Temple or Den?

For your consideration and comment:


Base Scripture: “Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.'"(Mt 21:12-13. See also Mk 11:15-16, Lk 19:45-46, Jn 2:13-14)

Ever since I can first remember hearing stories about Jesus, the one about Jesus casting out the money changers and merchants from the Temple has always been used as an example of how it’s OK for us to be “righteously” angry towards things or people because, after all, Jesus did it. Yet, after I became born again and began studying the Word in depth, it always bothered me that the words “anger” or “angry” never appeared in any of the translations I’ve read; it was always just assumed. Whenever the story would come up in group Bible studies I was participating in, I would always point out this anomaly, but I would be “poo-pooed” for suggesting that this story wasn’t necessarily about Jesus getting mad or justification for our right to do the same. Even the few sermons I’ve heard on these Scriptures have varied little from this premiss.

Anyway, this story happened to come up in its usual context during an online Christian forum (www.Christianity.com) I was engaged in during my prayer time the other day, when the Spirit of the Lord sounded off as clear as a bell in my spirit and said, “That Scripture is NOT about Jesus getting angry!” He proceeded to tell me that He was going to show me what that story is about and for me to write about it. Needless to say, He got my attention! I’m excited, because what follows is some of the things He shared with me about this event - and I think that it’s some pretty good stuff.

First of all, have you noticed (I didn’t prior to this) that this is one of those few events which shows up in all four of the Gospels? I don’t know about you, but when I see that the Holy Spirit has inspired the reproduction of the same story or Scripture in all of the Gospels, especially when the wording is almost exactly the same in three of the occurrences, I tend to sit up and take notice. I believe that this is God’s way of putting special emphasis on that subject.

Here’s something else to consider: In three of the Gospels, the Temple cleansing event is one of the last things Jesus does before His crucifixion and death, and in fact may have been the “straw that broke the camels back” as far the Pharisees were concerned; it may have been the act that sparked the final solution to their problem. In the Gospel of John, however, the opposite is true: It was one of the first things Jesus did after the miracle at Cana, and from some of the differences between his description of the events and the quote that Jesus used from that of the other Gospel writers, many conclude that there may very have been two separate occurrences. To me, that seems to indicate that Jesus set the stage early on for one of the great principles of the New Testament, where God would leave the temple building and come live inside the bodies of believers after Jesus “cleans house,” and that the final event a week before He was to die served to emphasize the transformation that was about to happen.

Another important tidbit for you concerns the place in the Temple where these events occurred: The section of the Temple called the “Court of the Gentiles.” This area of the Temple was the only place where Gentiles were allowed to enter the Temple and participate in worship and sacrifice ceremonies. The fact that vendors were allowed to peddle their wares only in this area was an obvious slight by the Jewish leadership against Gentiles and the idea of God allowing non-Jews to participate in a relationship with Him. That Jesus would so publicly challenge the authorities through this act helped seal and, indeed, expedite His fate with them.

You see, I believe that the main thing that the Father revealed to me about this Scripture is that it is not about Jesus’ cleaning up the church or justifying righteous anger. It is an allegory for what Jesus does when He comes to live in us as part of the born again experience, and what He continues to do when we allow Him to be in control!

Do you recall that the Bible says that you and I are God’s temple; that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? (1 Cor 3:16 & 6:19, 2 Cor 6:16). Do you also remember that in the Gospel of John, Jesus said that “The thief (robber) comes only to to steal and kill and destroy...?”(Jn 10:10) Those scriptures fit hand-in-glove with the scriptures Jesus spoke to the buyers and sellers He cast out in the first three descriptions of this event. If you agree with theses scriptures about our being God’s temples, and you believe that Christ comes to live in us when we become born again, then Jesus is saying that our bodies are houses of prayer, and that we must not allow them to become dens for Satan and his demons. What’s more, He is standing there inside of us with a whip in his hand and fire in His eyes to help us achieve this ideal! Glory be to God, what an awesome picture that presents...Reminds me of Rich Mullin’s “Awesome God” song!

If you get a chance, please check this out yourself and let me know what you think. I would be very interested in hearing from you about this revelation.

Allah or Jesus

The following article is an interesting and important excerpt of a recent encounter between a Christian minister and a Muslim Imam. Although I didn't write it, I believe that the Father brought it to me as an example of the kind of questions we must be prepared to ask of Muslims and their clerics if we are to successfully expose and counter their agenda.

Allah or Jesus?
by Rick Mathes

Last month I attended my annual training session that's required for
maintaining my state prison security clearance. During the training
session there was a presentation by three speakers representing the
Roman Catholic, Protestant and Muslim faiths, who explained each of
their belief systems.

I was particularly interested in what the Islamic Imam had to say. The
Imam gave a great presentation of the basics of Islam, complete with
a video. After the presentations, time was provided for questions and
answers.

When it was my turn, I directed my question to the Imam and asked:
"Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that most Imams
and clerics of Islam have declared a holy jihad [Holy war] against the
infidels of the world. And that by killing an infidel, which is a command
to all Muslims, they are assured of a place in heaven. If that's the case,
can you give me the definition of an infidel?"

There was no disagreement with my statements and without hesitation,
he replied, "Non-believers!"

I responded, "So, let me make sure I have this straight. All followers of
Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of your faith
so they can go to Heaven... is that correct?"

The expression on his face changed from one of authority and command
to that of a little boy who had just gotten caught with his hand in the
cookie jar. He sheepishly replied, "Yes."

I then stated, "Well, sir, I have a real problem trying to imagine Pope
John Paul commanding all Catholics to kill those of your faith or Dr.
Stanley ordering Protestants to do the same in order to go to Heaven!"

The Imam was speechless.

I continued, "I also have problem with being your friend when you and
your brother clerics are telling your followers to kill me. Let me ask
you a question: Would you rather have your Allah who tells you to kill
me in order to go to Heaven or my Jesus who tells me to love you
because I am going to Heaven and He wants you to be with me?"

You could have heard a pin drop as the Imam hung his head in shame.

Needless to say, the organizers and/or promoters of the 'Diversification'
training seminar were not happy with Rick's way of dealing with the
Islamic, Imam and exposing the truth about the Muslim's beliefs.

Concerning Going to Church

A lot of Christians struggle over the idea of missing church services. For instance, one Christian forum I visit had a question from a participate who asked, "Does missing church on Sunday make me a bad Christian?" I asked the Father during one of our prayer times together what He thought about this, and here is some of what I believe He put on my heart about that subject:

Concerning this topic, I hate to answer a question with a question, but I think the answer to the original question is "What is the Father telling you to do?" I recall in the Gospels that Jesus said that He did what the Father told Him to do and He said what the Father told Him to say. That same Father, and for that matter, that same Christ, lives in us as born again Believers. In the 14th chapter of John it says "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."(vs 25-26)

When I first started to ask the Father about this question of going to church a while back, here is some of what He showed me through listening to His thoughts and studying His Word:

- One of the best sayings I've heard about this subject is this: Sitting in a church doesn't make you any more of a Christian than sitting in a garage makes you a car. Taking the analogy a little bit farther, a car sitting in a garage is warm and dry and protected from the elements, but sitting in a garage is not what cars were designed to do. If left there too long, it will eventually rust and seize up and become unusable for its original purpose.

- I believe that our understanding of "Church - The Body of Believers with Christ as its Head" has gotten crossed up with "church - the local congregation and/or the place people go to worship and praise God as a group."

- Under the Old Covenant, people could not have the Spirit of God come live in them because they were spiritually dead in the eyes of God as a result of Adam and Eve's disobedience. (There were times that the Spirit of God came "on" some of them, but until Jesus came to reconcile things, He could not live in them.) Therefore, God set aside a sacred day, called the Sabbath, and a sacred place, called the Temple, so that His chosen people, the Jews, could assemble together as families and tribes to assuage their yearning to get back close to Him through acts of sacrifice, repentance and praise. From the laws and customs of the Old Testament was born the tradition of going to church on Sunday.

- Under the New Covenant (Testament), God comes to live in and through each one of us who asks Jesus Christ into our heart as Lord and Saviour; this is as Jesus prayed would happen in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John. With Christ living in us, through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, we become the temple (church) (1 Cor 3:16 and 6:19) instead of some building. Now, every day is a sacred day, not just Saturday, Sunday or whatever is considered to be the Sabbath, because every where we go, we carry the Spirit of God in us! Anytime we need or want to communicate or pray or fellowship with Him, He's right there - all the time! That's how Christ walks this Earth today, as we allow Him to live His life through us to share the Good News of the message of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:19) and to minister to those who need and want Him in their lives. The church building is a great place for us as believers, the Body of Christ, to build and be built up in the knowledge of the "Son of God" (Eph 4:1-16); but it's the tool, not the project - the means, not the end.

- One of the things Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew really struck home to me, because I came from a religion that is steeped in tradition and ceremony, especially during its church services: He told the Pharisees and teachers of the law "You nullify the word of God with your traditions." I believe when church becomes a habit or a "have to do" thing, we set the nullifying process in motion.

- The really exciting thing is that when I'm doing what I think He's telling me to do, whether it be go to church or stay at home to fellowship with Him in the quiet of my prayer closet, He's always got something special for me: A word of knowledge or a special message, an opportunity to minister to someone or be ministered to in difficult times, the chance to sing a favorite praise song...the list goes on.

- Whatever I do, I am reminded of what Paul said in chapter 14 of His epistle to the Romans. The whole chapter speaks to this issue, but specifically in verse 5 he says, "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind."

- Finally, I believe that the Christian life is not about me and what I am doing: It's about Him and what He's doing! In the Kingdom of God, it's who I am that's important (Rom 8:14-17), not what I do.

MarkMc
www.thepdl.com