The Temple Cleansing
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Part 5: The Temple Cleansing
Part 5: The Temple Cleansing
In a Sentence: God’s Grace is for Everyone
Memory Verse: John 1:1-5
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 2:12-25
John 2:12-25
12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.
13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us 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 has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
I. Context, context, context (John 2:12-13).
I. Context, context, context (John 2:12-13).
12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.
13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
v. 12: Often we skip over things like this, but I think we can learn some pretty awesome stuff in these transition passages! Look and see.
1. Jesus had siblings! Check out Matthew 13:53-56. He has brothers (named James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas) and at least two sisters, all younger than He was.
2. Jesus is traveling from Cana, where he transformed the water into wine, to Capernaum, and then to Jerusalem for Passover.
v. 13: Jewish Passover and going “up to” Jerusalem.
The Jewish Passover was a celebration of a long-held tradition, dating back more than a thousand years.
Where did the tradition of the Jewish Passover come from? Why is it so important to God’s people?
The Temple was a very beautiful building. Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzer (2 Kings 24 :13; 2 Chronicles 36:7), burned and looted. It was rebuilt after the Jewish people returned from captivity hundreds of years later under Zerubbabel and the high priest Jeshua (Ezra 1; Nehemiah 1). It is this Second Temple upon which king Herod the Great, king of Judea under the Roman Empire, continued to built. The Temple was decaying and broken, and Herod, wanting to win the Jewish people’s favor, offered to rebuilt it for them. He did, and it was truly beautiful. It is this Temple that Jesus goes up to for the Passover. He rebuilt it, and it was huge. We’re talking over 36 acres of land, 1.56 million square feet of land.
Diagram/Picture of the Temple
II. Access to God is for everyone (John 2:14-17).
II. Access to God is for everyone (John 2:14-17).
14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
Why are there oxen, sheep, and pigeons in the Temple? Because the Old Testament sacrificial system demanded blood as atonement for sin. Under the Old Covenant, if God’s People wanted to approach and worship Him, they had to cleanse themselves. To do that, the Jewish people would sacrifice animals. How inconvenient would it have been, though, to travel hundreds of miles with your family, bringing cows, sheep, or birds along with you? No, it was much more convenient to leave yours at home and purchase something in Jerusalem. At one point they set up their stores outside of Jerusalem and away from the Temple, across the Kidron Valley. But wow, how convenient would it be to just go right to the Temple itself?
Money changers? Well, you see, anyone who was twenty years of age or older would have to pay what was called the Temple Tax. A special type of coinage was to be paid (Tyrian coinage), worth a half-shekel, for each Jewish man. We see this happen in Matthew 17:27, where Jesus gets the fish out of the water with a coin in its mouth. There the coin pays for both Jesus and Peter’s taxes.
Why does this matter? Why am I giving you this history lesson? Because of the answer to this question: where in the Temple would the Jews have set up? (1) In the Gentiles’ courtyard. (2) There were about two million Jews who came to the Temple for Passover. Remember, the Temple court is absolutely massive. The South Lawn here at RiverLakes Community Church is ~320ft x 800ft, so over four football fields in a square, ~256,000 square feet. Herod’s Temple Mount would have been 1.56 million square feet, about 20% larger than the entire RiverLakes Campus. Imagine one building that covered the entire campus. That’s how big the Temple Mount was.
The Temple was meant to be a place for everyone, people of all nations, to come to worship God in faith and purity. It was turned by the Jewish Leadership, greedy for money and power, into a “house of trade,” a "den of robbers” (Mark 11:17). The temple was not made for commerce, but for worship.
Court of Gentiles: Something of note here is that the area Jesus cleansed was likely in the “court of Gentiles.” The Gentiles, who were denied access to the closer places to the presence of God, would have had to worship while surrounded by massive amounts of people exchanging money, animals living and defecating around them, and generally distracting environments. Jesus’ clearing of the temple area is a clear welcoming of the Gentiles into the people of God, something that would happen more officially later through the witness of Paul.
v. 17: Jesus was angry. Why was He so angry? This was his “Father’s house,” and it was being desecrated.
III. Jesus prophesied His own death and resurrection (John 2:18-25).
III. Jesus prophesied His own death and resurrection (John 2:18-25).
18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us 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 has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”
The Jews ask for a “sign.” What authority does Jesus have to do this? The Jewish leadership, the Sanhedrin, gave them permission to do this. It is perhaps even representatives of the Sanhedrin who are confronting Jesus here. Who is Jesus to go against what they say? They had every right to question Jesus, but the way they asked their question was wrong. God wouldn’t perform a stunt to make them believe. He’s YHWH, not a pet that can be told to do tricks.
Jesus’ answer is very important to the church today. He says “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” What is He talking about? The response of the Jews makes sense, this temple was huge, and it took a long time to build. How would Jesus rebuild it in three days? What, is He some master builder who can lay thousands of bricks a minute?
No, like He often does, He’s not talking about physical reality, but rather spiritual reality. The “Temple” He refers to is “the temple of his body.”
21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
What was the purpose of the Jewish temple?
What is the connection between Jesus’ body and the temple?
The temple was meant to be the place where man would meet with God; where God’s people could worship Him, where they could offer sacrifices to atone for their sin. Jesus replaces the temple. His sacrifice on the Cross is the ultimate substitutionary atoning sacrifice, it replaces the Old Testament sacrificial system. “Jesus cleansed the temple; under this typological reading of the Old Testament, he also replaced it, fulfilling its purposes.
Through the Cross Jesus makes it possible for God’s people to access Him in prayer and worship Him wherever they are.
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
Only Jesus knows the heart of man, yet Jeremiah 17:10 says that only God knows the heart of man. “10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”” Jesus is God.
Conclusion
Conclusion
What Now?
Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong at church? Like you needed to do something in order to belong in God’s family? Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t belong in the church because of who you are. The Cross of Christ is a gift of grace offered to everyone. You just need to say yes, and take it.