Turned Over Tables
John 2:13-25
13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Passover
Explain- Passover & Unleavened Bread
So Understand … It’s Passover… and in our text we’re going to find Jesus cleansing His Father’s House from the leaven / sin within it.
Passover is just 1 of 3 feasts in which ALL Jewish males were required to travel to Jerusalem.
During Passover…. Jerusalem would swell to 10x it’s normal size from 100,000 people to over a million people.
13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Cap.-Jerus.(75 miles) Jericho.(800′ below ) Jerus.(2400′ above)
14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.
15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep & the oxen, & poured out the changers’ money & overturned the tables.
In John ch.1 the disciples learned Jesus is the GENTLE Lamb of God.
In John ch.2 the disciples learn that Jesus is also the ROARING Lion of the tribe of Judah.
It’s in Jesus we see both sides of the same coin!
At the wedding in Cana of Galilee, the disciples discover that Jesus is… A wonderful wine maker who works miracles behind the scenes.
Here at the temple in Jerusalem the disciples are exposed for the first time…to an Angry Jesus! He publicly, physically, deals with the sin going on in His Fathers house.
Ephesians 4:26 Be angry, & do not sin.
What was going on in the temple that made Jesus angry?
15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep & the oxen, & poured out the changers’ money & overturned the tables.
poured out the changers’ money
Explain. Jewish Shekel.
overturned the tables
What tables? These would be the tables where pilgrims presented there sacrifices to the temple priests. (Explain)
And this all taking place in the Court of the Gentiles!
This is not the last time they will see Angry Jesus.
Throughout the N.T. whenever people are standing in the way of others coming to God we find that Jesus is ANGRY
At the end of Jesus’ 3 years of ministry we find Jesus cleansing the Temple a 2nd time.
In the book of Revelation we again find an ANGRY Jesus dealing with Christ rejecting planet Earth!
In Revelation 6:16 we read of the Wrath of the Lamb!
16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”
Jesus is ANGRY that His people are being ripped off!
The Jewish priests were not FEEDING the flock but they were FLEECING the flock!
Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!
( Grk language- Imperative and speaks of force!)
Speaks of Jesus deity!
John 5:17 But Jesus answered them, My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
3 years later…
Mark 11:17 My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. But you have made it a den of thieves.
17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”
This zeal for the temple was prophesied is Psalm 69:9
18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?”
Matthew 12:39 An evil & adulterous generation seeks after a sign, & no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days & three nights in the heart of the earth.
18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” 19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
Q. Why does Jesus say this?
He knows there hearts. They were going to kill Him!
In saying this…
Jesus is claiming to be the TRUE temple of God.
John 1:14 The Word became flesh & dwelt among us.
In the N.T. we read after Jesus death that WE have become the TEMPLE of God!
1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the TEMPLE of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Now, just like we find Jesus repeatedly dealing with the sin that was in the TEMPLE…that was ripping His people off…
So to now…. Jesus regularly deals with us and the sin that is going on in our TEMPLE … that is ripping us off!
Communiom….is a time that God wants to deal with sin in our lives—the sin that is ripping us off! If we will judge ourselves we won’t be judged by God
But if we won’t deal with the sin in our lives then we force the Lord to have to CHASTISE us!
Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”
Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent
20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”
The year was 30 AD.
21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them & they believed the Scripture & the word which Jesus had said.
23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.
Evidently there faith was NOT a GENUINE faith.
It may have been an INTELLECTUAL faith.
It may have been an EMOTIONAL faith.
These believers in verse 23 were UNSAVED believers.
What about You?
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is GENUINE.