Restore the Temple (Church) (John 2:13-22)

Let us bless one another, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. I hope that this grace will be upon our lives just as we sang in this praise. The title of today’s sermon is, “Restore the Temple (Church).” What is the meaning of the temple and the church? Whenever you restore this, God will work with blessings. Whenever the Israelites did not know the meaning of the temple or church, they were taken as captives or dispersed.

Right now in America, there are a lot of Christians; however, unfortunately we have entered into an age where all the churches are being sold and closed. Through today’s Word, may we receive the solution and blessing of restoring the church. The fact that the churches are closing down means that disasters are spreading at an accelerated rate throughout the world.

If you’re not able to receive spiritual strength and grace, it is evidence that the world is getting darker. If you’re lost or in a state of panic because of your material possessions, then you should know that this world is spinning, centered on material things. That’s why God desires for us to restore the temple and church so that we can restore this world.

If we’re not able to restore the temple and this church, we have no choice but to be colonized and taken captive by the world. In this age when Jesus Christ has come to this earth, I hope that you will look to see how churches were in that period, see how churches are in this period, and make the very clear realization and answer in the Word of God.

Main

1. Passover (John 2:13)
   Three times a year, the Jewish people celebrated three feasts or festivals by giving sacrifices in the Jerusalem. All the Jewish diaspora who had been scattered all around the world gathered at the Jerusalem temple three times a year to give their worship and offering.

1) Jerusalem (John 2:13)
Even now, many Muslims go to the [Dome of the Rock] in Jerusalem and they worship there once a year. It’s very important that you know a little bit about the biblical history. When God first called Abraham, he began by building altars underneath trees. At those altars, God met with Abraham and gave him His Word. Every time Jacob sinned against God, God told him to build an altar and to go back to the place of the altar. In other words, it is the place where God resides and He forgives all of our sins. More than 300 years later, after the Israelites escape from Egypt, God gives them the idea of this tabernacle.

This tabernacle was created, focused on the priests, so that they may worship and give sacrifices there. From the altars of Abraham all the way to the tabernacle, the main central point of all of this worship is the covenant of Genesis 3:15, the offspring of the woman. Only through Christ, the Messiah, can we come to God; that is why Abraham spilled the blood and built an altar.

Now that there were too many people in the Israelite community, they could no longer give individual sacrifices, so God gave them the idea of the Tabernacle where the entire community can join as one in worship, receiving forgiveness of their sins, and receiving grace from God as they worshiped.

2) Temple
At the final stage of the Tabernacle, God gave David the thought of building a temple for the Ark of the Covenant. David had this heart of wanting to create a Temple for the Ark of the Covenant so that the Ark of the Covenant did not have to move around, but could stay in the same place. That Temple was built during Solomon’s reign, so that’s why it’s called Solomon’s Temple, but other people refer to it as David’s Temple.

After awhile, they again lost the main essence of worship and service. Because they lost hold of the essence of worship, that is, Jesus Christ, the offspring of the woman, the blood of the Passover Lamb, they went back into idolatry. Because they lost hold of the covenant and fell into idolatry, Babylon came and conquered them, dispersing all the people as well as the temple.

Seventy years later after that, they came back and built the Temple of Zerubbabel. As soon as the Israelites returned back to Israel, God gives them the command to build the Temple. The Temple that Jesus Christ visited in today’s passage is called Herod’s Temple, which was Zerubabbel’s Temple but was [remodeled] to make it bigger and grander.

Herod, the one who built that temple, was not an Israelite; he was a Gentile king who was ruling over Israel, and in order to create popularity for himself and gain the favor of the Israelites, he began to build Herod’s Temple, which means he was using this temple as a political instrument. He took 46 years to build that temple.

3) Requirements to Enter the Temple
In order to go to the temple to give a sacrifice, you couldn’t go empty-handed. The animal that you bring for the sacrifice to spill the animal’s blood must be perfect. It should not have any defects or flaws; it should not be bruised or anything. And, in order to enter into the temple, they couldn’t enter for free. They had to pay the temple tax which was half of a shekel.

This also means that all the Israelite people who had been scattered all throughout Rome had to come back to the Jerusalem temple and change out all the Roman currency for the Israelite currency. These are just the regular, everyday things that had to happen in order for you to enter into the Temple.

2. State of the Temple
   Then, the passage that we read speaks about the state of Herod’s Temple when Jesus Christ went. Because they expanded this Temple to be very large, there was a courtyard for the gentiles there.

1) Courtyard of the Gentiles
In the Temple, there must be a location specifically for nonbelievers to come. That means it is not a temple that is only for the Israelite, Jewish people. God always creates a temple that has a courtyard for the Gentiles and for the little children to roam. You’re not supposed to exchange animals or money in those courtyards. There needs to be a separate location for that outside.

The Israelite people should always have a Courtyard for the Gentiles for nonbelievers to give sacrifices to the Lord as well, but they converted that area into a marketplace to sell animals and exchange goods. That’s not a change that happened overnight but that is a state that resulted from many years of going this way.

There’s a 400-year gap between Malachi 1 being written and when Jesus Christ comes to earth. In Malachi 1, we can see that Israel was already in a state of corruption. Malachi 1 states that the Israelites brought sacrifices and offerings to the Lord, but all the offerings would be animals with defects, broken arms, diseases, or animals that they stole from someone else. It means that they lost the core essence of the reason why God wanted them to give this sacrifice at the temple. It had simply become a religious habit for them.

In the age of Malachi, the people did not really want to go to worship, but they had an obligation to go to worship, so they simply went there, marked off their attendance, and then left. They stayed in that state for a long time, and then they were completely colonized by Rome, and that’s their current state. That’s the result that happens when you lose hold of the meaning of the temple, worship, and sacrifice.

People think like this, “So who cares if this leg has a broken leg, a disease, a defect, or if I stole it? The important thing is that I’m coming here to worship, aren’t I?” That person has already spiritually collapsed. The priests were turning a blind eye to that. For example, if someone is coming to Jerusalem from abroad, they cannot bring their own animals, so they’re able to buy animals outside of the temple.

If this becomes even more severe and extreme, even people who bring perfect and flawless animals will have to exchange their animal with the animals given by the church or temple. Then, inside of the marketplace, all the merchants would take the profit they received from the people who were visiting the church, and they would split the profits with the priests. That’s was the state of the Temple.

2) Jesus’ Anger
Jesus Christ saw this and couldn’t sit still. He didn’t simply smile and pass by it. He made cords and whips. “Oh, how could Jesus make a whip? He’s supposed to be love.” You only say that because you don’t know Jesus very well. Sometimes Jesus gets mad too, in other words, there is a time when God has wrath and vengeance. If you don’t know that, then you’re in the midst of wrath, but you don’t even know why you’re there.

Jesus made these whips out of cords and the reason is so that He could drive all the animals out of the temple courts. If he releases the pigeons, however, they would be gone forever, so he takes the cages and tells the owners of the pigeons to live. Then, he overturns all their tables upon which they were exchanging money.

“Wow, does Jesus overturn tables too? I thought only demon-possessed people would overturn tables, or people with anger management issues would do that.” But Jesus really did overturn tables. I believe He did it because it says it here, that he overturned the tables.

“But Jesus is love; why is he getting mad? He shouldn’t be getting mad and overturning tables.” But Jesus was mad, and God also gets mad. God is not always smiling upon us; there are times He is mad. God is angry and pours His wrath upon everyone who does not follow His Word and wherever there is sin.

If you don’t want to receive the wrath of God, you must restore the meaning of the Temple, Church, and worship in order to receive God’s blessing. However, this situation was not a situation that happened randomly, but you can see in verse 17 that this was actually the fulfillment of a prophecy of Psalm 69:9. It says, “Zeal for your house shall consume me,” so this is the background information of the temple and the environment we’re in.

3) Temple
The Israelite people were actually very strongly obsessed and focused on the concept of the Temple. Even now, there is an endless war going on between the Israelites and the Muslim people because they are trying to restore the temple. The temple of David is right in the middle of Muslim territory. Why are the Jewish people so obsessed with the Temple? Because there is a topic that Solomon prayed for after building the temple.

In 2 Chronicles 6:18, [but starting with] 6:2, Solomon says, “I have built this temple for the Lord. In verse 18 it says, “But will God really dwell on earth with man?” It means that the temple is the location where God is dwelling and residing on earth. But God is not only restricted to the temple. The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain God; that means that God is everywhere.

“How could God be restricted to just this temple I have built?” But you can see how strongly the Jewish people are obsessed with this temple. When Jesus was a small child, he went to the temple with his parents, and Mary and Joseph lost Jesus. They looked for three days to find little Jesus, and after the third day, they found Him in the temple court.

In Luke 2:49, how does Jesus respond to that? “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Jesus Christ is responding, “Where were you looking for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house? I had to be where the Father God is.” However, this temple of Herod is actually broken down 70 years later.

In Matthew 24:2, Jesus Christ promises that He will break down this temple and not one stone will be left upon another. Ultimately, a Gentile named Titus comes and breaks down the entire temple. Why do you think he did that? Because there was a rumor spreading across the land that, in between the bricks, gold was hidden, so this army comes into Israel and breaks down and destroys the whole temple, looking for this gold. What does this mean?

Even after building the temple, why does the temple get broken down and torn apart? Why do the churches keep collapsing? Because Herod’s Temple was not built in faith in the covenant; Herod’s Temple was built for their own political benefit. That is why, from God’s perspective, He had to destroy that temple. If you build a temple so that you can gain glory from the world, that is the reason why God breaks down the church. If you are doing a temple construction that will only elevate human power and human success, then God will break it down.

So in today’s day and age, why are the churches disappearing? Is it that people are not diligent enough? It is because they have lost the central core of worship, service, and temple which is Jesus Christ. It means that there are many people coming into the churches as a marketplace, for selling goods. The temple is a place where we give worship and restore the answer of our lives and receive grace, but instead we are using it as something to benefit our lives.

Even pastors who use the church as a way to show their own glory will be broken down, and that’s why businesspeople flock to the churches as a method for business networking, or they gather in churches as a means to eat food. Or, people only come to church so they can have fellowship, hanging out and talking with each other about the world with friends here. Then, that individual person will collapse. Why does that individual have no choice but to collapse?

3. Church
   Even though Jesus Christ is driving out all the animals and creating such a ruckus, the people, especially the priests, cannot say anything because they’re caught in their conscience. In verse 18, the Jews responded to Jesus, “What signs can you show us to prove Your authority to do all this?” They can’t really do anything to stop Him because they have a guilty conscience; they know they did something wrong. So they look at Jesus and say, “Why are You doing this? Are You saying You’re a higher authority than the priests?” What is that sign of authority?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days.” At this, the Jews responded, “This person is crazy! It took 46 years to build this temple, and He said He would restore it in three days?” In these people’s minds, they’re only thinking about the temple as something that is constructed out of stone, the physical location where God resides.

1) Temple
The fact that Jesus says that he can build it in three days means what? Verse 21 says, “Jesus Christ was speaking about His body, which is the Temple.” Jesus’ body is the temple, but what does that mean? During the Age of the Tabernacle and the Age of the Temple, and now in this age, the Age of the Church, what does this mean? During the Age of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle represents Jesus Christ only. During the Age of the Temple, Jesus Christ was the central core of the Temple, and now in the Age of the Church, Jesus Christ is still the central core of the Church.

Why did Jesus Christ say three days? Because Jesus Christ was speaking about his death and resurrection after three days, so that’s why if you miss this content or any point in the Old Testament, that is why you serve idols, and if you serve idols, you will colonize by Babylon and the Temple will be destroyed.

What is the reason why the churches and churchgoers are collapsing in this age? Is it because they’re not educated enough or not skilled enough to make money? That’s not the problem. 1 Corinthians 3:16 says that you yourselves are the temple of God because the Spirit of God dwells within you. It means that the central core of the temple is Jesus Christ. We have died on the cross with Christ, and now the life of Christ lives within me.

“I’m a temple, and the central core of the temple is Jesus Christ, but instead, I’m centered on myself or on money, or the core of my life is success.” Such an individual will collapse. This is today’s Word. All throughout the Old Testament, why is it that the Israelite churches and temples were broken down and scattered? Why are the churches and church members of the current age collapsing and the church members being colonized by the world? It is because they are not able to restore the church because Jesus Christ Himself is the temple.

When Jesus Christ comes into our life as Master, the Temple is restored. However, the ideologies of the world are controlling me and the principles of money that the world talks about are controlling me. I need to give worship that has bought my life, but it’s not working out that way. What is living worship? Jesus Christ, within you as your Master, Savior, and Creator, living and worshiping. That is living worship.

Why are you taken captive by the world whenever you go into the world? It’s because you’re not able to restore the temple. You can restore the temple while you’re in the church, but while you’re in the world, it’s gone. Then, just as it was according to the Bible, your life is just like the Temple, collapsed and destroyed with spiritual, mental, and physical problems.

2) Church
Today, Jesus Christ said His body is the temple, and Ephesians 1:23 says, “The body of Jesus Christ is the church.” It says that God has made Jesus Christ the head of the church, and that the church is Jesus Christ’s body, so that the Age of the temple and the Age of the Church are different. Now, we have become the Temple and the body of Jesus Christ is the church.

Who is the body of Christ? Every individual who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord becomes a part of the body of Christ, and that’s why we call each other the limbs. Then, who is the head of this church? Ephesians 1:22 says it is Jesus Christ. What does that mean? The owner of our individual selves is Christ, and when these individual people gather together, the body that is formed by the limbs is headed by Jesus Christ. We’re talking about the restoration of that church.

Then, who are the individuals within that church who are not able to fulfill the role of the church? They are the people who are in a state where Jesus Christ is not their master. The fact that you’re worrying over financial matters means that money is your master. If you’re suffering because of your human relationships, it means that your core center is on people.

If you’re suffering because of your worries about the future, then you’re suffering because you are the master of your future. So, the correct church and correct temple is a place where all the members of the church are able to individually restore the church through worship. If people are not able to restore that, we volunteer and devote to help them restore this so that, when even nonbelievers come into the church, we can restore the temple within them. That’s why we have a courtyard for the Gentiles.

So even if the outside appearance may be a church, if the content of the church has been altered, that church will be destroyed eventually. Everything will be broken down and dispersed. All the fake churches will be dragged around by the world.

However, we can see the inner image of the Early Church. Acts 2:42 says that they gathered and devoted themselves to the Apostle’s teaching and they had fellowship with one another regarding the Word they had received. If the church members are only talking about politics or sports, that is a church that has physically collapsed. Fellowship in terms of a restored church means that you are having fellowship regarding the words of Christ. We’re talking about the fellowship where children of God, who have collapsed in the world, come to church to receive the Word and grace and to share with one another.

They also devoted themselves to the breaking of bread, so you eat and drink here. When Jesus Christ was growing up, He ate and drank so the church should have those, too. The church also includes food and drink. However, if someone only utilizes the church as a means to eat and drink, that person has collapsed. The church is a place where you give worship and pray, but if you use it at a hotel, that person has collapsed.

There are people who stay at the church because they want to pray in the church and devote to the church 24 hours a day, and the church is also a place where you can devote to prayer. That is how the Holy Spirit works. The Holy Spirit that dwells within us only works in power when we pray. So, the church and worship is a place where you bring the suffering and problems from the world and you bring them down before Jesus Christ, and He gives you His Word and grace. He gives you strength and the solution to your problems, then you’re able to have the true, genuine fellowship where you’re able to forum and sympathize with each other in the church. That is the image of the correct church which resembled the Early Church.

3) World
Today, we are living with an incredibly big mission. Europe is already going through an age where all the churches are broken down and closed. England has already closed most of their churches, and already, a lot of the European countries are being dominated by Muslims. Even now, more than 10,000 churches are being closed down every year. During the age when America was very prosperous materialistically and mentally was because they were spiritually well and churches were going along well. But now, we are before an age where the churches are disappearing.

In this age, God is giving us the word of John 2 because He wants to restore the church with the true gospel. Now, instead of the temples, we have church buildings, and that’s why this location for worship is so important, because the church is the location where the gospel of Christ will continue being proclaimed, for training and healing. Until the day of Jesus Christ’s second coming, the church and churchgoers are the ones who are able to understand the suffering of the world and to give the solution and the answer to the world, and to heal and train people. That’s why the church is so important.

There is so much suffering in the world that people are turning to transcendental meditation to ease their suffering. I want to tell you this absolutely: the meditation that is spoken about in the world may give you momentary and temporary peace in your heart, but they will never be able to solve the fundamental spiritual problems that can only be solved through Jesus Christ. God’s desire is that we will become a true church in this age that is able to give the true answer to those who are suffering.

In the schools, they’re giving an education that lacks Christ. That’s why, even in the schools, we need to raise up churches that are able to proclaim this correct gospel. America is covered in the New Age culture, and movies are used to change the environment and emotions and the culture of the people. Music also completely seizes people, controlling their emotions and over people themselves, giving them strength and courage, so it means that people are getting the incorrect answers. So, you must become the healthy congregation members who are able to restore worship and the Temple and are able to give the answer to the suffering in the world.

Conclusion

1. I Am the Temple
   In conclusion, in order to restore yourself, Jesus Christ must be the master of your life. You give everything up to Him and receive the guidance of His Word. You live only by His strength, and we are only living on this earth to fulfill His will. That is a person who is spiritually restored.
2. Gathering of Church Members is the Church
   When people like that gather, that is the church. Then, if there is anyone in the church who is not able to restore oneself like that, that is why you need to serve and pray for them.
3. The World to Become the Kingdom of God…
   Even in the world, there are people who have been prepared to become children of God. We have the role of finding those people, giving them the gospel, and changing them into saved children of God. Through today’s Word, I pray that you will be able to restore your personal spiritual state as well as restoring your family and restoring the correct church with the accurate gospel.

Let us pray together holding onto the Word we have received so that you yourself and all the congregation members may restore the church, and so that you may also restore all the people in the world who are prepared to become children of God.