Judgment on the Temple

10 June 2018 Michael Cloete Malelane Baptist Church Judgment on the Temple (Mark 11:15-19) Reading: Mark 11:12-26 “The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it. On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. When evening came, they went out of the city. In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”” (Mark 11:12–26, NIV84) Mark 11:26 (NASB95): 26“But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.” Introduction We come this morning to a well-known passage, where we see what appears to be a very different side of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We are used to the compassionate, peaceful, gracious, loving, patient, merciful description of Jesus. This is the Jesus that we are taught about mostly – and I think for the most part, this is good. Jesus is indeed all of those things, perfectly so, and so far more so than any of us! But we do indeed see something of the righteous indignation of Jesus in this passage. Here we see for ourselves a true and pure form of righteous anger that Jesus acts out upon those who are in the temple. The anger stems from the fact that God’s honour has been turned into a means for selfishness. It has been turned into a means for maintaining religious appearances. The place where God was dwelling in the midst of His people, has now become a place where man and his own personal agenda had taken centre stage. It is thus entirely fitting and right, that Jesus responds the way that he does to those who are buying and selling in the temple. Now, as we come to this text, we need to keep in mind that this is one of Mark’s “sandwich texts”. There is a start portion on a particular topic; then Mark breaks away to a different scene, or seemingly different event, and then returns to the previous subject that he had started with. And so, we have the two pieces of bread in the sandwich (at the start and at the end) and then we have the filler – the meat if you like. And in case you missed this in previous instances of these sandwiches, and in order to tell you what Mark is doing when he writes such texts: What goes on the outside, and what goes on the inside, are meant to complement each other, or expand, or explain each other. These are not disassociated texts, but rather they are texts that have a bearing on one another, and need to be used in order to interpret each other. With that in mind, you will recall that last week we considered the outer portion of this sandwich text. And that outer portion conveyed the account of the fig tree that was in leaf, but had no fruit on it. It was not yet the time for figs, and yet this tree had leaves on it. And given that it had leaves on it, it ought also to have had fruit. On the fig tree, the fruit either came with the leaves, or it even preceded the leaves. And so this fig tree was not living up to its pretensions, and thus Jesus used this as an opportunity to teach his disciples a very important lesson. The lesson that we learn from this is concerning the judgment that was to be coming on Israel for their failure to demonstrate any true fruit that ought to have been present in their lives as God’s people. In other words, they had this leafy show of religiosity, which promised so much, and yet which delivered so little! And so, in our text this morning, we see just a part of that judgment that comes, or at least a symbolic enactment of the judgment that is to come on them due to their failure to bring honour and glory to God through hearts and lives that are truly in Him! 1. Entering into the Temple We begin our study in this text this morning under the first heading: “Entering into the Temple.” We read of the arrival of the disciples with Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem. In verse 15 of our text we read: “Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple… I want to pause there for just a moment. Jerusalem, as I would expect most of us know, was the centre of Jewish religion. This was where the Jewish king would rule from. This was the city of David. But furthermore, this was where almighty God made His dwelling amongst His chosen people Israel. We read in 1 Kings 6:1, that when Solomon was king over Israel, it came about that in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, he began to build the house of the Lord. And after 7 years, the temple itself was completed. It was large in size – bigger than a rugby field. And it was impressive in its appearance. Some time later, in 586 B.C., the temple that had been built under Solomon was destroyed by the Babylonians, as God’s judgment came against Israel due to them forsaking His ways. Then in 515 B.C., another building was completed under Zerubbabel. This temple had some wear and tear on – damaged often, but never completely destroyed. But the temple as the Jews had it in Jesus’ day was actually built by Herod the Great – he was the Roman client-king over Israel. Herod’s temple was huge – far larger than the original temple built by Solomon. It was started in about 20 B.C. The inner shrine was completed in eighteen months; the main building in 10 years (still around 10 years before Christ’s birth. The outer courts of the temple then continued to be built – they took some time - until about A.D. 64. So when Jesus was walking around, the outer courts were not yet in their final state and condition. This temple was a huge and magnificent complex. The outer courts were about 300 meters by 500 meters. The courts were surrounded by beautiful colonnades or covered porches (cf. John 10:23; Acts 3:11; 5:12). The main building was about 100 meters by 175m. Even that in itself was significant. The historian Josephus said this of the temple: “The exterior of the building lacked nothing that could astonish either the soul or the eyes. For, being covered on every side with massive plates of gold, the sun had no sooner risen than it radiated so fiery a flash that those straining to look at it were forced to avert their eyes as from the solar rays. To approaching strangers it appeared from a distance like a snow-clad mountain, the reason being that whatever was not overlaid with gold was purest white”1 This temple was a massive and impressive, but also a beautiful sight to behold. It was highly admired by the Jews, and understandably so. But not only this, the Jews prided themselves in the fact that here was the dwelling place of God. They were convinced that the God they served was the one and only true God. They saw themselves as the only people of God. All other nations were labelled: “uncircumcised”, not a part of the covenant people of God. This is all part of their leafy appearance. Everything looks grand on the outside. To the casual onlooker, the passerby to the temple, it seems grand! These people have something special. This grand appearance, coupled with their services, celebrations, feasts etc. all gave the appearance of that which was great and exceptional, even honoring to God. But as Jesus approaches and enters the temple, he does not do so in order to sing its praises, or to sing the praises of those who were running the temple. Rather, he does so in order to bring judgment to the temple. What looks in terms of human appearances, is not necessarily good at all!! 2. Judgment in the Temple And that is our next point this morning: “Judgment in the Temple.” As we continue looking at verse 15, we read of the actions of Jesus as he enters the temple. You will recall that the previous evening, Christ had arrived in Jerusalem with his disciples, they had come into the temple area, and then gone out again to Bethany where they spent the night. Obviously what Christ saw as he walked into the temple now didn’t take him by surprise. No doubt the tables that were used by the traders and money-changers etc were there the previous day, and he would have been well aware of them, and as he now enters into the temple, it is not a matter of suddenly being shocked and losing his cool, but rather having come to show his measured, considered disapproval of all that so-called worship had become. Look with me at verse 15-16: “…and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.” (Mark 11:15-16, NASB95) As Jesus enters this temple, he’s all too aware that the temple, a place intended to be the dwelling place of God, a place intended for the pure worship of God, was being utterly desecrated. It now resembled a market-place. Business was booming, lucrative too. Some men were selling oxen and sheep. Recall that with the Passover so close at hand and pilgrims crowding into the court from everywhere, there would have been many buyers for these animals, as they prepared for the sacrifices that needed to be made. Those pilgrims wouldn’t have walked their long distance with the animals, because they knew that they would be able to buy when they arrived there. They paid high prices for these sacrificial animals. We need to keep in mind also that if they brought their own animals, they were taking a chance that the animal would not be approved. The temple merchants had paid generously for their allowance to sell these animals in the temple courts, and this concession they would have bought from the priests. Some of this money finally reached the coffers of wealthy Annas (the Roman-appointed high priest) and of clever Caiaphas (his son-in-law, who also stood as high priest). It is therefore understandable that the tradesmen and the clergy were in business together. And so, as Jesus enters he notices the hustle and bustle of all those buyers and sellers; also the noise, filth, and stench produced by all the animals. Could this, in any sense whatever, be called worship? Perhaps a question that comes to our minds is this: why the buyers? Certainly, those selling were trying to make a killing, a great profit of this poor travelers. But the buyers? Well, was it not them who supported and encouraged this industry in the temple courts? Supply and Demand!! If there was no demand for such things, and indeed, if they had expressly spoken out against the traders, would this not have been put to a halt altogether? The fact was that they accepted conditions as they were. Consequently, the seller’s concession had become the buyer’s convenience, and the receiver was about as bad as the deceiver. Not only were there buyers and sellers, but there were pilgrims from countries far away who carried with them Greek, Roman, Egyptian, etc. currencies. But in the temple area foreign money was not accepted in payment. Also, the temple tax of half a shekel (Exod. 30:13; cf. Matt. 17:24–27) had to be paid in Jewish coin. And Jewish money was needed to fulfill the various rites of purification (Acts 21:24). Because of this, there were the money-changers, sitting cross-legged behind their little coin-covered tables. So the money-changers would exchange foreign money for Jewish, charging a small fee for the favor. This business, too, was very profitable. It presented abundant opportunity for cheating the unsuspecting pilgrim. As a result of all of this booming business being conducted in the temple, Jesus is rightly angered because of the glory that was due to the Father. How dare the people who claim to be worshippers of the one and only true God, come into His very dwelling place, a place where they ought to be singing His praises, confessing their sins and repenting, worshipping together, and instead they are engrossed in making a profit, all in the name of worship. How easily are men not deceived into believing that what they engage in is true worship, when it is anything but!? 3. Teaching in the Temple The third thing that we can note from our text this morning is Christ’s “Teaching in the Temple.” Christ doesn’t merely turn the tables, and drive out the traders in the temple, but He uses this opportunity to direct those there to the word of God, the Scriptures, in support of His actions. Verse 17: “And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS’? But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”” (Mark 11:17, NASB95) The question that begged asking in that context, was what was the purpose of the Temple? What had been the intention of the Temple for the Jews? When you lose sight of what it is that you’re truly supposed to be doing, and why you are doing what you are doing, you end up going through motions, and you begin to drift away from your proper foundations. The Israelites were way at drift. They completely missed the point, and they had turned the worship of God into something self-centred – and don’t we just have the ability and tendency to do that!!!? So, what was the purpose of the temple? It had been for God’s people to go and delight themselves in the presence of Almighty God in reverence and awe of who He was! • God had been gracious to them… • God had chosen them as a nation…. • God had delivered them out of slavery and bondage to the Egyptians… • God had shown His power working in favour of them, and for them… • God had raised up leaders for them when their enemies had oppressed and afflicted them… • God had crushed their enemies before them had brought them into a land flowing with milk and honey… • The list can go on and on… These Israelites should have been overflowing with joy and gratitude, delighting themselves in what the Lord had done for them, and delighting themselves in His power and glory and beauty! What a glorious and magnificent God! How gracious and kind. How loving is our God!!! The Psalmist, in writing the words of Psalm 65:4 got something of a sense for this… “Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.” (Psalm 65:4, NIV84) A good attitude was expressed by the Psalmist again in Psalm 27:4, when he writes… “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4, NIV84) The temple was about God. It was about worshipping Him. It was about delighting in Him. It was about remembering Him, and the great works that He had done. It’s all about God!! But these people had abandoned God. They had forsaken the God of their salvation. And so, Jesus reminds them of what the Scriptures taught. The first portion that he quotes is from Isaiah 56:7, which in its entirety reads as follows: “Even those I will bring to My holy mountain And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”” (Isaiah 56:7, NASB95) The “even those” that the verse refers to speaks of those who are foreigners and not Israelites, and that even they, those who held to God’s commands and obeyed Him (lived according to the law) would come into the presence of God, and this would be a house of prayer for all nations. What a beautiful picture! All people, from all nations, gathered together in humble submission under God, and uniting together in prayer! Fascinating that prayer is a defining quality of God’s people! God’s people are to be a praying people. Having quoted what the temple ought to be, Jesus used another quote from Jeremiah 7:11 in order to show what the temple had become: ““Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 7:11, NASB95) The context of Jeremiah 7:11 was that the Israelites were failing to honour God through their conduct. They were oppressing the aliens living among them. They were failing to give due care to the orphan, widow and so forth. In summary, they were practicing unrighteousness. And yet they would come into the temple, and think that by bringing sacrifices to God, they were somehow right with God. And so, God spoke through Jeremiah, and said it cannot be so. My house has become a den of robbers. In Jesus’ day, things had come full circle, and once again it was a den of robbers. Those claiming to worship God, and yet their hearts were far from Him. What is interesting to note further from Jeremiah 7, is the verses which follow verse 11. In Jeremiah 7:12-15… Jeremiah continued…to say that God was going to do to the temple of Solomon what he did to the shrine at Shiloh—utterly destroy it. By quoting from Jeremiah, Jesus suggested that God would do the same to the temple of Herod that existed in his day.2 Later on, in Mark 13:1-2, when Jesus and the disciples went out of the temple and looked back at it, they marveled at its greatness, saying “What wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” Jesus responded to them with these words: “…”Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”” (Mark 13:2, NASB95) And the fact is, that in AD70, the Romans destroyed the Jewish temple, and the temple has since never been built again, even to this day. 4. Reactions in the Temple Well this leads us to our final point for consideration, and that is “Conviction in the Temple.” There are two broad responses that are seen amongst the people who were in the Temple area. There were those who were angered; they were afraid of Jesus – those were the religious leaders. And then there were those who were amazed and astonished at the teaching of Jesus – they were the common people. In verse 18 we read… “The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.” (Mark 11:18, NASB95) Given that Jesus had just repeated the words of the prophecy of Jeremiah, with that context of the subsequent destruction that was then prophesied of through Jeremiah, it’s little wonder that the religious leaders were fearful. But we need to understand further than this, Jesus was not merely speaking about the destruction of the Temple, but he was announcing judgment on the Sanhedrin themselves. This is clear through the hate-filled response. Later on in this Gospel, we will consider the parable that Jesus tells of the Vine-Growers, where he speaks about the owner of the vineyard sending various servants to go and receive some of the produce of the vineyard, and when they beat and killed the servants, the vineyard owner sent his son, but they killed him also. And Jesus very clearly spoke words of condemnation against the religious leaders, and they knew it. In verse 12 of Mark 12, we read: “And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left Him and went away.” (Mark 12:12, NASB95) These Chief Priests and Scribes knew that judgment was being spoken against them, and they sought a way to kill. Their eyes were blinded to their own sin. There is hatred in the hearts, and ultimately, they would put Jesus to death. The crowds, on the other hand, were spellbound by the teaching of Jesus. They were astounded. This allegiance of the crowds to Jesus, and their wonder of his teaching leads them to give less allegiance to the religious leaders. Jesus’ action in relation to the temple is directly related to the plot to kill Jesus (11:18). It is a link that will be strong in the coming chapters. As the religious establishment tries to work out a death plan, Jesus and his disciples retire to Bethany for the night3 The heated conflicted is araised to a new level within this account. The disciples, and even the crowds, anticipated that conflict would occur, and we saw this back in Mark 10:32, as Jesus set his face like a flint towards Jerusalem. What they had anticipated was coming to pass. The intensity would only mount and increase in the days that lie ahead, as the Passover Feast is approached. Applications Having considered the passage this morning, I want us to just consider a few points of application in our own lives. 1. Temple not in Jerusalem The first point of application for us this morning is to recall in our minds that the temple is no longer in Jerusalem. No longer would God’s dwelling be limited to a physical location, limited to a peculiar people (Israel) but rather it would now be within the hearts and lives of His people. Consider these verses with me: “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.” (1 Corinthians 3:16–17, NASB95) “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20, NASB95) “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19–22, NASB95) God’s Kingdom on earth is not one in the physical realm, but rather it is one that is in our hearts as believers. What are the implications for us today as believers? What is of great importance for us to consider this morning is the context of those verses in 1 Corinthians in particular. Paul is saying there that since we are in Christ, and our lives are the temple of God, that we should not continue in sin, or live in sin, or engage in sinful practices. This is out of place with those who claim to be believers in Christ. Can we claim to be those in whom Christ dwells, if what is coming forth out of our hearts is not that which is of the Spirit of Christ, but rather that of our own fleshly sinfulness. This leads us to our second point of application this morning: 2. What is True Worship About? Are we truly worshiping God with our hearts? Are we engaged in true worship of our Father, or are we engaged in a substitute, more concerned about ourselves and what we can get out of worshiping God? Or is it perhaps that we are saying that we worship God because we want to use that as some kind of safety net, or some kind of protection for ourselves? The question really is: Is Jesus Christ Lord of your life? Paul wrote these words to the church in Colossae: “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. He goes on to warn them… See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” (Colossians 2:6–8, NASB95) True worship is about worshipping and honouring Jesus as Lord – meaning that in your mind and in your life, there is nothing of greater value and worth, there is nothing of greater importance than ensuring that you are living a life that is holy and pleasing in God’s sight, in honour of your king! Let it never be that gathering at church is something we do merely because we think it’s the right thing to do, or that by doing so we may get something out. We must be coming to gather at church and in worship because our hearts are overflowing with gratitude for what Jesus has done for us. Do you have a deep affection for Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ is Lord of our worship. Our worship is not about us. It is about bringing honour, praise and glory to Jesus Christ, the lamb that was slain! 3. Prosperity Gospel Preaching?! If this was the response of Jesus to the temple courts, when they made use of God’s house in order to generate for themselves a lucrative income, I shudder to think of the judgment that will come upon many prosperity Gospel preachers, who unashamedly use the name of Jesus Christ to generate massive incomes for themselves. Just recently was the post going viral of Jesse Duplantis, stating that the church needs to raise $54 million for him to buy a new jet. This is not the previous story that I mentioned of Kenneth Copeland who got himself a private jet worth millions of dollars. This is another, more recent jet purchase. In fact, these two sat once discussing together their rationale for needing to buy a private jet – one of those reasons was they couldn’t sit with a bunch of demons in a long tube (being a commercial airplane). It would almost be funny if it weren’t so serious. God doesn’t take things like this lightly. In fact, worship of God is never taken lightly. While God is merciful and full of grace, we are not here to use God to make ourselves look good, to make ourselves look like we’re ok… 4. Judgment will Come Finally, we need to consider that one day, judgment will come. Ultimately, if we live a life thinking that God is all love, and will never punish sin and rebellion, then we’re serving a false god. We need to remember that God is patient with us, not desiring that we have judgment come upon us. But there is a day where judgement will come. If you find that Jesus’ actions in this passage are uncharacteristic of Him, then you need to realise that greater wrath is coming than Jesus exercised here. We must not take God lightly, or ignore the warnings that He gives to us in the word. The Scriptures are filled with warnings about falling away, about testing yourself to see if you are in the faith. We need to take heed of those warnings. We need to truly consider our lives, and if the worship that we are giving is in keeping with Christ requires of us. Let me read just some of those cautions from Scripture: “Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.” Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” (1 Corinthians 10:7–14, NASB95) “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? …” (Hebrews 2:1–3, NASB95) “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.” (Hebrews 3:12, NASB95) “For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13, NASB95) Dear Friends, I urge you this morning to consider your life before God. 1. Are you in Christ? Is He your all? 2. Have you recognised your sinfulness before this holy God? 3. Or are you going through the motions? Showing yourself to be leafy, but there is no fruit. God’s word is clear. Judgment will come. Do you look forward to that day? Or do you perhaps fear that day, or have a measure of anxiety? Let me urge: Run to Christ. Surrender yourself to Him. Surrender your all. In Him is perfect peace. In Him is perfect rest. In Him is perfect joy. There is not greater place to be!