APRIL 16 – A CLEANSING HAND!

“When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said…“ Do not make my Father’s house a house of merchandise” (John 2:15, 16).

You should not take it for granted that the hands of Jesus Christ are always hands of love and compassion. When He sees presumptuous sins, His hands take the whip. That day, His hands of strictness and the hands of chastening cleansed the temple.

You can read in the Scripture, Jesus Christ cleansing the temple during two instances. Jesus cleaned the temples during the first and last Passover, on His visit to Jerusalem for preaching. John the apostle alone has mentioned the first instance of Jesus’ cleansing, but all other apostles Mathew, Mark and Luke have pointed out the last instance (John 2:14-16, Mark 11:15-17, Mathew 21:12, 13 and Luke 19:45, 46).

On both occasions, His hands poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables and pushed down the chairs. The whip in the hands of Jesus Christ came down heavily on the merchants and drove them out. He drove out the sheep, oxen and the doves, kept for sale. God was very zealous over His temple. He was not able to tolerate His temple becoming a merchandise or a den of thieves. Yes. He likes to have holiness in everything. His house should be a house of prayer and not a den of thieves.

Dear children of God, your body is the temple of God. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (I Corinthians 3:16). Never defile your body and make God’s dwelling place, a den of thieves. Be firm and do not give space to immoral love, illicit relationship and the lusts. He wants the temple to be holy. He is zealous over this.

God says, “If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are” (I Corinthians 3:17). When your temple gets defiled, God takes the whip in His hands. The Scripture says, “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives” (Hebrews 12:6). Dear children of God, Even when God takes the whip in His hands, there is a good thing in it. Let your heart which is the temple be cleansed and may your life get transformed.

To meditate: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him” (Hebrews 12:5).