Mat 21:12-17
12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 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.’ ”14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?”And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?” 17 Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.
I heard the other day about a website that has just begun to show up on the internet. It’s a website devoted to giving ‘reviews’ of the local churches in any specific area.
If you moved into a new city, for example, you could go to this new website and type in the name of a specific local church. It will automatically give you a review of that church from those who have visited it—just like for a restaurant or a movie. There’s a field box in which a visitor can write comments about their visit to that church—offering their thoughts about the style of music, or about the quality of the preaching, or about whether or not it was a friendly church. A really good church gets “five stars”; or a not-so-good church gets “one star”—or maybe no stars at all. Thanks to this website, anyone can find a local church that is exactly to their liking.
Now, such a thing could, in some situations, be very helpful. But I wonder—is it really, ultimately, a good thing that people evaluate Jesus’ church on the basis of whether or not it has the things in it that they want? Might this approach miss the most important standard of all—whether or not a church has the things going on in it that the Lord Jesus Himself would want to find in it?
This morning’s passage tells us the story of the Son of God’s entry into the temple—into His Father’s house. It tells us what He immediately drove out of it. It tells us what He immediately welcomed into it. And it tells us what He received and enjoyed in the midst of it.
And the great, practical value of this passage is that it tells us what Jesus Christ would be pleased to find in His church—His place of holy worship that He purchased for Himself with the blood of His cross.
A Holy Place for All Who Seek Him (vv. 12-13)
We’re told that, after our Lord entered the city of Jerusalem near the end of His earthly ministry, He went immediately to the temple. And once He arrived, He immediately began to cleanse it of the things that didn’t belong in it.
Now certainly, what He wanted to find in it were sincere worshipers. And in those days, Jewish people from all over the Roman world were coming to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Passover and to present offerings in the temple according to the Scriptures (see Numbers 28:16-25). This would have been appropriate; because He—the true Passover Lamb—was about to be offered.
It may have been that some of the people traveling from afar could have brought their offerings with them; but sometimes people found it more convenient to travel, and to buy their offerings once they arrived. And so, the temple area was well-stocked with animals to be purchased by these pilgrims. The very poorest of people often couldn’t afford an offering from the herds. So, the law of God allowed them to make an offering of doves or young pigeons instead. And these, too, were provided for purchase at the temple. Specially provided, pre-approved offerings for purchase at the temple for the offerers’ convenience—at ‘Passover Feast’ markup prices, of course.
Now, if you came from some part of the Roman or Greek-speaking world to the temple, you would most likely bring Roman or Greek coinage with you. This presented a problem; because those coins often bore the image of pagan kings and pagan deities—and that would make them utterly inappropriate to bring into the temple for purchases. But this problem was taken care of as well. As you came into the temple area, you’d find the tables of money-changers; and they would exchange your pagan coinage for the sort of coinage that was acceptable for the purchase of offerings in the temple—with the addition of a ‘processing fee’, of course.
You can imagine what this did to the temple. It turned it into a marketplace. There would be buyers and sellers dashing back and forth. There would be hand-trucks and animal carts rolling all around. There would be lines and lines of impatient people, and crowds pressing at tables to get the best deals. And there would very likely have been the kind of language filling the air that characterizes the trading of goods and money even today. And of course, there would be profits being made.
In short, the temple was being used as a place for people to further their own selfish agendas, rather than a place in which to offer sincere worship to a holy God.
That’s what Jesus found when He came into His Father’s house. And He drove it out. The Bible tells us that He made a thorough cleansing of the place—driving out “all” those who bought and sold. It’s important to note that He didn’t do violence to people; but He did put an end to their selfish abuses of the temple. He didn’t knock out money-changers; but He did overturn their tables—and no doubt sent their coins rolling in all directions! He didn’t strike those who sold doves; but He did overturn their seats—and no doubt sent the doves fluttering and the feathers flying!
Now, did you know that our Lord also cleansed the temple at the beginning of His earthly ministry? The apostle John tells us about this first cleansing in the second chapter of his Gospel account:
“Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up” (John 2:13-17).
Just as Jesus did early in His ministry, He now does again. Jesus’ earthly ministry is marked by a cleansing of His Father’s house—both at its beginning, and at its end. And this is in keeping with what God promised in the very last book of the Old Testament—the Book of Malachi. It speaks there of the ministry of John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of our Savior’s ministry; and in it, God says to us:
“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like laundry soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness” (Malachi 3:1-3).
This speaks, ultimately, of our Lord’s second coming; and of His great purification of His Father’s house at that time. But I believe it also speaks of His coming to His Father’s house during His earthly ministry. Because of who He was, He had the right to come to His Father’s house and cleanse it of that which didn’t belong in it.
Notice how Jesus justified His actions. He quoted Scripture. Jesus didn’t act out of His own passions. He always did what He did according to the great principle, “It is written . . .”
He cited the Old Testament book of Isaiah; where God says,
“Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, And to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants— Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant— Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:6-7).
That was the intention of the Father with respect to His house. It was to be a house of prayer—a holy place. It was even to be a house of prayer “for all nations”—so that the Gentiles who sought the God of Israel could freely come within its courts and pray to Him.
But that’s not how Jesus found it. He cited the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, where God sends His prophet to stand at the gate of the old temple and speak to the people entering it; saying,
“Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the LORD” (Jeremiah 7:8-11).
How horrible—to turn God’s holy “house of prayer” into a marketplace that amounted to nothing more than a “den of thieves”!
Someone sent a joke to me the other day. I’ve wrestled with whether or not to pass it on to you. But I think it illustrates what this passage is saying to us.
Two men were shipwrecked and stranded on a desert island. There were no other human beings for hundreds of miles. “What are we going to do?” said one of the men. “We’re going to starve in a matter of days!” “Don’t worry,” said the other. “I’m rich. I make $100,000 a month.”
“What good is all your money going to do us here?” said the first. “Oh, plenty of good,” said the other; “It won’t take long for my pastor to find me.”
Now I didn’t laugh at that joke when I first read it. At first, it made me angry. Then it broke my heart. After all, just stop and think of what it is that’s supposed to make that joke funny. It’s the all-too-readily-embraced assumption concerning ministers and church leaders—that they are inwardly greedy, and that they habitually use the things of God in order to lay their hands on other people’s money. It made me deeply ashamed that that’s what people think of God’s servants and of God’s holy house of prayer. What is it that we have allowed to enter into God’s holy house, that makes that kind of a joke so easy to ‘get’?
It made me think of the multitudes of times I’ve turned the television to a religious channel; and saw an 800 number and a credit card symbol on the bottom of the screen. It made me think of all the churches that adjust their schedules, and reshape their style, in order to reach a particular “target audience” that is from a higher economic level. It made me think of all the things of the world that churches are bringing into the holy house of God in a desperate effort to appear “relevant” and “tolerable” to the world. It made me think of how many churches and pastors are becoming increasingly hesitant to preach God’s word out of a fear of turning people away, and that are preaching instead a market-driven message that the people of this world will find more acceptable.
What does Jesus find when He walks in the midst of this church? Does He walk in the midst of it and discover that it’s a place we use to advance our own selfish agendas and the values of this world? Or does He find that it is protected and preserved as a genuine house of prayer for all who come into it?
What sort of things would Jesus have to “drive” out of our church today, in order to make it what He wants it to be?
Another thing we can draw from this passage is that our Lord would want His church to be . . .
2. An Inviting Place for the Needs of People to Be Met by Him (v. 14).
It’s interesting to notice that, when Jesus came into His temple, He not only drove out what the Jewish leaders had allowed to come in. He also brought in what they sought to keep out. We read, “Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them” (v. 14).
Under the Old Testament law, members of the priestly family who had the sad misfortune to suffer a defect were not permitted to serve in the temple. “For,” as the law says, “any man who has a defect shall not approach”; and specifically, “a man blind or lame” (Leviticus 21:18). The law even forbade an offering to be made from anything that was “blind or broken or maimed” (Leviticus 22:22). What’s more, a misapplication of 2 Samuel 5:8 (that “The blind and the lame [who were connected to the enemies of Israel] shall not come into the house”) probably led to the unmerciful belief that the blind and the lame would defile the temple, and that they should be forbidden from coming into the temple area.
And yet, who should be allowed to come into God’s temple more than those who need His mercy most? And what characterized the merciful ministry of the promised Messiah more than the prophecies of the Old Testament, that “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped”; or that “the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing” (Isaiah 35:5-6)? What summarizes the earthly ministry of Jesus better than what we find in Matthew 15:30; that “great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them”?
Jesus excluded no one from His holy presence, or held anyone off from approaching Him, who truly sought His mercy. Those who most know their need for Him always find themselves loved and welcomed by Him. And so, here, we see that He doesn’t simply walk outside the temple area in order to heal the blind and the lame. He clearly expresses His heart for needy people by permitting them to come into His Father’s very house; and by healing them in the very court of the temple.
When I began ministering as a pastor, I’m afraid that—in my foolishness—I was always surprised and a little embarrassed at how many really ‘messed-up‘ people there are in churches. I used to think, “If God wanted to really advertise Himself to the world better, wouldn’t He have filled His church with people who had it a little more together?” But clearly I didn’t understand back then what Jesus’ own heart on the matter truly was—that, as He said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick”; and that “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:12-13).
And so, again, this passage suggests to us something of what Jesus wants to find in His church. He wants to come to it and find that its doors are open to needy, broken people. He wants to come and find the place filled with the world’s ‘rejected ones’; and that those who humbly need His healing touch discover that they are at home most of all in His Father’s house.
There’s one more thing this passage teaches us our Lord would want. He wants to find that His church is . . .
3. A Welcoming Place for the Little Ones Who Praise Him (vv. 15-17).
Now, by this point, you would have thought that the high priests and scribes would have readily recognized Jesus for who He is. He had ridden into the city, as the Book of Zechariah had promised; riding on a humble foal of a donkey. He had entered into the temple as had been predicted in the Book of Malachi; boldly cleansing it. He had ministered before their very eyes as the Book of Isaiah promised the Messiah would do; healing the blind and the lame.
And now, they’re given one more sign. Just as it is promised in Psalm 8:2—”Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger.” And yet, as Matthew tells us, “But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ they were indignant and said to Him, ‘Do You hear what these are saying?'” (vv. 15-16a).
These were small children; and they were probably shouting, inside the temple, the same sort of words that they heard the crowds shout about Jesus as He approached the city (v. 9). The high priests and scribes were asking Him if He heard what these noisy, ignorant little children were saying—with, no doubt, the expectation that He would share their indignation, and would command them to be quiet. And I love Jesus’ answer to their question. “Yes.” It’s a simple, straightforward, bold answer; as if He was saying “Yes! I of course I hear the children. And I have no intention of stopping them. I gladly receive their praise.”
In fact, when the high priests and scribes asked Him if He heard, He turned the tables and asked them if they had read! Hadn’t they ever read Psalm 8:2? There, in front of them, they were seeing prophecy fulfilled—if they had only had the eyes to see it. Out of the mouths of these little ones, Jesus was receiving the praise in the temple that the high priests and the scribes were refusing to give.
Now, note carefully what Jesus says. There’s a very important lesson for us in it with respect to what Jesus wants to find in His church.
He quotes Psalm 8 in this manner: “Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise” (v. 16b; emphasis added). The word that is here translated “perfected” is one that refers to the adjusting and repairing and knitting of a thing together, so that it is united and complete. In the New American Standard version, it’s translated “prepared.” In the New International Version, it’s translated “ordained.”
And the idea here—a very remarkable idea—is that it was through the praises of the little children that praise to our Lord was “perfected” and made “complete” and to His satisfaction. He has already said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14).
I believe that this teaches us that what Jesus wants to find, when He comes into His church, is that the meekest, and the smallest, and the seemingly most insignificant of us, are welcomed and respected and well-received in their praises to Him. He does not consider His praise to be complete unless it comes from little mouths.
We should never despise the idea of having little children running around in our church! They are among His most valued followers; and He loves to have them praising Him in an uninhibited way. Remember; He Himself placed a child before His disciples and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4).
So then, what does the Son of God want to find in His Father’s household? What does He wish to see when He walks in the midst of His church? This passage shows us three things: (1) that His church is a holy place for all who seek Him; (2) that those who most need His mercy are welcomed; and (3) that His praises from the smallest among us are encouraged and respected.
Apparently, those are the things that He did not find in His Father’s house from the high priests and scribes. And so, verse 17 has a tragic feel—”Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.” He didn’t find what He had a right to expect in the temple in Jerusalem; and so He went out from them and left them.
As He walks in holiness in our midst, may He find what He wants from us!
When Christ came into Jerusalem, he did not go up to the court or the palace, though he came in as a King, but into the temple; for his kingdom is spiritual, and not of this world; it is in holy things that he rules, in the temple of God that he exercises authority. Now, what did he do there?
I. Thence he drove the buyers and sellers. Abuses must first be purged out, and the plants not of God’s planting be plucked up, before that which is right can be established. The great Redeemer appears as a great Reformer, that turns away ungodliness, Romans 11:26. Here we are told,
- What he did (Matthew 21:12); He cast out all them that sold and bought; he had done this once before (John 2:14; John 2:15), but there was occasion to do it again. Note, Buyers and sellers driven out of the temple, will return and nestle there again, if there be not a continual care and oversight to prevent it, and if the blow be not followed, and often repeated.
(1.) The abuse was, buying and selling, and changing money, in the temple. Note, Lawful things, ill timed and ill placed, may become sinful things. That which was decent enough in another place, and not only lawful, but laudable, on another day, defiles the sanctuary, and profanes the Sabbath. This buying and selling, and changing money, though secular employments, yet had the pretence of being in ordine ad spiritualia—for spiritual purposes. They sold beasts for sacrifice, for the convenience of those that could more easily bring their money with them than their beasts; and they changed money for those that wanted the half shekel, which was their yearly poll, or redemption-money; or, upon the bills of return; so that this might pass for the outward business of the house of God; and yet Christ will not allow of it. Note, Great corruptions and abuses come into the church by the practices of those whose gain is godliness, that is, who make worldly gain the end of their godliness, and counterfeit godliness their way to worldly gain (1 Timothy 6:5); from such withdraw yourselves.
(2.) The purging out of this abuse. Christ cast them out that sold. He did it before with a scourge of small cords (John 2:15); now he did it with a look, with a frown, with a word of command. Some reckon this none of the least of Christ’s miracles, that he should himself thus clear the temple, and not be opposed in it by them who by this craft got their living, and were backed in it by the priests and elders. It is an instance of his power over the spirits of men, and the hold he has of them by their own consciences. This was the only act of regal authority and coercive power that Christ did in the days of his flesh; he began with it, John 2:12-25 and here ended with it. Tradition says, that his face shone, and beams of light darted from his blessed eyes, which astonished these market-people, and compelled them to yield to his command; if so, the scripture was fulfilled, Proverbs 20:8, “A King that sits in the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes.” He overthrew the tables of the money-changers; he did not take the money to himself, but scattered it, threw it to the ground, the fittest place for it. The Jews, in Esther’s time, on the spoil laid not their hand (Esther 9:10).
- What he said, to justify himself, and to convict them (Matthew 21:13); “It is written.” Note, In the reformation of the church, the eye must be upon the scripture, and that must be adhered to as the rule, the pattern in the mount; and we must go no further than we can justify ourselves with, “It is written.” Reformation is then right, when corrupted ordinances are reduced to their primitive institution.
(1.) He shows, from a scripture prophecy, what the temple should be, and was designed to be; “My house shall be called the house of prayer”; which is quoted from Isaiah 56:7. Note, All the ceremonial institutions were intended to be subservient to moral duties; the house of sacrifices was to be a house of prayer, for that was the substance and soul of all those services; the temple was in a special manner sanctified to be a house of prayer, for it was not only the place of that worship, but the medium of it, so that the prayers made in or toward that house had a particular promise of acceptance (2 Chronicles 6:21), as it was a type of Christ; therefore Daniel looked that way in prayer; and in this sense no house or place is now, or can be, a house of prayer, for Christ is our Temple; yet in some sense the appointed places of our religious assemblies may be so called, as places where prayer is accustomed to be made (Acts 16:13).
(2.) He shows, from a scripture reproof, how they had abused the temple, and perverted the intention of it; “You have made it a den of thieves.” This is quoted from Jeremiah 7:11, “Is this house become a den of robbers in your eyes?” When dissembled piety is made the cloak and cover of iniquity, it may be said that the house of prayer is become a den of thieves, in which they lurk, and shelter themselves. Markets are too often dens of thieves, so many are the corrupt and cheating practices in buying and selling; but markets in the temple are certainly so, for they rob God of his honour, the worst of thieves, Malachi 3:8. The priests lived, and lived plentifully, upon the altar; but, not content with that, they found other ways and means to squeeze money out of the people; and therefore Christ here calls them thieves, for they exacted that which did not belong to them.
II. There, in the temple, he healed the blind and the lame (Matthew 21:14). When he had driven the buyers and sellers out of the temple, he invited the blind and lame into it; for he fills the hungry with good things, but the rich he sends empty away. Christ, in the temple, by his word there preached, and in answer to the prayers there made, heals those that are spiritually blind and lame. It is good coming to the temple, when Christ is there, who, as he shows himself jealous for the honour of his temple, in expelling those who profane it, so he shows himself gracious to those who humbly seek him. The blind and the lame were debarred David’s palace (2 Samuel 5:8), but were admitted into God’s house; for the state and honour of his temple lie not in those things wherein the magnificence of princes’ palaces is supposed to consist; from them blind and lame must keep their distance, but from God’s temple only the wicked and profane. The temple was profane and abused when it was made a market-place, but it was graced and honored when it was made an hospital; to be doing good in God’s house is more honorable, and better becomes it, than to be getting money there. Christ’s healing was a real answer to that question, Who is this? His works testified of him more than the Hosannas; and his healing in the temple was the fulfilling of the promise, that the glory of the latter house should be greater than the glory of the former.
There also he silenced the offence which the chief priests and scribes took at the acclamations with which he was attended (Matthew 21:15; Matthew 21:16). They that should have been most forward to give him honor, were his worst enemies.
- They were inwardly vexed at the wonderful things that he did; they could not deny them to be true miracles, and therefore were cut to the heart with indignation at them, as Acts 4:16; Acts 5:33. The works that Christ did, recommended themselves to every man’s conscience. If they had any sense, they could not but own the miracle of them; and if any good nature, they could not but be in love with the mercy of them: yet, because they were resolved to oppose him, for these they envied him, and bore him a grudge.
- They openly quarreled at the children’s Hosannas; they thought that hereby an honor was given him, which did not belong to him, and that it looked like ostentation. Proud men cannot bear that honor should be done to any but to themselves, and are uneasy at nothing more than at the just praises of deserving men. Thus Saul envied David the women’s songs; and “Who can stand before envy?” When Christ is most honored, his enemies are most displeased.
Just now we had Christ preferring the blind and the lame before the buyers and sellers; now here we have him (Matthew 21:16), taking part with the children against priests and scribes.
Observe, (1.) The children were in the temple, perhaps playing there; no wonder, when the rulers make it a market-place, that the children make it a place of pastime; but we are willing to hope that many of them were worshipping there. Note, It is good to bring children betimes to the house of prayer, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Let children be taught to keep up the form of godliness, it will help to lead them to the power of it. Christ has a tenderness for the lambs of his flock.
(2.) They were there crying Hosanna to the Son of David. This they learned from those that were grown up. Little children say and do as they hear others say, and see others do; so easily do they imitate; and therefore great care must be taken to set them good examples, and no bad ones. Great reverence is due to a child. Children will learn of those that are with them, either to curse and swear, or to pray and praise. The Jews did betimes teach their children to carry branches at the feast of tabernacles, and to cry Hosanna; but God taught them here to apply it to Christ. Note, Hosanna to the Son of David well becomes the mouths of little children, who should learn young the language of Canaan.
(3.) Our Lord Jesus not only allowed it, but was very well pleased with it, and quoted a scripture which was fulfilled in it (Psalm 8:2), or, at least, may be accommodated to it; “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise”; which, some think, refers to the children’s joining in the acclamations of the people, and the women’s songs with which David was honored when he returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, and therefore is very fitly applied here to the Hosannas with which the Son of David was saluted, now that he was entering upon his conflict with Satan, that Goliath. Note, [1.] Christ is so far from being ashamed of the services of little children, that he takes particular notice of them (and children love to be taken notice of), and is well pleased with them. If God may be honored by babes and sucklings, who are made to hope at the best, much more by children who are grown up to maturity and some capacity. [2.] Praise is perfected out of the mouth of such; it has a peculiar tendency to the honor and glory of God for little children to join in his praises; the praise would be accounted defective and imperfect, if they had not their share in it; which is an encouragement for children to be good betimes, and to parents to teach them to be so; the labor neither of the one nor of the other shall be in vain. In the psalm it is, “You have ordained strength.” Note, God perfects praise, by ordaining strength out of the mouths of babes and sucklings. When great things are brought about by weak and unlikely instruments, God is thereby much honored, for his strength is perfected in weakness, and the infirmities of the babes and sucklings serve for a foil to the divine power. That which follows in the psalm, “That you might still the enemy and the avenger,” was very applicable to the priests and scribes; but Christ did not apply it to them, but left it to them to apply it.
Lastly, Christ, having thus silenced them, forsook them (Matthew 21:17). He left them, in prudence, lest they should now have seized him before his hour was come; in justice, because they had forfeited the favor of his presence. By repining at Christ’s praises we drive him from us. He left them as incorrigible, and he went out of the city to Bethany, which was a more quiet retired place; not so much that he might sleep undisturbed as that he might pray undisturbed. Bethany was but two little miles from Jerusalem; thither he went on foot, to show that, when he rode, it was only to fulfill the scripture. He was not lifted up with the Hosannas of the people; but, as having forgot them, soon returned to his mean and toilsome way of traveling.
We all know Google has a review section for every brand or company where people can comment about their experience with that brand. Now they also have one for churches. People can give ‘reviews’ of the local churches in any specific area. Some of you tried to put your reviews about our church. If someone is looking for a church, they search in Google, and it will automatically give a review of that church from those who have visited it—just like for a restaurant or a movie.
There’s a field box in which a visitor can write comments about their visit to that church—offering their thoughts about the style of music, or about the quality and length of the preaching, programs, building, parking space, or about whether or not it was a friendly church. A really good church gets “five stars”; or a not-so-good church gets “one star”—or maybe no stars at all. Thanks to Google now, anyone can find a local church that is exactly to their liking.
Now, such a thing could, in some situations, be very helpful at a worldly level. With good marketing, crowds may come there. But it is not important how people rate a church based on whether or not it has the things in it that they want. The church belongs to Jesus Christ. It is His church; He purchased it for Himself with His own blood; He called, regenerated, justified, sanctified, and gathered them; He is the Head of the church. It is of utmost importance that He sees everything that He wants in that church. Growth and future of the church do not depend on people’s rating, but on whether we get a 5-star rating from Christ. I think we have to be obsessed about getting a 5-star rating from Him. He is the one who said, “I will build my church.”
Sometimes masses may give a 5 rating, and Jesus may give a 0. In today’s passage, we see such a scenario where the masses are excited and all giving a 5 rating, celebrating Passover in the temple, but the Son of God enters that temple and not only gives a 0 rating, He immediately drove out things He didn’t want, and these verses also tell us what He immediately welcomed into it, received, and enjoys in the temple. I think this passage has practical lessons for us to learn from on how to get a 5 rating for our church from Lord Jesus, meaning what does He want in the church, which is His temple today.
The context is intense. On Friday, He will die. But our text today is on Tuesday, the day after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He entered Jerusalem with a long procession, masses crying cries of, “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest,” as tens of thousands of people hailed Him as the King, the Messiah, the Deliverer, the Savior.
The procession ended at the temple – Mark 11:11 says He went into the temple. It says, “So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.” He spent the night in Lazarus’, Mary’s, and Martha’s house. Now it is Tuesday, another day, one day closer to the cross. He goes right back to the same place He had left Monday night, back to the temple. And in verses 12 to 17, we find out what happened when He arrived there.
We have to get into that scene. During Passover time, Jerusalem is literally filled with people, five times its normal size. Just a small silly scene is something like Mary’s feast we see in Shivjinagar, full of people. Pilgrims from all over that part of the world have pushed their way into the city to participate in the Passover, Jews, Proselytes—Jewish converts from different places. The city cannot contain so many people, so during these feast days, the city will extend to cover some surrounding villages like Bethany and Bethphage. Like next week when we have Dasara holidays, Christmas holidays, all inns/hotels are booked. Homes of friends are full. Even the open areas within the walled city were filled up with little tents and campfires, with little blankets, sleeping out in the night where the people were settling in for the Passover season. The city is literally exploding with people.
The temple is the focal point of everything, full of people. All week pilgrims are coming to see it; coming there to pray; tithing; coming with sacrifices and offerings of all kinds to give to God, to seek cleansing from their sin—ceremonial cleansings, purification rites. Oh, the temple was the center of everything. And it is to the temple that Jesus comes and introduces us to one of the most amazing and marvelous scenes of this last week of His life.
I thought I will explain this passage with application lessons as my headings. Our confession says no church is perfect, but perfection is our goal as a church. We have to all strive to get a 5-star rating from Jesus where He looks at our church and all things and could say, “I am well pleased.” This passage teaches us 5 things that can help us get a 5-star rating for our church from Christ.
1 – A 5-Star Rating Church Is a Reformed Church
What I mean by that is not our GRBC or any reformed church, but a church in its zeal for holiness and purity regularly reforms, cleanses itself, and its regular activity is to examine, identify what displeases Christ and drive those things out of the church. A church that seriously practices church discipline. A reforming church regularly strives to conform both its thought and actions, faith and practice, according to God’s word. It drives out everything else from its midst. That is a church that gets a 5-star rating. Look at how He shows that by cleansing the temple.
Verse 12: “Then Jesus went into the temple [of God] and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.”
This is the Lord’s cleansing of the temple. This is not the first time the Lord did this. He began His ministry in John 2:13-17 at a Passover by cleansing the temple, there with a whip. Now He does it again at the end of His ministry. “So, when He started His ministry, He started it at the temple; and when He ends it, He ends it at the temple…” See His main work being cleansing the temple as a reformer.
And as Jesus comes to that place, this is what He faces: masses of people there. We have to understand the temple structure. You come near the temple, first you enter through the main opening. You find a large court area, which is called the Court of the Gentiles. Anybody could come in there, even Gentiles. And once into the Court of the Gentiles, you would notice a gate, called the Gate Beautiful. You may remember a man begging at that gate in Acts 3. And inside that gate was the Court of the Women. That was a place where the Jewish men and women could go, but no Gentiles. In fact, there was a sign by the Gate Beautiful that said if a Gentile went in there, he lost his life. Even women cannot go beyond the Court of the Women.
And so, into the Gate Beautiful you’d go, and you’d come into the Court of the Women. There was another gate in the Court of the Women called the Nicanor Gate. It was a gate made out of Corinthian bronze that took 20 men to open and close. A massive thing. You cannot open that easily.
And if you went through that big gate, you came into what was known as the Court of the Israelites; only Israelites, only men could go in there. This is a kind of outer court. And the Court of the Israelites is where they would get ready to give their offerings. The men would take the sheep, dove, or the pigeon – grain offering or whatever kind, and they would get it all prepared in the Court of the Israelites, and they would take it to another gate which went into the Court of the Priests. And in the Court of the Priests was the offering – the burnt offering altar, the altar of incense – and they could look through that opening, as they handed the priest their sacrifice, as he took it in and slaughtered it, or took it in and offered it.
And so, they would stand in that Court of the Israelites and watch as their offering was being made. From the Court of the Priests, there was another little door. It entered into a 600 square foot courtyard building. At the back of which was what was called the naos, the Holy Place. It was a small, little building which included in it the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was, separated by a veil into which the high priest could enter only once a year on the Day of Atonement. The interesting thing about the temple was that it starts at a low point, and all of this ascends until the naos crowns Mount Moriah so that there is a sequence of steps, apparently, going from court to court.
You know where this cleansing happened. It was in the first step, the Court of the Gentiles, not even in the Court of the Women or the outer court. Now, Jesus walks and stands in the Court of the Gentiles. And since it was the Court of the Gentiles, I guess the Jews felt if Gentiles could be there, so could anything else. And so, they had filled it with just about everything else. A great outer wall of colonnades and columns that surrounds the whole temple precinct. There was a market.
It was known in those days as the Bazaars of Annas – Annas being the high priest, a Sadducee, a corrupt and greedy vile man, who saw the temple as a way to get power and wealth. He thought, “If you leave, you will sell the temple.” But he cannot do that, so He had a great idea, like a monetization idea in our country. He and his priests marked the outer court in plots and leased it to sellers and businessmen to sell sacrifices there. The justification they gave was that people come devotedly and travel from far and it will be such a burden to bring sacrifices, so let us make it easy for them. So he allowed the sale of animals for sacrifices in the Court of the Gentiles to sellers, and there you could come and sell sheep, lambs, doves, pigeons; make money exchanges; sell oil, wine, salt, and other requisites that go along with sacrifices. He not only got the lease, but commissions on all sales will go into suitcases, or those days into bags. Passover time meant money, money, lots.
To pay these bureaucrats, sellers have to sell with big commissions. So it was expensive to buy here. What if I do not want to buy here, but I will bring my own sacrifices or buy outside? You cannot. Why? This is how the system worked. Every offering had to be approved by the priests. Right? It has to be flawless, pure, no mark. Before you enter and bring the sacrifice to the Court of the Israelites, a group of priests will sit at an approving station and will examine your sacrifice, every part. If you brought it in from the Annas bazaar, like a FastTag premium entry, fast you can go, with pre-approved offerings. But if you bought it outside cheaper or brought your own sacrifice, they will make you wait for a long line, like if you want to get something done in government offices, and mostly, it was not going to be approved. Some fault they will find, even if that person is perfect, because priests are doctors, they know what is diseased, which is perfect. So there would be preaching: “How can you bring such a poor sacrifice? But the priest’s offering here is expensive. Yes, it is a special breed anointed sheep. Grown and fed perfectly by Jerusalem holy grass. Can’t you bear that expense for God who redeemed us from Egypt slavery? If He didn’t, you would have been a slave now. Will you give a diseased animal to Jehovah and get His wrath? Have you not read Malachi? You give 1 sheep, He will bless 100 sheep.” Like today false preachers deceive people and make them buy there. Edersheim, the great Jewish historian, says you would pay ten times the value of that lamb. So, you were extorted; cheated; you were fleeced—to reverse the picture a little. You were taken by robbers, day light robbery in the temple. Even poor people who couldn’t buy a lamb, and were buying a dove or pigeon, had to pay 4 or 5 times the price.
Next, the Money changers. To buy all this and also to pay tithe and the duty of every Israelite to pay temple tax in shekels. You cannot buy temple offering and tithing with money in foreign coins. Because Roman or Greek coins will have all kinds of idols or the Roman emperor’s picture. That is bringing idols into the temple and defiling it. So you have to exchange that into temple currency. So there were tables of money changers. They would exchange your pagan coinage for the sort of coinage that was acceptable for the purchase of offerings in the temple—but there was the addition of a ‘processing fee’, of course. The Processing fee was only 25 percent fee to exchange the currency. So the whole system was corrupt. Sellers and priests together cheating the people all in the name of the religion. You can imagine what this did to the temple. It turned it into a marketplace. There would be buyers and sellers dashing back and forth. There would be hand-trucks and animal carts rolling all around. There would be lines and lines of impatient people, and crowds pressing at tables to get the best deals. And there would very likely have been the kind of language filling the air that characterizes the trading of goods and money even today. The Temple was used to further their selfish agendas, rather than a place in which to offer sincere worship to a holy God.
In this scene, the pure Son of God walks in. Jesus walks in. His eyes, His ears, and His nostrils are filled with the sights and sounds and smells. The stench of a stockyard, the wrangling and haggling and haranguing of people bargaining over the price of animals. The noise the animals make. All the chaos of the crying animals being slaughtered. Blood. It is a scene that’s unbelievable.
Mark says the previous day He looked around, scrutinized the temple area. When He saw how noisy animals, bargain hunters, and crass merchants crowded the area that should have provided dignity and quiet contemplation for worshipers. Profits, kickbacks, and fees for the priestly family kept the bazaar in full swing to the total neglect of why the temple existed at all. Their religion maintained outward form but offered no sense of holiness and the glory of God.
His mind was agitated and His spirit troubled. There was great righteous indignation swelling up in His infinite soul. It was rising like an uncontrollable Tsunami. What He saw caused violent disruption in His holy soul. Nothing less than volcanic pressure burst forth from the spirit from the Son of God.
Verse 12 says: “Then Jesus went into the temple [of God] and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.”
If you think Jesus is just always some meek and lowly, gentle person, maybe you ought to study this a little more deeply. I don’t know how many thousands of people were in there. It says He made a clean sweep; He drove out not some, not sellers only, but all of them. Imagine the scene. Can you go and do this in a Sunday market? Those greedy, money-hungry people who hold to their business items and money with a death grip.
But look at the authority of our Lord. You see the most powerful place was the temple in that nation. The High Priest was very powerful. They head a group of powerful temple police. Thousands of orders of many priests. Strong governance structure. If you crossed the Beautiful Gate as a Gentile, the Romans had given them the right to kill you. They had plenty of power. They had great authority within the walls of that temple precinct area. To do this in that place, what authority!
His look, with a frown, with a word of command. It says He cast them all out. He just threw them all out. He chased them out; they ran away. Not only the sellers, but the buyers, too. He just threw everybody out of there that was involved in that enterprise. And the leaders? They couldn’t stop Him. There was no way. This again shows the power of His authority. It is an instance of His power over the spirits and consciences of men. Tradition says, that his face shone, and beams of light darted from his blessed eyes, his voice was authoritative which astonished these market-people. They couldn’t resist, and compelled them to yield to his command. The same voice that got Lazarus out of the grave. That also spoke the worlds into existence when creation occurred. So, He could have done it with His word, but there was more than that, because it also says He overturned the tables of the moneychangers. He went through the place and started flipping tables of those money changers and kicking them over and overturning their tables.
Money changers were sitting on small stools cross-legged and a table over them, with a cash box, for all kinds of coins. It says He overturned them. Coins were rolling in all directions. Can you imagine those people hustling to collect every coin? Imagine the look in the eyes of these greedy, tight-fisted people. He also overturned the seats of those who sold doves. Imagine doves fluttering and the feathers flying. Imagine the scene in slow motion. Guys sitting on a seat with a crate full of birds. And He just started kicking over crates and knocking over stools, and flipping tables, and throwing people out of there. He cleared the place.
What authority! And then Mark adds a wonderful note. He says in Mark 11:16 that He wouldn’t allow anybody to carry any vessel through the temple. People were using the temple gates for a shortcut; instead of going round the temple for any work to the other side, they were using the temple gates and passages as roads, just using it like a public street. And He just stopped that immediately, and nobody carried anything through there.
They were all scared and running from Him when they saw His bright eyes, angry red face, and body language; with that voice nobody could stop Him. This same Jesus who came meek and lowly on a donkey. What power! I just wish I could have been there to see it. He kicked over everything, created chaos, and they fled. Nobody could stop Him. And for one moment—for one brief moment—the place was clean, and silent.
So we see the first thing Jesus wants in His temple is zeal for holiness. The temple has to be cleansed and pure, and quiet. Church members note this if we have to get a 5-star rating. The church has to be clean. There should be no worldly activities, business dealings here, or selfish plans, or aims of men. But we are men with remaining sin, so there needs to be constant cleansing, reforming, casting out of men’s ideas, thoughts, motives, and traditions, sins without any respect to persons, even if it was the idea of the High Priest. “Get Out.” All should go out. We need to be zealous and aggressive like that, Lord, if we are to get a 5-star rating.
Our church not just in name, but even in practice has to be a reforming church in that. By disciplining and disciplining people to ensure we don’t have anything in the church that is displeasing to Christ. Just like Jesus cleansed it once, and now is doing it again, we have to do it again. We have to regularly keep reforming; these sellers and buyers, if not watchful, keep entering the church. These sales had the pretense of being for spiritual purposes, for sacrifices, convenience, pragmatism. These are very dangerous reasons that Christ will not allow anything that is not mentioned in His word. Great corruptions and abuses come into the church by the practices of those whose gain is godliness.
We cannot always be meek, meek; there are times we have to take a whip and chase things out. But that is when a pastor gets a bad name, a bad boy, but I am learning we should not hesitate to do that. Even though we get a zero rating from people, we will get a 5-star rating from the Lord. You as members, sometimes though it is difficult, you have to accept it, and that is how we change, we grow, and reform ourselves. Read Nehemiah and Ezra how they reformed the temple. The Great Reformer of the church is J.C. He wants a reforming church.
Secondly, a 5-star rated church will not only be a reformed church, but will always follow the regulative principles of worship – meaning to worship the Lord according to His word.
Why did the Lord act with so much zeal? What upset Him so much? Nowhere else do we see Him acting like this, bursting like a volcano. Why? Why did He remove these things? Look at what He says, verse 13: “And He said to them, ‘It is written.'” Always scripture. Jesus didn’t act out of His own passions. He always did according to the great principle, “It is written.” Everything He ever did was consistent with the Word of God. He vindicates His anger by basing it on Scripture. Everything that happens in the church should be according to what is written. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing angers the Lord more than when we don’t follow what is written in worship. Our Lord not only taught us whom to worship in the first command, but also told us how to worship, and our worship should only have what He commands, and we should never allow any men’s ideas. He wants everything in His church to be done according to the Bible. Worship has to be pure without additions or subtractions, and only then worship becomes an encounter and communion with the living God. In the reformation of the church, our model and pattern is always what is written.
See what He says: “‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”
He quotes Isaiah 56:7, “My house shall be called the house of prayer.” Mark also includes, “of all nations.” Matthew leaves it out because His audience is primarily Jewish.
“‘My house shall be called the house of prayer.’” See, the temple was to be a place of prayer, a quiet place, for worship, for meditation, confession, a place where people through prayer could commune with God, to seek God, to open their hearts to God; listen to God’s word. Be exposed to God’s word and express our praise, and confession, through prayer. It was even to be a house of prayer “for all nations”—so that even Gentiles who sought the God of Israel could freely come within its courts and pray to Him.
When God called the Jews, He had a missionary purpose for them. They were to be a light to the nations and reveal the true God to all nations. The prophets rebuked that she has failed in her missionary purpose. And she has turned inward. Instead of proclaiming God to the ends of the earth, she regarded herself as God’s little pet, cut off from the unclean world of Gentiles. When Gentiles came in the Court of the Gentiles, they were to be shown the glory of Jehovah. Instead they have used that court as a marketplace. For all nations, meaningless, dead idols, and superficial religion were there, but “My house shall be a place to exercise true heart religion.” Prayer is the highest expression of the soul’s faith and dependence upon and communion with God in the context of true religion. It is not written, “My house shall be called a house of ritual,” forms, not even sacrifices. Yes, sacrifices were commanded, but they were means of prayer where men experience forgiveness and pardon for a guilty conscience, and true fellowship with the living God. A place where all men of all nations might learn and experience heart religion—a house of prayer for all nations.
Solomon when he initially built this temple prayed, “…whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows the plague of his own heart, and spreads out his hands toward this temple: be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and act, and repay each man according to all his ways.” David’s time it was such a spiritual and blessed place. In Psalm 27 he said, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that that will I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and enquire in His temple.” It’s a place where we can see the beauty of the Lord in worship, and where we can beseech Him, inquiring of Him there in His holy place.
He says, “‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”
Notice He doesn’t say, “You have made it into a marketplace.” And He says to them in verse 13, “But you have made it a den of thieves” – or a cave of robbers. And that’s another Old Testament quote from Jeremiah 7:11. “You’ve made it: – and He borrows the phrase from Jeremiah, “a cave of robbers,” where robbers hole up.
“Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the LORD” (Jeremiah 7:8-11).
You know the story of Ali Baba and 40 robbers, right? They would go risk their lives and loot and rob, but they came to a resting place, it was a cave. With the magic words “open sesame” they would find hoards of treasures stashed in gold. As soon as they came inside, removed all their armor, they are safe, secure and enjoy. Nobody can catch and do anything. That is how they used the temple. There people did all sorts of sins, but they thought they are saved from God’s judgement as soon as they come into the temple, say their magic words, because they have come into the temple, God will not punish them. Instead of being a place for true worshippers, it’s a place where people can rob and be protected in doing it. “You have made it a cave of robbers.” They can come here and they’re safe. Robbers used to hide in the caves. Jeremiah alludes to that in chapter 7, verses 4 to 11, where the robbers were hiding in the caves, and they were safe there, out of the way, unfound, secure. When piety is made the cloak and cover of iniquity, it may be said that the house of prayer is become a den of thieves. You have made my temple into the Ali Baba and 40 Thieves’ den.
If you see the original quote of Jeremiah. This is what false prophets were preaching: “peace, peace…” Whatever you do, whatever sins, you are God’s people, you are in the temple, nothing will happen. They were preaching a wrong eternal security, not perseverance of saints. When a true prophet was calling for repentance, they were saying, “We don’t do that because we got the temple, we go through rituals, sacrifices, ceremonies.” There was a chorus sung for every call for repentance, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” How aptly Lord quotes this passage to his day, exactly applicable.
And He says, “You’ve provided a cave for robbers to hide in in the temple of God.” And they can do their robbery right in the place they’re hiding. Such protection of extortioners is blasphemous. Yahweh’s house, God’s house, is to be a temple to worship and prayer and communion with Him. What a prostitution you’ve made of this. Instead of being a house of prayer, it became a den of thieves. Their business was the top thing. All this marketplace sound, bleating of sheep, and many languages, huckstering, clicking of the money, all could be heard even inside the outer court, disturbing the chant of the Levites and prayers of the priests.
A 5-star church not only should be reformed, cleansed, but worship God with regulative principles. Never allow anything in worship God has not allowed. Even in the Old Testament He has shown how much it angers Him. Aaron’s 2 sons dead on the spot for strange fire. Uzzah dead when he touched the temple ark. Eli’s sons terribly died. Oh that is all the Old Testament, but see God’s anger here in the New Testament. These 2 points are important: only when you reform and remove all worldly things in the church, only when you do that, can the word of God be planted to give growth.
Thirdly, a 5-Star Rated Church Should Reflect the Compassion of Jesus by Ministering to Broken People.
It’s interesting to notice that, when Jesus came into His temple, He not only drove out what the Jewish leaders had allowed to come in. He also brought in what they sought to keep out. We read, “Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them” (v. 14).
Leaders wrongly applied the Levitical law which says a priest with a defect should not offer sacrifice, so they didn’t allow anyone with defects inside the temple. But Jesus cleaned the place. These broken, blind, and lame people who were outside the temple begging, more than anyone they needed mercy from God. They needed to understand God is merciful to them. They need to experience the tender mercies of Jehovah. They came to the Court of the Gentiles, begging God and men for help.
Amazing, when these greedy sellers with eyes and walking legs, they ran for their lives in the presence of His zeal. These blind and lame come to Him. Here we see a beautiful, perfect balance in Jesus Christ: holy zeal and compassion. Those who were guilty see His anger, and those who are true seekers see His compassion.
So beautiful, they come to Him, and He heals them. See the compassion of God should be manifested in the church for the poor and weak, broken and helpless in church more than any other place. False religion never has that. Do you think the Pharisees, the leaders cared about those poor people? They were overcharging even poor people for a couple of pigeons. They were making money off the poor promising things. They were making money, if they could, off anybody that possibly could come within their grasp. They didn’t care, like many false prophets today giving false promises and even taking money from poor daily wage people, so a pastor can enjoy full time ministry with just 10 people live. And so, we see them come, and in compassion, He heals them. He displayed compassion and power. A 5-star rated church, when humble sinners come in poor in spirit, mourning, we should always display compassion.
The church is a place for broken people, the spiritually blind and lame. Not for self-religious people. I wonder if God wanted to reveal His glory to all eternity through the church, should He select the best men in the world? He says, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” But our Lord, desiring to shame the wise, and glorify His grace, He selects the worst fools and people with messed up lives. That is the sovereign plan of God. Paul says not many of you were wise or noble when God called. None of us should look down on someone who has messed up their lives, but always reflect the compassion of Christ by ministering to them.
This passage suggests to us something of what Jesus wants to find in His church. He wants to come to it and find that its doors are open to needy, broken people. He wants to come and find the place filled with the world’s ‘rejected ones’; and that those who humbly need His healing touch discover that they are at home most of all in His Father’s house.
See He expressed it by healing them all: the blind, the lame. And He healed them in front of everybody that was left. One can imagine the same place which was filled with greediness and fighting, bargaining, now blind seeing and lame walking. What will be their reaction? Oh, the Court of the Gentiles, seeing the holiness of God in chasing out and at the same time seeing the loving kindness of God, would be filled with praise. Praising and glorifying Jehovah. How He transformed that temple!
A 5-Star Rated Church Is a Calvinist Church That Will Always Exalt God’s Glory and Never Give Any Glory to Men, Even If Men Are Upset.
Even little children will be taught to praise God’s glory with the first catechism question: “What is the chief end of man? To glorify God.” Even little children. “Why did God make you? To glorify Him.”
“But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant” (v. 15).
Chief priests, even His enemies, see wonderful things, thaumasia, the marvels, the miracles, the astonishing, amazing, wonders that only God could do. Only God can create eyes; only God can create legs. But blind leaders, experts of the law, may not know who Jesus was, but even children, boys who were in the temple, when they see Jesus cleaning the temple according to scripture, how He transformed the greedy marketplace where God’s holiness and the mercy of God to broken people were displayed. Even the children’s eyes were opened. It was pretty clear to the even kids that this is the Messiah. They couldn’t help but started praising God. Maybe they heard masses singing yesterday superficially, but they sing it from their heart: “‘Hosanna to the Son of David.'” I mean they got the message. They give all glory to Christ.
A 5-star rating church, when they see how Christ has cleansed their church and their own lives, gave them a heart to obey the scriptures, and opened their eyes, and He has done this to undeserving sinners like us in grace, they will always give glory to God alone. In a 5-rating church, there will not be any room for boasting of men. There is no room for any Arminian ideas where salvation is man 50% credit to me and God 50% credit. It is all of sovereign grace and all glory to God. It is monergistic. Hence, you hear only solas. Only their solas are Scripture alone, Christ alone, faith alone, grace alone, and glory to God alone.
What is the result of such doctrines? Religious self-righteous men will get upset. See what happened to the chief priests. Notice verse 15. “The chief priests” “and the scribes saw the wonderful things He did and heard children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “They were very displeased.” “Indignant” means fury. They were full of wrath. They were angry.
Why? Because they lost all the glory, and all glory is given to God. People were moving from man-made tradition, men’s teaching, to the pure teaching of the scriptures. Wonderful things were happening and God is getting all glory. They cannot use their priestcraft, tradition, or drama and make money now. He was lessening their grasp on the multitude. They are astonished at His works and teaching. They think, “We are going to lose our hold on the religious hold. We are God’s appointed leaders. Who is this man come to control the crowd?” That is even heathen leader Pilate knew. They delivered him out of envy. Because their position as leaders were shaken. There was intimate relationship between the high priest family and that bazaar. You have rent out those places. The profit went to Annas. Now He shook their business.
So they are upset. Jesus is getting all glory. They’re so intimidated; they are so angry; They are so jealous. Proud men cannot bear that honor should be done to any but to themselves. They cannot even bear children praising Him. Thus Saul envied David the women’s songs; and “Who can stand before envy?” When Christ is most honored, His enemies are most displeased.
So we have seen a 5-star church that is reforming, worships God at the regulative principles, reflects the compassion of Christ by ministering to broken people, and gives all glory to God, exalts the sovereignty of God over men.
Finally, I Believe Christ Gives a 5-Star Rating to Such a Church and Accepts Their Worship
“and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?” (v. 16).
Though chief priests and scribes who were knowing all the scripture were so blind, God through His Spirit, to honor His Son, probably had opened the eyes of these children to see who Christ is. They see Him coming into Jerusalem on a donkey, just as the Book of Zechariah had promised; riding on a humble foal of a donkey. He had entered into the temple as had been predicted in the Book of Malachi; boldly cleansing it. He had ministered before their very eyes as the Book of Isaiah promised the Messiah would do; healing the blind and the lame.
This revelation of Christ through the scriptures opened their eyes, and filled them with praise. This is true worship. Worship is not ritual, a mechanical activity. It’s not “Okay, let us all worship God, and put some music and then scream.” True worship is always a spontaneous response to the revelation of Christ through the scriptures. Understanding Christ and His works through the scripture correctly always results in true worship. Response to God’s revelation is true worship. When a church constantly cleanses itself, follows regulative principles in worship, and attempts to understand what God has done through Christ in scripture through preaching, it is always filled with gratitude and praises; that is true worship. Christ accepts only such worship, not the traditional ritualistic worship.
In these verses, they ask Him, “Are You listening to those children? Are You hearing what they say?” You see, they wanted those children to stop. “Oh that is blasphemy. We see you as a man, but they worship you in the temple itself as Christ and God. Stop it.” They cannot bear the defilement of the temple. Can you believe that? You could sell cattle at an exorbitant price, cheat people out of their money, do all the rest of the stuff, but you couldn’t worship the Messiah there? That’ll show you where they were. I mean any true worship had to be stopped because all their traditional priestcraft will go away. The worship of the true God in the true form just could not occur in that place. All through history this is the fight between the false church and the true church, always stopping true worship.
So, they said, “Do You hear what they say?” And what they mean is, “Are You going to allow this?” Hoping He will stop them. And I love His answer: “And Jesus said unto them, ‘Yes.’” I hear and I like that “Yes, I hear. Yes, I’m going to allow it. Yes.” It’s a simple, straightforward, bold answer; as if He was saying, “Yes! I of course I hear the children. And I have no intention of stopping them. I planned it. I ordained it, and my grace caused it. I gladly receive their praise.”
I imagine He smiled a little to think of the incongruity of this whole amazing event. You see, if the Lord can’t get the praise out of the mature people, He gets it out of the immature. He says, “Yes, I allow and accept only such true worship, not your phony show.”
So these blind bats who cannot see who He is, He again as a response gives them another prophecy that is getting fulfilled in front of their eyes. They asked Him if He heard, He turned the tables and asked them if they read! Hadn’t they ever read Psalm 8:2? There, in front of them, they were seeing prophecy fulfilled—if they had only had the eyes to see it. He is quoting Psalm 8:2. We studied recently, in God’s redemptive work God will receive praise from infants.
If God will not be praised out of the mouths of the mature, He will be praised out of the mouths of the immature. God is going to get His praise to His Son, “even if the stones have to cry out,” as Luke 19:40 said. Christ is to be praised. He will get the praise either from mature people or infants or rocks if need be. He just alludes to that Psalm as an illustration of what is happening.
Note the word: “out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise.” NASB says “perfected.” A very remarkable idea is that it was through the praises of the little children that praise to our Lord was “perfected” and made “complete” and to His satisfaction. It emphasizes the importance of children’s ministry in the church. We already saw how much importance Christ gives to children: “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14).
I believe that this teaches us what Jesus wants to find when He comes into His church. He does not consider His praise to be complete unless it comes from little mouths. We should never despise the idea of having little children running around in our church! They are among His most valued followers; and He loves to have them praising Him in an uninhibited way. Remember, He Himself placed a child before His disciples and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4). Observe, (1.) The children were in the temple, perhaps playing there; no wonder, when the rulers make it a marketplace, that the children make it a place of pastime; but we are willing to hope that many of them were worshipping there. Note, It is good to bring children betimes to the house of prayer, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Let children be taught to keep up the form of godliness, it will help to lead them to the power of it. Christ has a tenderness for the lambs of His flock.
Praise is perfected out of the mouth of such; it has a peculiar tendency to the honour and glory of God for little children to join in His praises; the praise would be accounted defective and imperfect, if they had not their share in it; which is an encouragement for children to be good betimes, and to parents to teach them to be so; the labor neither of the one nor of the other shall be in vain.
Then the passage ends with verse 17: “Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there” (v. 17).
Simple words, “He left them,” but a volume of truth. Apparently, He didn’t find what He wanted in His Father’s house from the high priests and scribes. And so, verse 17 has a tragic feel. Terrible when Christ leaves us. He showed everything and told everything. Even the blind realized who He is, even children, but they will not. He left them. He had nothing more to say. It is like Genesis 6, where the Bible says, “God’s Spirit will not always strive with man.” There comes a time when He leaves.
Sadly, as an application, we should say a church that instead of reforming itself, allows all men’s ideas, selfish ideas to go on, never worships Him according to His word, fails to reflect compassion to the broken world, and exults men instead of God, Christ gives it a zero rating and leaves it, never to come back.
Couple of Applications
An application to our whole society. An application to our own church.
Application to Our Own Church
Brothers, what does this tell you about how Jesus is revealed in this passage when He goes and drives people out? Are you comfortable in the presence of Jesus who cleansed the temple like this with zeal and burning eyes, comes, knocks tables, and drove out the shops, overturned tables, and stands and says no one will defile my Father’s house while I stand as the guardian of its purity? Maybe you felt comfortable with Jesus on a donkey, “Behold your king comes to you meek, riding upon an ass, lowly upon a colt, a foal of an ass.” You may have been comfortable assimilating into you a meek Jesus. Jesus who says, “Come unto me I will give rest,” but are you comfortable with Jesus with burning face and eyes? This is Jesus of the Bible. That is Jesus, who will not tolerate the defilement of His holy church.
That is Jesus, though at the right hand of the Father now, but by His Spirit walks in the midst of the lampstands in Revelation 2-3, in the entire world. He walks in special presence in the presence of His spiritual temple with burning eyes and burning feet like bronze. What does He say at the beginning of every message to the 7 churches? “I know.” “I am in the midst.” He says to each of one of us, “You are in my church, and I have been observing all your activities.” He watches with blazing eyes. Wherever His eye of omniscience found what is displeasing, what did He say to those churches? To Ephesus He said, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” To Pergamum: “Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”
To Thyatira: “Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.”
To Philadelphia: “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.”
To Laodicea: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
What is Christ doing? He said, “This is your sin. Stop this. Repent. Remove this from the church. Reject that false teaching.” What is He doing? He is still in the act of cleansing His temple. He still is very, very serious for the holiness of His temple. If He showed zeal so terribly then as a man, how much more now, with all authority and power? All our members should tremble with this realization. Jesus still is cleansing His temple. He says, “I know all your sins. Don’t think I am not observing. I have given you time to repent. Remove it. I will come and stamp you with a bronze leg.” 1 Corinthians says many among you are weak, sick and dead as discipline of the Lord. May we tremble with this Christ. He does it with a same burning eye and holy zeal. He does it with same passion for His Father’s glory.
What does Jesus find when He walks in the midst of this church? Does He walk in the midst of it and discover that it’s a place we use to advance our own selfish agendas and the values of this world? Or does He find that it is protected and preserved as a genuine house of prayer for all who come into it?
What sort of things would Jesus have to “drive” out of our church today, in order to make it what He wants it to be? Will Jesus give a 5-star rating to our church?
Application to Our Society
This passage shows the root problem of any society. What is the reason for the horrible state in our community and country? Is the problem in politics, or the problem with people of the world, social evils, terrible thing happening in our country? This passage shows the problem is in the temple; the problem is in the worship of the Lord. Observe that the Lord, after being proclaimed king, He didn’t go into the palace of Herod or Pilate, or the senate or parliament of Caesar to resolve political problems and overthrow the Romans. He went to the temple and cleansed the temple. The problem in that day was not in Rome. The problem was in the temple. The problem was not in the people’s relationship to Rome, but their relationship with God. You see, what is going on militarily, politically, socially, and economically is not the major issue.
The root problem is: “What is the relationship between men and God?” For only when men are in right relationship with God and worship God aright can men be right with other men. When the Son of God, in 33 years of His life, He has seen social injustice. He has seen economic inequities. He has seen oppression by the Romans. He has seen the poor suffering abuse. He has seen a lot of things, but His mission was never social or political change, but a spiritual mission. His concern was that men have a right relationship with God and He was concerned with how people worshipped. As long as things were wrong in the house of God, they would be wrong in the nation. You see, the measure of any society is the relation it has to God. Worship is the issue. Read Romans 1: why is a society in a horrible condition, where all kinds of wrong things happen? Paul traces the root cause to worship. Man’s relationship to God. Worship is always the issue.
The problem with society is not that it has bad laws. The problem with society is not that it has human inequities. The problem with society is that it has abandoned God. Even at a personal level, if our relationship with God is not right, we don’t worship God properly, if we don’t repent and humble ourselves before Him, nothing will be right in our lives. For every worldly problem in providence, there is a spiritual worship cause. We need to solve the spiritual.
Read 2 Samuel: Nothing angers God and brings God’s wrath in a society than to play with His worship. When the ark of the covenant was taken to Philistine land and put in Dagon’s temple, He sent all kinds of plagues. Why is the world still reeling under the global plague of Covid, because you hardly see God being properly worshipped according to His Word today?
Christ rebuked them, “My house shall be a house of prayer, you have made it a den of thieves.” How angry He must be today to see the churches in our country. What a shame people take this Christ’s name and really make His house a den of thieves today? Even Gentiles mock us. Every time you turn on a Christian channel, there is always a number and bank account details running at the bottom of the screen. “You send so much donation, you will be blessed, God will bless you with 10 times, 100 times.” I heard there is a new movie come in Tamil that has taken this main subject and mocked the whole of the Christian religion. They are cheating people for money. What a dishonor to this Christ! How they cheat people, even poor people, in name of Christ and make themselves rich!
How many churches are bringing things of the world into the church so they can gather more worldly crowds, making the house of prayer into a den of thieves? Instead of preaching the only gospel which can save depraved sinners, they end up giving positional motivational speeches, a market-driven message that the people of this world will find more acceptable.
In the name of worship, how are the stages of churches with staged dance performance, music bands, lighting, sound, and a band more lively than a rock concert? In the name of a sermon, stories, video clips, and personal anecdotes were strung together for the thousands in attendance. But the gospel was nowhere to be found; the glory, majesty, and holiness of God were noticeably absent. Everything is done to satisfy the crowd and make them feel good, make them feel religious.
One side are traditional dead churches with no regulative principles, blindly following tradition like those chief priests and Pharisees. The other side, like zealots, have all animal emotions and worldly things in the church. Worship of God has become a mockery. Our land is filled with false worship. This is the cause of all terrible social, and political evils.
If people don’t repent, worst plagues will come. When we look at this passage, we at least need to be burdened and cry out to Christ, “Oh, Christ, come by Your spirit, cleanse the Church. Cleanse the Church.” Send revival, send reformation. Because that and that alone is the hope of the country, the hope of the nation, the hope of the world.
Nothing can be right in the country where God is dishonored in His own temple. May this passage makes us cry, “Oh, God, send Christ through again to cleanse the Church.” Even today, the church is filled with sellers and buyers. In the name of the church, there are many pastor-sellers selling worldly things; there are worldly buyers who buy. Because we have moneychangers in our temple. Only when people of God are burdened for the state of the church and pray, God sends revivals. Reformation was born out of the reformers’ terrible anxiety over the indulgences of the Roman Catholic Church. The First and Great Awakening happened because of that. We have moneychangers today, even in the Protestant Church, deceivers, hucksters, corrupters of the Word of God who are in it for filthy lucre. And we cry out for Christ to cleanse it today as He did then.
This Christ is not just involved in the work of cleansing, and perfecting His people. You will meet Jesus with burning eyes. He is in the work of destroying everything that doesn’t trust Him. He will come with flaming fire, taking vengeance upon all them who obey not the gospel. It is not another Jesus who will go the cross. Oh, we may know Him, love Him, and fear Him for who He is. Let us not be deceived by supposedly knowing and loving the Jesus made out of the stuff of our own hopes and wishes.
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 