The temple in Jerusalem no longer exists. Jesus was the temple: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us
(John 1:14). His body is God’s temple that will be destroyed but raised after three days (John 2:19–20). After his ascension he lives in his new temple, that is, the church—not the building but the people (see 1 Corinthians 3:16). Are we as church a house of prayer or a den of robbers? God does not accept hypocrisy: combining prayers with a wicked lifestyle. See also Jesus’ education on prayer in Mark 11:22–25.
17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”