The Violent Overthrow of God's House — Carter Conlon

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge P .O. Box 260 Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 903 -963 -8626.

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The Violent Overthrow of God's House

This is the violent overthrow of God's house. Father, I thank you for strength. I thank you for the power and anointing of your Holy Spirit. Lord, without you I couldn't stand. I'd have no message. There would be no message without you.

I thank you Holy Spirit that you are the Spirit of truth. You were sent by Jesus to open the words of this book and to bring us into the very heart of God and to form the very heart of the Son of God in our inward parts.

Now Lord, we want to be like you. Lord, we want to understand what you are thinking. We want to know your mind. We want to have the ability to allow our own hearts even to open up that you might be formed within us.

We ask you tonight to empower us to be able to hear this word. Empower me to be able to deliver it. Speak to every life. Speak to every heart. Lord, we're living on the threshold of eternity now. God, help us to hear and not only to hear but to give place to what you want to do in us and through us.

We are your church. We are your bride. We are your body. We are the house that you're building in this last hour of time and you have set us and established us in a place for a purpose, O God. Lord, that purpose is burning in your heart tonight.

Let it be known to us. Make it clear. Make it plain, O God, to everyone who's come into this house. Lord, from the most to the least learned, from the strongest to the weakest, may there be none who cannot understand this word tonight.

Enable me to deliver it. God, I thank you for taking my mind and heart, my body. I come to you in the frailty of this human vessel and I thank you, Lord, that it's in the power of the Holy Spirit that I'm able to stand.

Thank you, God, for the call. Thank you for the anointing that breaks the yoke of hell and darkness. Thank you, Lord, that you will enable your church. You will enable us, O God, in this last hour of time to be the people that you want us to be.

That we might be a bride bringing honor and glory to your name. That we might walk with you. Your word says, how can two walk together except they be agreed? We want to be in agreement with you. We want our steps to be in line with your steps and our thoughts, in line with your thoughts, our conversation in line with your conversation.

O Holy Spirit, come and manifest Jesus Christ to us through the written word tonight. Speak to every heart. Speak to my life anew and afresh, O God. Touch us, Lord, in areas maybe where we've never been touched before.

Draw us. Give us an understanding of your heart. We thank you for this with all of our hearts in the mighty and holy name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Matthew chapter 21, the violent overthrow of God's house.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

Beginning at verse 10, a story about Jesus when he was come into Jerusalem. All the city was moved. In verse 10, Matthew chapter 21, saying, who is this? The multitude said, this is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.

And Jesus went into the temple of God and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves and said unto them, it is written, my house shall be called the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.

He comes into Jerusalem just at a time when everybody is following him. The multitudes are beginning to acknowledge him as a king. They're saying, Hosanna, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

It seems like the whole of Jerusalem is a stir because of the magnificent power of this man. And he goes, the very first thing he does, he goes into the temple and in effect offends the religious order of his day.

Overthrows and in the John chapter 2 verse 15 says that he took a scourge. In other words, he made a scourge that says they're small cords. In effect, a whip and took it in his hand and John says when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and he poured out the money changers money and he overthrew the tables and in verse 16, the scripture says, he said, make not my father's house a house of merchandise.

The violent overthrow of God's house. We see here an incredible righteous anger in Jesus concerning the state of his own house. In John chapter 2 verse 17, the scripture says his disciples remembered that it was written, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

And there's a measure of violence in this particular interaction of Christ with his own house and his own temple. We see words like cast out, overthrew, with a scourge, drove, poured out. And again, we see overthrew in the book of John.

As I began to meditate on this particular scripture, as God began to speak to my heart about it, the question formed in my mind, why didn't Jesus just come into Jerusalem? Why didn't he just sit down and teach like at other times?

He had gone into other sinful situations. He had walked into Pharisees houses that were living in debauchery and sin and ignorant of the ways of God. He had been where places where they had brought the woman taken in adultery.

He could have made a scourge of cords and drove all of them out of the way that had put stones in their hands and he could have displayed fierce anger against what they were doing. I wondered as I looked at this, why didn't he just sit and teach?

Why didn't he just come into the temple and gather an audience and say now you see folks you see these things the calves and now this is not the will of God for this house and it is written my father's house should be a house of prayer and begin to teach and instruct the people and somehow hope that the money changers would get the idea and the people would turn from their sin as he did in other situations.

But we see something different happens here. He walks into the temple and you see that the wrath of God in effect manifested in Jesus Christ the Son of God. We know that God the Son did not commit sin and therefore his anger was both holy and justified and his anger was within the realm of of God's accepted reason.

We have to ask ourselves for what reason did Jesus of violently overthrow simple practices which certainly were considered normal to the temple goers of that day. There were normal practices as people sitting there selling doves.

What harm could these people possibly be doing? Selling cattle, people changing money. It was an obvious need. People come in from other cultures, other places, their currency didn't match. So there had to be an exchange of money.

Very practical things being done in the house of God and yet we see such a fierce anger of God manifested against this and when I first looked at it, I said God there's got to be something more. There's got to be a reason why your anger was so so fiercely in effect manifested and you so violently overthrew the established order in your temple in that moment of time.

The Social Conditions of Jesus' Day

Now in order to understand why he did this we firstly need to look at the social conditions of the day into which Jesus had come. Israel, God's people, was the apple of his eye. His people of promise who had once known his might, his power, and his glory.

These were the people who had been brought out of darkness. They were the people of promise. They were the sons and daughters of Abraham. He had shown throughout history his desire to manifest his glory and his power and his protection.

He had shown them clearly that no enemy could stand before them when they turned to him. He had clearly declared his desire to dwell in the midst of these people and to vanquish virtually all of their enemies and now he comes into the midst of the same nation of people.

They're now occupied. They're controlled by a foreign and oppressive power. We look at some of the conditions. Look in Matthew 2, please, just very quickly with me. Firstly, in the society of the day in which Jesus came there was weeping for children.

In Matthew chapter 2 verse 16 Scripture says,. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wrath and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coast thereof from two years old and under according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet or Jeremiah. In Ramah there was a voice heard lamentation and weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they are not.

And so he comes into the midst of his people and in the midst of that society there's a great weeping for children. Even though this was done when he was very young there was a fresh memory of it and needless to say this is perhaps one of the recorded incidences of the cruelty of the Roman occupiers towards their sons and daughters, but surely there were others too as well.

And so there was a great weeping just similar to the society we're living in today when Pastor David spoke this morning about going out into the streets and seeing the graffiti that's written on this area that's blocked off to build a new building and and seeing all the hurt and all the pain so graphically portrayed as the enemy comes in and a foreign power in effect, a spiritual power coming in and virtually rolling over and snuffing out the lives of our sons and daughters.

This is the society that Jesus came into a society of weeping for children. Secondly, there was a rampant disregard for God's holy and established order beginning at the highest levels of both secular and religious authority.

In Matthew chapter 14 verses 3 and 4 we see that Herod had laid hold on John the Baptist and bound him and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. For John had said unto him, it is not lawful for thee to have her.

There was rampant immorality now at the highest levels of governing authority and John the Baptist had, a man ordained and anointed of God, had stood up and risen against it and because of it he was thrown in prison.

There was no more disregard for the order of God from the very highest levels and go back again even to Matthew chapter 3 with me quickly. Matthew chapter 3 in verse 7 even the religious order of that day was disregarding God's holy and established law.

In verse 7 he said, John when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism he said to them, O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance and think not to say within yourselves.

We have Abraham to our father. For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Now also the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.

And thirdly, we see the masses of the people, God's people, those that he died for, not died for at this point, but those that he was going to die for, those that he longed to gather under his protective power.

We see them wandering around confused because for so long they had not been sitting under the true word of God. In Matthew chapter 9 again verse 36 speaking about Jesus Scripture says when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.

Then said he unto his disciples the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into the harvest. He saw the multitude scattered who were once his people, once had known his power, such a tremendous lineage, such a marvelous history, and now they were powerless and confused, traveling to and fro, running looking for the word of God.

As I was preparing this I was thinking the social order of the day of Christ very well paralleled the day that we're living in today. I believe that upon entering the temple the fury of Jesus arose because he had come to the source of all the distress that had come upon the nation.

The Temple as a House of Prayer

In order to understand his anger we now need to look back and see the purpose for which the temple of God was originally established. Now this is important. We first see the social order. Now we're going to go and look at the temple and God had established a temple, a dwelling place that he said this is where I'm going to dwell and it established it and designed it by a certain pattern for a certain means and for a certain purpose.

Now if you go back in the Old Testament in 2nd Chronicles, I'll give you time to find this, 2nd Chronicles chapter 6. I'm going to go through a lot of scripture here because I want you to see something.

This is when, this is after David gave Solomon the pattern of this temple and David received it by the Holy Spirit. He gave it to Solomon. He laid up all types of materials that needed to be gathered to build this temple and then Solomon after David's death built the temple.

Now we're going to look at, now God says this is the place that I'm going to dwell. This is on the mount. This is right in the heart of Jerusalem. This is the place where God says I'm going to, this is my house.

This is my dwelling place and I'm establishing this house for a specific purpose and we begin to see this purpose in the dedicatory prayer of Solomon. Solomon made an end of building the house. The scripture says he went up before the people on a large scaffold and with a magnificent prayer, I know was inspired by the Holy Ghost, he began to pray a prayer in effect of dedication of the temple of God and in that prayer of dedication he states specifically the reason why God had established his house in the midst of the nation.

Now listen to this very carefully 2nd Chronicles chapter 6. We'll begin at verse 19. This is the prayer of Solomon. Now Solomon says have respect therefore to the prayer of thy servants and to his supplication.

Oh Lord my God to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee that thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldst put thy name there to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place.

Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant and of thy people Israel which they shall make toward this place. Hear thou from thy dwelling place even from heaven and when thou hearest forgive.

Now we're at verse 22. If a man sin against his neighbor and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear and the oath come before thine altar in this house then hear thou from heaven and do and judge thy servants by requiting the wicked by recompensing his way upon his own head and by justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.

In other words Solomon is saying when we pray for justice to be done in this house. God when we come into this house and we pray for justice to be done Lord hear us and let justice be done in the nation among the people.

Verse 24 he says and if thy people Israel be put to the worst before the enemy because they have sinned against thee and shall return and confess thy name and pray and make supplication before thee in this house then hear thou from the heavens and forgive the sin of thy people Israel and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest them unto their father.

So this is the second thing. Solomon says if we be put to the worst before the enemy and we come into this house and confess your name and pray and make supplication then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people O God and bring them again into the land which you gave to their fathers.

Thirdly verse 26 he says when the heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against thee yet if they pray towards this place and confess thy name and turn from their sin when thou dost afflict them then hear thou from heaven and forgive the sin of thy servants and of thy people Israel when thou has taught them the good way wherein they should walk and send rain upon thy land which thou has given to thy people for an inheritance.

This is the third thing. He says when heaven is closed when there is no rain there's no revelation of God when the land comes into hardship and yet if we come back into this place and confess your name and turn from our sin then O God hear and forgive.

Verse 28 he says if there be dearth in the land that's in other words famine or drought if there be pestilence if there be blasting or mildew locust or caterpillars if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be then he says what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man or of all thy people Israel when everyone shall know his own sore and his own grief and shall spread forth his hands in this house then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place and forgive and render to every man according to all his ways whose heart thou knowest for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men that they may fear thee to walk in thy ways so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto our Fathers now go to verse 34.

Solomon is still praying. He's still dedicating this house. If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them and they pray unto thee toward this city which thou hast chosen and Thy house which I have built for thy name then hear from the heavens their supplication their prayer and their supplication and maintain their cause.

He says again if they sin against thee. For there is no man which sinneth not and thou be angry with them and deliver them over before their enemies and they carry them Away captive to a land far off or near.

Yet if they bethink themselves in the land. In other words they come to themselves and remember where they have fallen from Where they are carried away captive and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity saying we have sinned We've done amiss and dealt wickedly.

If they return to thee with all their heart with all their soul in the land of their captivity whether they carried Captives and pray towards their land which thou gave it to their fathers and toward the city which you have chosen and Towards the house, which I have built for thy name then hear thou from the heavens even from thy dwelling place their prayer and their supplications and Maintain their cause and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee now.

He says in verse 40 my god, let I beseech thee thine eyes be open. Let thine ears be a tent or attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place. Now therefore arise O Lord God into thy resting place thou on the ark of thy strength.

Let thy priests O Lord God be clothed with salvation. Let thy saints rejoice in goodness. O Lord God turn not away the face of thine anointed remember the mercies of David thy servant. So Solomon is praying this prayer of dedication and in effect He's he's he is laying the groundwork for this temple this dwelling place of God that it is to be established as a house of prayer.

It's a house that the people are to come to when they desire justice in the land. It's a house that people are to come to when they are put to the worst before their enemies. It's a house there to come to when heaven is shut up and there seems like there's no more rain and the pestilence begins to Invade the land come into the nation even touch the cities.

It's a place where when the enemies begin to besiege them in the cities of the land there to come in and spread their house. Before their hands in effect before God in this house and say unto the Lord forgive us our wicked ways the things that we have done Oh God and hear from heaven and come.

It's a place where if the enemies of the Lord come in and they're triumphing over the house of God. It's a place where Solomon says that we are to stretch out our hands before you. And he says Oh God, let your eyes be open.

Let your ears be attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. It is written. Jesus said my father's house shall be called the house of prayer. And in chapter 7 now in verse 1 God responds to Solomon's dead dedication.

God responds to the thing that he put in God's in Solomon's heart. Because it is his desire that his house always be a place of prayer not self-consumed prayers. But prayers for the state the well-being of the nation for the people for the children for the land.

For the presence of God for the honor of his name. And now when Solomon had made it into praying the fire came down from heaven and Consumed the burnt offering in the sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the house.

You see what was happening now as God was confirming the prayer of Solomon. God was confirming. Yes, this is truth. This is pleasing to me. This is the place where my power dwells Solomon. You have found my heart.

You have found the place of my power. You understand now my heart you understand why my desire to dwell in the midst of my people and to show myself strong on the behalf of my people. And now God speaks to Solomon to confirm it in chapter 7 verse 12.

2nd Chronicles chapter 7 verse 12. The scripture says the Lord appeared to Solomon by night. He said unto him. I have heard thy prayer and I've chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. If I shut up heaven that there be no rain or if I command the locusts to devour the land.

Or if I send pestilence among my people if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and Turn from their wicked ways. Then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

And now he says listen to this in verse 15. He says now my eyes shall be open and my ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place. He's saying Solomon. I've heard you. I've heard everything that you've said and if the land is put to the worst and if all hell seems to be coming against you.

And your enemies around you are coming in like a flood to swallow you up. Solomon come into this house and the things that you have said cause the people to do pray turn to me with all your heart and I will do everything that I've said I will do.

My eyes are open now I desire to show myself strong on your behalf. My ears are a tent to the prayer that's going to be made in this house. In fact, God is saying the forces of heaven now are waiting.

They're at your disposal. Just come into my house and cry out to me. When the locusts come against the land when your children are wandering aimlessly in your city streets. When it seems there's a famine for hearing the words of God when you're put to the worst before your enemies come into my house.

And cry out unto me. Cry out unto me. Remind me of the fact that I am full of mercy. Remind me of the fact that I am a father to the fatherless. Remind me of the fact that I cover the widows. Have a heart for those that have nobody to speak for them and fight for them.

Jesus Confronts Spiritual Indifference

This is the design of the temple of God. Now Jesus enters the temple. Many years later built again on the same spot nonetheless been given the same Commission the same purpose. It was Jesus that spoke to Solomon.

He comes into the temple and he remembers his promise to hear the honest heart cry of his people. And What does he find? He finds a people who were once called by his name. Displaying an incredible indifference to the plight of their nation and more importantly a callousness to the desires of his heart.

He comes into the temple and says this is my this is the place that I established. This is this is the house that I built and I'm waiting for the cry. I Waited your children began to be killed. I waited I waited and I waited and I waited.

Then finally God came down to earth himself in the form of his son walks into the very temple that he had come down in fire not too many years before. He sees this incredible indifference to the state of the nation a callousness an almost unexplicable callousness.

To the desires of his heart, you know tonight how much God wants to fight for every soul that has nobody to fight for him. You know how much that he wants to triumph over the powers of evil and darkness that are swallowing this generation right before our eyes.

He wants to fight so much that he said his only begotten son to suffer the punishment and torture of a cruel and inhuman death so that you and I might go free and have that message of Redemption to bring to those who sit in darkness.

Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem. He said how often I would have gathered my children together. Even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings and you would not in other words He's saying I I wanted to gather you.

I wanted to fight for you. It is written. He said my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. Just as in Noah's Day Jesus said in Matthew chapter 24 before the coming of the Son of Man.

They're going to be eating and drinking Mary and giving in marriage. In other words a self-consumption and nonchalant attitude towards the generation in the day that we're living in. God said there's a people in effect that have lost my heart.

They don't understand the desires of my heart to fight for this generation. There's an incredible indictment against his people in Psalm 50. Let me just read it to you verse 16 he says. What about to do to declare my statutes or did that should take my covenant in thy mouth?

In other words, there's a people in Psalm 50 people of Israel who say we are people of the word. We are people of the covenant of God now. We're talking about the Old Testament he said. Why do you say?

That that you're people of my word and why do you say that that you're people in my covenant? And in verse 18, he makes an incredible indictment against Israel. He said when you when you saw a thief then you consented with them with him now He's calling it effect.

Some of his people of Israel. He said there's a there's a thievery in effect. You saw a thief and you consented with him. Now Jesus was not just angry because the sellers in the temple were possibly dealing not fairly with the people.

You see folks to stop here is to miss the reason for such a violent overthrow. He wouldn't have come into the temple just because maybe somebody's cheating somebody else in currency exchange. No, that's not it.

These things might have been going on but that's not the reason for the righteous anger in the heart of the Son of God. You see in John chapter 10 verse 10 Jesus said the thief that's the devil cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy.

In Psalm 50 says when you saw a thief you consented with him. The issue here is consent. This is what God is talking about folks. If you go into a store and you're standing at a store at a counter or somewhere and a person next to you Opens a glass with the clerk unaware of and starts filling his pocket with watches and you don't say anything.

And you don't do anything. You don't in effect raise an alarm. In effect even under the law you have consented with that thief.

Consent, Silence, and the Missing Cry

This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape. We have said that what you're doing is okay.

We consent that it's good because we we don't raise our voice in opposition to it. And so the issue is one of consent. It's to see a thief in action and to remain silent and to not cry out against it.

Consent is implied by a lack of action. This is the issue. This is why Jesus made a scourge of cords. This is why he overthrew. This is why he drove out the sellers and the buyers something that happened in his house.

And here's the issue folks. Don't miss this. There was no cry in the temple. He was waiting for the cry and there was no cry. He had come to the source of the destruction that was raging all around God's people the source.

Right back to the very source. I'll tell you folks. We see how rolling over the Western world. And if we want to really get right down to where the blame lies it's because there has been no cry in the house of God.

No true intercession, no broken-hearted people empowered by the Holy Ghost. Crying out to God go back in history. There's never been a revival that hasn't come without somebody crying out to God and laying hold of him.

Read testimony books. They've never been in men and women that have been used of God or miracles of God happening without somebody crying out to God somewhere. Saying Lord look at your promises. Look at the state of the nation.

Lord if you don't come and intervene. Then nothing is going to change no matter how much we plan no matter what kind of schemes we we master up. No matter what kind of entertainment we provide for the people how fancy our preaching is if you don't come.

Nothing is going to change. And Jesus walks into the temple and this is why the fury in the heart of the Son of God He was saying in effect. This is the reason why you're occupied by Rome. This is the reason why your sons and daughters are being slain before your eyes.

There's a complacency there's a coldness that's come into my house and the cry is gone. The cry is gone. Every you see the sacrifice that was to be brought into the temple. Initially was a sacrifice that men were supposed to count before they came into the house of God.

Now I want you to hear me on this issue. If a man sinned against the Lord, he was to go into his flock. Or his herd and perhaps he was to take a calf and it was to be without blemish. In other words, it would be a calf that would have brought him considerable return financially.

He was to take that calf without blemish. Perhaps take it with a rope and lead it to the temple and as he was heading for the temple Along the road he would be thinking about his own sin as he's leading away his own profit in effect.

And he's leading it to the temple to be offered up in sacrifice for a sin. He'd be thinking about the error of his way. He's already counted the cost. It's already behind him. He's bringing it in and he's thinking about it and perhaps in the length of that journey along the way He would look around him and say Oh God, I see that I see.

What sin does I see the cost of sin? I understand the penalty of sin and Oh Lord I look around me and I see my brother and the Israelites. I see the things they're doing. I see what governors are doing.

I see what those who are supposed to be leading your people are doing. Oh Lord God if they could only Understand the price that they're going to have to pay for their sin and I believe that something would begin to work in this man's.

By the time he got into the temple with this calf or whatever it is in tow and I offered it up to the priest. The priest that effect would offer it up as a sacrifice to God and I believe there'd be a cry in the heart of that Man, Oh Lord, forgive me for my sin.

I see the price the penalty for my sin. Oh God, forgive the people of this nation. We've been swallowed up because of our sin and there's a cry and that's all God was ever looking for is that cry. But you see what happened is that the people all of a sudden it shifted to convenience and everything in the temple was built around.

Personal convenience they were now selling calves in the temple. They were selling sheep and goats and doves and changing money and it was all in the temple. And so the same man now is heading out from his place having sinned and maybe a necessity of making sacrifice.

And all the way to the temple now, what's he thinking about? How much is the calf gonna cost me? And then he would go in and it all. Instead of coming in with a broken heart instead of coming in having paid the price and counted the cost He's now bartering in the house of God and and what's in it for me?