Welcome to a year in the Bible with Daily Grace.

This year, we want to spend a few minutes with you every day walking through our study Christ and all of Scripture.

Each week we will dive deeply into two passages of Scripture, one from the Old Testament and one from the New,

seeing how they connect and point to Jesus.

Whether you are doing the study yourself or just following along with us here, we are

hopeful that through studying these passages each week, you will see how Christ is not only present

throughout the entire biblical story, but the center of it. Hey friends, welcome back to a year in the

Bible. My name is Beth and I'm joined from my co-host Alexa. Hi, everyone. So this week,

we have looked at Malachi 3-1-5 and Mark 11 15 through 17. And now we want to connect those two

passages together into Christ. So Alexa, can you help us see how these two passages are connected?

Yes. So as I briefly touched on this yesterday and Mark 1115, we read that Jesus went into the temple. This is the fulfillment of Malachi 3-1-5. After all this time, God has come into his temple. But while that is wonderful, that part of the passage isn't the only part that fulfills Malachi 3 1 through 5. We read in Mark 1115

through 17 how Jesus went into the temple and threw out those buying and selling and overturning

their tables. In reading this passage for the first time, it might be easy to think that Jesus' reaction

here seems harsh or dramatic, but his actions are right and just. What is going on in the temple with

the merchants and money changers reveals a lack of reverence for the temple and the improper

worship of God's people. As Jesus says in verse 17, the temple is being treated as a den of thieves

used for one's selfish gain rather than a house used for worship for God's glory.

These merchants were also taking up space in the court of the Gentiles, the place designated

for the Gentiles to worship since only Jews were allowed inside the temple.

The merchants essentially were keeping the Gentiles from worshiping the Lord, which is why

Jesus quotes the passage in Mark 1117 the Lord, which is why Jesus quotes the

passage in Mark 1117 that God's house is to be a house of prayer for all nations.

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