Bible Reading: Luke 19
Luke 19:46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.
When referring to the temple, Jesus called it his house. This is just one more place where Jesus referred to himself as Jehovah! He did this a lot and the religious leaders wanted to destroy him for blasphemy.
The house of God is the house of prayer. There is no temple in Jerusalem now. A mosque sits on the site where the temple once stood. Now the house of God is the church that Jesus has built.
1 Timothy 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
The church of the living God is to be a house of prayer. What does this mean? It means when God’s people gather together to worship, they should pray. This is one of the great privileges of the Christian. We have direct access to the throne of grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not need any other mediator.
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
When we are the church scattered, it means that we can pray as individuals. We can come before God’s mighty throne of grace in the company of others or all by ourselves. We can come seeking grace and help for the daily needs we face as individuals and we can come interceding for the needs of others.
The tragedy of Jesus’ day was that the temple had become a den of thieves. The temple became a market place and a corrupt one at that. We must guard against this. God’s house is a place for prayer not a place for corruption and thievery. Many people want to use God’s house, the church for their own selfish ends. From joining to get a client base to trying to get a resume builder many people try to use God’s church for their own ends. This is not acceptable with the Father.
He is seeking worshipers! Let’s go to worship!
In Christ,
Rody
