Jesus Cleanses the Temple—Part 1
Matthew 21:12-17
We come to a portion of Matthew’s narrative about the final week of Jesus’ life that has troubled me a great deal this past couple of weeks as I was preparing to come and speak with you today.
Let’s read Matthew’s report in Matthew 21:12-17, and then talk about it for a bit.
We could say that this story is about a lot of things. I believe that there are three underlying themes that run through this story. They are honor, reverence, and holiness. Let me give a little background, and then we will delve into these three themes.
First, let me say that, once again we have an event recorded for us in Matthew that is also recorded for us in two of the other Gospels. Mark records it in Mark 11:15-18; Luke records it in Luke 19:45-47.
Second, let me also say that this is not the first time that Jesus has done what we just read about. There was another time very early on in His ministry when He drove out the moneychangers from the temple, and it is recorded for us in John 2:13-22.
There is a greater significance to the actions of Jesus this time, however, and there is a whole lot of Jewish significance wrapped up in all of this. It was commanded by God, and thus, customary, for the priests and the temple to be purified before the Feast of Unleavened Bread—Passover, as we often refer to it.
I believe it to be greatly significant that at both ends of Christ’s earthly ministry, He cleanses the temple of the unholy—of the profane, the irreverent, the sacrilegious, the impious, the dishonorable.
Let’s talk about the temple for a moment or two as part of our background discussion.
This “temple of God,” this temple dedicated and devoted to the service of the God of Israel, was built on Mount Moriah (2 Chronicles 3:1: “Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.” We first encounter Mount Moriah being mentioned in Genesis 22:2, when God told Abraham to take Isaac, his only son, and offer him as a sacrifice to God. Mount Moriah was where that event took place.
The first temple was built by King Solomon, about 1005 years before Christ, (1 Kings 6). It took seven years to complete (1 Kings 6:38). David, Solomon’s father, had developed the design of the building and of how to actually build it, and he had gathered and prepared many of the materials for it. Because he was a man of war, God prevented David from actually building the temple (1 Kings 5:5; 1 Chronicles 22:1-9). This temple, which had been erected with great splendor and magnificence, stood and was in use until it was destroyed by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar, 584 years before Christ, (2 Chronicles 36:6-7;19).
After the Babylonian captivity, the temple was rebuilt by Zerubbabel, but was vastly inferior and greatly diminished in splendor. It was more functional than anything else. The older people, who had been very young when the Babylonians had taken the Israelites captive, remembered Solomon’s temple, and they wept deeply when they compared the new one with the glory of the former temple (Ezra 3:8;12).
This was called the “second” temple, and it was often defiled in the wars that were fought leading up to the time of Christ. It had become greatly decayed and in disrepair. Herod the Great, who was exceedingly unpopular among the Jews because of his amazing cruelties, wanted to do something to ingratiate himself to the people. So, about 16 years before the birth of Christ, in the 18th year of his reign, he commenced the work of repairing it.
Herod, for all of his cruelty, was a brilliant man. He did not begin by entirely taking down the old temple all at once, but instead removed and replaced one part at a time. This process, which by the time of Jesus’ first driving out of the moneychangers has been going on for forty-six years, would continue until 64 AD.
This new temple, far more magnificent then even the one that Solomon had built, was considered still to be the “second” temple because of the manner in which the renovations had been done. By Christ’s coming to this temple thus repaired, He was fulfilled the prophecy in Haggai 2:9.
Jesus addresses two abuses in His reaction to what He sees is taking place once again within the precincts of the temple: the defiling of this holy place and the displacing of worshipers.
People came from all over the region for the annual celebration of the Passover. Some even came from far, distant lands. Judea was subject to the Romans at this point in history. This being the case, the money in current use was Roman coin; yet the Jewish law required that every man age twenty and over should pay a tribute to the service of the sanctuary of “half a shekel,” (Exodus 30:11-16).
This was a Jewish coin, and the tribute, or tax, was required to be paid in that coin. It became, therefore, a matter of convenience to have a place where the Roman coin used in everyday life could be exchanged for the Jewish half-shekel.
Sacrifices also had to be made with unblemished animals. Now, you could risk bringing an animal of your own from home, but if the priests determined that the animal you brought had some heretofore unnoticed blemish or defect, you would have to invest in purchasing one that had already passed their inspection. The priests were forbidden from engaging in this commerce themselves, but they just happen to know people who possessed unblemished animals. In fact, you could find them right next to the moneychangers. Ever heard the word “kickback”?
This was the “professed” business of these men that Jesus drove out of the temple precincts. Of course, there would be a small “handling fee” for the exchange; and, among so many thousands upon thousands that came up to the great feasts in Jerusalem, it would be a very profitable venture, and one easily giving rise to much fraud and oppression.
You see, in God’s eyes, taking advantage of someone else’s disadvantage is considered oppression. He frowns upon this so greatly that He visited judgment on the Children of Israel because of it (read through Jeremiah 7 for a thorough understanding of this—that will be your homework).
The prices for the approved animals were exorbitant and the rate of exchange for the proper coin was ridiculously excessive. Jesus was right to call them “robbers” (verse 13). Jesus here quotes Jeremiah 7:11, after first quoting Isaiah 56:7: “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."
The moneychangers were set up in the outer court, in what was known as the “court of the Gentiles”. There were Gentile converts to Judaism and, while they were welcome to come and worship God in His temple, they were segregated out and allowed only so far. Since this area was considered “less holy” than the rest of the temple, including the next most-inner court, the court of women, the priests and temple officials had no problem allowing the merchants and traffickers to set up there.
This greatly offended Jesus, as we saw when He quoted Isaiah 56:7. His house was to be a “house of prayer for all the peoples”—Gentile converts included. The men who had been given the high office of leading the people in prayer and worship had allowed what God had reserved for Himself to be used for other purposes. Do you see the dishonor, the irreverence, and the unholiness?
In Malachi 3:2-4, there is a prophecy that many believe was being fulfilled this day. Let’s read it. Does what we see taking place in Matthew sound a bit like this? Jesus is passing judgment upon the priesthood for allowing commerce—and corrupt commerce at that—to take place in a place that was to be reserved for one purpose and one purpose only—the collective worship of God by those who were His people.
Let’s pause here a talk about this for a bit.
Do we have anywhere that we have reserved for the sole use and purpose of encountering God, of getting our minds and hearts off of the world and on to God? Do we need one? Is it necessary? Does God expect it or demand it?
This matter is weighing heavily on my heart and consuming a large portion of my study and prayer time at this point in time. My wife and I had a conversation just yesterday about this. With her permission, I would like to share that with you.
A couple of years ago, we went to a wedding. The wedding was being held at a large church in Oregon. When we approached what we normally would consider the “sanctuary”, we were shocked—even appalled—that there was a tag over the doorway that read “Auditorium”.
Were we correct in our reaction, or were we too quick to judge? Earlier this week from what she told me yesterday, she heard an older preacher address this very issue.
He said something like, “Many people ask us why we call this room where we are meeting an ‘auditorium’ instead of a ‘sanctuary’.
“The explanation is simple—if we called this a sanctuary, we would be very limited in what we could use this room for. We would not be able to use it for an appreciation dinner for the local PTA. We would not be able to use it for Vacation Bible School or other things of that nature.”
Now, we can worship God anywhere—we don’t need a building. In fact, Jesus had a conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well during midday when He addressed this very issue (John 4:20-24).
He said "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:23-24)"
So, does that negate a place particularly set aside for the worship of God? We could look at the early church as recorded in the book of Acts for guidance perhaps. We see instances where Paul met with believers in homes (Acts 20:20;), by a river (Acts 16:13), in a synagogue (Acts 13:14; 14:1; 17:1, et al), and in other buildings and places.
And, in 1 Corinthians 3:16, and 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul tells us that we are “the temple of God”, and the “temple of the Holy Spirit”, respectively. Does that mean that there is no longer to be any other place that is considered holy to and set apart for the worship of God?
Some will interject and say, “Well, in Matthew 18:20, didn’t Jesus say, ‘For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst’?” He most certainly did—but what was the context? The context was about prayer. More specifically, it was about prayer regarding church discipline. Granted, there is a spiritual principle being taught here by Jesus. But it is not to the exclusion to the rest of what Scripture teaches us.
To help with this discussion, we need also to look at Revelation. All throughout the book of Revelation, reference is made to the temple of God that is in heaven. This temple exists until the very end of time as we know it. After all evil is done away with and the new heaven, new earth, and new Jerusalem are built by God, only then do we read, “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. (Revelation 21:22)”
I believe that this matter matters. How much, how often, and how truly do we have a time and a place reserved where we devote ourselves wholly and completely to the worship of God? Not just on our own, mind you, but corporately, with one another, as the Word of God admonishes us to do.
One of the grave dangers and hindrances to living and worshiping “in spirit and in truth”, as Jesus said, is a blending of the spheres.
Remember that from, The Truth Project? Are we to no longer consider separating the holy from the profane and the worldly important? Are we no longer to consider separating ourselves from the every-day an integral part of entering into worship?
Are we to blend everything together so that we are no longer “the called out ones”, “A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9)”?
Are we to hold that, since “we are no longer under the Law”, and “we live by grace”, to mean that everything that God has expected of those who are called His people, His children, no longer matters or makes any difference?
There is something at the absolute core of me that chokes at the very thought of that. It gives me a “spiritual hairball”, and my heart rebels against it.
Where is the righteousness? Where is the royal priesthood? Where are the honor, the reverence, and the holy? Does this no longer apply? Is it no longer to be expected of God’s “holy people”?
Some will say, “Well, what about those who meet in rented school auditoriums, or in homes, or in multi-purpose buildings that Connie heard about the other day?”
What about them? Granted, those places are used for a variety of different things at different times, but that really is not the point. The point I am pursuing here is: Should we or should we not haves times when even those places are made completely separate and apart from the worldly and the profane and reserved solely for the holy and the reverent, for the honoring of God Almighty?
If not, can you show me in the Word of God why not? If not, can you explain to me how those who have been redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb owe Him less than those who had to make continual and unending sacrifice owed Him?
But, if so, if we should have times when even the most mundane and earthly places are reserved for the approach of the same God which Isaiah heard the seraphim proclaim, “"Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory (Isaiah 6:3)," then when, where, and how do we do that? How committed will we be to that?
I ask you to search your own hearts. I ask you to search the Scriptures and pour over those passages that speak of the worship of God. I ask you to seek God’s heart and mind and will about this and then make that your own heart and mind and will about it.
This is not about legalism, not about rules, not about control or self-righteousness or any of that. This is about walking the path of righteousness for His name’s sake no matter what we may prefer or be comfortable with.
This is about giving God His due.
It is up to you to determine where you stand on this. I think you can tell by my words today where I stand and where I believe God stands. Now, you and God will have to work this out.
As we go to prayer, I am going to remain silent for a time and allow every one of us to get before God on our own. If, during that time, one of you feels compelled by the Holy Spirit to pray aloud, please be obedient and do so. We all may benefit from each other’s prayers.
And, perhaps God will grace us by giving us a unity of heart in one direction or another as we wait upon Him and worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Let’s pray then.
