Posted on 07/01/2013 11:04:50 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
“Making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables” (John 2:15).- John 2:13-17
Clearly, there are some things that are right for the Lord to do that are not right for us to do. For example, because He is the Creator and sovereign of the universe, it is right for the Almighty to demand worship from His creation. However, though we are made in His image, Scripture tells us we are not to do the same. It is evil for a man to demand others worship him or anyone besides Yahweh (Ex. 20:3).
The Father and the Son get angry (Ps. 7:11–13; Rev. 14:14–20), and since God can do no wrong (James 1:13), we know anger is not evil in itself. But is it ever right for us to be angry? Christ’s anger answers the question in the affirmative. God the Son came in the flesh to be the second Adam and earn righteousness for His people. If Jesus had sinned, He could not have earned this righteousness, nor could He have been the lamb without blemish and turn away the Lord’s wrath toward sinners. The incarnate Christ never sinned (1 Peter 2:22), and so He proved His righteousness.
If Jesus never sinned, and if, as a man, He got angry, then we know there are times when men and women can rightly be angered. Jesus’ holy anger is best seen in His cleansing of the temple, which is related in today’s passage. Every year, Jews from around the world traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover because they were only allowed to offer the sacrifice at the temple (Deut. 16:1–8). It was impractical and expensive to bring the animal to be sacrificed, and so it was possible to buy lambs, oxen, and so on in the city. Money changers would set themselves up in the city, along with those who sold animals, in order to facilitate this process.
In Jesus’ day, these sellers set themselves up in the court of the Gentiles, where the nations came to pray. Thus, they barred access to the God-fearers who came to worship Yahweh. Also, the money-changers charged exorbitant rates for currency exchange and price-gouging occurred in selling the animals. These practices insulted the Lord by its exploitation of the poor (Prov. 14:31). Thus, Jesus rightly expelled these merchants from the temple in order to restore God’s house to a place where all could worship (John 2:15–16).
Today’s study helps us understand there are two things that make God especially angry. First, the merchants blocked the Gentiles from learning about and worshiping the Lord, and today we can legalistically impose regulations not found in Scripture that can inhibit the spread of the Gospel. Second, God will not countenance any who exploit or overlook the needs of the poor. May we enjoy freedom in Christ, help the poor, and thereby please our Father.
Isa. 10:1–4
Luke 14:12–14
Gal. 5:2–6
Rev. 22:18–19
Look at you, posting to no one because you don’t want an answer. Why would Jesus pray to himself in the Garden of Gethsemane? Why would he ask himself to take away his assignment?
What the Bible proves conclusively is that the Son is subordinate to the Father. Jesus does his Father’s work and is about his Father’s business, not his own.
Why does he cleanse the temple? Because it is his Father’s House.
Do you get any sense of irony that modern anarchoChristians have abandoned all the “bad” teachings of the Catholic Church only to embrace the unBiblical nonsense of the Trinity. At what point do you admit you’re wrong.
Give me your top three Trinity-proving verses, the ones that definitively prove the Trinity in your mind.
The merchants blocked the Gentiles from learning? With their very big tables and hard sell pitches?
Your monomania is showing. Let’s focus on God’s Word, the Bible. Do you want to continue discussing the centrality of the temple?
Your contention about the temple is what? Use the Bible and stop changing the subject.
LOL
1. We live in a world of lost people.
2. God has -- thru the Bible -- given people enough revelation to relate to Him.
3. People have not been good stewards with the knowledge they have.
And, no, people didn't need to get married in a Mormon temple in order to be re-connected with God the Father as fellow eternal "gods".
Nor did they need to have a "testimony" about Joseph Smith being the "living prophet" in order to be re-connected with God the Father.
These are two examples -- of many ritualistic things (other ordinances, laws, tithing, etc) -- that Mormons add on to the Gospel.
The Gospel is Good News -- an announcement if you will -- about what God has done in Jesus Christ. Lds make the Gospel things that we have to do. That is distortion, plain and simple.
Distortion? ... Demonic lie is more like it!
WHY does the SLC branch of lds FAIL to use the CHANGED Bible? (JST)
I can get 2/3s of the way there:
"Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness..."
Genesis 1:26
lds would not know the Bible if it smaked them in the face.
From the beginning Joseph Smith distorted the Bible and the Word of Gid Almighty.
Really good advice, do why don’t you?
Not only do you apparently know nothing of the Bible you have zero historical context
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