H
THË KING’S BUSINESS
inside òf it (Luke 11:39). The courts of the tetnple in which the building proper stood, thronged •as they were with worshipers needing cash for the fees and animals for the offerings of the temple supplied- an open market "where the wrangling of Oriental buyer and ' seller/1 !ând Jewish cupidity- and graft made a business hell of what should have been the gate of'heaven. Jesus did not strike the authors of thj's sacrilege witn death as He did1the tree, but drove them out arid overturned their tables; scattering their heaps of gold and silver in the dust which they were and where-they belonged. Three years* before He had done the same thing arid here* they were in the same wick edness, returned like the sow to her wal lowing in the mire. The barren tree, spared so long, becarhe worse than fruitless, Only â change of hèart can permanently reform mèri. Thé scourge of disease or disaster has'“often cleansed à human temple; but on récdvéry it relapsed. Can you -think- of similar dèsecrations in the churches ? How far this affects thè question of -the sanctity of material buildings dedicated to Church uses we would not decide. The Church is the anti-type of the temple (1 Cor. 3:16) and to make it a means of advancing one’s worldly interests, his standing in business, .potties or society is to deserve to be scoufged out of it. 2. The Consecrated Temple. Thè tern- pie was 'appointed “a house Of prayer for all nations,” and there finally all shall meet for prayer, the only Hague recognized by the Lord (Isa 2:1-5). The Church is now that house of prayer. There prayer should be made for all nations and there all na tions should be led for prayer. The indi vidual believer is a temple of God (1 Cor. 6:19), and should be a house of prayer and kept unspotted from the world (-spirit). 3. The Temperance Lesson. It is this section of the lesson text that suggests the temperance application. It does not apply , to unbelievers. They are not the temple of God, any more than heathen temples were also temples of God, when that at Jerusalem stood, ..“Temperance” is to be
did not.- The tree was not destroyed for .not bearing fruit but for a fruit-bearing lesson. (4) That it was the more unrea sonable since it. was f‘»o/ the time of figs. ’ But it had leaves, equally out of season, which justified expectation. It was not the time for Israel’s leaves, they ^should riot have been, but instead a confession of spir itual worthlessness, and Prayer and fasting for Divine quickening. (5) That Jesus was not tnorally perfect but flew into a rage, and that at an irrational object. That'is to ignore all the meaning of the miracle, and is,in line with “all the hard speeches” ungodly sinners have spoken against Him and the righteous wrath of “the Judge of all the earth.” 3. The :¡flighted Tree, A day passed. “And in tfie morning . . . they sain the fig tree dried up. from the roots” (v. 20, 21). J'he Lord is slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy” (Ps.. 103:8), and granted a .res pite as in the .case df that .other fig tree (Luke, 13:6-9). If you would see in real ity wha,t they saw in miraclerpafable be hold Jerusalem today .“trodden-under fdot,” the ruined temple, the discrowned hid tops, the desert 'vales, arid the' lifeless Synagogue. 4. General Application. The principles involved in the passage are, like all Scrip ture, of general and abiding force. God looks (longs) for fruit, not outward show. An empty profession has nothing in it for Him. No matter how fine a showing the Church can make, of padded rolls, magnifi cent buildings, flourishing and cultured congregations, artistic worship, and broad cast “charities,” if holiness, love and the Cross are not lived as well as sung and preached, there is “nothing but leaves,” and the Divine hunger is unsatisfied. Let there be no professing without possessing. Fig leaves (alone) are signs of sin with which guilty consciences would cover their shame. The Church is God’s fig tree now, II. C lean sing t h e T em ple . 1. The Desecrated Temple. The fig leaves were.-.the outside of the platter, the conditions within the temple ^showed the
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