House of Prayer!

April 3, 2023 Monday Message:

Matthew 21:13 NLT: Jesus said to those buying and selling in the temple, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”

People would come to the Temple to offer an animal sacrifice to the Lord. But their animal was often determined to be ‘inferior,’ and they were forced to purchase a ‘better’ animal, which was conveniently for sale inside the Temple. A pair of doves could cost as little as 4p outside the Temple, and as much as 75p inside. It was a dishonest rip-off!

Also people would travel great distances to visit the Temple, and they may arrive with a different system of money, so money-changers were also present. Money-changers always skim a little, insuring profit.

The outer courts of the Temple were where people would come to pray. But this place of prayer had been made into a marketplace, and a dishonest one at that.

Jesus would have none of it! He lived by God’s value-system!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship