WHY THE TEMPLE NEEDED TO BE DESTROYED
From the picture of activities in the temple grounds we get a sense of why Jesus was so angry about the money-changers doing business in the temple. On the surface it seems that His anger is directed at the money-changers, but His anger goes much deeper than that. They were there only because the temple leaders made it possible for them to do business within the temple grounds. Considering these events along with all the other rebukes Jesus directed at temple leaders, it is accurate to conclude that Jesus’ ultimate target was the temple leaders and the religious system they had perpetrated and jealously maintained. They were the ones who made the commerce system possible and they were the ones who profited the most from it. The money-changers were only the symbolic targets of Jesus wrath.

His rampage, while disturbing for the moment, did not seem to effect any long term changes in the conduct of temple business. The temple leaders had Jesus killed and went back to business as usual. But that way of doing business would last for only another thirty seven years or so. Jesus’ outrage foreshadowed the eventual destruction of the temple in 70 AD. But that event was not just about the destruction of the physical temple. Actually, it was more about what went on inside the temple. The temple  was destroyed about the same time that the Romans dispersed the Jews throughout the world. Without the temple and without people to use temple services (i.e. sacrifices and offerings) the temple leaders had no place to do their business and no customers. God effectively and dramatically closed down the practice of mixing money and ministry.

Unfortunately, the tendency to mix money and ministry has always been very strong in the hearts of men, so it gradually crept back into practice and continues to thrive in these modern times. No wonder, then, that God is destroying the modern day equivalent of the temple and its religious systems.

It is well documented that Church as we know it is in decline. Believers are leaving traditional church structures and institutions in favor of new forms of religion. God is tearing down the old system slowly but surely. That is clear evidence that the commercial/religious systems that Jesus attacked in the temple have been resurrected and need to be destroyed again.

Remember Jesus’ many accusations against the temple leaders? It was their attitudes and practices that Jesus was out to destroy. When we look closely at John 2:13-25 we see that what Jesus said was not so much a prophecy as a command that the temple should be destroyed. He was not speaking here to religious leaders but to disciples. However, the incident with the money-changers was a prophetic act that anticipated what his disciples would do to destroy the temple and its man-made religious system.  The physical temple was a symbol of the unholy practices (including commerce) that the temple leaders conducted inside it. In all three stories of the temple incident, Jesus quotes Jeremiah in calling the temple a “den of robbers”. This was a harsh condemnation for the religious leaders of the day for whom commercial religion in the temple was normal. That was not what God wanted, of course, so He prophesied through Jeremiah and Jesus that the temple would be destroyed, and it eventually was.

But it was not only the physical temple and it activities that were destroyed during the Jewish revolt. The Jews had enjoyed limited autonomy under Roman rule, but it all changed after the siege of Jerusalem. After the fall of the temple, its leaders lost everything that they feared they would lose because of Jesus: Income, power, influence. status, business location, etc.

This is the background for Jesus’ prophecy that the temple and everything it stood for would be destroyed. Of course He was also correct in predicting that His physical body would be buried and raised from the dead. But the symbolism goes much deeper than the physical death and resurrection of Jesus. We see in the destruction of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple, and the dispersal of the Jews as a prophetic foreshadowing of what is happening in modern times. To appreciate this symbolism, we must first understand the symbolism of Jerusalem and the Temple.

First Jerusalem: Jerusalem is more than a city. In the natural sense it is buildings, streets and other physical features. In the spiritual sense it is a body of people. In Jesus’ time, spiritual Jerusalem was the Jewish people. Sometimes it is called Zion. Since Jesus’ time, Jerusalem, or Zion, is the Body of Christ. In other words, whenever you read Jerusalem, Zion, Israel, Jews, or Body of Christ, you can consider them all to refer to people who trust in God.

Second, the Temple is symbolic of all religious structures created by man. These structures include physical buildings that are dedicated to religious purposes. More importantly, it represents corporate institutional structures such as denominations and ministries that are created by men and allowed to function as tax exempt, charitable, non-profit ministries according to the rules established by the federal government, just as the temple system was allowed to function by the Roman government.

COMMENTARY ON GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION: Because religious organizations are directly accountable to government,  and must satisfy government rules in order to stay legal, they must function like a business in every respect. That means these corporate structures must have Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, and various policies and procedures to govern the operations and finances of the corporate entity according to the rules of government. This means they are governed by corporate, institutional laws — not by God’s spiritual laws.

The connection between this association between government and the episode in the Temple is the fact that religious leaders made concessions to the Roman government for selfish reasons. As long as they followed Roman rules, they were allowed to conduct their religion and keep their job. It was an unholy alliance that had benefits for both the government and Judaism. Judaism provided a kind of moral authority that kept people in alignment with government rules. In return, government gave special status to religion. This unholy alliance continues into these modern times.

Because the religious system we now know has been in place for so long, it is hard to imagine that this is not the way it has always been. Moreover, it is hard to imagine that what we now experience is not what God always had in mind for his people. Nevertheless, this reality must be faced. The best way to understand how the current system came to be is to read The History of Christianity by Paul Johnson.

Putting the alliance between religion and government in the context of the money-changer incident and the destruction of the temple, we can begin to see that the objectives of Jesus’ prophecies are gradually emerging. We can see that the religion and all its various corporate, institutional manifestations is slowly collapsing. The unholy religious system based on the worldly commercial, institutional model designed by man is self-destructing a little bit every time someone leaves religion.

While this conclusion is bad news for those who are heavily invested in the commercial, religious system and all its associated traditions, it is good for God and it is good for people who are enslaved by religion and free to worship God in spirit and truth.