Cleansing the Temple
The Body of Christ 
by Harold Smith
from Jerusalem, Israel
“Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, ‘Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!’ Then His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.’ (Psalm 69:9)” (John 2:13-17)
I was grousing. You have probably never done it – but I was. I was grousing over the present state of the Church. I was grousing at how the charlatans, the hucksters, the profiteers, the control freaks, the conspiracy theorists, the militants, along with the outright thieves and liars have permeated throughout the Body of Christ as it is known today and have, seemingly, shanghaied it into a place God never intended. Not to mention the innumerable “leaders” sucking up the resources of the Kingdom to build followings unto themselves. I have been waiting for the Lord to show Himself as in the illustration above – the picture of righteous indignation clearing the temple.
In the middle of my grousing, the Lord said, “Harold – Who’s Body is it?”
Now, over the years, I have come to appreciate that whenever Y’shua begins speaking to me in this manner, I know something is coming that is going to drastically alter my way of thinking. So, it was with a very contrite spirit that I replied, “Well, it’s Your Body, Lord.”
To which He said, “What makes you think that I would ever inhabit a diseased Body? My Body is whole and healthy, robust and viable, full of light, growing in wisdom and maturity every day, fulfilling My plans and purposes in this earthly realm. Just because you don’t readily see it does not mean it isn’t there.”
The trap many of us become ensnared in is this thought that the Church is visible to the natural eye when, in reality, what is being promoted popularly as the church is but a masquerade. That picture of His Righteous Indignation at work should be toward the darkness within ourselves, not with what appears publicly from others for WE are the temple and judgment begins with the household of God. (1Peter 4:17).
His Body Y’shua taught us that the Kingdom is within each of us and does not come by observation (Luke 17:20-21). – nor does it come in degrees. He didn’t say it comes here a little or there a little. When you embrace Y’shua fully, ALL that He is resides within you, fully, right now (John 14:23). YOU ARE the Church. YOU ARE the Body of Christ. If there is no one else who comes alongside, if no one else ever “gets it”, you and I can still demonstrate it – because it only takes two (Matthew 18:20). You and I can BE Church. Let it begin with us. Let us exemplify and personify Who we have come to know Him to be to those within our sphere of influence – regardless of what anyone else does or doesn’t do – we can BE Y’shua to this world, today. YOU (and I) constitute THE Church, His Body. Let’s begin confessing and looking for the Truth of Who He is and Who His Body is – today.
The use of a physical body as an illustration of how His Body functions with Y’shua as the Head is not one of happenstance. Stand before a mirror and what do you see? Just as your head is not floating around somewhere apart from your body, so, also, His Head and His Body comprise but one unit, whole and invigorated, accomplishing His Purpose in this earthly realm as He deems it so.
If I entered a room where you were and all you could initially see would be my hand, you would not say, “Oh, Harold’s hand is here.” You would say, “Look, Harold is here.” In like manner, as a part of His Body, when you enter a room filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit, it can just as easily be said, “Look, Y’shua is here.”
Take a strand of DNA from any part of your body and it will tell you what comprises who you are. In like manner, if He dwells in you, you have His DNA – you are Him. You have been “born again in the Spirit” with His DNA flowing in you. You ARE Y’shua in this earthly realm – His Flesh, His Bone (Ephesians 5:30). – and He said the things He did, YOU will do also…and greater than these will you do because He dwells in and inhabits His Body (John 14:12).
Y’shua said that narrow is the Way and few there are that find it (Matthew 7:14). Yes, it is a lonely path. He said if we are to follow after Him, we can expect the same treatment as He was afforded. Isaiah says He was a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). I think part of that grief is because He came to His own and His own rejected Him. It was His brethren who persecuted and rejected Him and what He taught because they didn’t understand Him – what His true objectives were. I don’t think we can expect to be treated any differently today. What makes Him worthy of all honor and praise is that He rose above that rejection, showing us how to live, how to walk and set the standard by which we also can rise to.
But – you are not alone. There are others that hear and perceive. Throughout scripture, He has always had and worked through a remnant who simply believed. Just as when Elijah sat in his cave and thought himself to be alone, the Lord told him there was another 7,000 He had on hand that he, Elijah, was not even aware of (1Kings 19:18). – so today, there are others who “get it” that you don’t know about. If there isn’t a remnant within His people, then why does He talk about it? As He talked about it with Elijah, Paul mentions it as well – and so does Isaiah. Even in Jesus’ message to the churches in Revelation, He is continually calling out from the midst those that will go deeper with Him. This is not about numbers but about faith. When the time is right, there are others that will show up alongside – without prompting for they are listening to the same Spirit as you (Ephesians 4:4). We have the privilege of, not just living in this time that the patriarchs of old longed to see, but actually being participants with Him in its unfolding. But it will require of you, of us. As with Him, there is a price to be paid for this Kingdom to become manifest in the Sons and Daughters of God (Hebrews 11:35-38).
Brilliance You are a child of the King, clothed in royalty and regality, flashing brilliantly across the horizon of mankind. You carry within you the fullness of the Godhead, bodily (Colossians 2:9). Your commission is not to save the world, but, like Him, to make disciples of a few who will “get it” and keep His Words to do the same (John 17:6). ; to bring this Kingdom of Righteousness we carry within into this earthly realm – as did He. God loves all His people but not all His people are positioned or will be positioned to bring in His Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven (Matthew 6:10, Luke 17:21).
So, buck up, dear brethren. Be encouraged. Get your eyes off of the world, off of yourself, and place them back on Him. Start confessing the Truth of who He is and who His Body is in this world. The harvest is ripe and few are the workers who toil in it. The interesting thing about all this, is that out of this difficult teaching will come this remnant that will be allowed to participate in the greatest harvest the world has yet seen. You are needed. He has invested a lifetime in you to bring you to this portal in time to be used of Him to influence many.
There are two definitions given for the word “ecksousia” (authority) in the Greek. Of 103 uses in scripture, the word is translated “power” 69 times and the rest is translated “authority”. The definition of ecksousia is 1) power of choice and 2) power of influence. The authority we carry within us is the power to choose how we are to live out our life in this earthly realm and to influence any who are willing to listen to embrace this Truth.
I believe the “greater” works He spoke of us doing is as the Body walks together in unity. Whenever Y’shua was confronted with validating Who He was, He always pointed to the miracles to substanuate His authenticity. I believe as the Body recognizes who we are, the authority we carry within, we, too, will see Him work in the same manner in direct proportion to that awareness.
Therefore, be bold and walk in the authority He has already placed within you. Take dominion over the darkness around you the way He did, by BEING a brilliant light – not discarding wisdom and humility, but with a servant’s heart, being accessible and accountable to the One Who Oversees us all to bring His Vision, His Plan and His Purpose into being through our life as well as through our words. This is our Praise, this is our Worship – to BE Light in the midst of darkness.
We have much to do and the time is short.