Jesus Cleans Things Up
And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. Mark 11:15-17 (KJV)
Judgment begins in the house of God (I Peter 4:17) and with God’s people. Jesus comes to cleanse His temple, the temple which we are (I Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19). The church is now the temple of God as is anyone who is born-again. We are the holy of holies, the dwelling place of God. Jesus will cast out of us anything that should not be there, especially focusing on those who merchandise the things of God.
Jesus will overthrow anything that hinders the work of God, whether it is government, religion, man’s traditions, defilement, or sin in the church- especially in church leadership. When Jesus overthrows tables, He’s turning the tables on man, taking people from sin to righteousness. Jesus isn’t afraid to overturn tables.
Notice He overthrew the seats of those who sold doves. The doves were to be a sacrifice for people’s sin, and they were profiting from it. Jesus will overthrow anyone in a seat that is operating through fraud and manipulation to enrich themselves. This applies to any seat, whether it is in government, society, the education system, or even the church. He will re-establish God’s ways of doing things.
We are God’s house, and we are to be a house of prayer; one who communes with God and prays for others, not one who takes advantage of others. Don’t make God’s house a den of thieves where you rip people off. If so, Jesus will come for you and run you out of his house. God expects us to have pure motives.
If you read the Scriptures carefully, you’ll see that Jesus actually cleansed the temple twice: at the beginning of His ministry and at the end of His ministry. Jesus cleansed us once when we were born-again, and He’ll cleanse us again to prepare us for the rapture. Of course, Jesus will cleanse us as often as needed. We are to judge ourselves so we’ll not be judged. So, let’s submit to to the Lord to keep ourselves clean and be the temple Jesus died to make us.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. I Corinthians 6:19-20 (KJV)
