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.
What is this scourge of small cords and what does it mean? It tells us that Jesus had the right to cleanse the temple. There are several things that confirm this for us. A scourge - A whip. Of small cords ...the original word implies that these "cords" were made of twisted "rushes" or "reeds" - probably the ancient material for making ropes."
In other words, Jesus seems to have stopped in the courtyard -- in the midst of all the noise and chaos of the surging crowds, looking to change money and purchase sacrifices, and surrounded by the cacophony of lowing cattle and bleating sheep --and painstakingly makes a scourge, a whip, from the materials that were at hand...rushes that formed the animals' beds and ropes used to tether them.
This obviously took no small amount of time and shouts deliberate determination and a mature focus. This scourge of cords was a symbol of Jesus’ righteous anger, of His right to be obeyed, of His right to enforce obedience within the temple. The scourge was a symbol of the power and cleansing judgment of God-the kind of power and cleansing judgment that causes men to tremble before God (Phil.2:9-11)
Jesus went through the temple and you see three things that He did.
- First he chased out ALL who were buying and selling.
- Then He threw over the tables of the moneychangers.
- Lastly, He threw over the chairs of the dove dealers.
One of the things we learn from this passage is that the temple or the church can be abused by: forgetting what worship is all about. We can misuse the facilities and buildings of God’s house. We can ignore God’s holiness and forget our duty and reverence to God. We can also abuse the church by approving questionable non-worshipful activities.
In this passage we see Jesus’ unique relationship to God. He called God “My Father” and called the temple “My Father’s house.”
Jesus was continually calling God “My Father” and He said My Father’s house many times. Jesus was saying that the temple was God’s so that meant it was to be a house of worship for all people. Including the Gentiles as well as the Jews. All people should be able to worship in quietness and peace within God’s temple. No one should be barred, separated or discouraged from worshipping God in His temple. Everyone is to be welcomed.
I want you to notice that the church or the temple was called a house of worship, not a house of sacrifices, offerings, teaching, prophesying , or preaching. Everything done within the House of God is to lead to the worship of the Father and for having communion with the Father.
You see, the temple was not to be used as a commercial center. It is not to be a place for buying and selling, marketing and retailing, stealing and cheating where man gets the gain.
Jesus had a consuming zeal. His enthusiasm and zeal fulfilled Scripture and demonstrated that He was the Messiah. The Messiah was bound to be zealous for God’s house and to react in anger at such corruption within the temple. The Scripture had predicted that the Messiah was have such zeal (Psalm 69:9).
Jesus had the right to show zeal and anger against such desecration of the temple. He was the Messiah and His act stirred the memory of the disciples.
Our prayer is that this study will stir you to have zeal for and to encourage you to stand up for the things of GOD!