Jesus Cleanses The Temple

What did Jesus use to cleanse the temple?
A “whip of cords” (John 2:15) and His voice: “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of trade!” (John 2:16).

Was Jesus angry when He cleansed the temple?
Very: “Zeal for Your house has consumed Me” (John 2:17 & Psalm 69:9).

Why?
Because Jesus loves God the Father, He was outraged that the house where He should be worshipped (see Jesus in the Temple) had been turned into a “house of trade.” When someone we love is being dishonored, outrage is the right reaction.

How do you feel and react when God's holy name is blasphemed around you, on television, on social media, etc. to express surprise or disgust, even to cuss?
 

What were the money changers doing in the temple, and why did the “Jews” object in John 2:18?
Only healthy animals were to be sacrificed at the temple, lest people offer sick and lame animals as offerings to God. At first, people brought their own animals and the priests inspected them to make sure that they were healthy before sacrificing them. Fast forward a few hundred years and the priests were telling the people to leave their animals at home and instead just come and buy animals at the temple, but there was a catch. Since the priests couldn't touch coins that bore the Caesar’s image, the people first had to change their money, for a fee of course, into a special temple money. So the Jewish leaders and their merchants at the temple were making money twice - the currency exchange and the sale of the animals - on each person, and didn’t appreciate Jesus crimping their business.

How does this contrast with what the first Christians did?
The Jews used the temple to do business with each other. The first Christians shared within the church: “And all who believed were together and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them among all, as anyone had need” (Acts 2:44-45, see All Things in Common).

Is your church like the Jewish temple or the first Christian church?
 

If you are an accountant, dentist, financial advisor, doctor, lawyer, etc., particularly at a large church, do you use your God-given skills to help the struggling members of your church who need your help, or do you attend your church with an eye toward drawing more paying clients?
 

And do any Christian leaders today run their ministry as a business?
 

Where does the Bible say God's judgment will begin?
“at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17).