“Jesus is Supreme Over God’s House”

John 2:12-22

Introduction

He went down to Capernaum and stayed there for just a brief time. Capernaum was His headquarters.  

1.       Christ left Nazareth.  Why did He not make His hometown His headquarters?

The reason is clear: the city had rejected Christ:

“No prophet is accepted in His own country” (Luke 4:24).

a.       They had thrown Him out and had attempted to kill Him (Luke 4:29).

b.       Therefore, Christ set up headquarters in the city of Capernaum.

Capernaum lay in the northernmost point of Palestine.

c.        It was deliberately chosen by Christ as “His own city” (Matthew 9:1; Isaiah 9:1-7).

People can reject the gospel and the Savior.

            Just imagine! The Lord’s own hometown rejected Him ( Matthew 9:1;  John 1:10-11.)

I.                   Jesus Goes To Jerusalem To Attend the Passover (v.13-14)

A.     Jesus was Obedient to the Mosaic Law (v.13)

1.       The Adult Male Jew was Required to be at the Feast.

a.       This is not the first time, of course, He had gone to Jerusalem for the feast even as a child.

b.       You remember He was taken by His parents to Jerusalem for the feast when He was about twelve years old.

c.        And we find Him in Jerusalem for the feast of the tabernacles, feast of Hanukkah, the winter time feast.

d.       And so Jesus made it a point to be in Jerusalem for the feasts in obedience to the Mosaic Law.

B.     Jesus Entered the Temple (v.14)

The Temple (look in inductive study Bible for picture)

The temple sat on the top of Mt. Zion, and it is thought to have covered about thirty acres of land.

The temple consisted of two parts, (1) the temple building itself and (2) the temple precincts or courtyards. The Greek language has two different words to distinguish which is meant.

      1.     The temple building (naos) was a small ornate structure which sat in the center of the temple property. It was called the Holy Place or Holy of Holies. Only the High Priest could enter its walls, and he could enter only once during the year, on the Day of Atonement.

      2.     The temple precincts (hieron) were four courtyards that surrounded the temple building, each decreasing in their importance to the Jewish mind. It is important to know that great walls separated the courts from each other.

a.       First, there was the Court of the Priests.

Only the priests were allowed to enter this court. Within the courtyard of the Priests stood the great furnishings of worship: the Altar of Burnt Offering, the Brazen Laver, the Seven Branched lamp-stand, the Altar of Incense, and the Table of Showbread.

b.       Second, there was the Court of the Israelites.

This was a huge courtyard where Jewish worshippers met together for joint services on the great feast days. It was also where worshippers handed over their sacrifices to the priests.

c.        Third, there was the Court of the Women.

Women were usually limited to this area except for joint worship with men. They could, however, enter the Court of the Israelites when they came to make a sacrifice or worship in a joint assembly on a great feast day.

d.       Last was the Court of the Gentiles.

It covered a vast space, surrounding all the other courtyards, and was the place of worship for all Gentile converts to Judaism.

Two facts need to be noted about the Court of the Gentiles.

      1.     It was the courtyard farthest removed from the center of worship, the Holy of Holies, which represented God’s very presence ( Ephes. 2:14-15).

      2.     A high wall separated the Court of the Gentiles from the other courts, disallowing any Gentile a closer approach into God’s presence. In fact, there were tablets hanging all around the wall threatening death to any Gentile who went beyond their own courtyard or center of worship.

C.     He found the temple desecrated (v.14b)

1.       They Made the Temple a Market Place.

a.       Worshippers needed animals (oxen, sheep, doves), incense, meal, wine, oil, salt, and other items for their sacrifices and offerings.

1)       If your lamb was rejected because of a blemish, you could by one already certified by the priest.

2)       You would pay twice the price for a animal already certified for an offering

b.       Pilgrims from foreign nations needed money exchanged.

1)       You could not give an offering to God any coin that had the inscription of a Roman Emperor.

2)       They considered that an image and sacrilege & they would not accept it as a temple offering.

3)       They would exchange your Roman coin for a Temple coin (temple shekel). /

4)       They would change it at a 25% rate of exchange

2.       The Profiting of Religion.

a.       People who desired to worship God were taken advantage by the priest’ for their own personal gain.

b.       Paul warned Timothy of those “false teachers” who would teach that godliness is a way to riches or gain money.

c.        They used it for a personal financial gain, he said, “from such withdraw yourself” (1Tim. 6:5)

3.       Making Religion Easy.

a.       You didn’t have to go out into your own flock, get a lamb, & bring it all the way to the feast.

b.       Self – sacrifice

Picture thousands of animals with their peculiar noises, wastes, and smells within the temple of God? And for what? What would cause men to so abuse the worship center of God?

As said above, money—the greed of men.

It is no wonder Jesus did what He did. He could not do otherwise, for He was the Son of God, the Messiah sent into the world to bring about a true worship of God; and there was no hope of worship within the Court of the Gentiles.

Prayer and worship were impossible.

4.       Doing Business (v.14)

a.       We are not to be lagging in are diligence for the Lord (Romans 12:11)

b.       We need to be about “our Fathers business” (Luke 2:49)

c.        The Danger of putting business before Christ (Luke 14:15-24)

d.       Psalm 40:8; John 4:23-24, 34; 5:17; 6:38; 8:29; 9:4

II.                His right to cleanse the temple (v.15-17)

A.     Righteous Rebellion (v.15)

1.       Be angry and do not sin – (Ephesians 4:26-27)

Parorgismos (anger) is not momentary outward, boiling-over rage or inward, seething resentment, but rather a deep-seated, determined & settled conviction.

The N.T. use can represent and emotion good of bad, depending on motive & purpose.

a.       This is an anger at evil, at that which is done against the Person of the Lord and against His will & purpose.

b.       This anger abhors injustice, immorality, and ungodliness of every sort (Ps. 69:9).

2.       Jesus expressed righteous anger at the hard-heartedness of the Pharisees who resented His healing the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath (Mark 3:1-5)

3.       This is no doubt the kind of anger that caused Jesus to drive the moneychangers out of the Temple.  

a.       Jesus was always angered when the Father was maligned or when others were mistreated.

b.       He was never selfishly angry at what was done against Him.

c.        That is the measure of righteous anger!

4.       Anger that is sin (Matt. 5:21-22)

a.       Self-defensive & self-serving, being resentful of what is done against oneself.

b.       It is the anger that leads to murder & God’s judgement.

5.       Do not let the sun go down on your anger (Eph. 4:26)

a.       Ephesians 4:27 – Taking your anger to bed “gives the devil an opportunity”.

b.       Romans 12:17-21 – Prolonged anger begins to seek vengeance, which violates God’s Word. 

c.        Anger must be dealt with immediately—confessed, forsaken, & given to God for cleansing before the end of the day.

6.       The Consequence of not dealing with anger (2Cor. 2:11).

a.       Satan takes advantage of unforgiveness.

b.       He will feed our anger with: self-pity, pride, self-righteousness, vengeance, and defense of our rights.

c.        & every sort of selfish sin & violation of God’s holy standard & will.

B.     He called God “My Father,” and called the temple “My Father’s house.” (v.16)

1.       “My Father.”

Jesus was continually calling God “My Father” ( John 1:34;  John 10:30-33 for discussion).

2.       “My Father’s house.”

Jesus was saying the temple was God’s; therefore, it was to be a house of worship for all people.

3.       “My Father’s House shall be called a house of prayer” (Matt.21:12-13)

a.       This was an Old Testament quotation from two passages (Is.56:7; Jer.7:11)

4.       Note another fact.

The temple (church) was called a house of worship, not a house of sacrifice, offerings, teaching, prophecy, or preaching. Everything done within the House of God is to lead to the worship of the Father and communion with the Father.

Thought 1. The temple is not to be used as a commercial center. It is not to be a place for buying and selling, marketing and retailing, stealing and cheating. It is not to be profaned.

1.       The temple is the House of God, God’s House of worship.

2.       It is to be a place of sanctity, refined and purified by God Himself.

3.       It is to be a place of quietness and meditation, a place set aside for worship, not for buying and selling where man gets gain.

C.     Christ’s Zeal for His Fathers House (v.17)

1.       His zeal fulfilled Scripture and demonstrated that He was the Messiah (Ps. 69:9).

a.       The Messiah was bound to be zealous for God’s house, and to react in anger at such corruption within the temple.

b.       Scripture had predicted the Lord’s zeal (Psalm 69:9); therefore, Jesus had the right to show zeal and anger against such desecration of the temple.

c.        He was the Messiah, and His act stirred the memory of the disciples.

`You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:30)

d.       Paul was zealous (Acts 20:24)

e.        We must be zealous for good works (Titus 2:14

III.             His power to erect a new temple (v.18-21)

A.     They Questioned His Authority (v.18)

1.       He claimed that the temple was His Father’s.

They knew that He was claiming to be the Messiah; therefore, they wanted proof that His claim was true. They wanted some spectacular sign.

2.       His sign was to be given in the future (v.19a).

He was going to build a new meeting place for God.

Note His exact words: “[You] destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”

3.       He was misunderstood.

They were thinking physical while Christ was speaking spiritual.

a.       John 3:1-12; 4:13-14

b.       They could not understand how He could possibly build a temple in three days. The present temple had taken forty-six years to build.

4.       His statement had a symbolic meaning (v.19b-21).

Jesus was speaking of His body, of His death and resurrection.

a.       The sign was to be His body, His death and resurrection.

1)       Luke 11:29-36 – the sign of Jonah

2)       Luke 16:27-31 – faith comes by hearing the Word of God, not a sign

And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. (Acts 4:33)

"And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree.   "Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly,   "not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. (Acts 10:39-41)

and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. (Romans 1:4)

b.       His death and resurrection was to provide a new temple, a new meeting place for God and man.

1)       It was to be in Him that men would thereafter meet God.

2)       The temple of His body was to become the temple of men, the temple whereby men would worship and be reconciled to God

3)       Mediator—§ John 1:51; 1Tim. 2:5  1 Cor. 3:16;  1 Cor. 6:19; John 14:16-21; 1Tim 2:5

5.       Our Bodies are the Temple of God.

a.       The believers body (1Cor. 3:16; 6:19-20)

b.       Do not be unequally yoked (2Cor. 6:14-18

B.     The disciples believed the Scripture and the Word of the Lord (v.22)