Holy Week - Monday - Jesus The High Priest Cleanses Temple

The real "den of thieves" are the High Priests, Saducees, Elders, and Scribes. They are in charge and will be those who eventually accuse Jesus to death. Jesus is making a major statement to them by cleansing the temple.

 Raw Transcript

all right welcome back to our short
video series on the Holy Week Today is
Monday I want to go over primarily well
solely the cleansing of the temple to uh
we're going to highlight that for today
I think it's very significant here right
yesterday as he came in as the king
through the royal procession and went to
the temple that's not when he does the
cleansing right that that Sunday Palm
Sunday is about him as the king Remember
that as we go through our own uh temple
experience we're we're spoken of as
kings and queens and priests and
priestesses So what he's going to do
here in day two of the holy week on
Monday is he's going to come back to the
temple and he's going to come as the
high priest And as the high priest he
would come in on the day of atonement or
yo kapor and he would cleanse the temple
That's what the high priest does on the
day of atonement On the day of atonement
you go back into the book of Leviticus
you'll see that uh let's see chapter 16
I believe is possibly 17 I think it's 16
He uh the high priest is going to go
he's going to he's going to sacrifice an
oxen Then he's going to sacrifice a goat
And he's going to mix the blood and he's
going to take that blood He's going to
put it on the corners of the altar on
the horns uh outside And then he's going
to go throughout the temple He's going
to cleanse the temple He's going to go
into the holy of holies and cleanse the
ark of the covenant And in fact he even
cleanses the people uh that that are
there And and whether that's
metaphorical or not I I don't know But
uh we're going to get back to that when
we get to Jesus's trial with Pilate It's
very important That's going to be a day
of atonement imagery between Pilate
Barabus and Jesus and the people that
are there Be very interesting But here
he comes back to the temple as the high
priest and he's going to cleanse it
Here's what it says in uh Luke chapter
19 in verse 45 And he went into the
temple We got our scripture notes here
He went into the temple and began to
cast out them that sold therein and them
that bought saying unto them it is
written my house is the house of prayer
but ye have made it a den of thieves
Remember that term den of thieves We've
all kind of you know burnt that into our
into our minds that term And he goes on
and he taught daily in the temple but
the chief priests and scribes and the
chief of the people sought to destroy
him This is what we have to remember
here Yesterday as we talked about the
people that were parading him right in
and and praising him as the king and
hosana hosana save us These are not the
same people right these are the
followers of Christ Who is it that is
going to actually kill Christ and accuse
him it's going to be the elite of the
people It's going to be the chief of the
people It's going to be the Sadducees
the high priests those that are running
the temple the elders and scribes and
others that are going to go after Jesus
Right we need to remember that I think
that's an important thing to understand
And he taught daily in the temple but
the chief priests and the scribes and
the chief of the people sought to
destroy him These will be the people
that are there at the judgment with him
at the trial with Pilate Okay and they
could not find what they might do for
all the people were very attentive to
hear him Okay so the leadership of
Jerusalem which are absolute apostates
and absolute
uh you know evil right they have taken
over the religion Uh they are only
looking out for themselves
They are the ones that want to uh want
to kill Jesus Now another point here
that I think is interesting to make I'm
going to get back to the den of thieves
here in a minute but if we move over to
John 2
here and see what John adds to this this
is actually in a setting here John has
Jesus coming in and cleansing the temple
the first year of his 30-year ministry
whereas the synoptic gospels Matthew
Mark and Luke all have it in the third
year But this could be a ritual Honestly
this could be a ritual thing for him
that he's going in and doing He may have
done it the first year and the third
year And in fact we we don't have any
writing of this but maybe he did it the
second year too for all we know right
but here's what we get in John 2 what he
adds in here He says here in verse 14
"And and he was found in the temple
those that sold oxen and sheep and doves
and the changers of money sitting And
when he had made a scourge of small
cords right a whip he drove them all out
of the
temple This is interesting also because
that you know something that uh one
scholar says is it's interesting because
this is kind of like what would be used
to be cleansing with with blood right to
be kind of using the the the the motion
of the whip to be cleansing with blood
And uh he poured out the changers out
the changers money and overthrew the
tables Right he's not happy with things
And said unto them that sold doves this
is obviously a major statement for Jesus
beginning his
ministry to the elites in Jerusalem to
the high priest the Sadducees those that
run
everything the elders Hey I am here and
you are making a mockery of this house
of this temple That's how he starts off
his ministry And he said unto them that
sold doves take these things hence make
not my father's house and house of
merchandise Now remember it's not the
money changers that are in charge here
So we go back when we go back and we
look at uh Luke and and the synoptic
gospels we get that term you know hey my
house is the house of prayer but ye have
made it a den of thieves
It's not necessarily just the money
changers that are the den of thieves Who
is it it's the elites It's the high
priests the elders the Sadducees here
They're the ones who have made it a den
of thieves They're the ones in charge
They're the ones getting the kickback on
all of the commerce that is happening
here The merchandise that is happening
inside of the temple This is a major
time for them And they are using the
Lord's festival of Passover
the Lord's festival of Passover which is
really looking forward to Christ to him
and they are using it for major gain to
to and they're actually using the temple
for that gain right to to become more
powerful and rich and so he's talking
about those that are in charge
primarily of the temple and we see this
again it say he says it is written well
we can go back to
Jeremiah here and see with Jeremiah This
is at the time of Lehi And this is how
corrupt the temple was at the time of
Lehi People don't realize it's they were
going to kill Lehi because he was
preaching about Jesus Christ That's why
they wanted to get rid of him And you
have a major major apostasy all the way
to the core of the temple at this time
Right the temple is completely corrupt
Read Jeremiah I keep telling people this
Read Jeremiah You cannot believe what is
happening here for the first 20 years 20
25 years before Lehi leaves right it
it's it's astounding how the apostasy
that's going on here We read in verse 9
here "Will ye steal a murder and commit
adultery right he's talking to those
that are here at uh uh the Jews that are
here and the priests at the temple
Will ye steal and murder and commit
adultery and swear falsely and burn
incense unto Baal and walk after other
gods whom ye know not and come and stand
before me in this house the temple which
is called by my name and say "We are
delivered to do all these
abominations." Right this is the same
thing Are are you going to come in here
and this merchandise and serve
money right right it's the same idea
saying serve Baal money as your
idol and still say everything is
okay In verse 11 in in Jeremiah 7 he
says "Is this house which is called by
my name become a den of robbers in your
eyes behold even I have seen it saith
the Lord."
So what you see here again is Jesus
coming in as the high priest and
juxtaposed to as compared to the high
priests that are at the temple that are
the real
problem You've got Jesus coming in and
saying I am the real high priest with
the real authority here You are not and
you are making a mockery of my home or
of my
house and I am cleansing it from you
as the real high
priest And this was what John the
Baptist's job was actually right he was
supposed to overthrow Jerusalem
overthrow the kingdom of the Jews that
was there Not the kingdom of the Romans
but to overthrow the kingdom of the Jews
which is run by the high priests the
Sadducees the elders the scribes etc
Right and that is what Jesus is is
pushing with here
He's going to do it in a different way
obviously and and he's going to do it
through his own death and through
humility and and sacrifice and etc But
he's acting as the high priest compared
to those that are there And this is
important to see because as we move
through the week it is these individuals
that he is really ticking off and
threatening these elites in Jerusalem
that are going to be the ones that
actually have him killed
So Palm Sunday he comes in as
uh the
king right the king from the ancient
Israelite drama And Monday he comes in
as the high priest and cleanses the
temple as the true high priest would do
similar to what happens on Yam
Kapor Thanks for listening