Thursday, March 17, 2016
Matthew 21:12-17 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"
ONLY JESUS CAN CLEANSE THE TEMPLE
It's difficult to really imagine what it was like to enter the temple courts at the time of Christ. If we were to compare it to an event today, it was more like a ball game than a worship service. Imagine if when you entered the church for worship you were met by men converting currency and salesmen shouting, competing to sell doves and other animals in the entryway of the church! So it was when Jesus entered the temple a day after Palm Sunday. God's house of prayer had become a den of thieves.
Jesus, motivated by love and with zeal for the true worship of the LORD, cleansed the temple for a second time in His ministry. He drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. Only Jesus could cleanse the temple and lead the people there to worship in spirit and truth. Only Jesus can cleanse our temples, our bodies, our hearts and minds from sin, so that we may worship properly. Our temple needs to be cleansed too (and I'm not talking about the church building), and no vacuum can accomplish the necessary cleansing.
Only Jesus can cleanse the temple, only He can help us to refocus. He will lead us by His Word to gather, first because we are all individually sinners. He will lead us to honestly confess our sins, and He will assure us that our sins are forgiven--all through His Word. He will lead us to gather to worship because we are forgiven. He will lead us by His Spirit to offer up prayer and praise from the heart and not merely go through the motions.
Only Jesus can cleanse us and put away our sins of neglecting His Word and our opportunities to hear it.
Only Jesus can clean out the clutter of our hearts so that we may offer up praise and thanks to God.
Only Jesus can enable us to worship in faith, prompted by love.
