Jesus Cleanses the Temple

Scripture: Matthew 21:12-17

12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, 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.

14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.

15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased,

16 And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?

17 And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.

Jesus went in the temple of God and found 3 things:

1.) Pollution - God needs to be the most important thing in the temple, it is supposed to be a place of prayer. We should be 'lifting up Jesus' in the house of God.

2.) Purging - God can't dwell in a place where He isn't first and foremost, priority number 1! Our body is also a temple of God and he dwells in our temple as well. People should be able to see God in our temple by the way we act and behave. When sin comes into our temple that causes strife and distress then the temple should be cleansed with the truth of God.

3.) Perfection - After Jesus cleansed the temple then those that needed Him came in and He healed them. After the temple was cleansed the temple became a place of prayer, a place of power and a place of praise.

Power Point: The first day of spring is upon us, a time when many people use the phrase 'spring cleaning' to clean out and purge their house of the things that have come in making it dirty. Isn't it time to have a spring cleaning in your life?

God bless and prayers for the coming week.