THE TEMPLE OF GOD

St. John 2: 13-22

And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;

And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise.

And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?

Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

JUST A NOTE: Almost all Bibles reference Matt. 21, Mark 11, and Luke 19 with this passage. However, there are three reasons to believe that there were two separate incidents. The first is that John places this event immediately after the first recorded manifestation of God’s miraculous powers (turning the water into wine). The second is in the words of Jesus. Here, He says, “..my Father’s house…” In the other passages He says, “…my house…” Here, Jesus does not comment on the use of the temple in this passage, since, here, the temple use was for the fulfillment of the Mosaic Law. In the other passages, the use is specifically limited to prayer.

(We’ll cover the other passages in due time.)

What about your temple? In what are you trafficking? Ego? Self? Hope? Despair? Just what are you selling to the others in church? Are they buying it? “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise.” Taking this comment in context with Jesus’ next statement, there is a strong indictment of the use to which we put our body. We all know that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (i.e. God, the Father; and God, the Son, since they All Three are One). It is not a great leap from “my Father’s house” to “this temple”; which was, of course, the physical body of the Christ……… …..EMMANUEL….(God with us).

God only wants us, individually, to come to Him, just as we are. There is nothing we can bring to Him that will impress Him. Most assuredly, His glory far exceeds anything we can possess, or be, or even think about. While knowing that we are One with Him gives us a more expansive view of ourselves, we must just as assuredly know that we are a created being that will never compare to our Creator. Even Adam and Eve were well aware of the difference between them and God, even in their originally created state. Just so, even when we have discarded this robe of flesh, and enter fully into His presence, His glory will far exceed that of all the saints combined. The ground around the throne of God is level, a sea of glass, the “crystal sea”. As created beings, we shall never get off the ground.