His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will eat me up.”And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for thy house shall eat me up.
6 sermons cite this verse
… In Jesus' name, amen. John chapter 2, verses 13 through 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. Clearly, Jesus was not happy with what was taking place in the temple. Of all the amazing things Jesus did, though this is not a miracle as miracles are understood, it is one of the most surprising stories of Jesus' ministry. Almost seems out of character until we understand that it is completely in keeping with His concern for the worship of God, the glory of God, and that he might be the central place in all true faith and religion. He's not happy with what the temple has become, the animals, the commerce, the money changers. As we'll see, it isn't so much that someone might have, say, a book nook. …
… Stop turning my father's house into a market. And his disciples remembered that it is written, zeal for your house shall consume me. There's Psalm 69 right there at the end. David's zeal, his hunger is for the presence of God, but Jesus is the better David. David went to bring the ark of the presence into the city, but Jesus walks into Jerusalem as the presence of God in flesh. David's hunger fades, but Jesus's zeal consumes him. He overturns the tables that are set with greed. And I can tell you this, I have personally lost my hunger for God because I have chosen to sit down at the buffet table that the world sets full of greed and try to satisfy myself with what it can offer. I've sat down and I've tried to feast on this and we lose our holy hunger when instead of hungering and thirsting for righteousness and being satisfied in Jesus, we look to satisfy our hunger elsewhere. When we aren't fed by his presence, when we aren't fed by his holiness, when we aren't filled with his joy, we start feeding on what's available. …
… That should have sent fear up their spine. Then his disciples remembered that it was written, the zeal of your house has eaten me up. Absolutely stunning. Jesus quotes the Bible. He acts out the Bible. Why? Because at his first coming, he's fulfilling Bible prophecy. And the same will be true for the nation of Israel, for Jerusalem in the great second coming. Malachi chapter three, verse one. Malachi three, one. Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before you and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. First coming, second coming. Both did the nation of Israel. We made mention of this last time. How important is this? Watch the technical authorship of God's holy, perfect word. Isaiah 61, verse 1. Isaiah, 743 years before Jesus was born. So this is nearly 3,000-year-old prophecy. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. …
… what's he say? He was talking about the temple of his body, that he is the true, he's the fulfillment of the temple. And here's a little kind of a side note, which I think is just absolutely fascinating. Remember, Ezekiel saw this vision of the temple from the right side of the temple flowed this water that gave life to everything, abundance, saved the world. You know, in virtually every depiction of Jesus on the cross, when he's pierced by that soldier's lance he's pierced on the right side and so we know this we know that from jesus that when the soldier pierced him what flowed out flowed out blood and water which is the sign of what is a sign of the eucharist and a sign of baptism and the recognition of like this is just incredibly incredible incredible jesus is meant to be the new temple and jesus is right that place where god's presence would abide and a place that God would save the world. …
… and he overturned their tables. To those who sold, he said, get out of here. How dare you turn my father's house into a market? And his disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house consumes me. Now, there's a lot of bad news in here, and I'm the one to break it to you. Here is Jesus, loving Jesus, meek and mild Jesus. He comes into the temple, and immediately he gets very intense. He gets very serious. Here is Jesus Christ, gentle, meek, and lowly, who said, turn the other cheek. But in the temple, you see him terrible and wracked, literally cracking the whip, driving people everywhere, starting a riot, a big commotion. What's going on? Why is it that when Jesus gets into the temple, he suddenly gets so serious. Well, now, an aside, just an aside, but an important aside. Jesus is not explicable. He's not at all easy to understand. And that should be very reassuring. Do you know why? You see, it should be reassuring because he surprises us all the time. He contradicts our expectations all the time. He acts in ways that we cannot understand. He upsets us. He crosses our biases. That should be reassuring, because that's one of the evidences that Jesus is real, and that Christianity is real. Why? Because that's how reality is. Reality doesn't make sense all the time. Reality is full of contradictions. …
… We're presently in the second chapter, and this morning we're going to begin at verse 12 and read through verse 25. John chapter 2, verses 12 through 25. After this he went down to Capernaum, he, his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they did not stay there many days. For now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And he found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and the money changers doing business. When he had made a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen, poured out the changers' money, and overturned the tables. And he said to those who sold doves, Take these things away. Do not make my Father's house a house of merchandise. And then His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house has eaten me up. So the Jews answered and said to Him, What sign do you show to us since you do these things? …