Signs of the Times, Book 1 - Ellen G. White

June 15, 1876
Christ's Teachings
In the life and ministry of Christ he said and did very many things which
provoked the self-righteous Jews, and excited their jealousy and hatred. The
Jews professed to be more favored of God than any other people upon the
earth, and they felt insulted and abused by the pointed, cutting truths uttered
by Jesus.
At the feast of the Passover Jesus appeared as a stranger, clad in the
humble garments of a Galilean peasant, with no outward badge of authority.
His eye took in the scene of the desecrated temple. The lowing of the oxen,
the bleating of the sheep, the cooing of the doves, the jingling of the money,
the sharp and angry contentions over the merchandise and in the traffic,
drowned the voice of prayer in the temple. He looked upon them and, with
indignant sorrow, he poured out the money of the changers; he overthrew the
tables, and with a whip of small cords, drove the cattle and people out of the
court. With majestic authority he commands, "Take these things hence; make
not my Father's house a house of merchandise." It is written, My house shall
be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."
This language was close and cutting indeed. It was not addressed to the
rabble, but to the chief priests, to the teachers of the people, who were
defiling the sacred temple for the sake of gain. Indignation was seen in the
searching eye and in the stern look of Jesus. His divine power was felt by the
guilty, selfish, avaricious masters in Israel, and they fled from before him as
the guilty, condemned sinner will flee when, in his terrible, kingly majesty,
Jesus will stand as Judge of the world, and proclaim, "Depart, ye workers of
iniquity." Many will plead, We have done this and that good work; we have
eaten and drank in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But again
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