Day 155

During the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He went into the one place in the whole world where one could find peace, solace, and communicate with God, He went to the Temple. Now the Temple of Jerusalem was a marvelous edifice that had first been built by Solomon, the son of David. David had wanted to build it for the glory of God, but God told him that he could not build a place that evokes the name of the Lord: But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for My name, because you have been a man of war and have shed blood.'” 1 Chronicles 28:3. That, of course, broke the heart of David, but God did not leave him there in despair and disappointment: When your days are fulfilled and you lie down [in death] with your fathers (ancestors), I will raise up your descendant after you, who shall be born to you, and I will establish his kingdom. He [is the one who] shall build a house for My Name and My Presence, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son.” 2 Samuel 7:12-14. Let’s talk about the Son of God.

There are several passages in scripture in which we see a dual application in regard to the Messiah. We know this because Jesus told a few of His disciples, during a Bible study, that the scriptures, the stories, the events were about Him (Luke 24). So this one should be no different. The temple that David wanted to build was rejected by God because of the work that David had done. God’s house on earth would be a place of peace and solace for all ethnicities to come and seek the Lord in prayer. God tells us that this is His desire in Isaiah 56:6-7:
Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
To minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord,
To be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it
And holds fast to My covenant [by conscientious obedience];
All these I will bring to My holy mountain
And make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar;
For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”

And God would not allow the foundations of the temple that was to represent Him to be laid with hands that spilled blood. But as we read, God would raise up a son from David’s lineage who would build Him a temple, and God would establish their throne forever, and God would be their Father, and he would be God’s son. It took Solomon, David’s biological son, 7 years to build the house of God, and it was majestic! However, Solomon died, as his father David did, and as far as we know lies in his tomb. But God told David that the One who would sit on the throne would have an everlasting kingdom. Here we see the dualism of Solomon who built the house of God being a type or a shadow or a scale model of the real thing, which is Jesus.

We see Jesus identify with the temple when He told the Jewish leaders: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. But Jesus was speaking about the temple of His body.” John 2:19,21. Here the One in which their sacred writings had spoken about was there before them in the temple: The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.” Haggai 2:9. This verse came as a result of the rebuilding of the temple after the destruction by Babylon. When the people began to lay the foundation they wept because it was not as beautiful as the temple that Solomon had built in peace and prosperity. But God was trying to tell them, that the building itself was no point. It was the fact that God met them there.

So when Jesus went into the temple in the beginning and it occurred again in the end of His ministry, people had abused and perverted the purpose of the temple of God. As Jesus was walking into the temple He heard the commotions of a market place, not the sounds of thanksgiving to God, or the outpouring of hearts because of their sins. Instead, merchants filled the corridor selling and haggling, where souls were being lost every single minute. The pain and injustice that Jesus felt boiled up in His spirit and He drove them all away: Jesus went into the temple [enclosure] and began driving out those who were selling, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a robbers’ den.” Luke 19:45-46.

You can see that Jesus is quoting Isaiah 56, and He would not stand for the manipulation of the those considered the cream of the crop within that society to oppress people and to limit their freedoms to freely communicate with their God, the Creator of heaven and earth. So this is how He drove them out: And Jesus entered the temple [grounds] and drove out [with force] all who were buying and selling [birds and animals for sacrifice] in the temple area, and He turned over the tables of the moneychangers [who made a profit exchanging foreign money for temple coinage] and the chairs of those who were selling doves [for sacrifice].” Matthew 21:12. Some might say that He was being violent, but in reality, He was being passionate and fighting desperately for the oppressed and marginalized.

After those who were the oppressors were driven out, it says that: the blind and the lame came to Him in [the porticoes and courts of] the temple area, and He healed them.” Mathew 21:14. Jesus made them whole. And my friends our God has not changed. When injustice rings loud in the ears of heaven, God will stand up for His people, but so often time He uses us to do so. Let us not miss the call to stand and be passionate, have compassion and mercy for all people as God had called us to do. Because it is our job and responsibility to lead others to Him so that He can make us all whole.