Come Follow Me LDS- Easter, Episode 2: Monday- Temple Cleansing

- Already honored as King, Jesus Now Shown as The Great Melchizedek High Priest
- Cleansing the temple is symbolic of the High Priest ritual on the Day of Atonement
- The temple is the destination of Coronation in the Royal Procession (Triumphal Entry)

 

 

Come Follow Me Easter

LDS Mormon

 

all right this is episode two of our

Easter series we are going to focus on

the events that likely happened on the

Monday following Palm Sunday and the

masterful follow-up of Jesus's entry

into Jerusalem as the king with the

meaning the deep meaning behind the

cleansing of the temple here we go

all right so the Gospels all give

different accounts of the cleansing of

the temple and the things that occurred

on that day and that's what they're

supposed to do right these are four

different witnesses of the events of the

life of Jesus and four different

witnesses of the atonement and of his

sacrifice and so we're going to get

different accounts that come through

different people different areas and

remember these were written well after

some of them much much much after the

events that actually took place here

with Jesus so we're going to kind of

bring some of those together each of

these days in this series and just give

an idea of what might have happened on

each one of these days this one focuses

on Monday so recapping where we're at

Jesus has entered Jerusalem as the king

of kings

right the king from the temple drama of

the ancient Israelites this is Jehovah

who was prophesied to come down to

condescend all mankind to be born of a

virgin and to take on the sins of the

entire world the environment that we

have here is one of many different

Jewish sects where some may have had an

idea of what the Messiah truly was that

is Jehovah coming

and taking on this into the world some

may have had kind of a corrupted vision

of what the Messiah is and some may have

had a very very corrupted vision of what

the Messiah was and so we need to keep

that in mind that when you go through

the New Testament that not all of the

Jews are lockstep on their doctrine and

on their theology and even on some of

their culture right what we're typically

talking about with the Jews when they

are mentioned in the New Testament is

really the establishment it's those that

are in power

it's more likely you hear a lot about

the Pharisees and the Sadducees these

are two separate sets the Pharisees are

more the party of the people if you will

the Sadducees are a little bit more

elitist they are the ones that are in

charge of the temple and the

priesthood at this point and then you

have the scribes who are Levites and

they are given they are Jesus disparages

them because they have likely with

control of the scripture made numerous

changes and some by accidents some

simply by translation and some maybe by

agenda that has happened right and so

keep that in mind we're talking about

different groups of people but there is

one that is in control of things

especially in Jerusalem and that is the

Jews so as Jesus has entered into

Jerusalem which his disciples that

counseled them not to do but as he's

coming to Jerusalem at the beginning of

Passover here we talked about how the

festival or Feast of Tabernacles that

happens in the fall and the rituals that

happen around that are actually Kate

taking place here during the week of

Passover and there's a reason for that

again is that is the life of Christ

would have been what was focused on even

more in the Feast of Tabernacles

the Day of Atonement these are highly

ritualistic events that changed and

remember that the things certain things

had changed within the temple in the Old

Testament at different times in the time

of Isaiah they changed we had a

change in inside of the actually with

the emblems even and the theology

perhaps of the temple and then later

with Josiah a massive reform where the

Deuteronomists made several changes in

the theology and in the rituals of the

temple i believe what has happened at

the these in these major reforms is even

though it's been written as something

very positive it's very possible and

looks like to me that what has actually

happened is that Christ has been

removed or at least the idea not that

just because when we talk about Christ

remember that is the Greek translation

of Messiah and so Messiah the idea of a

messiah still exists but the idea that

Jehovah would come down and take on the

sins of the world was pretty much pushed

to the side and at these times that's

what ends up completely falling apart

for the Jews when they were dealing with

Babylon in Egypt when Jerusalem was

destroyed in the time of Lehi and so

here is Jesus coming in trying to

restore all of this that has been lost

the temple drama during the Feast of

Tabernacles the enthronement of the

Davidic king that would have happened in

that drama that would happen typically

every year and especially when there was

a new king that was brought in and the

procession that would have happened and

bringing that new king in and the

renewing of the covenant that happens

the covenant of peace where the high

priest and the king would have been

going through specific dramas

and enactments and rituals that had been

removed and Jesus is trying to bring a

lot of this back so we're going to talk

a lot about the rituals that happen

during the Feast of Tabernacles and the

Day of Atonement that's Yom Kippur

because they're very important and those

themes run throughout all of the week of

Passover so we'll be touching on those

most every day this week

so here the authors of the gospel

want to follow this up showing that

Jesus is the king and now they want to

show his priesthood Authority as well

here we have the Royal secular authority

of him being the king and now they want

to show him as the authority that he has

as the high priest and so that's what

starts to happen in this day here on

Monday so we're gonna go to mark and

and see what happens he leaves Bethany

right he had gone back to Bethany at

least according to mark then on Monday

morning he comes in and it says that he

was hungry and seeing a fig tree this is

mark 1113 and seeing a fig tree afar off

having leaves he came if haply he might

find anything there on and when he came

to it he found nothing but leaves for

the time of figs was not yet and Jesus

answered and said unto it no man eat

fruit of the hereafter forever and his

disciples heard it now mark actually has

them seeing the fig tree withered away

the next day Matthew doesn't so I'm

gonna include that here in on the day of

Monday according to Matthew and what

happens is as he curses the fig tree and

then presently it says in Matthew

presently the fig tree withered away and

so they see the fig tree that it

has the roots of withered away and Peter

calling remember and saith unto Him

master behold the fig tree which thou

curses is withered away and

Jesus answering said saith unto them

have faith in God for verily I say unto

you this is verse 23 that whosoever

shall say unto this mountain be thou

removed and be thou cast into the sea

and shall not doubt in his heart but

shall believe that those things which he

saith shall come to pass he shall have

whatsoever he saith there's two things

that are important here number one he's

talking about the priesthood right he's

talking about the authority of the

Melchizedek Priesthood whenever you see

the idea of mountains being brought down

and made into valleys whenever you see

the moving of a mountain that's got

several references to them to being able

to move mountains in the scriptures that

is as far as I can tell that is a

reference to the Melchizedek Priesthood

just the ironic priesthood but the

Melchizedek Priesthood so this is

something where again throughout the New

Testament they're showing him restoring

the Melchizedek Priesthood but on this

day specifically the references that

they are talking about or about his

authority over the Melchizedek

Priesthood and then they come into

Jerusalem and we've all heard this about

the cleansing of the temple there's a

much deeper meaning to what is happening

here this is not just a matter of

degrading a consecrated space this is

much more this is about Jesus's

authority as the high priest of the

Melchizedek Priesthood so he comes in

and remember that the temple this is

the second temple this is the temple of

Herod and when the Jews came back from

Babylon in the in the sixth century BC

and had the permission of Cyrus from

Persia the king of Persia to return to

Jerusalem and build the temple they

imposed something that they did not

impose with the first temple and that is

a tax a temple tax that everyone had to

pay when they came in to go

to the temple this is very interesting

because when the Jews built the temple

when they came back from Babylon they

did not allow any other groups of people

to contribute there were other groups

that wanted to contribute to having the

Giroux the temple at Jerusalem rebuilt

the Jews remember the primary sect

the Jewish set was in control of this

and they did not allow anybody else to

contribute now this may have been the

Samaritans that would have been around

this would have been perhaps other

Jewish sets that were in the area that

maybe never went to Babylon they could

have been left behind they were told in

Jeremiah that a number of the poor were

left behind and there were other groups

that were left behind even Jeremiah was

left behind with the group for a

while there are others that had gone to

Arabia what they called Arabia at that

time we know Lehi left at this time

there was a big scattering that happened

here a lot of people went to Egypt and

some stayed and actually built temples

in Egypt raided Jewish temples in Egypt

and others may have come back up from

Egypt and repopulated the land that may

have held on to older traditions but

those that came back in charge said no

this is ours and we're going to charge a

tax to everybody that comes in so this

goes directly to what is happening with

Jesus here again he it looks to me like

he is again kind of slapping the face of

those in charge of the establishment

that's here and he's saying no your

man-made economy here where people come

in to pay a temple tax let's think of

that as payment again payment this is

these are merchants what does that mean

it is a man-made economy where they are

making in a sense atonement to come into

the temple now what I think is happening

here is there is a contrast

between this man-made economy of

atonement and what Jesus is

offering with spiritual atonement what

represents that it's the rituals that

happened on the day of atonement

anciently in the first temple we'll go

over that in a lot more specifics later

on but one of the things that happened

on the day of atonement was that the

high priest who would change his vesture

often would make a sacrifice of an ox

would make a sacrifice of a goat and he

would take the blood from these animal

sacrifices and he would cleanse the

altar right and he would go around and

he would cleanse other parts of the

temple and he would go any by how do we

do that he would do that by sprinkling

the blood of the animal sacrifices and

he would sprinkle the blood actually

going into the Holy of Holies and

sprinkle the Ark of the Covenant and it

was doing this to act as the blood which

really represents the blood of Christ

that was purifying the temple it would

purify the high priest and his own

family and then it would purify the

people as well in the land and so that

was the day of atonement and you can

imagine a high priest you can think of

what happens sometimes in Catholic Mass

I'm not sure exactly what the

terminology is on this but think of

rites of using the instrument that would

move like this and that's what the high

priest would be doing when he is

sprinkling the blood onto these

different areas and what does Jesus do

he comes in and he says okay I see here

the man-made economy how you have

twisted the temple into this lower law

man-made economy and atonement and I'm

going to raise this back up and show

what my real authority is and so he

throws over the tables he kicks

all of the money changers that are

collecting these taxes and offering up

the sacrifice the selling the

sacrificial animals that people would

use in the temple any what does he use

he uses a whip he uses a whip why a whip

what are they what is he doing here

think about it is because he's trying

to be violent with everyone and we a lot

of people say well this is the only

example we see of Jesus really getting

mad no it is the authors and the

symbolism of what Jesus did here with

the with the Day of Atonement with Yom

Kippur and he goes out and he is using a

whip and basically sprinkling and

cleansing out the temple just like the

high priest did on the day of atonement

during the Feast of Tabernacles and

so he is showing that he is the high

priest not just any high priest but the

high priest and the authority of the

Melchizedek Priesthood and that he is

removing and cleansing out the dirt and

corruption of this man-made

economy and how the temple is being used

here and purifying it and bringing in

the higher-level law of spiritual

atonement and bringing in the spiritual

economy into the temple and then back in

Matthew chapter 21 after he has done all

of this and cleansed the temple it says

here in verse 14 in the blind and the

lame came to him in the temple and He

healed them so you can see how the

authors are putting this together right

where they're showing him as the high

priest and how he is cleansing the

temple and healing the people and

healing the land that's what the high

priest was supposed to do on the day of

atonement the four filters or lenses

that we talked about on this podcast

they all apply in hyper mode during the

week of Easter

all right the higher and the lower law

here

have again looking at this the man-made

economy and a man-made atonement and the

high-end the spiritual economy and a

spiritual atonement that he is going to

offer we have temple imagery which we

saw in the last episode on Palm Sunday

and it's what happens here this is

ritual that is happening and the

authors want to show it this way I want

to make sure that you understand that

this is about ritual and about the

festival of and Feast of Tabernacles and

the Day of Atonement Jesus is the high

priest

so temple imagery and drama which we've

gone over a lot

third is the authorship this is what the

authors are trying to get across they

are trying to show a replacement a

reaching for a higher law by saying that

Passover had been lowered by the Jews at

the time and that the day of atonement

and the festival Feast of Tabernacles is

is where the center of the doctrine of

Christ is and so they're bringing in all

of this symbolism from the Feast of

Tabernacles and the day of atonement and

then lastly is the knee whore principle

right which is the corruption of the

idea of them of the true Messiah of

Jehovah coming down and taking on the

sins of the world and being the savior

everything falls apart without that that

has to be at the top of the values

hierarchy and so that is what is being

shown here and of course what is going

to be acted out eventually here in a few

days

is going to be the great event that

everything hangs on with the doctrine of

Christ and so the chief priests and the

scribes and the elders come to Jesus and

say again the discussion of authority

here by what authority are you doing

this and with a brilliant response a

rhetorical response really but he

responds with another question to the

chief priests to the scribes and to the

elders and he says he asks them by what

a Thor

did John the Baptist preached in other

words did he preach with the authority

from heaven or did he teach and preach

with the authority of man and so the

people in charge here know that everyone

around them especially those that are

there with Jesus believe that John the

Baptist is a prophet and that he was

definitely inspired and that he was

given this authority by God it came from

heaven and of course Jesus knows that

everybody there knows that John the

Baptist preached about Jesus being the

Christ about him being Jehovah he is the

Messiah so what are they going to say

and so they're afraid to answer this and

so Jesus says look if you're not gonna

answer that if you can't do that

then I'm not going to answer where my

authority comes from but it's a question

of authority that is posed here by Jesus

and by the authors of the Gospels on the

day to the authority of the priesthood

and then Jesus follows this up with a

couple of parables in the last one it is

the parable of the wicked husbandmen and

basically the gist of it is that the

Lord of the whole of the household and

the vineyard goes off and leaves and

hires a husband men to take care of

would be the animals in the land and in

the vineyard etc and then when it's time

for harvest

he sends the servants out to the

homestead basically and the husbandmen

kills the servants or stones them or

chases them off and then finally the

owner says well I'll send my own son

certainly they're going to respect him

and they send he sends his son but the

husbandmen say among themselves well

this is the Son and the heir we're going

to kill him and we're gonna be able to

keep this place for our

and obviously this is about the chief

priests about the elders and the scribes

and everybody else that the Sadducees

and Pharisees that Jesus has been

dealing with this entire time why

because God had given them the authority

to run the kingdom of heaven on earth

and they have taken it for themselves

and basically they have changed the

doctrine they have gotten rid of the

true doctrine of Christ and they've

taken control of everything including

the people and so when prophets are sent

to them they stone them and they kill

them and they run them off and then

finally the son is sent to them being

Jesus Christ and what are they going to

do they're going to kill him

because they don't want to lose power

you can sense just a tinge in here of

understanding that and they say that

they believe they perceive that they're

talking about the chief priests they

they believe that they're talking about

themselves and scribes and etc but you

can sense this tinge of truth that

they perceive they know what he is

saying and you have to imagine that at

some point in some way they know it's

true and yet they're going to what again

they're going to double down and they

are going to go after him regardless and

try and kill him and eventually they do

and that is essentially what happens

here on Monday it is a follow up to the

king coming in to Jerusalem and showing

that he is also the great high priest

who the new Melchizedek Melchizedek

means the king of righteousness and so

he is both the king and he is the high

priest that has been foretold of the

great Messiah and this idea that he is

this person

with this authority that he is the king

that he is Jehovah is a great threat to

the establishment and those who have

taken power at this time I'll talk to

you next time