True Worship In The True Temple (John 2:13-22)

I download apps on my phone quite regularly, as many of us will do. I almost always download the free version to see if I want the big and full version of the app. One is only a small version of the real thing. It is a shadow of what is to come. Sometimes it’s using a certain number of options on the app for free and pay for the good stuff.

Christ is the full and complete. We find the great fulfillment of God’s Work in Christ. Paul would even say that “…all the promises of God find their Yes in Him.” (2 Corinthians 1:20)

The Christian faith is not about a list of things that we have to do. It’s about what He has already done for us. In Him, we find our salvation. In Him, we find our rest. In Him, we find the true Temple. Seek after Him and worship Him.

Jesus let us know, a few weeks back, that He was Jacob’s ladder. He was the way to God. He has let us know that He was the Messiah and showed it by letting the wine flow. Now, Jesus is going to tell us that He is the true Temple of God and reveal to us the right attitude of worship. We will see that we are to have pure worship in the True Temple. He is going to reveal this to his disciples at a time when Jerusalem is flooded with people.

Jerusalem likely felt crowded all the time. Its population was around 30,000 people but it would swell to at least 75,000 people and possibly to 100,000 people during the feast.[1] It is very likely that there are a lot of people at this feast. In front of however many of these people were at the Temple, which is likely a large number, Jesus will reveal that our worship must be pure and that He is the True Temple. We must have pure worship in the True Temple.

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” – John 2:13-17 ESV

Our Worship Must Be Pure (John 2:13-17)

We have to have pure worship. Sunday after Sunday, Wednesday after Wednesday we come and sing praises to God, or not. We actually have stopped singing of late because most of you are laughing and talking during that time. And, forget about Sunday Morning. You’re not even here on Sunday Morning. Some of you worship elsewhere, but most of you don’t. So, we walk into church, or don’t and are unconcerned about what is going on there.

And this unconcerned attitude is not just for students. Adults do it too. I have been leading music in SBC Churches for almost 10 years now and the number one complaint I hear is that they are not singing the songs that they like on Sunday. There is little to no concern about whether or not the music is biblical or whether it portrays God and His Word well. No, the concern is almost always about style preference. Pure worship is not a concern for most church goers today. Their preference is what is most important to them.

Here the problem was different. The lack of concern extended even to selling ox, sheep, and pigeons and even having money changers in the Temple. Neither of these things is illegitimate. Both of these things are necessary for people to participate in the worship services. But, it’s not supposed to be done in the Temple. This is the Temple of God. This is where God’s special presence dwells. In the place where there we should find the solemn praying of God’s people murmured all around, brokenness over sin, and adoration of God we instead find something quite different. We find God’s house of worship turned into a market. Where there should be worship there is actually a noisy marketplace.

Jesus’s response to this was decisive and forceful. He made a whip of cords and drove them out with the sheep and oxen. It seems like it might be too much, but in reality, it wasn’t too out of control or people just didn’t fight back because the Roman guards who were overlooking the temple at the fortress of Antonia did not get involved. Jesus was angry. Jesus was very forceful. He was very decisive.

Remember, Jesus is the exact imprint of God (Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). He is God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity who is God Himself (John 1:1). Here is what I’m driving at. Jesus’s reaction to this happening in the Temple is God’s reaction to this happening in the Temple. Not only that but we find this to be the type of response that Psalm 69:9 warranted. And it caused the Disciples to see Jesus’s reaction as a fulfilled prophecy.

“For zeal for your house has consumed me,

and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.”—Psalm 69:9 ESV

This verse is also quoted by Paul concerning Jesus in Romans 15:3. The disciples here quote the first half and Paul later quotes the second half. The disciples see Jesus’s reaction as a sign of Jesus’s being the Messiah. He is the One on whom the sins or, “reproaches” of those who despised God would fall.

Ask A Few Questions About Your Worship

This causes us to ask a lot of questions. Is your worship of God pure? Are you here for some sort of gain? Is the approval of other people the reason that you’re here? Don’t laugh; we see this all the time in realm of politics. Politicians dawn the doors of a church so that they can be seen by the media and it be reported on the nightly news.

Are you concerned with how God views your worship? Do you worship Him as He commanded? This is a question that, honestly, keeps me up at night. Is the worship that we do, and I am in charge of, something that is pleasing to the Lord? Is enough Scripture read? Should ancient creeds and confessions be a part of our worship? Should we recite the Lord’s Prayer? Are the songs that I sing good? Do they accurately testify concerning God and His Word? These are things that I think about.

Are you a regular here on Wednesday Nights so that you can avoid being a part of a church mixed with both young and old? I think that our Wednesday Night Services are beneficial, but I know that you are commanded to meet with the Church on Sunday Morning. True worship of God will have you in a church with believers who do not look, talk, or smell like you do.

Are you a regular here on Wednesday Nights so that you can avoid being a part of a church mixed with both young and old? I think that our Wednesday Night Services are beneficial, but I know that you are commanded to meet with the Church on Sunday Morning. True worship of God will have you in a church with believers who do not look, talk, or smell like you do.

Do you give as you ought? This is a question of giving of your time and money as you should. This is teaching those younger than you in the faith and giving of your money.

I have to admit, I didn’t consider this as being part of this message until I read it in a commentary. But, Jesus is the Lord who suddenly comes to His Temple in Malachi 3:1-4.

Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.—Malachi 3:1-4 ESV

Through His bloody sacrifice on the cross, Jesus came and made the worship of Yahweh pleasing again. He made purification for God’s people on the cross. He replaced the bloody sacrifices that took place within the temple for a very long time. It is the second part of Psalm 69. Jesus is the one on whom the sins of sinful man fell. And in doing so, he made purification for God’s people on the cross. But here is what makes this even more incredible.

This place, where God and man came together would be replaced with a person, Jesus Christ.

So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. – John 2:18-22 ESV

Our Worship Of God Is Now In Christ: The True Temple (John 2:18-22)

Asking Jesus what authority he had to be disturbing the temple like this is the exact right question to ask. I can’t imagine how I would respond if a man came into our church and started throwing stuff and running people out. They ask him what sign he performed to give him the right to do such a thing. It is a truly legitimate question.

Jesus’s answer, however, is not so predictable. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Jesus could have turned water into wine again. He could have caused the light of the sun to go dark. He could have caused the people chatting with him to not be able to walk, but instead he says this. And, they didn’t know what he was doing. They responded by saying that it took them 46 years to build that temple. But he wasn’t actually speaking of that Temple. He was talking about the True Temple. The Temple that would soon be torn down as it went to Golgotha and died on the cross. And that Temple, the True Temple would rise from the dead three days later. If you’re looking for a sign then I will soon give it to you. I will die and rise from the dead.

The Temple actually pointed to something greater. This place where people met God would give way to Jesus, who is a greater meeting place for God and man. It is in Christ that we are brought to God. It is in Christ that we are truly brought from rebel sinner to friend of God. No longer is it necessary to slaughter bulls, goats, and lambs on the altar of the temple. Jesus made the perfect sacrifice for sin. On the cross Jesus Christ made that perfect sacrifice. Earlier Jesus proclaimed that he was the greater Jacob ’s ladder. Now he proclaims that he is the Greater Temple. Again, Jesus is saying that through him we find a relationship with God.

Only those who have trusted in Christ truly worship God as they ought. Muslims who believe that Jesus was just a prophet do not. Jews who believe that Jesus might have been a prophet but is more likely just another person does not. Only those people who trust in Christ truly worship God. He is the True Temple, the meeting place of God and man. It is only through Him that we can have a good relationship with God.

Everyone has a relationship with God. The great problem for all people is that this relationship is not good. Well, it is good in the sense that God is holy. But, it is not good news for us. Because we are sinners in rebellion against God, our relationship with him is more akin to enemies than friends. We have God’s wrath and justice hanging over our heads. There is, however, good news for us. Jesus Christ came, lived a perfect life, died on the cross paying the punishment for our sin, and rose from the dead. When Jesus did this he revealed that he was the True Temple. It is only in Jesus Christ that we can be in a right relationship with God.

There is a response to make here. If you have not trusted Christ then that is the response required of you. Turn from ruling yourself. Trust in the Savior and be made right with God.

If you are a believer here today there are a number of things to consider.

• How is your worship? Are you even attending church on Sunday? What is your attitude when you are there worshipping with people much different than you?
• How is your giving if you have an income to give? What about singing praises to God?
• What about your attitude when God’s Word is preached? Are you even paying attention?
• The only true worship of God is those who worship through Christ. Praise him and give him thanks for making us children of God and being able to call him Father.

R. Dwain Minor

 

 

 

[1] Burge, G. M. (2012). Jesus and the Jewish festivals: uncover the ancient culture, discover hidden meanings: : :. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan. P. 55