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Proverbs 9:10-18
10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the
knowledge of the Holy One is
understanding.
11 For by me your days will be multiplied, And
years of life will be added to you.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself,
And if you scoff, you will bear
it alone."
13 A foolish woman is clamorous; She is simple, and knows nothing.
14 For she sits at the door of her house, On a
seat by the highest places of
the city,
15 To call to those who pass by, Who go straight
on their way:
16 "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here"; And as for him who lacks understanding,
she says to him,
17 "Stolen water is sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant."
18 But he
does not know that the dead are
there, That her guests are in the depths of hell.
Father God, I ask that you touch the
hearts of people to know, understand, and live the truth of your Holy Word.
Expose the truth of twisted scripture to people so they will change their ways.
In Jesus name
we pray, Amen!
Gospel of John 2:13-25 NKJV
This
week’s lesson is about the first Passover Jesus attended at the beginning of His
ministry. We learn about two kinds of anger, disrespect of God’s House, zeal for
God and righteousness, Jesus death and resurrection pertaining to the temple of
His body, and that Jesus can see what faith our heart is in.
13 Now the
Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
The
Passover celebration took place yearly at the Temple in Jerusalem. Every Jewish
male was expected to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem during this time (Deuteronomy 16:16). This was a week-long festival—the
Passover was one day, and the Festival of Unleavened Bread lasted the rest of
the week. The entire week commemorated the freeing of the Jews from slavery in
Egypt (Exodus 12:1-13).
I
wonder how Jesus felt going to the Passover knowing that the majority of those
that would be there were only there because they were expected to be there; it
was a custom of heritage? You can tell by the following verses that it was no
longer a holy and sacred occasion. Man had changed it from a God Festival to a
man made Jewish Festival. This still holds true today in religions, man devises
doctrine and rituals that they deem good, but is not supported by God’s Word.
14 And He
found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money
changers doing business.
Have
you ever thought why animal merchants and money changers were allowed in the
temple area? There were thousands of out of town people that came to worship
during the Passover. These people were to bring an animal to sacrifice and also
money to give for the upkeep of the temple. Many of these people didn’t have an
animal to bring or maybe the one they brought had a blemish on it and was not
worthy, so they would buy an animal for the sacrifice. The religious leaders
thought it would be a good idea to have animals for sale right there in the
temple.
The
money that was to be given for the upkeep of the temple had to be the money
used in Jerusalem, so the travelers had to get their money exchanged. Those
that sold animals and exchanged money profited greatly. It was a prosperous
time for them. Not only for them but very probable the religious leaders also
since they made this possible and promoted it. So here we see the effects of
the sin of greed over holiness. The religious leaders did not seem to care that
the Court of the Gentiles was so full of merchants that foreigners found it
difficult to worship. And worship was the main purpose for visiting the Temple.
No wonder Jesus was angry!
15 When He
had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep
and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.
With
this verse we have one of several examples by Jesus of what righteous anger is
and that it is justified when it pertains to sin and injustice toward God. Jesus
made a whip and chased out the money changers and the sheep and oxen merchants
because they were disgracing His Father’s house of worship. Jesus was justified
in displaying anger because it was in defense of His Father. There is a
difference between uncontrolled anger or personal anger of trivial matters and
Godly righteous anger, yet both are called anger. We must be very careful how
we use the powerful emotion of anger and not sin through anger.
God's
Temple was being misused by people who had turned it into a marketplace. They
had forgotten, or didn't care, that God's house is a place of worship, not a
place for making a profit. Our attitude toward the church is wrong if we see it
as a place for personal contacts or business advantage. We shall attend church
to worship God.
16 And He
said to those who sold doves, "Take these things
away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"
The
previous verse states that Jesus “drove them all out of the temple, “the sheep
and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables”.
This verse tells us that Jesus told those that sold doves to take them out of
the temple. We envision in our mind that Jesus pushed over the tables of doves,
the crates were broken, and the doves flew away, but in reality based on this
verse He told the merchants to remove the doves. It wasn’t the transactions
being made but the location of where the transactions were being made. He knew
people would need to be purchasing the doves so He just told them to get them
out of His Father’s house.
17 Then His
disciples remembered that it was written, "ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE HAS EATEN
ME UP."
Then
His disciples remembered that it was written; This is recorded in Psalms 69:9 Because
zeal for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach
You have fallen on me.
Its meaning is, that he was affected with great zeal or concern for the pure
worship of God.
ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE; “Zeal” is intense passion in reference
to any object. The “zeal of thine house” means extraordinary concern for the
temple of God; intense solicitude that the worship there should be pure, and
such as God would approve.
HAS EATEN ME UP; Has absorbed me, or engaged my entire
attention and affection; has surpassed all other feelings, so that it may be
said to be the one great yearning of the heart. Here is an example for
ministers and all Christians. Jesus zeal was to please His Father and uphold
all that His Father endorsed. In this demonstration of zeal Jesus began and
ended His ministry. It is the called duty of ministers to purify the church of
God. Conscience-smitten wicked mankind, will tremble when they see proper zeal
in the ministers of Jesus Christ; and there is no combination of wicked men,
and no form of depravity, that can stand before the faithful, zealous, pure
preaching of the Gospel. The preaching of every minister should be such that soul
lost mankind will feel that they must either become Christians or leave the
house of God, or spend their lives there in the consciousness of guilt and the
fear of hell. Ministers of God are called to bring conviction upon people
through preaching to bring the lost to the foot of the Cross in repentance and
receiving Jesus into their heart to rule and reign their lives.
18 So the
Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do
these things?"
With
this verse the scene changes and the so called religious leaders turn on Jesus
because He had destroyed what they had built thinking it was good; their good.
Why didn’t they arrest Jesus right then and there because of Him cleansing the
temple? Were they afraid of him? The answer lies in the word “sign”. These
leaders were already aware of Jesus authority by the way He taught and also the
miracles He had already performed, so they were asking for a sign to prove who
He was. The sad part being is that He did tell them in verse 16 but they didn’t
hear or believe when He said, “My Father’s
House”. They knew of the Miracles Moses had performed and also those of other
prophets. Were they thinking Jesus was a prophet and not the Son of God?
19 Jesus
answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple,
and in three days I will raise it up."
Jesus
answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple; The Jews understood Jesus to mean the
Temple which he had cleansed. This was the Temple Zerubbabel had built over 500
years earlier, but Herod the Great had begun remodeling it, making it much
larger and far more beautiful. It had been 46 years since this remodeling had
started (20 B.C.), and it still wasn't completely finished. They understood
Jesus' words to mean that this grand building could be torn down and rebuilt in
three days, but He was referring to His flesh and blood being destroyed by
death on the Cross.
And in three days I will raise it up; The three days Jesus is referring to
here is His resurrection to life, after being laid in a grave for three days.
What a great sign this would be for those questioning Him if they could only
believe in who He was. No other human being has the power to raise themselves
up after death. Only God through power of His Spirit can do such a thing.
20 Then the
Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will
You raise it up in three days?"
21 But He
was speaking of the temple of His body.
The
Jews frequently perverted Jesus meaning. Their response was one of sarcasm. Because
of the Jews unbelief, Jesus spoke in parables and/or metaphors, so he often
left them to their own delusions. Matthew
13:13 Therefore
I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they
do not hear, nor do they understand.
This
was a situation which they might have believed, if they had been willing. Because
they were in the temple; the conversation was about the temple; and though he
possibly pointed to his body, or designated it in some plain way, they chose to
understand him as referring to the temple building itself; and as it appeared
so improbable that he could raise up that in three days, they sought to pervert
his words and pour ridicule on his pretensions.
22
Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered
that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word
which Jesus had said.
Therefore, when He had risen from the
dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; This saying
I’m sure baffled the disciple at the time Jesus uttered these words, but after
Jesus rose from the dead these words came alive by the power of the Holy
Spirit. At the time when Jesus stated, “destroy this temple and I will raise it
up in three days,” the disciples didn’t realize that they had stored these
words in the back of their minds for future reference.
We learn from this the
importance of treasuring up the truths of the Bible now, though we may not
perfectly understand them, but in the future they may be plain to us. It is
therefore important that children, should learn the truths of the sacred
Scriptures so they can treasure them up in their memory. They may not be
understood at the time, but in the future they may be clear to them. Everyone
engaged in teaching CCD, Sunday school, and even adult Bible Study, may be
imparting instruction which may be understood, and may impart comfort long
after the teacher has gone to eternity.
And they believed the Scripture and
the word which Jesus had said; After
Jesus rose from the dead they recalled and believed the words Jesus said. The
OT predicted His resurrection, see these reference verses Psalm
16:10; Acts
2:27-32; Acts
13:35-37. They
understood those Scriptures in a sense different from what they did before.
After Jesus resurrection the scriptures came alive.
23 Now when
He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His
name when they saw the signs which He did.
These
miracles are not recorded that He performed. Jesus took occasion to work
miracles, and to preach at that time, for a great multitude was present from
all parts of Judea. It was a favorable opportunity for making known His
doctrine and showing that he was the Christ, and he embraced it. We should
always seek and embrace opportunities of spreading the Gospel, and we should
not be deterred, but rather excited, by the multitude around us to make known
our real sentiments on the subject of the Gospel.
24 But Jesus
did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men,
The word “commit”, as it
is used here is the same which is used in John 2:23. It is translated as “to believe.” It
means to put trust or confidence in. Jesus did not put trust or reliance in the
people that they believed. He did not leave Himself in their hands. He acted
cautiously and prudently. The proper time for Him to die had not come, and He
secured his own safety. The reason why He did not commit Himself to them is
that He knew all men; their heart. He knew the infidelity and fickleness of the
multitude. He knew how easily they might be turned against Him by the Jewish
leaders, and how unsafe He would be if they should be moved to agitation and uproar.
25 and had
no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.
Basically what verse 24
& 25 are saying is that Jesus was very cautious at this Passover and choose
His words wisely so as not to cause dissention and the Jewish leaders to
capture Him and put Him to death then, because Jesus ministry was just starting
and His time had not yet come. Jesus knew the hearts of each and everyone
there.
The Son of God knows all
about human nature. Jesus was well aware of the truth of Jeremiah
17:9, which states, "The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” Jesus was discerning, and he knew that
the faith of some followers was superficial. Some of the same people claiming
to believe in Jesus at this time would later yell "Crucify him!" It's
easy to believe when everyone else is excited and believes the same way. But to
keep your faith firm even when it isn't popular to follow Christ, is the true
challenge!
None
can deceive Jesus, He knows the wants and desires of all His Born Again Saints.
He hears their groans, he sees their sighs, he counts their tears, and in the
day of need will come to their relief.
Jesus knows all about you, your past, present, and future
actions and thoughts. Due to the fall of Adam and the result of each and every
human being born on earth the sin nature is inherited. It is because of this
sin nature that we sin and can’t help but not sin. This is why we need Jesus in
our life because no matter how hard we try we will fail and sin. When we repent
of our lifestyle (Meaning we don’t want to live that way anymore.) and accept
Jesus we get a blood transfusion. Our blood is replaced with the shed blood of
Jesus and then when God looks at us all He sees is His Sons Blood. Next week we
will learn about the process of being Born Again.
Colossians
1:16
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible
and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him and for
Him.
Romans
3:23 for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans
6:23
For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Most
assuredly, I say to you,
unless
one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
The
Lighthouse Full Gospel Church
Sinners Prayer; Pray this, and if you believe
it with your heart, Jesus will save you!
“Lord
Jesus I know I am a sinner. I confess my
sins to you; I am sorry for my sins; I repent (Meaning, desiring to turn from a
sinful lifestyle.) of all my sins, and I am asking for your forgiveness. I believe that only you can forgive sin. I commit my life to you and ask you to come
into my heart, direct, and take charge of my life. I believe that you died to set me free from
my sinful lifestyle and you rose from the dead to give me eternal life, and
right now you are seated at the Right Hand of God Almighty. I believe you are
the Son of God; the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life, and my
Savior.” I believe this and have faith
you will make a new person out of me, by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in my
heart and lead me in a new life. In Jesus name I pray Amen.”
(John 3:16,17; Romans
3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9-13; Ephesians
2:8-10; 1 John 5:11-14; 1:6-10)
(Sin: Rom. 1:22-32; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph.
5:3-7)
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