1/19/13. John 2:13-25. Jesus Restores the Temple- my devotional

John 2:13-25                                                                                                                         Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF

Key verse 2:19                                                                                                                      Saturday, January 19, 2013

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

Part 1: Reverence for God’s Dwelling (13-17)

Verses 13-17, “When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵ So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”  ^(NIV)

We are not used to seeing Jesus getting angry. Jesus fashioned a whip out of cords and drove both animals and people out of the temple courts. Why did he respond so passionately? Jesus was angry about the misuse of his Father’s house.  God’s temple was to be a place of reverent worship and prayer. It was a place where sinners could find mercy and forgiveness. However, the merchants turned it into a place of greed, extorting worshippers and occupying a space reserved for the Gentiles.

They were selling the worshippers defective animals. They were ripping them off when they were exchanging their foreign money with Jewish sheckles. They were taking away space from the Gentiles hindering their worship. They never cared about the purpose of the temple, nor their purpose in providing a service to the worshippers. They were only filled with greed and exploitation. Jesus was so very upset about this. He wanted to purify the temple and restore it to its original purpose.

Today, God’s dwelling place is in the hearts of those who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. There is the same principle at work here. The throne of the heart is meant to be a place where a sinner meets the holy God. It is not to be a place full of money making schemes and plans to exploit other people. It is meant to be a place where we worship the Lord and find the mercy of God.

I need to ask myself, “Is my heart a place of reverent worship that pleases the Lord? “  Many times it is and many times it isn’t. Sometimes my heart is a place where there are desires for self-preservation and not wanting to sacrifice what it needs to go where God is leading.  Many times there is a lack of fervent desire to worship and serve the Lord.  So often I do lack a desire to meet the Holy God as a forgiven sinner living in his grace. I need to make my heart right before the Lord. I need to rededicate my heart. Lord, please come and take your place in my heart.

The hearts of first nation people must be a place to worship the Lord. That is our prayer. As missionaries we need pray for and seek to prepare the hearts of the people to accept Jesus and worship the Lord by loving and serving the people and preaching the word of God. Lord, make the communities in NW Ontario a place where you can dwell.

Part 2: The Authority of Jesus (18-25)

Verses 18-25, “¹⁸ The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” ²⁰ They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. ²² After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. ²³ Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.²⁴ But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. ²⁵ He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.” (NIV)

The religious leaders did not like what Jesus did. He challenged their authority. Jesus’ death and resurrection is the ultimate sign of his authority as the Son of God. The Jews asked Jesus for a sign that proved his authority to cast out merchants and money changers. If Jesus showed them his credentials and degrees and a signed letter from a Jewish religious establishment they might have accepted that. They were looking for any reason to reject what Jesus was telling them. Clearly, they loved money more than God.

We do this many times. God calls us to repent and we search and search for any reason not to accept what Jesus is telling us, especially if it involves change and repentance. God wants me to be a servant of God. He wants me to be an off-site coordinator of the mission to NW Ontario. He could be moving me to be an on-site one day. He wants me wholly devoted to him. He wants me to be a spiritual leader in my community and my home and my community. He wants me to be a humble loving and sacrificial servant of God. I need to be able to accept all that Jesus has to say even if it draws me out of my comfort zone.

Do the things of this world occupy a wrongful place in our hearts? Are they difficult to surrender? Ask Jesus for help. He will drive out of our hearts all the useless things that hinder the work of God. I thank God for this promise. There are so many things that are in our hearts that we just cannot get rid of. We cannot change others and we cannot change our selves. But God can change our hearts. He can work within us to make us into new creations. He has done that recently with Julie and I. My heart was in the throes of depression and fatalism and despair. I was alienated from those close to me. I had no joy of ministry and no joy of life.  I was simply doing what God wanted me to do and hoping to be taken out of this world sooner than later. But Jesus worked powerfully. He changed my heart and Julie’s heart. He created a new relationship among us. He led me into a new mission field. He granted me a local church and a very good pastor. God worked. When I could not change my heart and life, Jesus changed it by his power.

That power is the power of the God. The sign of Jesus’ death and resurrection is the Gospel. There is no other power that can change hearts so. There is one way and one way only, the sign that God gave through Jesus Christ. No amount of marriage counseling, no amount of medications, no amount of positive thinking could help me. Only Jesus could help me and he did.

What can work in the communities of FN people? 60% believe that returning to the land and returning to traditional ways will bring health back to the community. I don’t think so. There is too many of them to return to the land in the ways that they want. The power of sin has its strong grip on so many people. They need some major changes. But these changes cannot come about through protests and blocking transport routes. They need to come about through the Gospel of Jesus delivered by servants of the Lord, who can deliver the Gospel to the people effectively. Then there can be breakthroughs after breakthroughs.

Prayer: “Father, make my heart a holy temple. Keep it holy and dwell there and be my God.”

One word: Respect God’s Temple