Jesus Clears the Temple

Sunday:

Matthew 21:12-17,

This event occurred after His Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem:

Merchants Chased from the Temple- James Tissot

 "Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. he knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, "The Scriptures declare, 

"My Temple will be called a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves!" Matthew 21:12, 13 NLT

What a ruckus Jesus made! Can you picture this... tables being turned over, money scattering across the stone pavement, birds flying and animals running in fear. Imagine the noise of this... the money, the birds and all the animal sounds. Why did He do this? As just a person here, I can not completely know the mind of Christ; except by reading His Word guided by His Spirit. (I Corinthians 2) From my reading of Matthew I see Jesus acting in righteous indignation, angry at the false religion deceiving people and preventing them from coming to true knowledge of God. He says something very shocking to the people early in His Sermon on the Mount. 

 "Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, 

you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." 

Matthew 5:20 NKJ

How could these common people ever be more righteous than their religious leaders? Jesus came with a whole new message in the Sermon on the Mount. After He said this He shows the contrast from outwardly obeying the law for appearance sake to obedience to God from the heart. Murder begins with anger. Adultery begins with lust. Love is more than loving those around you, real love is doing good to those who hate you. Your prayers, fasting and charitable giving are done in the secret place where only God sees. Then He gets more personal. Where is your treasure? Is it in your things or the kingdom of heaven? Can we trust God to provide for us? Will He answer our prayers?

In our beginning verse we see Jesus telling us that the temple was not a place to show the trappings of religion, but rather a place to connect with God. Through out Matthew He speaks of and demonstrates what true religion is. He even tells us how to know who is truly walking with God? "You will know them by their fruits", their actions coming from a genuine relationship with God. The important question to ask our own self is; "do I know Christ and does He know me?" This is a relationship nurtured by time in His Presence through worship, prayer, reading the Word through the lens of His Spirit and walking with Him through out the day. We never want to hear Him say, "I never knew You." Matthew 7: 23, 25:12

The temple was torn down by the Romans in 70 AD because they did not know the day of their visitation from Messiah. (Luke 19:41-44) The Jews still long to rebuild the temple. They still do not realize why Jesus came and that the sacrifice era had come to an end. It has been fulfilled. He has fulfilled the law. God's Passover Lamb walked among them that fateful week. They would kill Him, sacrifice God's one and only Son; not even knowing that HE was the
  

"lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

John 1: 29

The veil of the holiest place in the temple was torn in two that day He was crucified*. It signified that the dwelling place of God would no longer be in temples made with hands*; but would be IN His people. 

"Abide in Me and I will abide in you." 

John 15

This is a good reminder today to Abide in Him to truly have a relationship with Him where
you know Him and He knows you.  

 
"Draw near to God and He will draw near to You."*

* Matthew 27: 51, Acts 7:48-50, I Corinthians 6:19, 20, James 4:8