Now tonight the part of the chapter that I want to focus on in John chapter 2 is the story about Jesus finding in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changes of money sitting.
Now, let's stop for a moment here. What are the three animals that he found them selling? Oxen, sheep, and doves.
Why is it that you figured that Jesus found them selling these three particular animals?
It could have been selling chickens, or they could have been selling goats, or they could have been selling pigs, or they could have been selling... who knows what they could have...
Why is it that they were selling sheep, and oxen, and doves?
Well, the biggest reason was that those are the most commonly sacrificed animals for the people to sacrifice.
Now, you have to understand that obviously goats are sacrificed and rams are sacrificed, but if you study out what those sacrifices are for, usually that was something more that the priests and the high priests were doing on special occasions.
There were different goat sacrifices and ram sacrifices, but turn if you would to Leviticus chapter number 5.
We're going to go back into the old Mosaic law and understand why Jesus found them selling these animals.
Leviticus chapter 5 verse 10. And actually, look at verse 7. It says,
He's not able to bring a lamb. He's supposed to take a lamb for the sin offering. Let's look at verse 6, I'm sorry.
And he shall bring his trespassed offering unto the Lord for his sin which he has sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin offering.
So what's the preferred sacrifice for a sin offering? A lamb, right?
He says, you know, or you can use a kid of the goats, but a lamb is really the primary thing that you want to use for that.
And he says, next, for a sin offering, and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin.
Now look at this. And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespassed, which he had committed, two turtle doves. There's your doves right there.
Or two young pigeons. Again, an alternative, a less preferred alternative. I guess you can use pigeons, but he's saying preferred would be a sheep.
Or if you can't afford to bring sheep, two doves. And it's interesting to note that when Mary offered an offering when Jesus was a baby, she offered the two doves, which shows that she was poor.
They didn't have a lot of money because she did the one where if you can't afford the lamb, you can use the two doves.
And so it says that two young pigeons unto the Lord, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.
And he shall bring them unto the priest who shall offer that which is for the sin offering first, and wring off his head from his neck, but shall not divide in the sudder.
And he shall sprinkle the blood of the sin offering upon the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood shall be wrung out at the bottom of the altar. It is a sin offering.
Now, you have to understand here, the reason why they were selling sheep, doves, and bullocks, they were selling them for people to use in a burnt offering.
Now, is there anything wrong for somebody who was a carpenter's wife, perhaps? Like Joseph's wife, Mary, to go and to buy a couple of doves?
Because she's probably not raising doves. I mean, you think every household in Israel had doves in their house? Or just raising doves?
Or do you think everybody was a shepherd and had sheep? No. And the Bible talks about that you could buy the thing that you needed to sacrifice.
Or you could change it into money so that you don't have to bring the sheep and doves all the way from where you live to the house of God, and then you could buy it when you get there.
Nothing wrong in the world with buying doves, is there? Nothing wrong in the world with buying a sheep to offer unto the Lord for a sacrifice.
Nothing wrong in the world with buying a bullock, but I'm going to tell you something. When you're buying it in the house of God, it's wrong.
Do you hear that? It's wrong. Now, you say, well, that's not very spiritual to buy an animal or sell an animal. Of course it's spiritual.
I mean, that sheep that they were selling in the house of God was a picture of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world.
And so yes, it was a very spiritual practice to buy a lamb, take it down to the house of God, sacrifice it on an altar.
The blood was sprinkled, picturing the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin. But, should they have been selling it in the house of God? No.
The problem wasn't that they're selling doves. The problem wasn't that they're selling sheep. The problem wasn't that they're selling bullocks. The problem was that they were selling any kind of merchandise in the house of God.
There was nothing wrong with what they were selling. There was nothing dishonest. He said they're thieves. Was there anything dishonest about selling doves and getting money in return?
That's business. That's not thievery. But when you're doing it in God's house, you become a thief. When you sell it in God's house, you're stealing.
Look what else we see here. In John 2, verse 14, it says,
And found in the temple those that sold oxen, and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting.
Now, what were the changers of money there for? Well, I would guess that because you have people coming from far away, there could be different kinds of currencies involved.
For example, when the United States, before it was the United States, when it was just the 13 colonies and then the 13 independent states that broke off from England on July 4, 1776,
and were just 13 independent, self-governing states that were confederated with the Articles of Confederation, did you know that each of those 13 states had a different currency?
They had different money, different coins, different bills. And you've got to figure that perhaps the 12 tribes of Israel could have had different forms of currency, different forms of money in different places.
And you've got to be able to convert the euro to the dollar, or the peso to the dollar, or the British pound to a dollar, or a peso to a pound.
But, should you be converting it in the house of God? That's your problem. Nothing wrong with changing money. Nothing wrong with getting changed for a one.
Nothing wrong with, hey man, you got changed for a five? Hey, can I convert my pesos into dollars? Nothing wrong in the world until you do it in the house of God.
Are you following the sermon tonight? So he says here he found these people, and what's he do? And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple.
Now, he didn't pull in in a pickup and say, alright, hop in guys. I'm going to drive you out of here. When he said, I drove them out, this is like a cattle drive.
Cracking the whip. Driving them out like you would drive animals with a whip. Chasing them out is what it means when he drove them out.
He's chasing them with a whip. Not exactly the Hallmark card that you saw of Jesus. But Jesus is not just the guy on the Hallmark card.
Let's not put Jesus in a little box where we think he's only a certain way all the time. I mean, times when he's angry, times when he's furious, times when he was eaten up with zeal for God's house.
Other times he was gentle, loving. I mean, he had multiple facets to his personality. He's not just all love. He's also holiness. He's also righteousness. He's also judgment.
And so we see here Jesus driving them out of the temple, and look what he does. He drove out the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changer's money.
Can you imagine the pandemonium of dumping money on the ground? I mean, imagine going up to the cash register and just start dumping it on the ground. Money spilling everywhere.
Think about the chaos. He dumps out their money on the ground and overthrew the tables. Don't just read over this. I mean, he walked up to a table and flipped it.
Think about it. You've got to use your imagination here. I mean, this really happened. And said unto them that sold does, take these things hence.
He didn't say, quit selling does. He said, take it away from here. You're in the wrong place. You see, the location was the only problem here.
He didn't say, well, and I heard people say, well, it was a debt of thieves because the money changers were ripping people off and the people selling does were ripping people off.
That's not what the Bible says. I'm not going to sit here and add to God's word. The Bible does not say they were ripping anybody off. He didn't say, change your ways. He said, just do it somewhere else.
Take these things from hence. Just take it away from here. Make not my Father's house a house of merchandise. The title of the sermon tonight is this, The House of Merchandise.
And his disciples remembered that it was written, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Why did he flip tables over? He could have just sent them out of there.
Why did he chase them with a whip? Why did he dump out the money? One word, anger. He said, it's eating me up. I mean, it's driving me nuts.
He's saying, I have got to deal with this. And he said, you have turned the house of prayer into a den of thieves. You've made God's house into a house of merchandise.
You say, well, why is it stealing? Well, we'll get into that a little later. But look at Matthew 21. Matthew 21, 12. Matthew 21, verse 12.
Now, here's what's interesting. This is years later. Now, if you study the Bible, this is not the same event of John chapter 2. You may think it's the same event, but it's not.
This is a few years later. He does the same thing again. Because they filled it with merchandise again.