Flipping Tables

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Give counsel, execute justice. Make your shade like the night in the middle of the noonday, Hide the outcasts, don't betray the fugitive Isaiah sixteen three to five. Dear Lord, you are my source of strength, comfort and joy. When I think about your life, death and resurrection, I am filled with hope, for you proved yourself as my deliverer. Because of your goodness, I cannot help but shout for joy. Because of your faithfulness, I will raise my hands and praise and proclaim your name from the roof tops. My hope in you will never end because your love endures forever. Empower me to day, to march forward with light hearted joy, even when life gets heavy in Jesus name. Amen, Thank you for praying with me to day. You're listening to the Jesus podcast Sagas from the Gospel told like never before. Remain here to immerse yourself in the drama and wonder of Christ's road to the Cross and out of the grave. Follow this podcast on whatever platform you're listening to. Doing so will keep you updated, but also help us get discovered by more people. We want the story of Jesus to be known throughout the world. Thanks for making that possible. The gentle touch of the sun softened the morning's cool bite. Rays of light paved the road between Bethany and Jerusalem. Splashes of orange and hues of muted pink arrayed the countryside. The pathway Jesus and his companions traveled ascended and deca scented with the hills. The tall grasp beside them bent toward the city as if pointing the way forward. Standing proudly atop a cliff to their left was a solitary fig tree. Its leaves were a deep shade of green. Jesus paused and peered at the fig tree with an intense gaze. He climbed the slight slope to the tree and scanned it up and down. He surveyed its branches for fruit, but it hadn't none. It was not the season for figs. Yet this tree, with its vibrant leaves and colorful complexion, touted itself differently. The disciples watched Jesus place a hand on the tree trunk. They looked at his hand. It was the hand of a craftsman, calloused from decades of labor. For the entire time they knew him, they had watched those hands heal lepers, give sight to the blind, and comfort the outcast. They were the hands of restoration, blessing, and providence. However, as Jesus extended his right hand and placed it upon the tree, they felt a different power emanating from him. He grasped it firmly and spoke a curse that sent chills down their spines. 00:03:26 Speaker 2: May no one need fruit from you ever. 00:03:28 Speaker 1: Again, he growled. Everyone looked at the tree, back at him, then at the tree again. The fig tree stood unperturbed, leaves rustling only slightly in the breeze. 00:03:44 Speaker 3: What makes God angry? And what would it take for the Prince of peace Jesus to act out in rage? Micah six' eight says. This he has shown, you o, man what is? Good and what does The lord require of? You to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with Your. God god has told us what he's. Required he wants justice and mercy to be balanced with. Humility what happens when an entire religious system forgets, justice ignores, mercy and puffs themselves up with. Pride welcome to The Jesus. Podcast stories about, triumph love and the passion Of. Jesus i'm pastor zachwpray dot, com AND i want to invite you to follow this. Podcast we're going to be going through hundreds of gospel stories all throughout the, year told in a way to awaken your imagination and challenge your. Faith It's Holy, week the time between the triumphal entry and the resurrection from the. Grave jesus's last few days before his crucifixion were filled with tense moments that inspire both reflection and. Praise today we focus on the intensity Of. Jesus we just listened to him curse a fig, tree and now we're going to hear him proclaim woes over the city Of jerusalem and storm the temple courtyards picking a. Fight while you listen to this, STORY i want you to look closely for parallels between the fig tree and the religious Leaders jesus is about to. Challenge there are many parallels between. Them jesus despises vapid and empty. Religion jesus knows the end is near and he's turning up the temperature. Here he's not running away from, conflict and he's not running away from the trials that await. Him each act is deliberate and. Purposeful his feet are pointed like arrows towards the, destination the place Called, calvary the place of the, Skull, golgatha The. Cross jesus isn't going to do anything by. Accident everything right now is. Purposeful do you Think jesus is? Tame do you Think jesus is a passive spectator of? Corruption think. Again jesus' shoulders relaxed as he released his grip on the. Tree he turned back and saw the city Of jerusalem shining brilliantly in the. Light its glory was, vibrant, beautiful like the trees. Leaves his jaw clenched and his bottom lip began to. Quiver jesus looked At jerusalem with disappointment in his. Eyes the disciples drew back and gave him. Space there was tension in the, atmosphere like a shifting wind before a. 00:06:20 Speaker 1: Storm the dam In jesus's soul, broke and a flood of rushing emotions poured out of. HIM a mixture of, anger, sorrow and love poured out of. Him as he, Bellowed his cries echoed down the. Hills he fell to his knees and wept with a, ferocity like a mother bear roaring over her lost. 00:06:45 Speaker 2: Cup my, youre HOW i wish to tell you would understand the path to. 00:06:51 Speaker 1: Peace he gripped his, chest as if pleading with the city and his own. Soul but it's too. Late it's too. Late peace is hidden from your. Eyes there was a momentary, pause a break in the tears as he closed his. Eyes the wind continued its descent toward the, city carrying his heartfelt message with. 00:07:13 Speaker 2: It it won't be long now before your enemies build ramparts against your walls and surround you from every. Side they will. 00:07:22 Speaker 1: Crush, You. 00:07:23 Speaker 2: Jerusalem they will bury you into the, ground you and your children with. You your enemies won't leave a single stone in, place and all if it could have been, saved if you just Seem god in your. 00:07:36 Speaker 1: Midst his followers remained at a healthy, distance allowing space for his prophetic. Weepings they had assumed their journey with their master would ultimately end with a provisional rise to. Power, however at this, moment on the hill overlooking The Holy, city they sent something else was in store for. Them the passion of the Prophet king was, awakened And jerusalem was about to be. Shaken jesus disciples stayed a few paces behind, him trying to discern what would happen. Next their teacher's demeanor had shifted since his triumphal. Entry he wasn't anxious or, hurried but there was an urgency in his stride they hadn't seen. Before jesus entered the city with. Intention every step was aimed at The temple like an. Arrow they arrived at the temple, courtyard a space set aside for gentiles and foreigners to Worship. God the intentions for the Outer yard were explicit In god's. Word the outer squares were designed to be a refuge for the alien and onlooker to experience the love Of. God, however what the group stepped into was some Else. Entirely money changers and merchants occupied the, courtyard peddling animals for sacrifice and exchanging foreign currency at an unfair. Rate the outer courtyard had ceased being a place for outcasts to Worship god and had become a place to milk the foreigners for all they were. Worth the poor were now unable to make sacrifices at The. Temple the middle class was forced to exchange their modest sacrifice for a more expensive and temple approved. Sacrifice tables arrayed the, courtyard holding weights and scales to balance silver and. Gold yet for all the scales there was no. Fairness for all the, guards there was no. Justice jesus peered up at the temple's leaders and. Snarled he could smell their greed from a mile. Away they had been fattening themselves off the exploitation of Non jewish. Worshipers he looked upon the sea of innocent faces desperate to Access. God he saw poor families walking away because they could not afford the temples approved. Animals they wanted to be near To. God they Wanted god to redeem. Them god was near and he would. Redeem the words Of isaiah reverberated in his. Mind give, wisdom grant them. Justice make your shadow like night at the height of, noon shelter the. OUTCASTS a large stone table was in the center of the. Courtyard scales with gold and silver weights were placed on them to measure against the foreigner's. Coin god's passionate prophet took a decisive step. Forward he was about to balance the. Scales he placed his work worn hands underneath the large stone, table gripped its edges tightly and swung his whole body, upward flipping it into the. Air the stone cracked as it hit the, ground and coins scattered along the cobbled. Floor the same power that sent fire down from heaven and split the earth in days of old coursed through his. Soul one by. One jesus flipped every table in the courtyard that had been hewn as an altar of. Greed he shattered the crates of the, animals sent sheep running from their, owners and halted anyone from carrying anything into the. Temple his strong legs marched up the steps to where the temple leaders remained in. Shock he stood inches from them and stared into their very. Souls jesus saw pass their ceremonial robes and religious. Medallions, outwardly they appeared to have. Life jesus could see the void within. Them jesus turned to the. Crowd the chaos he had caused paused, momentarily and all were silent as he. Spoke he spoke was glorious. Authority his voice boomed and reverberated across the courtyard as he said. 00:12:20 Speaker 2: It is, written my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the. Nations look what you've made. It you've turned this refuge for prayer into a den of. 00:12:30 Speaker 1: Thieves everyone in the courtyard heard, him but only his students truly. Listened they watched his chest rise and fall with every emboldened. Breath he was more than a passionate prophet Like elijah Or john The. Baptist he was the voice that once boomed From Mount. Sinai none could fathom the depth of what was happening at the. Moment the tables and temple currency represented the walls of separation Between god and. Humanity the connection between them had been, lost but his chosen hero stood before them on the steps to restore what had been. Lost the broken tables and spilled coins represented the toppling of a religious system that kept people far from their creator's. Heart all would be restored, soon but not without a. Sacrifice his battle was not ultimately against the priests of the money, changers but against the sin that ensnared their. 00:13:41 Speaker 3: Souls what makes us angry often reveals what we cherish. Most if someone ever disrespects my, Wife i'm stirred to. Anger if my kids are threatened in any, WAY i begin to boil with. Fury the same can be said for not so righteous things in my. LIFE i enjoy food probably more THAN i, should SO i get irritated when somebody interrupts me during a. Meal what angers us most reveals what we love, most or at least reveals a crucial part of our. Character so what Angered jesus the? Most what stirred him to? Action this episode showed us a few scenes Of jesus being moved to. Outrage, first we saw him lash out at a fig tree that wasn't bearing. Fruit does that Reveal jesus's deep and passionate hatred for? Figs of course. Not in our next, episode we're going to get into more detail about the fig, tree but here's a. Teaser the fig tree is a. Metaphor it's a metaphor for the, priests The, pharisees and the religious. System the tree showed vibrant leaves as if it was the season for, figs but upon further, inspection no fruit was found in the. Tree jesus hates spiritual false. Advertising, Next jesus turns his face to the city and. Laments he talks about how they've missed. It they've met this incredible work of The messiah that they'd been pining after for so. Long peace With god was right in front of, them but they were blind to it. All jesus is angry with their willing. Ignorance he revealed himself to The. Pharisees he revealed himself to the religious. Leaders they saw all the, signs they heard his, preaching and they beheld the glorious work Of. Jesus but, still because of their, pride they ignored. Him you, see pride Blinds. Us when he looked back at the city draped in, splendor he couldn't help but. Weep for all its, beauty it was dead, inside just like the fig. Tree why was it? Dead because they had strayed from the heart Of god and were unprepared for the struggles. Ahead jesus was emotional at the thought of his people. Suffering as a parent mourns over a child who is. Strayed god is passionate about, you and he mourns when you've strayed or when pride has blinded. You But jesus is anger didn't stop. There in this, episode what else Stirs jesus to. Indignation, well When god's people are being kept from intimacy with. Him remember HOW i said that what angers us most reveals what we love. Most if we look at the story Of god in The, bible it becomes very clear as to What god loves. Most he loves to dwell with his people and bless. Them god loves to dwell with his people and bless. Them we first see this in The garden Of. Eden In genesis one twenty, seven it says, This So god created man in his own, image in the image Of. God he created him male and. Female he created. Them Then god bless. Them after The garden Of, Eden god chose a family to dwell. With he Shows, Abraham, isaac And. Jacob In genesis, seventeen he makes a promise To, abraham and he, says i will establish my covenant between me and you and all of your descendants and all the generations after. Them i'm going to make an everlasting covenant to Be god to you and your descendants after. You And genesis twenty two it says in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be. Blessed So god has this divine plan to bring all of the nations into intimacy and unity with. Him it starts with him establishing a nation Through abraham's, descendants a people, group a nation whose history would be centered around a Holy god pursuing them at all, costs A god that would send, plagues part, sees and shatter the earth and demolish walls to get them and bless. Them as a symbol of this, unity he established The ark of The covenant and The. Tabernacle god wanted to dwell with his traveling. People, then once the nation Of israel was, Established god dwelled in The, temple a place where people could travel thousands of miles to visit and commune With. God here they would pray and make sacrifices and seek intimacy With. God sacrifices would be made and offered up To. God in these, sacrifices the innocent blood of animals shed were a picture of the consequence of sin on, humanity and ultimately they were pointing towards a greater sacrifice That jesus would make just a week after. This this temple is where the peace people's sins would be brought Before god and to implore Of god to forgive, them bless, them and embolden. Them it was a place of worship and. Repentance and this was not just a practice for the people Of, israel you know, that, right people from all nations would flock to The, temple not Just, jews but gentiles. Too in, fact there was an entire outer section of the temple dedicated for gentiles to come and commune With. God this is so crazy because that Was god's desire all. Along remember the promise he made To. Abraham he wanted all the nations to be. Blessed In genesis twenty, two he made a promise that through the seed Of, abraham every single nation would be. Blessed so that's why there was a special section of the temple dedicated to, gentiles but it was also dedicated to the, outcasts the, poor those who really desperately Needed god can come and commune With. Him and guess what section the priests and the temple leaders used to start making. Money that's, right the place where the gentiles and the outcasts were supposed to be able to come in commune With god was the same place people were using to make a. Prophet so not only were all the gentiles now not able to come and Worship, god but the poor were unable to Worship god, too because the temple currency had a super crazy exchange. Rate these people were inhibiting the outcasts and the poor from Worshiping, god and that's what Stirred jesus to. Anger the temple was Where god decided to make himself, present but greed was keeping the poor and needy from accessing. Him the priests and The pharisees were making the poor and dispossessed by their. Atonement but only the blood Of christ can do. That So jesus got. Mad he flipped the tables over because the heart Of god is to be with his, children and he'll do anything it takes to be with. Them when we get, angry it's always because we're supposed to protect. Something so when it comes To god displaying, anger he is protecting something to his, glory his purpose for. Humanity that is what Made jesus. Angry it was undermining his plan for The. Gospel listen to these words From isaiah fifty, six and let me know if they sound. Familiar do not let the son of the, foreigner who has joined himself to The lord speak, saying The lord has utterly separated me from his, People nor let the eunuchs say HERE i am a dry. Tree for thus says The lord to the, eunuchs who keep my sabbaths and choose what pleases, me and hold fast my. Covenant even to, THEM i will give my house and within my walls a place and a name better than that of the sons and. DAUGHTERS i will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut. Off also the sons of the, foreigner who join themselves to The lord to serve him and to love the name of The, lord to be his. Servants everyone who keeps from defiling The sabbath and holds fast my, covenant even, THEM i will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of. Prayer their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be excp did on my. Altar from my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the. Nations the words Of isaiah revealed the heart Of. God he wanted his house to be a house of, prayer a house where the, foreigner the, gentile and the poor could come and connect With. God it has always Been god's desire to bring all the nations to, himself and it has always been his desire to create avenues for people to speak with, him to worship, him and to be with him and to walk with. Him before the veil was, torn this is where people would go before the crucifixion Of jesus and the. Resurrection this was the place for. Worship what we See jesus doing here in this episode is violently driving out that which is separating people from experiencing intimacy With. God it's a picture of What jesus would eventually do on the. Cross you, see The cross was the most violent upheaval of sin and separation this world has ever. Seen and just As jesus violently flipped the tables that were separating people from experiencing unity With, god he violently crucified the very sins keeping you From. Him these gentiles were hopeless to come Before god and to ask forgiveness in the, temple So jesus made away he flipped the. Tables he does this with us In ephesians chapter. Two paul tells us that those who are far From, god the gentiles in the, flesh have now been brought. In we strangers To god have now been called his. Children the entire narrative of scripture is that we have so many barriers keeping us from a life of peace With, god and That god will stop at nothing until all of those barriers are flipped over and done away. With romans eight thirty eight says, this FOR i am sure that neither death nor, life nor, angels nor, rulers nor things, present nor things to, come nor, powers nor, height nor, death nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love Of. Christ, jesus Our. Lord jesus removed all the barriers between us And god on the. Cross he flipped our, tables if you want to use that, metaphor for the temple was a place for, reconciling, atoning and the healing work Of. God After jesus flipped the, tables people flock to, him and he ministered to. Them it says In hebrews four. Sixteen let, us, then with, confidence draw near to the throne Of, grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of. NEED i think having confidence That god wants to hear from us and speak to us changes our perspective on, prayer doesn't. It he bends his ear to hear, us he makes avenues for us to pray to. Him the grand table flipping Work christ did on the cross and rising again from the grave allows for prayer to have a full and unhindered effect in our. Lives we have access To, God jesus, Said ask and it will be given to. You seek and you will. Find knock and the door will be open to. You jeremiah, says you will seek me and find me when you Seek me with all your. Heart Through, jesus prayer is. Possible there is no actual impact we are going to make as believers without stepping into unity With god in, prayer And jesus made that all. Available may we be people known for prayer Because god has given us access To him through. Prayer it is the source of our power and our intimacy With. Him join us for our next episode as we continue along this journey to The cross and out from the. Grave for more inspiration to last a, lifetime download the pray Dot com. App see you next. 00:24:23 Speaker 1: Time