PHYSICAL HOUSE VS SPIRITUAL HOUSE
With a clear picture of the symbolism of the temple we get a sense of why Jesus was so angry about the money-changers doing business there. On the surface it seems that His anger is directed at the money-changers, but it goes deeper than that. They were there only because the temple leaders made it possible for them to do business. Considering this along with all the other rebukes Jesus directed to temple leaders, it is accurate to conclude that Jesus’ ultimate target was the temple leaders and the religious system they had perpetrated. 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. He had prophesied that the temple would be destroyed, and it eventually was.

Some, especially Jews, but not only Jews, might argue that this was a system that God had established when He commanded that sacrifices be made in the temple built by Solomon. That would be a faulty argument if it focuses on natural sacrifices instead of spiritual sacrifices, which is what all God ever really wanted. It is also wrong to say that the temple was God’s idea. It was not God’s idea. It was David’s idea. Just because God allowed it to be built does not mean that God was in favor of it. God knew that all this temple business would happen, but He let it happen anyway to teach us about what happens when religious people take charge of material objects (i.e. temple) to which spiritual value is assigned. What happens is that they will make a business of it. And when it becomes a business, the spiritual value is lost.

Of course, when talking about the temple’s destruction, Jesus was also talking about His bodily resurrection.  But His concern was not ultimately focused on the physical temple. Rather, He was concerned with what went on inside the physical temple. That was the domain of the Pharisees and temple leaders whom Jesus chastised so often. In other words, He was talking about destroying the self-serving religious system that was so offensive. It was a system that is totally opposite what God had in mind: house of prayer. It became a place of business (merchandise) instead a place of prayer (spirit).

To get the full essence of this contrast, it is critical to recognize that God was not talking about a physical house in Isaiah 56:7 (the scripture Jesus quotes during the temple incident). God often uses the term “house” to refer to people singularly or as a community. Since God never told David, or Solomon, to build a natural building for Him, His reference to a “house of prayer” is not to a physical house but to a spiritual house (i.e. people).

The main problem for the temple leaders was that they failed to understand that God is more concerned with matters of the spirit than He is with natural things. Being so ignorant, therefore, they put all their focus on natural things. No doubt they sincerely believed that they were doing what God wanted because God had instituted the sacrificial system, the priesthood, and the temple.

But, while temple leaders were very familiar with all books of the Law and King David and his Psalms, they had failed to understand and apply what David said in Psalm 51:16-17 regarding what God really wants (i.e. broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart). They thought that religion was all about the temple and the sacrifices and associated religious activities. Jesus saw it all differently (i.e. it is all about your heart), and He was intent on destroying the existing religious system (i.e. destroying the temple) and raising up Himself and establishing a new, correct, spiritual system that is totally spiritual (i.e. prayer). Jesus summarized those differences eloquently in Matthew 15:1-6 where He made the distinction between tradition (man’s way) and God’s commandments (the spiritual way).

To put it all in perspective, the temple represented a worldly religion of which the Pharisees, Scribes, Sanhedrin, Sadducees and priests were in charge and for which they were paid in worldly currency (money, status, power, etc.). The correct system does not have any physical form at all but is totally spiritual.

Or, to put it all in the simplest way possible, the religious leaders were concerned with religious form, while Jesus was concerned with the heart and what comes out of it (Matthew 12:35; Luke 6:45)