This past Sunday night on the way home from church services my son and I were having a conversation about the Bible. Somehow we started talking about when Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple. Aaron said he used a whip. He then told me I could talk about that in my blog -- about when Jesus cracked the whip. I was surprised because for some reason, I had not remembered this little detail.
Needless to say I was still curious about this when I got home. I wanted to know if Christ had really used a whip. Naturally, I got my Bible out and started studying. First I found the record of His cleansing of the temple toward the end of His minstry. This scene is depicted in Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17 and in Luke 19:45-48. None of these accounts mention a whip of any kind. I was beginning to think that Aaron was wrong, but then I found another time when Jesus cleansed the temple at the beginning of His ministry. That is recorded in John 2:13 through17. Ah Ha! There it was, right in the scriptures.
The account recorded by John happened shortly after Christ had performed His first miracle, that of turning water into wine at a wedding feast. Verse 15 of Chapter 2 does say that Jesus "made a scourge of small cords" and "drove them all out of the temple." A scourge is a whip. I looked that up in my Webster's dictionary and in Strong's Concordance. But it seems unlikely to me that our Lord "cracked" a whip. I read a few on line concordances and they were very careful to point out that the scourge was not used on any person, but that it was used to aid in driving out the cattle that were in the temple. Nothing was permanently destroyed. Neither the cattle, nor any of the people were harmed and the money could be picked back up again. Jesus was not destructive when He cleansed the temple; but He certainly got rid of the corruption - at least for a time.
Many thoughts come to mind when reading about Christ throwing out the money changers. John says that the disciples remembered "that it was written, 'The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.' " (John 2:17) This is almost a direct quote from Psalms 69:9. Jesus certainly did have a zeal for His Father's house. The temple was the place where the Jews came to worship God. It is where they had access to the Heavenly Father. It was the holy dwelling place of the great I AM. We cannot even begin to comprehend the great love that exists between God the Father, and God the Son. But because their beings are so intertwined with one another - because of the great love Jesus had for His Father - He merely could not abide the corruption that was going on in the "His Father's house."
It is important to note the steadfast loyalty that Christ had for God. Christ always had it foremost in His mind and heart that He was there to glorify the Father. If we think of our own fathers, we can relate somewhat to Jesus' actions. We love our earthly fathers. We are loyal to them and when we were small we wanted very much to please them. If anyone ever said anything bad our Dad or did something to tarnish his name or reputation we were quick to defend him. So Jesus was with the Heavenly Father. And so should we also be with God. No matter how much we love our earthly family, we are to love God the most. Remember the first commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, mind, soul and strength.
Now, I know that today God does not reside in any building. Nevertheless, we should treat the place we come to worship and give reverence to our Almighty Father with respect. We should teach our children to help take care of the building. We need to remind them to pick up any candy or gum wrappers left on the seats. We should never write or carve on our pews. We should teach them not to demolish the song books. Like I said, I know the building is not holy. I know that. However, the local meeting place for our home congregations should still be taken care of so that we can continue to enjoy the blessings of meeting together to worship in spirit and truth.
In the New Testament, the church - the individual members are described as the temple or dwelling place of God. Let us consider these scriptures.
I Cor. 3:16-17 --"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." Whew - does that sound a little like Christ did when he threw the buyers and sellers and all their merchandise out of the temple? I don't think God likes it very much when we defile His dwelling place with angry words or inappropriate thoughts or foul language.
Read I Corinthians 6:19-20 --"What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." It seems like Paul was trying to tell the Corinthians to get their act together. Clean out or rid yourself (your temple) of those things that would defile or destroy you. Empty yourself of the bad stuff and then fill yourself up with God's spirit - and glorify God - because you belong to Him!
I want to share two more verses that will give us food for thought. At least these verses made me stop and think about myself. II Corinthians 6:16 -- "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
Eph. 2:21-22 -- "In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."
So think about it (and I am talking to myself as much as anyone else) -- if Christ came to the temple of God that is in you ... would He find anything to throw out?
Christ above all things,
Robin
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