Have the Temple Cleaned

Have the Temple Cleaned
John 2:13-23
July 7, 2024

     In John 2 we find the well-known story of Jesus cleaning the temple. The Passover of the Jews were near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. When He got to the temple, He was very disturbed because He found people  selling oxen and sheep and doves there and money changers seated at their tables which angered Jesus greatly, Him ending up chasing them out with a whip.

     To understand the significance of this event we need to look deeper into the story. Why did this anger Jesus so much? When we understand what the temple signified and was eventually a type of, we will find deep insights into the heart of God and how this can also be applied to our lives. This event brings truth that sets us free as we see that He builds us into the temples of the living God.

I. Understand the Temple’s function

     The root of the function of the temple can be found long before the temple was built. God first gave Moses the design of the Tabernacle which was a shadow or a copy of what he saw on the mountain when God revealed His glory to him.

     It was to be a place where there would be a physical representation of the dwelling place of God Where His Spirit would manifest in the holy of holies, mirroring heaven.

     This function was then transferred to the temple that Solomon built, God’s presence residing there.

     The temple would also be the place of sacrifice. This is where all the different sacrifices as prescribed by God would be done, both sin and free-will offerings.

     So, in this story, it was time for the Passover where people were coming to sacrifice to God. Those who traveled far and as such could not bring a sacrificial animal with them, could come to the Temple and buy a lamb, or a bull or a dove to sacrifice to God.

     The problem was that this became a shrewd business venture. The money lenders would ask an extreme exchange rate, and the livestock sellers would ask tremendously inflated prices for the animals.

     This became obstacles to those who wanted to repent, worship God, and draw near to Him.

A. Draw near in relationship

• Why all the sacrifices? Was an angry God receiving sacrifices the ultimate goal so His anger against people would be suppressed for a while and He would leave them alone.
• This was the reason for many sacrifices the pagan’s sacrificed to their gods.
• I submit to you that this was not the case with the God of Israel. Sacrifices were introduced to atone for sin, but it also had another purpose.
• Remember that with Adam and Eve, when they sinned, God killed the first animal to supply clothing for them, signifying the blood that had to flow to cover the sin of man. Why? Because sinful people could not approach a Holy God. Yet God wanted relationship with man.
• When we then see sacrifices after that, it was a prerequisite to people drawing close to God and being in relationship with Him. Unfortunately, that purpose was overlooked as some people just started bringing sacrifices out of tradition and habit.

Psalm 40:6, Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired;… burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.

• In Isaiah 1, God echoes this through the prophet when He says that He has no desire for the blood of bulls and goats, that even the festivals and feasts has become a burden to Him, even their multiple prayers He doesn’t listen to anymore, because they have missed the point. It has all become rote and religion without a heart that longs for God.

Matthew 21:13, And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.”

•  Here Jesus reveals the secret. His house is not called the House of sacrifice, although sacrifices were to be made there, but it is called a house of prayer. Prayer signifies communication and relationship, also pointed to by the free-will offerings.
• The sacrifices were a means to an end. It made it possible for people to gain access to the presence of God for relationship.
• This is what angered Jesus. People were kept from drawing close into a deeper relationship with God.

B. Sit at God’s table

• Verse 14 – Moneychangers were sitting at their tables.
• This is a significant and an interesting detail that is mentioned. We can call it the tale of two tables.
• There was another table in the temple. It was the table of the Lord where the showbread was in the holy place. 12 loaves of bread were placed on this table to signify that God would be the provision and sustainer of the 12 tribes of Israel. It echoed the thought of the Manna being supplied.
• It also symbolized communion, God reaching out to humanity for fellowship.
• This bread would come to be a type of Jesus, when He declared,

John 6:35, Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger.’

• In our story, the people were not focusing on the table of the Lord, because they were forced to focus on the tables of the money changers.
• The money changers were a type of the things withholding the people from fully worshipping God and drawing near to Him.

Illus – Let’s say for example someone wanted to offer a bull. After the exchange, he could only afford a lamb. The one who wanted to offer lamb might have only been able to afford a dove. So, what happened to the one that wanted to offer a dove? After the exchange, he might not even be able to do that. His bringing a sacrifice was out of the question. He was just not good enough. The message was that your worth was not enough, you are not worthy to offer a sacrifice and draw near.

• God wants us to draw near and sit at His table. He wants us to understand that He is our provision, He is our source of life.

Psalm 23:5, You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

• Jesus revealed this on the night He was betrayed. He becomes the provision.
• We do not have to look at the table of the money changers to tell us if we are worthy or not. The offering of Jesus on the cross, invited us to come and eat and drink for free. We are accepted to sit at the table of the Lord because of His grace.

II. You are the Temple

Under the new covenant, there is another significance to the story that can be applied to our lives. The mystery that was hidden through the ages was revealed when Christ died, and the church was born.

When Christ died, the veil in the temple that kept God separated from man was torn. God no longer lives in the temple made with human hands. Everything changed.

1 Corinthians 6:19, Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 

There are lies that are set up in your mind that wants to defile your temple so that you cannot come close to God.

We are now the temple of God. Your body is a temple of God, and collectively, we as a church is built up as a house of the Lord. Fellowship with God has now come so close that it is INSIDE of us, a place of intimacy and connection.

A. Be set free from Lies

• When we understand this revelation, the action of Jesus in the temple takes on a much deeper an important meaning.
• The money lenders and people selling the livestock are symbols of the things that are keeping people from drawing near to God with confidence and worshipping Him in spirit and truth.
• Today in the lives of people there are many things that defile their lives.
• Even those of us who are now the temple of the Holy Spirit because we have given our lives to Jesus, might still have lies that want to occupy the forecourts of our temple, in other words our minds, and keep us from fellowship with God.
• There are many lies, for example the lie that you just need to bring a sacrifice to get God off your back. He is angry with you, so just do something for Him so that his anger can simmer down, just like the pagans did with their sacrifices.
• Read your Bible a bit, go to church a few times, maybe volunteer somewhere, support some charity financially, or even pray a few prayers.
• Although all of these are good things, if the lie driving these is that God does not love you and doesn’t really want relationship with you, and you are doing it out of obligation and fear, it is all from the wrong motive and worthless.
• This is one of the lies that many struggle with even after putting their faith in Christ because the soul wants to default back to doing works to be acceptable.
• This is one of the lies that Jesus wants to drive out of your life.

John 3:16, For God so loved…

Hebrews 10:22, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

• The reason for the sacrifice Jesus made was not to just forgive sin, but to restore relationship so we can draw near. The sacrifice was a means to an end, not the end goal.

Illus – It is like someone getting married and thinking the ceremony is the end goal. No, it is just the beginning of the beautiful journey.

• The goal was to bring us into the family of God.

Ephesians 2:19, So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household.

• Another lie is feeling worthless. Not having enough to give to God to draw near, just like those restricted by the moneylenders.
• The secret is this. Not to look to the self, to your own sacrifices anymore, but look to Jesus, the author in the finisher of our faith. He has taken our sin on Him, so that our sin could be washed clean. He was enough so that your ‘feeling enough’ is no longer the barometer.

2 Corinthians 5:21, He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

• Another lie is that you are not strong enough. You keep failing. How can you draw close to God? So, you try harder. If next year I can just save up enough to buy a bull to sacrifice, I will be accepted.
• The focus is wrong. It is not about growing better and stronger in your own willpower and efforts, it is about dying to self and relying on the power of Jesus, focusing on Him.

Hebrews 12:2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.

• Some people read this, but keep living with this mindset, “Fixing your eyes on yourself, so your hard work and actions will show and perfect your faith,”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness… for when I am weak, then I am strong.

• You now rest on God’s love, His grace, His forgiveness. You trust in your new identity that defines you because His love defines you.

App – Do not boast in or focus on your love for Him, focus on His love for you. The first will make you feel inadequate, the second will make you fall in love with Him more.

B. Jesus rebuilds your temple

• When Jesus was speaking of rebuilding the temple, He was referencing Himself, Him being the temple of the Holy Spirit.
• Now with His death and resurrection, He has given us access into the presence of God.

Hebrews 10:19-20, Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh..

• Not only this but we also have this promise.

Romans 6:5, For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.

• When we are baptized into Christ by placing our faith in Him, we become united with Him in the likeness of his resurrection.

John 14:23, Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.

• You and I now become the temple of the Holy Spirit, Him indwelling us. With His Spirit living in us Jesus raises up our bodies as living sacrifices and temples of the Holy Spirit.

C. Be as He is

• We are cleansed and rebuilt as the temples of the Holy Spirit so that we can now present our bodies as living sacrifices to God.

Rom 12:1, Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

• Again, the sacrifice of Jesus was not just to cleanse from sin. It was to restore us in relationship with God so that we can be turned away from the root of religion and be available to be used as vessels of God to impact the world with his glory.

1 John 4:17, By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.

• This scripture is a cause for great celebration. What is the implication of this?
• Firstly, we need a right understanding. This scripture does not say because Jesus is Messiah and God, so all of us are becoming Messiahs and Gods.
• What it does mean is that when we place our faith in Jesus, He gives us a new identity in Him because of Him. We are nothing apart from Him.
• With this understanding, we have wonderful grace bestowed on us.
• Jesus is at the right hand of God. We are already in the Spirit seated with Him, secure in Christ where nothing can separate us from His love.

Ephesians 2:5-6, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

• He has all authority and has given us authority in His name.

Matthew 28:18, And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

John 14:12, Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.

• He has authority over sin and death, and sin and death no longer have authority over us.

Romans 6:14, For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

App – When sin wants to rule over you and condemn you, you apply this scripture.

• As we take hold of these promises and these truths by faith, Jesus rebuilds us into that which God already sees us as: Temples of His glory.
• Religion and works, separated from relationship with God are trying to convince you that you are not enough, that you will never be good enough that you cannot do it. Your offering is not good enough. The price is just too high. You are too weak, you are too poor, you are too ignorant.
• It keeps you ineffective as your focus is always on trying to just be good enough to come close to God.
• This morning, Jesus is coming into your life with a whip, not to chastise you, not to rebuke you, but to walk into your life to drive out everything that is distracting you and keeping you away from the fullness of what God wants for you.
• He wants to remove everything that is a lie of the enemy, keeping you from experiencing fullness of relationship with Him.
• Today, if you take hold of these truths, Jesus wants to set you free, cleanse your temple with truth so that you can live in His victory and bring revival in your life.