What Happened On That Monday?

When we think back to what happened 2000 years back we see Jesus’ arrival in Bethany before Passover.
 
John 12:1 12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
 
Jesus was welcomed wholeheartedly and then visited the synagogue on Sabbath (saturday) and proceeded to stay in Bethany. 
On Sunday, As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. (Matthew 21.1-2). He then entered through the Eastern Gate of the walls Of Jerusalem into the city with large crowds spreading their cloaks and cut branches from trees on the road and shouting: “Hosanna to the Son of David!”“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
He visited the temple and then returned to Bethany for the night. These are the incidents that happened on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
 
What happened on Monday 2000 years ago? 
 
Jesus and His disciples were on their way to Jerusalem again.
Mark 11:12-14  12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it. 
 
Now they continue to Jerusalem and enter the Temple.
Mathew 21:12-17
12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 
After arriving in Jerusalem, he went to the place of worship and in this scriptural passage we see Jesus filled with holy anger. He went into the “Court Of The Gentiles” and threw the gentile people who were exchanging money and selling for profit. 
13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[a] but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’[b]” 14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 
After he got rid of all the businessmen out of the temple and cleansed the place, there was a shift. This was the second time he was cleansing the temple. He had done this once earlier in His ministry. He healed many sick people.
 
15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. 16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’[c]?” 
Then we see the praises from the mouths of the children. This angered the Chief Priests and Teachers of Law.
 
17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
We see two main things that Jesus did once he arrived which was to first curse the fig tree then he proceeded to cleanse the place of worship. 
 
At that time, the temple of God was one that was built by King Herod. But today it is not that is built with material things.
1 Corinthians 3:16 16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
 
1 Timothy 3:15 15 if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
 
In the New Testament, there are two aspects of the Temple. Firstly, Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And secondly, where these bodies come together to form a fellowship that is called the place of worship. There should be two kinds of cleansing. We need to cleanse ourselves from within and also the church as a whole needs to be cleansed.
 
During the cleansing process, we should keep a few things in mind.
 

1. Jesus cleansed the atmosphere of the temple. This is very important. For God to live in His Temple, the atmosphere must be pure.
2. He proclaimed the original purpose of the temple. It was not a den of robbers or a place of unholiness or material things. It  is to be called the House of Prayer. He brought back the original purpose of the Temple.
3. Jesus restored the healing atmosphere in the temple. The blind, lame etc came to Him This also restored the praise and worship ambience in the temple. The children and the innocent worshipped Him.

 
For the restoration of a healing and worship atmosphere there needs to be a cleansing / purification of the Temple ( Our bodies and the Church). The atmosphere can be changed in our homes, churches etc. As Jesus did, firstly there needs to be a cleansing. Secondly, we need to prophesy into the situation as Jesus did. The miracle is in our mouth. When we start declaring the purpose of God from the word of God into place of disunity, strife, sickness, poverty etc, the atmosphere will change.

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Dr. Damien Antony
Born and brought up in a Christian family, Dr. Damien Antony possessed an unquenching quest for truth right from his boyhood days and eventually his relentless search led him to the Bible. He is a Revival Preacher, Bible Teacher, Leadership Trainer, Author and a Life Coach. He moves under the anointing for Prophetic, Healing, Deliverance, Inner Healing and Financial Breakthrough. God has also blessed him with an Apostolic Mandate to take the Universal Body of Christ to the next level of revelation and anointing.