Jesus Cleanses His Father's House: Part 1

Jesus Cleanses His Father's House in John 2:12-22

I'd like to speak to you this morning as we continue our journey through the 4th Gospel, the Gospel of John, and I'd like to speak about the Son of God, Jesus Christ, cleanses His Father's house. The Son of God cleanses His Father's house.

So please turn with me to chapter 2. I'd like to begin in verse 12 and read it to 22. We will not get this all in one message today, this will be a two-part series. There's a lot here, there's a lot of details, but by God's help we're going to see what the Lord has for us today.

Beginning with verse 12 to 22, hear the word of the living God. After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples, and they did not stay there many days. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and the money changers doing business.

And when He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen and poured out the money changers, the changers' money, and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, take these things away.

Do not make my father's house a house of merchandise. Then His disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house has eaten me.

Up.

So the Jews answered and said to Him, what sign do you show to us since you do these things? And Jesus answered and said to them, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise.

It up.

Then the Jews said, it has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days? But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

God bless the reading of His word to our hearts this morning. Let's pray. Our Father and our gracious, merciful, yet just and holy God, our prayer comes from the heart of the psalmist. From Psalm 84 this morning, we cry out with him, how lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts.

My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord. And my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Lord, I pray that this will be our passion and our utmost desire in life and even in death when the time comes to call us home.

Lord, to behold your face. Lord, to behold the beauty of your holiness. Help us to understand this, Lord. By your blessed Holy Spirit this morning, Lord, I pray that you would sanctify us wholly, cause us to understand, Lord.

We cannot do nothing unless your Holy Spirit gives us the power and the illumination from your word. We thank you for your word, Father. We bless you for it. We ask this in the name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the power of your blessed Holy Spirit, we ask for your honor and glory, amen.

The Passover, the Temple, and Jesus' Supremacy Over God's House

Verse 12, after this he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they did not stay many days. Basically Jesus and his family and his disciples leaves to Canaan. If you notice in verse 12, that they went down, lower, later we will see it goes up to Jerusalem on higher ground.

Jerusalem is the headquarters. But here they went down to Capernaum only a few days. Soon after the Lord went up to Jerusalem. Let me ask the question, for what reason does our Lord do this?

For what reason?

Well, there is a Passover feast. This is a big deal. Many, many people go to this. Basically if you study the feast, there are three annual feasts that each Jewish man was required to attend annually in the Holy City, Jerusalem.

The first one here is, of course, the Passover. The Passover feast is one. These are the main feasts. The second feast would be the Feast of Pentecost. The Feast of Pentecost. You had the Passover, then you had the Feast of Pentecost, and then third is the Feast of Tabernacles.

Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, in which our Lord Jesus deliberately, literally violates, by the way, the man-made religious traditions that were set forth by the Pharisees, and by their traditions they annulled the Word of God.

But Jesus perfectly upholds the Law of God, as we well know. He upholds it in its perfect statutes, in all of its perfection, and faithfully fulfills it to its perfect standard. We know that, what the Scripture says, that He did not come to destroy the Law, but He came to fulfill it.

I'd like to keep in mind that our Lord Jesus Christ also has the supremacy over God's house. He has the supremacy. That is, over the temple, back then, and of course the temple was destroyed in 70 AD by Titus, and today He has the supremacy over His church.

So that transition's made. So if people say, well, the temple's gone and was destroyed in 70 AD, which that was a fulfillment of prophecy, that's true. But Jesus is ruler over His church. So He alone has the right to rule and to reign over His Father's house.

A lot to set that forth before you in my introduction here, because this is so important of who is going to cleanse the temple. Now we have just witnessed by our Lord, as we have looked at in the past several weeks, the miracle of Canaan, which Jesus turns the water into wine, and a miracle, better yet, as the Word of God says, a sign that proves He is divine, and proves that He's the Messiah, and proves that He is the Word of God made flesh.

That is John's purpose. He's evangelistic, and that He is God, who was with God, the Father, and He's the Son that was incarnate, made flesh, and by whom He made the worlds. As we looked at in the first miracle, John records the beginning of miracles that Jesus did in Canaan, which actually was a private miracle, a private miracle.

And we looked at it as this was a very important sign, His very first miracle, that He did among family and friends, and our Lord embarks on His three-year ministry. We're going to see here why we know it's three years in a few minutes, but here now in this section in chapter 2, we come to the second miracle our Lord does.

People say, how is this a miracle? It's a significant miracle, and it's a tremendous miracle, because think of it, as we will see, there are literally tens of thousands of people in this area of the outer court and among the temple.

And we will witness our Lord doing a very significant miracle, because it's not a private.

Miracle.

Here it becomes public. It becomes public. And again, I want to say, tens of thousands of people now, and you've got to understand, if you've ever gone to like a fairground, so to speak, how crowded and how many people are just hoarding in by the masses, even this, what happens, will make that look small.

Thousands and thousands of people are participating. They are not just sitting back and watching. They're just not the bystanders that are watching either. Actually, they are right in the middle of this drama that's taking place, and actually the Lord is actively will be driving them out of the temple with holy anger and zeal.

This is not an act of bad temper. This is not an act of sin. Actually, Scripture says, the Apostle Paul says, be angry and sin not. There is no sin whatsoever to the Son of God, because we know He did no sin.

This is an act of holiness. This is an act of justice. This is an act of the zeal of the Lord that is actively driving these people out of the temple. And keep in mind, the first miracle was an act of compassion.

This is an act of holiness. Turning the water into wine was an act of compassion, but here this is a miracle that's driven by God's righteous, holy anger. So we see something of the heart of God in this.

And as we look into this miracle, we see a glimpse, so to speak, a preview of what we will be seeing in the future judgment that will come, of course, as I've already mentioned, the destruction of Jerusalem, of the temple, in AD 70, that was temporarily.

But most importantly, this is a preview of the judgment that will become a reality forever before the throne of God at the great white throne judgment. It is a glimpse of this that I believe is clarified.

Now within this message, we will be looking at four points I would like to bring out. We're going to look at the first two points today, and I'm breaking this up because there's a lot here, and that the Lord would help us to understand with clarity of His zeal as He cleanses the temple, His Father's house.

So this is a two-part message. So the first part is today, and Lord willing, we will continue it next Lord's Day. My four points is this. My first is found in verse 14. Verse 14, Jesus' discovery of evil in the temple.

Jesus' discovery of evil in the temple. And second, in verse 15 through 17, Jesus' authority or Jesus' right to cleanse the temple. Then God willing, we will finish this message, my third and fourth point next Lord's Day, which is Jesus' power to raise the new temple in verses 18 through 21.

And then fourth, we will look at Jesus' objective is achieved, that the disciples believe the scripture in His word, which is found in verse 22. But we'll finish that up, Lord willing, next week. Today, let's begin and look at the first two points and the first point.

First let me, to get the context, again, I think it's important that we look at, once again, as I've already read, I've already read verse 12. Let's look at verse 13. It helps us get the context. Now, the Passover of the Jews was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

It's a lot there. But beginning at this point, let's keep in mind that we have the Lord's first witness as He travels to the holy city of Jerusalem. Interesting to note here also to observe that the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke concentrate and focuses on Jesus' Galilean ministry.

And John doesn't focus necessarily on the Galilean ministry. He focuses on the Jerusalem ministry of our Lord. John has here his focus and his crosshairs on the Lord Jesus Christ and that we would see who He is.

He is to bring Him out as the Son of God, the Messiah, and He goes to Jerusalem. So He focuses on Jesus' Jerusalem ministry where Matthew, Mark, and Luke focus on Jesus' Galilean ministry. We would see that in our study as we go forward in John in the future that our Lord attends these feasts in the Gospel of John.

We see this in John chapter 2 verse 13 right here. The Passover. Then we would see that in John 6, 4 and John 12, 1 is all Jesus attending the Passover. And then in John chapter 7 verse 2, He's at the Feast of Tabernacles.

And then in John chapter 10 verse 22, He's at the Feast of Dedication. Also in John 5 chapter 5 verse 1, He's at what we would say an unnamed feast, we don't know the name of the feast, but which is probably may have been the Feast of Purim which is according to Esther chapter 9 verses 26 through 31.

So our Lord is being a devout Jew as He is, as the Son of Man. And He is fulfilling the law and He attends these feasts. So as again, the Synoptic Gospels focus on our Lord's Galilean ministry, John focuses it on his Jerusalem ministry.

And the reason I bring that out is because those different accounts do not contradict.

Each other.

As in parenthesis here, as liberal theologians would like to see that contradict each other, they'd like to make it that so that they can say, oh this is, the Word of God is in contradiction to one another, but the Word of God is not.

Instead, can I say this? It actually complements each other. It complements each other and proved to us that our Lord's three year ministry and the signs that followed Him, that He is truly the Messiah, He is the Son of the Living God, He is the King of Israel, He is the Christ, He is the Anointed One.

So in this phase of His three year ministry, it continues all the way through chapter 3 in verse 21 in John's Gospel, in this Jerusalem ministry. And He both began and ended His public ministry by cleansing the temple at Passover time, twice.

The Lord deliberately does this. There's a cleansing. It's interesting too to note that He cleanses it here at the beginning of His ministry and He cleanses it again at the end of His three year ministry.

And within that matter of time, it's like in three years, they're right back doing the.

Same thing.

But this is a miracle. Here He is at the Passover. Very significant. You know Jesus is our Passover, right? He's our Passover Lamb. The Passover is an annual feast commemorating the time when the children of Israel were delivered by the power of God as we know the story from Exodus chapter 12 from the slavery in Egypt by the tyrant hand of Pharaoh.

And the children of Israel led through the Red Sea as God opened up the sea and they walked on dry land and actually they went into the wilderness and then eventually to the promised land. God delivered them.

God is a God of deliverance. So the first celebration of the Passover is actually recorded there in Exodus 12. So here we see as the Son of Man, Jesus, again He's a devout Jew. He goes up. He went up to Jerusalem for this important feast on the Jewish calendar.

And then verse 14, this is point one, Jesus' discovery of evil in the temple. He discovers evil in the temple. Scripture says, and He founded the temple, those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and the money changers doing business.

Doing business. Again, this is no small gathering. This tens of thousands of people, literally tens of thousands of people gathered here.

At the Passover.

So people that came all over, came from all different directions comes to this celebration. These worshippers came from, we can say so-called worshippers, from all over Israel and the Roman Empire to Jerusalem.

John MacArthur's got an interesting, a very good quote and it helps us to see the background of what's going on here. His commentary, this is what he writes, because many traveled large distances, it was inconvenient to bring their sacrificial animals with them, opportunists, merchants, seeing a chance to provide a service and probably eying considerable profits during this time.

They set up areas in the outer courts of the temple in order for travelers to buy animals. He goes on to say the money changers were needed because the temple tax, they paid annually by every conscientious Jewish male that was 20 years of age or older.

According to Exodus 30, 13, 14, Matthew 17, 24 through 27. Had it to be in Jewish, it had to be in Jewish or Tyrannian coinage. It's interesting, isn't it?

Why?

He goes on to say, he tells us why, because of its high purity of silver, high cost of the silver. So what did they do? He explains this, he says those coming from foreign lands would need to exchange their money into proper coinage for the tax.

So the money changers would charge a high fee for exchange with such a large group of travelers and because of the seasonal nature of the celebration, both the animal dealers and the money exchangers exploited the situation for monetary gain.

That became a den of thieves, according to Matthew 21, 13, and I'll end the quote here. He says this, religion had become crass and materialistic, end quote. Gives us a little idea of what was going on there and the corruption in the Father's house, which is supposed to be a house of prayer.

Now, do you see actually what's happening in the temple here? Do you see it? A temple of worship, a temple of prayer, of the sole purpose of praise to the holy God of Israel was corrupted. One more quote, Jewish historian Alfred Edersheim in his classic book, Jesus the Messiah, which really gives a good background what is going on here.

I got a small quote here, but MacArthur, no doubt, draws from Edersheim on this. Edersheim says this, we can, quote, we can picture to ourselves the scene around the table of an Eastern money changer.

The weighing of the coins, the deductions for loss of weight of the coins, deductions for the loss of weight and arguing, disputing, bargaining. And we can realize the terrible truthfulness of our Lord's charge that they had made the Father's house a mart, a marketplace, a place of traffic.

But even so, the business of the temple money changers would not be exhausted. Through their hands would pass probably all business matters connected with the sanctuary,.

End quote.

It's appalling. It should be appalling. And here Jesus, our Lord, found this in the temple. The one word that really comes to my mind is desecrated.

They desecrated the temple.

A place that is meaning to be a place of prayer. Desecration actually means, as in the temple meaning is a sacred place, a place that is to be a holy sanctuary was now violated. That's what desecration means.

It was in the court of the Gentiles where so much of this commercialism that was taking place that was a regular, that was made into a regular commercial marketplace within its.

Walls.

The temple that was once a place to enter in from the outer courts to the inner courts and to the holy of holies where men, where the priest would offer up the sacrifice before the holy God for the sins that were committed.

A place of worship has now become a place of corruption, desecrated. And how did a commercial, and I got a question here, think of this, how did a commercial marketplace like this, a market within the temple ever get into the temple of God?

How did this happen? That's a good question, isn't it? Well, this desecration didn't happen overnight.

There was a time period.

And I really believe this. The desecration was, according to the scriptures, was birthed from greed. It came from an evil heart. That's where greed came from. And by the way, where does greed come from?

Greed comes from a wicked heart. So it's really a heart issue that's happening externally here.

And Jesus knows this.

How do we know this? Because if you see, He's the discerner of hearts. And we'll see this later on. But now in verse 23, now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs that He did in verse 24.

But Jesus did not commit Himself to them because He knew all men.

And it goes further.

And He had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

He knew man had a deceitful heart.

That's really the problem here. That's why there's desecration.

That's why there's corruption.

That's why there was merchandising and greed and all this taking place right in the temple. But what about God's view on this desecration in the temple? Well, if we see Jesus' view, we know it's God's view, right?

God's angry with it. Jesus is the Son of God. He's the Son of Man.

He's angry with it.

It ignites. It fires Him. The zeal just blazes up in Him to cleanse His Father's house. Let's look a little bit in the Old Testament what God says about this. Turn with me to Isaiah, please. Isaiah chapter 1 really lays into this and gives us a very good understanding as to what Jesus felt being God in the flesh and the Father, the Father's house.

And He found that the Father's house became a marketplace of oxen and sheep and doves were sold. But look at Isaiah 1, starting with verse 11. To what purpose, the Lord says here, is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?

Says the Lord, I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams. Listen carefully to the Lord's language here through the prophet Isaiah. I've had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle.

I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or goats. There's a reason why. He tells. He says, when you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand? To trample My courts. That's in question.

Who has required this from your hand to trample My courts? And in verse 13, bring no more futile sacrifices, incenses, and abomination to Me. The new moons, the Sabbaths, the calling of the assemblies.

I cannot inquire, or I'm sorry, I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, My soul hates. They are a trouble to Me. I am weary of bearing them. And then He says in verse 15, when you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you.

And even though you make many prayers. Listen to that. Many prayers I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. And then He says this. Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. And put away the evil of your doings before My eyes.

Cease to do evil.

Learn to do good.

Seek justice.

Rebuke the oppressor. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow. In verse 18, He gives the invitation. Come down, let us reason together, says the Lord. Notice how merciful God is, but yet He's so holy.

Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. And though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. And if you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.

But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword. In other words, judgment will come. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Folks, that's God's view of it. This is all... In other words, He was sick and tired of these people that had hands full of blood.

It was nothing but religion, externalism to play church. Don't we see this today? A lot of people play in church. And God says, Jesus even said it to the Pharisees. You honor me with your lips. You give lip service.

But your heart is far from me.

This is what Jesus said. This is how God feels. All the prayers, all the sacrifices, all that externalism is not going to do any good. Jesus and God says it in Isaiah, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean.

Put away your evil, your doings from before my eyes. This is actually repentance. This is the definition of what repentance is in detail. Stop it.

Cease to do evil.

Learn to do good.

Seek justice.

Rebuke the oppressor. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow. And James says that pure religion, that's pure and undefiled religion. So the Lord comes to the temple. He finds the sheep, the oxen, the doves.

These animals that were to be sacrificed were sold there. And tens of thousands who attended the great feast were... Wow, can you even imagine the loudness of all this that's going on? The commercial, the commotion and all these people in the marketplace not even having a thought of the holiness of God and all they wanted was the money.

Greed.

And our picture would still... Even thinking of this would even come short of the actual scene. There's much more details here. Can you picture thousands of animals and people and all that's going on here?

And the smells and the people just defiling the temple of God. All in the name of God. A place that's supposed to be a house of prayer and worship.

For what?

For what? For greed. For gain. For filthy lucre, as the old King James puts it. A place... The temple was a place of prayer and now it's become a den of thieves. The tragedy of all this business was carried on in the courts of the Gentiles and the temple is like business as usual.

And this was the place where the Jews should have been meeting the Gentiles and telling them about the one and true holy God. That's what's supposed to have happened. The Gentiles didn't know about this God but that was the outer court.

But the Jewish people that should have known better should have said, this God that we worship is a God of holiness. There's no fear of God. Don't we see the same today? With the charlatans that has filled the church.

Churches by the dozens. We touched on it today. And oh, they're good speakers. They can tell you the stories. They're motivational speakers. But they have nothing to do with Jesus and His sufferings and His cross.

They said,.

You see them on the television all the time. These charlatans pleading and begging for money. Send me this much money and God will bless you with more and more. All in the name of God. How does God feel about that?

And folks, all of a sudden,.

Suddenly,.

I like this,.

Suddenly,.

The Lord comes to His temple. You know, this is a prophecy. This is another prophecy. It's not here, but yeah, the prophecy is given in Psalms. But how about Malachi? Look at Malachi chapter 3 with me.

Right before Matthew,.

The last book of the Old Testament. This is incredible because here it speaks about the coming messenger, which is John the Baptist. Notice what it says in verse 1, Behold, I'll send my messenger. That's speaking about John the Baptist.

And he's the forerunner. And then he will prepare the way before me. And then notice what it says. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to where?

His temple.

His temple.

Even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. You know, the host means the Lord of the armies. And the scripture says that God is like a man of war.

He's holy. He's just.

He's righteous. Notice in verse 2,. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can endure it? And who can stand when he appears? Now, I want you to see the definition here. For he's like a refiner's fire and a laundry soap.

And he will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver. What is he talking about? He's talking about cleansing here. He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer for the purpose here.

But offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. An offering in righteousness.

There has to be a cleansing.

In order to have worship that's pure and holy and spirit and in truth. He's coming. He suddenly comes to his temple.

He's like a refiner's fire.

A launderer's soap. He refines. He's a purifier of silver. And he will purify the sons of Levi. Worshippers.

Look at.

Just go back a little bit. Go to chapter 2. Look at verse 17. Notice the same language that the prophet speaks was the same language that Isaiah spoke about being wearied. God was wearied. Verse 17. You have wearied the Lord with your words.

Yet you say. Oh, he knows the hearts in man. He knows what's in man. And he says. Yet you will say in what way have we wearied him? And that you say everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord.

And he delights in them.

Or where is God?

Where is the God of justice?

Oh my.

What way have you wearied him?

We've wearied him.

What way?

In other words, it's these people. These evil hearts are speaking. And beloved, this is the verse. What it's saying is that God is wearied by people who do not submit to him.

He's wearied with that.

There's no submission to his authority. And they even argue the points against his divine revelation. But think of this. When justice does come. When God does send justice. Oh, they would be sorry that they even ask for justice.

And then it goes on to say in Malachi. Notice the rest of it. Of those verses. Four and five. Notice what it says. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the Lord.

As in the days of old.

As in the former years. And I will come near you. Near you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against. Notice when he says against. Against the sorcerers. Against the adulterers. Against the perjurers.

Against those who exploit wage earners.

There it is.

And widows and orphans. And against those who turn away an alien. Because they do not fear me. No fear of the Lord. Says the Lord of hosts. That's God speaking folks. That is God speaking. That's the way he feels about this.

Well, that's just a small picture of the heart of God in this. And then the temple. Our Lord suddenly appears in the temple. And he literally cleanses in it. He's the purifier of silver. He purifies the sons of Levi.

He cleanses. He literally cleans out house.

He cleans house.

Jesus' Authority to Cleanse the Temple

Second point. We see Jesus is right in authority to cleanse the temple. He's right in authority to cleanse the temple. Look at verse 15. Scripture says when he had made a whip of cords. He drove them all out of the temple.

With the sheep and the oxen. And poured out the changers and money. And overturned the tables. First we see that Jesus made a whip of cords. I've heard so many people even say to me. Yeah, when the Lord got angry that day.

He just whipped people and beat them. No, there's nothing in the scriptures about Jesus beating people here.

Nothing.

Where's people get these ideas?

They read into it. Their thoughts. But that's not what the text says. He actually made. He made a whip of cords. Where did the cords come from? This is interesting. Because the cords. Think of it. All the animals that were there.

Thousands and thousands of animals. There would be cords of rope lying around all over the place. That would literally drive the animals. There were animals everywhere. And the animals had always had to be tied with the ropes as well.

Not only drive them. But tied with ropes with the crates in the marketplace. It's become a marketplace.

Sad to say.

But Jesus picks up cords. He made the cords out of ropes. And he braided them into a scourge. He does this for a reason. Like Brother Lawson said. One man SWAT team. Isn't it the truth?

Jesus was a. Think of this.

One man. The son of man against thousands. Tens of thousands of people. One man braided cords with ropes. Ten thousands of people who had no idea who would do this. They didn't know who he was. They would find out.