John & 1,2,3 John | Lecture 5 : BC301-John-20260824

[laughter] Okay. Yeah. So, we'll uh begin. The recording is running, right? It is. Okay. So, can we have someone open with a word of prayer? Just commit the class into the Lord's hands. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Lord, this wonderful time that you given us, Lord, that you are learning about your word, Lord Jesus. Lord, Lord, you give us more understanding from your word, Lord Jesus. Lord, you open our hearts and open our mind, Lord. Lord, I submit to mam in your mighty hands, Lord, that whatever she is teaching us that we have to understand and go deeper way, Lord Jesus. Lord, Holy Spirit, you guide us, Lord Jesus. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. Yes. Oh yes. Good morning Rajes. Um all right. So we are um still at the in chapter one but almost at the end of chapter one. Uh we we looked at Jesus you know uh choosing recruiting his first initial disciples. And uh so we looked at the story of Andrew and Simon Peter and Philillip and we started looking at Nathaniel. Nathaniel was under the impression that nothing good can come out of Nazareth because Nazareth was not considered one of the uh spiritually superior places. There were no ironic leaders. There were no Levite uh spiritual teachers. So they felt the general impression was that nothing good can come out of Nazareth. But this is where Jesus chose to you know establish himself and have his main uh center of ministry. So um so we we'll begin in chapter 1 verse 47 onwards and uh so if we could have someone read out the remaining you know verses of chapter 1 all the way from verse 47 up to verse 51 please. When Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching, he said of him, "Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit, how do you know me?" Nathaniel asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." Then Nathaniel declared, "Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel." Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that." He then added, "Very truly I tell you uh you will see heaven heaven open and the angels of God ascend ascending and descending on the son of man." >> So uh in the same way God spoke over Simon Peter. Here we see uh you know Jesus speaking over Nathaniel also. He recognizes what he is like on the inside and he says that this is a man in whom there is no deceit. He's frank. He's open. He doesn't think one thing inside and say another thing outside. He is uh open in what he says. Uh so um Jesus recognizes and appreciates that about him. Uh but the reason that Nathaniel places his faith in Jesus is because Jesus gives a word of knowledge and tells him that you know before Philip came and met you you were actually sitting under a fig tree. So that's uh that's information which Jesus could not have known you know unless the Holy Spirit has revealed that to him. So when um Nathaniel hears that then he says you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. And then Jesus says because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You know that's the reason that you have believed. Uh but there'll be much greater things which you will see which will you know cement your belief even more. You will be able to believe in me even more once you see those greater things. And he says to him, "You will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man." Uh if you if you notice over here in verse 49, Nathaniel calls Jesus the son of God and Jesus refers to himself as son of man. There's a contrast between these two terms over here. And uh so we don't really know whether uh Nathaniel actually saw this vision or whether Jesus was using symbolic language. Maybe Nathaniel at some point had a vision in which he saw you know Jesus um with angels and ascending and descending or maybe Jesus was just using symbolic language. If Jesus was using symbolic language to refer to something, what do you think was this imagery? you know, angels ascending and descending. Does anything else in the Bible come to your mind when you talk about angels ascending and descending? Um, Old Testament >> Jacob. >> Exactly. Yes. Right. So, uh, in that uh, dream which Jacob has, this is what he sees. So let's uh you know go there to Genesis chapter 28 and then if someone can just read out that relevant portion for us. Uh Genesis 28 verse12 and then we'll see why Jesus used that terminology here. He had a dream in which he saw a straight stairway resting on the earth with its top its top reaching to heaven and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. >> Yeah. And then when he sees this stairway in the morning when he wakes up, this is what he says. So if you can read out verses 16 and 17. When Jacob woke awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place? This is none none another none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven." >> Yeah. So he sees a stairway. The stairway is connecting heaven, earth, and heaven. And so he says, "This is the gate of heaven." And maybe this is the way you enter into heaven by know by going up this staircase. So uh that is what Jacob thinks when he sees his dream. Now Jesus is using the same terminology and Jesus is saying you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man. So uh Jesus calls himself son of man and he seems to be indicating I am that staircase the one that you know that gate of heaven through which people can go into heaven. So here Jesus is already indicating the fact that he is the only gate the only entry point through which you can enter into heaven. There are no other entry ways. And why does he use the term son of man? That is something that he is using to because you know he's talking to Nathaniel. If he was talking to Simon Peter, he would have used simpler terms. But Nathaniel is someone who's probably more familiar with the scriptures because you know he thinks that he's very learned. He thinks no there's no good in Nazareth because in Nazareth people are not that learned. So he's talking to a learned man. And so Jesus specifically says, you know, you will see the angels ascending and descending on the son of man. And so if for us to understand what this reference is, if we were to go to our Daniel chapter 7 13 and 14 and if someone can read out that there it talks about the son of man prophecy about someone who will be who will one day come as the son of man. So Daniel 7 13 and 14 if someone could read out. >> In my vision at night I looked and there before me was one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power. All nations and people of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. So here in this vision which Daniel sees in the vision he sees the ancient of days which would be basically God the father and he sees the son of man who is Jesus coming and standing in front of the father and the father gives him authority, glory, sovereign power over all nations and peoples. And so the son of man is not just a man. He is someone very very powerful. And so the angels are going to ascend and descend and the son of man will be giving instructions saying go and do this go and do that. So you know it's the the son of man in all of his authority. So here uh we don't know whether Nathaniel actually saw a vision later on of Jesus you know as the son of man. But if Jesus was just using symbolic language he's basically saying I am the one who's going to be there with all authority. Angels will be coming to report to me. I will be telling them what to do and then they will go and do whatever they are required to. So um so Jesus portrays himself as that powerful person not just someone who can tell you whether you were under under a fig tree or not but someone who has all authority and to whom even angels will come to take take instructions and go and give out messages you know received from him. Uh so so this is basically the introduction that John uh you know that John gives us using the words of John the Baptist about who Jesus is, what he will do. Now that the introduction is finished, we are moving into chapter 2. So in chapters 2 to 4, Jesus is going to have encounters with very specific people, very specific groups of people. And um so there are some I think four or five of those encounters mentioned in this next three chapters. The very first encounter is when he goes you know to that wedding where he is attending the uh wedding feast in Canaa and uh we when we were having our intro we talked about how there are seven signs which John mentions in his gospel. He doesn't refer to them as miracles. Rather he refers to them as signs as sign board. It's like a big sign board with an arrow mark saying look look at the look in the direction that I'm pointing. If you go in this direction then you will reach heal. So over here you know this like a big sign board saying look look at what Jesus did over here. This is a clear indication that the he is the son of god the messiah whom we have been waiting for. So the very first sign board is this feast, wedding feast at Canaa. That's the very first sign uh which Jesus performs pointing towards who he is indicating who he is going to be. And uh so we [clears throat] will look at that you know people generally wonder what's the big deal you know he takes water and he turns it into wine. In what way is that significant? In what way is it one of the major sign boards pointing towards him being the Messiah? So we will actually look at the spiritual significance of what took place over there. Uh so uh let's begin with the maybe with just verses verses 1 to three. Yeah. On third day a wedding took place at Canaa in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there and Jesus and his disciple disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." Okay. So, you know, let's just uh first of all understand the background of wine in the biblical context. Um, you know, they didn't exactly have biscary water back then. You know, they didn't have uh uh disinfectants which can, you know, disinfect the water supply which comes from the municipality. You know, we have all those amenities today and we don't even think about it. But then it's literally just water which is there you know from underground which is coming out uh in the form of springs or it is basically water from your rivers not exactly pure water because that's the water which they would be using for you know cleaning purposes for you know washing their clothes you know so it's not exactly clean water so they would generally add a little bit of wine to their water uh to to disinfect the water. It was just like a health measure which they would take and you know basically when you're having your drinking water sitting at the you know at your um supper not table they didn't use tables for food but yeah when they would sit together to eat you know even children will be drinking that water. So it's not uh heavily um heavily filled up with wine. you it's basically uh according to some scholars they will say yeah one portion of wine is added to 20 portions of water so that it it's 20 to1 so it's just a little bit of wine which is being added to your water to disinfect the water in case they know there's bacteria they did not know about bacteria back then but yeah you know basically it will disinfect the water however when you go to a feast they will not basically give you that diluted stuff you know which Even when children drink here, of course, you would be actually having real wine which you know which is um which is not diluted. So yes, it is possible for a person to get drunk when they drink the wine which is not diluted with water. So the Jewish people looked down on drunkenness. They did not approve of it. They understood that it's a disgraceful thing. So most respectable people would not drink to such an extent where they will get drunk. They would use their common sense and they would just have a little bit of wine um as part of the celebrations and then there would be some people who are out of control who do not know anything about discipline and so they would overdrink and get drunk and make fools of themselves. Uh so here uh this wine which is being served it's it's a celebration wine. So it's not diluted and uh why was this wine served? It is supposed to be a symbol of um celebration indicating that this couple which is getting married is going to have a joyful prosperous life and the wine indicates that. So you know the the people who are uh uh who are conducting the wedding would see to it that there's enough supply of wine so that people will not get a bad impression. People will will know will will not think oh there's no wine at all at this wedding. This couple are not going to have a prosperous and joyful life. So they would see to it that there's enough wine to indicate this couple which is getting married they are going to have their lives filled with prosperity. there will be joy overflowing in their uh wedding union. Okay, so that's the indication. So if the wine runs out, it's like as if you know um it's like a bad omen, you know, I mean Jewish Jewish people were not supposed to believe in superstitions and omens first of all, but it was like you know those who are not really growing in the Lord, they would believe in superstitions and omens. If the wine runs out, it's like as if you're saying, "Oh, this couple, they're not going to have a very joyful life." So, it is very very important that the wine should not run out. And so, the mother who, you know, Jesus' mother who's probably close to the family who is conducting the wedding, she comes to him and asks him whether he can help out in any way. And so, at that time, this is what Jesus replies. That would be verse four. If someone could just read out only verse four. >> Woman, why why do you involve me? Jesus replied, my ass has not yet come. >> Okay. So, first let's deal with the term uh woman. Uh in our modern day, you know, if someone were to come to me and they call me woman, I would give them a piece of my mind because that's not polite talk. But in their language, when Jesus was using the word woman, he was using a very respectful term. It's like madam or ma'am you know. Uh so here he's not addressing his mother as mommy because that's not the relationship which is you know you know being worked out here. She's coming to him in his official capacity and asking him you as you know being who you are can you help in some way. So she's not uh so he does not address her as his mother. He addresses her as her savior. So he you know in a in in a disconnected way he's he's saying to her ma'am my hour has not yet come. I have not yet received permission from the father to start moving in miracles. I need to wait for his timing. Only then I can act. So at the moment I cannot do anything. So for Jesus it was most important later on we will see this in the in John's gospel. He says what I see the father doing that I do. He does not do anything apart from what the father has revealed to him. So only if the father tells him to do something, he will do it. He will not take any step, any action, any ministry without first receiving instructions from the father telling him to go ahead and do it. So here he's very clearly saying my hour has not yet come. I have not yet received permission to start my public ministry. And uh so he that's why he doesn't talk to her as a as as as uh you know his mother because as a son he will do whatever his mother tells him to do. But now he's not acting in his in his position as son. He's acting in his position as messiah. So he needs to follow what his heavenly father is telling him. So he says my hour has not yet come. And she does not pressurize him. She does not you know insist. She just leaves the matter in his hands. such a a lovely attitude, you know, after all she's his mother who brought him up so she can actually pressurize him and you know um you know say something but she does not she backs off. She's respectful of who he is I know in in his official capacity. She just says to the servants whatever he tells you to do you do it. So no more pressuring and that's a very lovely way that we can approach the Lord. You know sometimes we say Lord you do it this way you solve this problem in this way and you make those people cooperate with me in this way. It's our us insisting that he should do it our way but here uh she backs off and she tells the servants whatever he tells you to do you just do that. So she just leaves it in the lord's hands and um then you know we we we we get the impression that uh you know god does the father does give him the permission to start off his public work uh because then he starts giving instructions on what they should do. So based on that verse which is there which we will be covering later where he says only what I see the father doing that I do. We know that here he did not act on his own. He must have now received official permission from the father to start off his public ministry. And so now he you know he starts uh doing his work of miracles. So we see Jesus showing complete submission and obedience to the father. If you and I want our ministry to be really fruitful and blessed, then it would really help if we can start waiting for instructions from him rather than running around here and there doing our own thing. Just because everyone in my town does ministry in this way, I also want to do it in this way is a rather weak argument. It would be you would be much more powerful in your ministry if you would go to your Lord every morning and say, "Lord, you're ask you you placed this calling on me. what do you want me to do? Whom other people you want me to contact? How do you want me to go about it? It really makes a huge difference. So Jesus didn't randomly go around doing ministry the way the Pharisees did ministry, the way John the Baptist, the popular man did ministry. He waited for his own set of instructions from his heavenly father. And so that is why we see that some people walk in power in their ministry because they have this connection with their heavenly father. He tells them what to do. He tells them where to go. He tells them what steps to take. So they move in power. And so this is a great help. Here we see Jesus now receiving instructions from the Holy Spirit and doing exactly what he is being told to do. So um we we come to our next verse, verse six. And uh yeah, if you could just read out that one single verse. Um okay, maybe even verse okay. Yeah, just verse six. Yeah. Nearby stood six stone water jars. The the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing each holding from 20 to 30 gallons. >> Yeah. Now look at that. Look at the size of these water jars. These are these huge almost like big tanks I know. So which means if each of those water jar can contain around 20 to 30 gallons of water if you you know translate that into our Indian um you know metric system liters 568 L of water because it's everyone is going to wash their hands and feet using that water. So it's a large water supply for a huge bunch of guests who have come to a wedding. So that's basically 568 L of water or 150 gallons. That's the amount of water there is. Now do you think any human being needs that much wine? 568 L of wine even for a wedding. Isn't that a little too much? So let's look at the significance of what's happening over here. Um so if you could maybe read out the next next verse, verse seven. Yeah. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." So they filled they filled them to the brim. >> Yeah. There's going to be an overflow of wine over here. There's something being acted out in the spiritual realm. There's something some prophecy being fulfilled over here. So let's go to our Joel chapter 2. You know, which we New Testament people are very familiar with. Joel chapter 2 24. if you could read out Joel 2 verse 24 because Joel 2 is going to be talking about a time when the Messiah will come and what are the things which will happen when the Messiah comes right so Joel 2 verse 24 >> the threshing floor shall be full of grains the vats shall overflow with wine and all Yeah, you know, and then a few verses later, if you go into your verse 28 and read out that, and it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your son and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men will young men shall see visions. So this chapter is basically talking about all the events which will take place once Jesus comes once Jesus fulfills you know what he has come to do. Uh so here uh it says that the vats will overflow with new wine and this is basically what Jesus is doing over here because there is a significance to what he is doing and then once his work is finished uh you know then the holy spirit is poured out on all the people that's that happens on the day of pentecost when the holy spirit is poured out. So all these events take place one after the other according to Joel chapter 2. Um and um okay so just keep that in mind and then we will look at a few more verses and then get back to another word of prophecy. Um so if you can maybe read out verses 8 up to verse 11 because there's something which is which you know which is said in verse 11 which is significant. So if you can read out in your John chapter 2 8 to 11. Yeah. >> Then he told them now draw some out uh and take it to the masters of master of the banquet. They did so and the master of the banquet st uh tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it where it had come from. Though the servant who had drawn the water knew uh then he called the bridegroom aside and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink, but you have saved the best till now." What Jesus did here in can Canaa of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory and his disciple believed in him. Yeah. So in your verse 11 it says this was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him. uh know if someone could be kind enough to go and bring this charger uh because this thing. Yeah, thanks. Okay, so uh yeah, so it says that he revealed his glory and this I this always puzzled me. I mean it's nice he helped that family. He turned the water into wine but what is the great glory in just turning water into wine? It seemed like a rather small thing to me. uh and until I understood you know the read the commentaries and understood the background uh this is actually pointing to your Isaiah chapter 25 vers 6 to8 you know where it talks about how the best wine the finest wine is going to be released you know Isaiah 25 6 to8 on this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all people a banquet of edged wine, edged wine, the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations. He will sh uh swallow up death forever. The son Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces. He will remove his people's uh disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken. >> Yeah. So here uh this celebration which is being done on this mountain. You know in the prophecy it's a celebration which is being done because in verses 7 and 8 this Messiah is going to do something amazing. It's like you know there's a shroud which is covering all the peoples of the world. There's a sheet which is covering all the nations of the world. It's a death shroud. You know, after a person passes away, we cover them with a cloth, right? Right up to the face, we cover them. So, it's like death is covering all the peoples of this world. And what is this Messiah going to do when he comes? He will swallow up death forever. So, the celebration which God Almighty offers the peoples it's to to celebrate this great event where death itself is going to be swallowed. And that is why If you could just mute yourself please Shiraj if you could. Yes. Thanks. Yeah. Thank you. Um okay. Yeah. Uh so uh so here in the small place Canaa of Galilee where Jesus is you know has done this small miracle where you have basically 568 L of wine being created you know it's an indication that something greater is going to come a day will come when he will swallow up death itself and then the shroud which is covering all the peoples of the earth will just be removed. Anyone who accepts him will pass from death into eternal life. They will die physically, but they will live in God's presence eternally forever and ever. Death will no longer be have a hold over them. Death will lose its sting. So this is the greater event that you know Jesus is pointing towards. So that is why this is a signboard one. The first main sign boards indicating that look the prophecies of the old testament are getting fulfilled in this Jesus. He is the one through whom death is going to be defeated one day. Okay. So that is why this little um you know um miracle which took place in a small place called Cana is so significant. It's talking about the glory of Jesus that he is the one who will one day defeat death itself. Okay. So once we understand the overall context then we understand why this particular um you know miracle is so significant. So before we you know move on from here um just a word of advice to all of us you know who are you know listening uh so yes in that culture they were drinking wine but then today when you have a such a huge you know variety of beverages available I don't really think it's necessary for us believers to be indulging in something which if taken ex excessively can cause us to behave in a way which will completely dishonor ourselves and dishonor families and dishonor the Lord, right? I mean, you have uh such a variety of, you know, um non-alcoholic drinks available and now every roadside shop say is selling mojitos. Don't ask me how uh how original they are and how similar they are to the actual mojitos. So, I mean there's no there's no shortage to the variety of things which are available today. So there's absolutely no need for us believers to be indulging in something a substance which can lead to dishonorable behavior where we we forget our limits and we do things which will bring a bad name to our Lord. Okay. So yes in the Jewish culture they were drinking wine but it's not necessary for us to do that today and we certainly don't need it to disinfect our water. So you can't pour some you know alcohol into your water and say oh I'm just disinfecting it. We have purified water now and we have no need for wine at least in our current culture especially because of the way people behave when they are drunk and they bring such dishonor and so why should we be indulging in something like that you know where people will look down upon our lord because we are indulging in that okay so let's not you know uh participate in such things just out of common sense okay so that so we come to verse 12 where you know it says After this, after the miracle was done, he went down to Capernom with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days. In the previous verse, it said that when they saw the glory of Jesus revealed, of course, you know, they did not still understand how he had fulfilled those Old Testament prophecies of Joel 2 and Isaiah 90 Isaiah 25. They had not yet understood that. But looking at what he did, it says his disciples believed in him. But the brothers also were there, right? They also saw the very same miracles, but they did not believe in him yet. So it shows, you know, how much difference spiritual hunger can make in a person. Someone who's hungry on the inside for for for the Lord, they are able to see things more clearly. They're able to perceive things which the others are unable to perceive. It's that hunger which is in you which creates an aliveness. You're able to understand scriptures better. You're able to grasp truths better because the brothers and the disciples saw the same thing. It didn't even you know touch the brothers. They didn't they they felt nothing saw nothing. They were blind even though they could see. The disciples on the other hand they saw and they understood that something glorious has happened even though they did not fully understand the details as yet. Okay. So um we see that difference between the brothers and the disciples. So the next group of people uh that Jesus has an encounter with that will be the Jews at Jerusalem you know uh when he goes over there for the Passover. So this is basically happening right at the beginning of his ministry. He has just started off his ministry and shortly after that he's going there to Jerusalem for the Passover. And so uh like I had told earlier once I think maybe in this class not sure where but yeah you know they had all these festivals old testament festivals which they must celebrate but the most important among them was the passover. So even if people who are living abroad would not be able to come to the Jerusalem temple for all the festivals. Most people would make an attempt to at least come once in a while for the Passover. So even those who have who have settled down in Egypt, in Persia, in Babylon, even they will make an effort to come over here at least once in a while because the Passover was one of the most important festivals. So when Jesus went over there to Jerusalem, you would basically have thousands of visitors all over that place. They've all come for the Passover festival. And so that is why there's a solid business going on in the temple courts. So those of us who know the you know structure of the temple we know that the main the main portion where the glory of God dwells is your in your most holy place and then attached to that is the holy place where you can have the priests going and performing some of their duties. So you have that basic main building that is basically where God dwells and then around that you basically have the courtyard where you'll have the altar on which the animal sacrifices are performed you know right there in front of the um that small unit which is called the holy place and the most holy place. So you have the altar and then outside that main uh that main court you have other courts and you have other verandas and other platforms and you have an entire structure. You have buildings where they store all the you know um grains which people bring as offerings. You have quarters where the workers stay where they live. You have some some some portions where you have the some of the residential priests living. So you have this entire temple complex which goes beyond this basic structure. So in the outer court where you where even uh non-Jewish people are allowed to come and stand and pray that portion the outermost courtyard where where Gentiles can come and stand and pray that has become a thriving marketplace because these people when they come when all these visitors come from Egypt and Babylon and all that they don't bring a lamb all the way from there no bringing a lamb all the way feeding it all daily will be on big headache it's easier to just come over here and buy your lamp over here. So they have turned this place into the marketplace where you can buy your dows and you can buy your lamps and you can buy you know you can have you can exchange your money your Babylonian coins for your um local Jerusalem coins. So all this um work is going on over here in this outer courtyard which was actually supposed to be meant for prayer where now with with all the you know uh huge noise and racket going on over there which gentile can stand over there and pray you tell me because one guy will be shouting over here that his lamps are the best quality and another guy is shouting over there that you know you can exchange your Babylonian money for Jerusalem money and this poor gentile is supposed to stand over there and pray to the living God. How can he even concentrate? So when Jesus goes over there and sees the sight especially during the Passover festival which is supposed to signify what he's going to do for the world, imagine what anger rises up in his heart. And that is why he says um he says don't turn my father's house into a marketplace. This is not a place for business. This is supposed to be a place where people can connect with God you know. So um so we will get into the details of that uh but just to you know uh kind of um focus on the timeline thingy uh in in your synoptic gospels you know Matthew, Mark, Luke, you will see this temple cleansing account usually mentioned at the end of your um gospels after Jesus has entered into Jerusalem and you know the people spread their uh robes to honor him right at the end. Then he goes into the temple and then he cleanses the temple. That's basically what is recorded in your Matthew, Mark, Luke. Over here we see the temple cleansing happening right at the beginning right when his ministry has started. So which means there are two separate events being mentioned. Okay. So John is referring to the first cleansing which takes place at the beginning of his ministry. Matthew, Mark, Luke are referring to an event which takes place much later at the end of his ministry after he has you know royally entered into Jerusalem and all the people have been you know praising him and singing to him. So that's at the very end. So don't get you know these two events mixed up because what Jesus does what Jesus says is very different in these two accounts. So if we are looking at this first account, this is what Jesus does over here in the John account. He actually makes himself a whip made of cords. If you look at the uh end account over there, he does not use any whip of cords. Over there he only overturns the tables, you know, but over here he actually makes a whip of cords for himself. Now um also the the words which he speaks the Old Testament scriptures which he quotes are very different in both these places. Okay. So keep all those all those uh specifics in your mind. Don't get these two events mixed up. So we will look at the details now. Um if you could maybe read out vers 14 to 17. Yeah. >> In the temple court he found people selling cattle, sheep and dogs and others sitting at table exchanging money. So he had a wipe um out of courts and all from the temple courts both sheep and cattle. He scattered the coins of the money changers money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold house, he said, "Get the get get these out out of here. Stop turning my father's house into a market." His disciple remember that it is written, "Zeal zeal for your house will consume me." Yeah. So here uh in this account Jesus is quoting from your Psalm 69:E9 where it says, "Zeal for your uh you know uh house will consume me." That's what the that's the sorry that's the verse which you know the disciples remember when they see what Jesus is saying. So here he says do not turn my house into um my father's house into a marketplace. If you look at your other account you know in the in the synoptic gospels there you have the reference to the house of prayer. Okay that will be from your Isaiah 567 which says that God's house will be a house of prayer for all the nations. That is Isaiah 56:7. That's a completely different reference which Jesus uses when he comes in the end time in the just you know after his after his royal entry into Jerusalem. So at that time he uses that reference but over here at the beginning of his ministry he's basically using the uh other uh you know another wording where he says don't turn my father's house into a marketplace. So what is the significance of these two different events? In the first in the first event basically he is inviting the people you know to to to repent of their of their very indifferent attitude. I mean they're literally at the Passover time in the outer courtyard and they have no reverence, no awareness of who God is and what he's about to do and they're living in their own way. So he makes a whip and he actually uses the whip to drive them out and he's kind of making an invitation and telling them return to what is true. Repent of your ways, come back to worship God with a with a genuine attitude and God will be able to meet you and you know help you with your life. So at the beginning when he does this cleansing it's an invitation to all the people to repent of their very indifferent attitude and come back to an attitude of worship. At the very end when he does it again after his you know royal entry into Jerusalem at that time he's basically doing it like a judgment here in the first account he's only addressing the guys who are selling things over there in that courtyard but in the end he addresses both the buyers and the sellers both and over there he's basically more saying it more like a you know declaration of judgment this was supposed to be a house of prayer but you have turned it into a den of robbers where you're trying to take profits. So these are two separate accounts. The first one is an invitation to the people to repent of their uh indifferent attitude and actually genuinely begin to worship God in the very end when they have not changed their attitude at all. It's just basically saying this was supposed to be a house of prayer. You could have stood over here and changed yourself and repented and had a whole new life. But I come back here and now I see you doing the same thing. nothing has changed in the three years which I you know of ministry that I have been doing. So he declares and says you have turned it into a den of robbers. So you know that's basically the judgment which will come upon you. So these are the two accounts that we see. So just another thought even as we are dwelling on this how long does it take to make a whip out of cords? That's what it says right in verse 15. I mean not I don't know the first thing about making a whip nor do you but approximately you know if you were to think about it it's not something that you do in a matter of one minute you first of all have to get the cords and then you have to make a whip out of it so which means Jesus over here is not just reacting he doesn't see get angry and start yelling he carefully thinks about how he's going to handle the situation and so after carefully thinking about it he takes the whip out of cords. So never allow never when you're angry never respond immediately. Think what God wants you to do in that situation. How does he want you to handle your anger? How does he want you to handle those people who have made you angry? What they have done is maybe really genuinely wrong. But how are you going to handle it? What words are you going to speak to them? And then after having carefully thought it out, then you know you make your response. So here we don't see Jesus just getting angry and acting out his anger. He thinks about what he's going to do and he says the right words when he speaks. Okay. So we see that um so after Jesus does this right at the beginning of his ministry the people they come and say by whose authority are you going you know ordering around and saying you know don't have a marketplace over here and all of that. who has given you the authority to do that. So that's basically what they say to challenge him and this is what Jesus replies in um verse 19. Uh yeah okay 19 2021 if you can read out. Yeah. >> Jesus answered them destroy this temple and I will raise it again in 3 days. They replied, "It has taken 46 years to build this temple and you are going to raise it in 3 days. But the temple he had spoken of was his body." So they say, "By what authority are you telling that we should clear out the outer courtyard? We're using it as a marketplace because it's convenient." So by by what authority are you telling that we should no longer sell things over here? So Jesus says, "Destroy this temple and I will raise it up." And they say how can you do that? It took 46 years just to build this thing. And that's basically you know your Herod. He he's first of all not even a Jew and he wanted to be the king of the Jews. So this was his way to bribe the Jewish people. I'll make one grand beautiful you know temple structure for you which will be famous around the world. And so in that way he he took 46 years actually to build that entire you know all those outer courts and all those beautiful buildings and all of that. Okay. So it took 46 years to make that. But Jesus is saying the reason I'm telling you to clear out the courtyard is because I am the temple. This is just a building which is representing me pointing towards me. But this building is not the actual temple. I am the temple. Why is he saying that he is the temple? Because he has come to tabernacle among them. That's what John said right in the beginning. Right? In the same way in the Old Testament, God's glory came into that tent into the tabernacle to dwell among the people. Now Jesus has literally come in a physical body and the entire glory of God is tabernacle dwelling in him and he has come to be among the people. So he is the actual temple. So he has got every right to tell what they should do with different portions of the temple. So if he says clear out the outer court, you're supposed to clear out the outer court because he is the temple. This this building is actually representing him. So he has full authority to decide what he wants to do with that temple. And so they don't quite understand what he is saying at that time. But verse 22 tells after he was raised from the dead his disciples recalled what he had said. You know then they understood oh Jesus was referring to himself as the temple because he is the temple. And um so he performs many mira miracles over there at the Passover festival. A lot of people are highly impressed and they believe in his name because he's doing all these beautiful miracles. And then the next few uh next two sentences you know throw a lot of clarity uh verses 24 and 25 if you can quickly read out chapter 2 24-25 read no but Jesus would not entrust himself to them but he knew all people he did not need any testimony about mankind for he knew what was in each. So these people were also impressed by his miracles and they all became his followers but he did not Jesus did not entrust himself to them because there are people who will who will follow Jesus only for the miracles the day the miracles stop they'll walk away and we actually see that right when we are doing our ministry there are people who come from other faiths and then you know their sickness gets healed and they're so excited and they say oh we are going to we going to become followers of Jesus 3 months later the problems come and they'll pray and there's no immediate reply and they say oh we don't want this Jesus anymore and they go back to their previous faiths. So Jesus does not entrust himself to such people. He knows what is in their heart. They are not true believers. A true believer will stick it out even when the hard times are there. They'll continue to believe that he is savior. They'll continue to believe that he loves them. They will continue to believe that he will come through for them in his perfect time and they will hold on till they see the answer. They will not go back to their old religion, you know. So there are those who come as true followers and there are those who come for temporary periods of time just because you know they got something and they were excited for a temporary uh amount of time. So therefore um Jesus loves everyone but he knows who in whose heart what is there and what Jesus wants are true followers who will stick it out even when the prayer to the you know the when the answer to the prayer has not yet come they will continue to hold on to him. Those are the kind of followers that Jesus is actually seeking. Okay. So uh we're out of time. All right. Let's just close with a word of prayer. Lord, we thank you for the things that we have learned in these few verses that we have covered. We thank you, oh Lord, that you have uh that you chose to come as the son of man in all authority, all power. And uh there are some people who saw who you were and they believed in you and they chose to become true followers and we pray that we will be in that category. Oh Lord, you are the son of man with all authority, all power. You will answer us. You will provide for us. You will take care of us according to your divine timetable. All we need to do is be genuine followers who will hold on and stay even when we are going through the dry season where we don't see things happening because you have a plan. You have all authority and you will work out your will for our lives in your own time in your perfect way. So help us a lot to trust in you. Thank you Lord in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you. >> Thank you, man. >> Thank you.