Tag: zeal for Your house
Zeal for Father’s house!
Scripture reading for October 25th: Ezekiel 4-6, Psalm 82, John 2
John 2: 13-17 “The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 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. And He told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make My Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.””
Jesus Christ came to show the heart of His Father to lost mankind. He healed, cast out devils, and taught the Gospel of the Kingdom of heaven. But as Jesus visited the temple, early in His ministry (and again towards the end), He found money-changers, greed, idolatry, and worldly trading. His holy anger caused Jesus to drive out those who were buying and selling. These worldly Jews were hindering God’s purposes for the temple. It was to be a house of prayer for all people and not a house of trade and money grabbing. The Father’s heart of passion for the needy, the broken, and the nations was to show compassion and mercy and the Father’s love. Jesus would demonstrate that in His passionate death.
Psalm 82:3-4 “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for sending Jesus Christ to Your temple on earth to show all Your love and compassion as well as Your holy anger against those who would hinder the poor and needy from coming to you. Forgive me for failing to be a house of prayer for all people and nations. Remove any hinderance in my life that may keep others from coming to Jesus Christ and finding help for their need of a Savior.
Ezekiel 6:13-14 “And you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols. And I will stretch out My hand against them and make the land desolate and waste, in all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to Riblah. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”