John 2:13 And the Jews’ Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem …

Pastor Tony Evans told this story:

“A man once robbed a bank in Ottawa, Canada, stealing $6,000. But the interesting part of the story is this: When they arrested him and took him to jail, they discovered he’d used a 1918 Colt revolver to commit that crime. Now, anyone who knows anything about guns already understands the point of this story. This gun was valued at more than $100,000, yet this man robbed a bank for only $6,000. He could have simply sold the gun and walked away with more than ten times what he got in the robbery. But he didn’t sell the gun because he didn’t know the worth of what he held in his hand.”

When Jesus came to this earth on Our Father’s mission, He came to open our eyes to what is most important.
We are to love God our Savior, and love one another.

We often forget this great truth and, when we do …. Jesus will get your attention. In fact, if you are his, Jesus will whip you!

Jesus Went Up … To The Passover

John 2:13 And the Jews’ Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem …

When we read these words, they really don’t mean much to us. But these words are very significant, for they speak of the grace of God. Our Lord Jesus spent a few days in Capernaum, “Jesus, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days. (John 2:12)”. Jesus spent time with His earthly family because He loved them. Though the Bible says in …

John 7:5 … {Jesus’} brethren {did not} believe in Him …

Though His own family did not believe He was the Messiah, the Promised Savior of Israel (“for He shall save His people from their sins”), Jesus nonetheless loved them. Jesus loved and honored His earthly parents, and spent time with them. But then, Jesus went up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.

We’ve read about the Passover in our Bibles, but we who are Gentiles have a hard time understanding what it was all about. I believe it’s because we never really experienced what the Jews went through. Though I hear of the trials that many go through, I have not walked in their shoes, so it’s hard for me to fully comprehend it.

The Jews came to Egypt through the grace of God in the life of Joseph. At first, Israel had it good in Egypt. But then it went sour. The fickle love of man turned on them. The Jews became enslaved in Egypt. Their lives were miserable. They suffered under the whip, because, though Egypt was initially a place where Israel could rest, over time,

Exodus 1:8 … there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

The Jews became like cattle to the Egyptians. They were beaten. Their sons were killed. Their daughters were made to prostitute themselves to the Egyptians. Israel was horribly treated. The Bible says:

Exodus 1:14 {the Egyptians} made their lives bitter with hard bondage …

Genesis 15:13 records God’s words to Abram, “ Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years”. Israel grew complacent in their love for God while in Egypt, but the whip of the taskmasters awakened their need for the Lord.

The whip of evil often wakes us up to the desperate need we have for the Lord. The whip is a blessing when it awakens us, and turns us to the God Who loves us so!

The Bible says that God told Moses:

Exodus 3:9-10 … the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

God, in His Grace, reaches out to love us every single day. But when we drift away from Him, when we get entangled in our own Egypt, when God becomes less to us than He should be, our life goes through storms. Our joy is robbed from us. There is no quality of life apart from the Lord Who loves you so!

God loved Israel. God told Israel:

Jeremiah 31:3 … I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 8 But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

God loved Israel, so He saved the nation by a “Pass Over”. The “Pass Over” is the event that caused Egypt to release Israel from slavery. In the original Passover, God told Israel in Exodus 12:5-11 to take a “lamb without blemish, a male of the first year, and kill it in the evening. Take it’s blood, and strike it on the two side posts and the upper door post of the house”. God said, “I will pass through the land of Egypt this night … when I see the blood of the lamb, I will pass over you and not destroy you”.

God did exactly as He said He would do. He “passed over” Egypt that first night, so long ago, and where the blood of the Lamb was not found, death came to that home. It didn’t matter whether you were Jew or Gentile, bond or free, male or female (Galatians 3:28), if the blood of the Lamb was not there on the home and in the life, then death came.

That night, God used a whip on Egypt and on Israel. He did not use that whip because He hated anyone. God used the whip out of love. The Blood of the Lamb saves!

Once Israel was freed from Egypt, God instituted the Feast of the Passover to be done annually on that same day.

The Passover Feast celebrates the salvation of God.
The Passover Feast celebrates the love of God.
The Passover Feast is a time to show God love!
The Passover Feast is a time to show love to others!
The Passover Feast is also a shadow, a teaching of the Coming Messiah!

Israel was to take – each family – a lamb or, if poor, two doves to the Temple to sacrifice, and celebrate the Grace and love of God. They did this year after year. But this ritual looked forward to the coming on the GENUINE Lamb of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. John the Baptist identified Jesus as:

John 1:29 the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (see also John 1:36)

The Apostle Peter – writing long after this day we are now studying – said:

1 Peter 1:18-21 … ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain {way of life – the sacrifices, the works of the Law} received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20 {Jesus} verily was foreordained {to be the Lamb of God} before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

Jesus Used The Whip In Love, Not Anger

John 2:13 And the Jews’ Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the Temple …

Jesus went to Jerusalem, and went to the Temple to lovingly worship our God. But when Jesus went to the Temple, He did not see the people loving and worshiping God. Jesus did not see the people loving one another.

Jesus saw a business. He saw buying and selling, profiteering. He saw selfishness, and greed. Jesus did not see love for God, nor love for others.

It is good to read all four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – and compare what each eyewitness (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45-46; John 2:14-22) to Jesus saw. Though John tells us that Jesus took action immediately, the Evangelist Mark tells us:

Mark 11:11 … And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. … 15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple…

Jesus went to Jerusalem, looked around, then went to Bethany for the night. Jesus perhaps was angered by what He saw. But the next day He came back to Jerusalem, and we read:

John 2:14 {Jesus} found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:

Word Study: The “changers of money”, the Greek κερματιστής kermatistḗs, (pronounced ker-mat-is-tace’) “Money Brokers”, would take Roman coins, and exchange them for acceptable Jewish coins. The Romans believed that when a Caesar died that he became a god. Thus the Jews were told not to donate Roman money in the Temple offerings. The kermatistḗs would exchange Roman coins for acceptable Hebrew currency – and make a fat profit on the exchange. They did not do what they were doing out of love for God nor out of love for their fellow Israelis, but out of “the love of money, the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).

The kermatistḗs robbed God. The sellers of oxen, and sheep, and doves, they robbed God. The Passover was a wonderful act of undeserved Grace and Love from God. They should have been loving God. They should have been loving their fellow believers.

John 2:15 And when {Jesus} had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;

Word Study: Jesus “made a scourge of small cords”, a φραγέλλιον phragéllion, {pronounced frag-el’-le-on}. This particular word is used only here in the Scripture. Jesus created this phragéllion or whip out of the bits of rope that had been used to bring the animals into the Temple. Mark tells us,

Mark 11:15… Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple…

Matthew Henry says: “… Jesus made a scourge of small cords, which probably they had led their sheep and oxen with, and thrown them away upon the ground, whence Christ gathered them. ..”

Jesus used His quickly made whip to “scourge” not just the animals, but the people as well. Jesus ran both the BUYERS and the SELLERS out of the Temple. He didn’t run everyone out – just those who were there for the wrong reason. What Jesus did was not an act of anger. Jesus stayed overnight in Bethany, probably at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and the next day chased the buyers and sellers out. What our Lord did was carefully conceived, a response that God the Son gave to the people of God for failing to love God and love others. After Jesus did what He did, the Bible says:

John 2:17 … {Jesus’ disciples} remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

Word Study: Which is a quotation from Psalm 69:9. The word “zeal” is the Greek ζῆλος zēlos, {pronounced dzay’-los} which means “passion, indignation, jealousy for”. Jesus was INDIGNANT against these people. God had saved Israel, a wondrous act of Grace, and established Israel as His Beloved. Israel should be praising God, worshiping God, especially on this, the Day of Pentecost.

• Jesus chased out the SELLERS with a whip. Instead of making a profit, they should have been assisting their fellow believers to worship God in spirit and in truth. Did not God tell the Priests of Israel in the Law:

Leviticus 19:18 … thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord.

The Priests of God should not have allowed this to go on in the Temple. This is a place of worship. If a brother or sister in the Lord had no sacrifice to give God on the Passover, shouldn’t that brother have assisted instead of profiting?

• Jesus chased out the BUYERS with a whip. They were not showing love to God in the offering of their sacrifice. God the Son said,

John 14:15, 21 If ye love me, keep my commandments. … [21] He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

The Apostle also said,

1 John 5:2-3 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

God did not tell His people to sacrifice the Lamb on the Passover just after purchasing it in the Temple.

In Exodus 12:1-11 God told His people that the Lamb was set aside on the tenth day of the Passover month. It was then brought into your home until the fourteenth day of the month (Exodus 12:3, 6). What was the point of this?

The Bible tells us that the Law was a tool that God used to teach us about Jesus Christ and our need for the Savior. The Apostle said:

Galatians 3:24 … the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

The Law cannot save – but it teaches the need of salvation. The Law points to Christ. The Apostle said:

Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

The Lamb that was sacrificed by each family on the Passover was symbolic of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God Who would come to take our sins away. When Jesus began ministering on the earth, God Incarnate, He walked among mankind for 3.5 years or so. When the Passover Lamb was to be chosen, it was to be taken into your very home, and cherished, for over 3.5 days. That Lamb was symbolic of Christ.

By coming to the Passover empty handed, then purchasing a lamb quickly, just before killing it, you violated the Law, the lesson that God was trying to teach. This shows a lack of love for God. If we love God, we do what He says.

God loves us so very much. Jesus addresses those who sell DOVES:

John 2:16 … unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

God made salvation – His Passover – available to all. Though the Passover Lamb was to be slain, there were some families in Israel that were poor, and could not afford a Lamb. To these God our Savior said in:

Leviticus 5:7 …. if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass, which he hath committed, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the Lord; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering”.

Salvation is for all. Jesus Christ came for all. Jesus did not come just for a certain people, but for the very least and the very less. Oh, how God loves you and me!

Bless The Whip The Brings Us To Christ

The Scribes, Pharisees, and Priests were not pleased with Jesus. They came to Jesus, and said …

John 2:18 … the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?

Word Study: The word translated “sign” is the Greek σημεῖον sēmeîon, {pronounced say-mi’-on} which means “an indication, a miracle, a wonder, a token by which a person is distinguished above another”. The Pharisees and Sadducees often sought Jesus for a “sign from Heaven” (Matthew 16:1). They wanted to know “By what authority do You – a mere carpenter’s son – do this?” But Jesus is much more than a carpenter’s Son. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the Son of God Who came to fulfill the Passover. He is what the Passover looked forward to.

Jesus didn’t ask them what I would have asked. I would have asked, “How can you do these things, and say you love God?” But Jesus knew that their hearts had no love for God. So Jesus said simply this:

John 2:19-21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body.

They didn’t understand what Paul would later say:

1 Timothy 1:15 … Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Jesus came into this world on a mission. Jesus did not come to erase the Law, but to fulfill the Law.

Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

No one can be saved by the animal sacrifices. The sacrifices – like the Passover Lamb – were all foreshadows of what Jesus Christ would do on the Cross of Calvary. This Jesus, Who lovingly whipped those in the Temple back to righteousness, would soon be whipped Himself. Jesus knew this was coming. He prophesied of Himself:

Matthew 20:19 {the Pharisees and Chief Priests} shall deliver him {Jesus} to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge mastigóō, and to crucify him {Jesus}: and the third day he shall rise again.

Jesus Christ, the Real Passover Lamb, would die for the sins of the world. He would be scourged. He would be beaten. Not because of anything He did, but because of the sins that we do and did. The Prophet said of Jesus:

Isaiah 55:3-6 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Jesus’ Temple – His Body – would be broken, destroyed, buried. He would die so that we who believe in Him could be inhabited by God, Children of God forever. If you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, believing He died for your sins and rose again for your salvation, then God inhabits your life. The Apostle said:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

The Temple today is every believer in Jesus Christ. The Church building is not a Temple. The Temple is the believer, united with Christ by faith. The Temple is where a relationship with God is.

Do you know Jesus? If so, you are to love God with ALL your heart. You are to love your neighbors as you love yourself. You are to keep His commandments. The Bible says:

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

God bless the whip that brings us to Jesus. God bless the whip that causes us to cry out to the Lord, seeking salvation in Him. God bless the whip that reminds us that we desperately need Jesus – not just for Heaven, but for every day we draw breath on this earth. If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, today would be a wonderful day to give yourself to Him!

Oh how He loves you, oh how He loves me, oh how He loves you and me.

May God the Holy Spirit and His blessed Scripture draw you into the family of God this very day. Amen and amen.