Jesus went up to Jerusalem at Passover and entered the temple (John 2:13-17).
What he saw appalled him. Merchants had taken over the house of God! He came
seeking a house of prayer and what he found was a preoccupation with the
promotion, display, and sale of religious merchandise. The religious leaders
were counting their profits. What busyness! Men of God had become hucksters of
religious merchandise, running about promoting their goods.
Tables had been set up everywhere in God's house to promote and sell sheep,
oxen, doves, candies, incense, and other merchandise for religious purposes.
Money changing hands made the loudest noise in the house—money that was being
made on God and religion.
What terrible pain caused our Lord’s compassionate heart to boil with holy
anger? His great suffering caused his meek spirit to rage with righteous
indignation.
Can you picture that moment? With whip in hand, our Lord stormed into the
temple and began flailing in all directions, overturning the tables piled high
with merchandise. He scattered the promoters, the pitchmen, the hucksters.
"Out!" he thundered, "Out of my Father's house! You have desecrated this holy
place, turning the house of prayer into a commercial market!"
It was one of the most painful experiences in all his ministry but he could not
stand by and permit his Father's house to become a den for religious thieves.
Are we willing to fellowship with Christ in this aspect of his sufferings
today? Do we share his hurt at seeing God's house once again being turned over
to merchandisers? Will we be outraged by the horrible commercialism of the
gospel? Will we feel his rage against spiritual hucksterism enough to withdraw
from all such activities? Do we feel his hurt enough to renounce ministries
that grind out merchandise just for the sake of making money?
Can we share his suffering at this point enough to stand against those who
would turn God's house into a theater or entertainment center for promoters?
Can we grieve over all the profiteering on the name of Jesus? Can we get our
eyes off the cash and back on the cross?
Friday, June 11, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
GOD WANTS TO PLANT US ON THE MOUNT OF HIS PRESENCE
"And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of
the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways..."
(Isaiah 2:3).
"Them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of
prayer..." (Isaiah 56:7).
The message of the Holy Spirit today to all God's people is, "Get back to the
mount—get back into his holy presence." Many are now hearing that call and
making time for prayer and seeking God. Others, however, go about their way,
too busy with kingdom details to climb the holy hill.
Isaiah saw both the glory of an awakened ministry and the tragedy of blind
watchmen, asleep. While some watchmen shake themselves and go back to the mount
of God to hear a fresh word from heaven, others will be lost in endless
activities and self-advancement.
"His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are dumb dogs, they cannot
bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs, which
can never getting enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they
all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter" (Isaiah
56:10-11).
Isaiah said they got that way—self-centered and preoccupied with the works of
their own hands, interested only in what they are doing, spiritually
dead—because they "forsook the Lord and forgot his holy mountain" (see Isaiah
65:11).
Ministers of God, we had better listen to the warning of the prophet Isaiah
when he said, "The Lord [shall] call his servants by another name" (Isaiah
65:15). He will raise up unknown seekers to awaken his church.
The Spirit is raising up an army of "mountain men" who will spend time alone
with God, shut up in his holy presence, hearing his voice, getting new vision,
and returning with joy to deliver "those who wail because of broken spirits"
(see Isaiah 65:13-14).
Oh, yes! They shall return—but with power and dominion.
His refining fire is going to awaken new and godly principles in us. For too
long we have been dead to the godly principles needed to save the church from
chaos. No longer will the Lord be satisfied with a general good in his house;
he now seeks the fire of Christ in the heart.
By David Wilkerson
the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways..."
(Isaiah 2:3).
"Them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of
prayer..." (Isaiah 56:7).
The message of the Holy Spirit today to all God's people is, "Get back to the
mount—get back into his holy presence." Many are now hearing that call and
making time for prayer and seeking God. Others, however, go about their way,
too busy with kingdom details to climb the holy hill.
Isaiah saw both the glory of an awakened ministry and the tragedy of blind
watchmen, asleep. While some watchmen shake themselves and go back to the mount
of God to hear a fresh word from heaven, others will be lost in endless
activities and self-advancement.
"His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are dumb dogs, they cannot
bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs, which
can never getting enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they
all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter" (Isaiah
56:10-11).
Isaiah said they got that way—self-centered and preoccupied with the works of
their own hands, interested only in what they are doing, spiritually
dead—because they "forsook the Lord and forgot his holy mountain" (see Isaiah
65:11).
Ministers of God, we had better listen to the warning of the prophet Isaiah
when he said, "The Lord [shall] call his servants by another name" (Isaiah
65:15). He will raise up unknown seekers to awaken his church.
The Spirit is raising up an army of "mountain men" who will spend time alone
with God, shut up in his holy presence, hearing his voice, getting new vision,
and returning with joy to deliver "those who wail because of broken spirits"
(see Isaiah 65:13-14).
Oh, yes! They shall return—but with power and dominion.
His refining fire is going to awaken new and godly principles in us. For too
long we have been dead to the godly principles needed to save the church from
chaos. No longer will the Lord be satisfied with a general good in his house;
he now seeks the fire of Christ in the heart.
By David Wilkerson
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