authority and power of the Son of God. He cleared it by force, of those men who had made it into a sort of market-place. The sacrifices of the passover made it necessary that great numbers of lambs, and young bullocks, and doves, should be brought near the temple to be ready when they were wanted; but it was shocking to have made the very courts of the Lord's house into the market where they were sold. Yet this had grown into a custom. Our blessed Lord drove them out; but even in his anger, He remembered to be kind. He drove out the men with their cattle. That would not harm them; on the contrary, it would teach the merchants the useful lesson, that if they brought their worldly business into the house of the Lord, they were guilty of sin. "He poured out the changers' money." It could be gathered up again, and carried to a more proper place." He overthrew the tables." They could be lifted up again, and taken out. But to them that sold doves, he said, "Take these things hence." Had he let them loose, they would have flown away, and so been entirely lost. It was proper they should be sold, but not there. And so it is with most of our worldly business. It is seldom that it is wrong in itself; but by the manner of doing it, the most lawful calling may be turned into sin. "Make not my Father's house a house of merchandise," the Lord Jesus said to the men He drove out of the temple; and has He not reason to say the same words to every one of us ? We cannot indeed buy and sell in the house of God; but how often do we sit in church, seeming to be listening to his holy word, or to be kneeling in solemn prayer, while our thoughts are busy with our worldly affairs; buying, selling, planning, settling the different affairs of our families; trifling follies, and often much worse things than these pass through our minds; so that if we were to speak aloud our thoughts, we should indeed not only turn God's house into a house of merchandize, but I fear often into something much worse. In reading the history of our Lord Jesus, we should always turn from the Jews to ourselves, and each one of us put the question, Do I sin in this manner? Am I like this? How does this concern me? When we consider how much the noise of the bleating of the lambs, and the lowing of the cattle, and all the bustle and din of a market, must have disturbed the service of the temple, we cannot be surprised that the people did not resent this act of Christ. Who could pray in quiet, close to so many men and beasts, all crowded into a small space? How must the disputes and noise of this disorderly market have destroyed that awful stillness which ought to have been in the inner courts! * These were given up to the people, who waited in breathless silence, while the priests were performing the solemn ceremonies of the sacrifice on entering into the holy place; and no doubt those among them who were in earnest, were glad that at last One had come to the temple who would not suffer such scandal. The disciples of Jesus remembered that in the Psalms, David had expressed a holy zeal like that they now saw in their new Master. All men's eyes were turned upon him. Prayer. O God, our Saviour, help us to bring nothing into thy house but holy thoughts and hearts given up to thy service. It is thy felt presence only that can keep the world away in the time of holy worship, for our weak and worthless hearts are ever turning back to the things of earth; and so we make thy house a house of merchandize, and often, alas, by our wicked thoughts, "a den of thieves." When we think of thy holy anger against the Jews of old, who turned the courts of the house of God into a market-place, and remember how unfit we are to meet thy searching eye, we are afraid; we confess our sins before thee, and we pray thee to have mercy upon us, and if thou dost see it needful for our soul's salvation that we Milner's History of Christianity. should be chastened, that our sins should be scourged away; O let the cords be small, for we are not able to endure thine anger, and we cannot live but by thy name. Have mercy, blessed Lord. Amen. XXVII. All men were in expectation of the Messiah; and though their attention was fixed upon Jesus, who had now suddenly appeared among them, the things that He had done were not enough to convince them that he was the Messiah. The law had been given from Mount Sinai, with thunders, and lightnings, and fire. Surely the coming of their long-expected Saviour and king, of whom the prophets did write, would be witnessed by signs more awful and more wonderful still. Wonderful things had been said of the birth and baptism of Jesus. He had, by the word of his power, changed water into wine. Full of holy zeal, He had cleansed the temple of God from those who had dishonoured its courts. Could he be the Messiah? The Jews, most likely some of their priests and rulers, came to him, and as if in answer to his words, "Make not my Father's house a house of merchandize," said unto him, "What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing thou doest these things?" A sign was indeed to be given that Jesus was the long-expected Deliverer. A sign more awful than any that had yet been seen in Israel; but not now. It was by his own death Jesus was to destroy death and deliver his people from the grave. Standing in the midst of the temple, which He knew to be the type of his own body,* inasmuch as God dwelt in him, he calmly made answer: * Type-sort of picture. Verses 19, 20. I will raise it up. Destroy this temple, and in three days Then said the Jews, (filled with angry scorn,) Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?” To this Jesus made no answer, the time was not come to explain his meaning, for— 21. "He spake of the temple of his body." But this saying of our Lord was never forgotten. It was remembered with rage by the Jews, who brought it up against Jesus when, disappointed in their hopes of an earthly prince, they cried out, " Crucify him, Crucify him." It was remembered by his disciples, when he was risen from the dead. After they had seen the temple of his body destroyed, and in three days raised up again, then they 22. "Remembered that He had said this unto them, and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said." It is often so with ourselves. There are many things in the word of God that we have remembered only as words, or perhaps forgotten them altogether. A time of distress comes upon us, and then these words come back to us; their meaning comes out clear, we do not know why, for our thoughts would naturally be full of other things; but verse after verse of the Scripture seems to rise up in remembrance within us, and for the first time we understand them. There is no teacher like sorrow, when God's blessing is upon it, and the comfort He gives us under it, is the best explanation of his promises. It was after the disciples had gone through the anguish of seeing their Lord crucified, and their grief had been turned into joy by his rising again from the grave, that they remem bered and fully understood what He said unto them while He was yet with them. Jesus remained in Jerusalem during the feast of the Passover, and did many miracles; and Verse 23. "Many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.” But He knew how little that belief, which only comes from wonder, is to be trusted; and 24, 25. "Jesus did not commit himself unto them, (that is He did not trust himself to them) because he knew all men. (He knew their minds would change) He needed not that any should testify of man: (or tell him what was in them) for he knew what was in man.” Prayer. "Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit; that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name, unto our lives' end, through Christ our Lord." Amen. XXVIII. The miracles which Jesus had done, and the words He had spoken, not only filled the people with wonder, but drew upon him the attention of the chief men of the country. You have read that many of the Pharisees came to the Baptist John, to be baptized of him in the river Jordan. From him they had heard that one was "coming after him who should be preferred before him, and one who was mightier than * * Matt. iii. 11, 12. |