Jesus enters Jerusalem triumphantly and one of the first things He does is to go into the temple and overthrows tables, chases out people and animals, and generally makes a scene. The reading for today’s devotional is Matthew 21:12-17 - please take a moment to read this from your Bible before watching the video.
Think back to what you know from the Old Testament about God’s instructions for building the temple and maintaining its purity. Now think again of the scene of Jesus cleansing the temple. Spend some moments thinking carefully about this, utilizing the questions below to spur your thoughts, and your response.
Why is keeping the temple pure such a big deal?
What does is say to us about God’s holiness?
What does it say about our sinfulness?Jesus quotes Psalm 8:2 in response to the indignation of the chief priests and the scribes. How do you see praise, and the strength of God made visible through the weakest and most vulnerable? How does this correspond to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31? Does even this point to the reason that the temple needed to be cleansed (that those “who boast, boast in the Lord”)?
How grateful are you today - in the midst of pandemic and trial and stress and abnormal routines - that God is mindful of you?
Jesus quotes Isaiah 56:7 as he cleanses the temple. Review the requirements from Isaiah 56 for a foreigner to be able to join himself to the Lord. Can you state what those requirements look like for us today, on this side of the cross and resurrection of Jesus?
Read again 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - where does God’s presence dwell today?
Is God any less concerned with the purity of the place where His Spirit dwells today than He was on that day when Jesus cleansed the temple?
Spend time in prayer, asking the Holy Spirit whether there are any things in your temple today that need to be cleansed. Ask the Spirit, by God’s grace, to enable you to willingly submit to the cleansing. Take the appropriate steps of confession and repentance. Rejoice that God has made a way for you to be joined with Him, that His “house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (this includes you)! Rest in the promise of 1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Take heart!