His House, His Name Sermon Notes June 23, 2024
Isaiah 56:4-8
4 For this is what the Lord says:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose what pleases me
and hold fast to my covenant—
5 to them I will give within my temple and its walls
a memorial and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that will endure forever.
6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord
to minister to him,
to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it
and who hold fast to my covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
a house of prayer for all nations.”
8 The Sovereign Lord declares—
he who gathers the exiles of Israel:
“I will gather still others to them
besides those already gathered.”
Mark 11:15-17
15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’[c]? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
John 2:13-17
13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
“During the Holy Week of Passover, there was a Jewish custom called Bedikat Chametz. This custom was to fulfill the command in the law from Exodus 12:15.
Every year at Passover, children were commissioned by their parents to cleanse the home of all leaven. Many times, they would make it into a game where kids would be rewarded for finding any leaven within the home. As you know, leaven is the agent that influences bread to rise. It was a spiritual parallel for cleansing homes of any outside influences that had permeated the house.
When Jesus entered the temple, He was literally entering His Father's house. As kids across Jerusalem were cleaning out the physical leaven in their homes in preparation for the Passover, Jesus was cleaning out the spiritual leaven in His dad's house. He was removing the lesser influence that had begun to overshadow the most important influence (ie. Prayer, relationship). The production of the house to fulfill the duties of the house had eclipsed the very purpose of the house.
The purpose of the house was communion and right relationship with the Father. The production of doing things for God had overshadowed the purpose of the house–being in relationship with God. From Genesis onward, we know He desired a dwelling place on earth to be with His people. This is why Jesus said His house would be a house of prayer (relationship). The temple was a place to meet with, commune with, and be in right relationship with His people.
Jesus was, in essence, stating emphatically that His Father's house is to be a house where people are in relationship with His Father. No other activity is to overshadow, disrupt, or hinder people from communing with God. The purpose of the house is His Father resting in, abiding upon, and dwelling with His people. All activities should serve this end.”
– Michael Miller, His House, His Presence
Psalm 132:3-5
3 “I will not enter my house
or go to my bed,
4 I will allow no sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
5 till I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Mark 11:17
17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?
We need to ask the Lord again what He is calling His Church to be in these days.
“Evidently, Jesus believed that the people who were a part of God’s House should live in accordance with the naming of the house.”
– David Butts, Forgotten Power