John 2:12-22 Cleaning Out The House

30.11.08 John 2:12-22 (NASB)

Audio Sermon File: John 2:12-22

Going Deeper: Study Guide-Page 1 , Study Guide -Page 2

Cleaning Out The House

Today’s passage takes place in the spring - and in some ways it could be likened to a spring cleaning that some of us might do each year, because Jesus is - CLEANING OUT THE HOUSE. It does take place in a house…that house being the temple of God. Our text in John 2:12-22 reveals this to us:

12 After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and [His] brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days. 13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated [at their tables]. 15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove [them] all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; 16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, "Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a place of business." 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house will consume me." 18 The Jews then said to Him, "What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?" 19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 20 The Jews then said, "It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

From the Cleansing of the Temple we will see that Jesus was CLEANING OUT THE HOUSE - that is God’s house, cleaning it out of unrighteousness so that true worship could take place.
Today I want all of us to see as we apply the text - by studying this event we may apply three general principles in our own worship here at c3.

1. Believers should not promote activities that prevent genuine worship and devotion
2. Christians should welcome all people to the Lord’s house
3. Christians should take a stand for right even when it is unpopular

v.12 Last week we were with Jesus as he performed His first sign, turning water into wine, at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. It was there that Jesus revealed a part of His glory. We find this afternoon that after leaving the wedding ceremonies Jesus moves on to another area of Galilee - in His eventual travel to Jerusalem for the Passover. Cana was located in the inland hill country of Galilee, and now Jesus went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and [His] brothers and His disciples. Capernaum was located on the NW shores of the Sea of Galilee, about 16 miles NE of Cana. Capernaum was a larger town, located on a trade route. Many Gentiles came to this town for it was a center of political and commercial activity. It is also the home of Peter and Andrew, James and John, and Matthew. Jesus would do a lot of His ministry here - and many Bible students consider this as Jesus’ headquarters. At this point in time Jesus and those with Him, stayed there a few days.

v.13 Now as we begin the main narrative of Jesus CLEANING OUT THE HOUSE - we note that the The Passover of the Jews was near. The Passover commemorates the time that the Jews were delivered from slavery in Egypt. The Passover was in remembrance of the tenth plague upon the Egyptians. The Lord sent the angel of death to ‘pass over’ the Jewish homes on which the doorposts were sprinkled with blood (Exod 12:23-27). As the angel ‘passed over’ these homes, those who did not have the blood of the lamb upon their doorposts - the result was that the firstborn of men and animal of these homes, were judged by death.

In the OT the symbolism of Passover expressed - innocent life given for guilty life. Ultimately this foreshadowed Christ’s permanent work of glorifying God by His sacrifice - the shedding of His blood upon the cross, and therefore the bearing away of the sins of the people. Christ’s innocent life has already been given for our guilty lives, therefore Christians do not need to observe the Passover. In addition John’s gospel was written after the destruction of the temple in AD 70, and mainly for believers - so it was termed The Passover of the Jews - it was something that unbelieving Jews continued to observe.

In preparation for the Passover Jesus went up to Jerusalem, like any devout Jewish male over the age of 12 was required to do annually. It is quite interesting to note when the Bible mentions travel to Jerusalem, it is usually associated with going in a certain direction…which is up. For the Jew, Jerusalem was the center of the world. Any one who has traveled to Jerusalem, would realize that the road is on a gradual incline. The temple at Jerusalem is built upon a mountain - Mt. Moriah, with an elevation of 2,425 feet above sea level. To give you an idea of the height of this mountain - by comparison Grouse mountain is roughly 3700 feet.

In v.14 we find that Jesus is in the temple courts. The specific part of the temple that Jesus is in would be the area known as the Court of the Gentiles. We know this because this is the only part where the described activities of a marketplace can take place. The text does not identify the exact location within this court though. When Jesus entered the temple area, He would be able to smell the oxen and sheep and doves; and see and hear the transactions and noise from the moneychangers’ tables. Maybe the noise could be likened to Granville Island on a busy Saturday afternoon or maybe the PNE in the summer.

For the convenience of pilgrims, the cattlemen and the money changers had set up businesses in the Court of the Gentiles. The animals were sold for sacrifices at the temple. It was far easier for a pilgrim in Jerusalem to purchase one that was guaranteed kosher (pass the inspection of the high priests). Otherwise worshippers would have to bring an animal with him and have it inspected for meeting the kosher requirements - and then risk the possibility of failing the requirements. The vendors of the market were authorized by the temple authorities and therefore the temple authorities would receive financial benefits. The sellers were either part of the temple hierarchy or they needed to pay a large fee to the temple authority for the privilege.

The very existence and control of the market displayed the personal greed and corruption of the temple administration. It also showed their contempt of the Gentiles since this was the only area that the Gentiles could worship - thus Gentiles were forced to worship in effect in a "market place sanctuary." Jesus was troubled at what He found, for the very place - the temple where God was to be worshipped and magnified - became the very opposite - it had been made unclean. As a result of seeing these activities Jesus - made a scourge of cords, and drove [them] all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen (v.15). It was a decisive action on Jesus’ part against the commercial activities that both buyers and sellers shared in by engaging and conducting their evil practices. It was a Messianic act which was performed. Jesus then proceeded and - He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. The Roman money the pilgrims brought from various parts of the world to Jerusalem had to be changed into the Tyrian currency (the closest thing to the old Hebrew shekel) or into shekels themselves, since the annual temple tax had to be paid in that currency. The annual temple tax was half a shekel per year for every Jewish male 20 years or older (Exod. 30:11-16). This amount equaled almost double of a standard days wage of a working man and was paid at the Passover period. Exorbitant prices were often charged for changing the currency - ranging from a total of 10% to as high as 30 percent for the conversion.

When Jesus overturned the tables of the moneychangers - it indicated that Jesus’ actions were done fervently and not in a matter of fact way. Jesus dealt a serious blow to the money changers’ business - but doing so in a way which did not bring in the Roman forces.

v.16-17 In cleansing the temple not only were the moneychanger affected but also those who were selling the doves (v.16). The dove sellers were ordered by Jesus to - Take these things away - referring to the cages, baskets and other goods these merchants used. The doves or pigeons were such a common sacrifice that there is separate mention of them. Jesus was against the dove sellers and not against the use of doves, since doves are required by the Law for those who were poor and could not afford the cost of an animal (Lev. 12:6; 14:22; 15:14, 29; cf Lk. 2:22-24).

Jesus continues and rebukes the merchants - stop making My Father's house a place of business. Jesus was proclaiming that the temple was being misused, and commands them to stop this practice. The temple’s divine purpose was being perverted. The temple was turned into a market place of goods and services. The turn of events and the resulting actions that Jesus took in the temple court, leads us to think about our own worship. Jesus clearly saw how His temple was turned into something that it was never intended to be. Likewise if we were to look at our own church we might conclude from this passage that …

1. Believers should not promote activities that prevent genuine worship and devotion.

Do we engage in practices during worship service that distract others to focus upon the worship of God? The strangest thing that I have observed in a church before, not here at c3, was that consistently some time during the service someone would be clipping their nails. Others fall asleep because they have not prepared themselves to worship the prior evening. Some are always talking with the person they sit with. Some people come to worship dressed in an inappropriate way that other worshippers cannot but help stare at them and maybe even talk about them during worship. Some churches now model their worship to cater to unbelievers, by making the worship service entertaining - worship is never to cater to unbelievers because they do not and will not in their unsaved condition worship God - read Romans 1.

Do we join events or have habits that frequently keep us away from fellowship, corporate worship? I cannot overemphasis the priority of worship in every aspect of our lives. We were made to worship God, but our sin prevents worship. We are saved to a new relationship in Christ to worship God. In fact we are exhorted to worship - Hebrews 10:25 - ‘Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.’ Are you putting priority on work, on study, on recreation, or personal desires ahead of your ultimate priority - worship? I would challenge you to commit yourself to worship and fellowship. I fully believe that if you have this priority in check then all other areas of your life will be changed for God’s glory.

Do we come to church for reasons which are not solely for the purpose of true worship? Some people come to church to do business. They know that there are a good number of people at church so they attend church to network in the hopes of making some sales. Some people come to church because of personal friendships and not God. Others come to church for the music, food, or social activities. If we took all of these things away would you still come to church to worship God? The challenge for our generation is to come back to the fundamentals of worship and to make worship a priority.

In what ways as a believer are you promoting genuine worship and devotion that please God? And in what ways are you not, and how will you change your behaviour in response to God’s Word?

The only place in the temple area where Gentiles were allowed to worship God, was in the Court of the Gentiles. By allowing the Court of the Gentiles to become a noisy, smelly public market, the Jewish religious leaders were preventing Gentiles from exercising the spiritual privilege promised them. This was a form of religious elitism which targeted all ethnic people groups except for the Jews. Think about this? How could a Gentile pray amid all that noise and stench? And God’s house was supposed to be "a house of prayer for all nations" (Is. 56:7). The Gentiles were denied of the only place where they could worship.

One pastor wrote this: ‘Jesus came to earth in humiliation as the incarnate Son of God, but on this occasion…he forcefully manifested divine hatred against sin, especially sin that profanes God’s name and sullies His holiness. By this mighty, unresistable display of power He made the Temple symbolically clean. With the great clutter of animals, tables, chairs, money, and frightened people, it was far from tidy; but it was for a brief time cleansed of overt moral defilement.’

The significance of the cleansing of the temple is linked to the coming of the Messiah. Jesus seeks to make available to the Gentiles the privileges which God had granted to them as part of His people. So what Jesus was doing is to proclaim that the time of universal worship, uninhibited by Jewish restrictions, has arrived.

When you come to church each Sunday you probably have an image of what the church should be like. You would expect that you would be able to worship freely. You would look forward to a time to be spiritually refreshed by drawing near to God. You would want it to be a place where you could bring your offerings, take time to meditate, be in praise, prayer, and confession.
King David wrote this in Psalm 27:4 - ‘One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to meditate in His temple.’ This is what Jesus knew His house should be like. This is what true believers Jew and Gentile alike would desire, but they found something different.

Once again this should cause us to think what about our church? The Gentiles were really not being included in the Lord’s house, because the marketplace was in the midst of their area of worship. By the permission of the temple authorities - vendors were welcome but the Gentiles were not. How should we respond and reflect upon this? How can we safeguard against such attitudes? Perhaps we need to consider that…

2. Christians should welcome all people to the Lord's House

The majority of our churches are cold to outsiders or just superficial in their welcome. The Lord has regularly brought to our church new visitors. Have you taken notice of that? Sometimes we have people coming in just as the service starts - so we can’t greet them. And they also leave just before the service ends - is there something you can personally do to greet them - so that they don’t feel like a total stranger either coming or going?

I do want to commend most of you for being welcoming. Yet we don’t want to rest in our accomplishments…but is there anything else you can do? Have you told and invited them to join one of our fellowship groups? Have you encouraged newcomers in some way? Have you helped them get orientated to our church? One thing that I was impressed with at one church we had visited (this was quite a while ago) was that we were invited over to one of the members homes for tea after the service - I was not a pastor at that time and we were total strangers to them.
If we are God’s people and are so wrapped up in our own little worlds - then what kind of impression do you think people would have of Christians? Of God? We are God’s ambassadors, let us shine for Him.

Jesus’ actions in the temple brought to the minds of the disciples an OT passage from Psalm 69:9. Verse 17, states as quoted in the text - ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ These words of the psalmist David, expressed his insistence upon the people of his time to act in accordance to their outward claim of devotion to God. The psalmist felt pain because he saw God dishonoured, because the psalmist loved God so greatly. Jesus applies this verse to His own attitude in the cleansing of the temple. Jesus was greatly offended by the happenings in the temple. The disciples recognized that Jesus’ actions were in fulfillment to Scripture. They also realized that the attitude and responding actions that Jesus had were a response of righteous indignation.
v.18-19 In the commotion of this day the Jews came to Jesus and said to Him, "What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?" The Jews being referenced to were probably the temple authorities and members of the religious establishment. They wanted from Jesus proof to His claim to the right to say all that He did, and His act to cleanse the temple. They demanded of Jesus to give them justification for everything that just took place.
It was through the Jews demand for Jesus to prove His authority, it revealed their hearts. The Jews should have recognized that all the merchandising, in the temple was wrong. They should have welcomed Jesus’ act of CLEANING OUT THE HOUSE, to restore true worship. But instead the Jews focused upon the issue of authority. If the Jews were truly in line with God and His Word, they would have taken Jesus’ actions as their ‘sign.’ A sign which the disciples picked up on in relation to the prophecies in the OT concerning the Messiah. In response, Jesus would give them no sign. Jesus was no performer, doing miracles at the request of others just to prove a point - He worked according to the Father’s will.

Not only did Jesus do what was right in CLEANING OUT THE HOUSE, He also stood up against the whims and erroneous dictates of man - the Jewish authorities. Jesus risked His own popularity to restore God’s glory. Therefore we may consider and learn that…

3. Christians should take a stand for right even when it is unpopular.

Do you seek to maintain a God centered worship even if others may have other ideas of the way things are being done? Do you cater to your own ideas of worship or do you desire to make our worship here as Scriptural as we can for the glory of the Head of the church - Jesus Christ? Following God’s way is the harder path, Scripture tells us - 2 Tim. 3:10 - ‘In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.’ Are you ready and willing to stand up and persevere for that which is right in God’s eyes?

Jesus doesn’t bow down to the foolish request of the Jews, instead Jesus offers them a prophetic look into the future. Jesus tells them that He will - Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. To the Jews it was taken to be understood in light of the physical buildings of the temple that Herod the Great remodeled. Herod used the temple to boost his reputation with the Jews, by rebuilding and enlarging it (started in 19/20 BC). This building was the second Jerusalem temple built, by the returning Jews from captivity in Babylon, started in 536 BC and completed in 515 BC (Ezra 3:1-6:15). They didn’t realize that Jesus had something more in mind…that of spiritual importance. The word temple used in the Greek, refers to the sanctuary or Holy Place; and not to the entire complex of the temple including the courts. This gives us insight as to what Jesus was referring to - which was Himself - Jesus is our true sanctuary.

v.20 The Jews were surprised at the statement since they misunderstood the full impact of it. They thought the statement by Jesus was ridiculous. They were only thinking of the buildings which had to this point taken forty-six years to build. As a historical note, the detail of the number of years it has taken to build the temple dates this event to AD 27/28. At this time period of the cleansing of the temple, the temple had only been reconstructed about half way. It was not until AD63 that the temple was fully completed. Then seven years later it was physically destroyed in AD 70, under the command of Roman General Titus, as a final blow to the Jews for their resistance to Roman rule.

The Jews reply to Jesus was condescending - and will You raise it up in three days? To the Jews, Jesus was an upstart from Galilee, He was not belonging to any of the religious establishment, so in their eyes He was a nobody.

In verses 21 and 22 the Apostle John explains to us, the reader of this gospel, what was meant by Jesus’ words. We must keep in mind that this gospel was written between the years of AD 80-90. Many years have passed since Christ died. John’s writing was from a post resurrection vantage point. Jesus was alive and reigning in heaven.

John emphatically explains Jesus’ words. He tells us that what Jesus meant when He referred in His words ‘Destroy this temple.’ It was a reference to the temple of Jesus’ own body. Jesus was the full manifestation of God - He was the Word that became flesh (1:14). And being so, Jesus fulfilled all that the temple meant. The temple was were God dwelt among His people on earth, and the center of all true worship. But now in Jesus Christ - God dwelt among men and in Christ we have true worship. There was going to be true worship for believers because Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice - that…Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scripture.

True worship of God starts at the point that you repent of sin and believe in Christ alone as your Saviour. And through the indwelling Holy Spirit, in us the born-again - in the temple of our hearts does He dwell manifesting true worship. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 expresses this clearly about true believers - ‘Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit , who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.’ This new relationship with the Holy Spirit is inseparably and directly tied to worship. Worship for the believer is our ultimate priority and is driven by submitting to the Holy Spirit through the application of His Word.

In a closing statement - John then adds that this was not understood even by the disciples until after Jesus was raised from the dead - resurrected. It was then that the disciples believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. The disciples faith in Christ was not matured, until after Jesus was raised to life.

In our passage this day, we see God’s holy temple cleansed. Jesus directs us in rethinking human religion of unrighteousness into one that is pure. The temple court for the Gentiles had become a market place filled with greedy vendors who denied the true Gentile worshippers a sanctified place for reverent worship. Jesus jealously guards the sanctity of the Father’s house and insists upon purity in worship. Jesus foreshadows the day when true worship will be established through His death and resurrection for He is the fulfillment of what the earthly temple pictured. Today true worship is found in our relationship with Christ in the temple of our hearts, a temple that is not made by man’s hands.

As a believer your heart is set apart for worship. Your whole life is to be consumed in the worship and glory of God in Christ Jesus. Do you have such a zeal for the temple of the Lord? His Kingdom, His work? This only will be true if you have a genuine and deep relationship with Christ.

Through the application of our Scripture passage we are challenged with the reality that we may need to be CLEANING OUT THE HOUSE…of our own hearts…in our relationship with God not only in corporate worship, but in a personal life of worship.

(For a full explanation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ - click here - http://www.doihaveeternallife.blogspot.com/)
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