Diluted House of Worship

Hello and Welcome back to our devotions through the Gospel of John. I trust that you have learned something in these devotions, and grown in your spiritual walk. Last time we saw a passage that showed Jesus turning water into wine, and saved a man from great shame and even possible legal actions. This week we are going to take a little bit different look at Jesus, lets get into the scripture.

John 2:12–25 KJV 1900

After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days. And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 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. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

The Temple had lost its purpose.

The temple was supposed to be for the purpose of worshipping God and it was no longer doing that. Instead the temple was being used for personal, financial gains. This was never what God had intended it to be used for.

When things that God has created live in the way God wants them to there is a peace that passes understanding. But when we stray from what God intends things to be for there is strife, and eventually the judgment of God for it. This is not to say that God is not loving or merciful it is to say that he is still just and sin (or disobedience to God) demands a payment.

Keep the Temple Holy.

We see as Jesus goes into Gods temple he finds business being done just not Gods. We see a small portion of the anger of the Lord, as he makes cords into whips and drives the businessmen out of the house of God. We then see he flips the money changers tables.

I want to pause here and interject how heavy these tables would have been. They didn't have paper money it was all metal coins. the tables would have had great weight to them. The reason i say this is because often people try and portray jesus as this week fragile individual but this is not really the case. To flip the tables Jesus couldn't have been a week man it took muscle to forcefully overturn the tables.

I would also like to point out how important it is that we make sure things God has established stay to the purpose God established them.

The People Asked Where Christs Authority Came From.

Jesus answer was when they kill him he will rise in 3 days. He says it this way though. If they destroy this temple (referring to his body) He will rebuild it in 3 days. The jews that were asking for answers however interpreted that if they destroy the temple they were misusing Jesus would rebuild it in 3 days. In their minds this didn't make sense because the time to build it was 46 years. This is because they were truly focussed on the physical rather than the spiritual.

Jesus was proclaiming he was the messiah coming to live up to that which was prophesied and die on our behalf, be buried and raise again the 3rd day that we as people could have our sins forgiven.

The entire reason for the temple was people were focussed on the physical not the spiritual.

If the people before this were looking and going to the temple for spiritual reasons Jesus would have never needed have this confrontation. If the people were spiritually focussed they would have come to the temple to worship God and not for their own physical gain.

They could have recognized the messiah the savior but they again didn't want to see the spiritual they focused on the gain that he had cost them while removing them from the temple. They were then focused on the physical temple rather than Jesus showing and telling them that he was the Messiah, their deliverer.

Are you focused on the spiritual or stuck in the physical?

Knowing one of the biggest mistakes the jews in the story made was focussing on the physical and not the spiritual. I would ask you what is your focus on? Is your focus on work and what to watch and what you want to do or is your focus on Christ and what he would have you to do? It is important that we have a right perspective on our life and what we are doing. It is easy to get stuck in thinking on the things we see but God would have us to thing on the things of him.

I would encourage you to make sure your mind is clear to hear from God. Your intentions are great but intended to be guided by the Lord. When you come to his house is your mind set on what he intended? Our hearts are supposed to be on the things of God but often we get sidetracked and leave them here.

Take this time and ask yourself is my relationship with God where it belongs? Is my heart where it belongs with God? Am i listening to God as i should be? Am i in his word as i should be?

These are all crucial questions and areas of our lives that should belong solely to God.