When The King Comes...He Cleans and Restores!

This morning I felt led to start reading from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 11, which is where he describes Jesus' coming to Jerusalem.  As I was reading that, I realized I  had read the parallel verses in Luke's Gospel.  Here are the verses from Luke 19:28, 36-38, 45-46 NIV:

[28] "After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

[36] As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. [37] When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

[38] “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

[45] When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. [46] “It is written,” he said to them, “ 'My house will be a house of prayer' ; but you have made it 'a den of robbers.' ”

In both Gospel's Jesus enters Jerusalem, acclaimed as King, which He never allowed previously.  Secondly, in both cases, His first real action in Jerusalem was to cleanse the temple courts, and drive out the money changers and those selling.  He proclaimed that the purpose of that place was prayer!

I was intrigued by the fact that the first official act He did, after being proclaimed as King, was to cleanse the temple and restore it to its proper function, that of interacting with God. Since I read the same basic verses 2 days in a row, I felt like there was something the Lord was trying to say to me, as I find that He repeats Himself sometimes when I miss what He was saying the first time.

Without getting all dramatic, I would simply say this - I believe the Lord is saying that He is coming to restore the Church to her rightful focus and function!  I don't think I need to be any clearer, as the Lord knows what that will look like, but we need to take his sovereignty seriously!  It is His church, not ours, and I think that there is going to be some serious cleansing that will occur.

Finally, as I was reading these verses and thinking through them, I was reminded of Graham Cooke's comments around learning to manifest our spirit and faith through proclamation of God's sovereignty.  There is something about shouting praises to God that causes us to enter into a place of real spiritual engagement.  We want to engage our spirits and this is one of the ways we can do this.  I know in my life that when I have stepped into that place during worship, it was a completely different experience and encounter with the Lord.

I am encouraged today to pray that the Lord would be held up as our King, within the church. I am praying that He will cleanse and restore His church to its proper function. I pray that He would teach us all to interact with Him in His house, and proclaim His identity on the streets and in our lives.

Amen Lord!