HOLY WEEK SERIES: CLEARING THE SACRED PLACE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” He said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

Matthew 21:12-17

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

It was the day after Jesus had entered Jerusalem, riding on a donkey to the shouts of “Hosanna” as the gathered crowd hailed Him as the coming King of all kings. The symbology of riding in on a donkey was to indicate He was coming in peace but as we see in today’s message, this calm demeanor didn’t last long as He entered the temple courts on Monday and witnessed a scene that angered Him. Look at these words from today’s passage found in Matthew, chapter 21:

Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” He said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

Matthew 21:12-13

It was a decisive and aggressive action as Jesus “drove out all who were buying and selling there”, overturning the “tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves”.

Why did He do this?

What got Jesus so fired up?

To find the answer, it helps to know that the Temple consisted of four courts, each segregated from one another. Of interest, one of those courts was for the Gentiles, those non-Jews who weren’t permitted in the Temple proper. It shouldn’t surprise you that the Court of the Gentiles was the outermost court, distanced from where the Jews worshiped and offered sacrifices. Of interest, the designated area for the Gentiles ranged back to Old Testament times as we see in the words of the prophet Isaiah who wrote:

For this is what the Lord says:

“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, who choose what pleases Me and hold fast to My covenant—to them I will give within My temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever.

And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to Him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to My covenant—these I will bring to My holy mountain and give them joy in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Isaiah 56:4-7

From these words, we glean that God cared for all those who believed and worshiped Him. Yes, the Israelites were His people and He was their God but He didn’t snub those non-Jews who placed their faith and trust in Him, wanting them to have the privilege to pray at the temple. With this, the Court of the Gentiles was to be a holy place, a place ordained by God as a “house of prayer for all nations” but what Jesus saw on that Monday was anything but that. For what the Lord intended for reverence had been converted into a marketplace.

We read where there were money changers there who were converting foreign currency to the accepted temple shekel. There were also vendors present with doves to sell for the various prescribed sacrifices within the temple grounds. Both had a reputation for gleaning profits from anyone who did business from them and it was this unscrupulous behavior that earned the “robbers” title Jesus labeled them with.

And so Jesus did what He always did. He went about His Father’s business and cleansed the Court, restoring it to the sanctity it deserved. The Gentiles would once again have a place where they could respectably devote themselves to the God they loved.

So how does this apply to our lives today as we continue to move through Holy Week?

We all need to remember that Satan is trying every day to corrupt the inner courts of our spirits and souls, attempting to set up and establish things that would defile the purity God intend, just as the money changers and vendors did in the Court of the Gentiles. In those instances, when we sense the enemy is trying to steer us from where the Lord wants for us to be, we need to turn our attention to Jesus, knowing He will always bring His power to bear to clear and cleanse out inner temple.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.