Jesus Cleanses The Temple

The Twelve Apostles

Jesus Cleanses The Temple

Apostle Matthew: Son of man, was it on the Passover day that Jesus went into the temple and saw people buying and selling?

Is that what the bible is explaining?

The bible said it was on the Passover Day. But that record was not true. That event was on a Sabbath Day. It was not on the Passover day.

Cleansing The Temple

And when He reached the temple, behold the rooms were filled with petty traders selling doves and animals, and other things, for sacrifice; the temple was a market of trade. And Jesus was indignant at the sight, and said, “You men of Israel, for shame! This is supposed to be the house of prayer; but it is now a den of thieves. Remove this plunder from this holy place.”

And Jesus called the priests and said, “Behold, for insignificant gain you have sold out the temple of the Lord. This house ordained for prayer is now a den of thieves.

Can good and evil dwell together in the courts of God?

I tell you, No!”

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.'"

The traders only laughed and said, |”We are protected in our trade by those who bear the rule; we will not go.” And then He made a scourge of cords and drove the traders out. He overturned their boards, and threw their money on the floor. He opened up the cages of the captive birds, and cut the cords that bound the lambs, and set them free. The priests and scribes rushed out, and would have done Him harm, but they were driven back. The people stood in His defence.

His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for thy house will consume me.” The Israelites then said to him, “What sign have you to show us for doing this?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

The Israelites then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” John 2:13-22

And then the rulers said, “Who is this Jesus you call king?”
The people said, “He is the Christ of whom our prophets wrote; He is the king who will deliver Israel.”

The rulers said to Jesus, “Man, if you be king, or Christ, then show us signs.

Who gave you right to drive these traders out?”
And Jesus said, “There is no loyal Israelite who would not give his life to save this temple from disgrace; in this I acted simply as a loyal Israelite, and you yourselves will bear me witness to this truth. The signs of my Messiahship follow me in words and deeds - The Master is known by what He says and does.
“And you may tear the temple down (and you will surely tear it down), and in three days it will be built again more glorious than before.”

Now Jesus meant that they might take His life; tear down His body, in which there is the heart, which heart is the temple of the Holy Breath, and He would rise again. The Israelites knew not the meaning of His words. They laughed His claims to scorn. They said, “A multitude of men were forty and six years in building up this house, and this young stranger claims that he will build it up in three score hours; his words were idle, and his claims are naught.”

And then they took the scourge with which He drove the traders out, and would have driven Him away; but Philo, who had come from Egypt to attend the feast, stood forth and said, “You men of Israel, hear! This man is more than man; take heed to what you do. I have, myself, heard Jesus speak, and all the winds were still.
And I have seen him touch the sick, and they were healed. He stands a wise man above the wise men of the world. And you will see His star arise, and it will grow until it is full-orbed Sun of Righteousness.
Do not be hasty, men. Just wait and you will have the proofs of His Messiahship.”

And then the priests laid down the scourge, and Jesus said,

“Prepare, O Israel, prepare to meet your king!

But you can never see the king,

while you press sin as such a precious idol to your hearts.
The king is God.

The pure in heart alone can see the face of God and live.”

And then the priests cried out, “This fellow claims to be the God. Is not this sacrilege! Away with him!”

But Jesus said,

“No man has ever heard me say, I am a worldly king.

Our Father-God is king.

With every loyal Israelite I worship God.
I am the candle of the Lord aflame to light the way.

And while you have the light, walk in the light.”

After He drove the traders from the place, and the Angels swept the temple. D chief priests and Scribes were filled with wrath, but feared to touch or even to rebuke the Lord, for all the people stood in His defence. And Jesus taught the people all day long and healed a multitude of those diseased. And when the evening came, He went again to Bethany.

Reaction Of The Priests And Scribes

The next day, Jesus walked again within the temple courts. The priests and Scribes were much emboldened by the council of Caiaphas and the other men in power, and so they came to Jesus and said, “Who gave you the authority to do as you have done? Why did you drive the traders from the temple yesterday?”
And Jesus answered them and said, “If you will answer what I ask, then I will answer you: Was John, the harbinger, a man of God, or was he a rebellious man?”
The Scribes and Pharisees were loath to answer Him. They reasoned thus among themselves: If we shall say, John was a prophet sent from God, then He will say, ‘John testified for me, that I am son of God, why do you not believe his words?’
If we should say, John was a bold, rebellious man, the people will be angered, for they think John was a prophet of the living God. And so they answered Jesus and they said, “We do not know; we cannot tell.”
Then Jesus said, “If you will tell me not, then I will not tell you who gave me the power and authority to drive the robbers from the house of God.”

More Explanations

Apostle Matthew: What is this portion talking about?

The Head: As it was being explained from time to time, it was about the death of Jesus. Jesus was telling them that if they kill him, after three days, He would resurrect. And that shall be an enough sign for those who doubt that Jesus is the Lord and Saviour.

Apostle Matthew: Jesus knew that even He showed them a sign, that they would not believe it.

What did He tell them?

Themselves were looking for a sign. The reason why they were looking for a sign was for them to arrest Jesus. They would use the sign as an evidence against Jesus. If Jesus had performed a sign, they would have said that Jesus was a wizard, a male witch, one of the magicians. God, as Jesus Christ, had read their hearts, and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

If the FirstSon observes that the least righteousness is not present, even if people asked him to perform miracle, He would not do so. That was why the bible said: … “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Very Important Points

1. The robbers refers to the religious leaders, ministers of God, children of God, business men and women, who are buying and selling, inside and outside the temples and holy places, in the name of God or business, using false measures, in order to make more profit by cheating one another.

2. By buying and selling inside the temple, the traders attract all kinds of evil spirits and demons into the house of God. These evil spirits and demons possess and manipulate people without their knowing it, thereby planting the seeds of evils and abominations in the hearts and mind of people, and misleading humanity into the hell fire.

3. In their bid to trade and make profit, people neglect to observe the necessary rites of holiness. When the holiness of the temple is not maintained, the evil spirits and demons find it easy to enter and stay inside the temple.

4. Physically, the evil spirits and demons may not attack people, but the evil spirits and demons are turning the hearts of the people against the laws, righteousness and holiness of God, without people knowing it.

Apostle Matthew: When this happened, the chief priests and scribes called the solders to arrest Jesus. When the soldiers came, we the apostles and disciples fought against them, because we knew that what Jesus did was right. Ourselves refused and protected Jesus.

Apostle Matthew: But why did the bible authors not write about it?

They removed this account.

The Head: Yes.

Apostle Matthew: They said that the chief priests and scribes left Jesus because of the multitudes. Son of man, it was because of ourselves, the apostles and disciples, that they left Jesus alone. We were very strong. That was why they could not arrest Jesus. Ourselves were ready to fight, and there was nothing that they could do. The reason why the chief priests and scribes were afraid was because of us, the apostles and all the people that Jesus was teaching.

The Discerner of Hearts

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did; but Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of man; for he himself knew what was in man. John 2:23-25

Explanations:

1. People are generally spiritually blind, ignorant and lazy.

2. They are easily swayed by deceit and manipulations.

3. They are not persistent and consistent in knowing and upholding the Truth.

4. One of the first duties of a minister of God is to teach people the Truth about God and life.

5. And no one ever finds the Truth by shying away from it.

Merciless Roman Soldiers

At that time, ourselves, the disciples, were afraid of the Roman soldiers. It was true that some of them were Israelites, but the place where they go to, to get their power, was not God Almighty. Some Israelites were among the roman soldiers, working for the Roman Empire. Once a person is accused of something, the soldiers did not usually wait for judgment. They did not usually put people in prison. They would kill the person.