Chapter # 2 Paragraph # 2 Study # 1
July 2, 2023
Broadlands, Louisiana
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Thesis: Jesus' violent expulsion of the polluters of the Temple is a fore-shadowing of His "Day Of Wrath" to come.
Introduction: In The Book Of The Revelation Of Jesus Christ, we have two texts that refer a coming of the "Day Of The Wrath Of The Lamb": the first is
Revelation 6:16; and the second is
Revelation 14:10. Both of these texts have significance in view of Author-John's account of Jesus' violent expulsion of those who were polluting the Temple by their commercialization of Passover and their abuse of the people by reason of their exorbitant fees in regard to the sacrifices that were to be made during the Passover Period.
This morning I want to begin to look into Jesus' hostility so that we may have a legitimate grasp of what it means for people to "believe into His name".
- I. Indications Of The Significance Of Jesus' Actions.
- A. First, Author-John is the only recorder of this event at the beginning of His ministry.
- B. Second, this record of Jesus' ire and violence is set by Author-John immediately after his record of Jesus' willingness to prevent a "cessation of joy" at a wedding in Cana in Galilee: the contrast is stark.
- C. Third, Author-John's "point" for his record, up to this place in his unfolding of the issue of "believing into His name", is to make sure that His disciples do not make the mistake of turning His "Grace" into a distortion of the Glory of God ("Biblical Faith" must have a legitimate Object).
- 1. The question here is a matter of "focus": which of the characterizations of Jesus in chapter one is the one that should attract our "focus" without our losing the impacts of the "other" characterizations?
- a. In chapter one, Jesus is characterized as: The Word of God; the Creator of all that has been created; the True Light for men who would be participants in the goodness of God; Jesus Christ as the incarnated God who is "full of grace and truth"; The Only Begotten God Who has drawn out the details of the truth about "the Father"; The Lamb of The God Who takes away the sin of the world as the preexistent God; The Son of The God Who is The Lamb of The God; The Christ; The One of whom Moses and The Prophets wrote; The Son of The God Who is The King of Israel.
- b. The question of "focus" is this: Where did Author-John want us to focus our attention?
- 2. The answer is given both by repetition and close context.
- a. Witness-John twice identified Jesus as "The Lamb of The God"; first to address His function as "taking away the sin of the world" as The Son of The God, and then to address His identity as "The Lamb of The God" for the sake of his two disciples for whom he pointed out Jesus: this repetition from the one by whom we all believe (1:7) establishes "focus".
- b. In terms of "close context" we have the deliberate "setting" for the expression of Jesus' hostility toward those who were polluting the Temple and misleading the people regarding the Truth about the God Who offers to "take away one's sins": it is Passover.
- 1) Passover was supposed to be the celebration of God's deliverance of His people by "passing over" the homes of those whose door had the blood of the passover lamb splashed upon the three parts of the frame of the door.
- 2) The "blood" was a declaration that the "taking away of the sins" or "passing over the sinners" as He was executing the wrath of God upon Egypt was to be understood as the firm foundation of the truth that "without the shedding of innocent blood, there can be no remission of sins" (or, "passing over sinners" in the day of wrath).
- II. The Actual Significance Of Jesus' Expulsion Of Those Who Were Corrupting The True Glory Of God.
- A. This violent action is a fore-shadowing of the Coming Day of Wrath.
- 1. The texts of this same Author-John as are found in his second major "book" in the New Testament: The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
- a. Revelation 6:16 is set within the context of the coming day when the sixth seal of the seven-sealed scroll is broken.
- 1) The events of the scroll hidden behind the first five seals are horrific beyond horror.
- 2) When the sixth of these seals is broken, the men of the earth are terrified and hope to have some escape from what they call "The Wrath Of The Lamb".
- b. Revelation 14:10 is set within the context of the coming of a decree by the coming Antichrist that everyone must take the mark of his name upon their foreheads or their right hands, and the declaration is that anyone who does that will be subjected to the full strength of the Wrath of God as it is poured out "in the presence of The Lamb": fire and brimstone with an unending torment that goes on "day and night" forever and ever.
- 2. That Jesus, The Lamb of The God, took a whip and drove all of the perverters of God's glory out of the Temple shows that there are severe and eternal consequences for rejection of His "primary identity as God's Lamb".
- 3. This action by Jesus is violent, but subdued by the fact that all that the wicked actually suffered was a lash or two and some financial losses when the coins were all mixed together on the floor.
- B. It would be a huge mistake for people to look at the rather insignificant losses of those with whom Jesus was angry, and fail to recognize that those losses are going to explode into incomparable losses if those who have attracted the ire of God do not seek His forgiveness.
