Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17–18). This important statement of our Lord gives us insight into His mission and the character of God’s Word.


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Jesus’ declaration that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, not to abolish them, obviously contains two statements in one. There is something Jesus did and something He did not do. At the same time, Jesus emphasized the eternal nature of the Word of God.

Jesus goes out of His way to promote the authority of the Law of God. He did not come to abolish the Law, regardless of what the Pharisees accused Him of. In fact, Jesus continues His statement with a commendation for those who teach the Law accurately and hold it in reverence: “Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19).

Note the qualities that Jesus attributes to the Word of God, referenced as “the Law and the Prophets”: 1) The Word is everlasting; it will outlast the natural world. 2) The Word was written with intent; it was meant to be fulfilled. 3) The Word possesses plenary authority; even the smallest letter of it is established. 4) The Word is faithful and trustworthy; “everything” it says will be accomplished. No one hearing Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount could doubt His commitment to the Scriptures.

Consider what Jesus did not do in His ministry. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus says that He did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. In other words, Jesus’ purpose was not to abrogate the Word, dissolve it, or render it invalid. The Prophets will be fulfilled; the Law will continue to accomplish the purpose for which it was given (see Isaiah 55:10–11).

Next, consider what Jesus did do. Jesus says that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. In other words, Jesus’ purpose was to establish the Word, to embody it, and to fully accomplish all that was written. “Christ is the culmination of the law” (Romans 10:4). The predictions of the Prophets concerning the Messiah would be realized in Jesus; the holy standard of the Law would be perfectly upheld by Christ, the strict requirements personally obeyed, and the ceremonial observances finally and fully satisfied.

Jesus Christ fulfilled the Prophets in that, in His first coming alone, He fulfilled hundreds of prophecies concerning Himself (e.g., Matthew 1:22; 13:35; John 19:36; Luke 24:44). Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law in at least two ways: as a teacher and as a doer. He taught people to obey the Law (Matthew 22:35–40; Mark 1:44), and He obeyed the Law Himself (John 8:46; 1 Peter 2:22). In living a perfect life, Jesus fulfilled the moral laws; in His sacrificial death, Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial laws. Christ came not to destroy the old religious system but to build upon it; He came to finish the Old Covenant and establish the New.

Jesus came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them. In fact, the ceremonies, sacrifices, and other elements of the Old Covenant were “only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves” (Hebrews 10:1). The tabernacle and temple were “holy places made with hands,” but they were never meant to be permanent; they were but “copies of the true things” (Hebrews 9:24, ESV). The Law had a built-in expiration date, being filled as it was with “external regulations applying until the time of the new order” (Hebrews 9:10).

In His fulfillment of the Law and Prophets, Jesus obtained our eternal salvation. No more were priests required to offer sacrifices and enter the holy place (Hebrews 10:8–14). Jesus has done that for us, once and for all. By grace through faith, we are made right with God: “He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14).

There are some who argue that, since Jesus did not “abolish” the Law, then the Law is still in effect—and still binding on New Testament Christians. But Paul is clear that the believer in Christ is no longer under the Law: “We were held in custody under the Law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the Law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian” (Galatians 3:23–25, BSB). We are not under the Mosaic Law but under “the law of Christ” (see Galatians 6:2).

If the Law is still binding on us today, then it has not yet accomplished its purpose—it has not yet been fulfilled. If the Law, as a legal system, is still binding on us today, then Jesus was wrong in claiming to fulfill it and His sacrifice on the cross was insufficient to save. Thank God, Jesus fulfilled the whole Law and now grants us His righteousness as a free gift. “Know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16).

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Matthew 10:6 Parallel Verses;

Matthew 10:6, NIV: Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.

Matthew 10:6, ESV: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Matthew 10:6, KJV: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Matthew 10:6, NASB: but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Matthew 10:6, NLT: but only to the people of Israel--God's lost sheep.

Matthew 10:6, CSB: Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.



​What does Matthew 10:6 mean?

Jesus has begun giving instructions about what He wants His twelve hand-picked apostles to do when He sends them out on their own (Matthew 10:1–4). He began by defining where they should not go: to any Gentile areas or Samaritan towns (Matthew 10:5). Instead, Jesus now says, He is sending His representatives to the "lost sheep of Israel." 

At the end of the previous chapter, Matthew described Jesus as feeling compassion for the people as He looked out over the crowds. Jesus saw that they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Those are the "lost sheep" Jesus is sending His disciples to reach with the good news of the Messiah and the kingdom of heaven. 

In saying this, Jesus was directing the good news to all the people of Israel, not just some. God's plan was that the good news of Jesus would first be preached to Israel and then later to the rest of the nations (Romans 1:16). 
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Context Summary
Matthew 10:5–15 contains Jesus' instructions for His twelve apostles, for their missionary trip to the towns of Galilee, in northern Israel. Their mission will be to preach His message that the kingdom of heaven is near, while also healing people and casting out demons. The apostles must not take with them extra money or clothes. Instead, they will stay with those who are worthy in each town they visit. If nobody in a town believes their message, the disciples are to shake the dust of that town from their feet. Jesus will follow these instructions with a series of warnings and encouragements.


Chapter Summary
Jesus gives His authority over disease, demons, and even death to His twelve hand-picked apostles. He gives them instructions in preparation both for a short-term trip to the towns of Galilee and their ministry after He has left the earth. First, they will preach His message of the kingdom in Israelite towns as they heal and cast out demons to demonstrate His power. Later, they will suffer great persecution as they represent Him before both Jews and Gentiles. They should not be afraid, though, and trust their Father to be with them and to reward them.

Summary of the Gospel of Matthew_ this summary of the Gospel of Matthew provides information about the title, author(s), date of writing, chronology, theme, theology, outline, a brief overview, and the chapters of the Gospel of Matthew.

Although the first Gospel is anonymous, the early church fathers were unanimous in holding that Matthew, one of the 12 apostles, was its author. However, the results of modern critical studies -- in particular those that stress Matthew's alleged dependence on Mark for a substantial part of his Gospel -- have caused some Biblical scholars to abandon Matthean authorship. Why, they ask, would Matthew, an eyewitness to the events of our Lord's life, depend so heavily on Mark's account? The best answer seems to be that he agreed with it and wanted to show that the apostolic testimony to Christ was not divided.

Matthew, whose name means "gift of the Lord," was a tax collector who left his work to follow Jesus (9:9-13). In Mark and Luke he is called by his other name, Levi.

Date and Place of Writing_ Some have argued on the basis of its Jewish characteristics that Matthew's Gospel was written in the early church period, possibly the early part of a.d. 50, when the church was largely Jewish and the gospel was preached to Jews only (Ac 11:19). However, those who have concluded that both Matthew and Luke drew extensively from Mark's Gospel date it later -- after the Gospel of Mark had been in circulation for a period of time. See essay and chart, p. 1943. Accordingly, some feel that Matthew would have been written in the late 50s or in the 60s. Others, who assume that Mark was written between 65 and 70, place Matthew in the 70s or even later. However, there is insufficient evidence to be dogmatic about either view.

The Jewish nature of Matthew's Gospel may suggest that it was written in the Holy Land, though many think it may have originated in Syrian Antioch.
RecipientsSince his Gospel was written in Greek, Matthew's readers were obviously Greek-speaking. They also seem to have been Jews. Many elements point to Jewish readership: Matthew's concern with fulfillment of the OT (he has more quotations from and allusions to the OT than any other NT author); his tracing of Jesus' descent from Abraham (1:1-17); his lack of explanation of Jewish customs (especially in contrast to Mark); his use of Jewish terminology (e.g., "kingdom of heaven," where "heaven" reveals the Jewish reverential reluctance to use the name of God; see note on 3:2); his emphasis on Jesus' role as "Son of David" (1:1; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30-31; 21:9,15; 22:41-45). This does not mean, however, that Matthew restricts his Gospel to Jews. He records the coming of the Magi (non-Jews) to worship the infant Jesus (2:1-12), as well as Jesus' statement that the "field is the world" (13:38). He also gives a full statement of the Great Commission (28:18-20). These passages show that, although Matthew's Gospel is Jewish, it has a universal outlook.

Purpose_ Mathew's main purpose is to prove to his Jewish readers that Jesus is their Messiah. He does this primarily by showing how Jesus in his life and ministry fulfilled the OT Scriptures. Although all the Gospel writers quote the OT, Matthew includes nine proof texts unique to his Gospel (1:22-23; 2:15; 2:17-18; 2:23; 4:14-16; 8:17; 12:17-21; 13:35; 27:9-10) to drive home his basic theme: Jesus is the fulfillment of the OT predictions of the Messiah. Matthew even finds the history of God's people in the OT recapitulated in some aspects of Jesus' life (see, e.g., his quotation of Hos 11:1 in 2:15). To accomplish his purpose Matthew also emphasizes Jesus' Davidic lineage (see Recipients, p. 1945).

StructureThe way the material is arranged reveals an artistic touch. The whole Gospel is woven around five great discourses: (1) chs. 5-7; (2) ch. 10; (3) ch. 13; (4) ch. 18;(5) chs.24-25. That this is deliberate is clear from the refrain that concludes each discourse: "When Jesus had finished saying these things," or similar words (7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1). The narrative sections, in each case, appropriately lead up to the discourses. The Gospel has a fitting prologue (chs. 1-2) and a challenging epilogue (28:16-20).
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The fivefold division may suggest that Matthew has modeled his book on the structure of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the OT). He may also be presenting the gospel as a new Torah and Jesus as a new and greater Moses.
Outline

• The Birth and Early Years of Jesus (chs. 1-2) 
  • His Genealogy (1:1-17)
  • His Birth (1:18 -- 2:12)
  • His Sojourn in Egypt (2:13-23)
• The Beginnings of Jesus' Ministry (3:1 -- 4:11) 
  • His Forerunner (3:1-12)
  • His Baptism (3:13-17)
  • His Temptation (4:1-11)
• Jesus' Ministry in Galilee (4:12 -- 14:12) 
  • The Beginning of the Galilean Campaign (4:12-25)
  • The Sermon on the Mount (chs. 5-7)
  • A Collection of Miracles (chs. 8-9)
  • The Commissioning of the 12 Apostles (ch. 10)
  • Ministry throughout Galilee (chs. 11-12)
  • The Parables of the Kingdom (ch. 13)
  • Herod's Reaction to Jesus' Ministry (14:1-12)
• Jesus' Withdrawals from Galilee (14:13 -- 17:20) 
  • To the Eastern Shore of the Sea of Galilee (14:13 -- 15:20)
  • To Phoenicia (15:21-28)
  • To the Decapolis (15:29 -- 16:12)
  • To Caesarea Philippi (16:13 -- 17:20)
• Jesus' Last Ministry in Galilee (17:22 -- 18:35) 
  • Prediction of Jesus' Death (17:22-23)
  • Temple Tax (17:24-27)
  • Discourse on Life in the Kingdom (ch. 18)
• Jesus' Ministry in Judea and Perea (chs. 19-20) 
  • Teaching concerning Divorce (19:1-12)
  • Teaching concerning Little Children (19:13-15)
  • The Rich Young Man (19:16-30)
  • The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (20:1-16)
  • Prediction of Jesus' Death (20:17-19)
  • A Mother's Request (20:20-28)
  • Restoration of Sight at Jericho (20:29-34)
• Passion Week (chs. 21-27) 
  • The Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as King (21:1-11)
  • The Cleansing of the Temple (21:12-17)
  • The Last Controversies with the Jewish Leaders (21:18 -- 23:39)
  • The Olivet Discourse (chs. 24-25)
  • The Anointing of Jesus' Feet (26:1-13)
  • The Arrest, Trials and Death of Jesus (26:14 -- 27:66)
• The Resurrection (ch. 28) 
  • The Earthquake and the Angel's Announcement (28:1-7)
  • Jesus' Encounter with the Women (28:8-10)
  • The Guards' Report and the Jewish Elders' Bribe (28:11-15)
  • The Great Commission (28:16-2)

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14)As a believer, you are qualified to share in the inheritance of the men and women of faith who have gone before you (vs. 12). You are qualified because of Christ Jesus, who has secured your redemption. Your redemption was a legal transaction where Jesus traded His blood for your life. He purchased your deliverance from bondage, from the kingdom of Satan and translated you into His own domain. Now that this transaction has taken place, you are recused, redeemed, restored and forgiven! 

We Were Delivered From Sin; We Are Introduced Into Freedom“By the giving up of His sinless life sacrificially, Christ annuls the power of sin to separate between God and the believer” (Vines Dictionary of New Testament Words).
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When Adam transgressed in the garden, he sold mankind into slavery lock, stock and barrel. Since that time, humanity was held hostage by the kingdom of darkness. It was a hopeless situation because the only way to undo what had been done was for mankind to redeem or ransom what was lost (Leviticus 26:25-26).

Jesus came to get it all back! Isaiah says, “And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor [no one to intervene on behalf of truth and right]; therefore His own arm brought Him victory, and His own righteousness [having the Spirit without measure] sustained Him” (Isaiah 59:15b-16 AMP).

What Adam did in the garden, Jesus undid on the Cross! Adam sold you into sin, Jesus rescued you and brought you life (Romans 5:17-19).

Translated into Christ’s KingdomSeveral things happened when Christ redeemed you. First, He rescued you from sin's domain. This means you are no longer a hostage and this kingdom has no claim on you. We were brought into God’s Kingdom which means we legally and rightfully belong here. 

In Genesis, Enoch was translated from the earth into the presence of God (Genesis 5:24). Hebrews sheds light on this, “By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5). This is the idea that Paul is conveying in this passage in Colossians, as believers we have been translated or removed from the previous kingdom and made to stand into God’s kingdom. This means we cannot experience the eternal death due to sin (Romans 6:23) and we exist in an entirely different realm now that this translation has taken place. We are qualified to be in this place, this kingdom, because Christ has rescued us by paying the ransom demanded of the previous kingdom (Colossians 1:12-14; 2:13-15).

Forgiven of Sin & Its EffectsSecondly, our redemption includes the forgiveness of sins, which pardons us from its penalty (Romans 6:23). The greek word used for forgiveness is aphesis, which means freedom, pardon, deliverance and remission. Because of this, it also has the ability to deliver us from the guilt associated with sin. It is in this realization we are introduced into the liberty of Christ. The cleansing agent in Jesus’ blood removes every trace and effect that sin could have on us. This means we are not only forgiven but all traces of the guilt and condemnation we feel because of sin have also been removed (Romans 8:1; Hebrews 4:16; 10:22; I John 3:20-21).

Restored To God’s Original IntentLastly, we are restored to the position of God’s original intent in creation. In the Septuagint (the oldest Greek version of the Old Testament), the word, aphesis, is never connected with the remission of sins (like in the New Testament), but connected with the Year of Jubilee (Vines Dictionary of New Testament Words). “Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan” (Leviticus 25:10). The Year of Jubilee was when everything (land & people) was restored back to original possession. Land was returned to each tribe and each family clan and bond-servants were released from their indentured status. It was the means to restore the gift of the Promised Land back to the orginal owners.
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There are several Greek words for forgiveness but this is the idea behind the word used in Colossians 1:14. The J.B. Phillips translation says it this way, “For we must never forget that he rescued us from the power of darkness, and re-established us in the kingdom of his beloved Son, that is, in the kingdom of light” (Colossians 1:13). Wow! This is God’s original intent and purpose for us, it was His design for us from the very beginning, to be a part of His family and in His Kingdom. Through Christ’s redemption we are once again united with God’s master plan. The cross was like the Year of Jubilee for the believer!

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Most people are familiar with the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They were given a command not to eat from a tree, which they did not follow and as the saying goes, the rest is history.

One act of disobedience put mankind on this path that has led us to where we are today. This all started with some fruit, but what was that forbidden fruit in Genesis 2 where this account takes place? While there are no specifics on the type of fruit, there are some lessons we can learn from their experience.

Do We Know What the Forbidden Fruit Was?While we don’t know what that fruit was, somehow in many pictures and imageries an apple gets portrayed as that fruit. To clear up any confusion, here is what Genesis actually says about the fruit.
“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 3:6).

Here is all we know about the forbidden fruit in Genesis. It was good for food, meaning it was edible. It was pleasing to the eye, which means it was attractive. Finally, they thought it was desirable for gaining wisdom, which means they thought they would gain something from it. By the way these are the same trappings of sin that we are faced with today (more on that later). 
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Because there are so many different types of fruit that grow on a tree, there really is no way of knowing what type of fruit it really was. (Sorry apples you have been blamed for something that you may have had nothing to do with.)

In all honesty the type of fruit doesn’t matter. When you are reading the story, your focus should not be on what the forbidden fruit in Genesis was. It should be on the act of disobedience that Adam and Eve committed.

What Does the Bible Say about the Tree of Knowledge?When you read the creation story you discover from Genesis that there were plenty of trees in the garden.

“Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground — trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:8-9).

God put them in the garden and provided them with plenty of choices of food to eat. I would imagine that every type of tree bearing fruit was probably represented in the garden. This is only my speculation, but I would say think of any fruit that grows on a tree and it was probably available in the garden. I don’t have proof of this, but it is a reasonable assumption.

There were however two important trees in the middle of the garden that were different from the rest. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life as it states gave life, particularly eternal life. The other tree would produce death.

A question that often comes to mind is why was the tree of knowledge in the garden to begin with? For many Bible scholars the main answer is about free will. God created man for intimacy and fellowship with him, but from the very beginning this was not a forced fellowship, it is a chosen fellowship. From the beginning until today God gives every human the same free will. We can choose to follow and obey or we can choose to go our own way.

Why Did Eve Eat the Fruit?This is the question of the ages, but I don’t want to hate on Eve too much. Eve fell victim to temptation in much the same way we do. I want to show you what happened to Eve because this still plagues us today. To keep it simple, Eve rejected what God had provided in search of something else or something different.

I want you to consider the similarities between the fruit on all the trees in the garden. In Genesis 2:9 and Genesis 3:6 you see that the trees were good for food (edible) and pleasing to the eye (attractive). What was different about the fruit on the tree of knowledge? She thought she would obtain something that the other trees did not provide her. The serpent influenced her to believe that God was holding out something from her. Remember what she said that highlights the difference. The fruit was good for food, pleasing to the eye and – here’s the difference – desirable for gaining wisdom.

I don’t believe Eve ate the fruit simply because it was edible and looked good. There were plenty of other trees that had those characteristics. She ate the fruit because it promised her something she did not have and wanted to gain or experience. Often this is how sin works in our lives. God has provided everything we need for this life, just as he did with Adam and Eve. So what is it about sin that looks so attractive to us? It promises something that we have not experienced or something that we can gain from it. The problem is that this is an empty promise and the consequences never live up to the expectations.

What Was the Result of the Forbidden Fruit?The result of eating the forbidden fruit was sin entering the world and all the pain and suffering that happens as a result. As God promised, death happened. This was not physical death, but spiritual death that caused a separation between God and man because of sin.

Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden. I know Adam and Eve did not know the gravity of the action they committed when it happened. However, I think it is safe to say they came to understand quickly how bad a decision they had made. I believe they experienced remorse just like we often do when we endure the result of our sinful decisions. Remember they were the only ones in human history who ever lived on this earth in a sinless environment. I am sure they longed for the days when they could go back to Eden as it was. Unfortunately, with sin, sometimes it costs us more than we want to pay and there are some things you lose that you can’t get back.

The Silver Lining:

If the story of Adam and Eve was just about fruit and getting kicked out of the garden that would be a tragedy. Yet there was something else that happened in that garden that gives us hope. The choice of Adam and Eve set in motion God’s plan of redemption. While eating the forbidden fruit might have been a decision Adam and Eve did not know they would make, it was one that God knew they would make.

From the moment the forbidden fruit in Genesis was eaten, the promise of the savior who would redeem mankind was made. In Genesis 3:15, God made a promise about the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent. We know that seed is Jesus who would come and redeem us back to the Father. Through Adam we lost it all, but in Christ we gained back all that was lost.
“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).

The ultimate end of our righteousness in Christ is that one day we will be able to eat from the tree of life and so be with our Lord forevermore. Never again will we have to deal with the issue of sin for all eternity. Yes, Adam and Eve set the sin wheels in motion, but thankfully Jesus has turned it all around.

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:1-5).
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Jesus cleansed the temple of the money-changers and sellers of merchandise because of His disgust at what they had made of God’s house of prayer and His zeal to purify it from the abuse of ungodly men. Judea was under the rule of the Romans, and the money in current use was Roman coin. However, the Jewish law required that every man should pay a tribute to the service of the sanctuary of “half a shekel” (Exodus 30:11–16), a Jewish coin. It became, therefore, a matter of convenience to have a place where the Roman coin could be exchanged for the Jewish half shekel. The money-changers provided this convenience but would demand a small sum for the exchange. Because so many thousands of people came up to the great feasts, changing money was a very profitable business and one that resulted in fraud and oppression of the poor.

Also, according to the Law, two doves or pigeons were required to be offered in sacrifice (Leviticus 14:22; Luke 2:24). Yet it was difficult to bring them from the distant parts of Judea, so a lucrative business selling the birds sprang up, with the sellers gouging the faithful by charging exorbitant prices. There were other merchants selling cattle and sheep for the temple sacrifices as well. Because of these sellers who preyed on the poor and because of His passion for the purity of His Father’s house, Jesus was filled with righteous indignation. As He overturned the tables of the money-changers, He condemned them for having turned God’s house of prayer into “a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13). As He did so, His disciples remembered Psalm 69:9, “Zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.”

Jesus’ first cleansing of the temple is described in John 2:11–12 as having occurred just after Jesus’ first miracle, the turning of water into wine at the wedding in Cana. John makes it clear that it was “after this” that He went to Capernaum, where He “stayed for a few days.” Then in the next verse (verse 13), John tells us that the “Passover of the Jews was at hand” (NKJV). These verses trace Jesus’ movements over a short period of time from Cana in Galilee to Capernaum and eventually to Jerusalem for the Passover. This is the first of the two times Jesus cleansed the temple. The Synoptic Gospels do not record the temple cleansing mentioned in John 2, instead only recording the temple cleansing that occurred during Passion Week.

The second cleansing of the temple occurred just after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem the last week of His life. This second cleansing is recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke but not in John. There are differences in the two events, aside from their being nearly three years apart. In the first cleansing, temple officials confronted Jesus immediately (John 2:18), whereas in the second cleansing, the chief priests and scribes confronted Him the following day (Matthew 21:17–23). In the first event, Jesus made a whip of cords with which to drive out the sellers, but there is no mention of a whip in the second cleansing. So there are two recorded occasions when Jesus cleansed the temple—the first time at the beginning of His public ministry, and the second time just after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem shortly before He was crucified.

​The scene I’ll focus a lens on today is found in all four Gospels. The account is relatively light on words but so heavy with meaning that to overlook it could well leave an insufficient impression of what Jesus was like. Without it, He’d be significantly easier to typecast. We’d think we knew how holiness always acts and how love always reacts.

Check Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19 and John 2 and you’ll invariably find the scene captioned with the three-word phrase, “Cleansing the Temple.” The caption is provocative if not ironic since Jesus’s method of cleaning the Temple was to make a mess of it. Don’t think for a moment Jesus can’t make a mess of things. 

Sometimes the only way to sufficiently clean house is to turn it upside down.
Today we’ll look at Matthew’s Gospel, the 21st chapter and verses 10-13, but I’ll fill out the account with additional bits and pieces supplied by the other Gospels, particularly Mark’s. The scene follows on the heels of a donkey. The Temple cleansing is a quickly-appearing stand-alone in John but you’ll find it in Matthew, Mark and Luke following the triumphal entry of Christ when He entered Jerusalem in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy:

Tell Daughter Zion,
“See, your King is coming to you,
Gentle and mounted on a donkey and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

His way was paved in garments and branches. The crowds welcomed Jesus with royal acclamations. “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” The insinuation of kingship was so insulting to some of the religious leaders, they demanded Jesus rebuke his disciples. “I tell you, if they were to keep silent,” Jesus plainly stated, “the stones would cry out.”

Our present scene is particularly compelling with the echoes of the triumphant crowds still ringing in our ears.
Read the words of Matthew 21:10-13:

When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar, saying, “Who is this?” The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”
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Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, “It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves!”

A lot of wheeling and dealing goes on in the name of Scripture. A lot of scheming and scamming. They’re hard to miss in this scene. According to Mark’s Gospel, this event happened on Monday, the day following the triumphal entry and three days prior to Christ’s arrest.  

Mark 11:11-12 tells us that, after he rode into Jerusalem on the back of the colt, “He went into Jerusalem and into the temple. After looking around at everything, since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.” Bethany was only about two miles from Jerusalem. He’d turn around and come back the next day.

It doesn’t take much imagination to guess what Jesus thought about all night. He’d replayed what he’d seen that day over and over, is what I’m thinking. And holy zeal would fill his lungs. The Holy Spirit put the words in the psalmist’s mouth in advance: “Zeal for your house has consumed me and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” And it burned like fire on his tongue. There might have been something else he was doing. John’s account in his Gospel, the second chapter and 15th verse, says, “After making a whip out of cords, he drove everyone out of the temple.” He might have been braiding a little leather. There again, he could easily have just grabbed a strap from a tethered animal on his way in.

That Monday when He headed back to the Holy City, He would’ve entered the Temple Mount through the Huldah Gate at the south end of an enormous complex. Think of it in terms of the Temple Precinct and the Temple Proper. The Temple precinct included all the buildings and courtyards complete with an enormous stall for animals that could be purchased for sacrifices as well as crowded housing for their keepers. This was the Monday before Passover when the city would have been bursting at the seams with travelers from all over Israel and beyond to keep Israel’s most important feast.

People gathered in allocated areas according to qualifications strictly guarded by Temple police. Worshippers were as defined by where they could not go as where they could. There was the Court of the Gentiles open to anyone and the only place open to those who believed in Israel’s God but weren’t of Israel’s blood. Inscriptions were etched in stone that no Gentile, man or woman, could go beyond it without threat of death. There was the Court of the Women for those of Jewish blood and no woman could inch a single step further. Then there was the Court of Israel which was Jewish men only and no man could step beyond it into the sanctuary of the Temple proper except the priests and no priest could step beyond the Holy Place into the Holy of Holies except the high priest on the Day of Atonement. Every step toward the Presence of God bore a warning of prohibition.

“Stop right there. Are you qualified?”

There was no such thing as all-access. Don’t lose sight of that this Holy Week or the tearing of the veil will be lost on you.

As Jesus entered the Temple precinct, he would have ascended up a flight of steps and entered a long hall with four rows of forty large columns. This is where the market was set up for exchanging the money of all the Jewish pilgrims from other regions into temple currency. With shekels they’d pay a required temple tax then purchase animals or birds for sacrifices. It was a necessary transaction for out-of-towners but foolishly misplaced in an area set apart for worship.  

Now for Mark’s Gospel, chapter 11:15-17:

 They came to Jerusalem, and he went into the temple and began to throw out those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple. He was teaching them: “Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of thieves!”

There are times in Scripture when Jesus slips in and out of scenes publicly unnoticed. This isn’t one of those times. He marched straight to the check out desks with a whip in his hand where people were buying and selling. He flipped the over the tables and turned over the chairs. Coins would have jingled and rolled all over the floor. Dove cages would have toppled. Feathers would have flown.

Jesus can rattle cages when he wants to.

Everything he’s doing in the scene is purposeful. A couple of things are in play that aren’t immediately obvious. I’d like to make mention of two of them. First, did you hear the Evangelists make a point of noting that those selling doves were among the ones whose tables and chairs Jesus overturned? Doves could be used for a couple of different purposes but they were primarily the offerings purchased by the poor. Those with any kind of money would make their selections from farm animals to offer as sacrifices. It could a status thing, you know, whether your offering had fur or cheap feathers.
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Sellers could set the price at what they wanted, knowing full well the devout would pay whatever was necessary for an offering rather than appear before the Lord empty handed. If the sellers were cheating, only the privileged had the clout to accuse them. The voices of the poor, then as now, were mostly ignored. Perhaps nothing testifies to the depravity of the human heart like the consistent propensity throughout history to exploit, cheat and oppress the poor. What is far more astonishing is with what regularity it happens in religious environments. There’s nothing quite like price-gouging in the name of God.

That brings us to the second element in the scene that begs for a little background. Did you catch the phrase “den of thieves”? Let me place it back in context. “Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of thieves!” Nothing was accidental in his wording. He’s talking straight out of the Old Testament.

Look at Jeremiah 7:1-10:
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This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord and there call out this word: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the Lord.

“‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your actions, and I will allow you to live in this place. Do not trust deceitful words, chanting, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” Instead, if you really correct your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another, if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves, I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors long ago and forever. But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.

“‘Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known? Then do you come and stand before me in this house that bears my name and say, “We are rescued, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts”?

The people in Jeremiah’s day adhered to what scholar M. Eugene Boring calls “a false Zion theology that regarded the Temple as a guarantee of divine protection, and charged them with regarding the Temple as a robber’s hideout to which they could retreat in safety after their acts of injustice.” (NIB, Volume 8, p.406)

This becomes even more provocative six centuries later when Jesus uses the phrase “den of thieves” or “den of robbers” in the Gospels. According to scholar Michael Wilkins “The term ‘robber’ (lestes) is not the word for a common thief but for one who is an insurrectionist, such as Barabbas and the two revolutionaries between whom Jesus will be crucified. This may be a subtle use of the term to indicate that the temple authorities are making it a nationalistic stronghold, or more subtly, a place where they are insurrectionists against God’s intended plan for the temple.”[1]

It is of no small significance that Jesus said according to Mark’s Gospel, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” All this big enterprise, all this wheeling and dealing was conveniently happening right in the court of the Gentiles. What did they really matter anyway? The blood of Abraham didn’t run through their veins. They were expendable.  Second class. Lucky to even be there. How much value would God put on the worship of Gentiles anyway? But, you see, they’d forgotten the explicit calling God placed on Abraham. “In you shall all nations be blessed.” This was the very gospel preached beforehand.

Does God see? Yes. Does He care when His name is exploited and His words are twisted to manipulate people and rob them of power? Yes. Does He care when the worship of him has been thoroughly coopted and commercialized? Yes. Will He act? Oh, yes. He warns. He gives the remedy: in a word, repentance. He waits. Then, when He’s had enough, He acts.

So, here’s a question to throw on that overturned table: is it fair to say that Jesus, the sinless Son of God, acted in anger in this scene? Somehow I can’t picture him braiding up a whip and flipping over furniture because he was mildly annoyed. What sets divine anger—and even ultimately divine wrath—apart from human anger is that it cannot be extracted from his love. God cannot set it aside His love because it is not only what he does. It is who He is. It is his very essence. We’re simply too quick to forget that love has a spine.  

He who strode into that temple with a whip that day and turned the place upside down for making a commercial expo out of sacrificial worship would offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice just four days later. The coins now scattered and rolling all over the courtyard floor were woefully insufficient funds for their remission of sins. The payment for their substitutionary offering was pumping that moment in the veins and arteries of the one overturning those tables. Peter would write, “For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life…not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.” And, as for that Temple, it could never have been clean enough. The only Temple clean enough was the one wearing flesh and blood and still standing after the courtyard was cleared.

Let’s lastly read from Matthew’s Gospel that brings the scene to an end, Matthew 21:12-17:

Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.He said to them, “It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves!”

The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that he did and the children shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant and said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

Jesus replied, “Yes, have you never read:
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You have prepared praise
from the mouths of infants and nursing babies?” 

Then he left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

The scene is in the same place. Right there in that big mess. Tables and chairs turned upside down. Cages toppled. Bird droppings splattered. Feathers still floating. The scent of animal dung wafting through the air. Right there in the mess, Jesus healed the lame and blind. The very ones the Law of Moses prohibited from drawing near for worship. Make no mistake, Jesus is deeply committed to clearing out the obstacles to worship in Spirit and in Truth.
I’m of the notion that the church in America is in a bit of a mess and I believe it’s quite possibly for some of the very reasons his house was in a mess in the days of Jeremiah and in the days of the Word made flesh. I think He’s come to clean house and I think sometimes the way He cleans house is to turn it upside down. But, if we’re willing to not run away, we may hear an inaudible voice say, “Come all who know your infirmities, your weaknesses and blemishes. Come all who know you are broken and blind. Come and be healed.”

​Saturday was silent
Surely it was through
But since when has impossible
Ever stopped You?
​
Friday's disappointment
Is Sunday's empty tomb
Since when has impossible
Ever stopped You?
​
This is the sound of dry bones rattling
This is the praise, make a dead man walk again
Open the grave, I'm coming out
I'm gonna live, gonna live again
This is the sound of dry bones rattling, yeah
Pentecostal fire stirring something new
You're not gonna run out of miracles anytime soon
Yeah, resurrection power runs in my veins too and
I believe there's another miracle here in this room
This is the sound of dry bones rattling
This is the praise, make a dead man walk again
Open the grave, I'm coming out
I'm gonna live, gonna live again
This is the sound of dry bones rattling
Yeah
Whoa
Do you hear it?
Do you hear it?
Do you hear it? Woo
My God is able to save and deliver and heal
And restore anything that He wants to
Just ask the man who was thrown
On the bones of Elisha
If there's anything that He can't do
Just ask the stone that was rolled
At the tomb in the garden
What happens when God says to move (you gotta move)
I feel Him moving it now
I feel Him doing it now
I feel Him doing it now
Do it now, do it now
This is the sound
This is the sound of dry bones rattling, oh
This is the praise, make a dead man walk again
Open the grave, I'm coming out
I'm gonna live, gonna live again
Open the grave, I'm coming out
I'm gonna live, gonna live again
Open the grave, I'm coming out
I'm gonna live, gonna live again
This is the sound of dry bones rattling, rattling, yeah
I hear the sound (I hear the sound)
I hear the sound (I hear the sound)
I hear the sound (I hear the sound)
I hear the sound (I hear the sound)
And the bones began to rattle
Rattle, rattle
Rattle
God said live, God said live
Hear the Word
And this is what He said
Live, live
Dry bones hear the Word of the Lord
Live (live), live (live)
Dry bones hear the Word of the Lord
Live (live), live (live)
Dry bones hear the Word of the Lord
Live (live), live (live)
Dry bones hear the Word of the Lord
Live (live), live (live)
Dry bones hear the Word of the Lord
Live (live), live (live)
Live, live, live, live, live
This is the sound of dry bones rattling, yeah
This is the praise, make a dead man walk again
(Open) open the grave, I'm coming out
I'm gonna live, gonna live again
Open the grave, I'm coming out
I'm gonna live, gonna live
Open the grave, I'm coming out
I'm gonna live, gonna live again
This is the sound of dry bones rattling
Dry bones rattle
Dry bones rattle
Rattle, rattle, rattle
Live, live, live
Live, live
Live, live!!!!