When Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time, just before His arrest and crucifixion, He entered the temple and drove out the money changers. Ticked off at what was happening in the temple, Jesus became a one-man wrecking crew. Matthew, an eye-witness of the carnage, explains what happened, “Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 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!’” (Matthew 21:12-13)
The meek, mild, “tolerant” Jesus just went crazy! The California surfer, Galilee-roaming, hippy Jesus is nowhere to be found. Much like a Jeremiah or Elijah, Jesus bursts forth with a zeal for His Father’s house that releases an anger against the form and substance of Israel’s worship. Instead of the temple being a place of prayer, it had been replaced with commerce. The Jews had commercialized the temple. What was designed to be a house of powerful prayer, was now a house of economic competition.
Jesus wrecked the temple, because it was His temple to wreck. He wanted His temple back.
Jesus is still cleaning out temples. Jesus is still wrecking and gutting houses, in order to restore and rebuild them.
You and I are a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). God has designed each of us to be a “house of prayer.” Our temple, where the Holy Spirit resides, is to be filled with the presence of God through worship and prayer. God wants what is His. He wants His temple back.
Will you let Jesus into your temple? Will you let Jesus wreck your house into a house of prayer? That’s what He does, you know. He enters the temple of your life and cleans it out. Then He rebuilds and restores your temple into a house of prayer.
Jesus wants your life to be a “house of prayer!” Like an old house being restored, He often needs to wreck your house before He can rebuild it. God will wreck your house and, in turn, will rebuild your house if you will let Him rule over your life.
Getting wrecked by Jesus,
Pastor Steve
