| | Luke 19:45, Using a Whip of Cords!In the last part of this series on Luke 19, I addressed how all Christians must examine the "temple of the Holy Spirit" and see if it contains anything that is diverting the body and the mind from Jesus. In the case of Luke 19, the temple is contaminated with those buying and selling in it and Christ comes and drives out these buyers and sellers to clean out the temple and attempt to purify the temple. In the last part of the series, I pointed out that as Christians, it is important to drive out anything that is evil in the temples of the Holy Spirit. While it is important to clean out the temple, the Bible gives some instructions on how to clean out all of the temple. These instructions are invaluable when it comes to cleaning out the temple and making the body clean and wonderful temple for the Lord.
Imagine for a moment, a guest house that one owns. This guest house is rather dusty, cluttered, and dirty as it has not been cleaned in quite some time. Then, the owner of the guest house receives a call from one who is very important who needs a house to stay in for a while. This is not a likely possibility in real life situation, but please play along. After receiving this call, what will the owner do? Most likely, if this owner has any sort of integrity, will begin vigorously cleaning the house to assure that this leader is welcome and is not completely disgusted when the house is entered. The owner will probably grab a mop, broom, and vacuum cleaner and clean out this dirty and cluttered house before this important person arrives.
While, some people may not clean this house out, this is an important illustration and it helps to think of this important person as someone who is deeply respected or admired. Imagine that this important person is President Bush or, if the owner is a football fan, Peyton Manning or Michael Vick. Or, imagine that this person is Jesus Christ. Would this house be clean for these people? Or would it be a garbage heap? And if it is cleaned, then how is it cleaned?
In the last paragraph, I asked: If it is cleaned, then how is it cleaned? This is another important question. If one of these important people is to come, how will this house be cleaned? Will the owner only straighten up with his hands and ignore the dirt, dust, and dead flies all over? Certainly not! The owner will probably take a vacuum and sweep all of that junk up with a vengeance. The comparison can be made of this owner and Jesus in the temple. The owner, sees the "impurity" of the house and takes a vacuum to it. Meanwhile, Christ sees this "impurity" and John 2:15 informs all about what Christ does:
So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. (NIV, emphasis mine)
And Luke 19:45 says:
Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling. (NIV, emphasis mine)
A few things can be observed from these verses. First off, Christ does not enter the temple and simply say something like, "shoo." Instead, He "made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area." While the whip may be symbolic, it shows how important this task is and how diligent Christ is in this task. Christ is not going to look at the sin and clutter in the temple with a light hand, He sees it as sin and drives it out as if it pains Him to see it. This temple is to be a house for a very important Person, the Lord God, yet it is cluttered, and Jesus, like the owner, drives everyone out with a whip of cords. The fact that Christ uses a whip of cords shows how the temples of the body should be cleaned out so that it is a clean, holy, and pure place for the Lord.
Additionally, the word "drove" in John 2:15 is the Greek word "ekballo" and means to "to eject" much like a referee may eject a player from a sports competition. Blue Letter Bible also translates the word to mean "cast out, drive out, to send out...with notion of violence." The word also has a root that is "ballo" which basically means "to throw or let go of a thing without caring where it falls." (Blue Letter Bible) None of these translations make the word "drove" look very nice and all of this evidence shows how all Christians should treat sin in the temple of the Holy Spirit.
It is very important that all Christians look at sin and as sin. Christians must look at sin as something that must be thrown out and driven out. Any impurity must be thrown out "without caring where it falls." This series has been concentrating on examining the heart for impurity, learning to cast out all of the impurity, and, right now, learning how to cast out this impurity. When a time for cleaning comes, Christians must not simply say, "shoo" to sin. Instead, all Christians must take a whip of cords and clean out the temple of the Lord with a vengeance.
In any cleaning of the temple of the Holy Spirit, let the prayer of all Christians be the one of David when he says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." (Psalm 51:10, KJV)) |
