What Should the Temple Be?

This morning we continue in the gospel of Mark looking at the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.  Today’s text is Mark 11:15-19.

 

If you were here the past two Sundays, you will remember that we have been looking at Passion Week.  That was the last week of Jesus’ earthly life. We saw His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  We then saw His interaction with a fig tree on Monday morning and Tuesday morning. 

 

This morning, we are going back to Monday.  After Jesus had gotten into Jerusalem and before He went back to Bethany to spend the night probably at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, He cleansed the temple.  Notice I said cleansed the temple instead of cleared the temple. 

 

In today’s text, we are going to look at what Jesus saw, what Jesus had seen, and what Jesus wanted to see or in other words…what the temple should be.

 

 

1. What Jesus Saw, Mark 11:15-16

15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple.

Jesus and His disciples had passed the fig tree and had finally gotten to Jerusalem and the temple.  What He saw when He got there was infuriating!  Here we see the passion of the Christ.  We see the Lord being emotional.  We see the Lord’s anger and wrath.  By the way, we see this prophesied in Malachi 3:1-3.

 

“Behold, I send My messenger,

And he will prepare the way before Me.

And the Lord, whom you seek,

Will suddenly come to His temple,

Even the Messenger of the covenant,

In whom you delight.

Behold, He is coming,”

Says the Lord of hosts.

 

2 “But who can endure the day of His coming?

And who can stand when He appears?

For He is like a refiner’s fire

And like launderers’ soap.

3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;

He will purify the sons of Levi,

And purge them as gold and silver,

That they may offer to the Lord

An offering in righteousness.

 

In cleansing the temple, I think you see three primary groups that were guilty of corruption.  First, there were those who were selling animals.  Rather than travel with their animals for sacrifice, they began to buy their animals for sacrifice here in Jerusalem in the court of the Gentiles.  However, the prices were less than fair.  They were greatly inflated as demand was high and supply was low.

 

Second, there were those who were changing money.  Not only were animals being sold for sacrifice, but Jewish currency was required to pay the annual taxes.  Therefore, many needed to exchange their Roman currency for the currency accepted in the temple.  Therefore, currency exchange was available but at a high cost.  This place of worship for Gentiles had been turned into a first-class racket. 

 

Third, there were those using the Court of the Gentiles simply as short cut to the Mount of Olives so they wouldn’t have to carry their wares or merchandise or vessels any longer than necessary. 

 

So think about this: in the temple, you have cows, sheep, doves, and all of their food and water and waste.  You had tables with coins stacked and piled high, and then you had folks coming and going carrying whatever trying a shorter route from point A to point B. 

 

This is all that Jesus saw, and He was angry and heart-broken because of what He had seen.

 

 

1. What Jesus Had Seen, 2 Chronicles 7:1-3 & Isaiah 6:1-3

When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house. 3 When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever.”

 

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”

 

When I say Jesus had seen, I am speaking of Jesus as second person of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost or Spirit.

 

Certainly, the pre-incarnate Christ was well aware of 2 Chronicles 3 and Isaiah 6. 

 

He had a holy vision and directed how He felt and how He responded here in Mark 11 which takes us to what Jesus wanted to see.

 

 

• What Jesus Wanted to See, Mark 11:17

17 Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”

 

He quoted from Isaiah 56 and Jeremiah 7 and told those who were still there that the temple was to be a house of prayer for all nations.  What Jesus said implied worship through prayer and evangelism of all people.  If the temple was to be a house of prayer for all nations, all nations would need to hear and respond to the gospel.

 

When Jesus cleansed the temple and declared what it should be, He was claiming to have higher authority than the high priests. As you can imagine, claiming rightful authority didn’t go over very well. 

 

 

Conclusion

In verses 18-19, the chief priests and scribes who thought they were in authority began to plot how they might kill Him because they were afraid of His influence.  Therefore, Jesus left the city presumable going to back to Bethany to spend the night at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

 

 

Applications

First, let’s talk about the temple.  The temple was to be a place of worship that included prayer and preaching and singing and giving.  However, it had been turned into a market place.  The temple was being used differently than what God had intended, and we saw the Lord’s anger. 

 

If this facility and these buildings ever become something different than tools for reaching persons or Christ and this building something different than prayer and preaching and singing and giving, you can be sure that God will be angry and discipline His church.  1 Corinthians 3:16-17 also use this temple language and affirm this truth of the local church being the temple of God.

 

16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

 

However, individually, Christians are also the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we are to honor God with our physical temples.  See 1 Corinthians 6:12-20.

 

12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.  15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.  18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

 

Finally, when we come to this house of prayer on Sunday mornings and Sunday nights and Wednesday nights, if we are going to honor Jesus in what He desired this place to be, we must pray adoring God for who He is and what He has done, confession our sin, thanking God for all of His blessings and praying for ourselves and interceding for others. 

 

However, please remember, this is a house of prayer for all nations.  In this context, it implied coming to Jesus out of every racial and ethnic and socio-economic background conceivable. Would you come to Jesus today if you are lost?