The Empty House
At the end of this week, we will soberly observe Good Friday and three days later will joyfully celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. In Matthew chapter 21, we have an account of something significant that took place on this week. We read:
“And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them” (Matthew 21:12-14).
This last week of our Lord’s time on the earth, Jesus claims the temple as his own house (My house). Three years earlier, when Jesus cleansed the Temple the first time, he said it was his Father’s house (My Father’s house). This is significant because Jesus is claiming that he and his Father are One. Two chapters later, Jesus says:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 23:37-39).
These three entrances into the temple with the titles, My Father’s house, My house, your house, teach a sobering truth. In the next chapter we read:
“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple” (Matthew 24:1).
Symbolically, because they would not keep their temple cleansed from unholy activities, Jesus departs. This reminds me of Ezekiel 10 when the glory of God departed from the Temple for the same reasons—a temple filled with ungodliness:
“Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims” (Ezekiel 10:18).
Six hundred years after the glory of God had departed from the temple, Jesus, the very glory of God, was back in their midst, and once again they didn’t recognize him. Because of their sinful state, they were unable to recognize him. The glory of God would now depart—it was now “their house,” and it would be left unto them “desolate!” They lost the very presence of God in their midst.
As a result of this “abandoned house,” God would now build a new temple; a temple not made with hands, but made of people, within whom he would place his very presence. The Apostle Paul writes to the Galatians:
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
The requirements of his new temple would be the same however. He still demands a cleansed temple. The Apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 6:
“Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own”?
In chapter 3 he writes:
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
As we enter this sacred week of remembering our Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection, may we also remember the requirements for his new “house.” If there is cleansing to be done, then let us begin the hard work of “spring cleaning” by confessing, forgiving, and turning from our sin, our iniquity, our transgressions, and trespasses. If we confess, he is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. A cleansed “temple” is like a welcome mat for God’s presence. I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate our Lord’s resurrection but to welcome him where he will feel right at home.
Sincerely,
Mark Hamby
M.S., M. Div., Th. M., D. Min
Recommended Reading:
Worth More Than Gold book (All Ages)
