His Presence

People came from all over Israel to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem. Some came from even farther afield. Many of the assembled worshipers were not able to bring sacrifices, so a brisk trade was conducted in the outer court as people bought and sold animals. Offerings of money were brought to the temple, and foreign money was exchanged for the local temple currency. Much of the trade being conducted was poisoned with dishonesty. Greed was given the opportunity to rear its ugly head.

Against this backdrop of trade and merchandising, Jesus “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, and 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!’ ” (John 2:14–16).

Jesus was not yet a figure of major importance in Jerusalem. He had not yet raised the dead or caused the blind to see.

So how was it that any individual —even Jesus— could drive moneychangers and animal traders out of the temple, end their avaricious trade, and disrupt the biggest season on the Jewish calendar? A person who replicated Jesus’ actions in the casinos of Las Vegas or Atlantic City would not be tolerated.

Security would be called, and the offender would be escorted from the premises and into the hands of law enforcement.

The people in the temple that day did not escape the presence of an angry man. It was not the whip in Jesus’ hand that drove men from the temple.

Ellen White writes in The Desire of Ages that people rushed from the temple “with the one thought of escaping from the condemnation of His presence.”* Sin flees from the presence of Divinity. In the same way that the presence of Jesus drove sinners from the holy precincts of the temple, the presence of Jesus in the life of the believer will drive sin from the heart.