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Hello, this is Erwin of Second Life. I am speaking from a Church in Second Life on the West Side of the Aqua Region. Last time, we
covered Jesus’ water-to-wine miracle in the Gospel according to John, Chapter 2. Today, we continue onward in the second chapter of John.
Let us pray. Father in Heaven. Please guide us as we learn from your word. Please help us become more like you want us to be. Teach us
how to forgive and to love, Father; please place the love of God within us. “20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that
we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21) Let’s read the next passage, in which Jesus cleanses the Temple. “13 The Passover of the
Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and
the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he
poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away;
do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
(John 2:13-17, ESV) Last week, we covered Jesus’ miracle of changing water to wine, which was a supernatural act. Consider last week’s
reading from John 2:9-10: “9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though
the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine
first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” (John 2:9-10) The fact that the wine
taster was not in on the miracle eliminates the possibility that the effect was purely hypnotic or psychological. You as a reader have to either
believe the water-to-wine miracle happened or else you have to doubt the truthfulness or credibility of the author of the book. There is not
much room for middle ground. This week’s reading is a little different. Even without knowing much about the temple, you can tell that one
man—Jesus—ran a lot of people off with a makeshift whip-of-cords. You could, I suppose believe that something occurred like what
happens in crowds of our day: when someone makes a scene, everyone tends to disburse; everyone tends to move away from a person who
acting oddly. But, the temple courtyard—this is believed to have happened in what is called the courtyard of the gentiles—was quite large. And
Jesus wasn’t running off mere refined city folk, but also those who tended to the full size cattle —the cowboys of the day, if you will. To believe
something of this scale was really done by Jesus, you pretty much have to believe that he had God on his side, because he was woefully
outnumbered. That is what I believe. We don’t really have engineering or architectural drawings of the temple of that day, which is known as
Herod’s Temple, which was the last reconstruction of the Jerusalem Temple in history prior to its destruction by the Romans in
70 AD. What is known, architecturally speaking, of Herod’s Temple is primarily from the writings of historian Joephus and the Jewish
rabbinic literature, with the details sufficiently dispersed that you really need a historian to help you piece together all the fragments of what
known. If you’d like to read further, then a good Bible Dictionary and/or Biblical Encyclopedia is a good place to start. Most good Bible
Dictionaries and/or Bible Encyclopedias have one or more chapters devoted to the long history of the Temple. The first temple was built by
Solomon. See 1st Kings chapter 6 and following, and 2nd Chronicles chapter 3 and following. One sees the Temple referred to as
“the house of the Lord” in 2nd Chronicles 3:1-2, quoting: “3 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount
Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2
He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign.” (2nd Chronicles 3:1-2, ESV). When Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians
around 587 BC, Solomon’s temple was burned, destroyed by fire, and its treasures carried off to Babylon. Quoting 2nd Kings 25:8-9 “8 In the
fifth month, on the seventh day of the month— that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 And he burned the house
the Lord and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.” (2nd Kings 25:8-9, ESV).
Phrases like “house of the Lord” were reserved solely for the Temple at Jerusalem. Throughout the land were buildings/places called
synagogues that served as the local areas of Biblical study and worship; however the term “house of the Lord” was never applied to the
synagogues, but only to the Temple in Jerusalem. You find Jesus teaching in the synagogues throughout the gospels, including in
John 6:59: “Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.” (John 6:59, ESV). You find the Apostles in the
synagogues in Acts, such as Acts 17:2 “And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the
Scriptures,” (Acts 17:2, ESV). Just as the Temple was built by someone rich and powerful, first Solomon, lastly Herod, (as detailed earlier),
so do the synagogues seemed to have been built by rich and powerful patrons, at least in some cases. See Luke 7:3-6: “3 When the
centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus,
they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our
synagogue.”” (Luke 7:3-6). One of the reasons for money changers at the Temple was the need to pay the so-called Temple tax in undefiled
silver, rather than in a coin bearing Caesar’s likeness. The money changers performed that exchange, among others. One sees the origin
of the Temple Tax via the Lord via Moses, generations before Solomon’s Temple was built. Exodus 30:11-15: “11 The Lord said to Moses,
12 “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there
be no plague among them when you number them. 13 Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to
the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone who is numbered in the
census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord’s offering. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the
half shekel, when you give the Lord’s offering to make atonement for your lives.” (Exodus 30:11-15, ESV) One sees Jesus paying the
Temple tax in Matthew 17:24-27: “24 After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax
came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” 25 “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house,
Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from
their own children or from others?” 26 “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. 27 “But so that we
may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin.
Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”” (Matthew 17:24-27, NIV) In our day, sometimes people refer to their local church
building as “God’s house”, but that usage of the phrase a bit of a stretch. Likewise, in our day sometimes people use the word “tithe” to refer to
monetary gifts to their local church organization, though the use of the word “tithe” is a bit of a stretch also. When the two “stretches” are
comingled into the so-called prosperity Gospel, we are dealing with a different Gospel altogether than the one Jesus and the Apostles preach, but
that is a whole ‘nother subject. Here on YouTube, John Piper, who I hold in high esteem, has some wise words of warning about the
prosperity gospel. Also, several books on tithing are very good. Search for authors like Dr. David Croteau (“You Mean I Dont Have to Tithe?: A
Deconstruction of Tithing and a Reconstruction of Post-Tithe Giving, David A. Croteau, ©2010, ISBN 978-1606084052) and also Dr. Russell
Kelly (“Should the Church Teach Tithing?”, Russell Earl Kelly, ©2000, 2007, ISBN 978-0-595-15978-9), each of whom
independently did their Ph.D. dissertations on the subject. If we continue our study through John chapter 4, Lord willing, we will get an
interesting view on the issue of “where to worship” from Jesus. In this passage, I think Jesus makes it pretty clear that the day has
come when we are to worship God in spirit and in truth, rather than in some particular building. Quoting John 4:19-24: “19 The woman said to
him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people
ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will
you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is
coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to
worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”” (John 4:19-24, ESV) Getting back to Jesus
clearing out the temple. The authorities came and ask him what he was doing. Let’s read about in John 2:18-22: “18 So the Jews said to
him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20
The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the
temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the
Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” (John 2:18-22, ESV) So, when the authorities questioned Jesus about his driving of the
merchants and moneychangers from the Temple, Jesus prophesied about his own death and resurrection after 3 days. No one at the
time had a clue as to what he was talking about, but after Jesus was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered and understood. The
Temple built by Herod was destroyed in 70 AD, and has never been rebuilt. Today, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul
teaches so in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from *** immorality. Every
other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body
is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God
in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, ESV) Above the Apostle Paul is basically telling you to clean up God’s temple by cleaning up your
life. So be it. Amen. Let’s wrap it all up. Question: Where is God’s temple today and where do you worship? Answer: Your body is a
Temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, ESV) and the question about “where to worship” is the wrong question. Jesus says to worship in
Spirit and in Truth (John 4:19-24, ESV). What sign do we have that these things are true? When asked, Jesus’ answer pointed to his
death and resurrection in 3 days as the sign. Word! God’s Word. The Word. What Word? “” Let us pray. Let’s pray by reading the Prologue
to the Gospel of John. 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with
God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the
light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was
John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear
witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world
was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did
receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son
from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me
ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given
through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has
made him known. (John 1:1-18). So be it. Amen.