https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/CleansingOfTheTemple.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: John 2:13-25<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. Under Jewish law, all males were required to travel to Jerusalem three times a year for\nspecial feasts – Deuteronomy 16:16-17\n A. Sacrifices had to be made and offerings given, but it wasn’t always practical to\nship animals or food all the way to Jerusalem – Deuteronomy 14:23-26\n
B. What started as a matter of convenience turned into a money making operation<\/p>\n 1. In Jesus’ time, the Jews had made a rule that the Temple would not accept\nnon-Jewish funds, so all foreign currency had to be exchanged prior to\ngiving to the temple.\n
2. It was also a rule that all sacrifices had to be purchased with Jewish coins<\/p>\n
3. Moneychangers would exchange foreign coins for Jewish coins – for a fee.<\/p>\n 4. Merchants would sell sacrificial animals, but would charge more than the\ngoing rate\n C. If this wasn’t bad enough, these operations were moved into the courtyards of the\ntemple itself.\n
1. It showed the approval of the Jewish religious leaders.<\/p>\n
2. Some believe the priests were renting space to the merchants.<\/p>\n
II. Jesus came upon this scene early in his ministry<\/p>\n A. He made a scourge (a set of knotted ropes) and drove the moneychangers,\nmerchants, and animals out of the Temple courts. He overturned their tables,\npouring coins on the ground.\n
B. Doves were in cages, so he ordered the merchants to take the doves away.<\/p>\n
C. He justified his action by alluding to Jeremiah 7:11<\/p>\n 1. The Jews in Jeremiah’s day lived sinful lives and then thought they could\noffer worship to God and be saved while in their sins – Jeremiah 7:3-11\n
D. The disciples saw his actions and recalled a prophecy – Psalms 69:9<\/p>\n
E. Anger is not wrong, but uncontrolled anger is wrong<\/p>\n
1. James 1:19-20 – slow to anger<\/p>\n
2. Ephesians 4:26 – Be angry, but without sin<\/p>\n
3. Jesus was justified in his anger<\/p>\nIII. Of course the Jews didn’t see it this way. They wanted to know what right Jesus had to\ndrive the merchants out\n A. Interestingly, they recognized Jesus’ actions as those of a prophet because they\nasked for a sign.\n 1. It hints at the fact that they knew they were doing something that God\ndidn’t like\n
B. Jesus’ reply was purposely confusing – John 2:19<\/p>\n 1. Standing on the Temple grounds at the time, it is understandable that the\npeople thought Jesus was speaking of the physical temple.\n 2. But that temple took crews of men 46 years to build. The thought of one\nman rebuilding it three days as ridiculous\n 3. John tells us that Jesus was talking about his death and resurrection, but\neven his disciples did n’t understand until after he arose – John 2:21-22\n C. What is interesting is that three years later, people still remembered what Jesus\nsaid – Mark 14:58; 15:29\n
1. It irritated them<\/p>\n
IV. Jesus’ anger wasn’t out of character for him<\/p>\n
A. Anger at the Jews’ stubbornness – Mark 3:5<\/p>\n
B. Jesus’ scolding of the Jews – Matthew 23:13-36<\/p>\n
C. God has the right to be angry with sinners – Romans 2:5-6<\/p>\n
D. That wrath will be one day displayed – II Thessalonians 1:7–9<\/p>\nV. But as often happens, people return to their sins. Three years later the scene is repeated –\nMark 11:15-18 (also Luke 19:45-46 and Matthew 21:12-13)\n
A. The details are slightly different<\/p>\n
B. Jesus quotes both Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11<\/p>\n C. He prevents people from using the Temple grounds as a shortcut for carrying\ngoods\n
D. There is no challenge to Jesus’ authority this time, only anger<\/p>\nVI. Malachi prophesied that the Messiah would appear in the Temple in anger and that he\nwould purify the people so that they could properly worship God – Malachi 3:1-3\n A. Have you thought about that? Paul said that we are temple of God – I Corinthians\n6:19-20\n
B. The Corinthians had problems with sin<\/p>\n
1. They allowed a fornicator to worship with them – I Corinthians 5:1-2<\/p>\n
a. It impacted the church and its worship – I Corinthians 5:6-7<\/p>\n
2. They were told to give no support to sin – I Corinthians 5:9-11<\/p>\n 3. They were reminded that you cannot serve God while in sin – I Corinthians\n6:9-11\n
4. You cannot being joined in sin and joined with Christ – I Corinthians 6:15-17<\/p>\n C. And the conclusion is that you cannot bring sin into the temple – I Corinthians\n6:18-20\n D. Why? Because you’ll face the wrath of the same Lord who drove out the\nmerchants\n
VII. Don’t try bringing the world into the church – Philippians 3:18-20<\/p>\n
A. Be holy – I Peter 1:13-17<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 2:13-25 I. Under Jewish law, all males were required to travel to Jerusalem three times a year for special feasts – Deuteronomy 16:16-17 A. Sacrifices had to be made and offerings given, but it wasn’t always practical to ship animals or food all the way to Jerusalem – Deuteronomy 14:23-26…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[1503,418,179],"class_list":["post-45859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-anger","tag-hypocrites","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7528,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-were-the-tithes-taken-to-jerusalem-in-the-new-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":45859,"position":0},"title":"Why were the tithes taken to Jerusalem in the New Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I use your site so much for lessons and study and appreciate the articles and answered questions. I have a question that I wondered about after doing a \"giving\" study. I asked in a ladies\u2019 group, too. On a study of giving under the New Law vs. Old Law.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41106,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-swallow-anything\/","url_meta":{"origin":45859,"position":1},"title":"Do You Swallow Anything?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Jeremiah 14:10-16 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sharks are notorious for swallowing just about anything. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People have found books, bottles, tablecloths, and nails inside sharks \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Clearly sharks have large appetites and indiscriminate tastes \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is a small fish known as the Sea Hedgehog or Urchin Fish. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This small fish\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51883,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/coming-with-the-clouds\/","url_meta":{"origin":45859,"position":2},"title":"Coming with the Clouds","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Revelation 1:4-7 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is easy to make mistakes by assuming that a phrase always applies to the same event \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Revelation 1:7 - What is meant by \u201ccoming with clouds\u201d or \u201ccoming with the clouds\u201d? II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Clouds \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God rides clouds - Psalms 68:4 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Psalms 104:3 -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25424,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-many-passovers-did-jesus-attend-during-his-ministry\/","url_meta":{"origin":45859,"position":3},"title":"How many Passovers did Jesus attend during his ministry?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Some say that Jesus attended three Passovers during his ministry and by that try to determine long He preached His gospel. I've heard that there may have been four Passovers, thus making His preaching career longer than 3 1\/2 years. The possible fourth Passover, I believe is in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43451,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/elders-in-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":45859,"position":4},"title":"Elders in the Old Testament","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Job 29 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While we don\u2019t live under the laws of the Old Testament, there are things to be learned from its pages - Romans 15:4 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes we forget that elders have been used long before the church \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It would be useful to learn some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86813,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/observing-the-sabbath-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":45859,"position":5},"title":"Observing the Sabbath (Sermon)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Corinthians 3:1-11 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A well-known, active group is the Seventh-Day Adventist \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They hold an odd mixture of beliefs: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They won\u2019t accept medical treatment, relying solely on prayer instead; \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They believe in modern-day prophecy, making many wild claims that never seem to come true; \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a03.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45859\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}