Section 3
who were selling the doves He said, Take these things away from here; do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise." The Lord dealt with the house of God by cleansing it with a scourge, or a whip, made of cords. The King James Version says that the Lord made "a scourge of small cords," but some versions say that the Lord made a scourge, or whip, out of rushes, which are inexpensive and ordinary. The Lord made a scourge or whip of ordinary things, of rushes, and used it to cleanse the temple. He drove out the sheep and oxen and poured out the coins of the moneychangers. That signified the casting out of all earthly occupations. We are the temple of God, yet we are not filled with God. We are filled with so many things other than God. Although we, as the house of God, should be filled with God, yet the fact is that we are filled with merchandise, money, and tables of the moneychangers. There fore, the Lord must make a whip out of cords to drive these things out of us.
Often the Lord uses the ordinary and common things, like the rushes, to cleanse us. Sometimes He uses someone common to purge you—such as your wife or husband, your parents or children, your employer or employees. We all have expe rienced the whip of cords that the Lord has made