Prayer – Lord, when will we ever learn? Two thousand
years ago the Temple was used as a money making scheme for those telling the
Temple visitors that they must have not only the right, pure, and perfect
animals for their sacrifice, but they also must have the right Temple coin to
use to buy that animal. Is there a difference now? Most churches have fund
raising events…for camps, conferences, and missions. Is that similar to those
selling sacrificial animals? Please give us wisdom to know the difference and
to apply this to our lives.
Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all
the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables
of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them,
"The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be called a house of prayer,' but
you have turned it into a den of thieves!" The blind and the lame came to
him in the Temple, and he healed them. The leading priests and the teachers of
religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the children in the
Temple shouting, "Praise God for the Son of David." But the leaders
were indignant. They asked Jesus, "Do you hear what these children are
saying?" "Yes," Jesus replied. "Haven't you ever read the
Scriptures? For they say, 'You have taught children and infants to give you
praise.'" Then he returned to Bethany, where he stayed overnight. Matthew
21:12-17
Model of Herod's Temple
Jerusalem, Israel
Meditate. Consider the things Jesus said and did during His
last week on earth.
So, after His Temple cleansing, healing the blind and lame,
He went back to Bethany. That was where His friends, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus
lived. That was the Lazarus that He had raised from the grave and it was likely
the home to many of the Christians who were witnesses to Lazarus’ resurrection.
Their home was likely Jesus’ home away from home.
Den of thieves or house of prayer? What is the
Temple to those in Jesus day…and to us today? We don’t do animal sacrifices…and
that actually stopped at the Temple in Jerusalem when it was destroyed by the
Romans in 70 AD. The sacrifices we offer is not an animal sacrifice, but that repentant
heart.
Unseal my lips, O
Lord, that my mouth may praise you. You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would
offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a
broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
Psalm 51:15-17
Once again…repenting is God’s desire for us. Jesus’
ministry began…and ended with that. How do we repent? Through prayer. Churches
now, equivalent to the Temple or even to Synagogues, are houses of prayer…or
should be. We don’t have to be in a church to offer prayers to God—especially since
most people go to church only on Sundays…or maybe only at Christmas or Easter. Old
and New Testament passages direct people to pray often.
O Jerusalem, I have
posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually. Take
no rest, all you who pray to the LORD. Isaiah 62:6
Always be joyful.
Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will
for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Pray to God constantly—all the time. Prayer is just conversation with God—so keep talking to Him throughout the day…and night, during all your waking hours. That is God’s will for you, if you belong to Christ. Where are you with that? Are you treating God’s house as a den of thieves or a house of prayer?
Verse of Salvation ~ God, for whom and through whom
everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only
right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit
to bring them into their salvation. Hebrews 2:10
© 2023 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All
rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless
otherwise noted.
New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale
House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream,
Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.
Books by Mickey M.
Hunacek
Available as e-books or paperbacks at Amazon.com
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