Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, we methodically teach verse by verse, even phrase by phrase.
We have completed many books of the Bible and offer free lesson plans for teachers. If you want to browse our entire library by book or topic, see our website www.ReasoningThroughTheBible.com.
We primarily do expository teaching but also include a good bit of theology and apologetics. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity must address both the ancient truths and the questions of the people today. Join Glenn and Steve every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S40 || Ezekiel's Vision & Jesus' Entering The Temple || Mark 11:15-18 || Session 40 || Verse by Verse Bible Study
The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem represents a pivotal moment where multiple prophetic threads converge with breathtaking precision. As Jesus rides a humble donkey through Jerusalem's gates, we witness nothing less than the glory of God returning to the temple after centuries of absence—a direct fulfillment of Ezekiel's vision where God's presence departed through the east gate and to the Mount of Olives. Now, that same glory was making its way back.
This episode uncovers the rich symbolism and theological depth behind what might seem like a simple parade. The timing during Passover week was no coincidence—Jesus presented himself as the ultimate unblemished lamb precisely when Jewish families were selecting their own sacrificial lambs. Daniel's prophecy of the Messiah appearing after the 69th week aligned perfectly with this moment. Yet what happens next is shocking: after all this prophetic buildup, Jesus simply enters the temple, looks around, and leaves "because it was late"—not just in the day, but in Israel's national life.
We explore the stark contrast between Jesus' gentle entry and his forceful temple cleansing the following day, overturning tables and driving out merchants. His righteous anger targeted not just inappropriate commerce but exploitation of the poor and the blockage of the Court of Gentiles—the only place non-Jews could pray. The religious leaders' inability to refute his teaching and their plotting to kill him reveals how threatening authentic spirituality can be to institutionalized religion.
The lessons here are profound for modern faith communities. Just as the temple system God established became corrupted by wrong motives, churches today face the same danger of drifting from worship to worldliness. When Jesus returns, will he find us faithful, or will he need to overturn our tables too? Join us as we reason through this pivotal moment that forever changed the relationship between God and humanity.
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
Welcome back to Reasoning Through the Bible. We are in the middle of the triumphal entry in Mark, chapter 11. So far what we've seen is Jesus started in Jericho. He walked to Jerusalem and took a donkey and rode it into Jerusalem. He had all the pomp and circumstance of a king and we've been talking about that. We're in the sections here of Mark. That is very deep spiritual water with a lot of significance.
Speaker 1:And this particular day there's a great deal of biblical movements, several major movements of Scripture that all culminate right here in this triumphal entry. One of them is the glory of God. There's a theme that starts all the way back in the Exodus, back in Israel's early days. When they came out of Egypt, the cloud led them by day and the fire by night. Well, this cloud was the glory of God. And when Moses set up the tabernacle, the cloud, the glory, settled into the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. Later, this same cloud filled the temple when Solomon built it. And on the day that Solomon dedicated the temple, the glory was so powerful that it forced the priests out of the building. They physically could not stay because of the presence of God, the glory of God that was there In the book of Ezekiel, the glory left the temple because of Israel's disobedience. In Ezekiel, chapters 9 through 11, the glory slowly leaves the temple, goes out through the temple grounds, out through the east gate of the city of Jerusalem, out to the Mount of Olives. And here in Mark, in the triumphal entry, the glory of God, in the person of Jesus Christ, starts at the Mount of Olives, goes back in through the east gate into the temple. And that's a theme that fits right here with the triumphal entry. As we saw in the first chapter of Acts, he goes back out to the Mount of Olives and ascends from there. And the book of Zechariah, chapter 14, tells us that Jesus is going to come back to the Mount of Olives and go back into the temple again, this time to set up his kingdom. So with this you can see these in Ezekiel's chapter 10 and 11, specifically 10.4, verse 19, 11.23, and right here in Mark.
Speaker 1:The second major movement that we see here in this triumphal entry is it was Passover week and faithful Jews were gathering an unblemished lamb for slaughtering. They had to bring it in, make sure it was unblemished and examine it, and then on the day of Passover they would slaughter it for the Passover meal, the Passover sacrifice, if you will. Well, Jesus, as we're going to see, he is the perfect lamb. He's going to be examined during these next few days and we're going to see what happens with that. He was the Passover lamb.
Speaker 1:Then, as a third major movement, the book of Daniel talks about 70 weeks and in Daniel it says after the 69th week, Messiah will be cut off. And if you find this in Daniel, you're going to see that here, with the triumphal entry, we have the culmination of the 69th week of Daniel. So we have major movements of Scripture all coming together in this one event. It also fulfills the prophecy in Zechariah 9.9 that says this quote Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your King is coming to you. He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, mounted on a donkey, even a colt, the foal of a donkey. Mark does not quote this verse because he's writing to a Gentile audience who would not appreciate the fulfillment of prophecy. So the Bible has many storylines that all come together in this one section and, Steve, it's just so glorious and so profound that it's just difficult to explain all of it.
Speaker 2:Let me mention here at this time I'll probably mention it before we get out of Mark again but this is not a plan B. The rejection of Jesus by the leadership of the kingdom does not mean that now he's going to suffer and go to the cross as a plan B. No, this is the plan. Remember, jesus had already started pulling aside his inner 12 and started to teach them that the Messiah, the anointed one, must suffer first and that he was going to be turned over to the Gentiles. He was going to be arrested by the scribes and the Pharisees and then he was going to be killed and raised again on the third day.
Speaker 2:So this is not an alternate plan. So this is not an alternate plan. And, as we pointed out in a previous session, he has chosen the Passover week to make his entrance into the city. He has not chosen the Feast. Been thought out, and God is making a change. No, we're also told that at the right time Jesus came. Well, the right time is now and the right time is for him to suffer, be killed and be raised again on the third day.
Speaker 1:With this triumphal entry we also see we can contrast Jesus' first coming with his second coming. The first coming he rides in on a donkey and he is so gentle we saw this last time he's so gentle that even a donkey that had never been ridden before, an untrained donkey, jesus was so gentle that the donkey accepts him. He doesn't try to throw him off. He does not ride on a horse, because a horse would indicate war, would indicate some sort of movement of war. The first triumphal entry Jesus came in peace. He was riding on a peaceful animal with a peaceful mission. He came with the idea of being a king. That's the first coming. The second coming of Jesus Christ is described in Revelation, chapter 19, verses 11 through 16. And if we study the second coming, in contrast with this first one, in the second coming he's going to be riding on a white horse. A white horse is a symbol of a conqueror. His eyes, it says in that passage, will be a flame of fire. He will bring armies with him. It says so. His eyes are going to be a flame of fire with his armies. Out of his mouth will come a two-edged sword to strike the nations, it says. And it says in that passage. Let me quote a part of it here. It says he will rule them with a rod of iron and he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on his robe and on his thigh he has the name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Speaker 1:The first Jesus came in peace, riding on a donkey, but he was rejected. The king came, but the Pharisees and the leaders didn't accept him. They wanted him to take sides and pick their particular viewpoint. The second time, he's going to rule with a rod of iron. He's going to have a sword, rod of iron. He's going to have a sword out of his mouth that's going to take care of the nations. He's going to have a flame of fire in his eyes and he's going to tread the winepress of the fierce wrath of God. And he's not going to come to take sides, he's going to come to take over.
Speaker 1:Today we want gentle Jesus, meek and mild, to bring peace. But he's not going to bring peace, he's going to bring a rod of iron to rule. We're going to finally have a just and powerful king to bring justice to the world, and it's going to be a glorious day. So the culminations of these several movements of Scripture all hinge right here with this one. Ride on this donkey into the temple area. But look at verse 11, mark 11, 11. After Jesus goes into the temple, what does?
Speaker 2:he do, Steve. He enters the temple and he looks around and he looks around, and then what does he do?
Speaker 1:Then he leaves.
Speaker 2:He says he leaves because it was getting into the late evening.
Speaker 1:This is really amazing Because of all those things I just mentioned. The glory of God is finally returned to the temple. The king, the heir of David, is coming with a kingly parade. They had all the people shouting Hosanna to the son of David and waving palm branches as they would a king. So he had all the glory of the king. He's got all the movement of scripture with all those things, and what does he do in Mark 11, 11? He comes in, he looks around and he leaves. This is hugely profound. The silence is just deafening. He really should be coming in setting up his kingdom, but he's not. He comes in, looks around and leaves. So this is just really profound in the sense that all of these things that we just mentioned, he should be setting up his kingdom, he should be accepting the glory, he should be setting up an earthly kingdom of David. He should be fulfillment of all these prophecies. He comes in and looks around and leaves. Steve, why would he do that?
Speaker 2:Well, as we've mentioned before, it's not the proper time to set up his kingdom. The Messiah must first suffer. That's the way time to set up his kingdom. The Messiah must first suffer. That's the way he put it to his disciples. That's the next thing. That's in this order of salvation. He's going to bring about the reconciliation of mankind. He's going to pay a redemption price for man. So that is the next item of business, so to speak, that is on the agenda for Jesus at that time.
Speaker 2:Now that doesn't mean that the kingdom isn't going to be set up. All of the prophecies from the Old Testament are still there of a future kingdom the people. That's their expectation. And he even reprimands the Pharisees at one point. He says you could recognize by the appearance of the sky whether it's going to be good weather or bad weather, but you're not recognizing the appearance of the Messiah when it comes. So, by all of these actions, and the fact that he's not setting up the kingdom now doesn't mean that the kingdom isn't going to be set up at some time in the future. You alluded to it a while ago and said that on his next return he's going to be returning on a white horse, which is a warrior horse, and one that's going to be there to judge all the other nations.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly. This triumphal entry is a monumentally significant event. Yet Jesus comes in, looks around and leaves. Look at verse 11 again. It says there he left for Bethany with the twelve since it was already late. So the immediate context was it was already late in that particular day. Was it was already late in that particular day? Remember he had walked from Jericho, which is 18 miles or 29 or 30 kilometers that he had walked that day. So it was a fair walk that he had done, and it was late in the day when he got there. So he looks around, probably the evening sacrifice had been completed by then. So it says it was already late, so he left. But I submit that the meaning here is greater than that.
Speaker 1:Remember all those movements of Scripture that we just looked at. The king, the heir of David, is finally here. The glory of God is returning to the temple, the Passover lamb is here, but he leaves. Instead of setting up his earthly kingdom, he leaves. Well, why? Because it was already late. The Jewish leaders had rejected him already and so therefore it was already late in that particular day. But I submit it was already late for the nation Israel. He leaves, the king leaves. The glory of God again leaves the temple. Why? Because it was late for the kingdom of Israel. If we look at this passage as these grand movements of scripture, then we have to look at the entire history of Israel in one big viewpoint. And in this point in time, it's already late for the nation of Israel. Why did the king leave? Why did the glory of God leave? Because the nation of Israel was in their waning days. It is late for them. He leaves because they had rejected him and their time was short. Him and their time was short. The nation Israel was being rejected by him because they had rejected him.
Speaker 1:It's also interesting here, steve, that in this day he goes to the temple and he looks around and he leaves. Well, we're going to see. As we see. The next day he's going to come in, he's going to overturn the tables of the money changers, he's going to clean house, so to speak. Well, this day, this first day, he saw all those same things. All those things were still there.
Speaker 1:He doesn't get angry the first day, he got angry the second day. And so we have to ask okay, why else would he just leave when he sees all these abominations? The same abominations he sees the first day as the second day, it's because the Lord is patient. The Lord is patient, he sees sin and he doesn't judge immediately. We have a God, we have a Lord that is patient with us. He is long-suffering with our sin. He gave them another chance. It wasn't too late for them to repent. If they just go to him and say Lord, forgive us, then things would have been different, but it was his prerogative. He sees the sin and he waits, just like with us. He could have judged us sooner than he did, but our Lord is patient and he is kind, and he is long-suffering with his children, and so what we're going to see, though, is that he does get angry, and so we cannot stay in sin, or the anger will come. We have a God that is long-suffering, we have a God that is patient, but he will anger, and if we continue in sin, then we will suffer the same as the nation Israel did, and so, with this, I'm reminded now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6.2. We should accept his salvation before it's too late for us and Steve.
Speaker 1:Let's then look at the end. Where does he go at the end of verse 11? He goes to Bethany, which is east of the city, and in the following passages we have what we would call a sandwich. There's a cursing of the fig tree and then there's the section with the overturning the tables of the money changers. Then he goes back to the fig tree. So we're going to touch on that middle section now, which is the overturning of the tables of the money changers, and we'll come back to the fig tree after that. So, steve, can you read Mark 11, verses 15 to 18, and we'll see what happens in the next day when he comes in and sees the money changers.
Speaker 2:Then they came to Jerusalem and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves, and he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And he began to teach and to say to them Is it not written my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a robber's den. The chief priests and the scribes heard this and began seeking how to destroy him, for they were afraid of him, for the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching whole crowd was astonished at his teaching.
Speaker 1:With this, he enters the temple, drives out those that were buying and selling, and notice the stark contrast between this and this previous section. In verse 11, he comes into the temple gently and looks around, says nothing and leaves. Verse 15, jesus came in the same temple. Only now he has some very directness, very assertiveness, some violence, and turns over the tables. What a contrast.
Speaker 1:Jesus always does things with intention. None of these things happen by accident. He purposely came into the first time and did nothing and said nothing and then purposely came in the next day and overturned the tables. In verse 18, he calls them robbers. The same couple of days in the temple, jesus overturned the tables of the money changers and he also said the same things that we find over in Matthew, chapter 23. In Matthew 23, it was this same time period when he's overturning these tables.
Speaker 1:In Matthew 23, it tells us this long speech that he gives. He says woe to you eight times. He calls them hypocrites seven times. He calls them blind and blind guides five times, calls them fools, calls them sons of hell, says they strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. He says inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence, calls them murderers, whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones. So we find this to be again very profound here, steve. What's he doing? Well, he's forcing the hand of the Jewish leaders, who is in control of the timing. Several times in the Gospels it says it was not yet his time. Well, now's his time, because what's he doing? He's overturning the tables, calling them names and exercising divine justice on these people. He is in control of the timing and how these people react against him.
Speaker 2:And you can also say that as the Messiah and the King, he has one of the duties to protect the temple. That's one of the things that had been prophesied about the Messiah that had the authority to do that, and we're going to see the Pharisees ask him just that here in a few verses Under what authority are you doing all these things? So this is a picture of geez. This is the second time that he has cleansed out the temple and guess what? They come back. Now they're there again. He's done it a second time. So it gives an indication and a picture that some of the people at least are not hating who he is and what authority he actually does. But most of the people, or at least some of them, are, because it says right there at the end of what we read that the Pharisees and the others were afraid of him because the people were astonished at his teaching. They accepted his authority that he had and was demonstrating.
Speaker 1:It says here in verse 15, he overturns the tables of the money changers and the seats of those that were selling doves. The next verse he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple Interesting here. He would not permit them to carry it through. So who's in charge here, steve?
Speaker 2:He's in charge, and again he's exercising his authority as the Messiah and king in making these type of statements.
Speaker 1:He's very direct. He's exercising his authority. Why were they selling these things, especially the doves? Why do you think they were selling doves in the temple?
Speaker 2:That's part of his anger in that there were certain sacrifices that the people were supposed to offer birds or doves for those sacrifices. But, just like the other sacrifices, they were to be the best, they were to be without blemish, and so people wouldn't necessarily bring them in. They would just wait until they would get to the market there at the temple complex to purchase a dove.
Speaker 2:Well, the history of the rabbis tell us that some of the merchants were not selling quality doves. They were selling inferior doves that would not meet the requirements of a proper sacrifice, and the people also. Really it was just something that they were doing out of necessity, and the people also. Really it was just something that they were doing out of necessity. It really wasn't a sacrifice, so to speak. Oh, we're going to go to the temple and we have to do this type of a sacrifice and we'll just buy the sacrificial animal, the dove, when we get there. So it was more of an afterthought than it was an actual act of worship that they were supposed to have for the Lord. On both cases, by those merchants being there, they weren't selling quality sacrifices, number one. Number two is they were allowing the people to not be serious about the sacrifices that they were giving.
Speaker 1:Not only that, but it gets worse. In the Levitical law, the normal person was supposed to bring a sheep or a cattle, a lamb or a bull. If you were too poor and you didn't have a lamb or a bull, what could you bring? A dove? So the doves was the sacrifice of the poor people who couldn't afford a lamb. And so what they're doing is they're selling doves to the poorest people.
Speaker 1:They had a religious money-making racket going on here. I mean, doves are not expensive. Remember, this is like the capital of the country. They could have given away the doves or given them away for whatever donation. The point was for the person to have a sacrifice. The religious leaders' cost of the dove was incremental, to them was insignificant. But think of it. They're selling doves to poor people. They're making money off of the poor people who were required to make sacrifice, had to do it, but they were now charging them for this and they were selling doves and making money on the poorest of the poor. The other one is the money changers. So, steve, why would they have money changers in there at all? What was the original purpose for that?
Speaker 2:all, what was the original purpose for that? The temple? Because it was the center of their worship and under Jewish control. They weren't allowed to take any type of foreign coins. Many of the foreign coins, if not all, usually had an image, especially with Rome, of a Caesar or an emperor on there. Well, there were some that looked at that as being an idol or worshiping an image, so all of those types of coins were banned from being used at the temple.
Speaker 2:What was appropriate was called shekels, the Jewish monetary coins. So now you have these money changers that would take the foreign money the people were bringing from the outside of the Jerusalem area and into the other areas of Greece and even down to Egypt. They would come in and they would exchange their foreign coins or the Roman coins for the appropriate Jewish coins, not only for the animals but also for the temple tax. Well, what usually happens at the exchange of money? Usually there's an upcharge involved with it. They don't do it just for free or one-to-one. So it's again another money-making situation for these money exchangers that are there.
Speaker 1:Tell you what, steve, every time I ever went to a money exchange then I ended up on the short end of the deal. So it seems like this is what's going on. So the temple tax, as you alluded to, was in Exodus, chapter 30, and they were required to go and pay this small temple tax. And again, so there's this exchange going on and somebody's making a profit here.
Speaker 1:The other original reason for the animals I submit the original reason was probably a good one in the sense that the Jews had to go to the temple to make these sacrifices, and if you lived a long way away, then bringing an animal from way back at the farm and driving it all the way to Jerusalem, something could happen along the way. The animals slow you down, it's just difficult. It's a lot easier Sell the animal back home, take the money and go to Jerusalem and buy another one there to sacrifice. It's just a convenience. So originally I submit that was at least part of it was probably a good motivation in the sense that providing a service to people that could use the service instead of having to bring an animal all the way from home. So the selling the animals by itself not necessarily a problem.
Speaker 1:What was the problem? Well, one they turned it into a religious money-making thing, and they're making money off of people that had to do this religious activity. And secondly, where were they doing this, steve? Where in the temple? It wasn't right in the holy place. Where were they doing this?
Speaker 2:It was in one of the outer courtyards, most likely the one that was the court of the Gentiles, that was open to everybody. They had a series of courts and the Gentile couldn't go past a certain point. Only Jews could go. And then they had the court of women where, past that, only men could go. So it was this series of outer courtyards and they're there at this temple area selling these wares and having all of this at the temple complex. And, as Jesus says, does it not say that my house is to be a house of prayer? Note that he's saying my house, he's not saying the Lord's house. So there's another indication that he's claiming to be God. But my house is to be a house of prayer for all the nations, and they're there mainly catering to the Jewish people and the Jewish converts from the Gentiles that are worshiping there at the temple. So they had completely lost the idea of what the temple was. It was supposed to be a place of worship, honoring and prayer to the Lord Yahweh, and it had turned into a place of commerce.
Speaker 1:What was called the court of the Gentiles is the only place where a non-Jew could go, and so what Jesus quotes there in verse 17,. As you well pointed out, that was supposed to be the area where the Gentiles would see a good example of the one true God and how to worship the one true God. But the Jews? That's where they set up their business and their money-making thing, their religious rackets, and it was where they turned this into what was originally a service here for the worshipers, and the example to all of the nations was oh, we're really here to make money, and that is the real sin. That's why he was so angry, that's why he overturned the tables and drove these people out, and they were also selling doves to the poor people. So here's a question, steve Is it okay for churches or Christian ministries to sell things?
Speaker 2:I think it comes back to the motivation what's the reason behind it?
Speaker 2:And if the idea is to make money off of it and for it to be a money-making, profitable type of business, that doesn't mean that it can't sustain itself.
Speaker 2:But I don't think in general it's prohibitive. But you also don't want to turn it into an area where, under that case, your idea is to bring people in so that they can know about Jesus. And if you're just using it from a perspective of just a gathering place for the community and you're not promoting Jesus, then yeah, I think then it becomes a wrong idea or a wrong motive for having it. But if it's an idea that let's put this together for the community so that we can then promote Jesus Christ to them or provide a place for people to bring others to witness to them, then that's an honorary motive. But you have to be wary, because sometimes the financial people get out and they say we can't sustain this because it's not making money. Either we need to make changes or shut it down, and out of the idea of not wanting to shut it down, they might make changes that then change the purpose of what originally idea, of why you put it together.
Speaker 1:There's absolutely nothing wrong with a full-time Christian worker making enough money to live on to feed their family and put a roof over their head. Perfectly fine for somebody to make enough money to live on doing full-time Christian work. It says this in the scripture do not muzzle an ox as he's treading out the grain. And a worker is worthy of his wages, and so perfectly fine for a Christian worker to make a living. Where it gets to be a problem is when we have to make a good representation to the world, and these people were making a bad representation to the world. They had put the commerce out there in the place where the nations would see. And so we need to be aware of this. We need to be aware of the critics that what are they going to see? Do they see the Lord Jesus and do they see people making sacrifices to present the Lord Jesus, or do they see somebody who's only interested in making money? And so I submit that Christian ministries.
Speaker 1:There's nothing inherently wrong with selling things to cover a cost, or even selling things in order for the workers to make a living. That's not sinful. But what is sinful is when we turn it into a religious racket and we're really only here to make more money, and that's when it becomes a problem. It drives people away, just like it drove people away back here in Mark, and it raises Jesus' anger and ire, just like it did back then. So that's the real answer to that, verse 15,. What was Jesus' opinion of how they were acting? Well, he overturns the table. This is quite violent. This is not the gentle Jesus, meek and mild Steve, what do you think was going through the priest's minds once he comes in and does this?
Speaker 2:We're in trouble now. I think in many ways they were probably indignant because they were the ones that had to approve all of this. Believe me, there wasn't anything going on in that temple area courtyards that they didn't know about or didn't approve. So this was all being done under the authorization and approval of the priests that were there at the time.
Speaker 1:So when Jesus drives out all the sinful prophet-making, it's going to make the priest angry. Look at the middle of verse 18. It says they began seeking how to destroy him. So it was okay for them to plot murder in the temple. Destroy him, so it was okay for them to plot murder in the temple. Suddenly, in their opinions, it wasn't okay for him to set up and increase the righteousness there. He's gathering a crowd and the chief priest could not refute his teaching, so it made them afraid. It says they were afraid because of his teachings. They didn't have an answer for it. Now, at this point, jesus is directly challenging the religious leaders in the temple itself, confronting them directly. They didn't have an answer for him. He's forcing their hand, forcing them to make a decision, and they are very emotional and they're plotting to kill him.
Speaker 1:Now keep in mind that God set up this temple system. I mean, this was God's original plan. Was this temple system? The leaders had not followed the spirit of what God wanted. The whole temple process was God's plan. He had commanded them to do this and they were going through the motions of it, but they weren't doing it in the spirit of righteousness and reverence for God. I submit, steve, the same could happen to us, the same could happen in the church age. The church is divinely set up by God, just like the Old Testament sacrifice systems were, and we are potentially just as able to get off track as they did. If we set up our churches with the primary purpose of honoring God and worshiping Him, then he will bless us. If, on the other hand, we make motions and just mouth the words of honoring God, but we then bring in the world and worldly motivations and fleshly desires into the worship, then I submit we will draw the same anger at the church as the priest did in the Old Testament.
Speaker 2:It's always saddened me to see many of the churches throughout the world that at one time were dedicated to the worship of God, but yet the church lost its first love, stopped being a light and salt to the community and went on a wayward path which eventually led to them being shut down, abandoning the property or selling it. And now the property is a restaurant or even, some places, a nightclub that's used for other purposes, and it's a signal to what you were just talking about. We should always, once something is dedicated to the Lord, we need to follow through with it, make sure that it stays that way, else it reverts back and being used for worldly items.
Speaker 1:So that's all for today, because of time. Next time we'll get into Jesus and the fig tree and what we're going to find is that the fig tree part was just before and just after the part with the money tables that we just saw. So there's a connection there between the cursing of the fig tree and the overturning the tables and we're going to reason through that next time.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.
