Josh Benner

Category: Gospel

  • Cleansing the temple. Studying John 2:13-17

    Cleansing the temple. Studying John 2:13-17

    Passover in the first century 

    In Jesus’ day, at Passover, it was a time of year when Jewish people from all over the Roman world would come to Jerusalem to observe this sacred holiday. 

    Imagine that you’re a Jewish person in the first century and you’ve gone to the temple for Passover. It’s not a temple. It’s THE temple. 

    And then you see a man you’ve never seen before. You don’t know who he is. Maybe you can’t even hear his words, but he has some sort of whip that he’s made and he’s driving the merchants away from the Temple. He’s driving the oxen and the sheep away from the temple. 

    Jesus in the Temple

    John 2:13:

    The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 

    The opening of this passage ties the story to a time of year. It’s Passover. Passover is an annual Jewish holiday which celebrates the Jews being freed from Egyptian slavery at the beginning of the Exodus. It would also be at the time of Passover when Jesus was crucified. 

    At this time, Passover was celebrated in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was, and is, a monumentally important city. It had been the capital city of God’s Promised Land during the Israelite Kingdom. 

    And Jesus goes to the Temple. 

    Throughout this Gospel of John, the apostle makes several references to various Jewish holidays. And he frequently makes references to Passover. We see it here in chapter 2 as well as John mentioning Jesus being part of the Passover festivities in chapters 6 and 11. 

    John is referring to different years. 

    John tells us what Jesus sees. Verse 14: In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 

    As I mentioned, Jewish people would have come from great distances to celebrate Passover. And part of Passover involved making various animal sacrifices. 

    The sacrifices had to be animals that were healthy, without blemish, without defect. But if you were traveling from a great distance, tending to an animals and keeping them unharmed and healthy as you journeyed could be a pretty daunting task. 

    So what many would actually do was buy an animal at the temple. 

    Defiling the temple

    So that’s the first group. People who are selling the livestock. 

    The text also refers to money changers at the temple. What that’s referring to is that when people would give money to the temple, it had to be the appropriate currency and so they could exchange their coins for the appropriate coins which would be used in Jerusalem…for a fee, of course. 

    So between people selling livestock, and money-changers, the Temple grounds became an area of commerce at Passover. 

    That’s a problem. 

    Verse 15-16: 

    And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”

    So Jesus drives the merchants out of the Temple. 

    When is the temple cleansed?

    One other thing which should be noted. While we’re at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus and he’s clearing out the temple. 

    In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we see Jesus clearing out the temple, cleansing the temple at the end of his ministry. 

    In Mark and Luke, Jesus’ cleansing the temple actually precipitates the religious authorities seeking to have him crucified. 

    At the end of the temple cleansing in Luke 19, it says:

    And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him (Luke 19:47).

    Why is the story found at two different times? 

    Some scholars have argued that John moved the story up because he’s more concerned with themes than chronology and that he did this for theological reasons. 

    I think there’s a simpler solution. 

    I believe Jesus cleansed the temple on two different occasions. Jesus does it here in John 2 at the beginning of his ministry. Then he does it again a couple years later and it is that later event which is recorded in the other gospels. 

    If you compare the story in John to the story in the other gospels, the things Jesus says are different, the sins Jesus is exposing are different. John did not move up an event. He is describing an entirely different event from the other gospels.  

    Once again, John’s Gospel ends by saying that Jesus did more than could ever be recorded (John 21:25). It’s certainly possible that Jesus cleansed the temple more than once. 

    To say that John just moved the story up overlooks that John actually focuses a lot on timing.

    Do not make my father’s house a house of trade

    Jesus drives the people out and he says: “do not make my Father’s house a house of trade” (John 2:16). 

    The merchants are taking a sacred space and commercializing it. Jesus has righteous indignation at what they’re doing. It’s not that selling livestock or charging a fee to exchange currency are inherently bad things in themselves. 

    But it’s the misuse of the temple property that is an offense to Jesus. 

    Undermining the sacred 

    As a society, we often overlook the sacredness of life and institutions. 

    Marriage is sacred but nearly half of them end in divorce. Our world doesn’t treat it as sacred, set apart, and from the Lord. 

    Life is sacred. But in America, nearly a million babies are aborted every single year. More and more states are legalizing euthanasia for people who are terminally ill. In European countries who allow euthanasia, there’s an increasing push to allow euthanasia for young, able bodied people who suffer from depression. That’s not meant to criticize people who have depression, but to criticize a society who would give justification and legal legitimacy to a person opting to end their own life. Life is sacred. 

    The name of the Lord is sacred, but people throw that around and curse by it. We must have reverence for God. 

    And that’s one of the mistakes that cultural Christianity makes. We make God someone we casually approach. We couldn’t approach him at all but for the work of Christ. We were so unholy, so unworthy that it took Jesus’ death to make us worthy. 

    And for that, let us praise the Lord. 

    But may we not lose sight of the holiness of God because Jesus brings redemption. Let the work that he has done, the price that he has paid, the grace that he extends further deepen our appreciation and reverence for God’s sacred character and righteousness. 

    You can never have too high a view for the holiness and sacredness of God. Jesus is at the temple and they’ve turned it into a marketplace. 

    While churches might not do that specific thing, there are still many things which American churches do which totally undermines the sense of reverence which we should have for the bride of Christ. 

    Churches often pander to the culture to try to get people in the doors. 

    I recently asked members in a theological Facebook group of the most ridiculous gimmicks they’ve seen churches resort to. 

    One church did a guns and Jesus study where they had a brief devotional and then went shooting. 

    One church turned their sanctuary into a haunted house for halloween. 

    A pastor did an advent series where he wore a different costume every week including a Frosty the Snowman one week, Buddy from Elf another week, etc. 

    One church did a several weeks long sermon series on the Tim McGraw song “live like you were dyin.”

    There are pastors who have ridden into worship on motorcycles, hoverboards, and segways. 

    There are churches which do raffles and giveaways to get people to go. Some churches have even given cars away. 

    The list goes on and on and on. 

    None of those things would be so bad on its own, outside the context of worship and church. 

    But it’s when you feel that preaching the gospel, and teaching the Word of God isn’t enough and needs your own creativity than there’s a problem. 

    In 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, Paul says:

    when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

    Our society says “to each their own,” “live and let live,” “follow your truth,” “whatever makes you happy,” “whatever floats your boat,.”

    All of those communicate a general apathy for the world around us. 

    As Christians, we are not called to apathy. Now we can’t change what everyone does or thinks. But let us not fall into the trap of becoming apathetic to the things which are sacred. 

    Verse 17 says: 

    His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

    That phrase is taken from Psalm 69 which is a Psalm David wrote. 

    Psalm 69 is a lament of the injustices and difficulties of life and of following the Lord. Several verses in that Psalm apply to Jesus and to the church. 

    But in this place, there’s one verse in particular which would be remem

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  • Water into wine and the glory of Christ. Studying John 2:11

    Water into wine and the glory of Christ. Studying John 2:11

    In a previous post, I covered the story in John 2 of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding feast. In this post, I’ll look at the conclusion at that story which discusses the significance of that event. 

    “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” 

    Jesus manifested his glory. He displayed his glory. 

    In this passage, John uses the word sign instead of miracle. A sign is miraculous but it’s also meant to point to a greater meaning and purpose for why it’s being done. The Gospel of John actually records fewer miracles than any of the other gospels. For the most part, the signs in John’s gospel escalate in magnitude throughout this book. 

    He starts with turning water into wine. It escalates to healing people. That escalates to Jesus feeding multitudes and calming storms. The last miracle which Jesus does before his crucifixion is when he raises Lazarus from the dead in chapter 11. 

    But this is the first sign. 

    Something else that’s important to understand. I keep talking about different things that Mary, or John the Baptist, or the disciples probably would not have understood at the time. I talk about the theological significance of this event in beginning to show Jesus as a replacement of the Old covenant, of the Mosaic Covenant but the disciples who witnessed this miracle likely would not have understood that. 

    I don’t want to make it seem as though this event would have been insignificant to the disciples.

    The text tells us that this sign manifested the glory of Christ to his disciples. This was a game changer. In seeing Jesus do this, it led the disciples to belief in him. So two major things happen in connection with this sign. We see it as a sign pointing to Jesus’ work of replacing the Old Covenant with a New Covenant, and it was a display of his glory. 

    Both of those are important. 

    For the disciples, it would have been far more impressive to them to have been there, and saw the water, and tasted the wine, than it is to us to read about it. It was an amazing thing that Jesus did. 

    It was a glorious display of Jesus’ power. 

    Obviously mere human language doesn’t convey how truly glorious and awe inspiring these scenes would have to be. 

    Jesus’ entire ministry points us to his goodness and character, to his divinity and dominion. That he is God on earth, and that he is the Lord who takes away the penalty of our sins.

    The glory of Jesus Christ is an idea that we can take for granted. We just attach it to him. “Yes he’s glorious.” But how often do you sit down and think about that? 

    What does that word “glory” mean? To our ears, it’s a churchy word. Glory, glorious.

    The Hebrew word for glory is כָּבוֹד. Which conveys a sense of weight or heaviness, as well as importance. You don’t just casually look at God’s glory and think “oh that’s nice.” 

    It is meant to overwhelm. To cast fear into your heart at this powerful and glorious God. To realize how unworthy we are. And he makes us worthy, he gives us grace. And why? For his own glory. 

     Quoting from Psalm 29:3-4:

    3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;

    the God of glory thunders,

    the Lord, over many waters.

    4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;

    the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

    Are you living to bring God glory? To enjoy him? To find your identity in him? 

    Jesus revealed his glory. Turning water into wine might not even seem all that impressive compared to the other things that he did during his ministry. But that shows just how glorious the Lord is. Doing so many things throughout the gospels that such an incredible miracle could seem almost underwhelming by the end of his ministry. 

    But it wasn’t underwhelming because it was because of this that the disciples believed in Jesus. The mighty work of Christ. 

    His signs show the glory of Christ. They show why he is to be worshiped. They show that he is worthy of honor, that he is to be believed.

    Jesus turned water into wine. He changed the molecules of water and made them a different substance. 

    His miracles authenticate his identity. And the culmination is his death and resurrection. And because that happened, because his other miracles and signs happened, because he shows his power over all of life, our only acceptable response is to come to him in worship. To realize his greatness. To realize that he is Lord. To bow down before him. To trust in him and his word because of his power.

    The Lord is glorious beyond comprehension.

    And Jesus shows us that in creation. He shows that in his holiness. He shows that in his gospel. Jesus shows that in his ministry and in his power. We see the glory of God in the mighty works that he does.  

    The first miracle John records of Jesus points us to his glory. It points us to his wonder. And it points us to his hour, the hour of his death when he took the penalty of our sins for us. We, who are not holy, who are not glorious, were made holy by the glorious Lord who took our unholiness and ingloriousness upon himself. And what was his sign? 

    Turning water to wine. 

    Jesus turns water into wine. At the Last Supper, on the night before his death, Jesus takes wine and calls it the blood of the new covenant. The next day, he was crucified and it was his literal blood that was shed for sin. 

    He provided the wine for the wedding.  The wedding is significant. In Revelation 19, as the book of winds down, it talks of another wedding feast, a greater wedding feast, the marriage supper of the lamb. And at that wedding, Jesus is the groom. In our passage today, Jesus saves the wedding, but it points to the greater wedding feast and our attendance has been secured because Jesus saved humanity. 

    And it is because of the blood of that lamb, of Jesus, that he is able to sustain the great wedding feast. The groom supplies the wedding. And Jesus as the groom has provided. And that was given to you at the moment you placed your trust in him.

    That his death became your death for you because of his glory. And that no matter what you’ve done, you can be forgiven. Because God is overwhelmingly glorious.

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  • The scriptures point to Jesus. Studying John 1:45

    The scriptures point to Jesus. Studying John 1:45

    I’m doing a study in John 1. In John 1:35-51, we see a series of affirmations about Jesus made by his first disciples. So far, we’ve looked at Jesus as the Lamb of God and Jesus as the Christ. In this post, I’ll look at Jesus as the one to whom the scriptures point. 

    Jesus is the one to whom the scriptures point 

    45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

    -John 1:45

    We don’t know why Philip sensed this in Jesus. Just like we really don’t know why Andrew thought Jesus was the messiah. 

    But that’s really not what matters to the story. 

    What matters for us is what is being affirmed about Jesus. 

    Where Philip talks of Jesus as being the one about whom Moses wrote in the Law and the prophets, that’s referring to the scriptures of our Old Testament. 

    Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament. Everything Jesus does or says in his ministry has resonance in the Old Testament. He fulfilled hundreds of prophecies. He fulfilled the Law. He fulfills the promises of God. 

    All throughout the Bible, God is working his plan and his will. None of it is random or by chance. 

    The Old Testament is not just a bunch of stories or myths. It’s the real story of God’s work in his people which culminates in Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament to bring redemption to the world. 

    In John 5, Jesus is talking to a group of the religious leaders and they miss Jesus for who he is. John 5:36-38 says:

    the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

    The scripture points to Jesus and Jesus’ life and ministry point back to the scriptures which he came to fulfill. This is something else which matters about these affirmations which are being made about Jesus. 

    Lots of people throughout history have claimed to be significant religious figures. Some have even claimed to be divine. 

    It’s true today and it was true in Jesus’ day. What ultimately validates Jesus is not what John the Baptist said, or what Andrew said, or what Philip said. What matters is what Jesus did. 

    Fulfilling prophecies and displaying his divinity and glory. His life matters because he points us to life. His death matters because in that all who believe in him are dead to sin. And his resurrection matters because that is the only hope for eternal life. 

    Jesus literally died and rose so that all who believe in him when they die, can literally have eternal life with Jesus. 

    Everything in the Bible is about Jesus and points to Jesus. 

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  • NYT suggests evangelicalism needs to be more liberal to save itself

    NYT suggests evangelicalism needs to be more liberal to save itself

    David Brooks had a piece in the New York Times under the headline: “The Dissenters Trying to Save Evangelicalism From Itself.”

    Brooks talks of the divide within evangelicalism. Early in the article, Brooks suggests: “There have been three big issues that have profoundly divided them: the white evangelical embrace of Donald Trump, sex abuse scandals in evangelical churches and parachurch organizations, and attitudes about race relations, especially after the killing of George Floyd.”

    I’ve read this same basic piece several times in the last couple years in trying to diagnose the problems with evangelicalism in America. 

    Brooks interviews a familiar cast of characters. Russell Moore and Beth Moore (no relation to each other) who were recently popular figures in evangelical circles but have become critics of the movement. He interviews Kristin Kobes Du Mez, the author of “Jesus and John Wayne,” which is a one-sided rant against evangelicalism which only looks at the bad and overlooks any redeeming qualities in the movement. He mentions Tim Dalrymple, the president of Christianity Today who said Trump should have been removed from office.

    There’s a lot fo discourse on the problems of evangelicalism but I feel like I never see similar critiques of liberal and progressive Christianity. These articles get preoccupied with evangelical support of Trump, and that always gets framed as if it’s some obvious scourge on the gospel. 

    My question is: what in the world is so good about liberalism? What are they doing right now to benefit our country? These articles want to criticize churches for being too conservative. As if there are not thousands of churches in America that are liberal, that support values that are not Biblical values such as the LGBT movement and abortion. Liberal churches who undermine the Bible. Those churches get a pass. 

    It’s the churches who support Trump and who are not woke social justice warriors who are the problem. Basically the problem with evangelicals is that they’re not liberals. And if they embrace liberal ideologies, then they’ll be doing the Lord’s work.

    Conservative evangelicalism is an easy target because our culture institutions are increasingly liberal. The mainstream media, Hollywood, big business, big tech, pro sports, the federal government, higher education, public education, healthcare, and on and on. It’s ok to be liberal. It’s not ok to be conservative. 

    And the focus needs to be that evangelicals don’t have a big enough tent. Brooks has the audacity to frame it as if evangelicals are not welcoming enough to other points of view. Is a conservative welcome in a progressive church? Is a belief in traditional marriage, traditional gender roles, the inherency of the Bible welcome in a progressive church? 

    There are problems with evangelicalism. There are far too many powerful people in influential ministries who are corrupt and who have no accountability. That’s an issue. Brooks mentions the scandal involving Ravi Zacharias and a scandal involving Willow Creek Church. I’ve written about both. They were terrible. I’ve written about Jerry Falwell, Jr, and James MacDonald, and the Southern Baptist Convention sexual assualt scandal.

    I think too many evangelical churches have done a poor job about teaching the Bible and focus on easy to listen to messages and appealing to cultural trends and having watered down youth ministries that are not teaching kids the Bible. Again, there are problems in evangelicalism.

    There are churches and pastors who might call themselves “evangelical” with whom I would greatly disagree. But evangelicalism is a broad movement. I think we should call out people when they’re in the wrong. But I don’t think that American evangelicalism has the inherent problems that progressivism poses to the church. Progressive churches fall right in line with that ideology. I see that as the bigger threat on our culture and on the gospel.

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  • We have found the Christ. Studying John 1:41-45

    We have found the Christ. Studying John 1:41-45

    1. Jesus is the Christ 

    I’m doing a study in John 1. In John 1:35-51, we see a series of affirmations about Jesus made by his first disciples.

    In this section, Andrew has been pointed to Jesus by John the Baptist and has spent time with Jesus and he tells his brother “we have found the Christ” (John 1:41). 

    The words Messiah and Christ mean the same thing. Messiah is Hebrew, Christ comes from Greek but they both mean anointed. This anointing referred to Old Testament offices such as the king, the high priest, and some of the prophets. They were anointed with oil at the beginning of their ministries.  And the promised one who God would send was also said to be anointed, and so Andrew goes to his brother and says that they have found the anointed one. 

    That’s not saying that Andrew knew everything that the ministry of Jesus would entail or that he yet understood the sacrificial death which Jesus would die. He just sensed a special anointing in Jesus. 

    Kings, the high priests, and prophets. People did not understand in the first century that Jesus would come and fulfill all three of those offices. But through his ministry, that’s what we see. 

    Jesus is a king

    Jesus is the king in the line of David.

    The kingdom of God that Jesus ushers in is a theme in the gospels.

    In the Gospel of Luke, when the angel appears to Mary and tells her that she is going to give birth to Jesus, the angel talks of Jesus in Luke 1:33 and says: he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

    Revelation 21:15 speaks of Jesus and says: 

    The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.

    A king is one who rules, and Jesus is the king of kings who rules and reigns with eternal sovereignty. 

    Jesus is a priest

    Jesus is also the high priest. The priest in the Old Testament was the mediator between God and man who offered sacrifices. Jesus is the ultimate and great high priest. He is the one who is worthy to bring us to God and who is able to offer the true sacrifice. Himself. 

    Jesus is a prophet

    And Jesus is a prophet. A prophet is one who speaks the Word of God, one who foretells the future, and one who speaks with authority. Jesus does all three of those things in his ministry. 

    He speaks with authority. His ministry shows that he has authority over nature and over life and death. 

    There’s a passage in Deuteronomy 18 which foretells of the greater prophet.

    Deuteronomy 18:15: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 

    Jesus fulfills that text and he comes in fulfillment of all three of those offices. 

    One thing that’s important to understand about these anonited offices in the Old Testament is that hey were fulfilled in separate people. 

    The king was not a priest or a prophet. The priest was not a king or prophet. The prophet was not a king or a priest. The first king of Israel, a man named Saul, did irreversible damage to his reign by trying to take on a priestly function. 

    But all three of these offices converge on Jesus. 

    The anointed one, the messiah, the Christ. 

    Jesus meets Peter. Verse 42. He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). 

    Another disciple. The words “cephas” and “Peter” both mean rock. This is a foretelling of the leadership that Peter will have. Right from the outset of of his ministry, Jesus is stating this of Peter, although there’s no further elaboration here. 

    John 1:43 says: The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 

    That’s the only person in this passage to whom Jesus says “follow me.” We also find out that Philip is from the same town as Andrew and Peter. Just as Andrew was quick to tell Peter about Jesus, Philip will tell someone else about Jesus. 

    Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (John 1:45).

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