1

KJV
King James Bible Study Correspondence Course
An Outreach of Highway Evangelistic Ministries
5311 Windridge lane ~ Lockhart, Florida 32810 ~ USA

The Book of John

Lesson 7
Return pages 6 & 7 only
Read John 2: 12-25

J
ohn Chapter 2:12 After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his
brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days. Now notice that at this
early stage in the Lord’s ministry – what is going on that is not happening later? His
brethren are still with Him. The family did not remove themselves quietly from Him until He
starts declaring that He is the Son of God.– but at this point and time, that had not
happened yet.
John 2:13 And the Jews' passover was at hand, (Passover was the remembrance of
the deliverance from Egypt; when the blood of the lamb was slain and the blood was put
on the doorposts and Israel was delivered.) And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus
went up to Jerusalem,
Remember where John starts, Malachi has just ended. I know it is 400 years. The
reason nothing is written for 400 years is because nothing changed for 400 years. When
Malachi wrote about the feasts of the Lord having been perverted and corrupted; they had
been turned into a charade. They were nothing more than a money making operation for
the priesthood and the Levites, and God would have nothing to do with them. In Leviticus,
the Passover, Pentecost and Preparation these were called feasts of the Lord. John 5:1
…there was a feast of the Jews. John 6:4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews… John 7:2 Now
the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. John 11:55 And the Jews' passover was nigh at
hand… John 19:42 …because of the Jews' preparation day. Do you see what is happening in
John? God is not in them. You can see already that this nation is going to have to choose
between Jesus Christ and their feast days. Passover is yours – the Lamb of God is mine!
What is it going to be?
Later Jesus is going to walk out of the temple. In the Old Testament He says, my
house is called a house of prayer. When He walks out of that temple for the last time He
says, behold your house is left unto desolate. If you do not want me, have the house. What
good is the house without me? You can have it. He did the same thing with these feasts.
You want the feasts but you do not want me – fine! They are your feasts. You can have
them; I am not in them anymore, saith the Lord
Now, in John 2:14 you have not only, the cattle dealers and sellers of doves, but
money changers. How would you like to walk in at church and in the vestibule or the lobby
of the church is like a stock yard? You can understand that. But the idea was you were
supposed to bring your animal and offer something that was dear to you. Something of
value to you and give it to the Lord. Well now they have this worked out where if you have
to do the sacrifice, you just go to the Temple buy the sacrifice when you get there. It
ceased to be an act of personal worship and sacrifice towards the Lord and it became a
mere commercial activity. That does not sound unusual to any of us, does it? That is
where we are in our religious world today.
Every Jew had to pay a one half shekel annual tax to the temple treasury. This is
interesting to me, this could be paid in only sacred currency – that is no foreign coin was
accepted because it would have an emblem of submission to an alien king. So the
Pharisees and the Scribes and the Jews that ran the temples said, “you have to bring a
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KJV
King James Bible Study Correspondence Course
An Outreach of Highway Evangelistic Ministries
5311 Windridge lane ~ Lockhart, Florida 32810 ~ USA

half shekel; it has to be Hebrew money because we do not want Caesar’s image coming
into our temple, it has to be Hebrew money.” So just before you enter the Temple, they
have the money changers who are swapping money like in an airport going to a foreign
country or crossing a border. They are exchanging currency there. Caesar's money for
Hebrew money. There are piles of money all over the place.
Here are these Jews – now think about it. They did not want a foreign coins coming
into the temple because it would pollute the place, but they will crucify the Son of God and
think nothing of it. The changers for those people from remote parts of the empire were
Roman coins in replace for the shekel were sitting here in this gateways or these entry
ways to the temple. Deuteronomy 14:25 says Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up
the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose:
That is a cross reference. Here is the situation. Jesus walks in there and He looks at this
thing and it is not what it is supposed to be. They have turned the worship of God; they
have turned the Passover memorial into a marketing scheme and into a money racket.
You cannot imagine it unless you have been to a Christian rock concert or to a paid
seminar convention. It is just a big money racket.
The Bible says in John 2:15, And when he had made a scourge of small cords, Let us
stop right here – I want you to think about something. The reason the Lord tells me not to
be angry and sin not, (deal with that anger. Do not let the sun go down upon thy wrath.
(Ephesians 4:26) is because my tempter, unrestrained by God, will control me. God
controlled His tempter! He used it! He used His wrath; He used His anger, but never out of
control. He obviously caused excessive damage, and yet no one laid a hand on him.
Looks to be the same scenario as John 2, this is God. He walks into a wedding. He
takes charge. Nobody questions Him! He walks into the temple and runs these guys out of
business and nobody even attempts to stop Him, Why? He is God! You would think that
about fifty of them would jump him and beat his brains in and drag him out dead, It’s
incredible! He is Samson, He is Joshua, He is Gideon, all rolled into one! He is the lion of
the tribe of Judah. When He rises up from crouching down, you better be out of the way,
because He is going to hurt you. He can give you a drink if you are thirsty; or He can give
you a whipping if you need one. Right here in one chapter.
John 2:15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the
temple, He is a real man, a role model …and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the
changers' money, and overthrew the tables; Now, the application. Did not Jesus come to save
the lost sheep of the house of Israel? There are some sheep in that place that are in
bondage to the religious system and the religious leaders of Israel and they are going to
die under that bondage. Jesus came in there and set them free. There are some oxen in
there. They are not sheep; they are just common servants, might be Gentiles but
nevertheless they are going to die under bondage to those Jewish religious leaders and
that legal system and Jesus just set them free. Do you know what is supposed to happen
to those animals on Passover? They are supposed to die! Do you know what Jesus just
did? He just went in there and delivered them from their death sentence. I am telling you
the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)
John 2:16,17 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my
Father's house an house of merchandise. If God’s house from one end of this earth to the
other, if it was not a place of merchandise, there would be a lot less criticism in Christianity
and lot more people saved. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine
house hath eaten me up. It would be great if all of us could say that we were so zealous for
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KJV
King James Bible Study Correspondence Course
An Outreach of Highway Evangelistic Ministries
5311 Windridge lane ~ Lockhart, Florida 32810 ~ USA

God that it consumed us. That sure would be something. Here is a note from Psalm 69 it is
quite a crossroads in the Old Testament. Psalm 69:9 is quoted in John 2:17 and Romans
15:3. Psalm 69:4 is quoted in John 15:25. Psalm 69:21 is quoted in John 19:28. Psalm
69:22 is quoted in Romans 11:9-10. Psalm 69:25 is quoted in Acts 1:20. Sounds like a
pretty important passage.
John 2:18. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us,
seeing that thou doest these things? “How about the sign that I just whipped your back side!”
They were not content with that. Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and
in three days I will raise it up. Now, I want you to notice as we go through John, at how
many times Jesus tries to teach a spiritual truth and the people He is talking to can only
think of the physical and so they miss what He is trying to teach. Jesus says, Destroy this
temple, [Do you remember how we miss things in the Bible because we know the Bible so
well? Think about this. If you are standing in the temple and you say, show us a sign and
Jesus says, destroy this temple, what are you going to think about? You are going to think
about the building; you can understand why their minds went their. and in three days I will
raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear
it up in three days? Now here is what is interesting. If you have a red-letter Bible (which
sometimes helps and sometimes does not), He does not answer that. He made the
statement; they asked a follow-up question and He did not give them an answer! He just
left it there.
Think back to chapter one. Why did He not give them an answer? Why did He not
give Pilate an answer? Why did He talk to Nicodemus all night long? He tried to give them
light; they did not want light; so they do not get anymore. He tried to give Nicodemus light.
Nicodemus wanted light; He gave him more. You are going to see this happening all
through the book of John. John is about light and darkness. If God gives you a little light
and you do not receive it, you do not get anymore light. All they had to do was say “what
do you mean?” But they did not say, “what do you mean?” They went in on the attack!
Nicodemus said, “how can a man be born a second time?” He is inquiring! These guys are
saying, you have to be kidding – they showed no belief. They were showing scorn and
received no answer. He cut them off right there. So this principle holds – you get a little
light, put faith in that light, you get some more light. Put faith in that light, you will have
more light. You get a little light. You reject that light, you will stay in the darkness.
John 2:21 But he spake of the temple of his body. Lets look at some places where your
body is called a temple. First Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple
of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? You are the
temple of the Holy Ghost. There are a lot of different names for the body in the Bible. A
house, a tabernacle, a vessel, a temple – but they all have to do with just a place where
somebody lives and a place where somebody resides. So what is Jesus saying? Now –
remember, go back, because this happens in another place. What did they ask? Show us
a sign. What did Jesus say? Look at it again
John 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up. He said I will rise up, So they asked Him again in Matthew 12. Shew us a sign.
What did He say? No sign but Jonah. As Jonah was three days… So, the only sign the Lord
ever offered to dishonest inquirers was His resurrection. John 2. “How are you going to
build this temple again?” “In three days, when I rise form the dead, don’t forget me.” That is
the only sign you are going to get!

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KJV
King James Bible Study Correspondence Course
An Outreach of Highway Evangelistic Ministries
5311 Windridge lane ~ Lockhart, Florida 32810 ~ USA

John 2:22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he
had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
What a great statement there! What does that tell you about the Old Testament in verse
22? It’s the word that Jesus said and the scripture! So it is well prophesied in the Old
Testament about these matters.
John 2:23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed
in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto
them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: This explains
(and I don’t have all the references) but you can just remember this verse and use them to
write it in the margins of your Bible. Do you remember all the times when Jesus would tell
somebody that He just worked a miracle for them; or He would do something wonderful for
them and then He would say, do not go tell anybody… just keep it to yourself… do not
noise this abroad? This explains why. And when Jesus rose from the dead, He told His
disciples, “Listen fellows, I know you are excited about this thing. But I want you to tarry at
Jerusalem.” Why? Because Jesus knew if I do not give those men the Holy Ghost, they will
give the story out all twisted up and it will get perverted. So He said, “fellows, look, I am so
glad that you want to tell the world but you just wait until I send the Holy Spirit.” Why did
He say that? Because He knew what was in man. If man goes out to testify without the
Holy Spirit, it is liable to be improper. Now we see many cases where people went and
testified and good things happened. The woman at the well and so forth. But the principle
behind Jesus saying in those many cases, I would rather that you say is in the spirit so the
story stay's clear and true, without the Holy Spirit I cannot really trust you to tell it right.
Not only that, And needed not that any should testify of man: Why? Well, He is there!
Let me do it guys! Give me three and half years to establish who I am and then you can go
out and repeat the good news of what I have done and what I have said. Let me build the
foundation, there will be plenty for you to do later – but let me build the foundation! That is
the principle here.
Now, end of verse 25, end of chapter 2, for he knew what was in man. That is a vital
piece of information because that is an attribute of God. I have met people that think they
know what you are thinking and “I know what you meant by that… I have the gift of
discernment…” and all that; but honestly, I do not know what you’re thinking right now, I do
not know what is in your heart. You could be married to somebody for forty years and you
do not fully know what is going on inside of them.
But the Bible says, he knew… he knew what was in man. How many times in the
gospels can you remember where Jesus turned to someone and responded upon what
they were thinking? Luke 7:39 I can imagine I would of been a bit in shock if I just thought
that this woman was a sinner and the next statement out of Jesus' mouth was that of a
parable asking me the reasoning behind what I just thought. You know that would really
put you at a discomfort level you have never have known before.
Now, turn to Jeremiah chapters 17 and 20. Jeremiah 17:9-10 The heart is deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the
reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. He
says in verse 9, who can know the heart. Verse 10. I the LORD, (capital letters), Jehovah, I
know the heart. John 2:25 says He knows what is in man. That is an attribute of God. It is
a statement of His deity. Jeremiah 20:12. But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and
seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my

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KJV
King James Bible Study Correspondence Course
An Outreach of Highway Evangelistic Ministries
5311 Windridge lane ~ Lockhart, Florida 32810 ~ USA

cause. Jeremiah says the Lord sees the heart. Compared with what Jesus just said in John
2 the end of verse 25. We are talking about the same person again.
Here is a list of some other references where the same statement is made about
God seeing or knowing what is in man. First Samuel 16:7. First Chronicles 28:9. Matthew
9:4. Mark 2:8. John 6:64. John 16:30. Acts 1:24. Revelation 2:23. God knows the heart.
God searches the reins and the heart. Now what is good about if you take all those
references, if you have an Old Testament statement, I the LORD search the heart, I try the
reins, and you go to Revelation 2 and Jesus says, that I am he which searcheth the reins and
hearts: - it is pretty clear that the Bible is teaching that Jesus Christ is the God of the Old
Testament manifested in the flesh. So those all make very good proof texts as you cross-
reference them for the deity of Christ.
Let me just add a thought here as touching the Lord in God’s anger in John 2 when
He made that scourge and drove them from the temple. I certainly understand that it was
necessary for the Jews scattered around the world to make such exchange of money; I
certainly understand and realize that to travel such long distances bringing their animals
with them would have been well nigh impossible. But the anger of the Lord is a result of
the fact that for four hundred years since the days of Malachi they had made no attempt
whatsoever to correct the sins and the wrongs for which Malachi had rebuked them and as
a result they were not only still under Gentile dominion, they were not only scattered to the
four corners of the earth as God promised they would be if they rebelled against His word
and against His law. But they were obviously quite content with this situation. They had
chosen to submit themselves to Roman rule and bondage rather than to submit
themselves to the word of God; they had chosen to be scattered among the Gentiles rather
than to repent and enjoy God’s prophesied return of His people to their land! And His
anger was not directed at the exchange of money per se or the purchase of animals per
se, His anger was directed at a nation that would rather be wrong than right, that would
rather be slaved than free and that continued with their pretense when they were
worshipping a God whose word they despised and whose commandments they ignored.
And that was the source of His anger and it is quite justified giving the circumstances of
the case.
Notes

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KJV
King James Bible Study Correspondence Course
An Outreach of Highway Evangelistic Ministries
5311 Windridge lane ~ Lockhart, Florida 32810 ~ USA

The Book of John

Lesson 7
Read John 2: 12-25

Name ___________________________

1. At what point did the Lord's family begin to withdraw themselves from Jesus'
company?

2. Explain the principal of your animal to be a sacrifice?

3. Explain how modern day Christian rock concerts are the same as John 2:15.

4. What are the similarities of how Jesus approached the temple and how He
approached the wedding at Cana.

5. What verse in our Lesson appeared to be pretty important passage?

6. Explain where are principal about getting light and faith shows up again in
John 2:18-20.

7. What was the only sign the Lord ever offered to dishonest inquirers?

8. What does John 2:22 tell us about Old Testament matters?

9. Why did Jesus often tell those that he did miracles too, not to tell anyone else?

10. Explain how the Jews had perverted the feast days?

11. Why is there no history from Malachi to Matthew?

12. What was the purpose of the money changers?

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KJV
King James Bible Study Correspondence Course
An Outreach of Highway Evangelistic Ministries
5311 Windridge lane ~ Lockhart, Florida 32810 ~ USA

13. What was the Jewish annual tax to the temple?

14. Explain why only Hebrew money was allowed in the temple.

15. What did Jesus do for the animals in the temple?

16. The Old testament statement clearly states that I the LORD search the heart. What
does that mean to you?

17. What was the source of the Lord's anger in John 2

True/false
• The Lord can control His temper.
• The Jews asked for more light.
• We need to be so zealous for God that it consumes us.

Scripture Memorization; (write these on the back on the sheet, Must be in KJV)
Ephesians 4:26; Luke 19:10; Psalms 69:9

any questions?

© Copyright kjbscc 2007 John Lesson seven 03/31/2008 12:10 PM