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        "The Cleansing of the Temple"
        John 2:12-22
        Theme:         Jesus right to judge wickedness and cleanse the righteous is established in the reality of the resurrection.

      1. The Indignation Toward Defilement – 2:12-17

        1. The Demonstration of Indignation – vv. 12-15

          1. The miracle at Cana was the initial manifestation of the glory of Christ Jesus and resulted in "His disciples believ[ing] in Him."
          2. Having opened His public ministry through that miracle, it is apparent that He moved from Nazareth to Capernaum which served as his center of activity throughout His ministry: "After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and there they stayed a few days."
          3. However, shortly after his arrival in Capernaum, "the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem" – as every devout Jewish male aged 12 and over was commanded to do – cp. Exodus 23:14-17
          4. Thus, in fulfillment of the Law, Jesus went to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice to God in worship, but also as a means of stepping into public as the Messiah.
          5. When He arrived, He encountered the shameful degeneracy of the organized religious machine of the Jews – wanton greed displayed within the Temple Mount itself: "And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables."
          6. To keep silence in the presence of the profanity of which religion was the pretext – which in its very existence was a affront to the conscience of the sincere Jew – would have been to betray His position as Messiah.
          7. Filled with holy zeal and indignation, Jesus patiently "made a scourge of cords" and then "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."

        2. The Denunciation of Idolatry – vv. 16-17

          1. In the midst of His sweep of the "Court of the Gentiles" where the Jewish merchandisers had set up shop, he turns his attention to some of the people and says: "Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business."
          2. Not only were they keeping and Gentiles away who might have wanted to worship, they were defiling the entire process through their greed.
          3. Such greed and coveteousness is clearly a form of idolatry – the love of money – cp. Colossians 3:5
          4. At the mention of "My Father’s house" – his disciples immediately recognized the Messianic import of what He was doing and were concerned: "His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for Your house will consume Me’."
            1. This was a quoted from Psalm 69:9
            2. "David’s zeal netted Him reproach, hatred, and persecution. The fear comes into the heart of Jesus’ disciples that the same thing will happen to Jesus."
          5. It is clear that this was an initial and partial fulfillment of the Millennial Messianic prophecy given in Malachi 3:1-3.

      2. The Interest in Disclosure – 2:18-20

        1. The Deflection of Accountability – v. 18

          1. The Jews ought to have shamed and convicted because of their sin. However, instead of being convicted, they sought to deflect their accountability for their illegitimacy by questioning Jesus’ legitimacy.
          2. They asked Him: "What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?"
          3. Clearly this confrontation resulted because of the unwillingness of the people to admit their guilt. Instead of being ashamed, in their hardened condition they dismissed their guilt by attempting to discredit the source of their rebuke.

        2. The Delineation of a Sign – vv. 19-20

          1. Jesus responds by providing a riddle – an enigmatic expression that was never fully disclosed to the unbelieving because it cut to the very heart of redemption.
          2. Jesus response to their desire for some sign was unique – always refusing to marvel the curious through signs – but singularly willing to point to the resurrection as the only sign He deemed relevant – the resurrection – cp. Matthew 12:38-40
          3. He says: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
          4. It must be understood that Jesus was fully aware of the importance of the impressive edifice that He had just cleansed – it stood as a type of what was fulfilled in Himself: God dwelling in the midst of men – cp. Revelation 21:3; 22
          5. There in a breath-taking moment stood side by side the beautiful type and the heavenly antitype: the earthly Sanctuary and the Son of God in His human body.
          6. Thus, Jesus refers to Himself when He refers to the Temple and indicates that the Jewish people would destroy the realities that the Temple shadowed.
          7. However, the sign was that "in three days I will raise it up" – which is exactly what was fulfilled.
          8. For any person who wonder whether Christ Jesus possessed integrity as the Messiah, the sign He gave of His resurrection ought to clear up any confusion.
          9. However, in the hardness of their hearts, they completely missed the message: "The Jews then said, ‘It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days"

      3. The Interpretation Fully Disclosed – 2:21-22

        1. The Description of the Sign – v. 21

          1. John desires there to be no confusion: "But He was speaking of the temple of His body."
          2. Perhaps one of the reasons John includes this explanation in his Gospel was because He was present when the false accusers came and used this matter as a statement of blasphemy at His trial – cp. Matthew 26:59-61
          3. John did not want any confusion as to what Jesus was referring to since the interpretation of those who were spiritually blind was actually used to put Him to death.

        2. The Dominance of the Sign – v. 22

          1. It wasn’t until the resurrection occurred that the disciples were able to fully catch what Jesus was referring to: "So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this."
          2. Thus, to the honest, the sign that Jesus provided was helpful in building their faith: "they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken."
          3. What is our response as we observe such things? Are we spurred on to greater faith and willingness to serve the Son of God? Or, do we allow the magnitude of Christ’s role of Messiah to have little impact – attempting to dodge accountability for sin even as the Jews did that day?

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