WEBVTT
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All right, good morning everyone.
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Boko Tob.
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Welcome to the Mosaic Teaching Service today as we enter into teaching number 151, as we step through the four gospels of Jesus of Nazareth, trying to cover every chapter, every verse of those four gospels, getting to know our Lord and Savior in his authentic first century Galilean self and worldview.
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Today we're going to be engaging in the scriptures primarily in Mark chapter 11, but we will do a little bit of a crossover to John chapter 2 as you get prepared there in your scriptures.
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But before we get started, let's bow our heads and open with prayer.
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We pray.
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Blessed Lord, who has caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning.
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Grant that we would so hear them.
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Read, Mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, so that by patience and comfort of your holy word, we would embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given to us in our Savior Jesus Christ.
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Amen.
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In a mosaic, we value our Bibles, and we always want to bring our Bibles with us to the Mosaic Teaching Service.
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But if you need one today, don't hesitate to grab one in the pew, the chair around you.
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And if you need a Bible to call your own, or you know someone in your life who would benefit from having a Bible, don't hesitate to take one of these Bibles and keep it as your own or give it away to someone and be a blessing to them.
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God's word in the hands of his people is our ultimate goal.
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But if you will, please take your Bible, hold it up, and please repeat after me.
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This is my Bible.
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Jesus is who it says he is.
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I can do what it says I can do.
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Today I will be taught the word of God.
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My mind is alert.
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By God's grace, my heart is receptive.
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The Bible is the incorruptible, indestructible, the ever-living word of God.
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My encounter with the Bible today will transform and grow my faith.
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And we say together, in Jesus' name, Amen.
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So let's open up those Bibles to Mark chapter 11.
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We'll be diving in there in just a few moments.
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But as we kind of get readjusted, re-acclimated to things, a little bit of a reminder of where we left off in teaching number 150.
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So we're well into what is called Passion Week that began with that very first Palm Sunday, that very first triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and what would become the fateful last week of his life here on earth in his earthly ministry.
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And we've been following some of his interactions.
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And primarily we've been looking at it with Mark being the main set of eyes, Mark being the oldest gospel, kind of the one that set the tone for everyone, and then kind of filling it in with the other gospels.
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And so we've seen Jesus has been up on the mount, he has been observing things.
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And today he's going to take a little bit of action.
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But with Jesus entering the Temple Mount and the Temple region, again, he'd been so far up to this point in this week.
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He's been kind of looking around.
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He's been observing everyone.
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But such observation moves him finally to take some action.
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But before we dive back into the text of Mark 11, it's important for us to remember that Jesus was not objecting to the temple itself or to the temple services per se.
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Some people get that impression and even teach that, but we have to remember Jesus participated in these services and he gave his disciples and those that he had healed from leprosy.
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He gave them very specific instructions to go to the temple, to offer sacrifices.
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Again, when he cleanses lepers, he will tell them, Go to the temple, go to the priest, do what the priest tells you.
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Well, what the priest is going to tell you is what Leviticus says, which is a whole procedure that includes purification, offering sacrifices, and so forth.
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Instead, what Jesus is seeking to do is purge the profane behavior from the temple's sacred precincts.
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And he took action against individuals there, not because he was opposed to the institution of the temple itself, but because of what the leadership there had become.
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And then we need to remember and put this in the context of Passover.
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So this final week of Jesus' life, this Passion week, as we will often call it from our liturgies, it occurs during the time of Passover.
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And there are several things that a first century observant Jewish person would have done during the week of Passover.
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And we're going to see in many ways in Jesus' life in this final week that it parallels that.
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Leaven bread, leaven represents ego, it represents sin.
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It represents uncleanliness.
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Paul even talked about it in his writings to the Corinthians, not to be have leaven among us, right?
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That we are unleavened now, that being unleavened is pure, uh, it's holy.
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And so as uh the head of the household would sweep through and clean out their house before Passover, uh, what you have being given to you in an image is Jesus going into his father's house, the temple, and cleaning it out for Passover.
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He's getting rid of all of that humetz, he's getting rid of all of that leaven, he's getting rid of all of that ego and all of that obsession with power and control and all of the corruption that had begun to fill those precincts.
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Jesus is purifying, he's purging.
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Just as people were literally doing in their homes all across Jerusalem, Jesus is doing this in his father's house.
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Uh and as we progress in our teachings in Mosaic and then the passion of Jesus, we'll observe other ways, the actions of Jesus in this final week, parallel Passover preparations.
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Uh, for instance, uh the day that uh the Passover lamb is selected, right?
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Well, that's the day Jesus entered into Jerusalem.
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And then I think we've talked about this already uh in previous teachings of this.
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One of the things you were to do between the selecting of the Passover lamb for your family and before you sacrificed it was to inspect it.
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It had to be without spot, it had to be without blemish, it had to be according to God's word, uh, as it was prescribed in the Torah.
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And that's what you have going on with Jesus on the Temple Mount.
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All of these people, all of these leadership, all of these opponents, and some that are kind of in the middle, and those who were even pro-Jesus.
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They're all questioning Jesus, they're all asking him questions, they're all wanting him to identify who he is and what he's about.
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That's inspecting the Lamb.
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That is inspecting the Lamb.
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Uh, and so we're gonna continue to see these parallels uh as we kind of go through this Passion Week.
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Uh, so that I think gets us ready to kind of pick up the text in Mark chapter 11.
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We're gonna do that by looking at Mark chapter 11, verse 15.
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Uh again, Jesus uh has been in the Holy City now uh a day or two, and again, observing and checking things out, a little bit of interaction, but now comes a major point of action, uh, one that's really gonna, in the end, culminate with absolutely no turning back for Jesus.
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Uh nothing uh will be in his fate uh except for the cross because of this action.
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So let's read uh this verse together.
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We read.
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So they came to Jerusalem, then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
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Now, uh, as we kind of go through this, I want to break down some myths associated with what Jesus is doing here, as well as bring clarity to what Jesus is doing here.
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Um, one of the myths is Jesus is mad because people are doing business on the Temple Mount.
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I mean, it almost seems that's what is happening here, uh, but when we've been told that so many times, we just assume that's the case.
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But I'm gonna show you from the Torah, from the Bible itself, that's not the issue.
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In fact, them being there is obeying the Bible.
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Uh, and so we're gonna talk about, well, then what's the real deal?
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But we want to make sure we understand why they're there, what they're supposed to be there for.
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Uh, and then we'll also uh clarify.
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I think meet people often misunderstand, misunderstand the phrase when Jesus says you've turned this place into a den of thieves.
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Again, they associate that with that they must be doing that's because of what they're doing there, but that's not what a den of thieves means.
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Uh we'll get there, but in in real short, a den of thieves is not where thieves thieve, right?
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It's where they go after they've thieved, right?
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It's their place of refuge, right?
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It's where they feel safe.
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It is their Al Capones hideout behind the brick wall, right?
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It is not where they do their business, uh, it is not where they do what makes them bad.
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It is where they go to be protected.
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Um, and that ties into exactly why Jesus is criticizing them.
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So I want to make sure that we see again that everything Jesus says, everything that Jesus does, comes from the Hebrew Bible, comes from the Old Testament.
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He is the word made flesh, and that really means what it says.
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Everything that was written in the Word of God in the Old Testament, Jesus literally takes on in his flesh and his blood, whether it's through actual physical actions or whether it is through speech, everything Jesus says, and I do mean everything, everything Jesus says and everything Jesus does is absolutely rooted in and connected to the scriptures, to the Old Testament, to the prophets.
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And so as we look at this passage that we think is so familiar and that Jesus is just ticked off because they're doing business on the Temple Mount, I actually want to look at it in its authentic context and get a little better picture of it.
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And so Jesus' entry into the temple area, it's a resting, uh, to be sure.
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It's a dramatic scene, uh, it's filled with dramatic action, but it's not only an act of righteous anger.
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Uh, you know, we can clearly pick up on that, and it's not that it's not that, but it's more than righteous anger.
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It's also a prophetic episode.
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Uh, that is, it is a sign act.
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It is a prophetic sign act that judges both the present state of the temple, not the temple itself, not the temple services per se themselves, but the present state of things there, particularly its corrupt leadership, because as the leadership goes, so the people go, so the generation goes, and it also through this prophetic act signals the temple's future.
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Okay?
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And so it's a prophetic sign act.
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Prophets, uh, as we look at this Jesus as a prophet in action, prophets in Israel's story often enacted their messages.
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This isn't unique to Jesus.
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Uh, that's another thing that I've said in Mosaic that has gotten me a few emails, but people stick with it long enough to know I'm I mean what I say and how I mean it.
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Jesus isn't original.
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Jesus really doesn't do a whole lot of things that are original, including prophetic Synacs.
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You think of Ezekiel the prophet.
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Ezekiel the prophet lies on his side for a very long time and then rolls over.
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You have Jeremiah burying his underwear and then digging them up a year later, uh, and Jeremiah smashing jars.
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You have prophets like Ezekiel and Isaiah making clay structures of Jerusalem only to batter them down.
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Uh, you have all of these kind of outlandish prophetic acts that are there to make a point.
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And here, Jesus' cleansing of the temple serves as a very visible prophetic warning.
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He's not simply just pushing for reform or improvement of temple practice.
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Instead, he is enacting and he is forecasting the coming judgment of God upon that generation, particularly that generation's leadership, and because of that generation's leadership, the uh coming judgment upon the temple itself, a judgment that would culminate in its destruction in 70 AD.
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And the fascinating thing about this is we have extra biblical evidence from Jewish sources that would very much corroborate all of this.
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And it's as uh the very sainted Dr.
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Paul Meyer would say if you have two sides that oppose one another, that have different agendas, that see things completely different, that are often hostile to one another, if you have them agreeing on certain facts, then one thing you can pretty much know for certain, those certain facts are absolutely true.
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And what you have in the Jewish rabbinical writings after 70 AD, after the temple was destroyed, these are in non-Christian, non-Jesus following Jewish sources, speak about the generation of Jesus' time, that that leadership, that that priesthood was so corrupt that it was the absolute worst that had ever existed since the flood, and that that was the reason why the temple was destroyed.
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You also have them recording the fact that up until 30 AD, uh, on the day of Yom Kippur, when they would tie a scarlet thread around the goat's neck and send it out into the wilderness, that that scarlet cord would turn white and that it would therefore symbolize or let the people know that on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, their sins had been forgiven.
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But again, these non-Christian Jewish sources record that 40 years before the temple was destroyed, that is, in the 30s, the cord stopped turning white and remained scarlet, it remained red, letting them know that the services in the temple were no longer operational, that they were no longer accomplishing the technology, the spiritual technology of atonement.
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All right.
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Now we know why that is, right?
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Because now in Messiah we have our living temple, and in Messiah we have atonement.
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And so when the physical temple was destroyed, our temple was not destroyed, and our priesthood was not scattered.
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We have a priest in the order of Melchizedek, so we still have a priesthood, and we still have a temple, and we still have atonement, and we still have an eternal sacrifice going on.
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But there's that testimony on both sides that this generation of Jesus, that its spiritual leadership, particularly on the temple mount and in the temple system, was so corrupt that it brought God's judgment.
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Jesus predicts the judgment will be the destruction of the temple.
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The Jews that came after the destruction of the temple wrote, it was because of that leadership that God did destroy that temple.
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And so we have a lot kind of going on with Jesus' action.
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Now I want to talk about what Jesus is also doing, is proving he is the Messiah.
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He's doing the things that observant Bible readers of the time would have expected the Messiah to do.
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And one of those comes through a prophecy in Zechariah.
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Okay, and it's deeply connected to the money changers.
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So by disrupting the commerce in the temple courts, Jesus is also enacting, word-made fleshing, Israel's messianic hopes.
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So in Zechariah chapter 14, verses 20 and 21, it says these words.
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The pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
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Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts.
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Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them.
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In that day, this is very important, in that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.
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Now, I have Canaanite kind of highlighted there for us.
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There are no more Canaanites in the first century.
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Canaan and Canaanites were extinguished, you know, back in the days of Joshua and so forth.
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Uh and so here in some English translations, we'll catch it and do it.
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Um, the word Canaanite by the first century was also the exact same word used for merchants.
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Uh they're synonymous.
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It's the same word.
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The same word for merchant is the same word for Canaanite.
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Uh, and so when you read the Targums, those Aramaic paraphrases of Zechariah, uh, it very much is emphasizing that this is talking about merchants in the temple.
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Uh, and so the word Canaanite again, interchangeable for merchants or trader.
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So, what is Zechariah prophesying here in Zechariah 14?
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He's prophesying that at the dawning of Messiah's day, uh, that the worship of God in the temple is going to be so pure.
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It's gonna be holiness, it's gonna be utter purity, so much so that there will be no need for merchants.
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There will be no need for merchants on the Temple Mount, uh, signifying the removal of everything that previously had hindered any kind of direct access to God.
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Because the original reason the traders and the merchants are there are so that people who are traveling from afar as pilgrims, who can't bring a lamb with them for 700 miles while they're walking on the road, and who don't have the currency that's used in Jerusalem, it's designed as a system so that they can participate uh in the temple services.
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And this is predicting that in the day of Messiah, that it's not going to be needed anymore.
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And there will be no more merchants or traders on the Temple Mount.
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And so by Jesus disrupting that, and even as the text says that there was no selling of wares and so forth uh on that day because of what Jesus did, he is fulfilling a messianic prophecy from Zachariah.
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Uh, that is, those with eyes to see and ears to hear would have been thinking one of the things Messiah will do is he will stop traitors and merchants on the temple.
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And Jesus does this.
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He's fulfilling a prophetic sign in their midst.
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He is the Messiah who brings about this promised transformation.
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But there's also something connected to why the transformation.
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Traitors were there.
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In and of itself, it's not wrong.
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It's not bad.
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In fact, it's biblically commanded all the way back from Moses himself in the book of Deuteronomy.
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And so the Mosaic Law and the role of money changers, it's crucial to recognize that the presence of money changers and merchants in the temple actually had roots in God's law.
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So if we look at Deuteronomy, specifically chapter 14, beginning in verse 24 and following, it says, But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far from you.
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So this is Moses giving instructions about the tabernacle at that time, which will become eventually the temple placed in Jerusalem.
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Moses is saying, Look, you know, if you're going to make your journey, especially on one of the pilgrimage festivals, like Passover or Pentecost or tabernacles, you may, it may be too hard of a trip, too far of a trip to carry everything with you that you're going to need.
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And so then it continues.
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When the Lord the God has blessed you, you shall exchange it for money.
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And take the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses, that is the tabernacle of the temple, and you shall spend the money for whatever your heart desires, for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink.
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These are the things you would have needed to participate in the tabernacle or the temple services.
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For what uh and you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.
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And so, in other words, what Moses is establishing is that he wants money changers to be part of the tabernacle system, to be part of the temple system, so that when people travel, they will have a means and an ability to participate in that system.
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In other words, having money changers is actually part of the biblical law of Moses.
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It's divine.
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Now, the issue is not that.
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The issue is what it had become and what it had devolved into.
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But the exchanging of money for sacrificial offerings, that's what enabled people not only from all over Israel, but from all over the world to worship where God had commanded worship to happen.
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So the issue is not with money changing, but with the corruption and the distortion that had overtaken the practice, a system that exploited worshipers and obstructed God's intent for his house.
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And then we have this den of thieves a reference in Mark 11, verse 17.
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And Jesus cries out and he says, Then he taught, saying to them, Is it not written?
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That means I'm quoting the Bible for Jesus.
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My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of thieves.
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Now, here, what Jesus is quoting, because they didn't have chapter and verses back then, they only had what are I called verbal tallies, the key words that would enable you to recognize the passage.
00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:33.759
But what Jesus is drawing from is Jeremiah chapter 7, verses 8 through 11.
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:38.319
And in many ways, Jesus is in the same position as Jeremiah was.
00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:44.559
Jeremiah before the first temple was destroyed, Jesus before the second temple was destroyed.
00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:54.000
And many of the same issues that Jeremiah had with the temple system and the temple leadership are the same issues that Jesus has with the temple and the temple's leadership.
00:25:54.160 --> 00:26:01.759
And Jeremiah predicts and prophesies that if the people don't repent and if they don't change, it will result in the destruction of the temple.
00:26:01.839 --> 00:26:04.720
And likewise Jesus is doing the same thing.
00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:11.279
And so Jesus is invoking Jeremiah, but he's in many ways invoking his inner Jeremiah.
00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:19.359
In Jeremiah 7, uh beginning in verse 8, it says, Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.
00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:25.519
This is Jeremiah's critique of the temple system of the first temple before it was destroyed.
00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:31.359
And Jesus is invoking this passage because he's saying, This is the case now.
00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:48.480
Will you steal and murder and 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 of these abominations?
00:26:48.880 --> 00:27:02.400
In other words, Jeremiah is saying, Look, you, the leadership, and in many ways, because the people follow the leaders, you are doing all kinds of horrible things, if we want to use our kind of lingo.
00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:07.920
From Monday through Saturday, you live this life as if God doesn't exist.
00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:11.359
You conduct your business as if God's ethics don't matter.
00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:12.960
That's just how we do business.
00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:32.880
You speak with filthy words and you talk about people and you slander and you gossip, and Monday through Saturday, you look like trashy worldly paganism, but then you're gonna come here on Sunday morning, clean up, dress up, come and take holy communion and say, I'm right with God.
00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:37.440
And Jeremiah says, That angers God.
00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:39.200
That's not how it works.
00:27:39.359 --> 00:27:49.519
And Jesus was by invoking this passage when he quotes it here in this next verse, he's saying this is the same situation in his generation.
00:27:49.759 --> 00:28:12.400
You may say all the right things on the right day and in the right place, and you may participate in the worship services, and you may be sacramental in that you take the sacraments or you participate in the sacrifices, but your lives and how you live them, the other rest of the week, tell a completely different story.
00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:25.039
And so Jeremiah says, You come to the temple thinking this is your safe spot, that it's this little orb that protects you because you're here and it protects you from what however you've been living your life.
00:28:25.279 --> 00:28:32.079
And that's why he continues by saying, Has this house which is called by my name become a den of thieves in your eyes?
00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:35.279
You see, a den of thieves isn't where you go to do your thieving.
00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:38.079
It isn't where you go to be naughty, right?
00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:40.559
You're naughty outside of the den.
00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:44.240
You come to the den to be safe.
00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:46.160
That's the meaning of a den.
00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:50.640
Why do foxes and other animals build dens for their young?
00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:52.240
It's to protect them.
00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:57.359
It's not where they do the killing, it's not where they go and get food and all of that.
00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:00.160
The den is the safe spot.
00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:13.359
And Jeremiah was saying, you somehow think you somehow think and have tried to create the temple and its system as a den that's going to protect you from all of your other actions.
00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:17.200
Jesus is accusing them of the same thing.
00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:24.799
And so Jeremiah continues, Behold, I speaking for God, I, even I, have seen it, says the Lord.
00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:30.000
So again, a den of thieves is not where the crime is done, it's a hideout.
00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:36.880
And so it's not called a den of thieves because merchants were doing uh stuff up there, right?
00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:39.920
That's prescribed by Moses in the Bible.
00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:46.799
It's because they were treating it as if they were untouchable there, that they had some kind of special class, right?
00:29:46.960 --> 00:30:01.039
We're chosen, and not only are we the chosen people, but we are the chosen elite leadership, and so we're double protected, and we're on this ground that was set apart for us, and so we're triple untouchable, right?
00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:06.720
But the Lord was saying, no, it doesn't quite work that way.
00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:13.279
Um, the den of thieves was essentially what they thought a place of security for them.
00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:21.200
But Jesus exposes how the temple authorities had turned God's house into a false place of refuge.
00:30:21.519 --> 00:30:36.640
It wasn't for the penitent, it wasn't for the truly devout anymore, it was for those who hope their external observances can mask and cover their inner rebellion and their acts of injustice.
00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:46.480
And then there is another aspect to this prophetic act of Jesus, and that's about universal access and the nations.
00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:55.599
Jesus in Mark 11, verse 17 includes that this is a place for a house of prayer for all nations.
00:30:56.240 --> 00:31:01.839
And he's quoting Isaiah, of course, specifically Isaiah 56, verse 7.
00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:08.880
The temple was to be a place for all nations, a place for them to come and to pray.
00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:13.440
It was a place where heaven and earth connected and intersected.
00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:23.359
It is where time and space uh completely just kind of disappeared, and you could become one with the God of heaven and earth.
00:31:23.599 --> 00:31:26.720
This is the original purpose of the tabernacle.
00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:30.960
It was to be like a garden of Eden restored on earth.
00:31:31.119 --> 00:31:34.319
This is what the original purpose of the temple was to be.
00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:39.599
And it was to be open not only to Israelites, but to Gentiles as well.
00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:53.119
But you see, the den of thieves, the special hangout, actually was taking place on the Temple Mount in an area known as the Court of Gentiles.
00:31:53.759 --> 00:32:04.000
That is where those who were not Israelites, but who believed in the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, it's where they gathered and where they worshiped.
00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:17.839
And now, because of what was going on with uh uh the temple changers and their corruption and the leadership, it no longer functioned as a as a welcoming spot for the nations.
00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:20.480
It became something very different.
00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:27.839
Uh, and it symbolically excluded the very people that God was welcoming into his kingdom.
00:32:28.079 --> 00:32:43.759
And so Jesus is zealously defending God's design not only for Israel, but for the world, for Gentiles and for Jews, that they can come to the temple and ultimately to him in prayer.
00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:53.519
And so the reaction to all of this really gives us the inevitable shadow of the cross.
00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:55.680
The leader's response is telling.
00:32:55.759 --> 00:33:03.359
In Mark 11, verse 18, it says, And the scribes and the chief priest heard it and they saw it, right?
00:33:03.519 --> 00:33:07.359
And so they picked up, they do know their stuff.
00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:12.000
They picked up on money changer stopping in Zachariah.
00:33:12.319 --> 00:33:25.920
They picked up on the uh quoting of Jeremiah, and that Jeremiah's judgment of the first temple and its system was now being invoked, not only upon the temple in general, but upon them specifically.
00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:44.559
They saw, as they had been seeing in the previous days, that by and large a lot of people were starting to buy into Jesus, including, as the book of Acts will tell us, many priests, and many even in the leadership were being convicted and they were being cut to the heart.
00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:59.680
They were seeing and they were believing what their eyes were seeing, and they were believing what their ears were hearing in Jesus, and they were beginning to see in Jesus was the Messiah, was the temple, was the very presence of God for them.
00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:08.079
And so, because the leadership sees this and hears it, it says they sought how they might destroy him.
00:34:09.599 --> 00:34:15.280
For they feared him, because all the people were astonished at his teaching.
00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:17.360
In other words, they saw the impact.
00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:26.079
People weren't just saying this is some quack on the street with a megaphone preaching in downtown Detroit in front of a Tigers game or a Lions game.
00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:28.320
Go lions beat the saints today, right?
00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:30.800
There wasn't just some crazy guy there.
00:34:31.440 --> 00:34:46.239
They were actually believing what Jesus was saying, and they saw that, and it struck them with great fear to the point where they thought their only solution is that he must be destroyed, that he has to die.
00:34:46.800 --> 00:35:05.199
So Jesus' prophetic act provokes the opposition, it sets the stage for the final conflict and the fulfillment of his messianic vocation for the very reason he was come into this world, and that very reason is nothing other than the cross.
00:35:05.519 --> 00:35:23.599
The cross is where everything and our previous 150 teachings of Mosaic has been bringing us, and right now, right here, at this moment, when Jesus invokes Jeremiah on that generation, the cross becomes inevitable.
00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:34.480
And so this passage of the temple cleansing is not simply about temple reform, nor is it simply about some kind of replacement judgment.
00:35:34.719 --> 00:35:38.079
It is a powerful prophetic sign act.
00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:57.760
Jesus acting as prophet, as messiah, as son of God, enacting both judgment but also fulfillment and hope, drawing together the threads of Israel's scripture to unveil the dawning of God's kingdom in himself.
00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:04.880
And it's a kingdom that is for all nations, it is for everybody.
00:36:05.199 --> 00:36:06.960
That's the original purpose of the temple.
00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:11.760
It was to be a light to the nations, as Isaiah says.
00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:16.159
And Jesus is bringing all of that in to himself.
00:36:17.679 --> 00:36:27.119
Now, when we read our Gospels, we will note that the synoptics, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and they're called synoptics.
00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:29.280
You have the word optic, right?
00:36:29.519 --> 00:36:37.039
Meaning sight, and you have sin, S-Y-N, which in Greek means with, alongside of.
00:36:37.199 --> 00:36:43.440
And so sin optic means seeing with one another, seeing the same thing.
00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:52.800
By and large, though there are many exceptions, but by and large, Matthew, Mark, and Luke see things the same way.
00:36:53.199 --> 00:37:05.920
That is, they generally record a very similar, though not exact, chronology, and they kind of see the story unfolding very much the same way.
00:37:06.480 --> 00:37:09.360
John is a little bit different.
00:37:09.679 --> 00:37:18.639
John is much more of a circular writer, very Hebraic writer, writes in circles, or more spiral.
00:37:25.519 --> 00:37:29.599
Then it happens again and it happens again, and it keeps getting tighter.
00:37:30.079 --> 00:37:36.639
And so John is less concerned with historical chronological facts.
00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:42.960
It's not that he's not reporting truly what he saw and what he experienced, but it's we do this too.
00:37:43.119 --> 00:38:01.840
Sometimes when you're gonna catch somebody up on something and you feel John's the later gospel, the one written after all the others have kind of been circulating, if you're kind of gonna catch someone up to speed and you feel they kind of know some of the story, you're like, I'm not gonna tell you everything because you kind of know the big stuff.
00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:04.079
I'm gonna tell you what I think's important.
00:38:04.159 --> 00:38:10.960
And you may begin to mention things out of order because you're wanting to emphasize what's most important to you.
00:38:11.199 --> 00:38:20.159
So when you look in John's gospel, the cleansing of the temple doesn't happen at the end of Jesus' ministry as it does in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:21.679
It happens at the very beginning.
00:38:21.760 --> 00:38:24.800
It's like one of the very first things Jesus does in his ministry.
00:38:24.880 --> 00:38:27.199
It's all the way back in John chapter 2, right?
00:38:27.280 --> 00:38:33.519
With the the miracle of the water into wine, like when he's getting things started.
00:38:34.079 --> 00:38:37.360
Now, some have said, well, this proves the Bible contradicts itself.
00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:38.880
It doesn't prove that at all.
00:38:39.039 --> 00:38:43.519
Uh for one thing, Jesus could have done this more than once.
00:38:43.760 --> 00:38:47.039
Nothing says he couldn't have, nothing says that he didn't.
00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:50.800
He could have done it at the beginning and he could have done it at the end, right?
00:38:51.280 --> 00:39:02.159
And also, as I just said, which is very common of ancient Near Eastern literature, is when you're really wanting to tell a story, sometimes you do it thematically.
00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:07.199
Like it's the true story, but you're emphasizing things where you want to emphasize them.
00:39:07.360 --> 00:39:15.920
And you've probably done this before, talking to someone, and you're like, oh yeah, and you tell a story that's out of line with what you've previously told them.
00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:25.280
Or to set them up, you want to introduce them to something, and you tell them kind of what happened at the end, and then you're kind of like, now let me tell you how this all came about, right?
00:39:25.679 --> 00:39:31.679
John does that, and so either or of those, you don't even have to pick, you can live in the tension.
00:39:31.840 --> 00:39:44.800
He could have done them both, the beginning and the end, or it could be John telling a story in, hey, this is how things end, the end is in the beginning, the beginning is the end, very first century way of writing a story.
00:39:45.119 --> 00:39:46.800
John could be doing that.
00:39:47.119 --> 00:40:02.239
So I introduce all of that so that we can flip over in our Bibles to John chapter 2, where when John's version of the story, Jesus is recorded as saying this in John 2, verse 19.
00:40:02.559 --> 00:40:04.159
Let's read it together.
00:40:04.559 --> 00:40:12.320
Jesus answered and said to them, Tear down this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
00:40:14.079 --> 00:40:22.000
Now, one of the reasons John would have wanted to throw this at the beginning of his Gospel is, and hopefully one day it'll it'll be published.
00:40:22.079 --> 00:40:24.719
I've written a book on this in the Gospel of John.
00:40:25.280 --> 00:40:37.519
John, literally on every page of the Gospel of John, has some kind of connection to Jesus and the temple, specifically Jesus becoming the temple.
00:40:38.159 --> 00:40:42.639
Uh, that's whether that's through vocabulary, whether that's through action.
00:40:42.800 --> 00:40:48.960
Uh it it all has this deep connection of Jesus being the temple.
00:40:49.119 --> 00:40:51.199
When we define, well, what is a temple?
00:40:51.360 --> 00:40:55.519
A temple isn't really about a building made with human hands.
00:40:55.840 --> 00:41:10.239
A temple is where the presence of God dwells and where individuals, where God's creation can interact with that presence of God, not only in a safe way, but in a favorable way.
00:41:10.880 --> 00:41:14.880
That is, biblically speaking, what a temple is.
00:41:15.199 --> 00:41:21.039
For a time before the tabernacle, that was whenever they would build altars on high places.
00:41:21.199 --> 00:41:24.719
You think about Noah, you think about Abraham, they did this.
00:41:24.960 --> 00:41:35.119
And then it becomes the tabernacle, and then it becomes the temple, and then it's going to become ultimately Christ, the Messiah.
00:41:35.360 --> 00:41:56.400
And so in John's recollection of this event, have Jesus saying these words when the commotion is going on on the Temple Mount, and he's stopped the selling of the wares and all of that, and he's invoked Jeremiah, and he's got all of this going, and there's this opposition that he knows is there.
00:41:56.719 --> 00:42:01.199
He says, Tear down this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
00:42:01.440 --> 00:42:13.679
And so, as this prophet from Nazareth took over the temple courts, the authorities demanded in John 2, verse 18, Well, what sign do you show that you have authority to do this?
00:42:14.719 --> 00:42:18.559
And they sought to discredit him as a prophet in front of the people.
00:42:18.880 --> 00:42:26.320
Now, hopefully in Mosaic, one of the things you've learned about Jesus is he never obliges requests for a sign.
00:42:26.559 --> 00:42:32.079
In fact, if you want to get on Jesus' bad side, if that's possible, ask him for a sign.
00:42:32.320 --> 00:42:33.760
He does not like that.
00:42:33.920 --> 00:42:41.199
And so he replies cryptically when they ask for a sign, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:50.880
The temple authorities, of course, objected and they said, it took 46 years to build this temple, and you're going to raise it up in three days?
00:42:51.199 --> 00:42:58.960
For more than 40 years at the time of Jesus, the temple had been undergoing massive remodeling and reconstruction.
00:42:59.039 --> 00:43:01.199
It would have been like living in Michigan.
00:43:01.280 --> 00:43:05.440
There would have been orange cones and barrels everywhere on the temple mounts, right?
00:43:05.599 --> 00:43:14.639
It had been under a massive reconstruction because King Herod the Great wanted to build one of the wonders of the ancient world.
00:43:15.039 --> 00:43:19.599
And he built an enormous retaining wall to expand the size of the Temple Mount.
00:43:19.679 --> 00:43:35.039
And he completely replaced the aging temple buildings with magnificent structures of marble and limestone, bronze and silver and gold, all the things to rival and look like the temples of Rome.
00:43:35.440 --> 00:43:39.679
Another reason Jesus isn't happy with the location of what's happening there.
00:43:39.840 --> 00:43:47.840
It has gone from being the temple of God to being very much built into the image of Roman pagan temples.
00:43:49.039 --> 00:43:53.119
And the building project, it even outlives King Herod, who initiated it.
00:43:53.199 --> 00:43:59.760
According to Josephus, Herod the Great began the remodeling construction in the 15th and 18th year.
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:06.559
Of his reign, and it continued even until the days of the apostles and Agrippa.
00:44:07.199 --> 00:44:11.679
Now, Jesus didn't say exactly that he would destroy the temple.
00:44:11.920 --> 00:44:19.360
When you read the Greek, it really is better translated: if you destroy this temple, in three days I will raise it up.
00:44:19.599 --> 00:44:34.639
And Jesus' enemies, though, twist those words, and they begin to use what Jesus said and twist them and take them out of context, and they will use these words to falsely accuse him in his upcoming trial.
00:44:34.880 --> 00:44:40.800
In Mark 14, you have false witnesses say, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple.
00:44:40.960 --> 00:44:42.960
And Jesus didn't say he would destroy the temple.
00:44:43.039 --> 00:44:46.559
He said, If you destroy this temple, I will rebuild it.
00:44:46.719 --> 00:44:51.760
But they say, I will destroy he said, I will destroy this temple and rebuild it in three days.
00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:59.360
In Matthew 26, a false witness said that Jesus said, I'm able to destroy this temple and rebuild it.
00:44:59.519 --> 00:45:06.079
Acts 6, verse 14, we've heard it say of the Nazarene, Jesus, that he will destroy this place.
00:45:06.480 --> 00:45:14.639
And Mark 15, those passing by hurling abuse at him, saying, You who were going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself.
00:45:14.800 --> 00:45:17.760
But Jesus never said, I'm going to destroy it.
00:45:17.920 --> 00:45:22.079
That is how they twisted his words because it was such a sacred place.
00:45:22.239 --> 00:45:25.360
They knew that could rile up emotions in them.
00:45:25.519 --> 00:45:28.000
And you'll see this even in the Middle East today.
00:45:28.159 --> 00:45:35.360
Whenever frictions start getting tight between two groups of people, one group of people will say, They want to destroy our place of worship.
00:45:35.440 --> 00:45:41.760
And that gets everybody on that side super hot and bothered to the point they will go to violence.
00:45:42.000 --> 00:45:46.960
And the other side's like, Whoa, whoa, whoa, we did not say we were going to destroy your place of worship, right?
00:45:47.199 --> 00:45:49.119
Jesus never said these things.
00:45:49.280 --> 00:45:56.000
Now, many expositors, unfortunately, have chosen to interpret Jesus' words just like the false witnesses have.
00:45:56.400 --> 00:45:58.079
But Jesus doesn't say that.
00:45:58.239 --> 00:46:02.960
Instead, he indicates that the corrupt wardens of the temple, they were the ones destroying it.
00:46:03.039 --> 00:46:04.159
That's his judgment.
00:46:04.320 --> 00:46:07.440
He's saying, you guys are destroying this temple.
00:46:08.639 --> 00:46:14.559
And then this connects back to what later testimony of the rabbis say.
00:46:14.639 --> 00:46:20.320
When they look back, they say, we are sure if the temple was destroyed, it would be because of him.
00:46:20.480 --> 00:46:22.960
And it will also be rebuilt because of him.
00:46:23.280 --> 00:46:29.199
And so the idea of Messiah rebuilding a temple is also in the culture.
00:46:29.440 --> 00:46:42.400
Maimonides, he says this if he, Messiah, succeeds in this act and rebuilds the temple and gathers the exiles, gather those scattered around the world, that's proof he's the Messiah.
00:46:43.760 --> 00:46:47.760
Now, his sign of raising the temple again functioned on two levels.
00:46:48.000 --> 00:46:53.440
On one, he's speaking that if you destroy this place, I'll rebuild it.
00:46:53.599 --> 00:46:56.960
That is, God's people will still have access to the presence of God.
00:46:57.519 --> 00:47:01.519
And on a deeper level, he's of course referring to his own body as the temple.
00:47:02.079 --> 00:47:08.159
And he's referring to his death, destroying it, and his resurrection and his rising together.
00:47:08.639 --> 00:47:14.639
And so his cryptic words allude to his own impending death and resurrection.
00:47:14.719 --> 00:47:18.960
That's why John says in chapter 2, he was speaking of the temple of his body.
00:47:19.280 --> 00:47:27.039
So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered what he said, and they believed the scriptures and the word which Jesus had spoken.
00:47:28.480 --> 00:47:31.039
All right, we will close there for today.
00:47:31.360 --> 00:47:33.840
We'll pick it back up in this dialogue.
00:47:34.079 --> 00:47:35.519
But if you will, please rise.
00:47:35.599 --> 00:47:38.719
We'll close out with joining our voices in a song.
00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:12.560
All right, good morning everyone.
00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:13.599
Boko Tob.
00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:35.920
Welcome to the Mosaic Teaching Service today as we enter into teaching number 151, as we step through the four gospels of Jesus of Nazareth, trying to cover every chapter, every verse of those four gospels, getting to know our Lord and Savior in his authentic first century Galilean self and worldview.
00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:47.439
Today we're going to be engaging in the scriptures primarily in Mark chapter 11, but we will do a little bit of a crossover to John chapter 2 as you get prepared there in your scriptures.
00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:51.600
But before we get started, let's bow our heads and open with prayer.
00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:52.880
We pray.
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Blessed Lord, who has caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning.
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Grant that we would so hear them.
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Read, Mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, so that by patience and comfort of your holy word, we would embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given to us in our Savior Jesus Christ.
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Amen.
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In a mosaic, we value our Bibles, and we always want to bring our Bibles with us to the Mosaic Teaching Service.
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But if you need one today, don't hesitate to grab one in the pew, the chair around you.
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And if you need a Bible to call your own, or you know someone in your life who would benefit from having a Bible, don't hesitate to take one of these Bibles and keep it as your own or give it away to someone and be a blessing to them.
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God's word in the hands of his people is our ultimate goal.
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But if you will, please take your Bible, hold it up, and please repeat after me.
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This is my Bible.
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Jesus is who it says he is.
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I can do what it says I can do.
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Today I will be taught the word of God.
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My mind is alert.
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By God's grace, my heart is receptive.
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The Bible is the incorruptible, indestructible, the ever-living word of God.
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My encounter with the Bible today will transform and grow my faith.
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And we say together, in Jesus' name, Amen.
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So let's open up those Bibles to Mark chapter 11.
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We'll be diving in there in just a few moments.
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But as we kind of get readjusted, re-acclimated to things, a little bit of a reminder of where we left off in teaching number 150.
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So we're well into what is called Passion Week that began with that very first Palm Sunday, that very first triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and what would become the fateful last week of his life here on earth in his earthly ministry.
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And we've been following some of his interactions.
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And primarily we've been looking at it with Mark being the main set of eyes, Mark being the oldest gospel, kind of the one that set the tone for everyone, and then kind of filling it in with the other gospels.
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And so we've seen Jesus has been up on the mount, he has been observing things.
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And today he's going to take a little bit of action.
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But with Jesus entering the Temple Mount and the Temple region, again, he'd been so far up to this point in this week.
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He's been kind of looking around.
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He's been observing everyone.
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But such observation moves him finally to take some action.
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But before we dive back into the text of Mark 11, it's important for us to remember that Jesus was not objecting to the temple itself or to the temple services per se.
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Some people get that impression and even teach that, but we have to remember Jesus participated in these services and he gave his disciples and those that he had healed from leprosy.
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He gave them very specific instructions to go to the temple, to offer sacrifices.
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Again, when he cleanses lepers, he will tell them, Go to the temple, go to the priest, do what the priest tells you.
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Well, what the priest is going to tell you is what Leviticus says, which is a whole procedure that includes purification, offering sacrifices, and so forth.
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Instead, what Jesus is seeking to do is purge the profane behavior from the temple's sacred precincts.
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And he took action against individuals there, not because he was opposed to the institution of the temple itself, but because of what the leadership there had become.
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And then we need to remember and put this in the context of Passover.
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So this final week of Jesus' life, this Passion week, as we will often call it from our liturgies, it occurs during the time of Passover.
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And there are several things that a first century observant Jewish person would have done during the week of Passover.
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And we're going to see in many ways in Jesus' life in this final week that it parallels that.
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Leaven bread, leaven represents ego, it represents sin.
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It represents uncleanliness.
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Paul even talked about it in his writings to the Corinthians, not to be have leaven among us, right?
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That we are unleavened now, that being unleavened is pure, uh, it's holy.
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And so as uh the head of the household would sweep through and clean out their house before Passover, uh, what you have being given to you in an image is Jesus going into his father's house, the temple, and cleaning it out for Passover.
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He's getting rid of all of that humetz, he's getting rid of all of that leaven, he's getting rid of all of that ego and all of that obsession with power and control and all of the corruption that had begun to fill those precincts.
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Jesus is purifying, he's purging.
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Just as people were literally doing in their homes all across Jerusalem, Jesus is doing this in his father's house.
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Uh and as we progress in our teachings in Mosaic and then the passion of Jesus, we'll observe other ways, the actions of Jesus in this final week, parallel Passover preparations.
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Uh, for instance, uh the day that uh the Passover lamb is selected, right?
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Well, that's the day Jesus entered into Jerusalem.
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And then I think we've talked about this already uh in previous teachings of this.
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One of the things you were to do between the selecting of the Passover lamb for your family and before you sacrificed it was to inspect it.
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It had to be without spot, it had to be without blemish, it had to be according to God's word, uh, as it was prescribed in the Torah.
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And that's what you have going on with Jesus on the Temple Mount.
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All of these people, all of these leadership, all of these opponents, and some that are kind of in the middle, and those who were even pro-Jesus.
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They're all questioning Jesus, they're all asking him questions, they're all wanting him to identify who he is and what he's about.
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That's inspecting the Lamb.
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That is inspecting the Lamb.
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Uh, and so we're gonna continue to see these parallels uh as we kind of go through this Passion Week.
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Uh, so that I think gets us ready to kind of pick up the text in Mark chapter 11.
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We're gonna do that by looking at Mark chapter 11, verse 15.
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Uh again, Jesus uh has been in the Holy City now uh a day or two, and again, observing and checking things out, a little bit of interaction, but now comes a major point of action, uh, one that's really gonna, in the end, culminate with absolutely no turning back for Jesus.
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Uh nothing uh will be in his fate uh except for the cross because of this action.
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So let's read uh this verse together.
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We read.
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So they came to Jerusalem, then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
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Now, uh, as we kind of go through this, I want to break down some myths associated with what Jesus is doing here, as well as bring clarity to what Jesus is doing here.
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Um, one of the myths is Jesus is mad because people are doing business on the Temple Mount.
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I mean, it almost seems that's what is happening here, uh, but when we've been told that so many times, we just assume that's the case.
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But I'm gonna show you from the Torah, from the Bible itself, that's not the issue.
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In fact, them being there is obeying the Bible.
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Uh, and so we're gonna talk about, well, then what's the real deal?
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But we want to make sure we understand why they're there, what they're supposed to be there for.
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Uh, and then we'll also uh clarify.
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I think meet people often misunderstand, misunderstand the phrase when Jesus says you've turned this place into a den of thieves.
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Again, they associate that with that they must be doing that's because of what they're doing there, but that's not what a den of thieves means.
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Uh we'll get there, but in in real short, a den of thieves is not where thieves thieve, right?
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It's where they go after they've thieved, right?
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It's their place of refuge, right?
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It's where they feel safe.
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It is their Al Capones hideout behind the brick wall, right?
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It is not where they do their business, uh, it is not where they do what makes them bad.
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It is where they go to be protected.
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Um, and that ties into exactly why Jesus is criticizing them.
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So I want to make sure that we see again that everything Jesus says, everything that Jesus does, comes from the Hebrew Bible, comes from the Old Testament.
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He is the word made flesh, and that really means what it says.
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Everything that was written in the Word of God in the Old Testament, Jesus literally takes on in his flesh and his blood, whether it's through actual physical actions or whether it is through speech, everything Jesus says, and I do mean everything, everything Jesus says and everything Jesus does is absolutely rooted in and connected to the scriptures, to the Old Testament, to the prophets.
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And so as we look at this passage that we think is so familiar and that Jesus is just ticked off because they're doing business on the Temple Mount, I actually want to look at it in its authentic context and get a little better picture of it.
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And so Jesus' entry into the temple area, it's a resting, uh, to be sure.
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It's a dramatic scene, uh, it's filled with dramatic action, but it's not only an act of righteous anger.
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Uh, you know, we can clearly pick up on that, and it's not that it's not that, but it's more than righteous anger.
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It's also a prophetic episode.
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Uh, that is, it is a sign act.
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It is a prophetic sign act that judges both the present state of the temple, not the temple itself, not the temple services per se themselves, but the present state of things there, particularly its corrupt leadership, because as the leadership goes, so the people go, so the generation goes, and it also through this prophetic act signals the temple's future.
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Okay?
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And so it's a prophetic sign act.
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Prophets, uh, as we look at this Jesus as a prophet in action, prophets in Israel's story often enacted their messages.
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This isn't unique to Jesus.
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Uh, that's another thing that I've said in Mosaic that has gotten me a few emails, but people stick with it long enough to know I'm I mean what I say and how I mean it.
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Jesus isn't original.
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Jesus really doesn't do a whole lot of things that are original, including prophetic Synacs.
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You think of Ezekiel the prophet.
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Ezekiel the prophet lies on his side for a very long time and then rolls over.
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You have Jeremiah burying his underwear and then digging them up a year later, uh, and Jeremiah smashing jars.
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You have prophets like Ezekiel and Isaiah making clay structures of Jerusalem only to batter them down.
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Uh, you have all of these kind of outlandish prophetic acts that are there to make a point.
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And here, Jesus' cleansing of the temple serves as a very visible prophetic warning.
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He's not simply just pushing for reform or improvement of temple practice.
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Instead, he is enacting and he is forecasting the coming judgment of God upon that generation, particularly that generation's leadership, and because of that generation's leadership, the uh coming judgment upon the temple itself, a judgment that would culminate in its destruction in 70 AD.
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And the fascinating thing about this is we have extra biblical evidence from Jewish sources that would very much corroborate all of this.
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And it's as uh the very sainted Dr.
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Paul Meyer would say if you have two sides that oppose one another, that have different agendas, that see things completely different, that are often hostile to one another, if you have them agreeing on certain facts, then one thing you can pretty much know for certain, those certain facts are absolutely true.
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And what you have in the Jewish rabbinical writings after 70 AD, after the temple was destroyed, these are in non-Christian, non-Jesus following Jewish sources, speak about the generation of Jesus' time, that that leadership, that that priesthood was so corrupt that it was the absolute worst that had ever existed since the flood, and that that was the reason why the temple was destroyed.
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You also have them recording the fact that up until 30 AD, uh, on the day of Yom Kippur, when they would tie a scarlet thread around the goat's neck and send it out into the wilderness, that that scarlet cord would turn white and that it would therefore symbolize or let the people know that on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, their sins had been forgiven.
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But again, these non-Christian Jewish sources record that 40 years before the temple was destroyed, that is, in the 30s, the cord stopped turning white and remained scarlet, it remained red, letting them know that the services in the temple were no longer operational, that they were no longer accomplishing the technology, the spiritual technology of atonement.
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All right.
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Now we know why that is, right?
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Because now in Messiah we have our living temple, and in Messiah we have atonement.
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And so when the physical temple was destroyed, our temple was not destroyed, and our priesthood was not scattered.
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We have a priest in the order of Melchizedek, so we still have a priesthood, and we still have a temple, and we still have atonement, and we still have an eternal sacrifice going on.
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But there's that testimony on both sides that this generation of Jesus, that its spiritual leadership, particularly on the temple mount and in the temple system, was so corrupt that it brought God's judgment.
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Jesus predicts the judgment will be the destruction of the temple.
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The Jews that came after the destruction of the temple wrote, it was because of that leadership that God did destroy that temple.
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And so we have a lot kind of going on with Jesus' action.
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Now I want to talk about what Jesus is also doing, is proving he is the Messiah.
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He's doing the things that observant Bible readers of the time would have expected the Messiah to do.
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And one of those comes through a prophecy in Zechariah.
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Okay, and it's deeply connected to the money changers.
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So by disrupting the commerce in the temple courts, Jesus is also enacting, word-made fleshing, Israel's messianic hopes.
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So in Zechariah chapter 14, verses 20 and 21, it says these words.
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The pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
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Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts.
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Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them.
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In that day, this is very important, in that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.
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Now, I have Canaanite kind of highlighted there for us.
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There are no more Canaanites in the first century.
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Canaan and Canaanites were extinguished, you know, back in the days of Joshua and so forth.
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Uh and so here in some English translations, we'll catch it and do it.
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Um, the word Canaanite by the first century was also the exact same word used for merchants.
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Uh they're synonymous.
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It's the same word.
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The same word for merchant is the same word for Canaanite.
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Uh, and so when you read the Targums, those Aramaic paraphrases of Zechariah, uh, it very much is emphasizing that this is talking about merchants in the temple.
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Uh, and so the word Canaanite again, interchangeable for merchants or trader.
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So, what is Zechariah prophesying here in Zechariah 14?
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He's prophesying that at the dawning of Messiah's day, uh, that the worship of God in the temple is going to be so pure.
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It's gonna be holiness, it's gonna be utter purity, so much so that there will be no need for merchants.
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There will be no need for merchants on the Temple Mount, uh, signifying the removal of everything that previously had hindered any kind of direct access to God.
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Because the original reason the traders and the merchants are there are so that people who are traveling from afar as pilgrims, who can't bring a lamb with them for 700 miles while they're walking on the road, and who don't have the currency that's used in Jerusalem, it's designed as a system so that they can participate uh in the temple services.
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And this is predicting that in the day of Messiah, that it's not going to be needed anymore.
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And there will be no more merchants or traders on the Temple Mount.
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And so by Jesus disrupting that, and even as the text says that there was no selling of wares and so forth uh on that day because of what Jesus did, he is fulfilling a messianic prophecy from Zachariah.
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Uh, that is, those with eyes to see and ears to hear would have been thinking one of the things Messiah will do is he will stop traitors and merchants on the temple.
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And Jesus does this.
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He's fulfilling a prophetic sign in their midst.
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He is the Messiah who brings about this promised transformation.
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But there's also something connected to why the transformation.
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Traitors were there.
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In and of itself, it's not wrong.
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It's not bad.
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In fact, it's biblically commanded all the way back from Moses himself in the book of Deuteronomy.
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And so the Mosaic Law and the role of money changers, it's crucial to recognize that the presence of money changers and merchants in the temple actually had roots in God's law.
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So if we look at Deuteronomy, specifically chapter 14, beginning in verse 24 and following, it says, But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far from you.
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So this is Moses giving instructions about the tabernacle at that time, which will become eventually the temple placed in Jerusalem.
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Moses is saying, Look, you know, if you're going to make your journey, especially on one of the pilgrimage festivals, like Passover or Pentecost or tabernacles, you may, it may be too hard of a trip, too far of a trip to carry everything with you that you're going to need.
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And so then it continues.
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When the Lord the God has blessed you, you shall exchange it for money.
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And take the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses, that is the tabernacle of the temple, and you shall spend the money for whatever your heart desires, for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink.
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These are the things you would have needed to participate in the tabernacle or the temple services.
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For what uh and you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.
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And so, in other words, what Moses is establishing is that he wants money changers to be part of the tabernacle system, to be part of the temple system, so that when people travel, they will have a means and an ability to participate in that system.
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In other words, having money changers is actually part of the biblical law of Moses.
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It's divine.
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Now, the issue is not that.
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The issue is what it had become and what it had devolved into.
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But the exchanging of money for sacrificial offerings, that's what enabled people not only from all over Israel, but from all over the world to worship where God had commanded worship to happen.
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So the issue is not with money changing, but with the corruption and the distortion that had overtaken the practice, a system that exploited worshipers and obstructed God's intent for his house.
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And then we have this den of thieves a reference in Mark 11, verse 17.
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And Jesus cries out and he says, Then he taught, saying to them, Is it not written?
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That means I'm quoting the Bible for Jesus.
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My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of thieves.
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Now, here, what Jesus is quoting, because they didn't have chapter and verses back then, they only had what are I called verbal tallies, the key words that would enable you to recognize the passage.
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But what Jesus is drawing from is Jeremiah chapter 7, verses 8 through 11.
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And in many ways, Jesus is in the same position as Jeremiah was.
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Jeremiah before the first temple was destroyed, Jesus before the second temple was destroyed.
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And many of the same issues that Jeremiah had with the temple system and the temple leadership are the same issues that Jesus has with the temple and the temple's leadership.
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And Jeremiah predicts and prophesies that if the people don't repent and if they don't change, it will result in the destruction of the temple.
00:26:01.839 --> 00:26:04.720
And likewise Jesus is doing the same thing.
00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:11.279
And so Jesus is invoking Jeremiah, but he's in many ways invoking his inner Jeremiah.
00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:19.359
In Jeremiah 7, uh beginning in verse 8, it says, Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.
00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:25.519
This is Jeremiah's critique of the temple system of the first temple before it was destroyed.
00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:31.359
And Jesus is invoking this passage because he's saying, This is the case now.
00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:48.480
Will you steal and murder and 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 of these abominations?
00:26:48.880 --> 00:27:02.400
In other words, Jeremiah is saying, Look, you, the leadership, and in many ways, because the people follow the leaders, you are doing all kinds of horrible things, if we want to use our kind of lingo.
00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:07.920
From Monday through Saturday, you live this life as if God doesn't exist.
00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:11.359
You conduct your business as if God's ethics don't matter.
00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:12.960
That's just how we do business.
00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:32.880
You speak with filthy words and you talk about people and you slander and you gossip, and Monday through Saturday, you look like trashy worldly paganism, but then you're gonna come here on Sunday morning, clean up, dress up, come and take holy communion and say, I'm right with God.
00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:37.440
And Jeremiah says, That angers God.
00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:39.200
That's not how it works.
00:27:39.359 --> 00:27:49.519
And Jesus was by invoking this passage when he quotes it here in this next verse, he's saying this is the same situation in his generation.
00:27:49.759 --> 00:28:12.400
You may say all the right things on the right day and in the right place, and you may participate in the worship services, and you may be sacramental in that you take the sacraments or you participate in the sacrifices, but your lives and how you live them, the other rest of the week, tell a completely different story.
00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:25.039
And so Jeremiah says, You come to the temple thinking this is your safe spot, that it's this little orb that protects you because you're here and it protects you from what however you've been living your life.
00:28:25.279 --> 00:28:32.079
And that's why he continues by saying, Has this house which is called by my name become a den of thieves in your eyes?
00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:35.279
You see, a den of thieves isn't where you go to do your thieving.
00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:38.079
It isn't where you go to be naughty, right?
00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:40.559
You're naughty outside of the den.
00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:44.240
You come to the den to be safe.
00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:46.160
That's the meaning of a den.
00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:50.640
Why do foxes and other animals build dens for their young?
00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:52.240
It's to protect them.
00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:57.359
It's not where they do the killing, it's not where they go and get food and all of that.
00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:00.160
The den is the safe spot.
00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:13.359
And Jeremiah was saying, you somehow think you somehow think and have tried to create the temple and its system as a den that's going to protect you from all of your other actions.
00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:17.200
Jesus is accusing them of the same thing.
00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:24.799
And so Jeremiah continues, Behold, I speaking for God, I, even I, have seen it, says the Lord.
00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:30.000
So again, a den of thieves is not where the crime is done, it's a hideout.
00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:36.880
And so it's not called a den of thieves because merchants were doing uh stuff up there, right?
00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:39.920
That's prescribed by Moses in the Bible.
00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:46.799
It's because they were treating it as if they were untouchable there, that they had some kind of special class, right?
00:29:46.960 --> 00:30:01.039
We're chosen, and not only are we the chosen people, but we are the chosen elite leadership, and so we're double protected, and we're on this ground that was set apart for us, and so we're triple untouchable, right?
00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:06.720
But the Lord was saying, no, it doesn't quite work that way.
00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:13.279
Um, the den of thieves was essentially what they thought a place of security for them.
00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:21.200
But Jesus exposes how the temple authorities had turned God's house into a false place of refuge.
00:30:21.519 --> 00:30:36.640
It wasn't for the penitent, it wasn't for the truly devout anymore, it was for those who hope their external observances can mask and cover their inner rebellion and their acts of injustice.
00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:46.480
And then there is another aspect to this prophetic act of Jesus, and that's about universal access and the nations.
00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:55.599
Jesus in Mark 11, verse 17 includes that this is a place for a house of prayer for all nations.
00:30:56.240 --> 00:31:01.839
And he's quoting Isaiah, of course, specifically Isaiah 56, verse 7.
00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:08.880
The temple was to be a place for all nations, a place for them to come and to pray.
00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:13.440
It was a place where heaven and earth connected and intersected.
00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:23.359
It is where time and space uh completely just kind of disappeared, and you could become one with the God of heaven and earth.
00:31:23.599 --> 00:31:26.720
This is the original purpose of the tabernacle.
00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:30.960
It was to be like a garden of Eden restored on earth.
00:31:31.119 --> 00:31:34.319
This is what the original purpose of the temple was to be.
00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:39.599
And it was to be open not only to Israelites, but to Gentiles as well.
00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:53.119
But you see, the den of thieves, the special hangout, actually was taking place on the Temple Mount in an area known as the Court of Gentiles.
00:31:53.759 --> 00:32:04.000
That is where those who were not Israelites, but who believed in the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, it's where they gathered and where they worshiped.
00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:17.839
And now, because of what was going on with uh uh the temple changers and their corruption and the leadership, it no longer functioned as a as a welcoming spot for the nations.
00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:20.480
It became something very different.
00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:27.839
Uh, and it symbolically excluded the very people that God was welcoming into his kingdom.
00:32:28.079 --> 00:32:43.759
And so Jesus is zealously defending God's design not only for Israel, but for the world, for Gentiles and for Jews, that they can come to the temple and ultimately to him in prayer.
00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:53.519
And so the reaction to all of this really gives us the inevitable shadow of the cross.
00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:55.680
The leader's response is telling.
00:32:55.759 --> 00:33:03.359
In Mark 11, verse 18, it says, And the scribes and the chief priest heard it and they saw it, right?
00:33:03.519 --> 00:33:07.359
And so they picked up, they do know their stuff.
00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:12.000
They picked up on money changer stopping in Zachariah.
00:33:12.319 --> 00:33:25.920
They picked up on the uh quoting of Jeremiah, and that Jeremiah's judgment of the first temple and its system was now being invoked, not only upon the temple in general, but upon them specifically.
00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:44.559
They saw, as they had been seeing in the previous days, that by and large a lot of people were starting to buy into Jesus, including, as the book of Acts will tell us, many priests, and many even in the leadership were being convicted and they were being cut to the heart.
00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:59.680
They were seeing and they were believing what their eyes were seeing, and they were believing what their ears were hearing in Jesus, and they were beginning to see in Jesus was the Messiah, was the temple, was the very presence of God for them.
00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:08.079
And so, because the leadership sees this and hears it, it says they sought how they might destroy him.
00:34:09.599 --> 00:34:15.280
For they feared him, because all the people were astonished at his teaching.
00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:17.360
In other words, they saw the impact.
00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:26.079
People weren't just saying this is some quack on the street with a megaphone preaching in downtown Detroit in front of a Tigers game or a Lions game.
00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:28.320
Go lions beat the saints today, right?
00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:30.800
There wasn't just some crazy guy there.
00:34:31.440 --> 00:34:46.239
They were actually believing what Jesus was saying, and they saw that, and it struck them with great fear to the point where they thought their only solution is that he must be destroyed, that he has to die.
00:34:46.800 --> 00:35:05.199
So Jesus' prophetic act provokes the opposition, it sets the stage for the final conflict and the fulfillment of his messianic vocation for the very reason he was come into this world, and that very reason is nothing other than the cross.
00:35:05.519 --> 00:35:23.599
The cross is where everything and our previous 150 teachings of Mosaic has been bringing us, and right now, right here, at this moment, when Jesus invokes Jeremiah on that generation, the cross becomes inevitable.
00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:34.480
And so this passage of the temple cleansing is not simply about temple reform, nor is it simply about some kind of replacement judgment.
00:35:34.719 --> 00:35:38.079
It is a powerful prophetic sign act.
00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:57.760
Jesus acting as prophet, as messiah, as son of God, enacting both judgment but also fulfillment and hope, drawing together the threads of Israel's scripture to unveil the dawning of God's kingdom in himself.
00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:04.880
And it's a kingdom that is for all nations, it is for everybody.
00:36:05.199 --> 00:36:06.960
That's the original purpose of the temple.
00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:11.760
It was to be a light to the nations, as Isaiah says.
00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:16.159
And Jesus is bringing all of that in to himself.
00:36:17.679 --> 00:36:27.119
Now, when we read our Gospels, we will note that the synoptics, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and they're called synoptics.
00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:29.280
You have the word optic, right?
00:36:29.519 --> 00:36:37.039
Meaning sight, and you have sin, S-Y-N, which in Greek means with, alongside of.
00:36:37.199 --> 00:36:43.440
And so sin optic means seeing with one another, seeing the same thing.
00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:52.800
By and large, though there are many exceptions, but by and large, Matthew, Mark, and Luke see things the same way.
00:36:53.199 --> 00:37:05.920
That is, they generally record a very similar, though not exact, chronology, and they kind of see the story unfolding very much the same way.
00:37:06.480 --> 00:37:09.360
John is a little bit different.
00:37:09.679 --> 00:37:18.639
John is much more of a circular writer, very Hebraic writer, writes in circles, or more spiral.
00:37:25.519 --> 00:37:29.599
Then it happens again and it happens again, and it keeps getting tighter.
00:37:30.079 --> 00:37:36.639
And so John is less concerned with historical chronological facts.
00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:42.960
It's not that he's not reporting truly what he saw and what he experienced, but it's we do this too.
00:37:43.119 --> 00:38:01.840
Sometimes when you're gonna catch somebody up on something and you feel John's the later gospel, the one written after all the others have kind of been circulating, if you're kind of gonna catch someone up to speed and you feel they kind of know some of the story, you're like, I'm not gonna tell you everything because you kind of know the big stuff.
00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:04.079
I'm gonna tell you what I think's important.
00:38:04.159 --> 00:38:10.960
And you may begin to mention things out of order because you're wanting to emphasize what's most important to you.
00:38:11.199 --> 00:38:20.159
So when you look in John's gospel, the cleansing of the temple doesn't happen at the end of Jesus' ministry as it does in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:21.679
It happens at the very beginning.
00:38:21.760 --> 00:38:24.800
It's like one of the very first things Jesus does in his ministry.
00:38:24.880 --> 00:38:27.199
It's all the way back in John chapter 2, right?
00:38:27.280 --> 00:38:33.519
With the the miracle of the water into wine, like when he's getting things started.
00:38:34.079 --> 00:38:37.360
Now, some have said, well, this proves the Bible contradicts itself.
00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:38.880
It doesn't prove that at all.
00:38:39.039 --> 00:38:43.519
Uh for one thing, Jesus could have done this more than once.
00:38:43.760 --> 00:38:47.039
Nothing says he couldn't have, nothing says that he didn't.
00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:50.800
He could have done it at the beginning and he could have done it at the end, right?
00:38:51.280 --> 00:39:02.159
And also, as I just said, which is very common of ancient Near Eastern literature, is when you're really wanting to tell a story, sometimes you do it thematically.
00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:07.199
Like it's the true story, but you're emphasizing things where you want to emphasize them.
00:39:07.360 --> 00:39:15.920
And you've probably done this before, talking to someone, and you're like, oh yeah, and you tell a story that's out of line with what you've previously told them.
00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:25.280
Or to set them up, you want to introduce them to something, and you tell them kind of what happened at the end, and then you're kind of like, now let me tell you how this all came about, right?
00:39:25.679 --> 00:39:31.679
John does that, and so either or of those, you don't even have to pick, you can live in the tension.
00:39:31.840 --> 00:39:44.800
He could have done them both, the beginning and the end, or it could be John telling a story in, hey, this is how things end, the end is in the beginning, the beginning is the end, very first century way of writing a story.
00:39:45.119 --> 00:39:46.800
John could be doing that.
00:39:47.119 --> 00:40:02.239
So I introduce all of that so that we can flip over in our Bibles to John chapter 2, where when John's version of the story, Jesus is recorded as saying this in John 2, verse 19.
00:40:02.559 --> 00:40:04.159
Let's read it together.
00:40:04.559 --> 00:40:12.320
Jesus answered and said to them, Tear down this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
00:40:14.079 --> 00:40:22.000
Now, one of the reasons John would have wanted to throw this at the beginning of his Gospel is, and hopefully one day it'll it'll be published.
00:40:22.079 --> 00:40:24.719
I've written a book on this in the Gospel of John.
00:40:25.280 --> 00:40:37.519
John, literally on every page of the Gospel of John, has some kind of connection to Jesus and the temple, specifically Jesus becoming the temple.
00:40:38.159 --> 00:40:42.639
Uh, that's whether that's through vocabulary, whether that's through action.
00:40:42.800 --> 00:40:48.960
Uh it it all has this deep connection of Jesus being the temple.
00:40:49.119 --> 00:40:51.199
When we define, well, what is a temple?
00:40:51.360 --> 00:40:55.519
A temple isn't really about a building made with human hands.
00:40:55.840 --> 00:41:10.239
A temple is where the presence of God dwells and where individuals, where God's creation can interact with that presence of God, not only in a safe way, but in a favorable way.
00:41:10.880 --> 00:41:14.880
That is, biblically speaking, what a temple is.
00:41:15.199 --> 00:41:21.039
For a time before the tabernacle, that was whenever they would build altars on high places.
00:41:21.199 --> 00:41:24.719
You think about Noah, you think about Abraham, they did this.
00:41:24.960 --> 00:41:35.119
And then it becomes the tabernacle, and then it becomes the temple, and then it's going to become ultimately Christ, the Messiah.
00:41:35.360 --> 00:41:56.400
And so in John's recollection of this event, have Jesus saying these words when the commotion is going on on the Temple Mount, and he's stopped the selling of the wares and all of that, and he's invoked Jeremiah, and he's got all of this going, and there's this opposition that he knows is there.
00:41:56.719 --> 00:42:01.199
He says, Tear down this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
00:42:01.440 --> 00:42:13.679
And so, as this prophet from Nazareth took over the temple courts, the authorities demanded in John 2, verse 18, Well, what sign do you show that you have authority to do this?
00:42:14.719 --> 00:42:18.559
And they sought to discredit him as a prophet in front of the people.
00:42:18.880 --> 00:42:26.320
Now, hopefully in Mosaic, one of the things you've learned about Jesus is he never obliges requests for a sign.
00:42:26.559 --> 00:42:32.079
In fact, if you want to get on Jesus' bad side, if that's possible, ask him for a sign.
00:42:32.320 --> 00:42:33.760
He does not like that.
00:42:33.920 --> 00:42:41.199
And so he replies cryptically when they ask for a sign, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:50.880
The temple authorities, of course, objected and they said, it took 46 years to build this temple, and you're going to raise it up in three days?
00:42:51.199 --> 00:42:58.960
For more than 40 years at the time of Jesus, the temple had been undergoing massive remodeling and reconstruction.
00:42:59.039 --> 00:43:01.199
It would have been like living in Michigan.
00:43:01.280 --> 00:43:05.440
There would have been orange cones and barrels everywhere on the temple mounts, right?
00:43:05.599 --> 00:43:14.639
It had been under a massive reconstruction because King Herod the Great wanted to build one of the wonders of the ancient world.
00:43:15.039 --> 00:43:19.599
And he built an enormous retaining wall to expand the size of the Temple Mount.
00:43:19.679 --> 00:43:35.039
And he completely replaced the aging temple buildings with magnificent structures of marble and limestone, bronze and silver and gold, all the things to rival and look like the temples of Rome.
00:43:35.440 --> 00:43:39.679
Another reason Jesus isn't happy with the location of what's happening there.
00:43:39.840 --> 00:43:47.840
It has gone from being the temple of God to being very much built into the image of Roman pagan temples.
00:43:49.039 --> 00:43:53.119
And the building project, it even outlives King Herod, who initiated it.
00:43:53.199 --> 00:43:59.760
According to Josephus, Herod the Great began the remodeling construction in the 15th and 18th year.
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:06.559
Of his reign, and it continued even until the days of the apostles and Agrippa.
00:44:07.199 --> 00:44:11.679
Now, Jesus didn't say exactly that he would destroy the temple.
00:44:11.920 --> 00:44:19.360
When you read the Greek, it really is better translated: if you destroy this temple, in three days I will raise it up.
00:44:19.599 --> 00:44:34.639
And Jesus' enemies, though, twist those words, and they begin to use what Jesus said and twist them and take them out of context, and they will use these words to falsely accuse him in his upcoming trial.
00:44:34.880 --> 00:44:40.800
In Mark 14, you have false witnesses say, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple.
00:44:40.960 --> 00:44:42.960
And Jesus didn't say he would destroy the temple.
00:44:43.039 --> 00:44:46.559
He said, If you destroy this temple, I will rebuild it.
00:44:46.719 --> 00:44:51.760
But they say, I will destroy he said, I will destroy this temple and rebuild it in three days.
00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:59.360
In Matthew 26, a false witness said that Jesus said, I'm able to destroy this temple and rebuild it.
00:44:59.519 --> 00:45:06.079
Acts 6, verse 14, we've heard it say of the Nazarene, Jesus, that he will destroy this place.
00:45:06.480 --> 00:45:14.639
And Mark 15, those passing by hurling abuse at him, saying, You who were going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself.
00:45:14.800 --> 00:45:17.760
But Jesus never said, I'm going to destroy it.
00:45:17.920 --> 00:45:22.079
That is how they twisted his words because it was such a sacred place.
00:45:22.239 --> 00:45:25.360
They knew that could rile up emotions in them.
00:45:25.519 --> 00:45:28.000
And you'll see this even in the Middle East today.
00:45:28.159 --> 00:45:35.360
Whenever frictions start getting tight between two groups of people, one group of people will say, They want to destroy our place of worship.
00:45:35.440 --> 00:45:41.760
And that gets everybody on that side super hot and bothered to the point they will go to violence.
00:45:42.000 --> 00:45:46.960
And the other side's like, Whoa, whoa, whoa, we did not say we were going to destroy your place of worship, right?
00:45:47.199 --> 00:45:49.119
Jesus never said these things.
00:45:49.280 --> 00:45:56.000
Now, many expositors, unfortunately, have chosen to interpret Jesus' words just like the false witnesses have.
00:45:56.400 --> 00:45:58.079
But Jesus doesn't say that.
00:45:58.239 --> 00:46:02.960
Instead, he indicates that the corrupt wardens of the temple, they were the ones destroying it.
00:46:03.039 --> 00:46:04.159
That's his judgment.
00:46:04.320 --> 00:46:07.440
He's saying, you guys are destroying this temple.
00:46:08.639 --> 00:46:14.559
And then this connects back to what later testimony of the rabbis say.
00:46:14.639 --> 00:46:20.320
When they look back, they say, we are sure if the temple was destroyed, it would be because of him.
00:46:20.480 --> 00:46:22.960
And it will also be rebuilt because of him.
00:46:23.280 --> 00:46:29.199
And so the idea of Messiah rebuilding a temple is also in the culture.
00:46:29.440 --> 00:46:42.400
Maimonides, he says this if he, Messiah, succeeds in this act and rebuilds the temple and gathers the exiles, gather those scattered around the world, that's proof he's the Messiah.
00:46:43.760 --> 00:46:47.760
Now, his sign of raising the temple again functioned on two levels.
00:46:48.000 --> 00:46:53.440
On one, he's speaking that if you destroy this place, I'll rebuild it.
00:46:53.599 --> 00:46:56.960
That is, God's people will still have access to the presence of God.
00:46:57.519 --> 00:47:01.519
And on a deeper level, he's of course referring to his own body as the temple.
00:47:02.079 --> 00:47:08.159
And he's referring to his death, destroying it, and his resurrection and his rising together.
00:47:08.639 --> 00:47:14.639
And so his cryptic words allude to his own impending death and resurrection.
00:47:14.719 --> 00:47:18.960
That's why John says in chapter 2, he was speaking of the temple of his body.
00:47:19.280 --> 00:47:27.039
So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered what he said, and they believed the scriptures and the word which Jesus had spoken.
00:47:28.480 --> 00:47:31.039
All right, we will close there for today.
00:47:31.360 --> 00:47:33.840
We'll pick it back up in this dialogue.
00:47:34.079 --> 00:47:35.519
But if you will, please rise.
00:47:35.599 --> 00:47:38.719
We'll close out with joining our voices in a song.
