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NASB | John 2:13 ¶ The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 2:13 ¶ Now the Passover of the Jews was approaching, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. |
Subject: is selling in a church building fine? |
Bible Note: Ed, I agree with your resolve that “where God guides, He provides". But I am not sure offering items for sell means a person is selling out their talents and cancels out any hope that their talents will be used for the Lord. Anything can be abused and manipulated, but it seems to me that if God blesses you spiritually thru someone’s ministry, that it would not be wrong for God to continue to bless you thru an item they might offer for purchase or donation and that the money they receive being considered as God’s provision, not money extorted from innocent victims. According to the law, the Jews were required to “pay for their seat” with the Jewish coin “half a shekel” (Exo 30:13). Since Roman currency was what was in current use, the money changers existed because of the required money exchange so the people would be paying their tribute with the proper coin as required by the law. There are several reasons why Jesus drove out the buyers, sellers, and money changers. In Mat 21:13 Jesus quotes the last part of Isa 56:7 which refers to the Temple as “a house of prayer for all nations.” He adds “you have made it a den of thieves” from Jer 7:11. The “all nations” part included the Gentiles. The outer court, where the buying and selling was taking place, was the only place that the Gentiles were allowed. This is where they met to pray. The buying and selling that was going on there was interfering with their worship. The “den of thieves” comes from the fact that the money changers and those selling the “acceptable” sacrifices were extorting money from the people, and at this time of Passover it was very intense. The Temple of Jesus’s day was also a place that God had placed a special glory upon (Hag 2:9 ). This is much different than any church building we have today. So the 3 reasons I see for Jesus clearing the Temple: 1. What was going on was interfering with worship. 2. What was going on was crooked and dishonest. 3. What was going on was violating rules that God had established for the Temple. Of these 3, I think we are still bound by 1 and 2 in the church of today. If we insist that the church building of today has the same rules and regulations as the Temple of Jesus’s day, you would have found me in the parking lot praying today, because I could not even have gone inside. God bless you bro, retxar |