Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 331

November 27;       Matthew 21:13;        21/260;      ‘A House of Prayer’

Matthew 21:13 And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"

The Lord Jesus was angered.  The temple of God had become a place of commerce.  Animals were bought and sold.  Moneychangers plied their trade.  The purpose of the temple was for the worship and honoring of the Lord.  The Lord Jesus who flowed in love and kindness was furious with what this holy temple was allowed to become.  He drove out what never should have been in the temple. Jesus in no uncertain terms tells us that the temple was to be called the house of prayer, but had become a den of thieves.  There are two very powerful truths in this to see.  First, in the New Testament, our  body is called the temple of God (I Corinthians 6:19).  As Christians, our body is to be a place where the Lord Jesus is to be worshiped and honored.  Holy things are to transpire in ‘our temple,’ not the unholy things of this world.  The genious of God teaches in the Word that just as Jesus drove out what was ungodly in the temple in Jerusalem, He wants unholy things to be driven out of our lives.  The difference is Jesus drove out what was unholy in the temple in Jerusalem and He expects us to drive out what is unholy in our body which is His temple.  In verse 14 once the improper things were driven out of the temple in Jerusalem by Jesus, people came into the temple and Jesus healed them.  The second powerful truth is that once we drive what is ungodly in our temple, the Lord can then use us and manifest His blessings and power to help people.  Living a holy life and allowing the power of the Lord to flow out of us is the sacred use of our body, His temple.