“DEN OF THIEVES” – “HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL NATIONS”

What the LORD Jesus speaks and does in Mark 11:15-19 is not only profound, but is an eye opener. It reveals to us the heart of God…what He is concerned about and how He sees things. It also reveals the human heart’s utter disregard for God, and His desires. These two revelations or dimensions, should frame and formulate how we should see things.

The text from Mark 11:15-19 says…
– “15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17 Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a den of thieves.’ ” 18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching. 19 When evening had come, He went out of the city.”

The points to ponder for us are as follows…
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
1- Jesus was terribly angry at what was happening in His temple.
2- Jesus put His righteous anger into action…He physically drove the sellers out of His temple.
3- The righteous anger of God is visible and clear.
4- The common people were happy about this development…they were “astonished” at Jesus’ teaching.

5- “the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.”

SERIOUS OBSERVATIONS
1- Jesus’ anger, and by default, the very God’s anger was against the religious heads, who, instead of leading the people in the right and the righteous path, for which they were chosen by God Himself, are now the reason for corruption and sin. Instead of teaching the people, the right things, they were misleading them and were making them commit grave sin 
2- The self-righteous religious heads, so full of pride and arrogance, have no remorse for their sin. On more than one occasion they have wickedly countered Jesus, by claiming their illustrious ancestry of being the children of Abraham, the Chosen People.
3- The religious heads were so completely blinded, that when they encountered the very God Almighty, they utterly failed to recognise Him. Remember the Wisemen, the Star and the prophesy about the birth of the Saviour? Remember how the religious heads knew Bethlehem, as the place of the Messiah’s birth, but not the Messiah Himself?

SPIRITUAL OBSERVATIONS
1- What God intended to be a place of worship, is turned by the religious heads into a “Den of Thieves.” Jesus made it all too obvious about who the thieves are.
2- By claiming Abrahamic ancestry will not cut any ice with the righteous and just God. A Jew has no special status in the sight of God, than a Gentile, as is taught and religious believed in some quarters. Remember, all are sinners at the end of the day…and utterly lost – and in need of the Saviour to rescue us, and not the ancestry of Abraham – Reading Romans chapters 3 and 6 will help clarify this. Better read the whole of Romans.
3- Jesus calls His house, the Temple, the most holy of all things for a Jew, where the Living God chose to dwell – the reason for their pride and arrogance – in utter contravention of why YAHWEH chose Abraham in the first place.
4- Jesus makes it crystal clear…unambiguously the purpose of His temple, and the reason He chose to dwell in it – “IS IT NOT WRITTEN, MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL NATIONS’?
5- Silly of Jews, and also us, to try to contain God and restrict the gracious and merciful Almighty to ourselves, in a selfish and arrogant manner, in total disregard and disrespect of God and His instructions. 
6- It is evil to think on such lines. It is going against God and His will. Remember YAHWEH’s words to the arrogant Jonah?
– “10 But the LORD said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?” – Jonah 4:10-11
– Witness of John the Baptist – “29…“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the SIN OF THE WORLD!” – John 1:29
– The Great Commission of YAHWEH/Jesus – “15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” – Mark 16:15

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS
It is silly of us, just like the religious heads of Jesus’ day, to think that chosenness is a badge of honour, to proudly and arrogantly display our perceived status. It is a responsibility placed upon us, to be the ambassadors of God, so that the grand plans of God Almighty, would be fulfilled through us, not because we are some special people, but because the LORD chose it to be that way. May our eyes be opened to the truth, which would make us humble, unlike the Jews, and be faithful and obedient in all humility.