Dust ascended as His feet pounded against the dirt road that lead into Jerusalem. For the Jews, the time of the Passover was at hand and the air was filled with the bleating of sheep, the snorting of oxen, and the pungent smell of sacrificial offerings upon the altars of God.
Inside the temple, sacrifices were not the only thing being offered. Shepherds, keepers of birds, and money changers were present as well, selling their herds and flocks to those that could not, or did not, bring their own animals for the sacrifice of sin. The only money that was suitable for use in any function was the Tyrian shekel, so money changers stood also at the ready to figure and give the shekel amount in exchange for foreigners money.
Jesus made His way into the city of Jerusalem, His disciples followed close behind awaiting the instruction of their Master. His heart filled with anger and His soul with wrath as He walked into the temple. Within the walls of this temple were the priests slaying animal after animal for the forgiveness of sins. Christ hated the sacrificing of animals; He knew that the blood of he-goats and rams could not bring the participants unto perfection, nor cleanse them of their sins.
The lambs and other animals that were for the ceremonies were lame or sick. The offerings were half-hearted at best. Merely the keeping of rituals and traditions gathered the multitudes together, rather than the obeying of God’s law.
Christ’s hand gripped tightly the cords that He had gathered while watching the abomination preformed time after time. With each twist of the rope that bound together the bands within His hand, His furry and anger rose. Like a cauldron upon a fire, His wrath seethed and boiled to the point of overflowing until He could bear their sin and evil no longer. Finally, He tied the rope and the scourge was finished. A weapon made by the hand God for the destruction of sinful flesh.
With all authority He raised His hand and began the work of cleaning the temple. With the fierce anger of God as His strength, He castaway all that were unclean and evil out of the temple of God, thundering these words as He preformed His Fathers will, “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” (Matt. 21:13)
Finally the temple was clean!
We must learn the lesson that is told in the story of Christ’s binding of the scourge. As He bound together His weapon, He gave time to those that would turn themselves from the abominations that were being done in His temple. He allowed time for the priest to put an end to the sin that they had let begin. But there came a time when the weapon was ready for war and the Cleansing of the Temple began. Peter told us that “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” (I Peter 4:17) You and I are God’s house (Heb. 3:6, I Pt. 2:5). We must begin judgment here, it cannot and will not begin anywhere else.
He is binding His Scourge now, even as we read. LET US TURN! Rid His temple of the unclean thing and defile His altars no more with the blood of half-hearted, faithless, sacrifices.
We as Christians have been very slack in our pursuit of Holiness. We have allowed the world to vex us to the point that we are losing, instead of gaining ground, that is ours by promise. Our spiritual lives have become the weak and deprived members, while we feed our flesh all that it wants. It’s time for the true believers to come out “from among them (the world of sin), and be ye separate, saith the Lord.” (I Cor. 6:17)
If we Christians want that closeness that we once had with our Creator, that “Call unto me, and I will answer thee” (Jer. 33:3) nearness to God, then we will have to start sacrificing some of our so-called precious time and begin worshiping Jesus Christ as exactly what He is, the only true and wise God, the God of our salvation, the holder of eternal life. WE MUST CLEAN THE TEMPLE OF THE MOST HIGH GOD. |
