Mar 11:15 | KingComments | STEP | They come again to Jerusalem. There the Lord enters the temple again. Mark describes what things are like practically in God’s house. Now the Lord Jesus is acting harshly against all those who sell and buy in the temple. He also cleansed the temple once at the beginning of His service ( ). Here He does it a second time, at the end of His service. The fact that this second time is necessary, means that the first time has not produced a lasting result. After He then left, the merchants returned their stuff to the temple and continued their sinful business. When the Lord has cleansed the temple, He continues to see to it that things that are forbidden do not happen in God’s house. With authority He acts against people who trample on the holiness of God’s house, people who enter the temple as an ordinary place. He does not allow anyone to carry an object through the temple. They may be people who came from the marketplace and just walked through the temple with their merchandise because it was the shortest way home. Not only does He cleanse and forbid, He explains and justifies His actions by pointing out what is “written”. He puts it in questioning form, but in a way that makes it clear that they all should have known. He points out God’s purpose with His house. It should be a house of prayer ( ). Prayer is the opposite of buying. Praying is asking. God gives His house to enable man to come to Him in prayer. It is also a house of prayer not only for Israel, but for all the peoples. It indicates the scope of God’s desire that goes out to all nations and His desire that all nations come to Him. When Paul writes about our behavior in the church as God’s house ( ), his very first exhortation is that prayer should be prayed in it ( ). Instead of turning God’s house into a house where God is worshiped with reverence, man has made it an area of business and profit. It has become “a robber’s den” because of unfair profit and because of robbing God of His honor. In professing Christianity, Christians are robbed of salvation, of the Christ of the Scriptures, while they think it is all for sale. A purchase price, for example, is the performance of good works. By believing that salvation is thereby obtained, the value of Christ’s work is dramatically underestimated. The religious leaders who seek profit want to kill the Lord, but they do not dare because they are afraid of getting the whole crowd against them. His teaching impresses the crowd. Although His teaching does not bring about a radical change in the people, the people feel that here is Someone speaking with an undeniable authority.

‏ Mark 11:15

Cleansing the Temple

They come again to Jerusalem. There the Lord enters the temple again. Mark describes what things are like practically in God’s house. Now the Lord Jesus is acting harshly against all those who sell and buy in the temple. He also cleansed the temple once at the beginning of His service (Jn 2:14-16). Here He does it a second time, at the end of His service. The fact that this second time is necessary, means that the first time has not produced a lasting result. After He then left, the merchants returned their stuff to the temple and continued their sinful business.

When the Lord has cleansed the temple, He continues to see to it that things that are forbidden do not happen in God’s house. With authority He acts against people who trample on the holiness of God’s house, people who enter the temple as an ordinary place. He does not allow anyone to carry an object through the temple. They may be people who came from the marketplace and just walked through the temple with their merchandise because it was the shortest way home.

Not only does He cleanse and forbid, He explains and justifies His actions by pointing out what is “written”. He puts it in questioning form, but in a way that makes it clear that they all should have known. He points out God’s purpose with His house. It should be a house of prayer (Isa 56:7b).

Prayer is the opposite of buying. Praying is asking. God gives His house to enable man to come to Him in prayer. It is also a house of prayer not only for Israel, but for all the peoples. It indicates the scope of God’s desire that goes out to all nations and His desire that all nations come to Him. When Paul writes about our behavior in the church as God’s house (1Tim 3:15), his very first exhortation is that prayer should be prayed in it (1Tim 2:1-6).

Instead of turning God’s house into a house where God is worshiped with reverence, man has made it an area of business and profit. It has become “a robber’s den” because of unfair profit and because of robbing God of His honor. In professing Christianity, Christians are robbed of salvation, of the Christ of the Scriptures, while they think it is all for sale. A purchase price, for example, is the performance of good works. By believing that salvation is thereby obtained, the value of Christ’s work is dramatically underestimated.

The religious leaders who seek profit want to kill the Lord, but they do not dare because they are afraid of getting the whole crowd against them. His teaching impresses the crowd. Although His teaching does not bring about a radical change in the people, the people feel that here is Someone speaking with an undeniable authority.