… ye have made it
a den of thieves…
12 And Jesus went into the temple
of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and , and the seats of them that sold doves, 13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of
prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. (Matt
21:12-13)
The Temple of God needs a stark cleansing from time to time. When we become
sedentary in our faith, we resemble that which we were before Christ came to
abide in our hearts. The great English and Continental Reformations satisfied
an urgent need for the Temple to be cleansed. Just as the shedding of Divine
Blood followed the first Temple cleansing, there was a blood-letting that
followed that of the Reformation. Those who professed a sound biblical faith
were tortured, strangled, and burned at the stake if they failed to bow the
knee to the Papacy, and anti-Christ.
The church today stands in the place of the Temple, and it has become sodden
with the wine of modern apostasy, wealth (filthy lucre), and the new
institutional 'magisterium' that places tradition and 'success' above
truth and Light. Our Lord would feel no more at home in most of our modern
churches than He did in the Temple that day in Jerusalem when He cast out the
greedy vendors, turned over the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of
those who sold sacrificial creatures. It seems certain to me that such a rebuke
as He issued to those vile men applies at least as much to the church of today:
It is written, My house shall be called the
house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Last year we traveled to a Church in Africa at which an auction was conducted so
connected with the worship service we had trouble distinguishing when the
service ended and the auction began. There was obvious pressure heaped upon the
people to purchase the wares that were made available. Those who bid large
numbers received much praise from the minister. Needless to say, that church
was not received into the AOC.
But there is also a profound difference in the Temple of the time of Jesus and
the Church today. The Temple represented the very seat of God to the people of
Israel. It is the place that men carried their animal sacrifices to atone for
sin. The modern Church (in fact, no church) offers animal sacrifices as in days
of old before the redemption of Christ. The animal sacrifices were only a
shadow and figure of that Holy sacrifice of the Lamb of God to come in the
process of time. In the Wilderness Tabernacle, the Holy Place was provided with
a Table of Shew Bread on the right side facing the Most Holy Place, and a
Candelabra on the left side. Positioned just before the curtain separating the
Most Holy Place was the Table of Incense. The prayers offered yearly by the
High Priest in intercession for the people were represented in the rising smoke
of the incense rising to God. This followed the Passover sacrifices. In order
to approach the curtain of the Most Holy Place, the officiant must pass between
the Light of Christ (represented by the Candelabra) and the Bread of Life (the
Shew Bread Table). The High Priest stood before the Most Holy Place separated
therefrom by a curtain. Behind the curtain was the Ark of the Covenant
containing the Ten Commandments and the Manna. Above the Ark of the Covenant
was the Mercy Seat (representing the works of Christ). So what has this to do
with the Temple of God? The curtain of the Temple was ripped from top to bottom
at the moment of Christ's death and at the moment of the sacrifice. This
demonstrated that there no longer was a separation of the people from the Mercy
Seat of God. There also is no need for the designation of a High Priest because
Christ has become BOTH our Passover
For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. (1
Cor 5:7), but also
our High Priest But Christ
being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building. (Heb
9:11) Did you see
the beauty of this last verse? The Tabernacle of God is Jesus Christ. He is
also the Temple. And we are part of that Temple if Christ lives in our hearts.
What do you suppose Christ meant when He told the Jewish rulers: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
(John 2:19)
He was not making reference to that Temple made of stone and the artisans chisel,
but to that Temple of His Being which is not made with hands. Christ has
a legal claim on the Temple of Worship for He purchased it and is, in fact, the
Temple of God. Every building needs resources for the building. The Temple of
God is constructed of stones of a variety of sizes and shapes, and precious
stones of great beauty. Within are vessels of wood, stone, silver, and gold -
each with its own purpose. Every elect Christian is a stone of the Temple of
God, and a prized vessel of whatever nature in that Temple. There are empty
spaces in God's Temple which can only be satisfied by that particular stone
that the individual believer represents. Every servant of God, of whatever
nature, is a vessel to honor of God. But Christ is the whole of the Temple of
God, and we must be IN Christ if we will be part of that Temple. And what
agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the
living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I
will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2
Cor 6:16)
So Christ cleanses the Temple. He did not cleanse the Temple by washing the
outward walls and white-washing them. He began its cleaning from the INSIDE in
the same way He cleanses and sanctifies us. Remember the hyssop of Psalm? Purge
me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
(Psalm 51:7)
Hyssop is a purgative intended to cleanse the alimentary canal - the INSIDE of
the body. Once we are cleansed on the INSIDE of our hearts, we shall be
cleansed on the OUTSIDE to appear whiter than snow, and our behavior will
represent that cleansing.
So, what happened to the Temple of God? It was destroyed on the cross - and
three days later, our Lord had rebuilt it. The old man-made Temple was also
destroyed but, being merely brick and mortar, could not rebuild itself. It was
corrupt and failed to rise to the standards for which it was constructed; but
Christ is our All-in-All. He is the perfected Temple that shelters all of true
faith.
What should a devout Christian do if he finds himself in a church that , like
the old Temple, has become a den of thieves? There is an
answer for every dilemma in Holy Scripture. Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and
I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Cor
6:17-18)
There is a chilling warning implied in the above verse from 2 Corinthians -
unless we come out from ungodly churches and become separated from them, He
will NOT receive us and will NOT be our Father, and we will NOT be His sons and
daughters! Any church that follows the modern trend in apostate teaching on
homosexual marriage and abortion is unclean to the believer. He has no business
being there, and no more than the nephew of Lot in living among the sinning
sodomites of Sodom and Gomorrah. I hope no one reading this devotion will need
to be dragged out from among them as Lot was dragged out from the fire and
brimstone destruction of Sodom.
If the churches are to be cleaned out today, that task falls to you and me - we
are the janitors of God, if we are His children. If the rot and filth is beyond
repair, then we have no choice but to come out from among them.
Where do you stand in this equation, my friends?
