WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.440 And, um, turn if you will to our main text for this evening, which is John, the Gospel 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:18.339 ! of John chapter 2, verses 13 to 22, which I think is page 887 in your Bibles. It's 888 in 00:00:18.339 --> 00:00:22.280 mind. So if you're not there, it's just on the other side. But that's John chapter 2, 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:24.339 verse 13. 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:39.240 I'm starting verse 13. The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 00:00:39.879 --> 00:00:44.859 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen, sheep, and pigeons, and the money changers 00:00:44.859 --> 00:00:50.280 sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:55.140 sheep and the oxen. And he pulled out the coins of the money changers and overturned their 00:00:55.140 --> 00:01:01.019 tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, Take these things away. Do not make my father's 00:01:01.019 --> 00:01:09.379 house a house of trade. And his disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house will 00:01:09.379 --> 00:01:14.480 consume me. So the Jews said to him, What sign do you show us for doing these things? 00:01:14.859 --> 00:01:20.780 And Jesus asked them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews 00:01:20.780 --> 00:01:25.879 then said, It's taken 46 years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days? 00:01:26.680 --> 00:01:31.960 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the 00:01:31.960 --> 00:01:37.760 dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this. And they believed the scripture and 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:46.480 the word that Jesus had spoken. So as you might have gathered, there's really two readings tonight. 00:01:46.620 --> 00:01:53.620 The first one was Psalm 69, but it's repeated here. And here is a very different in tone from 00:01:53.620 --> 00:02:01.400 that Psalm, a very dramatic and rather action-packed episode in the life of Jesus' ministry or the 00:02:01.400 --> 00:02:06.840 start of Jesus' ministry. And it's not a coincidence that it comes at the start of Jesus' ministry. 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:12.680 If you look a few verses before, there's the miracle at the wedding of Cana, and then this 00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:18.340 cleansing of the temple. Two, in some ways, contrasting signs, miracles. We can call them 00:02:18.340 --> 00:02:25.480 both miracles. But two signs that encapsulate really what Jesus came to do, what Christ's 00:02:25.480 --> 00:02:30.860 mission was about. So although we don't often look at this cleansing of the temple, and there 00:02:30.860 --> 00:02:36.900 is, I think, something for all of us that perhaps leaves us a little bit disturbed or uncomfortable 00:02:36.900 --> 00:02:41.120 about what goes on here. It is nevertheless of very great importance to understanding the 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:46.980 meaning of what Christ came to do. And I want to direct our attention particularly tonight 00:02:46.979 --> 00:02:53.819 to that verse in verse 17 in John chapter 2. His disciples remembered that it was written, 00:02:54.679 --> 00:03:03.939 Zeal for your house will consume me. Now zeal is not a word we tend to use very often, and when you 00:03:03.939 --> 00:03:10.479 last used it. Zeal or zealous is not something I use terribly often, certainly within contemporary 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:16.359 culture today. And if we did use it, we would use it generally with, I think, rather negative 00:03:16.359 --> 00:03:23.620 connotations. I was looking through my bookshelf and my DVD collection to try and find some examples, 00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:31.620 positive examples of zeal in there. And I think the closest I came to at one point was Dorothy 00:03:31.620 --> 00:03:35.099 and the Wizard of Oz, you know, follow the yellow brick road and all that, which didn't really, 00:03:35.099 --> 00:03:43.139 I didn't think in the end, worked for me. Because in truth, most of the characters that exhibit 00:03:43.139 --> 00:03:50.099 zeal that we watch or read about or think about are generally the baddies or at the very least 00:03:50.099 --> 00:03:57.560 the flawed heroes. So instead of Dorothy, you can have, for example, Darth Vader or the Emperor 00:03:57.560 --> 00:04:05.079 in Star Wars, that kind of relentless zeal for domination, for power. Or I suppose more 00:04:05.080 --> 00:04:11.180 recently, and particularly at, I guess, is Sauron in The Lord of the Rings, who is portrayed 00:04:11.180 --> 00:04:19.360 or embodied by this flaming eye that is always seeing, always on the lookout for any opposition 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:29.280 to his power and his kind of lust for domination over Middle-earth. It's never sleeping, always 00:04:29.280 --> 00:04:34.920 flaming and always awake. And then there's another film as well, which pointed to another aspect, 00:04:34.920 --> 00:04:41.340 which we often, about zeal, particularly when it's associated with evil, is that it exhausts 00:04:41.340 --> 00:04:46.280 the good in other people and the good in other communities. So I don't know whether you've 00:04:46.280 --> 00:04:52.000 seen the film No Country for Old Men. It's set in West Texas and basically it's a story of 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:58.920 an area, a community that is disintegrating under outside criminals or whatever. And there's 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:05.340 this character there called Antoine Chigurh who is a hit man who's really not just a personification 00:05:05.340 --> 00:05:11.680 of evil, but he is, he's the devil really. And he goes around following this chaos and creating 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:18.500 this chaos. And he is the sort of the embodiment of the arbitrary and ruthless aspect of evil, 00:05:18.500 --> 00:05:24.920 evil, but also somebody enjoys it at the same time. It's cruel. And this man, to defeat him, 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:30.180 also he utterly exhausts the goodwill and the good spirit of the people who are trying to 00:05:30.180 --> 00:05:34.399 stop him and the community that they're a part of. And that's why, as the name says, it 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:41.319 becomes No Country for Old Men because it takes a tremendous energy out of them. But as I said, 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:47.439 even for those good characters, zeal is not necessarily a good thing. One of my favourite 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:53.779 television characters is George Smiley, played by Alec Guinness, the famous adaptation of the 00:05:53.779 --> 00:06:00.500 John le Carré novels about a spy who comes back to help his old sort of organisation to 00:06:00.500 --> 00:06:05.259 root out a mould. And so there's this battle of wits between him in London and various other 00:06:05.259 --> 00:06:10.980 places and his nemesis Carla in Moscow. And eventually George Smiley defeats. 00:06:11.319 --> 00:06:17.560 Carla, he has to defect and he wins. But in doing so, although George Smiley is the moral 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:21.779 centre of the story, the real moral man where all this corruption and treachery is going 00:06:21.779 --> 00:06:28.199 on around him, when he finally wins, there is a sense of emptiness and futility all of a 00:06:28.199 --> 00:06:33.939 sudden in his life because he realises he sacrificed his happiness, his future, his marriage because 00:06:33.939 --> 00:06:40.379 of his zeal, his obsession to bring this man down, to bring him, to defeat him. 00:06:40.379 --> 00:06:46.219 So zeal and zealous are not words that we use very often when we're praising people. Sure, 00:06:46.219 --> 00:06:50.600 we have other words that we use these days. We might, people talk about a good thing that 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:55.719 somebody has a passion, they have a passion for certain things, but as I say, we tend to 00:06:55.719 --> 00:07:00.259 say they have a passion for this or that. It doesn't quite have that all-encompassing, 00:07:00.259 --> 00:07:08.060 all-embracing, excuse me, this is just a justive kind of element that zeal would have. Another 00:07:08.060 --> 00:07:13.279 one you might hear that's sometimes indicative of zeal is intensity, which you often hear in 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:19.599 a squirting context. So, for example, I follow rugby a lot, as I'm sure some of you do, and 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:26.439 intensity there, as a word, is talked of with great reverence. The All Blacks from New Zealand, 00:07:26.439 --> 00:07:30.439 of course, are admired for their intensity, meaning that they don't just have the skills 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:35.040 or the speed or the strength or the fitness, but whatever they do, they are not just going 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:39.320 through the motions. They do everything as well as they can, as fast as they can, with 00:07:39.320 --> 00:07:44.200 as much impact as they can because they're focused on one thing, which All Blacks are always 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:51.099 supposed to do, and that is to win. But again, however important that might be to Kiwis, it's 00:07:51.099 --> 00:07:56.759 only a game, it's only rugby. It doesn't encompass the whole of life. But here we have, in verse 00:07:56.759 --> 00:08:03.560 17, a statement about Christ and about his zeal that doesn't talk about Christ's passion 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:10.980 or his intensity, but it talks about his zeal, his zeal for your house, for God's house. 00:08:10.980 --> 00:08:17.840 And this word zeal, certainly in the Hebrew, is closely related to the word for fire or 00:08:17.840 --> 00:08:23.300 flame. And it's when we connect these two things that we begin to see a bit more about what 00:08:23.300 --> 00:08:27.780 Jesus' zeal is really about. It's not the zeal of a fanatic, which is another negative 00:08:27.780 --> 00:08:32.659 word we might put in the place of zeal. Churchill once said, one of my favourite quotes of many 00:08:32.659 --> 00:08:37.879 from Churchill, a fanatic isn't one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. 00:08:37.879 --> 00:08:44.600 But zeal here that Christ is displaying, this flame, if we link it with this image of fire, 00:08:45.419 --> 00:08:51.860 we can say it's an internal, heartfelt devotion that leads to action. The two things are not 00:08:51.860 --> 00:08:58.320 separated, it's all encompassing. Or more figuratively and accurately, given that the Bible uses it, 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:05.559 it's an internal, holy fire that leads to actions that are intentional, dynamic, and as we see 00:09:05.559 --> 00:09:11.939 here, forceful. And the whole point of John's description of this event is to show us that 00:09:11.939 --> 00:09:19.059 Christ was not only displaying zeal in cleansing the temple, but that his whole life was one of zeal, 00:09:19.179 --> 00:09:25.599 zeal for God's house, of intentional, dynamic, and forceful actions that came from the fire 00:09:25.599 --> 00:09:31.159 that burned within him. And just to further emphasise the point, it won't be lost on you, 00:09:31.159 --> 00:09:35.719 there's a very close association in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, of fire and 00:09:35.719 --> 00:09:43.079 God himself. Think of Moses in the burning bush, the pillar of fire that led the Israelites through 00:09:43.079 --> 00:09:49.539 the wilderness, which Paul later tells us was Christ himself, the fire that Ezekiel saw around the 00:09:49.539 --> 00:09:55.740 throne of God in his vision, and the fire that touched Isaiah's lips and caused him to prophesy. 00:09:55.740 --> 00:10:01.560 And of course, the fire that came down after Christ rose from the dead and ascended, Pentecost, 00:10:01.659 --> 00:10:07.200 when the Holy Spirit came down on his church and rested there. So fire, we can say, figuratively, 00:10:07.379 --> 00:10:14.659 is an attribute of God. And so is zeal. The phrase, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this, 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:20.200 occurs several times in the Old Testament, always in connection with the great saving actions of God 00:10:20.200 --> 00:10:26.379 for his people. And probably the most familiar one to us, it's probably, you're remembering it, 00:10:26.540 --> 00:10:31.740 I've heard that before somewhere, is Isaiah 9 and 7, where we read every Christmas, you know, 00:10:31.780 --> 00:10:36.140 the bit that says, for us to a child is born, to us a son is given, the government should be upon 00:10:36.140 --> 00:10:40.240 his shoulder, and his name should be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, 00:10:40.360 --> 00:10:45.259 Prince of Peace. And then that goes on, and then it ends, the zeal of the Lord of hosts 00:10:45.259 --> 00:10:53.240 will do this. So zeal is an attribute of God. And perhaps it makes us feel a little better when 00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:59.200 it's associated with a baby in a manger, rather than a man wielding a whip, as we read here, 00:10:59.299 --> 00:11:04.379 and overturning tables, and frankly carrying on in a way that might make us a bit nervous. 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:14.460 But it is the same zeal, for it is the same God. So we're going to draw out some of how Christ's 00:11:14.460 --> 00:11:21.000 zeal for the Lord's house here. It's shown in this passage in three ways. Firstly, his zeal 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:28.560 for the pure and holy worship of God. Secondly, his zeal for all of God's people. And thirdly, 00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:34.440 his zeal for his people in his death. His zeal to make them a people for himself. 00:11:36.440 --> 00:11:42.280 So firstly, a zeal for the pure worship of God. We might ask ourselves, why does Jesus have 00:11:42.279 --> 00:11:50.240 to act in this way? Why does he do such an outrageous and provocative thing? Because there's something, 00:11:50.339 --> 00:11:56.000 as I said, in all of us that just wants to say, what is Jesus up to here? What does he 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:02.179 think he's doing? Why this violent, apparently uncontrolled, and somewhat brutal demonstration? 00:12:02.179 --> 00:12:08.259 And to understand the primary, or you might say a surface meaning of Jesus' actions, we need to 00:12:08.259 --> 00:12:13.899 understand the context of it. Because this occasion, when Jesus chose to do this, was no accident. 00:12:14.539 --> 00:12:20.679 As we read in verse 13, it was the Passover, the time of the Passover. And this was the highest 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:26.659 festival of the Jews of the year. The high point of their religious calendar, celebrating the high 00:12:26.659 --> 00:12:31.779 point of God's relationship with his people, their rescue from slavery in Egypt and their 00:12:31.779 --> 00:12:36.360 deliverance to the Promised Land. And everybody would have been there in Jerusalem. It would 00:12:36.360 --> 00:12:39.719 have been packed. There would have been Jews from all around Palestine. There would have 00:12:39.719 --> 00:12:44.559 been Jews from the wider empire. And there would have been Gentiles also. We know that there 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:50.240 were Gentiles, Greeks and Romans, who were interested in the monotheistic God, the one God that the 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:56.559 Jews worshipped, in contrast to the many gods that were in the empire. So Jerusalem was packed. 00:12:56.659 --> 00:13:00.620 The streets would have been packed. The temple would have been packed. So the first thing to note is 00:13:00.620 --> 00:13:07.500 that Jesus does this on a very significant occasion, and a very public one too. The timing is no 00:13:07.500 --> 00:13:14.459 coincidence. And of course, as I said, it was the busiest time of the year for the temple. And John 00:13:14.459 --> 00:13:22.919 describes here a temple that is catering to the religious needs of the worshippers. That's all that's 00:13:22.919 --> 00:13:28.799 going on in one sense here, with these sheep and cattle and birds and the money changers. 00:13:29.159 --> 00:13:33.919 Because the religion of the Jews in the Old Testament demanded sacrifices. There wasn't 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:38.399 anything wrong in that. In fact, it was said that in the great temple of Jerusalem, one of the 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:43.639 wonders of the ancient world, the smoke from the sacrifices that went up never ceased day and 00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:48.480 night. And given this need for animal sacrifices, of course, it made sense to have them near the 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:52.440 temple, so that people could buy and transport the animals that they were going to sacrifice 00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:57.779 as their religious duty easily. And as for the presence of the money changers, well, there 00:13:57.779 --> 00:14:02.620 was an annual tax that needed to be paid by every Jewish male. They had to pay it out every 00:14:02.620 --> 00:14:06.539 year. And very often they do it when they came up for the Passover. But you couldn't pay it 00:14:06.539 --> 00:14:11.480 in any ordinary money. No, you had to pay it in special coinage, but a higher purity of 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:17.060 silver in it. And hence people would need to change the money. Now the point I'm trying to 00:14:17.059 --> 00:14:21.899 make here is these are things that people, that Jews, needed to do if they were to fulfill 00:14:21.899 --> 00:14:28.479 their religious duty. They weren't doing anything that God had not commanded them to do. So 00:14:28.479 --> 00:14:33.019 from one point of view, it was not unreasonable to have this activity going on, at least in 00:14:33.019 --> 00:14:37.839 close proximity to the temple. And nor is there here, as you might have heard, sometimes in 00:14:37.839 --> 00:14:43.359 connection with any hint of corruption or anything wrong with trade or anything like that, although 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:50.060 sometimes money changers did charge up to 12.5% commission apparently. But that's not the point 00:14:50.060 --> 00:14:55.000 of what Jesus is saying. It's not an ethical problem that Jesus is pointing out here. His 00:14:55.000 --> 00:15:02.419 objections here are primarily, and almost solely, you can say religious. And this is our first point, 00:15:02.580 --> 00:15:07.879 really, our first application as well. Jesus here is concerned for the truthfulness and purity of the 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:14.580 worship of God, not necessarily our ethics in how they trade or whatever. And this meant that 00:15:14.580 --> 00:15:21.259 worship was to be from the heart, even when done in a formal or a communal way, as it was done 00:15:21.259 --> 00:15:28.240 through the sacrifice in the temple there. But to look deeper, there are a series of kind of nudges 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:33.720 that John gives us in this passage, to look deeper, to try and understand more fully. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:40.680 And there are three Old Testament passages really connected with this incident. There's 00:15:40.680 --> 00:15:46.399 actually probably more than that, but three in the main that show the full meaning, bring 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:50.799 out the full meaning of what Christ is doing here and the zeal for God's house. So the first 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:56.100 nudge that John gives us, as far as the desire for pure worship of God is concerned, is that 00:15:56.100 --> 00:16:01.899 this episode is a fulfillment of a prophecy in Malachi. If you just turn there with me quickly, it's 00:16:01.899 --> 00:16:15.540 Malachi chapter 3, verses 1 to 4, page 802. Malachi chapter 3, page 802. 00:16:15.539 --> 00:16:29.860 Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek 00:16:29.860 --> 00:16:35.059 will suddenly come to his temple. And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, 00:16:35.179 --> 00:16:40.699 he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand 00:16:40.700 --> 00:16:45.520 when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like full of soap. He will sit as 00:16:45.520 --> 00:16:50.879 a refiner and a purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:57.700 like gold and silver. And they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. And so we see 00:16:57.700 --> 00:17:04.000 here very obvious references to what Jesus did in cleansing the temple. He would come suddenly 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:07.580 to his temple, and there's no doubt that the people there would have felt that this was 00:17:07.579 --> 00:17:13.639 rather sudden. It feels sudden to us in the context of the gospel. Secondly, that this 00:17:13.639 --> 00:17:19.500 was good news. You see that in verse 1, it says the messenger of the covenant in whom you 00:17:19.500 --> 00:17:25.579 delight is something to rejoice in. This is good news. And more specifically, it goes on 00:17:25.579 --> 00:17:30.740 to say he will purify the worship of the temple, and redirect the worship of God to worship that 00:17:30.740 --> 00:17:35.619 was pure, and as it says, bring offerings in righteousness. So worship that was righteous 00:17:35.619 --> 00:17:42.279 and pure. And this takes us back to that point I made about zeal, that is intentional, dynamic 00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:50.799 action, but that comes from a heartfelt, consuming, burning knowledge of God, of who he is, and what 00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:56.939 he's done for his people. So as I say, the temple system wasn't so much wrong in what it did in terms 00:17:56.939 --> 00:18:02.299 of sacrifice, and people worshipping God like that. It's just it didn't proceed from a heartfelt 00:18:02.299 --> 00:18:09.299 devotion to God. It didn't come from the heart. And the outward worship of God, that whole sacrificial 00:18:09.299 --> 00:18:14.299 system, had taken over from the inward knowledge and the delight in the inward knowledge of God, 00:18:14.299 --> 00:18:20.299 and of what he'd done for his people, of his holiness and his great mercy. And surely one 00:18:20.299 --> 00:18:26.299 of the first ways we can apply this to ourselves is to admit that this is all too easy. As Christians, 00:18:26.299 --> 00:18:32.240 we know what the worship of God looks like, don't we? It looks like going to church, it looks like 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:38.359 praying, it looks like reading the Bible, helping others, singing hymns, meeting together. But when 00:18:38.359 --> 00:18:45.859 any of these things become disassociated from what we know of God, then they become empty and futile. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:52.579 They should be a response, always, to our knowledge and love of God. And they can become dead and 00:18:52.579 --> 00:18:57.619 formal with little joy. Or they can be done for other reasons other than that heartfelt devotion 00:18:57.619 --> 00:19:02.339 to God. We could go to church because it's good for our children, for example. Or we sing hymns, 00:19:02.579 --> 00:19:08.019 not for praise to God, but because that's just what we do. Everybody else is doing it. We pray 00:19:08.019 --> 00:19:13.699 because we feel we ought to. We serve others through guilt or whatever. Could go on, couldn't we? 00:19:15.460 --> 00:19:20.419 And of course we should be concerned with living our whole lives in worship to God. But there is 00:19:20.420 --> 00:19:26.640 a point, this is a point in the Gospel where it's one of the few places where Jesus addresses the 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:32.200 institutional, communal, slightly formal side of religion. And we shouldn't just pass that by, 00:19:32.300 --> 00:19:38.360 I don't think. Jesus isn't doing away with the formal worship of God. What he wants to do is 00:19:38.360 --> 00:19:44.019 restore it in its truest sense. He wants to fulfill it, most obviously in his death and resurrection. 00:19:44.019 --> 00:19:50.619 And he wants to reconnect the outward worship of God with the knowledge and the love of God. 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:54.259 The Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs said, 00:19:54.359 --> 00:19:59.220 It is not enough for you to come and sit in a pew and have the sound of a man's voice in your ears, 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:02.119 but your soul must be at work. 00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:11.259 And so this is the challenge for us, isn't it? To connect what we know and love inwardly of God with what we do in worship. 00:20:11.379 --> 00:20:15.899 And show forth this, because this is zeal. This is zeal for God's house. 00:20:18.219 --> 00:20:24.599 And secondly, moving on, we see also, if we look deeper again, the zeal that Christ has for his people. 00:20:24.599 --> 00:20:29.839 We pick up on another one of John's nudges to look deeper, to look further. 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:35.799 And we see that Jesus connects the knowledge and love of God with the mission of God's people. 00:20:36.299 --> 00:20:40.799 With the mission of God's people. He has a zeal for the people of God in that sense. 00:20:41.559 --> 00:20:44.699 And the zeal for God's people that Jesus had encompassed two aspects, I think. 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:48.939 First is the who, and the second is the how. 00:20:49.659 --> 00:20:54.459 Christ, in cleansing the temple, is showing us who is God's people, who are they going to be. 00:20:55.119 --> 00:21:01.399 And secondly, he's showing how that people will become truly God's people, to be reconciled to him. 00:21:02.399 --> 00:21:07.639 Which, of course, is through his death, where Jesus most clearly shows a zeal for the Lord's house. 00:21:08.719 --> 00:21:09.539 But firstly, who? 00:21:09.639 --> 00:21:15.179 We've already mentioned the religious problem of the merchants and the money changers setting up shop in the temple. 00:21:16.279 --> 00:21:22.559 But there was a further and perhaps deeper problem of where they had done this and why they had done it. 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:25.859 In terms of the purpose that God had for his people, for Israel. 00:21:26.879 --> 00:21:30.779 Because the temple trade did not always take place in the temple. 00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:33.339 It was quite a recent event. 00:21:33.859 --> 00:21:40.619 The temple court is this vast, huge courtyard outside the main temple buildings. 00:21:40.759 --> 00:21:44.279 Apparently it had space for 210,000 worshippers. 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:45.679 Enormous space. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:48.100 So this was filled with all what was going on there. 00:21:48.779 --> 00:21:52.759 But it had only moved in there relatively recently, about 40 or 50 years before this incident. 00:21:53.180 --> 00:21:55.279 Because before it used to take place on the Mount of Olives. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:22:02.100 Close by enough to make it, as I say, to facilitate the sacrifice that was required. 00:22:02.740 --> 00:22:05.840 But also not actually in the temple itself. 00:22:07.120 --> 00:22:08.740 And there was reasons why this happened. 00:22:09.160 --> 00:22:12.640 Largely to do with power and influence among the religious authorities. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:13.880 Which we don't have time to go into. 00:22:14.700 --> 00:22:20.800 But when this great bustling noisy trade moved from there and moved into the court of the temple. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:26.560 It moved into the outer court, which was also known as the court of the Gentiles. 00:22:27.360 --> 00:22:32.580 The court of the Gentiles was where non-Jews, as I said, those who were supposed to be attracted to God. 00:22:33.360 --> 00:22:36.259 By its history, its law, its worship. 00:22:36.920 --> 00:22:39.940 This is where they were supposed to come to worship and pray to God. 00:22:39.940 --> 00:22:41.700 They weren't allowed to go into the inner temple. 00:22:42.600 --> 00:22:44.000 That was only for Jews only. 00:22:44.100 --> 00:22:47.519 But they were allowed to pray and to worship in the outer court. 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:54.600 But now we see instead of this, this vast area, which was supposed to be for all the peoples of the earth, 00:22:55.340 --> 00:22:57.400 is instead taken up with the noise of cattle. 00:22:58.180 --> 00:23:00.420 And the bleasing of sheep and the fluttering of birds. 00:23:01.259 --> 00:23:05.620 The bustle of exchange and the clink of coins in this very large area. 00:23:05.740 --> 00:23:06.500 So there's an awful lot of ground. 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:08.440 And that's just the noise and what you can see. 00:23:08.440 --> 00:23:14.340 Those of you who know anything about farm animals, well, the smell, I wouldn't like to hazard. 00:23:15.600 --> 00:23:19.500 But it was completely transformed from a place where you could worship to a place where you could trade. 00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:26.220 And by so, it basically was effectively saying that this is a place only for Jews. 00:23:26.360 --> 00:23:28.680 Only for Jews to sacrifice for the people of Israel. 00:23:29.880 --> 00:23:33.440 And as I said, Jesus doesn't have anything to say against the sacrifices themselves. 00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:37.720 They weren't, he sacrificed at the temple himself, most likely. 00:23:38.660 --> 00:23:46.160 He focuses dramatic action on clearing this vast area, the court of the Gentiles. 00:23:47.100 --> 00:23:50.100 And incidentally, this is why he would have needed a whip. 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:53.000 And why he makes a whip, of course. 00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:59.400 If any of you have ever tried to move large and kind of massive animals through narrow streets or anything, 00:23:59.460 --> 00:24:03.259 you will realize you need something to herd them with, to beat them with. 00:24:03.640 --> 00:24:05.819 It's not necessarily that he was beating the traders. 00:24:06.299 --> 00:24:07.220 Though we don't know he didn't. 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:12.079 But it's really, you know, he needs to move all these livestock out of the court. 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:15.119 He clears this entire vast area out into the streets. 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:16.339 You can imagine the commotion. 00:24:16.339 --> 00:24:20.740 But the focus on the traders as well, in the courts of the Gentiles, 00:24:21.059 --> 00:24:23.480 is again a fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy. 00:24:23.559 --> 00:24:25.220 One of those nudges that John is giving us. 00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:30.459 So let's look at Zechariah chapter 14, verse 21, page 800. 00:24:35.099 --> 00:24:42.039 Zechariah chapter 14, verse 21. 00:24:46.339 --> 00:24:48.740 It reads, 00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:52.379 And every cross in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts, 00:24:52.879 --> 00:24:57.519 so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. 00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:04.059 And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day. 00:25:07.179 --> 00:25:11.359 There will no longer be a trader in the house of the Lord on that day. 00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:15.539 So you see the very obvious reference to what Jesus is doing here. 00:25:15.539 --> 00:25:17.480 But if you glance, we don't have time to read them all, 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:20.960 but if you glance from page, sorry, from verse 16 further on down, 00:25:21.339 --> 00:25:25.940 you'll see that this passage in Zechariah is really talking about how the peoples of the earth, 00:25:26.019 --> 00:25:29.859 all peoples from the Gentiles will come up to the temple to worship God, 00:25:29.940 --> 00:25:31.480 come to Jerusalem to worship God. 00:25:32.519 --> 00:25:35.440 It talks about all nations, all the nations in verse 16, 00:25:35.500 --> 00:25:39.619 the families of the earth to worship the King and the Lord of hosts. 00:25:40.659 --> 00:25:43.500 It's a vision of all the peoples of the earth coming to worship God. 00:25:43.500 --> 00:25:48.140 And the fact that there will be no more traders in the house on that day 00:25:48.140 --> 00:25:52.559 is really a sign that this is happening, that this has come to pass. 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:54.059 This is what's going to happen now. 00:25:54.380 --> 00:25:55.259 This is the time. 00:25:56.240 --> 00:26:01.640 It is the time for the fulfillment of God's purposes for all of those in the earth. 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:06.000 And this puts a different emphasis, doesn't it, on Jesus' actions in the temple 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:08.380 in clearing the court of the Gentiles. 00:26:08.380 --> 00:26:17.080 He is, in effect, rebuking Israel for trying to narrow the purposes of God for his people 00:26:17.080 --> 00:26:20.960 and excluding the Gentiles from the worship of God. 00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:25.540 But he's also announcing that the time of God's covenant, 00:26:25.640 --> 00:26:27.860 when God's covenant will include all peoples. 00:26:27.940 --> 00:26:32.220 Remember in Malachi he was called the messenger of the covenant will come to the temple. 00:26:32.560 --> 00:26:34.360 It will include all the peoples of the earth. 00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:39.919 So Jesus' anger and criticism in the court of the Gentiles is really focused 00:26:39.919 --> 00:26:45.639 on the fact that the Jewish religion had narrowed the focus of their religion 00:26:45.639 --> 00:26:47.339 to their own ideas of purpose. 00:26:47.740 --> 00:26:54.179 And those own ideas of purpose were becoming more and more superficial and futile and narrow. 00:26:54.899 --> 00:26:58.459 And they've forgotten the purposes that God had for Israel, that God speaks. 00:26:58.460 --> 00:27:03.759 Obviously we've seen in Zechariah that it was foretold in the Old Testament 00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:07.960 that Israel would come to expand all the peoples of the earth, 00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:13.440 that Israel was supposed to attract the other nations to them, to worship God. 00:27:16.079 --> 00:27:18.180 And he's really saying, declaring by his actions, 00:27:18.299 --> 00:27:20.860 that the covenant people will include all peoples. 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:23.500 They will worship together as equal children of God. 00:27:23.500 --> 00:27:28.759 And again, just briefly in passing, this is a danger for us too, isn't it? 00:27:28.759 --> 00:27:35.180 To narrow our view of church, of Christianity, of what we believe. 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:41.400 To really to narrow our view of the purpose that God has for his people, for us as a church. 00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:46.420 We need always to be aware, I think, of the role of this church 00:27:46.420 --> 00:27:50.099 in the wider purposes of God and in his wider church. 00:27:50.099 --> 00:27:54.699 We say no more at the moment, but how many churches have you seen 00:27:54.699 --> 00:27:57.039 that simply become a club for like-minded people? 00:27:57.159 --> 00:28:00.579 That's effectively what was happening in the temple there. 00:28:00.679 --> 00:28:04.539 It's what Jesus was rebuking them for very sternly indeed. 00:28:05.279 --> 00:28:07.919 But as I said, that was the who, so it's to include all Gentiles. 00:28:08.319 --> 00:28:10.619 The how, again, we see in John there. 00:28:11.439 --> 00:28:15.419 He's going to talk, also give intimation signs of the how. 00:28:15.420 --> 00:28:18.779 All peoples will become part of the covenant. 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:20.779 All peoples will become part of God's people. 00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:26.600 Of course, Jesus makes this more explicit in the verses that come afterwards 00:28:26.600 --> 00:28:30.340 where he talks about his body becoming a temple and his death. 00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:38.820 But there is, again, another note that we've already heard of our reading in Psalm 69 00:28:38.819 --> 00:28:43.859 and that we just turned back there 00:28:43.859 --> 00:28:47.519 and that is referenced in verse 17. 00:28:47.679 --> 00:28:49.359 His disciples remember that it was written, 00:28:50.079 --> 00:28:52.480 Zeal for your house will consume me. 00:28:52.539 --> 00:28:54.099 That's Psalm 69. 00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:56.599 You can turn there if you like, 00:28:57.259 --> 00:28:59.539 but we're not going to look at it in too much detail, 00:28:59.639 --> 00:29:01.059 but that's taken straight from there. 00:29:01.059 --> 00:29:04.359 But you would have been aware, I think, listening to it earlier, 00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:08.440 that Psalm 69 is really a reference. 00:29:08.700 --> 00:29:10.279 It's really talking about Jesus, isn't it? 00:29:10.299 --> 00:29:13.740 It was really, there were several kind of aspects that we pick up. 00:29:13.799 --> 00:29:15.440 It's one of John's favourite psalms. 00:29:15.539 --> 00:29:17.159 It's referenced three times in his Gospel. 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:19.539 And there were several references. 00:29:19.700 --> 00:29:21.759 It's really about Jesus, about Jesus' death. 00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:27.139 And so when the disciples remember here this verse, 00:29:27.140 --> 00:29:30.160 this first half of verse 9 of Psalm 69, 00:29:30.360 --> 00:29:32.840 For zeal of your house has consumed me. 00:29:35.300 --> 00:29:39.460 We can see that Jesus' zeal for God 00:29:39.460 --> 00:29:42.620 not just consumed him, that he acted in this way, 00:29:43.420 --> 00:29:47.060 but they're also looking, you can see it consumes him in another way. 00:29:48.080 --> 00:29:51.220 The wider context of the psalm makes this clear for us. 00:29:51.380 --> 00:29:54.180 The Lord's zeal was not confined to that moment 00:29:54.180 --> 00:29:56.940 in clearing the temple of the Gentiles. 00:29:57.820 --> 00:30:00.040 In fact, it was seen most clearly in the zeal 00:30:00.040 --> 00:30:02.240 that he had for God's house, for God's people, 00:30:02.340 --> 00:30:04.860 that it enabled him to redeem them. 00:30:05.880 --> 00:30:08.180 To die a death, alone and abandoned, 00:30:08.860 --> 00:30:10.360 in pain and humiliation, 00:30:11.180 --> 00:30:13.160 in all innocence and guiltlessness, 00:30:13.640 --> 00:30:14.800 in our place. 00:30:16.980 --> 00:30:19.220 So John is saying that the disciples saw in one way 00:30:19.220 --> 00:30:20.700 that zeal of the Lord would consume him, 00:30:20.980 --> 00:30:22.580 and in another way, later, 00:30:22.579 --> 00:30:26.279 they became aware that zeal for the Lord's house 00:30:26.279 --> 00:30:27.839 would consume him utterly. 00:30:30.419 --> 00:30:31.879 And it's something, as I say, 00:30:31.939 --> 00:30:33.079 you can see in verse 22, 00:30:33.299 --> 00:30:34.500 that they remember, 00:30:34.579 --> 00:30:35.839 they put the whole thing together. 00:30:36.059 --> 00:30:37.539 It's an odd passage in that way, 00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:40.119 in that we sort of hear the disciples looking back 00:30:40.119 --> 00:30:43.119 and understanding both the scripture, 00:30:43.240 --> 00:30:44.299 it says in verse 22, 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:46.439 and the word that Jesus has spoken, 00:30:46.440 --> 00:30:47.620 which gives us, 00:30:48.779 --> 00:30:49.860 that impetus, I think, 00:30:49.940 --> 00:30:51.000 to look deeper, 00:30:51.180 --> 00:30:52.620 to look in the Old Testament, 00:30:52.740 --> 00:30:53.880 to see what's going on here. 00:30:54.600 --> 00:30:56.019 But this is really talking about, 00:30:56.519 --> 00:30:58.120 when we ponder this passage, 00:30:58.240 --> 00:30:59.820 the core of what Christ's zeal is, 00:30:59.860 --> 00:31:01.620 his sacrifice and rejection 00:31:01.620 --> 00:31:03.019 in our place. 00:31:03.340 --> 00:31:04.519 This is the end of Jesus' 00:31:05.160 --> 00:31:06.240 heartfelt desire, 00:31:06.820 --> 00:31:08.000 expressed intentionally, 00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:09.120 dynamically, 00:31:09.720 --> 00:31:10.440 and forcefully, 00:31:10.860 --> 00:31:11.799 that defeated death, 00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:12.940 and sin, 00:31:12.940 --> 00:31:13.620 and the devil. 00:31:14.720 --> 00:31:16.759 And that his temple was to be destroyed, 00:31:16.920 --> 00:31:18.080 consumed, we might say, 00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:21.180 and in three days raised up. 00:31:22.779 --> 00:31:23.920 And that Jesus' concern, 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:25.980 his zeal is for the Lord's people, 00:31:26.059 --> 00:31:27.900 rather than the bricks and mortar of the temple, 00:31:28.500 --> 00:31:30.920 is clear from the fact that Psalm 69, 00:31:31.100 --> 00:31:32.700 written prophetically by David, 00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:33.980 he's talked about, 00:31:34.460 --> 00:31:35.640 David is talking about his zeal 00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:36.539 for the house of the Lord, 00:31:36.900 --> 00:31:39.259 because the temple hadn't even been built then. 00:31:39.799 --> 00:31:42.420 It was only going to be built by his son Solomon. 00:31:42.940 --> 00:31:45.600 A few decades later. 00:31:46.259 --> 00:31:49.320 So when he's talking about 00:31:49.320 --> 00:31:50.740 the zeal for the Lord's house, 00:31:50.900 --> 00:31:52.920 as Paul has made clear about the sermons, 00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:54.019 his sermons about Timothy, 00:31:54.360 --> 00:31:55.320 it's God's household, 00:31:55.460 --> 00:31:57.220 God's people he's talking about. 00:31:57.559 --> 00:31:58.420 And we can say here, 00:31:58.720 --> 00:31:59.600 God's church, 00:31:59.700 --> 00:32:00.720 and also that 00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:03.420 he himself is the temple, 00:32:03.559 --> 00:32:05.140 Jesus himself is the temple. 00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:06.880 And like David, 00:32:07.320 --> 00:32:09.519 Jesus shares the desire of God 00:32:09.519 --> 00:32:12.879 for his glory to be displayed in the church, 00:32:13.180 --> 00:32:14.059 among his people. 00:32:15.099 --> 00:32:16.000 There's one writer put it, 00:32:16.059 --> 00:32:17.960 when writing about Psalm 69, 00:32:18.139 --> 00:32:19.299 and it's linked with John 2, 00:32:19.379 --> 00:32:20.180 about the way that 00:32:20.180 --> 00:32:23.480 the people become a people, 00:32:23.740 --> 00:32:26.240 and how God is glorified through that, 00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:27.539 how the two things are linked. 00:32:27.619 --> 00:32:27.879 He said, 00:32:27.880 --> 00:32:28.480 in this way, 00:32:28.540 --> 00:32:29.020 in this way, 00:32:29.140 --> 00:32:31.220 God gives remarkable proof 00:32:31.220 --> 00:32:32.220 of his love for us. 00:32:32.940 --> 00:32:34.560 Because he unites his glory, 00:32:35.020 --> 00:32:35.640 as it were, 00:32:35.720 --> 00:32:37.060 by an indissoluble link 00:32:37.060 --> 00:32:38.660 with our salvation. 00:32:38.660 --> 00:32:40.840 So he unites his glory, 00:32:41.779 --> 00:32:42.279 as it were, 00:32:42.360 --> 00:32:43.380 by an indissoluble link 00:32:43.380 --> 00:32:44.220 with our salvation. 00:32:44.360 --> 00:32:45.600 And that indissoluble link 00:32:45.600 --> 00:32:46.840 is Christ. 00:32:47.700 --> 00:32:48.360 Through his body, 00:32:48.460 --> 00:32:50.400 he has united the glory of God 00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:51.019 and his people 00:32:51.019 --> 00:32:52.540 with their salvation. 00:32:53.460 --> 00:32:55.680 And that is what he is zealous for, 00:32:55.940 --> 00:32:57.560 what he shows the zeal for here. 00:32:59.900 --> 00:33:01.660 And Christ's zeal did not end at the cross, 00:33:02.560 --> 00:33:04.740 didn't end when he ascended into heaven. 00:33:04.860 --> 00:33:06.720 We read in the early chapters of Revelation 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:08.660 that he walked still amongst his church, 00:33:10.100 --> 00:33:11.720 counselling them, 00:33:12.200 --> 00:33:12.880 rebuking them. 00:33:13.799 --> 00:33:15.200 And he's described there in many ways, 00:33:15.259 --> 00:33:15.920 but some of them are, 00:33:16.400 --> 00:33:18.539 kind of give us a feeling of that, 00:33:18.660 --> 00:33:20.220 slight uncomfortable feeling 00:33:20.220 --> 00:33:21.900 when we read this cleansing of the temple. 00:33:22.299 --> 00:33:22.539 It's called, 00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:23.559 the first and the last 00:33:23.559 --> 00:33:24.980 who died and came to life. 00:33:25.519 --> 00:33:27.620 He who has the sharp two-edged sword, 00:33:28.120 --> 00:33:29.779 or is one who has eyes 00:33:29.779 --> 00:33:31.860 like a flame of fire. 00:33:32.880 --> 00:33:34.720 He's also the one in Revelation 00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:35.700 who stands at the door 00:33:35.700 --> 00:33:36.840 and not desiring 00:33:36.840 --> 00:33:38.700 fervently to have fellowship, 00:33:39.600 --> 00:33:40.759 to eat with his people, 00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:42.059 to have fellowship with his people. 00:33:42.620 --> 00:33:43.500 His concern, 00:33:43.759 --> 00:33:44.319 his zeal, 00:33:44.779 --> 00:33:46.700 is still for his people. 00:33:46.819 --> 00:33:48.160 A zeal for God's glory 00:33:48.160 --> 00:33:48.900 to be shown 00:33:48.900 --> 00:33:50.539 in God's people. 00:33:52.080 --> 00:33:52.920 And it is a zeal, 00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:53.360 as I said, 00:33:53.400 --> 00:33:54.700 that comes from that inner fire, 00:33:55.160 --> 00:33:56.160 a knowledge and love 00:33:56.160 --> 00:33:57.400 of God inwardly 00:33:57.400 --> 00:33:59.480 that led to intentional, 00:34:00.120 --> 00:34:00.440 dynamic, 00:34:00.660 --> 00:34:01.740 and forceful action 00:34:01.740 --> 00:34:02.700 outwardly. 00:34:02.700 --> 00:34:03.259 outwardly. 00:34:04.660 --> 00:34:06.100 Zeal for the Lord's house 00:34:06.100 --> 00:34:07.180 will consume you. 00:34:08.119 --> 00:34:08.960 It consumed him, 00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:09.280 didn't it, 00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:10.000 during that Passover 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:10.659 in the temple 00:34:10.659 --> 00:34:11.920 in the court of the Gentiles. 00:34:13.059 --> 00:34:13.960 It consumed him 00:34:13.960 --> 00:34:15.679 during another Passover, 00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:16.740 nailed to a cross, 00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:18.139 alone on a hill. 00:34:18.139 --> 00:34:20.879 And it consumes him still. 00:34:23.279 --> 00:34:24.579 I guess the big question is, 00:34:24.639 --> 00:34:25.559 does it consume us? 00:34:25.579 --> 00:34:26.619 And it is a big question. 00:34:28.199 --> 00:34:29.319 Does what we have experienced 00:34:29.319 --> 00:34:30.699 for God's mercy and grace, 00:34:31.239 --> 00:34:32.659 of his holiness and truth, 00:34:32.659 --> 00:34:35.139 does that so burn within us 00:34:35.139 --> 00:34:36.259 that we share with Christ 00:34:36.259 --> 00:34:37.839 a zeal for God's glory 00:34:37.839 --> 00:34:38.539 to be displayed 00:34:38.539 --> 00:34:39.339 in God's people, 00:34:39.940 --> 00:34:40.639 for a true 00:34:40.639 --> 00:34:43.379 and pure worship of God, 00:34:44.139 --> 00:34:46.059 for the purposes of God 00:34:46.059 --> 00:34:47.379 and of his people 00:34:47.379 --> 00:34:48.379 in all the world, 00:34:49.159 --> 00:34:50.099 and a zeal that leads 00:34:50.099 --> 00:34:51.659 to sacrificial service 00:34:51.659 --> 00:34:53.879 to God and his people, 00:34:54.899 --> 00:34:56.259 of a dying to sin, 00:34:56.339 --> 00:34:57.639 a taking up of our cross daily. 00:34:57.639 --> 00:35:01.299 So let us pray 00:35:01.299 --> 00:35:02.219 that the Holy Spirit 00:35:02.219 --> 00:35:02.859 would lead us 00:35:02.859 --> 00:35:03.619 and stir us up 00:35:03.619 --> 00:35:04.659 with that fire, 00:35:04.799 --> 00:35:05.819 that the zeal of Christ 00:35:05.819 --> 00:35:06.440 would be shown 00:35:06.440 --> 00:35:07.440 in all our lives. 00:35:09.719 --> 00:35:10.039 And really, 00:35:10.119 --> 00:35:10.859 when I was thinking 00:35:10.859 --> 00:35:13.119 about this sermon, 00:35:13.559 --> 00:35:15.259 and it really convicted me 00:35:15.259 --> 00:35:17.420 that I myself, 00:35:17.539 --> 00:35:18.159 and I don't think 00:35:18.159 --> 00:35:18.839 I'm alone in this, 00:35:18.879 --> 00:35:19.619 are so far from 00:35:19.619 --> 00:35:20.500 that kind of zeal 00:35:20.500 --> 00:35:22.019 and that kind of connection 00:35:22.019 --> 00:35:23.199 between what we know of God 00:35:23.199 --> 00:35:24.460 and what we do in our lives, 00:35:24.460 --> 00:35:28.860 that it almost leads you 00:35:28.860 --> 00:35:30.139 to a kind of despair 00:35:30.139 --> 00:35:31.720 and it throws you on Christ. 00:35:31.840 --> 00:35:32.900 So what we're going to do now 00:35:32.900 --> 00:35:33.740 to finish is, 00:35:34.260 --> 00:35:35.420 we'll stand and sing 00:35:35.420 --> 00:35:36.119 our last hymn.