John 2:13-22

HOUSE OF PRAYER

25 June 2017 –

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

· No service next week (01 July)

· Following week at 0900?

· Other Sanctuary

WHY DO WE WORSHIP? The supreme reason for human existence is to worship God for his love, greatness and saving deeds.

WHAT IS WORSHIP? True worship is not the mechanical repetition of rituals, but should be wholehearted and reverent. It should be based upon trustful and obedient lives, in that obedience is itself to be seen as an act of worship.[1]

WHAT IS DOXOLOGY? A form of words that offers praise to God, especially for his work of creation and redemption. Scripture records a number of these forms of praise which were used in both public and private worship.[2]

DO WE NEED IT?

To worship is a divine command

pp See also ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

God’s people are to be a worshipping people

See also ; ; ;

Worship is the response of God’s people

To God’s love See also ; ; ; ; ; ;

To God’s holy presence pp See also ; ; ; ;

To God’s greatness See also ; ; ; ;

To the fear of God ; See also ; [3]

Focus Question (What does…?)

Has Jesus called you…because you are perfect for Him?!

Timeless Truth (Truth of God’s Word)

His redemptive power, and His deity - This Gospel has taken the Creation account and connected the re-creation of the believer moving from darkness to light.

Background / Context (Context: Theme, Date/ Time, Speaker, Audience, and Situation)

Written in a time subsequent to 70 A.D. but believed to be between 70-100 AD

I. THEME

o Christ’s Deity (THE LIGHT)

II. DATE / TIME

o 70 AD was the date of the destruction of the temple, John dies before 100 AD – so we can be sure that it was not any later than 100 AD.

o We can discern this because this was during a time that the Sea of Tiberias was the name typically used for the Sea of Galilee (6:21, 21:1)

III. SPEAKER

o John (The Apostle that Jesus “loved”)

IV. AUDIENCE

o Different from the synoptic gospels as it is written to everyone (Greek and Jew)

V. SITUATION

o John focuses on events that are not found in the synoptic gospels to prove one thing to the reader – JESUS IS GOD IN THE FLESH, that the eternal WORD came to earth, had been born of a virgin to die as God’s perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. Not discussing: genealogy, birth, baptism, temptation, casting out of demons, parables, transfiguration, communion, sweating blood in Gethsemane, or His ascension.

TODAY’S TEXT

(ESV)

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

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.

Cross-Reference

, (),

I. THE PASSOVER

a.

II. THE TOWN

a. Nazareth

i. Root word “NETZER”

ii. Meaning “Branch” – Multiple OT Prophets spoke of the Messiah as the branch (, )

b. Not Mentioned in the Old Testament

III. THE MESSIAH

IV. Illustration (Optional, note: This is not an embellishment, it must be directly applicable to the theme being communicated by the text.)

Application (Most important part of message. Within this section, the following questions are answered using the focal text covered: “SO WHAT?” Why is this important to me…? How do I apply this to my life?)

Current Issues:

SO WHAT? – What is the application of “EXPRESSING “– how does your life look, out in the street, at your work, with your friends, with your family…with the guy who cut you off on the way home or to wherever?

V. Invitation (Challenge question: So what decision will you make today?)

So, what are you going to do about it? HE wants you, HE wants you to be HIS…HE is obviously drawing you to Himself…cry out to HIM, beg HIM to be the Lord of your life. Repent (about face) from whatever sin has a stronghold on you and cry out to HIM.

John recorded a cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry whereas the three Synoptics recorded a temple cleansing toward the end of His public ministry (; ; ). Probably there were two cleansings, for there are differences in the narrations. John was undoubtedly aware of the Synoptics, and he supplemented them. The first cleansing caught the people by surprise. The second cleansing, about three years later, was one of the immediate causes of His death (cf. ).

2:13–14. As was the custom for the Jewish people (, ; ) Jesus went up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover (cf. two other Passover feasts—one in and one in ; ; ). This reminded them of God’s grace in delivering them from the bondage in Egypt. It was a fitting time for His ministry.

The temple courts refer to a large courtyard, the Court of the Gentiles, surrounding the temple enclosure. (See the sketch of the temple.) The buying and selling of animals in the area was probably rationalized as a convenience for the pilgrims coming into Jerusalem. But abuses developed, and the pilgrim traffic became a major source of income for the city. With money to be made, worship easily became corrupted. The money changers were another convenience for the pilgrims. Temple dues had to be paid in the acceptable Tyrian coinage, and a high percentage was charged for changing coins.

2:15. Malachi predicted that One would come suddenly to the temple to purify the religion of the nation (). In moral indignation Jesus started a small stampede of the sheep and cattle, and overturned the tables.

2:16. Jesus protested the turning of His Father’s house into a market. He did not protest the sacrificial system itself. The purpose of the sacrifices was in danger of being lost. In the second cleansing of the temple toward the end of His ministry, Jesus’ attack was sharper. Then He called the temple area “a den of robbers” (; cf. ). Jesus frequently referred to God as “My Father.” Only through Jesus can the Father be known. “No one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him” ().

2:17. Jesus’ disciples remembered , which speaks of the fact that the Righteous One would pay a price for His commitment to God’s temple. This zeal for God would ultimately lead Him to His death.

2:18–19. The Jews—either the Jewish authorities or the merchants—demanded some proof for His right to challenge the existing order (“Jews demand miraculous signs,” ). But instead of giving in to their demand, Jesus gave a veiled saying. As with His parables in the Synoptics, one purpose of an enigmatic saying was to puzzle the hearers who opposed Him. He desired that His hearers ponder the saying in order to perceive its significance. Destroy this temple is in the form of a command, but the sense is ironic or conditional. At Jesus’ trial He was accused of saying He could destroy the temple and raise it again in three days (). A similar charge was made against Stephen ().

2:20–21. Herod the Great decided to replace the temple of Zerubbabel because it was not of the same glory as that of Solomon’s (). Since work on Herod’s temple began in 20 or 19 b.c., 46 years bring the date to a.d. 27 or 28. The work on the whole temple complex continued until around a.d. 63. The statement of the Jews meant either that the sanctuary was completed in 46 years or else one phase had been completed. How then, the Jews asked, could He rebuild it in three days? That would be impossible! The Greek words for and You are emphatic, suggesting their contempt for Him. Of course by the temple Jesus meant His body which, after his death, would be resurrected in three days.

2:22. Even Jesus’ own disciples did not understand His enigmatic saying at first. It took the light of the Resurrection to illuminate it. They did not see the need for His death, so they did not think along these lines until after the event. Nor did they understand the Scriptures which speak of the Messiah’s suffering and death (; ).[4]

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[1] Manser, M. H. (2009). Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies. London: Martin Manser.

[2] Manser, M. H. (2009). Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies. London: Martin Manser.

pp parallel passage

pp parallel passage

[3] Manser, M. H. (2009). Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies. London: Martin Manser.

[4] Blum, E. A. (1985). John. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, pp. 279–280). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.