Jesus, too, was angry and upset over what the people of God had done to “His House of Prayer.” Jesus’ human instinct flurried into action. Mark and John provided us with their interpretations. The Lord Jesus had a heart for Jerusalem, the temple, and for Israel. Jesus had come to save it, but He was misunderstood. When Jesus spoke of His death, they feared that He had come to destroy the temple.
And they came to Jerusalem. And he (Jesus) entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons; and he would not allow any one to carry anything through the temple. And he taught, and said to them, “It is not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and sought a way to destroy him; for they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city (Mark 11:15-19).
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for thy house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign have you to show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken (John 2:13-22).
And when he (Jesus) drew near and saw the city he wept over it, saying, “ Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days shall come upon you, when your enemies will cast up a bank about you and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and dash you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you; because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.”
And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people hung upon his words (Luke 19:41-48).
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (Matthew 23:37-39).
Just How Disappointed Jesus Must have Been When He Was Rejected by His Own People?
Jesus, Himself, was convinced that He was the fulfillment of Isaiah when He read and professed in Nazareth:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight out the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18-21).
Jesus had come to bring peace as Isaiah and Micah had foreseen and to turn the swords into plowshares (Isaiah 2:4).
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.
For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.
In that day, says the LORD, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away, and those whom I have afflicted; and the lame I will make the remnant; and those who were cast off, a strong nation; and the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and for evermore.
And you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem (Micah 4:1-8).
The prophet Joel, a contemporary of Isaiah and Micah, warned that the time may require the sword and not the plowshares. Before Jesus would face His final task, He, too advised his followers to get some swords because they would be needing them:
“Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare war, stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near, let them come up.
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
Haste and come all you nations round about, gather yourselves there. Bring down thy warriors, O LORD. Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and there I will sit to judge all the nations round about.
Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness, is great.
Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
And the LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heaves and the earth shake. But the LORD is a refuge to his people, a stronghold o the people of Israel.
So you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who dwell in Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy and strangers shall never again pass through it.
And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the stream beds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD and water the valley of Shittim (Joel 3:9-18).
And he (Jesus) said to them, “When I sent you out with no purse or bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” He said to them, ”But Now, let him who has a purse take it, and likewise a bag. And let him who has no sword sell his mantle and buy one. For I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was reckoned with transgressors’’ for what is written about me has its fulfillment.” And they said, “Look, Lord, there are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough” (Luke 22:35-38).
The Prophet and Statesman Daniel was Heavy on Jesus’ Mind
The handwriting on the wall of King Belshazzar, last king of Babylon, feasting with the holy vessels of Israel was a forecast of Judah’s fate. God found his people wanting! And God would allow the prediction of Daniel to come through and end Judea as a nation by the Romans. Here are the words and predictions of Daniel that were carried out by Titus, son of Caesar Vespasian (Augustus) in 70 AD.
And you his son (Nebuchadnezzar’s), Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and the vessels of his house have been brought before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.
Then from his presence, the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians (Daniel 5:22-28).
Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of the Anointed One, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat but in a troubled time. And after sixty-two weeks, and anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing; and the people of the prince (Caesar) who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war; desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with any for one week; and for half of the week he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator (Daniel 9:25-27).
So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; let him who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his mantle. And alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been shortened no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened (Matthew 24:15-22).
But when you see the desolating sacrilege (Caesar’s Bust) set up were it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; let him who is on the housetop not go down,nor enter his house, to take anything away; and let he who is in the field not turn back to take his mantle. And alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days! Pray that it may not happen in winter. For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be. And then if any one says to you ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ oh ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. False Christs and false prophets will arise and show signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But take heed; I have told you all things beforehand (Mark 13:14-23).
The Angry Christ set the World on Fire! And Christ Builds His Church, Which Hell CANNOT HALT
The prophet Simeon told Jesus’ mother: “Behold, this child is et for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35).
The child grew into a man who dared to declare: “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that t were already kindled” (Luke 12:49).
“I tell, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death (hados-hell) shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).
The Lord God gave King Nebuchadnezzar a vision of a “Rock” that was cut loose with human hands, and he granted Daniel the ability to interpret. The “Rock” pointed to the Kingdom Christ would introduce to the world, at the time the Romans were masters over many nations; and they too would decline and end.
You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As You looked, a stone was cut out of no human hand, and it smote the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces; then the iron, the clay the bronze, the sieve, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation. You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the sons of men, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air, making you rule over them all—-you are the head of gold. After you shall arise another kingdom inferior to you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things; and like iron which crushes, it shall break and crush all these. And as you saw the feet and toes partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. As you saw the iron mixed with miry clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be let to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand for ever; just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be hereafter. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure (Daniel 2:31-45).
Stop and Think - Rev Dr. Daniel Kolke 