Jesus' Prophecy of the Temple

Let’s dig into Jesus’ “Cleansing of the Temple”. During his final week before crucifixion in Jerusalem, Jesus went to the Temple, the place where God resides (the Shekhinah), and began overturning the money-changing tables. He then said, “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” (Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46)

Jesus’ words were actually quotes from two Old Testament prophecies. The first is from Isaiah 56:7.

“Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.”

This verse is from a prophetic oracle about God bringing together Gentiles, foreigners, eunuchs, and outcasts from all the world, from all nations, to worship him, not excluding anyone because of their ethnicity or station in life.

The second is from Jeremiah 7:11.

“Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, says the Lord.”

If you read the entire prophetic oracle of Jeremiah 7, you learn that it’s about God preparing to bring down judgment upon the whole of Judah for its sins against God and man. This prophecy was fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BCE.

Put together with his actions to temporarily halt the legitimate business of the Temple, it seems that Jesus’ intention was to enact a prophetic oracle announcing God’s imminent judgment upon the Temple itself and Israel in general. This prophecy was fulfilled with the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE.