HOW ARE THINGS IN THE TEMPLE - John 2:12-16 - by Bro. Ken Roark

Note: Verses and commentary extracted using http://www.wordsearchbible.com/]

HOW ARE THINGS IN THE TEMPLE

Jesus found three things in the temple:

Jesus found filth in the temple.

Jesus found feebleness in the temple

Jesus found fear in the temple.

John 2:12-16 (KJV)
12 After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.
13 And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;
16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.

Today we are living in the age of Grace (Grace Dispensation).

Today we (each person) are the Temple in which God manifests Himself.

When we get saved our bodies become the Temple of the Living God. The bible says we are full of filth before we get Saved. We are all filfy until we are found by God and Saved.

When you get saved - the fear of God comes upon you - the fear of Eternity. The bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom. You want some wisdom? Get some fear of God in your life.

Romans 3:18 (KJV)
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Jeremiah 2:19 (KJV)
19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

John 15:3 (KJV)
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

Now ye are clean — pruned, purged, cleansed, of the Divine Owner — by reason of the word (λόγον) which I have spoken to you. The Father has been operating this cleansing process upon you by the whole of the ῥήματά (see Ver. 7), which are gathered together into one mighty, quick, and active Loges. As we find in Hebrews 4:12, the Word is sharper than a two-edged sword, and capable of dealing summarily with “thoughts and intents of the heart.” Augustine, on this passage, admits that it is the Loges which gives all its value to the water of baptism. “This purifying, sanctifying process has been performed upon you,” says Christ. Then since “he who sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one,” this continuance remains as the gracious possibility. The vital sap proceeds from Christ alone, and not from our corrupted nature, which must be grafted into his life and become part of him. Many may seem to be a part of Christ, to be sacramentally or outwardly united to him, and even to be drawing some real advantages from the contact, and yet their end is fruitlessness, rottenness, removal, fire. The branches which bear fruit never bring forth all they might produce, never realize their ideal. The pruning, cleansing process must pass over every soul, that it may more adequately fulfill its destiny. The cleansing, searching power of the Word will be freely exercised by the Divine Husbandman.

Ephesians 5:26 (KJV)
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

That he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word. The immediate object of Christ was to cleanse her, and for this end he used the Word as a purifying agent, washing her by means of it. The difference between selfish and unselfish love is seen here: a selfish lover cares for his wife in his own interest — like Samson, desires to have her simply because she pleases him, and, in his converse with her, thinks, not of her good, but of his own enjoyment; but the love of an unselfish lover constrains him to seek her good, to do nothing that will hurt her and damage her in any manner of way, but to do everything that he believes will advance her well-being, especially in the highest sense. He finds her polluted (comp. Ezekiel 16.), and his great instrument of cleansing is “the Word” (comp. John 15:3; 17:5) — the Word in all its searching, humbling, rebuking, correcting, informing, stimulating, refreshing, consoling power. There is no express allusion to baptism, τω λουτρω τοῦ ὕδατος is explained by ἐν ῥήματι, “the Word” being the great sanctifying medium, and baptism a figure (1 Peter 3:21).

1 John 1:9 (KJV)
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

As in verse 7, we have the opposite hypothesis stated, and the thought advanced a stage. Not the exact opposite, “if we confess that we have sin;” but “if we confess our sins.” It is easy to say, “I am a sinner;” but if confession is to have value it must state the definite acts of sin. The context (“deceive ourselves... he is faithful”) shows that confession at the bar of the conscience and of God is meant. Circumstances must decide whether confession to man is required also, and this St. John neither forbids nor enjoins. Note the asyndeton; there is no δέ, as in verse 7. He is faithful and righteous, Δίκαιος must be rendered “righteous” rather than “just,” to mark the contrast with unrighteousness ἀδικίτι, and the connexion with “Jesus Christ the Righteous” (1 John 2:1). To forgive... to cleanse. As explained in verse 7, the one refers to freeing us from the penalties of sin, justification; the other to freeing us from its contamination, sanctification. The sense of purpose is not wholly to be surrendered. No doubt ἵνα, like other particles, becomes weakened in later Greek; but even in later classical Greek the notion of purpose is mixed up with that of consequence. Much more is this the case in the New Testament, and especially in St. John, where what seems to us to be mere result is really design; and this higher aspect of the sequence of facts is indicated by ἵνα. It is God's nature to be faithful and righteous; but it is also his purpose to exhibit these attributes towards us; and this purpose is expressed in ἵνα ἀφῇ ἡμῖν.

Pulpit Commentary, The - The Pulpit Commentary – Volume 22: Peter-Revelation.