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by Sandy Shaw
We are reading and studying the Gospel of John and we come to John Chapter 2 and verse 12. We were reading about that miracle at the Wedding where Jesus Christ turned water into wine. Now, we read of Jesus going up to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. It would be late March or early April, and millions of Jews, from all over the Middle East, would go up to the House of God in Jerusalem, for a week of worshipping God, and remembering what the living God had done when he delivered Israel out of slavery and bondage in Egypt.
This was one of the largest annual Jewish Festivals. They were remembering that night some 1,400 years ago, when in Egypt the angel of death passed over their homes. The homes that were marked with the blood of the slain lamb were safe, but in all other homes in Egypt the first born in every Egyptian home died.
It was following the Passover that Pharaoh freed the Children of Israel, under the leadership of Moses. The Jews were told to remember the Passover. They were told to remember that night when the angel of the Lord passed over every home marked with the blood of the lamb. For 3,300 years the Jews have remembered that night in Egypt, and Jesus gave it a very special significant meaning some twelve hours before he died.
When you are marked with the blood of the lamb, you are safe, and you have life, and if you are not marked with the blood of the lamb, then there is no security. There is really only security when we are covered with the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here they are 1,300 years later, remembering what Almighty God had done.
Remember what God has done for you, and give thanks, and praise and worship Him. Never forget what you owe to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, goes up to the Temple in Jerusalem, and look at what He finds. He finds people selling oxen and sheep and doves, and all in the name of religion. He finds money changers. To pay the Temple tax you had to have a special Jewish half shekel.
To remember the Passover properly, at this time, and to worship according to the law, you required the right money and the right animal, and the only place you could acquire these was at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
The whole thing was a racket. There were corrupt and immoral practices going on. Many were on the make.
Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, blazes with fury at all this, and He displays a holy righteous indignation.
We must be careful not to follow the Jesus of our dreams, but follow and serve and obey the Jesus of the Bible. We have to see Jesus as He really is, and love the real Jesus, and not some dreamt up idol.
So many have illusions and false pictures and ideas of what Jesus Christ was like, but when we stay in the Word, we will not stray very far. His use of physical force here is quite revealing.
When Jesus sees the situation in the Temple, He takes time to make a whip of small cords. Jesus deliberately makes this, and uses this on all that was going on in the Temple, on animals and men.
When Jesus Christ is confronted with sin in His Father’s House, He deals with it.
Jesus is showing and demonstrating how angry He is. His Father had sent Him to deal with sin, and not just some sin, but with all sin. With some things Jesus is intolerant.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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