SINNERS WITHIN THE TEMPLE
ANGER JESUS
ANGER JESUS
Matthew 21:12-16 (KJV)
12 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 moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
14 And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple; and He healed them.
15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased,
16 And said unto Him, Hearest Thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
Verse 12
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 moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
A half shekel was to be paid by all on the 15th of Adar (March). And regular offerings of tithes were collected there at the Temple. They were not allowed to give foreign coins, or coins with Caesar, or some false god, imprinted upon them. Collectors received the money in every city, and transported it to the Temple for the people.
Moneychangers exchanged Jewish coins, for foreign coins, here in the outer realms of the Temple. It was not the exchange that bothered the Lord, but the fact that the people were being cheated by the moneychangers. Fair value for the foreign coins was not being done. Some took advantage, and were committing fraud, in order to enrich themselves.
Some sold doves, which refers to small birds, easily caught, and this sacrifice rather than a lamb was meant for those too poor to afford a spotless lamb. This was meant by God to be sure that no one could be too poor to sacrifice for their sins. These doves could be caught in the countryside, with very little effort. Yet, here the doves were being sold, a price too high for all to be able to afford, and perhaps some were not sacrificing, due to the expense being too high.
Jesus saw these moneychangers as a den of thieves.
Verse 13
My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves
The thievery was being condoned by the priesthood, the getting rich off those who came to pray, to honor God, to sacrifice for sins, was a horrible crime. They were doing it in the very presence of the God that many came to worship. Some have used this passage to deny the selling of cds, tapes, books, etc in a church. It is not the selling that is wrong here, but the cheating of the people, the hindering of the true purpose of the site. If our purpose in selling music or teaching is to get rich, we should not do it in the church. If fair market value is charged, and the goal is the spiritual good of the buyers, there is nothing wrong with this.
Verse 14
And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple; and He healed them.
Jesus not only showed the wrong use of a worship site, but here He shows the proper, the Godly purpose of a place of worship. God wants to deliver people. The blind, lame, that were there, needing help, but few were helping, were able to make their way to Jesus, obviously needing help of other non-infirmed worshippers, and Jesus gave them a miracle.
This should have confirmed that He is the Messiah, but the leaders were not impressed. They preferred moneychangers to miracle workers. They saw money as being more important to the Temple than the Messiahs arrival, the healing of the sick, the worship of the Lord.
Having condemned the sin of the place of worship, He now demonstrated the proper use of it.
In many places of worship today, we see money being the main emphasis. Promises are made that are not from God, people are told to purchase their blessings by enriching the minister, and God is still not pleased with those moneychangers.
God does not sell the salvation of your loved ones, for that is their choice, and God will not take away their choice for money. God does not give blanket blessings, blessing all who give a certain amount, whether they be saved or not, whether they repent of their sins or not, whether they seek to find out if what they want is what God wills for them.
Yet, moneychangers today will promise, claim God spoke this deal to them, and then cheat the buyers, for they cannot force God to do what they promised to be done.
If Jesus visited that service, He would use a whip and chase them out today, as He did then. He is currently avoiding giving His presence, He is at the door knocking, but the moneychangers are sensing that they had better not invite Him into the site, for He is still angry at cheating moneychangers.
 
Verse 15
And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased,
The spiritual leaders of that day, saw the wonderful things and thought they were horrible, for they were not profiting from the miracles, and attention was shifted to their evil ways there, and the accepting of a Messiah that was not one of their group, not of their denominational beliefs.
This was Jesus further evidence of what He had proclaimed at and since the Good Shepherd sermon, that He is the Messiah, He has the power to do signs and wonders to prove it. His love for the worshippers, was not bought with a price, was of grace and mercy, and it was given freely.
The enemies translated those wonderful miracles to be horrible and displeasing. How can mankind become so hard hearted, so evil, that their only concern becomes self centered? They were rejecting the Savior, the Messiah, because they suddenly had been removed from their ways of gaining riches.
Verse 16
Hearest thou what these say? ... have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
They heard praise of Jesus to be evil. They saw proof that day of His Messiahship, they saw wonders performed, they saw people blessed. They also had in their doctrines that a Messiah Who would be God with us (Emmanuel), would someday come. Yet, He had come not praising them, not allowing them to make money off worshipers of God. So, they saw this all as evil.
True praise and worship can come from little children, who have no ulterior motive for their worship. We see many in our day, whose main goal in their ministry is the wealth they get from those thinking they are doing what the minister said God commanded. God wants worship. He is not hard up for money, but will accept some if it is cheerfully given. The money is to support the work of winning souls, of discipling more witnesses, of equipping more saints to be miracle workers for those who cant afford to pay. Too often today, we see that the lame, blind, poor, and downtrodden are forgotten, while the widows purse is being robbed, and givers are cheated from the promised blessings of the minister, who is unable to do what he/she said God would do if they paid them the bribery money.
 
THIS WAS NOT THE ONLY TIME
THAT JESUS CHASED OUT MONEYCHANGERS
 
 
Following this triumphal entry, Jesus went to the Temple, and rebuked the moneychangers, chief priests, and scribes. John 2:14 reports a similar visit at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. Probably, Jesus did this each year when He visited the Temple at Passover time.
These moneychangers exchanged Jewish coins for foreign ones. Dishonest moneychanger would give less for a foreign coin that they should, and the greed of the moneychangers was evil. Jesus rebuked such moneychangers for their dishonesty. He likely did this every time He visited the Temple. Too much dishonesty, deceit in raising money, and false pretense in financial affairs has made many a religious group to be a den of robbers. The Lord is very angry even today at the making of worship sites to be no more than a place where some take advantage of others financially.
This is another reason some thought Jesus might be a return of Jeremiah, for he had a similar message in the Temple. Jeremiah was given revelation from God even back then, that God was angered at the den of robbers using His place where He was to be worshipped as a place to rob worshippers of their money. God saw it back then, and now Jesus (One of the Trinity) was personally expressing that same anger that had been on-going for all that time. It is still an on-going anger of the Lord, to see so called ministers of the gospel message to cheat, rob, and falsely pay out for money given to them. God wanted a way for even the poorest of people to be blessed and to worship.
Jeremiah 7:11
"Is this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord."
Previously, Jesus had told the people not to say that He was the Messiah. Now He rebuked the Pharisees' objections and commanded their shouts. The formerly lame, the formerly blind, the witnesses of His miracle power, done freely and with grace, all worshipped Him. The hard hearted, money seeking religious ones were critical and displeased with His kind of ministry.
Luke 19:39-40
"And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto Him, Master, rebuke Thy disciples. And He answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out."
They could not shout the praises of Jesus, for they had hatred and jealousy. The followers of Jesus backed down from their praises when they met the agitated ones in Jerusalem. But the recipients of His grace, His free blessings and miracles were praising the Lord, called Him to be the "Son of David" and meant it. Some there that day realized that Jesus is the Messiah. Some there continued their plot to kill Jesus.
The children in the Temple began to call out that Jesus was the "Son of David". Jesus says that these "babes and sucklings" were "perfecting praise." He is quoting from Psalms 8:2, and the last, unquoted part of the verse says that the children praise the Lord in order to drown out the voices of the enemies, and to prevent the enemies from being able to kill Him.
Psalm 8:2 (KJV)
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
While all the religious leaders were inconsistent, wavering, and unfaithful, there were some new converts to the faith, some new beneficiaries of Gods wonders, some spiritual children who had heard the earlier shouts of faith, and were enbravened now with this further proof, to believe that this One truly is the Messiah. Jesus had one group which made Him proud that day.
END OF PART 1
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