Have you ever cheered when the bad guy gets it? When Commodus dies in GLADIATOR, or when Tavington dies in THE PATRIOT? Everyone loves justice. God loves it even more than we do. He IS just. So He cleansed the temple.
The bad guys had taken over the Father’s House—and Jesus had swallowed His indignation for 30 years. Finally, the time had come. Did He march in and lose control? No. He planned ahead. He sat down and made a whip—because He would be one lone cowboy—on foot—driving herds of animals toward a single exit. He needed a powerful motivator.
“The Lord is a Warrior, ‘Warrior’ is His name” Exodus 15:3.
God is a warrior! He fights for holiness, mercy, and justice. And Jesus fought for holiness at the House of God. First, He braided a whip. Then He entered the temple.
“After making a whip out of cords, He drove everyone out of the temple complex with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. He told those selling doves, ‘Get these things out of here! Stop turning My Father’s house into a marketplace!’ And His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for Your House will consume Me’” John 2:15-17.
The bad guys FINALLY got what they deserved. For years, they had taken advantage of those who do not raise livestock and thus have to buy animals for sacrifices. Jesus cracked the whip on the backs of the sheep and the cattle, driving them and their owners out into the streets of the city where they belonged. The temple would again be a place of reverence, no longer a noisy auction house full of bleating sheep and lowing cattle.
Are there bad guys in your life? Enemies? Temptations? Bad influences? Jesus is ready to crack the whip. But do you share His zeal? Are you consumed with your own desperate need for holiness? Will you cheer when the bad guys finally get what they deserve? If not, pray for HOLY ZEAL.
Read John 2.
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