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 872.

We saw in the first half of the chapter how it is that the Lord manifested forth his glory according to verse 12, and also his disciples’ faith was increased.

Now the Lord would manifest His authority as the Messiah and as God’s only begotten Son zealous of His Father’s house.

The Bible gives us the backdrop for what is about to take place as the Lord cleanses the temple in verse 14.

He was zealous for His Father’s house.

This very action was in keeping with what is found in Malachi chapter 3.

The Bible says, Malachi 3:1-3 “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: And the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, Even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: And he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.”

In coming into the temple, the Lord made the glory of this latter house exceed the glory of the former as was prophesied by Haggai 2:9

In Haggai 2:9 the Bible says, “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: And in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.”

This description prophesied of a time when the Lord Jesus Christ would walk in this temple, thus it would excel in glory.

In Ezra chapter 3 following the Babylonian captivity as the remnant of God’s people came back to Jerusalem the Word of God tells us that the old men wept as they looked at the foundations of this latter temple when the remembered what Solomons temple looked like.

But the Lord Jesus Christ’s presence was what made this temple more precious.

Just the same for you and I in this place.

The preciousness of this place is not found in it’s beautiful furnishings or grand architecture, but rather in the fact that we are here to meet with and worship our Lord.

As we go through this gospel record, we will see the Lord’s presentation to His people.

And as we find in the first chapter, which states John 1:11 “11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”

There will come a time before His crucifixion when the Lord will pronounce judgment upon this very place He at the first presents Himself.

In one of the most sobering lamentations in all of the Bible the Lord makes this statement in the temple in Matthew 23:37-39 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

This the Lord said in Matthew 23 and departed from the temple.

How truly sad that statement is, He told them “your house is left desolate…”

Having been in the glorious temple, having denounced the scribes, the Pharisees and religious leaders, He tells them this place is empty….

I thought about how truly sad that is, that the Lord had pronounced Ichabod upon that place and these people.

And then I thought about you and I in this dispensation. I thought about the local church and how many have been left desolate because they left their first love.

I thought about further, how many of us have felt the emptiness as well, being out of fellowship with the Lord.

The place of communion is hindered, the place of fellowship is broken.

May it not be so among God’s people here at Sharon Baptist Church and in our lives individually.

So now as we travel back to the beginning of His public ministry we see:

2. The Lord’s entrance into His Father’s House.

We have been shown the first miracle and now we see Him entering into the temple for the first time having begun His public ministry.

It has been remarked that later on the Lord would call this place their house…But here in verse 16 the Lord declares that this is His Father’s house.

Notice with me what the Bible says in verse 14, “And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:”

Now it is important to note the wording that is used here.

The word translated as ‘temple’ here is the word ἱερόν (heiron). It has to do with the entire Temple complex.

We will see in just a few moments why this word is used because of the placement of these money changers and sellers of animals.

There is a different word used in the Greek language to signify the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. (ναοσ -Naos)

“John is describing the entire area comprising some nineteen acres.”

Just to give us some perspective on the immensity of the temple complex that is about 14.5 football fields in size.

“The area was divided into four courts. Coming from the east and moving toward the sanctuary itself, a visitor would successively pass through the court of the gentiles, the court of the women, the court of Israel, and the court of the priests. With their usual contempt for all things gentile, the Jews designated their court as a suitable place to transact business.” - John Philips

The rationale for this business practice on the surface was expediency.

Let me pause on that point for just a moment. You and I are to be concerned with what is biblical, not just what is expedient.

We must be careful that we do not adopt the worldly philosophy that “It works therefore it must be okay.”

Our choices for the Christian life ought to be rooted in God’s Word. Our choices as a local church ought to be rooted in God’s Word.

This practice may have started in innocence with the intention of providing ease and accessibility to those coming from long distances.

With families coming from afar outside of Jerusalem, they would not bring with them animals for sacrificial purposes but rather would carry money to purchase the proper sacrifices upon arrival.

In some cases, the Priests would disallow certain animals as being defective or blemished, thus requiring further business for the sellers in the marketplace.

It seems that the sale of animals and the exchange of money had turned into an opportunity for business rather than a help to God’s people.

It would appear that filthy lucre, as the Bible warns against in Timothy and Titus, was a driving force behind this under the guise of religion.

In Mark chapter 11 the Lord speaks about this using a sharp term to describe what was taking place.

Mark 11:17 “17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.”

In addition to the animals being sold, many Jews from the diaspora would take this opportunity to pay their annual half-shekel that was commanded back Exodus chapter 30:11-16.

The money changers were there to provide the proper coins that were acceptable according to religious leaders to be given.

From Eerdmans Bible Dictionary I read these words, “Coins were widely used in the Roman Empire, and many different types, weights, and sizes of coins found their way into ancient Judea. This was especially true of Jerusalem during the Passover, as Jews came to make sacrifice at the temple. In addition, each Jewish male would pay an annual temple tax of a half-shekel.

Roman coins contained images of deities and inscriptions that proclaimed Roman domination, all of which were offensive to the Jews.

Therefore, Jewish authorities insisted that the temple tax be paid with coins bearing more acceptable images, usually shekels minted in Tyre. For a nominal fee, money-changers exchanged other coins for Tyrian shekels.”

As I looked at those shekels and thought about the comments concerning acceptable coins I was shocked to discover that these half-shekels themselves were not what I expected.

“The shekel, with the laureate head of Melqarth-Herakles (a pagan deity) on the obverse and an eagle (a graven image) on the reverse, averaged 14.2 gm in weight and contained at least 94 per cent silver. These coins were minted in Tyre between 126/125 BC and 19/18 BC. After the Roman government closed the Tyre mint, these coins continued to be minted at an unknown mint, probably in or near Jerusalem, from 18/17 BC until AD 69/70.

The Jewish coin makers continued to strike coins with the image of Melqarth-Herakles and the eagle. This was contrary to the clear teachings of the Word of God (Ex 20:3, 4: Dt. 4:16-18; 5:8). Yet the rabbis declared that the Tyrian shekels were the only legal currency that was acceptable in the Temple (Hendin 2001:420-29; 2002:46, 47).

The rabbis decided that the commandment to give the half-shekel Temple tax, with its proper weight and purity, was more important than the prohibition of who or what image was on the coin.”- Article from the Associates for Biblical Research

The reasoning for this acceptance had to do with the purity of the silver.

The Tyrian shekels contained a purer 94% silver whereas the Roman coinage contained an 80% purity which was less.

This equated to about two days wages, when we look at the Parable to the Lord gave concerning a days work being worth one Denarius in Matthew 20:2 (“2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.” )

And so the religious leaders made rules that allowed the obvious transgression with graven images (Exodus 20:4) and offensive language on the coin itself calling ‘Tyre the Holy City.’

If we figure conservatively around 150,000 Jews that would converge upon Jerusalem at this time and use current values at $24.10 per troy ounce of .99 pure silver the value would be close to $1m dollars.

If we are looking at .925 silver is around $850,000.00

We can see how all of this disgusted the Lord as He looked upon the degeneration of His house and His people.

Merrill C. Tenney had this to say concerning this incident, “Since the temple was His Father’s house (16), He resented its degradation to the level of a market. He had come to assert the claims of God upon His own nation, and He felt keenly the spiritual indifference which had turned worship into a means of profit.

Jesus’ act in cleansing the temple presupposed authority as the representative of God. As He spoke of “my Father” He voiced His claim to a peculiar relation with God.” - Tenney

One thing I had not thought of, but was brought to my attention by Matthew Henry, was the fact that the Lord had seen this degradation growing up. There is no reason to believe that the Lord did not come to the Temple during the required feasts or that this practice of selling animals and exchanging money in the court of the gentiles just began.

We know from the account in Luke 2 that the Lord travelled to the temple at the age of 12.

Matthew Henry stated it this way, “He had seen these in the temple formerly, when he was in a private station; but never went about to drive them out till now, when he had taken upon him the public character of a prophet.”

Notice these words in verses 15 and 16, “And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.”

I want you to notice the prudence of the Lord in His actions. He drove the animals out, He poured out the coins and overthrew the tables. But then the Bible tells us “He told them that sold doves…”

At every turn the Lord acted with great meekness.

The Lord could not bear to see the things of God dishonored and profaned. He was zealous for His Father and His Father’s house.

But He carefully purified the His Father’s house with great restraint.

As we think about these actions, I believe you and I can make some application:

God is holy.

One of the saddest things that is taking place today among Christians is a lack of reverence for the holiness of God. I am not talking about God’s people being stiff or dull or unemotional, but rather an attitude that says “I can approach God any way I feel like.” When we look at Revelation chapter 4, we see worship of God, giving honor to who He is. In Isaiah chapter 6, we again see a picture of this reverence for who God is.

The gentiles that would come into the very court where all of this was taking place, would have a hard time worshipping the Lord with carnal businesses filling the outer court.

It is important how we conduct ourselves when we come together to worship the Lord.

I began to think about what the Lord spoke about in John chapter 4 to the Women at the well. How it is that we are to worship God in spirit and in truth. I thought about how the Lord has blessed us to be able to worship Him here in this place. We do not have to travel to Jerusalem. We can assemble here in this place. But understand that the Lord is concerned about how we conduct ourselves.

Everything we do in this place ought to point us to the Lord and His Word. The spotlight is not to be on men, but all eyes on Him.

Empty Ritual observances and disorder alike are not intended. But rather you and I coming into a place, where are hearts our full as we look at to our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ.

We too ought to be zealous for our God.

Have we lost our zeal for the Lord? Do we stand by while our God’s name is profaned? Our we willing to allow iniquity to abound in our presence?

When we react in zeal do we speak the truth in love with careful restraint…in meekness?

4. The purging of that which is wrong ought to be done completely.