Basic HTML Version
92
Humble Hero
With a searching glance, Christ took in the scene before Him.
With prophetic eye, He looked into future years, centuries, and
ages. He saw how priests and rulers would forbid the gospel to
be preached to the poor, how the love of God would be concealed
from sinners, and people would put His grace up for sale. His face
showed indignation, authority, and power. The people’s attention
was drawn to Him. The eyes of those engaged in their unholy
business were riveted on His face. They felt that this Man read their
inmost thoughts and discovered their hidden motives. Some tried to
hide their faces.
The sound of selling and bargaining stopped. The silence became
painful. It was as if the assembly were arraigned before God’s
court of justice. Looking at Christ, they saw divinity flash through
humanity. The Majesty of heaven stood as the Judge will stand at
the last day—not encircled with the glory that He will have then,
but with the same power to read the soul. His eye took in every
individual. His form seemed to rise above them in commanding
dignity, and a divine light illuminated His countenance. His clear,
ringing voice—the same that had proclaimed the law on Mount
Sinai—echoed through the temple: “Take these things away! Do not
make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”
[66]
Raising the whip of cords that He had gathered up on entering
the temple grounds, Jesus ordered the bargainers to leave the temple.
With a zeal and severity He had never before shown, He overthrew
the tables of the money-changers. The coins fell, ringing sharply on
the marble pavement. No one questioned His authority. None dared
stop to gather up their ill-gotten gain. Jesus did not strike them with
the whip of cords, but in His hand that simple scourge seemed like a
flaming sword. Officers of the temple, priests, brokers, and cattle
traders, with their sheep and oxen, rushed from the place with the
one thought of escaping from the condemnation of His presence.
The Temple Cleansed by the Presence of the Lord
Panic swept over the crowd, who felt the commanding presence
of His divinity. Even the disciples trembled, awestruck by Jesus’
words and manner, so unlike His usual behavior. They remembered
that it was written about Him, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me