Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A House of Prayer For All Nations.

Mark 11:11-19 (ESV)
And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
[12] On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. [13] And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. [14] And he said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it.
[15] And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. [16] And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. [17] And he was teaching them and saying to 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." [18] And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. [19] And when evening came they went out of the city.
I guess I hadn’t noticed it before. But Jesus knew what he was going to do, and how he was going to do it, he planned it out. He went the night before looked over the temple, planned where he would come, how he would drive the robbers out. Most see it as jesus just coming unhinged in passionate rage. He was angry, but dispassionate. He had a purpose. He planned it out. He thought about how he was going to drive the point home. The next day he followed through.
“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” He quotes Isaiah, 56:7 actually. It has become a house of prayer for all nations, because all nations are joined in him who drove out the robbers, the temple destroyed and rebuilt in three days.

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