A House of Prayer
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Have you ever felt like there was a specific moment in your life when something important was happening and you missed it. You just didn’t see it. You weren’t paying attention, you were afraid to “go for it,” you made an uninformed or poor decision, or something else. But you just can’t shake the feeling that that moment would have been life-changing and it slipped away and was forever gone. There was no going back. There was no second chance.
Such a thing happened with Jerusalem, except for the most part, the people in Jerusalem never even knew that it had come and gone. They still aren’t aware.
This morning, we are seeing Jesus visibly moved to tears by Jerusalem’s response to his coming and moved to anger by the corruption of the temple. And I want us to see two aspects of Christ and contrast them to the two aspects of the people. What we see from Jesus is a regard for Jerusalem, the people, and the temple. But from most, there is a disregard for Jesus, the Father, and the temple.
The Regard from Jesus
The Disregard for Jesus
And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,
saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side
and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold,
saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him,
but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.
The Regard from Jesus
The Regard from Jesus
The first aspect of this passage that I want us to see deals with the regard of Jesus. As we saw last week, Jesus was coming down Mt. Olivet and a crowd of his disciples (not the whole city of Jerusalem) were shouting his praise but some of the Pharisees had issue with that and sought to stop them. And what we saw was that Jesus, rather than rebuking the disciples, ended up rebuking the Pharisees. But now as we see that he is drawing ever nearer to the city, he begins to weep.
Again, what is often portrayed in the movies is Jesus coming into Jerusalem like some beauty queen—all smiles and a cupped hand waving. Instead, the closer he gets to Jerusalem, the sadder he becomes, to the point that he weeps over this place that was considered to be the city of God. Why? Because they were missing the most important moment, not just of their lives, but in the history of the world and they didn’t even know it!
Let’s go back a few centuries for a moment. I touched on this last week, but I want to touch on it again. A prophet of Judah had come on the scene. His name is Jeremiah. For years he had warned of coming judgment from God by way of Babylon, but the people would not believe and would not repent. He warned and warned, but was ignored and ridiculed. Jeremiah was call the weeping prophet as he wailed over and lamented the plight of his people and his city. He loved his people and his country. He loved God and his temple. But no matter what he said, no matter what he did, the people would not listen; they would not repent.
And the same goes now with Jesus. You may remember when Jesus asked his disciples who people said he was, they responded with some having said that he was Jeremiah. And here he shows good reason to associate the two. Jesus loved these people. He loved this city, the temple, and of course, he loved his Father. In other words, Jesus had such a tender regard for those whom he had come.
Here were the disciples crying out about peace in heaven and Jesus sees the people to whom he’s come living outside of that peace. They have no concept of how to attain such peace. They lived in Jerusalem, which itself means, “They will see peace,” but had never and would never see it. So what we have is the Prince of Peace entering the City of Peace, but its people did not know the things that make for peace.
And peace meant more than just lack of war. Peace meant and means wholeness, welfare, goodness. The people stated that there was peace in heaven with God, they were indicating rightly that all things were made right and good with God. And now Jesus says that they don’t even know how to experience that. They greet one another with Shalom. They live and visit a city that means, “they will see shalom.” They pray for shalom, but they’re all words! They don’t know how to attain it. It could have been theirs but, just as in Jeremiah’s day, they refused to see. And now they would not be able to because God would hide it from their eyes.
To what end? War and desolation. Their own destruction. Jesus prophesied
For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side
and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Jesus was so accurate in his prophesy that non-believing historians say that the gospel writers added this into their writings after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. There was no wholeness, no prosperity, no welfare or goodness for the people of Jerusalem. They would not see peace. Rome would eventually seige the city, putting a barricade around it, starving the people. When they finally entered, murder and mayhem ensued. General Titus sought to burn the entire city to the ground, but ordered the temple to be saved as he wanted to raid it of its treasures. Instead, it was inadvertently burned and the heat was so great that the silver and gold melted so that it oozed between the temple stones. In order to get to the silver and gold, Titus ordered the total destruction of the temple; not one stone would be left upon another so that every bit of silver and gold could be seized.
Jesus wept as he foresaw such annihilation. And it all happened “because you did not know the time of your visitation.” Visitation does not just mean to go and see. It has a deeper meaning than that. It typically had two meanings—opposite meanings: one was a visit of help and aid. We see this in James when he wrote that religion that is pure and undefiled before the Father is to “visit orphans and widows in affliction.” He clearly meant that they were not only to go see them, but to help and aid in their affliction. But the other is exactly the opposite. It meant to judge and destroy. Such as in Isaiah 29:6
you will be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
The people of Jerusalem did not know the time of their visitation—the time of aid and help. They had missed it; they had ignored it. And Jesus wept because there would be a time when the destructive visitation would come.
From this point, Jesus went to the temple and there he saw what the temple had become. Again, what we see here is Jesus’s regard for the people, the temple, and the Father. He had such regard that to see them dishonored made him full of righteous indignation. And so we read
And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold,
The temple was a major deal. It represented the splendor of God, the glory of God, the majesty of God. Those who saw the temple were meant to get a picture of who God was. This was why the old people wept in Ezra when they saw the foundation of the new temple. It was a fraction of what the original temple had been. A puny temple meant a puny God. A majestic temple meant a majestic God.
Remember Jesus rebuking those who took oaths by the gold of the temple? Jesus’s response was, “what is greater, the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?” Anything that took away from the majesty of God was offensive, whether a swearing by its gold or selling and cheating people in its courts was offensive to Jesus.
Of course, there is no temple anymore, not a physical one anyway. But we do know that we who are believers in Christ Jesus are now his temple. And Paul finds that to be a major deal. But the local church and the individual believer are called the temple of God. Let me ask you this, do we have such regard for the Father and his temple? The Spirit and his temple?
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
That is to the local church. God still takes his temple seriously. God will destroy those who destroy the local church.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
This is in reference to sexual promiscuity, but the overall command is to glorify God in our bodies because our bodies are the temple of God. Do we regard our temples in the way Jesus regarded the temple? Do we seek to find that which is unholy and wrong within our bodies, whether the local body of believers or our own individual bodies, and seek to cleanse them? Are we looking to drive out that which does not belong?
The Disregard for Jesus
The Disregard for Jesus
Because most people don’t. Most people disregard Jesus, disregard the Father, and disregard his temple.
Again, the people would be faced with a visitation of judgment because they did not receive the visitation of peace. They did not know what made for peace. Let’s go back.
saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
Notice that Jesus is talking to Jerusalem as a whole, and notice the emphasis that is made. “You, even you.” And I do believe that it is for emphasis, but I do wonder if he looks not only at Jerusalem, but to the crowd of disciples that were with him. You—to Jerusalem, even you—the crowd that is singing about peace. We don’t know. But one thing we know: the people did not know how close their peace was.
The very Word of God had come to them from prophet after prophet. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Zechariah, and more. They had heard the Word but had not accepted it as such.
How often is this the case with us? We know what the Word says. We’ve heard it all before.
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you don’t know my anxieties.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Yup. I’ve heard that one also. It sounds nice and all, but it’s not talking about me.
Let me give you one more:
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
And the list of verses could go on and on. Peace I give you, my peace I leave with you. . . In this world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. . . How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
And we disregard each one and in so doing we disregard Jesus, the one who is the be-all and end-all of the Law and the Prophets, the very Word of God in the flesh, the very Prince of Peace. We disregard him and the peace that he offers and suffer as a result.
Oh! What peace we often forfeit! Oh! What needless pain we bear! All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Instead, we use these temples of God for salacious activities. That which ought to be a house of prayer becomes a den of robbers. We rob ourselves of peace, of love, of joy, of strength. John tells us that all who have been born of God overcome the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world: our faith. Not strong faith; true faith. Not big faith; true faith. We see Jesus for who he said he was. We believe that in him is life everlasting. In him is life and not just life but abundant life. In him is light for our darkness; light so great that darkness cannot overcome it. And because we believe he is whom he claims to be, we cry out to him; our temples become houses of prayer.
In Jesus’s day, the court of the Gentiles, the outermost court of the temple, had become a place known as the bazaars of Annas, the former high priest. It was in the bazaar of Annas that people would come to have their lambs inspected for the Passover and other sacrifices. Often regular sacrifices would be available for purchase by those who lived too far to bring one. But the prices were exorbitant. The people would have to exchange their secular money for the temple shekel and were charged a large fee. All of this was before a lost and watching world. The court of the Gentiles were for those who were curious, those who wanted to see the Jewish religion in action. They couldn’t participate, but they could watch. What would they think?
Again, the glory of God, the majesty of God, the beauty of God, the power of God was at stake! How the temple of God was used would either cause the people to believe and glorify God or cause them to blaspheme him. So it is not only our peace that we forfeit, but very well could be the peace of our neighbors, our co-workers, our family and friends.
Believe me, I’m not trying to heap on any guilt or shame. But I am reminding you that we are more than individuals. We are living stones (as we saw last week) being made into a spiritual house so others will see and know the excellencies of God. Do they see that in us?
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we finish, I said that most people disregard Jesus. There were some that did not, at least not initially. There was still a substantial crowd that would go and sit at Jesus’s feet.
but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.
I hope that is us. I hope we are a people who hang on Jesus’s words. We listen to them; we enjoy them; we believe them; we pray them back to him; we are convicted and comforted by them; we meditate upon them; we adhere to them. Would that be us!
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.
He regards us. He loves us. He intercedes on our behalf. He loves the temple of God. That means he loves you. Do not ignore that. Don’t get used to those words. Don’t disregard them as if they mean little. They mean everything! He is our Peace; let us not forget the things—the very One—that makes for peace. Let us not misuse this temple of ours—whether this local body of believers or our individual selves—but let us be what we are meant to be: houses of prayer.
Prayer
Our heavenly Father,
How often we disregard our Savior and his promises and in so doing, we forfeit the promised peace. It seems that we too do not know the things that make for peace in our world. Strengthen our resolve to treat these, your temples as houses of prayer; may we not allow the thief to enter to steal, kill, or destroy. May we watch ourselves so that we do not lose what we have worked hard for, but may receive a full reward.
In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.
