WWUTT 411 Jesus Cleanses the Temple?

When Jesus entered Jerusalem in the triumphal entry, He was declaring

Himself as King. But He didn't go to the palace. He didn't go to Pilate's house.

He went to the temple, because He is God, when we understand the text. Many of the

Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text, as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt

.com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. Hey, I'm going to break things up a little bit, and I hope you don't mind that I'm going to do this.

Rather than return to our study in 1 John, ready to jump into chapter 3 now,

I'm going to put that on hold. We'll resume that on Monday. Instead, since this is the week before Easter, I would like to look at the events leading up to the crucifixion, and we'll be examining the events that correspond with the day that we're on.

So, for example, yesterday was Palm Sunday, which would be reading about Jesus' triumphal entry, and then today being

Monday, Jesus curses the fig tree. He clears the temple. On Tuesday, there's the temple controversies in Jerusalem.

There's the Olivet Discourse, and that sort of a thing. And leading up to talking about the crucifixion on Friday, and we'll also talk about the resurrection that day, since we won't have the podcast on Sunday, we'll go ahead and cover that Friday as well.

We're doing this as a church this week. Each evening, all week long, at 6 o 'clock, we have a little service where we sing a couple of songs and then read the scriptures regarding the events that correspond with that day, and it's only a short service, just about 30 or 45 minutes.

We'll be doing the Lord's Supper on Thursday, and then we have a potluck on Good Friday, and this takes us all the way up to Easter Sunday, where we have a breakfast in the morning, and then of course, our

Easter Sunday service. This is the second time, the second year that we've done this, so I think we can officially call it an annual deal.

I don't really understand why anybody ever says, it's our first annual da -da -da -da. No, you hope it's your first annual, but it's not yet until you repeat it, and then it's an annual thing.

So now that this is the second year that we've done this, what we call a Passion Week, then we can now call it our second annual

Passion Week. So I thought I'd do this on the broadcast as well, and I would like to actually look at Palm Sunday first, because the things we're going to talk about today related to Jesus clearing the temple goes with the way that we read the triumphal entry in Matthew chapter 21, and that's the gospel that I'm going to draw from, at least for today.

So in your Bible, turn to Matthew 21, I'll read through it first, and then we'll talk about some of the specifics related to Jesus' triumphal entry.

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then

Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her, untie them and bring them to me.

If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.

This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet saying, say to the daughters of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.

Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the

Lord, Hosanna in the highest. And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up saying, who is this?

And the crowd said, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.

Now oftentimes when we picture Palm Sunday, we picture the triumphal entry.

We picture it as crowds of people are lined up along either side of a street in Jerusalem, right there at the gate.

And the moment that Jesus comes in the gate on the donkey, the people are there going, Hosanna, Hosanna, and laying down their coats and their palm branches before him.

And then he passes over the coats and the palm branches. Why is it that we picture the triumphal entry that way?

Because that's the way we do parades in America. Everybody's lining the streets and they're looking for the fire trucks and the police cars and the fancy floats and people in costumes throwing candy and all that kind of stuff.

That's the way we do parades around here. So that's the way we think of the triumphal entry. But the procession started all the way up on the

Mount of Olives. It did not start in Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, the people in Jerusalem had no idea what was going on.

So they were not waiting there at the gate for Jesus to come in. The people that were with him were going with him, some in front of him, some behind him, but they were all traveling together.

They came down the Mount of Olives singing his praises. As a matter of fact, one of the

Gospels, the Pharisees in the crowd said, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. Tell them to be quiet.

And Jesus said, this is Luke 19, 40, popular verse, maybe you didn't know it was tied into the triumphal entry.

But Jesus said, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.

So the people in Jerusalem were very unnerved by what it was that they were witnessing, and they had no idea what was going on.

And we shouldn't be surprised by that, particularly in the context of Matthew's Gospel.

Because all the way back in chapter 2, when Jesus was born, the Magi entered

Jerusalem and said, Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.

And the people were unnerved by the Magi asking this question, so much so that it earned them an audience before King Herod.

And so Herod consulted his own scribes and his own scholars and said to them, Okay, what are they talking about?

This King of the Jews that's supposed to be born and a star and all this? Well, what is this all about? They said,

Oh, yeah, there is a prophecy concerning a coming Messiah, and he's going to be born in Bethlehem.

And so Herod goes back to the Magi and says, Here is where your king is to be born. And when you find him, tell me about it, because I would like to come worship him too.

And of course, we know that Herod was threatened by the idea of a king being born that could potentially take his throne from him.

And so he was going to have Jesus killed. So the Lord appeared to the Magi in a dream and told them to go a different way, not to return to Herod, and then also told

Joseph to take up and flee with Mary and the baby Jesus, because Herod sought his life.

And they went to Egypt. And then the the children in Bethlehem in the surrounding area, two years old and younger were killed by the sword of King Herod.

So they didn't understand the prophecies then when Jesus first arrived on the scene. So of course, they don't understand.

They don't understand the prophecies when Jesus comes into Jerusalem and announces publicly that he is the promised

Messiah that was prophesied about. This is the first time Jesus has made that kind of a public declaration and doing so in Jerusalem, because they've been expecting it.

They've been expecting this coming king. There are prophecies concerning a Messiah who's going to deliver us from the hands of the

Romans. At least that's what they're expecting. That's what they think is going to happen. Our captors are going to be conquered by this king that we are waiting for.

But Jesus enters Jerusalem on a colt. This was a symbol of peace.

If a king was going to make war, he would enter a city on a horse. He would either be returning to the city after being triumphant in war, or he would be coming into the city as a declaration of war.

He would be riding on a horse. Jesus enters on a donkey on a colt. And the prophecy from Zechariah humble and mounted on a donkey because he's the prince of peace.

Remember what the prophet Isaiah said about him, that he would be the prince of peace. And so this is the way that the king declared himself as the promised

Messiah before all Jerusalem entering on a colt. Now, who were the people who were with him?

Because clearly it wasn't the people in Jerusalem. There may have been a few, but not the majority of this crowd of these disciples that were with Jesus.

Well, these were the people that saw the miracles of Jesus. In particular, in John chapter 12, it says that they were the disciples who saw him raise

Lazarus from the dead and others from the surrounding area that had heard about these miracles that Jesus had done.

They were the ones that were with Christ on the Mount of Olives that were in this procession declaring his praises.

And in particular, in John chapter 12, verse 16, it says his disciples did not understand these things at first.

But when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.

So even the disciples who were involved in the triumphal entry, they didn't understand the significance either, let alone those in Jerusalem who were totally confused.

What is it? Who is going on? They didn't even know who he was. And in Matthew 21, 11, it's the crowds had to say, this is the prophet

Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. And where was it that Jesus went upon entering into Jerusalem?

He went to the temple and the three synoptic gospels all record that Matthew, Mark and Luke, the very next thing that Jesus did when he came into the city to announce his divinity, his kingliness was he went to the temple.

So if a king came into a city, even if a king was entering a city as an invited guest, where would he go?

The people would welcome him and he would go up to the palace to visit with the king of that city.

Well, Jesus didn't go to the palace. He didn't go to the palace where Herod was. He didn't go to Pilate's house.

Pilate also had a home there in Jerusalem. He went to the temple. Why? Because that's

God's house and he is God, king of kings and Lord of lords. All of this is significant that Jesus would go to the temple upon his triumphal entry.

Now, the reason why I decided I wanted to talk about this today, even though yesterday was Palm Sunday, is because in Matthew 21, when

Jesus enters into Jerusalem, the way that Matthew has these events laid out, he immediately goes into the temple and cleanses it.

But according to Mark chapter 11, that doesn't actually happen until Monday. Matthew is not always in chronological order.

And that's something that a lot of cynics and critics tend to miss whenever they are criticizing something in the book of Matthew.

They're like, well, Matthew says it this way and Mark and Luke say it this way. Yeah, Matthew is deliberately not in chronological order.

So you have to understand that about the way that Matthew has arranged the events the way that he has for a particular reason is because he goes through discourses.

It's like he lays everything out in terms of discourses. And so in Matthew 21, you have the triumphal entry and he immediately goes and cleanses the temple.

But if you look at the triumphal entry, the way that it's recalled in Mark 11. So Mark 11, verse 11, after the people had shouted,

Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father, David, Hosanna in the highest.

Verse 11. And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the 12.

So in Mark 11, he comes into the temple. He looks around, he examines everything, but doesn't really do anything.

It's not until you get to verse 15 when they come back to Jerusalem and then

Jesus cleansed the temple. So according to Mark's gospel, in the chronology in which these events are laid out, the cleansing of the temple actually happened on Monday.

It was not immediately following the entry into Jerusalem.

So now, shifting from Matthew 21 to Mark 11, so again, the reason why

I include all of this together today is because in Matthew's gospel, it goes from the triumphal entry right into Jesus cleansing the temple in verse 12.

In Mark, it's separated out by two different days, and you have Jesus cursing the fig tree and then cleansing the temple.

So now in Mark 11, verse 12. On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry, and seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it.

And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

And he said to it, May no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard him say it.

Now we're going to read that today, but we're not going to come to the significance of Jesus cursing the fig tree until tomorrow.

But him cursing the fig tree happened on Monday, and then they found out what happened to it on Tuesday.

We'll talk about that tomorrow. So now verse 15. And they came to Jerusalem and he entered the temple.

And so again, he's entering the temple a second time the next day. And he began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables and the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. What was it those merchants were there selling?

They were selling sacrifices. So according to the law of Moses, a person had to have raised their own sacrifice.

They are pulling from their own flock what they're going to sacrifice in the temple.

But here the the priests, the money changers, the merchants there that are in the temple, they're wanting to make a buck off of people.

And so so it's like the Walmart of sacrifices. It's like, hey, you know, you don't have to raise your own animal or take something from your own flock.

Instead, we've done all the work for you. Just buy from us and then you can go sacrifice in the temple. So now they're making money off of something that was supposed to be holy, and they're making it into something profitable.

And Jesus wouldn't let anyone carry anything through the temple. So he's he's there causing a commotion, turning tables over and everything, and then blocking people from even coming in with these disingenuous sacrifices.

In verse 17, and he was teaching them and saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations.

But you have made it a den of robbers and the chief priests and the scribes heard it and they were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.

And when evening came, they went out of the city in Matthew's gospel,

Matthew 21, 12. And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple.

And he overturned the tables of the money changers in the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he said to them, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer.

But you make it into a den of robbers. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them.

But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things he did, and the children crying out in the temple,

Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant. And they said to him, do you hear what these are saying?

And Jesus said to them, yes, have you never read out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared your praise?

And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany. And that is where he lodged all week long from the triumphal entry to to the last supper.

Jesus would travel back and forth between Bethany, where he was staying in Jerusalem, which was which was a trip of about four miles.

So he would travel over the Mount of Olives into Bethany and then back over into Jerusalem.

And day after day, he did this. Now, the significance of Jesus cleansing the temple here.

So he comes into the into the city in the triumphal entry, people singing his praises.

And up to this point, Jesus has been very careful about declaring who he is because his time had not yet come.

But now he knows the time has come. And so he makes a public declaration that he is the

Messiah. He is the promised king of Israel with the triumphal entry.

That's the whole purpose is his public declaration as being king. And so then upon entering

Jerusalem, he goes into the temple and then he cleanses the temple. He sets his house in order.

And this is the same thing that happens within each one of us whenever we come to Christ.

We who are described in 1 Corinthians chapter six as being a temple of the

Holy Spirit. In Romans 12, 1, it says to present your bodies as holy and pleasing sacrifices unto the

Lord. And this is your spiritual act of worship. Our body is a temple of the

Holy Spirit. And so when Christ comes into our lives, we being a temple of God, he sets his house in order.

He drives out our sin, everything that we had been doing in opposition to the law of God.

In some cases, doing things and thinking that it was making us righteous because we were doing it that way.

And the people that were in the temple selling temple sacrifices, they thought, hey, we're doing this according to the law of Moses.

They were self -righteous. They thought that what they were doing was righteous in the eyes of God, but it was totally against the law and their hearts were far from God.

And so whenever we hear the gospel and we're convicted by that word, Jesus comes in and cleans house.

And boy, we are convicted if it is a genuine, true acceptance of the gospel that we have heard.

We have become aware of our sin by this cleansing that has happened in our hearts.

And we fall before the Lord and we cry out and weep. God have mercy on me, a sinner.

And it's by the Holy Spirit that we are cleansed. Jesus cleanses the temple. He cleanses our hearts when the gospel is proclaimed and the conviction is felt.

And we desire to be those holy and pleasing sacrifices unto the Lord, because we realize by the declaration of the gospel that we are not our own and we were bought with a price.

And so we need to honor God with our bodies. So in this same way that we read this story in the gospels concerning Jesus' triumphal entry and his cleansing the temple, we can see spiritually that that very same thing has happened in our lives.

And so let us commit ourselves in holiness to the Lord, being obedient to what he has told us to do regularly.

As we've been reading in 1 John, if we love God, we will obey his commandments.

So God give us the strength to do so. So on that day when the master returns, when he comes home,

I stand at the door and knock. It says in Revelation chapter three and in the gospel of Luke, it mentions that this is the master coming home.

This is not Jesus knocking on the door of our heart saying, oh, please, please let me in. When he comes home, he expects to find alert and working servants, not lazy, complacent freeloaders acting like they own the place.

Jesus is the master of the house. So commit your whole life to him in holiness and obedience.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. We hope you are a part of the church family committed to gospel teaching.

And we thank you for including us in your Bible learning. If you would consider a gift to this ministry, please visit www .utt

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