Disappointing Tree, Desecrated Temple

Introduction to the Second Day of Passion Week

0:05 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, September 13th, 1987, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:18 Encourage you to follow in your own Bible as I read from the 11th chapter of Mark's Gospel, Mark chapter 11, verses 12 through 19, a portion in which Mark, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is recording the major activities of the second day of what we commonly call the Passion Week, the week which began with the entrance into Jerusalem and the visit to the temple and the retirement to Bethany, recorded in the first 11 verses. Now Mark describes for us the activities. Mark describes for us the activities of the second day of that week. And on the morrow, when they were come out from Bethany, he hungered. And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if perhaps he might find anything thereon.

1:23 And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season of figs. And he answered. And he said unto it, No man eat fruit from you henceforth forever. And his disciples heard it.

1:43 And they come to Jerusalem. And he entered into the temple and began to cast out them that sold and them that bought in the temple. And overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves. And he would not permit that any man should.

2:04 And he would not permit that any man should carry a vessel through the temple. And he taught and said unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have made it a den of robbers. And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and sought how they might destroy him.

2:28 For they feared him. For all the multitude was astonished at his sight. And every evening he went forth out of the city.

2:44 Now as we take up this portion of the word of God read in your hearing, I have already reminded you of the precise setting that it has in Mark's spirit-inspired account of this last week in our Lord's ministry. Having entered Jerusalem, amidst His own personal, conscious, deliberate engineering of circumstances that would openly and unashamedly proclaim His identity as the Messianic King, our Lord, toward the end of that day of entry to Jerusalem, scrutinized the temple area, allowed his soul to drink, in by the eye and the ear gate the circumstances surrounding the temple region on the occasion of this approaching festive season in Jewish life, and then retired to Bethany with the twelve. And now as we come to Mark's account of the major events of the next day, they center upon these two incidents, the first recorded in verses twelve to fourteen, which I have chosen to call the cursing

4:12 of the disappointing tree, and then the events of verses fifteen through nineteen, which I have chosen to call the cleansing of the desecrated temple. So the two major events of the second day of the Passion Week, according to Mark, are the first and the second day of the Passion Week, and the second day of the Passion Week, according to Mark's record, are the cursing of the disappointing tree and the cleansing of the desecrated temple. And it is my purpose this morning to expound what the text tells us of those two major activities, and that will take the vast majority of our time, and then to conclude with one brief but very pointed application, and God willing, in our next exposition, to take up the many lines of application that literally ooze from both of these incidents, applications which point to the glory of our Lord's person, the majesty of His work, and also which point to some very searching issues in the experience of the people of God. First of all then, we take up the text of Mark's exposition, and we take up the many lines of application that

The Cursing of the Disappointing Tree: Circumstances

5:33 quote the cursing of the disappointing tree in verses 12 through 14. And the narrative as it is found before us very naturally breaks down into three segments. First of all, we must consider the circumstances which led to the cursing, the actual act of cursing, and thirdly, the witnesses to the cursing. First of all then, the circumstances which led to the cursing, and thirdly, the witnesses to the which led to the cursing.

6:06 Verse 12. And on the morrow, when they were come out from Bethany, he hungered. And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came if happily he might find anything thereon. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season of figs.

6:35 Now these verses describe for us the circumstances which led to the cursing of this tree. We are told that on the way out of Bethany, on the morning of the second day of that Passion Week, Monday morning, as our Lord was making the two-mile journey from Bethany to Jerusalem, with his disciples, hunger came upon him. The text says, he hungered. The same kind of language that is used in the earlier account of our Lord's temptation when after 40 days of fasting in the wilderness and first-hand encounter with the devil, he hungered. Now the question is asked and debated and discussed by the various commentators, why should he be hungry? If he had gone to Bethany and spent the evening in the home of his dear intimate friends, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, surely they would have lavished their love upon their special guest by feeding him with a sumptuous and adequate breakfast. And so the whole question of why our Lord should be hungry at this time of the morning is discussed, and so the whole question of why our Lord should be hungry at this time of the morning is discussed,

8:00 and at best one can only guess as to the reasons, and certainly it would not be lack of concern on the part of Mary and Martha and Lazarus to provide for their dear Lord his necessary bread for that day, but most likely the explanation lies in allowing the shadow of verse 11 to cast itself over the circumstances, or verses 12 and 13. For remember the night before he concluded his official entry into Jerusalem, self-authenticating his own person and mission as the messianic king, with this intense scrutiny of the temple region. He entered into Jerusalem into the temple or temple area, and when he had looked, round about upon all things, it now being evening, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. So as our Lord saw the sun setting, and with his disciples began to make his way out of the city gates before they closed for the night, and down the Mount of Olives and toward the little town of Bethany,

9:23 his mind and his spirit were literally permeated. They were, constantly and continually agitated with what his eyes had seen and his ears had heard when he made this close inspection of the entire temple area and in the light of what we shall see in the second major incident of the day it is clear that what he saw and what he heard caused nothing less than a violent disruption in his holy soul, Nothing less than volcanic pressure within the spirit of the Son of God. And knowing his patterns from other parts of Mark's gospel and from the other gospel records, we know that when our Lord was in the midst of unusual spiritual trauma, it was at such seasons that he gave himself to unusually concentrated and extended seasons of prayer. Mark recorded that a great while before day, Jesus went out into a secret place to pray. Before the choosing of the twelve, he was up in the hills spending the entire night in prayer. We'll see subsequently that on the events just prior to his arraignment,

10:50 he goes through the tremendous trauma of the prayer of Gethsemane. Gethsemane. And therefore, I believe it is most important, most reasonable to assume with the shadow of what verse 11 tells us, being cast over the circumstances of verses 12 and 13, that the most reasonable explanation is that whether our Lord was in the home of his dear friends at Bethany for the entire night, or whether he slipped out very early after others retired and made his way to the Mount of Olives, a suggestion that is buttressed by a parallel section in Luke's gospel, whether then a restless night in the bed of the home of his friends, or out beneath the open heavens, it was a night of wrestling, a night in which he saw little sleep, as his mind and spirit were seeking to sort out what his eyes had seen and his ears had heard in the visit of the Lord. And he was tempted to the temple region the day before. Well, with that conjecture, and that's all that it is, the only thing that is substantiated is that in making the trip out of Bethany towards Jerusalem, he hungered. And in this hungry condition,

12:17 we are told that our Lord saw a fig tree from a distance. Matthew adds another very significant fact about that fig tree. He tells us in his parallel account in Matthew 21 and verse 19, And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, so this was an ownerless fig tree. It was a fig tree to which no individual man or group of people could lay claim.

12:53 And as he saw it from a distance, there was something about that fig tree, there was something about that fig tree, fig tree that made it stand out from any other fig trees that were along the wayside or that were there in proper orchards. And what struck our Lord's eye from afar is indicated in the text. And seeing the fig tree from afar, it was the presence of abundant lineage discernible from afar that attracted our Lord's eye to this particular fig tree. Having leaves or abundance of foliage was a distinguishing mark of that tree. And as I have sought to pursue the question, why in the world should a tree with leaves be a distinguishing mark of a tree? I believe the most satisfying and accurate answer I can give you is, is that which is given in Hebert's excellent commentary on the Gospel of Mark, in which he summarizes that which most Bible dictionaries contain, and those who have written on manners

14:13 and customs in Bible lands have also described. Let me just read you his brief paragraph. Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, the green foliage caught the eye of our Lord while he was still a long way away. Matthew noted that it was a solitary fig tree standing by the wayside. Its location implies that it was not private property. Other fig trees in the neighborhood still were without leaves, but this one was in full foliage. It was an exceptional tree, apparently located in a favored spot, so that it was far ahead of the other fig trees in its development of foliage. In the fig tree, the fruit appears coincident with and sometimes even before the appearance of the leaves.

15:12 If the leaves alone appear, there will be no fruit that year. The fact that this tree had an abundance of foliage ahead of season held out the promise of a corresponding possibility

15:28 in regard to its fruit. And then Hebert has a very interesting footnote of a man who spent many years in the Holy Land, and this is what he saw. Mr. Bishop relates the unusual experience of finding a fig tree near the wall of Jerusalem in the spring of 1936, which had figs quite large enough to warrant picking.

15:52 For the next ten years, he found no ripe figs on that tree at that particularly early season.

16:02 So the collation of the input of those who've observed the horticulture of Palestine, and those who have sought to examine these things, lends an insight that breaks open the circumstances which led to the cursing of the tree. Having said that, he says, Having seen from afar this unusual foliage that made it stand out from all other fig trees along the way, our Lord, being hungry, begins to make a connection between His hunger pangs and the possibility that amidst all that foliage there will be some of the first harvest of figs. Some have pointed out that that first harvest is not the large and the luscious figs that come in the second, or some even suggest a third picking later on. But nonetheless, in a state of hunger, as the book of Proverbs tells us, to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. And if you get hungry enough, even unripe apples and sour pears are better than nothing. And so in the full possession of real humanity that felt real hunger, that experienced real anticipation of the possibility, of the satisfying of that hunger, Mark tells us that our Lord now approaches the tree,

17:30 apparently breaking out from the ranks of the twelve, quickening His pace and arriving there at the tree alone, and hopes by inspection to see if indeed the leaves are not only holding out a prospect, but also indicating the reality of fruit. But we read in the text that he found nothing but leaves, and then Mark's explanatory comment, for it was not the season of figs. And I'm amazed at how the commentators write page after page, turning Mark's simple explanatory note into the most complicated thing under the sun. And I don't mean to be simpleton. I don't mean to be simplistic and to have simple answers where good men find difficulties. But he's giving an explanatory note for these to whom the gospel of Mark is particularly targeted, the Romans, who would not necessarily be familiar with the patterns of fig raising in Palestine.

18:44 And so he is telling them this was not the ordinary season of figs. This was an unusual tree that held forth. An unusual and unanticipated promise or prospect of fruitfulness. And therefore, our Lord came up to that particular tree.

19:04 He did not stop at any old fig tree. It was not the general season of figs. And the other fig trees were not in full foliage. But this one was.

19:14 And so Mark just gives us that additional word of explanation to indicate that this was an exception. This was an exceptional tree amidst all the other fig trees that might have been viewed at that time of year. So those are the circumstances which lead to the cursing of this disappointing tree. Our Lord comes to it hungry.

The Cursing of the Disappointing Tree: The Act and Witnesses

19:40 He comes to it expectant. But upon inspection, he finds that it is nothing but an ornamental tree full of foliage, but no fruit. Then we see, secondly, the actual cursing of this disappointing tree. Verse 14.

19:59 And he answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit from you henceforth forever. As though the tree had spoken to him, saying, You will not have your hunger satisfied by me. Mark says that Jesus answered. And said to it, There is almost a personification of the fruitlessness of this tree, as though by its full foliage, but its utter absence of fruit, it was speaking to Jesus.

20:40 And Jesus responds by pronouncing upon it a curse. Now why do we use the strong word curse? For the simple reason that exegetically, this is warranted by verse 21 of the chapter. Peter, calling to remembrance, said unto him, Rabbi, behold, the fig tree which you cursed is withered away.

21:07 So Jesus used words which were clearly understood as a curse pronounced upon this tree. And he used a double negative. Let no man eat fruit from you. Henceforth forever.

21:27 Now to curse something is to call down upon it the disfavor of God, disfavor which leads to death. To bless someone is to call down the favor of God, highest expression of which is life. And when our Lord says bless and curse not in Matthew 5.44, the answer is, the antithesis of blessing is precisely the same verb used here, translated in Matthew 5.44 curse, translated here in verse 21 as curse. So it is proper to speak of this as the cursing of this disappointing tree. If the blessing of God were upon it, as we found from Psalm 104, it would be a tree. That would bring, that would bring, that would bring, If the disfavor and curse of God is upon it, it is a tree that will be fruitless and in its fruitlessness will die and be permanently consigned to a state of fruitlessness.

22:41 And then, thirdly, having looked at the circumstances which led to the cursing, the actual cursing of the disappointing tree, notice, thirdly, the witnesses to the cursing of the disappointed tree. Mark is careful to add, and his disciples heard it. And a form of the verb is used to indicate that that's not the last they're going to hear about it. And the disciples heard it, the indication being that there was at least some little distance between the Lord who approached the tree, inspected the tree, and then cursed the tree, but did so loud enough that the disciples clearly heard what he did, when he did it, and saw the precise circumstances in which it was done. Now, that's basically what the text sets before us. Without any further explanation by our Lord, without any patent reasons for why he did this, and yet the reasons are there. But like the disciples, you'll have to wait till we get into the next day of the Passion Week.

24:01 For it was not until the following day that our Lord gave them the explicit verbal lesson that they were to learn the truth. That they were to learn from his cursing of the fig tree. But then there is also an implicit visual lesson to be learned from the cursing of the fig tree. And when we come to expound verses 20 and following, God willing, that will be the outline we'll follow.

24:29 The explicit verbal lesson based on the actual words of Jesus, and then the implicit visual lesson based on the overall teaching of the Word of God. Now, are you disappointed? Well, I'm sorry, but I had to make a decision whether to preach the text as it's given, or to upset the pattern for the sake of neatness and satisfying curiosity. So we move then to the second major incident on that second day of the Passion Week.

The Cleansing of the Desecrated Temple: The Place

25:03 It began on the way to Jerusalem with the cursing of the disappointing tree, but then it led to an activity that was much more significant and lengthy as far as the time it took to perform it, namely the cleansing of the defiled temple. And for you who are taking notes, and those of you that at least find it helpful, if you're just listening to know the signpost along the way, as we look at the narrative of the cleansing of the defiled temple, there will be five stopping points of the materials. First of all, the place where the cleansing occurred, verse 15. And they come to Jerusalem, and he entered into the temple. Now, does this mean that our Lord actually went through the outer gates, over Solomon's porch, through a part of the court of the Gentiles, and in at least to the court of the women, or into the court where the men went, or into the place where the priest ministered? Does it mean that our Lord went into the actual sanctuary, the naos? No. And in the Greek language, there is a universal distinction made

26:24 between the general precincts of the temple area, including the porch of the Gentiles and Solomon's porch and the court of the women, and the actual sanctuary, the naos, not the hieron. And so Mark tells us that the place where the cleansing occurred was not in the inner sanctuary, but out in the court of the Gentiles. Now, as I wrestled with how to try to visualize this for you, I said, well, maybe this is the time I ought to break my general rule and get an overhead projector and flash it on the back wall, a diagram. Then I said, no, that would be cumbersome. I think I can do it by way of analogy. Imagine what this place would look like if we could take the downstairs foyer area and enlarge it at least five times. All right?

27:21 We've enlarged the downstairs foyer area so it stretches out to about the first one-third of the parking lot this way and comes back right out to Changebridge Road that way. If this were the sanctuary where only the priest ministered and where only the men would come, then the court of the Gentiles would be like that foyer with the roof taken off. It would be like that foyer. It would be a part of this building, but it would be an outer courtyard.

27:57 It would be an outer large patio attached to the church building. Well, something akin to that is what our Lord went into on this occasion. Now, what would it look like with this great Feast of Passover approaching and pilgrims making their way to Jerusalem from all parts of the compass? Well, of all the descriptions I've read, none is more graphic and perhaps more accurate than that given by Farrar in his Life of Christ.

28:34 This is not a book. Or this is not a set of books that I endorse unreservedly, but at points it is most helpful. And I want to read this section out of Farrar. We have already seen, writes Farrar, what vast crowds flocked to the holy city at the great annual feast.

28:54 Then, as now, that immense multitude composed of pilgrims from every land and proselytes from many nations brought with them many needs. The traveler who now visits Jerusalem at Easter time will make his way through the gates of the church of the sepulcher through a crowd of vendors, relics, souvenirs of all kinds of objects who, squatting on the ground, fill all the vacant space before the church and overflow into the adjoining street. Far more numerous and far more noisome must have been the buyers and sellers who choked the avenues leading to the temple in the Passover to which Jesus now went among the other pilgrims. For what they had to sell were not only trinkets and knick-knacks such as are now sold to the current Easter pilgrims, but oxen, sheep, and doves. On both sides of the eastern gate, the gate Shushan, as far as Solomon's porch, there had long been established the shops of merchants and the banks of money changers. The latter were almost a necessity for twenty days before the Passover the priests began to collect the old sacred tribute of half a shekel paid yearly by every Israelite whether rich or poor as atonement money for his soul

30:22 and applied to the expenses of the tabernacle service and that's rooted in Exodus chapter 30 verses 11 to 16. Now it would not be lawful to pay this coinage brought from all kinds of governments sometimes with coins upon which were wretched images of brass and copper and always defiled with heathen symbols and heathen inscriptions. It was lawful to send this money to the priests from a distance but every Jew who presented himself in the temple preferred to pay it in person. He was therefore obliged to procure the little silver coin in return for his own national currency and the money changers charged him, Farrar says, five percent some of the commentators said they charged as high as ten and twelve percent they engaged in a form of usury. Had this trafficking been confined to the streets immediately adjacent to the holy building it would have been excusable though not altogether appropriate. Such scenes are described by heathen priests and writers as occurring around various heathen temples but the mischief had not stopped there. The vicinity of the court of the Gentiles with its broad spaces and long arcades had been too tempting to current Jewish greed.

31:50 We learn from the Talmud that a certain Bab'ha ben Buta had been the first to introduce three thousand sheep of the flocks of Kedar into the mountain of the house that is, into the court of the Gentiles and therefore within the consecrated precincts of God's house. The profane example was eagerly followed. The shopkeepers, the exchange booths of the usurers gradually crept into the sacred enclosure. There in the actual court of the Gentiles were the men of the temple who were steaming with heat in the burning April day and filling the temple with stench and filth were penned whole flocks of sheep and oxen. There were the men with their great wicker cages filled with doves and under the shadow of the arcades formed by quadruple rows of Corinthian columns sat the money changers with their tables covered with piles of various small coins as they reckoned and wrangled in the most dishonest of trades their greedy eyes twinkled with the lust of gain. And this was the entrance court to the temple of the Most High. The court was a witness

33:17 that the house should be a house of prayer for all nations but had now been degraded into a place which for foulness was more like shambles and for bustling commerce like a densely crowded bazaar. While the lowing of oxen the bleating of sheep and the babble of many languages the huckstering and the wrangling and the clinking of money and of balances perhaps not always just ones might be heard in the adjoining courts disturbing the chant of the Levites and the prayers of the priests. Have you got the pictures painted? The place where the cleansing occurred was within the precincts of God's house and in particular that court of the Gentiles. The night before our Lord had come and even though no doubt some of the business was beginning to wind down toward the end of the day our Lord had seen enough to fill that holy soul with such disruption with such tremendous internal trauma that he comes the next morning and sees all of these shenanigans all full to the place

34:44 where the cleansing occurred. Now what were the activities involved in the cleansing? That's our second guide post along the way. Having looked at the place where the cleansing occurred what were the activities involved in the cleansing?

The Cleansing of the Desecrated Temple: The Activities

35:00 15b and verse 16 All the crucial activities focus upon three verbs of very vigorous action. They come to Jerusalem and he entered into the temple and began to cast there's the first verb them that sold and them that bought in the temple and overthrew second verb the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold the doves and he would he was not permitted the third verb that any man should carry a vessel through the temple. So our Lord's cleansing of the temple is all concentrated into the activities described as expulsion he cast out overthrew disruption and would not permit prohibition. So he cleansed the temple by a three-fold activity of expulsion disruption and prohibition. And let's look at them each briefly in that order.

36:17 Mark says he began to cast out literally the sellers and the buyers. We usually reverse it and speak of buyers and sellers but Mark says he cast out the sellers and the buyers in the temple. And this word is a strong word to cast them out. Now it doesn't mean he took them by the seat of the bridges in the back of the neck and spun around like a discus player and let them go and we can see them flying out.

36:45 No. No. But I think the closest parallel is I prayed Lord give me something that really has a parallel in our own day and I believe this is probably the closest thing and many of you like baseball so I think you'll be able to relate to this. A man standing at the plate in a critical situation in a ball game and he looks at a third strike go by and he's called out and the game's over and he's convinced it was three inches inside.

37:11 I'm sorry the game is not over it's in the eighth inning. I've got to save my illustration. And he says some nasty things to the umpire and he crosses the line and the umpire turns and he makes a motion and goes like this. That's all he needs to do.

37:25 And once he makes that motion we say the player was what? Thrown out of the game. Now the umpire didn't take him by the seat you see but we say he was thrown out. Now that's the second thing in which that verb is to be understood.

37:40 By his activities and his words Jesus expelled all of these sellers and buyers alike out of the temple. Well you say I can see the culpability of the sellers. These were the tight fisted greedy people who were concerned about making a buck even if they had to defile God's sanctuary. But what about the poor innocent buyers?

38:06 They were to be condemned that they ever put up with such business. That they were to of their consciences if they had any by ever committing this. The only reason that kind of business got established in flourishes is it has customers. And if people had enough principle to stand outside the temple precincts and say hey guy I want to exchange some money jackals on me business with you.

38:41 So they were both guilty. So Jesus expelled both the sellers and the buyers. Get off the field. He threw them out of the temple.

38:53 Then he did a second thing. He caused tremendous disruption and the verb is used which is a compound verb which literally rendered would be to turn down. Now these money changers would sit cross legged and here's where one must be restrained in acting out the passage. Well, but they would sit cross legged by a low wooden table.

39:21 There on the table would be the stacks of the various coinage from all over the world that was coming in from these Jews coming up to Jerusalem for the feast day. And Jesus either with his hands or with his foot he turned over all of the tables of the money changers and one can just see the coins rattling and clanking upon the stone floor of the temple and these tables turned up on end. And one can only imagine the look that must have been in the eyes of these greedy tight fisted people who had a heart for filthy lucre but no conscience about the worship of God. And then our Lord not only overturns those low table changers tables but those low tables of the money changers but it says he did something else. The seats of them that sold doves. They sat upon wooden benches and before them were their crates full of their doves and he came and he turned over their seats and no doubt threw down their stacks of the cages of their doves. Here was tremendous disruption in his cleansing of the temple.

40:35 And when apparently realizing that he meant business they all began to clean up their mess and carry it out of the court of the Gentiles once it was cleansed and that probably was not done in a matter of ten or fifteen minutes or even perhaps an hour. Then Jesus having cleansed that court of the Gentiles makes himself a sole sentry to guard its sacredness. Look at the text. Having done these first two things cast out the buyers and the sellers overturned the tables and the seats he then would not permit that any man carry a vessel through the temple. And the word for vessel refers to any common utensil that a man might carry. We would say a shopping bag a knapsack. Apparently people were using the court of the Gentiles as a convenient shortcut on their way to the kingdom of God than to use that court of the Gentiles as a shortcut.

41:46 And Jesus appointed himself as a sentinel and he would not permit anyone. If someone began to come across with just an innocent shopping bag he'd say, sorry sir this is God's house you go around a few steps won't kill you. That's how our Lord cleansed the temple with this final act of prohibition and it was a constant one and imperfect is used again. He would not permit he was not permitting that anyone should carry a vessel through the temple.

The Cleansing of the Desecrated Temple: The Teaching

42:22 Now we come to our third marker in the passage having looked at the place where the cleansing occurred the activities involved in the cleansing. Now notice the teaching which followed the activity of cleansing. Once again we have a court that instead of being filled with the bleating of animals and with the clunking of coins is quiet enough for a public teacher to be heard. And so Mark now concentrates upon the teaching which followed the activity of the cleansing.

43:00 Verse 17 And he taught and said unto them is it not written my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations but you have made it a den of robbers. Now again as we've so often emphasized when Mark says that Jesus taught saying that is not a court transcriber's record of every word that he said he is giving us a distillation of the main thrust of the teaching of Jesus at this time. And that thrust contains two things he made a searching gave a certain question and uttered a withering indictment a searching question and a withering indictment look at the question is it not written does it not stand written in the sacred scriptures which you people say you believe by which you say you regulate all of your religious life does it not stand written as the very voice of Jehovah God whom you claim to worship in this place does it not stand written my house shall be called a house of prayer nations and here our Lord quotes

44:27 Isaiah 56 and verse 7 and for you academy students the quote parallels word for word the translation of Isaiah 56 7 in the Septuagint and so our Lord in his question is saying does it not stand written that God's special house the temple was erected for two great things to be a place for the exercise of true heart religion is it not written my house shall be called a house of prayer and in that context prayer being the high expression of the soul's dependence upon and communion with God in the context of true religion the part for the whole is not written my house shall be called not of ritual not of force not of ceremony and not even of sacrifice though God it is the sacrificial system he says it shall be called a house of prayer a place where men exercise and experience true heart religion and secondly a place where all men of all the nations might learn and experience

45:54 heart religion a house of prayer for all the nations and only Mark quotes this part of the passage from Isaiah significant again with his emphasis for the Roman world and though it is peculiar to Mark and we have no time to enlarge upon it this was the original intention of God in the erection of the temple in Solomon's dedicatory prayer in 1st Kings 8 41 to 43 this was the vision of the temple being a witness to the living God among the nations and having the nations come and there in the temple join themselves to Jehovah in true heart religion that was the great vision in the dedicatory prayer of the temple yes I know Solomon's temple was torn down and this temple was built by Herod the Great but the physical stones are not the issue it is the intention in directing that a house be built for his worship and the prophets pick up that theme again and again and indict Israel that she has failed in her missionary purpose she has turned inward upon herself and rather than regarding herself as favored in order to glorify God to the ends of the earth she regarded herself

47:23 as God's little pet cut off from all unclean hoards of the Gentiles and when she forgot and was not true to her missionary purpose she was a cursed nation so our Lord asked that searching question does it not stand written he's trying to probe their consciences with their own sacred documents but then he gives a withering indictment look at it you you have made it a den of robbers now this is very interesting den of robbers that says very little to us but some of us remember stories about pirates and pirates who used to when they got their hoards of goods by illegal means would stash them away in a cave and they themselves would dwell in the caves when they were not out there overtaking ships and spoiling their goods and killing and engaging in all of these forms of activity that's the imagery here you have taken my house the house of my father that is to be the seat of true heart religion and you know what you've made it

48:52 he says you have made it a very cave for pirates you've made it a den there's a band of well organized muggers operating in the lower east side in New York and they find an old abandoned house which they make their headquarters and every night they come in and they sit and compare what they've gotten at the expense of beating someone on the head or cutting someone up Jesus said you have turned my house into a ramshackle forsaken dwelling in the lower east side where a bunch of organies every night are buried that's a contemporary parallel of what Jesus said right in the temple he said by his withering indictment and it's interesting that in so doing he was quoting right from the prophet Jeremiah and I want you to turn there with me because it is crucial to an understanding of what our Lord was saying to turn to the very passage he chose to quote Jeremiah chapter seven and this is why I call it a withering indictment we've looked at the imagery in the language but now what's the true significance of the language you remember Jeremiah preaches to Judah the southern kingdom

50:21 about to come under the judgment of God and go into captivity and yet drunk with presumption and the false prophets telling them you're all right you're Israelites you're okay God will never turn his back on you he's got a security doctrine long before there were any Baptist to preach it not the perseverance of the Saints but unconditional security once an Israelite always an Israelite always safe no matter what you do when Jeremiah and the other prophets came along and said look if you break the covenant you'll come under the curse of the covenant the false prophet says those guys are just a bunch of sour and guys who got up and said please peace and there I must restrain myself from its modern counterpart the smiling liar who's come over from the hills of Rome before whom our whole nation bows in a sickening idolatry but that's a whole other subject but now look at chapter 7 the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying stand in the gate of the Lord's house and say hear the word all you of Judah that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord thus said the Lord of hosts

51:50 the God of Israel amend your ways in your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place in other words if you repent and turn from your sins then the threat of captivity will be turned away and there was a big barrier to their repentance and what was it look at verse 4 trust not the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord the temple of the you see what they were doing the prophet was calling them to repentance and heart religion they said we don't need we've got the temple and we go to the temple and we go through the rituals and through the sacrifices and through the forms and through the ceremony all is well but the prophet says if you thoroughly execute justice if you do not oppress the sojourner then will I cause you to dwell in this place verse 8 behold you trust in lying words that cannot profit will you steal murder commit adultery swear falsely burn incense to bail walk after other gods that you've not known and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say we are in the house which is called by my name become a den

53:19 of robbers in your eyes behold I even I have seen it saith the Lord oh how appropriate was that quotation you see what they were doing Jesus says you've turned my father's house into a den of robbers extracting it out of a passage which was so parallel we're in the right place in the right company going through the right forms of perfectly safe and Jesus that made it were a bunch of brigands whole that they are from the arm of a immune to the just punishment that should come upon criminals what a

The Reaction of the Religious Leaders and Concluding Application

54:37 withering indictment this place that was ordained to be the seat refuge of brings and by their very trafficking in that which indicates utter disregard for the glory and honor and praise of God and total preoccupation with materialism and gang he says you've turned my father's house into a den of robbers pivot number four and then very quickly the reaction of the religious leaders to his actions and words verse eighteen just expounding this morning dear people the reaction of the religious leaders what was it well referring to the Sanhedrin that highest court of Jewish authority Mark tells us the chief priests and the scribes heard it they heard his searching question they heard his withering indictment and what did they do they sought how they might destroy him they were committed to destroy

56:06 him now it was a matter of how can we best carry out our deed but we must not do it in such a way that will make us look like murderers so the reaction increased anger increased determination to kill him one burning him for all the multitude was astonished at his teaching why did they fear Jesus not because they saw him as the messianic king who would one day sit on the throne of judgment and consign them to hell if they didn't repent would God they feared him for that would God some of you would fear salvation and to the knowledge of his grace and salvation that isn't why they feared him they feared him for one reason he was lessening their grasp and grip upon the multitudes for all the multitude was blown out of their minds that his teaching that vigorous word we found earlier in Mark's gospel the multitude were utterly astounded at his words the temple and the multitudes were the

57:35 day before crying Hosanna to the son of David he said why we're going to lose our hold over the religious crowd we're the high priests we are the scribes we appointed leaders who is this man to come in and rival us the messianic king who held their eye eternal destiny in his hands but because their own position as the leaders was being shaken you see from the writers who've commented on that period of history there seems to be a clear indication that there was an intimate relationship between the high priests apparently you had to rent out one of those concession booths and when you rented it out to make your profit the high priest got some in his pocket too so there was a whole network a kind of Palestinian ecclesiastical shakedown system nothing new under the sun is there

59:04 verse 19 and every evening as the sun was setting before the gates closed he went forth out of the city well dear people I've sought to just lay before you the facts of these two central activities of that second day of the Passion Week the cursing of the disappointing tree what is the one application I can make in just several minutes of the many and I I do confess my mind and heart are torn with the many applications I've suppressed them all the way through in the preaching almost but I want to ask you a personal question and it's this are you comfortable in the presence of the Jesus of the cursed tree and the cleansed temple are you comfortable in the presence of the Jesus who curses

60:33 a tree that promises what it doesn't have roots it's dead from root to outmost stem do you feel comfortable in the presence of Jesus who comes into a temple and casts out sellers and buyers like a madman turns over tables knocks over benches drives out cows and then goes to the house while I sit here as guardian of its purity now maybe you felt comfortable with the Jesus on a donkey behold thy king cometh unto thee meek riding upon an ass lowly upon a colt the foal of an ox that hath promised but no substance and cleansed a temple

62:02 in nothing short of holy violence and then made himself a sentinel that nothing should enter that temple that would displease his father my friends that's the Jesus of the Bible that's the Jesus of the burning eye that's the Jesus of the strident step that's the Jesus who will not tolerate the defilement of the holy and may I say that's the Jesus who is at the right hand of God the Father and by his own presence through the seven churches of Asia Minor and what does he say at the beginning of every message I know I know I've been there observing as I came into Jerusalem and observed and wherever his eye of omniscience found anything that displeased him what did he say to those churches recorded in the book of the Bible

63:31 stop this practice no longer suffer this permit this what is he doing he's still in the act of cleansing his temple and he does it with the same burning eye he does it with the same holy zeal he does it with the same feeling he does it with the very most prized healing grace and in the words he who jeśli at which is увид Mind meaning to take long full quarter from this to the knowledge of Christ you'll meet that Jesus because in the day of judgment he's not only involved in the work of the cleansing of his temple this place of his dwelling perfecting forever his people but he's in the work of

64:56 destroying everything and everyone that does not bear his likeness he will come in flaming fire the Bible says to take vengeance on all them that obey not the gospel oh may you have dealings with the Christ of the cursed tree and of the cleansed temple it's not another Jesus whom we shall see subsequently who goes to a cross it is the one and the same Jesus and all that we may know him and love him and fear him for who and what he is not be deceived by supposedly knowing and loving a Jesus made out of the stuff of our own hopes and wishes and desires let us pray our father we thank you for the record of the life and ministry of your beloved son and we confess who God that we stand amazed before the wonder of all that he is in himself and in his offices and in his work and we pray as we have sought to be honest with the text of your word this

66:24 morning that by the power of the Spirit you will so work in us that we will not only feel comfortable in the presence of the Jesus whom we've seen this morning but that we shall love him for who he is as the one who curses the fair leaves of empty profession and who cleanses the temple of his dwelling from all that is offensive to him we would welcome him into our hearts of fresh in that capacity we would welcome him to come to this temple Lord Jesus cast your eye over this place and anything that is offensive anything that is caused us to make this place a refuge in which we try to hide and in which we finger over as it were the accumulated sins that we may secretly indulge all the while comforting ourselves all is well we're in the temple we're in the place of your special dwelling Lord drive us from the refuge of lies until we stand naked and stripped and bare before you Lord may this word bear fruit all may it bear fruit for our good and for your glory we ask in Jesus name Amen