Cleansing the Temple

Aim: To be committed (with our Lord Jesus) to cleansing His temple.

Doctrine: A cleansed church is the passion of all the godly. Nothing else really matters if God's house is not sanctified through ridding it of all idolatry.

Exegesis: The way God would have His churchmen cleanse His temple: first, identify and expose the clutter (and the clutterers) (vv. 4-5); then, condemn all alien intrusion as ''evil'' (vv. 6-7); finally, toss the garbage out (and restore all of Christ's goods) (vv. 8-9).

Further application: Why cleansing the temple is so critically necessary: because failure here dishonors Christ (at the deepest level) and prevents progress in any other area (of life).

Key verse: v. 9 ''Then I commanded them to cleanse the rooms; and I brought back into them the articles of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.''