Click here for the Matthew 21:12-14 PODCAST
12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'" 14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. ~ Matthew 21:12-14
Today, we return to our study of Matthew 21. The events of today's passage took place on a Tuesday, the day after the Lord Jesus entered Jerusalem on the donkey. And, it was the Passover week. The Lord Jesus had lodged in Bethany that night and came into the city early the next morning. According to Mark, on His way to the temple, the Lord Jesus cursed a fig tree which had a full covering of leaves and it should have already bore figs. The tree was an object lesson of Israel's rejection of the truth. It is shocking that the people of Israel rejected the Lord Jesus especially since God had spelled out for them so clearly in Danial 9:24-27 the specific day He would ride into Jerusalem on the donkey colt.
In v.12-13 of today's passage we read, "12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, 'It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"
When He arrived at the temple, the Lord Jesus entered the court of the Gentiles which was the only place in the temple that was accessible to the Gentiles. There, the Jews used the area for a "religious marketplace" where Jews from other lands could exchange money and purchase overpriced approved animals for the sacrifices. The priests managed this business and made a great profit from it. It is not great profit that is the root of all evil, it is the love of money which is greed. These people had so jacked up the prices that they were out of place at a place where one was supposed to engage God with his heart.
This was the second time the Lord Jesus went into the Temple in order to confront the corruption therein. According to John's Gospel, three years before, at the very beginning of His ministry, the Lord Jesus had entered there and He swept out the moneychangers in a very similar fashion. The merchants were wrongly taking advantage of the people by selling to them over-priced animals. In addition, the money-changers only accepted the official temple currency. As a result, they and the merchants made an excessive profit at this business and the Lord Jesus was there to address it and bring an end to it.
Although the Lord Jesus had cleansed the temple at the beginning of His ministry, the merchants and money-changers did not learn their lesson. In fact, they never really ceased their corrupt practices. Due to their corruption, the Lord Jesus overturned their spots of commerce. The ministry of the Lord Jesus has always been focused on the heart of man. It has always focused on that which concerns our relationship with Him and how we treat others. He is concerned about true worship of the true God in the true manner, not impacted by politics, or the love of money.
In v.13 the Lord Jesus quoted Jeremiah 7:11 where Jeremiah predicted the Babylonian captivity and the destruction of the first great temple. The judgment of God through the Babylonians came because the people had turned their hearts away from God. It was not that much different than what we see in today's passage. The people who were in Jerusalem at that time were coming from all over to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. It was not conducive for them to bring their animals from their homes to sacrifice, so, they would have to buy one of the animals at the temple. And, the animals that were needed for worship were highly overpriced. They also came with foreign currency and they needed the temple currency in order to worship. And, the money-changers charged them high fees to exchange their money for the temple currency. The money-changers and the merchants were thieves who took advantage of the situation and the people's desire to worship God. This explains the actions of the Lord Jesus in the temple that day.
The Temple was designed by God to be a place of prayer, worship, devotion, and confession, but the religious leaders of Israel had turned it into a circus of blasphemy and greed. The religious leaders of Israel were motivated by fear. It is in the context of fear that hard-heartedness excels. The religious leaders panicked because of the popularity of the Lord Jesus and the threat He posed to their kingdom. They were afraid of Him because His power was greater than theirs and His influence was greater than theirs. The jealousy and the fear of the religious leaders caused them to want the Lord Jesus dead. And, that was key because from the foundation of all creation the Lord Jesus Christ was slated to be the Passover Lamb.
These events all led to the religious leaders wanting to find a way to kill the Lord Jesus. They had arrived upon the point of no return. They no longer put up with anything the Lord Jesus did or said from that moment onward. This sealed His death, but, it also sealed the destiny of those willing to depend upon Him for salvation from sin. The corrupt religious leaders thought they were getting rid of the Lord Jesus, but it was He who was setting the stage for His sacrifice to be made for the forgiveness of our sin.
In v.14 of today's passage we read, "Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them."
In contrast to the hard-heartedness of the religious leaders of Israel, the Lord Jesus was on the outlook for the needy and the hurting. He healed the blind and the lame and since they were no longer blind or lame, these people could now enter the inner courts. Instead of preventing them, the Lord Jesus made a way for them to participate by removing the obstacle that stood between them and their worship of God in the Temple. This was a precursor to what He would soon do for those separated from God by their sin by paying the price for our sin with His own life on the cross of Calvary.
