Basic HTML Version
Christ Confronts Corruption in the Temple
89
With 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
men would make merchandise of His grace. Indignation, authority,
and power were expressed in His countenance. The attention of
the people was attracted to Him. The eyes of those engaged in
their unholy traffic were riveted upon His face. They felt that this
Man read their inmost thoughts and discovered their hidden motives.
Some attempted to conceal their faces.
The sound of traffic and bargaining ceased. The silence became
painful. It was as if the assembly were arraigned before the tribunal
of God. Looking upon Christ, they beheld divinity flash through
humanity. The Majesty of heaven stood as the Judge will stand at
the last day—not encircled with the glory that will attend Him 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 on Mount Sinai proclaimed the law—
echoed through the temple: “Take these things hence; make not My
Father’s house an house of merchandise.”
Raising the scourge of cords gathered up on entering the en-
closure, Jesus ordered the bargaining company to depart from the
temple. With a zeal and severity He had never before manifested, He
overthrew the tables of the money-changers. The coins fell, ringing
sharply on the marble pavement. None questioned His authority.
[99]
None dared stop to gather up their ill-gotten gain. Jesus did not smite
them with the whip of cords, but in His hand that simple scourge
seemed as 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 multitude, who felt the overshadowing of
His divinity. Even the disciples trembled, awestruck by the words
and manner of Jesus, so unlike His usual demeanor. They remem-