~Dave Parks

The Hour Has Come

Posted on November 11, 2023 by PastorDave

MARK | Lesson 8 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Mark 14.1-42

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread… So that means we are only three days until Jesus’ crucifixion. The public teaching ministry of Jesus has been completed. Their temple has been rejected from usefulness to God – Jesus Christ Himself has come to replace that temple and inaugurate Himself as our Spiritual Temple going forward. The destruction of their temple has been foretold, and it is God’s historical agenda.

2/ Jesus is now on His way to His Cross. The events of this chapter will transpire and follow one another very quickly. By the time we get to v 10, it will be the eve of the Jesus’ crucifixion the next day. So what we will do in this lesson is break up the events leading up to Jesus’ arrest in Gethsemane into eight smaller, but distinct, vignettes. We want to show the significance of each to Jesus’ hour for which He had come – His death on His Cross.

I / vv 1-2 / The plot to kill Jesus thickens

1/ The Jewish rulers had been conspiring and plotting at least for well over a year how they might kill Jesus. Their animosity had morphed from merely being displeased with Him, to publicly objecting to Him and trying to discredit Him, attempting on numerous occasions to publicly humiliate Him by trapping Him in some inconsistency – to making intentional plans to kill Him. See John 5.18. They were now just looking for the first stealthy occasion to arrest Him and bring Him in. See John 7.30, 32, 44-46 for at least one other failed attempt to do so.

2/ Of course, Jesus knew all about this. He knew all things. He knew that this is why He had come. This was the Father’s purpose for sending Him into the world. And, if you’ll compare the parallel passage in Matthew 26.1-2, Jesus plainly announced to His disciples one more time that “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” And, keep in mind, this is also after the at least three separate intense occasions when Jesus had forewarned His apostles that this was going to take place when they came to Jerusalem. See Mark 8.31; 9.31; 10.32-34.

II / vv 3-9 / Mary anoints Jesus’ body ‘for burial’

1/ Mark just says ‘a woman,’ but Mary of Bethany [the sister of Martha and Lazarus] is identified by name in John 12.2-8.

2/ What we do know about this anointing is that Mary sacrificed and gave this very costly lotion or anointing oil to Jesus as an expression of her exceedingly great love, gratitude, and appreciation. She didn’t just pour some out – she broke the alabaster flask or box and poured it all out on the body of Jesus. She did it in such a way that none of it could be kept back, saved, or used later for her own use. She gave it all.

3/ Although we can’t know for sure what all was in Mary’s mind and intentions – whether she had some intuitive insight into the gravity of this occasion just hours before Jesus’ impending death – Jesus received her offering and act of loving devotion as a pre-anointing of His own bodily burial: “She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.”

4/ “There were some who said to themselves [or among themselves] indignantly, ‘Why was this ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.’” Though some of the other disciples joined in with this angry complaint, John 12.4-8 reveals that it was Judas Iscariot who instigated this complaint for his own self-serving, greedy, and thieving interests. And Jesus’ stinging rebuke was targeted and directed toward him personally. [Hold this thought for the next vignette…]

III / vv 10-11 / Judas bargains and strikes the deal to betray Jesus to them

1/ After the stinging rebuke Jesus had delivered to Judas for complaining about Mary’s loving anointing of His body … and knowing that Jesus knew of His traitorous intentions … Judas secretly went to the Jewish chief priests to offer to betray Jesus to them.

2/ The Jewish rulers couldn’t have been more glad and willing to bargain and strike a deal with Judas. Here was one of Jesus’ own intimate followers who was offering to betray Jesus to their custody. And Judas would know how, when, and where to best pull it off. Judas was like an ‘inside, imbedded, co-conspirator with them. He would provide them the intelligence of Jesus’ movements and whereabouts.

3/ This would prove to be Judas’s fatal flaw and undoing. See Matthew 27.3-10.

IV / vv 12-16 / The preparation for the Paschal meal at the home of a friend

1/ “And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb…” This, of course, was in remembrance of the first Passover, in the Exodus, when Yahweh delivered His people from the bondage of Egypt. That first Passover lamb was a prophecy and pre-enactment of Jesus Christ [1 Corinthians 5.7].

2/ Remember also that when Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration, the extended conversation He had with Moses and Elijah was about ‘His departure [exodus], which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem’ [Luke 9.31. That hour had now come. Jesus Christ is both our Passover Lamb of God and our Exodus of redemption, deliverance, and salvation from sin and god’s judgment of death against our sins.

3/ Just as God had ‘prepared’ for our Passover from before the creation of the world in the New Covenant that is in Jesus’ blood, so Jesus ‘prepared’ a furnished set up for this last Passover with His disciples. He had made plans already with a householder in Jerusalem for an upper room to be prepared and the table and meal to be set up.

4/ Jesus instructed His disciples where to go in Jerusalem, what man to look for who would meet them, and to follow him to his house. It worked out exactly as Jesus had planned.

5/ We have reason to believe that this was possibly – and maybe probably – the father of John Mark himself. See Acts 12.12.

V / vv 17-21 / Jesus hosts and shares the Paschal meal with His disciples and identifies Judas as the betrayer

1/ The Passover meal was an established tradition with several bowls and dishes on the table around which they were reclining. There were orders in which each item of the menu was eaten along with readings from the Scriptures.

2/ But the centerpiece of the table was the roasted Passover lamb. See Exodus 12.1-13.

3/ During the course of the meal, Jesus dropped the bombshell warning: “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” Even though Jesus gave a subtle sign who it would be [John 13.23], the disciples were still so unsuspecting of Judas Iscariot, they didn’t pick up on it.

4/ By betraying Jesus in this fashion, Judas fulfilled Psalm 41.9.

VI / vv 22-25 / Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper ordinance

1/ The dishes of bread and cups of wine were already on the table. But Jesus did something that had never, ever, been performed before in all the previous observances of the Passover meal. As He served this loaf, He blessed it by giving thanks to God for it, then broke it into serving portions to pass around to His disciples. As He gave it to them, He said, “Take; this is My body.” What? They had just eaten the roasted body of the Passover lamb, commemorating their salvation from Egyptian bondage in the Exodus. Now, Jesus was announcing “This broken and torn bread is MY body … which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me” [Luke 22.19]. He was clearly announcing His bodily death as our Substitute for our salvation from sin.

2/ Then, He took one of the cups of wine [there were several which were drunk throughout the course of the meal], and again gave thanks to God for it. He passed it around the table with this blessing: “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” Matthew records: “…for the forgiveness of sins” [Matthew 26.28]. “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me” [1 Corinthians 11.25]. The only remedy for our sins is the blood of His death on His Cross.

3/ But then, Jesus also gives the forecast and promise of the complete and final fulfillment of this memorial. When He gave us His body and blood in His death on His Cross, it was to purchase and redeem us forever. This first Lord’s Supper was only the preamble to the future Marriage Supper of the Lamb when the Kingdom of God comes in its fullness [Revelation 1-9.1-6]. “Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.”

4/ Again, as Paul comments in 1 Corinthians 11.26: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

VII / vv 26-31 / Jesus foretells Peter’s denial

1/ “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” Their tradition was to recite in a singing fashion the Hallel Psalms 115-118.

2/ Jesus announces to His disciples that they will desert, forsake, and abandon Him to save themselves in fulfillment of Zechariah 13.7. …Even though He also gives them the promise and hope that He will see them again after His resurrection.

3/ No one of the disciples has any inkling or suspicion that he would do such a thing. And especially Peter: “Peter said to Him, ‘Even though they all fall away [desert, leave you], I will not.’” Simon Peter always meant well and had good intentions. But he was blind to his own weaknesses and foibles. “And Jesus said to him, ‘Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.’ But he said emphatically, ‘If I must die with you, I will not deny you.’ And they all said the same.”

4/ And, as we all know, Jesus was right. Peter did deny Him three times in the courtyard of the high priest that very night because he was afraid [and maybe ashamed] to be identified as one of Jesus’ disciples.

VIII / vv 32-42 / Jesus agonizes and prays in Gethsemane … commits Himself to His Father’s will – death on the Cross

1/ Now we come to Jesus’ agonies in the Garden of Gethsemane. Remember that our human history started in a garden [Eden], and the first man, Adam, was tempted whether he would obey God or not. He failed, and our whole human race was lost to sin.

2/ Now, the Last Adam [or Second Man / 1 Corinthians 15.45-47] is in a garden of temptation as our Substitute and Savior – to test whether He will obey the Father or disobey to save Himself.

3/ The struggle was real: “…and [He] began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And He said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.’” This is where Luke records the depth and intensity of His stress: “And being in agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” [Luke 22.44]. This was physical stress and real blood oozing even from His skin.

4/ Jesus left eight of His disciples at the entrance of Gethsemane. He took Peter, James, and John with Him a little farther into the Garden to accompany Him, encourage and support Him in His agonies. They would end up being of no use as supporters and encouragers. Jesus then went a little farther into the Garden to pray to His Father alone. He did this three times.

5/ The burden of His prayer was summed up in these words: “…if it was possible, the hour might pass from Him. And he said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’” These are the agonizing words with which He wrestled in His soul.

6/ So, what was Jesus’ struggle? Was He doubting His mission? Was He trying to find a way not to fulfill what the Father had sent Him to accomplish? NO! The key word is ‘cup.’ In Scriptural writings, the word ‘cup’ is most often associated with God’s wrath. Jesus knew what lay before Him. But it was not the physical agony and pain of everything He would endure that He was most dreading. Rather, it was the wrath and displeasure of His Father against our sins. Never, from eternity, had Jesus had any other relationship with His Father but that of sweetest intimacy with His Father and enjoyment of His Father’s pleasure in Him.

7/ And, make no mistake about this: the Father will be pleased with Him and His offering of Himself as our Substitutionary Passover Lamb. The Father had thundered from Heaven in John 12.28 after Jesus publicly prayed, “Father, glorify your Name. Then a voice came from Heaven: ‘I have glorified it [Himself, His Name], and I will glorify it again.’” The Father was glorified and pleased with Jesus’ death for our sake.

8/ But, in so doing, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” [2 Corinthians 5.21]. “Yahweh has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” [Isaiah 53.6]. And that iniquity that was bearing upon Himself as our Sacrificial Passover Lamb could be put away, punished, and paid for only by the death of a Sinless Substitute. THAT was the ‘cup’ Jesus was dreading.

9/ Jesus knew that this was the only ‘possible’ means to fulfill His mission for our sake. He obeyed His Father by submitting to the Father’s will. “And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” [Philippians 2.8].

10/ If we are going to be obedient also in our own hours of temptation to sin, we must stay alert and prayerful. The disciples didn’t. While Jesus was praying in agony ‘about a stone’s throw’ from the disciples, they were napping, oblivious to His struggles. It was this same attitude of apathy and complacency that would trip Peter up, causing Him to deny Jesus in just a little while. “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” And so is yours … and mine.

11/ After coming the third time and finding them asleep again, Jesus woke them up to make His final announcement: “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

“…Worthy is the Lamb who was slain…!” / Revelation 5.12

mark.l8.mark-14.1-42.the-hour-has-come Download

Posted in Bible Studies, Lesson Notes, MARK, Sunday School lessons | Tagged Betrayal, Bible Studies, Jesus' agonies in Gethsemane, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Lord's supper, MARK, Mark 14.1-42, Passover, Sunday School lessons, The Hour Has Come | Leave a comment

From the destruction of their temple to the end of this age

Posted on November 4, 2023 by PastorDave

MARK | Lesson 7 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Mark 13.1-37

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ Our last lesson was about the temple in Jerusalem which had been corrupted from its Divine purpose by those who had hijacked and usurped it for their own religious self-advancement. When Christ entered it, observed it, and ‘cleansed’ it, He was announcing His rejection of it. That same rejection was symbolically pronounced by the ‘sign-act’ of His cursing of the fig tree [ch 11.12-14, 20-21]. In all those same acts, Jesus was announcing and instructing His disciples and us about His coming agenda to restore and re-enact the building of His spiritual Temple – which was Himself. See Ephesians 2.11-22; 1 Peter 2.4-10; 1 Corinthians 3.16-17; 2 Corinthians 6.16-18; John 2.18-22 & 4.19-24; Revelation 21.22; et. al.

2/ We must see this overall Divine plan in everything Jesus is saying and doing in order to understand what He will be teaching us in this lesson. Because when He announces the destruction of that temple, it is so He can enact His plan to re-build His Temple in Himself through the effective proclamation of His Gospel of the Kingdom – even while at the same time we must endure much tribulation, suffering, rejection, and opposition as we faithfully follow and serve Him.

3/ So what Jesus will do in this message is to prepare, strengthen, and embolden His disciples [and us] to know what to expect and how to successfully navigate our Gospel witness through it all – until He comes to save us in the end and bring in the fullness of His promised Kingdom.

4/ We will try to stay within the narrative of Mark’s account of Jesus’ message [as it was related to Him by the apostle Peter], while at the same time flesh out some of the interpretations by referring occasionally to the parallel narratives in Matthew 24 [what we call ‘The Olivet Discourse’] and Luke 21.5-36.

I / vv 1-2 / Jesus foretells the destruction of their temple

1/ His disciples point out to Jesus the beauty, grandeur, and majesty of the temple construction and buildings. And it was. This is what we call the Second Temple. The first temple [Solomon’s] was destroyed by the Babylonians in 585 BC. This much smaller re-building of the temple began when the Babylonian exiles returned to Jerusalem [Ezra 3.8-13]. Then Herod the Great began a years-long project to enlarge and beautify it [John 2.20] until it was then double the size of even Solomon’s first temple. In fact, those ‘re-modeling’ projects were still going on at this time and would continue until close to the time it was re-destroyed as Jesus will predict. It was a beautiful structure – and they were proud of it! Could it be they were trying to commend its beauty to Jesus in an effort to ‘sell’ Him on its significance to them…and should be to Him?

2/ Jesus knows what He will do…and what will become of this temple. He had come to establish Himself as the ‘chief cornerstone’ of God’s spiritual Temple. This temple was marked for destruction because of their chronic disobedience to Him and to make way for the New Covenant Temple in Himself. And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” He is announcing to them the coming destruction of their beloved temple and city by the Roman general Titus in 70 AD. In truth, He had already wept over this coming destruction as He was entering Jerusalem a few days before in His ‘Royal, triumphant entry’ [see Luke 19.41-44].

3/ These words – along with His prophetic promise in John 2.18-22 will be thrown back in His face as He hung on the Cross [see Mark 14.57-58 & 15.29].

II / vv 3-4 / ‘When will these things be…and what will be the sign…?’

1/ These questions are more loaded than we can expand upon here. But this is yet another shocking declaration from Jesus. They had had to process so many such declarations in the past few weeks. But we have to try to understand as best we can what the disciples were asking in these two questions? [1] What? Our temple is going to be destroyed? When is this going to happen? [2] and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished? Here is one of those junctures where we need to draw on Matthew’s account of their question: …and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? [Matthew 24.3]. Because they couldn’t even think of the destruction of their temple in any other context than ‘it must be His coming to bring this present age to its end and usher in the fullness of the everlasting Kingdom they were anticipating and expecting.’ They were still holding on to their traditional Messianic expectations of Christ establishing the fullness of the Kingdom of God by His coming to sovereignly and publicly ruling over an earthly Kingdom…then and there. They would have to continue to grow into Christ’s Gospel agenda in the coming days. Even when Christ was ascending into Heaven and promising to send the power of the Holy Spirit on them in a few days [Pentecost], they were still thinking that maybe that was the coming and establishing of the everlasting Kingdom of Glory: ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ [see Acts 1.1-7.

2/ At the time of these temple questions in Mark 13, they were still in that ‘end of the age’ and ‘Christ’s coming in power and glory’ expectation mindset.

3/ So we need to hear in Jesus’ answers that He doesn’t make any attempt to answer their question about ‘when will You return? when will You come to publicly rule and reign over the whole earth in Your Kingdom?’ He does promise them that He will return, but it will be only after many other events take place in the meanwhile of this present age. But He also announces to them that there will be many experiences they will suffer through during the interim between that present time and the time of His coming of the fullness of His Kingdom.

III / vv 5-13 / See that no one leads you astray … be on your guard

1/ What will follow in Jesus’ warnings is many-fold – and they would begin immediately and continue for a yet-undetermined span of time during this present age – both local, universal, and cosmic:

vv 5-6 / Many will come in His Name – claiming to be the Christ or speaking authoritatively for Him – saying that they are the Christ who is to come or claiming to know when He is coming.
vv 7-8 / There will be local and international warfare – repeatedly, constantly, chronically – because that is the nature of sinful, fallen, rebellious mankind.
v 7 / There will be universal upheavals – earthquakes and famines – as the course of the ages
vv 7-8 / But these events will not be ‘signs’ of His immediate return! ‘This must take place, but the end if not yet … These are but the beginnings of the birth pains.
v 9 / Christ’s faithful witnesses will be persecuted, beaten, falsely accused and condemned – but it will be for the purpose of our giving witness to Christ and His Gospel!
vv 10-11 / And from that then-present time, ‘…the Gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations…’ [see also Matthew 24.14]. They would learn in a few weeks following Christ’s resurrection, that there was yet a ‘Great Commission’ to be carried forth, proclaimed, and fulfilled before Christ would come.
vv 12-13a / Family members will betray one another because of their profession of Christ and their faith in Him – indeed, you will be hated by all for my Name’s sake – the whole culture of the generations to come will hate, persecute, oppose, and even kill those who remain faithful to Christ.

2/ v 13b / But those who remain faithful to Christ though it all will be saved in the end by His coming and by bringing them into the everlasting Kingdom He has promised … at the same time those who opposed them and Christ will be destroyed.

3/ But we must keep in mind also that Jesus is here announcing what kinds of ‘signs’ would accompany the times that were beginning immediately at that time and would continue on until ‘the end of the age.’ BUT no one of those same ‘signs’ nor all of them together will in themselves be announcing the time or season of His coming – only that He is coming!

4/ In truth, Jesus gave ‘the parable of the ten minas’ in Luke 19.11-27 just prior to His royal entry into Jerusalem to preface and prepare them to not interpret this event nor the time and season it was announcing: As they heard these things, He proceeded to tell a parable, because He was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the Kingdom of God was to appear immediately [that is, in its fullness].

IV / vv 14-23 / The abomination of desolation

1/ But now … Jesus returns to the exchange they had to begin this discourse in vv 1-4…

His announcement that their temple would be destroyed: “And Jesus said to him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.’”
and their question: “Tell us, when will these things be…?” Now, Jesus WILL tell them how they can know that the destruction of the temple is impending and upon them.

2/ Here’s the ‘sign’ they need to look for: But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand)… We have heard this phrase many times. It means simply: a person or thing who is an abomination [morally or ceremonially unclean] to God who wreaks havoc, destruction, desolation. There has been much discussion and debate re: what it means and when and how it will come to pass. Volumes have been written about it. And when Jesus repeats the little phrase “(let the reader understand)” He is alerting us that we need to pay close and careful attention to what He is saying so that we do indeed understand and not misinterpret what it means and what it refers to.

3/ Where does this phrase come from? Jesus is quoting and referring to the Book of Daniel. In truth, here is Matthew’s account [Matthew 24.15-16]: So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains…[etc]. This is essential to our understanding of the first, most immediate, and most applicable identification and interpretation of what and who the abomination of desolation is. THEY will see it – those who are in Judea … and he [it] will be standing in their ‘holy place,’ which will include both their temple and city.

4/ These Daniel Scriptures Jesus quotes are found in Daniel 9.27; 11.31; 12.11.

Daniel 9.27: And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator. This refers to the historical 70 AD destruction of the temple by the Romans – as we shall see in Luke 21.20.
Daniel 11.31: Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. This refers to a previous desecration of the temple by one of the Greek kings, Antiochus Epiphanes, in 167 BC … which sparked the Maccabean revolution and temporary liberation of Jerusalem in 164 BC.
Daniel 12.11: And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. This refers again to the 70 AD destruction of the temple which ushered in ‘the times of the Gentiles’ [those ages during which the Jews will again be dispersed, oppressed, and ruled over by Gentiles ‘until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled’ [Luke 21.24] … and continues to this very day.

5/ And so, the most immediate identification and interpretation of ‘the abomination of desolation’ is, as Jesus says in Luke 21.20 is “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.” Jerusalem had been surrounded, held under siege, starved, invaded, massacred, led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles many times before – but this abomination of desolation will last until the end…until the time of the end…at the end of the days [Daniel 12].

6/ But still, as horrendous, catastrophic, and cataclysmic as this event shall be, it will not yet at that time be ‘the end of the age.’ It will be a ‘pre-enactment’ of the end of the age, and it will be the catalyst and igniter that leads to the end of the age – but ‘the end is not yet’ [Mark 13.7] and ‘These are but the beginning of the birth pains’ [v 7].

V / vv 24-31 / But in those days, after that tribulation…

1/ The ‘tribulation’ that Jesus foretells has been on-going from that time and is continuing to the present day [see again vv 7-8]. See also John 16.33; Acts 14.22; Romans 8.35; Revelation 1.9; et. al. But now, Jesus does tell the disciples that the ‘end of the age’ will come ‘after that tribulation.’

2/ What Jesus describes here is the cosmic disturbance and disruption which will accompany His appearing. This is His promised coming of Acts 1.10-11; Revelation 1.7 / 6.12-17; 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18; 2 Peter 3; etc., et. al.

3/ At this coming – …in those days, after that tribulation… – Christ will both ‘save,’ deliver, rescue His people from their tribulations … and He will begin the systematic, progressive, comprehensive destruction of His enemies … and commence the events of the ‘passing away’ of the present cursed creation to bring in the New Creation [see again 2 Peter 3.8-13]. There will be many other accompanying events during these cosmic upheavals in the creation, and God has determined how long those final judgments upon the earth and its inhabitants will last.

4/ Jesus offers the fig tree to serve as another illustration [not necessarily to be confused or equated with the cursing of the fig tree in ch 11.12-14]. The fig tree was like most other fruit-bearing trees, but it was one of the most common to their experiences. In the spring, long before it bears its ripe fruit, it will begin to leaf out. So when all of these events Jesus has foretold beginning in v 5 begin to occur like leaves unfolding from their buds to full leaf, numerous events one after another – many simultaneously – repeatedly over the centuries from that time to this time … until the end … we are to see them all as promises of His coming. As Jesus says in Luke 21.28: Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Or, as He says here in Mark 13.29: So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that He is near, at the very gates. [See also James 5.9]

5/ But no one of them, or many of them occurring simultaneously or in clusters even, should be interpreted as a ‘sign’ that the coming of Jesus is immediate. It may be, but then again, these calamitous events have been repeatedly occurring in continuous sequences in every generation from that time to ours. But the very fact that they keep occurring and Jesus has not appeared as of today is only a stronger confirmation and consolation that He is coming as He promised! “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay…” [Hebrews 10.37] [See again 2 Peter 3]

VI / vv 32-36 / ‘And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake!’

1/ Jesus will now sum up and make His application to His disciples and all His followers in all the generations who would come after them. He has already taught them that they must be prepared for time to continue on from their day until ‘the end of the age’ yet to come in an unknown and unannounced day … But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows…

2/ During this interim, intermediate, and meanwhile time – however long it turns out to be – they must be faithful witnesses to Him. In truth, they must prepare from that time and place to proclaim the Gospel to all the nations [v 10; Matthew 24.14 & 28.18-20; Mark 16.15-16; Luke 24.44-49; Acts 1.8; Romans 16.25-27; et. al.

3/ So, after reminding them [and us] throughout this message to “Be on your guard…” [vv 9, 23, 33], He teaches us that the way we remain on our guard is to “keep awake!” which He will repeat four times in these six verses. The ways we ‘stay awake’ are: recognizing He is in full and sovereign control over all the events of our lives and the world in which we live; committing ourselves to be engaged in faithful Gospel witness to all the nations of the world; remain faithful to Christ and His words even during the most trying of persecutions, tribulations, adversities, and chaotic world events. Jesus is coming! And we win in the end!

And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations – and then the end will come! [Matthew 24.14]

mark.l7.mark-13.1-37.from-the-destruction-of-their-temple-to-the-end-of-this-age Download

Posted in Bible Studies, Lesson Notes, MARK, Sunday School lessons | Tagged 70 AD, abomination of desolation, Bible Studies, From the destruction of their temple to the end of this age, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, MARK, Mark 13.1-37, second coming of Christ, Sunday School lessons, the destruction of the temple, tribulation, what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age | Leave a comment

The King and His Temple

Posted on October 28, 2023 by PastorDave

MARK | Lesson 6 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Mark 11.1-25

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ Programming note: for those of you who may be following this survey/summary series of lessons through Mark, there have been two other lessons between the last one and this one: I was unable to prepare the notes for one, and another teacher filled in for me for the other. So, although there have been those other two lessons, I’m going to keep the numbering consecutively.

2/ This chapter of Mark will be the beginning of a larger narrative section extending through ch 13.37. All of these events and Jesus’ messages are connected and transpired during the same occasion, which was the beginning of the last week of Jesus’ life and ministry leading up to the narrative of His arrest, trials, crucifixion, and resurrection. That narrative takes up with the beginning of ch 14 to the end of the Gospel.

3/ This lesson will tell the story of three events: [1] Jesus’ royal entry into Jerusalem announcing the arrival of the King and His Kingdom; [2] the ‘cursing’ of the fig tree which will serve as an ‘action parable’ and commentary for the other event…; [3] what we call the ‘cleansing’ of the temple.

4/ I am titling this lesson “The King and His Temple” because that title will succinctly summarize how these three events are all connected. And that is the first lesson we must see and learn: all three of these events are intertwined, connected, and confluent with one another.

5/ Just one more introductory note of connection: this entry and arrival in Jerusalem to die at the hands of His enemies is precisely what Jesus has been impressing on His disciples – and which they still did not understand or accept – is what He has been intently preparing them for in at least three separate and distinct teaching sessions He’s had with them – ch 8.31-32a / ch 9.30-32 / ch 10.32-34.

This teaching is what we have been calling the ‘Messianic Secret.’ Not because His mission had been kept ‘secret’ in the Old Testament – it had been prolifically prophesied – but because the Jewish populace and even His disciples had not read those same Messianic promises comprehensively.
They had read very well and often those prophecies that promised the coming of a King from the house, lineage, and dynasty of David. But they were expecting Him to come as a political, militaristic Messiah who would destroy their enemies, deliver them from all their oppressors, restore Israel to be the ‘head’ of the nations once again rather than the ‘tail,’ and bring in His sovereign, universal, and invincible rule of power, peace, and prosperity – by a political revolution and overthrow of the then-ruling Gentile overlords, if necessary.
They had ignored those other Messianic prophecies that told of His coming as Yahweh’s Suffering Servant who would establish His Kingdom by redeeming them from their sins by the substitutionary sacrifice of Himself. See, for example, Isaiah 53.

6/ He has now arrived to fulfill those prophetic purposes as God’s Christ/Messiah, King, and as our Redeemer. That is His Kingdom He has come to announce, establish, and rule over! And, as we shall see, He will also present Himself as our ‘True Temple’ – the ‘Author and Finisher of our faith,’ the Subject and Object of our true worship.

7/ That is what these events and this lesson is all about…

I / vv 1-11 / “Behold, your King is coming to you…!” [Zechariah 9.9]

1/ v 1 / ‘Now when they drew near to Jerusalem…’ this little marker is so filled with prophetic and Messianic significance. [1] From the time of His beginning to teach them the full disclosure of His ‘Messianic Secret,’ He had been telling them they were going to Jerusalem where all these things would happen to Him; [2] When Moses and Elijah appeared with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration, they ‘spoke with Him of His departure [exodus] which He would accomplish at Jerusalem’ / Luke 9.31; [3] From that time just a few weeks before, “When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem” / Luke 9.51; [4] Mark updates us in ch 10.32 “And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem…” Jesus knows full well what Jerusalem will mean for Him – the disciples are still clueless, though they can sense from His demeanor and spirit that something is impending, and maybe even ominous.

2/ “Now when they drew near to Jerusalem…” They had just come through Jericho, about 17 miles away [ch 10.46]. Keep in mind that this is Passover season, and so the roads are filled with traveling caravans making their way also to Jerusalem to keep the feast. All of their clusters and caravans of pilgrims will be excitedly chattering and conversing about the latest reports they have been hearing about Jesus – most recently, His raising of Lazarus from death. See John 11.55-57.

3/ As they draw near to Jerusalem, Jesus stops off in Bethphage and Bethany to rest and fellowship with Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, who live in Bethany and often hosted Jesus when He was in Jerusalem.

4/ vv 2-6 / When the day came for Jesus to actually enter Jerusalem, He sent His disciples to fetch the young, unbroken, unridden donkey colt. He told them where they would find it and what they would say to those who would ask them why they are taking it. This practice was called angaria, a Roman custom and law that permitted any royal official to commandeer the use of any public means of transportation or supplies that was needed to fulfill their mission [see, for example, Matthew 5.41]. The disciples obey and bring the colt to Jesus.

5/ vv 7-8 / Jesus is doing this to fulfill Zechariah 9.9. Everyone takes it as a signal that Jesus is fulfilling, not only His prophesied Messianic mission, but also their interpretations and expectations of it. NOTE: this is the only time Jesus ever accepted and complied with any public expressions of their misinterpreted and misunderstood Messianic expectations. He does so on this occasion because He knows He will fulfill His Divine Messianic mission as He was prophesied and sent to do.

6/ vv 9-10 / Their celebratory shouts are a compilation of several Old Testament Scriptures:

Hosanna: this is from Psalm 118.25-26. The Hebrew/Aramaic chant was a common one meaning, Save us, we pray!
Blessed is the one who comes in the Name of the LORD! Again, from Psalm 118.25-26.
Blessed is the coming Kingdom of our father David! / Hosanna to the Son of David [Matthew 21.9] This is from 2 Samuel 7.9-13, 16 and the many Old Testament references promising that their Messianic King would come from David’s lineage and dynasty – or that David himself would come in the Person of their coming Messiah.
Hosanna in the Highest! and Peace in Heaven and Glory in the Highest! [Luke 19.38]. From Psalm 148.1. Surely also by this time, it was well-known what the angels had promised and announced to Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, and the shepherds at His birth.

7/ v 11 / And He entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. His royal entrance and announcement cannot be separated from the temple. God has always ruled from His temple. He has indwelled the temple with His Shekinah Presence. He has commanded and received His worthy praise, worship, sacrifices, and service from His people in the temple. Jesus has come to ‘purify’ all of their abominable perversions of the worship that belongs to Him only; to restore the temple to its true Scriptural purposes; and more – to declare Himself to BE the True Temple of God!

8/ Yet another prominent and long-expected Scripture is being fulfilled: Malachi 3.1-4. Again, it won’t be fulfilled as they are expecting it to be fulfilled – but Jesus Christ is here to fulfill it according to the Divine Covenant plan and promises!

9/ We really need to interject Luke 19.41-44 here – Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because He knows what all is going on there, what they will do to Him before the week is over, and the soon-coming destruction that is coming down on them as the certain judgments of God…

10/ After surveying what all was going on in HIS temple, and knowing what He was going to do on the morrow, Jesus departed for the night to retire once again in the Bethany home of His gracious hosts Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.

II / vv 12-14, 20-21 / “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!”

1/ We know this event as ‘the cursing of the fig tree,’ and so it was! What we need to see is that this rejection and cursing of the fig tree is an ‘action parable,’ and it is emblematic of God’s rejection of their religious activities that were being conducted in the name of ‘worship’ in His temple.

2/ The fig tree [along with the grape vine/vineyard] are used all throughout the Old Testament as emblems of Yahweh’s ownership of Israel and His covenant promises to bless them as they obeyed and served Him and ‘brought forth fruit’ of love, obedience, worship, service, and witness to His Glory. See, for example, Isaiah 5.1-7 & Jeremiah 24 – along with many others too numerous to reference.

3/ As they are returning to Jerusalem the next morning, with the full day’s traumatic events He must fulfill, and knowing what those events will signify and portend for the temple and Jerusalem, Jesus approaches this fig tree. ‘…He was hungry…’ not just His human, physical hunger, but He was also ‘hungry’ to receive His worthy praise and worship from the temple and His people. But they were not ‘yielding and bearing the fruit’ they had been commanded to give Him. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. NO FRUIT! Although, for all the centuries and generations leading up to this day, it had been the season for bearing fruit for the nation of Israel. The fruitless fig tree served as a glaring illustration of the abominable rebellion that had been conducted in His temple during all this time – and was still being practiced in the name of ‘worship’ according to their traditions. EXCEPT that, what they had done was taken over the temple and the services for themselves; used HIS temple as the platform for their own use to advance their power, their influence, and even their monetary profits.

4/ And He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” What He meant by this is that God was going to destroy their temple, city, and their perverted systems of religion. All of this was fulfilled in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed it and them all. See again Luke 19.41-44 & Mark 13.1-2.

5/ Another significant interpretation we should take from this cursing of the fig tree is that Jesus’ intention was to take away from Israel the Divine commission to represent Him and His Gospel and give it to the New Testament churches. You will find this interpretive insight in Mark 12.1-11 & Matthew 21.41: They said to Him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give Him the fruits in their seasons.”

III / vv 15-19 / “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.”

1/ And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And He would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.

2/ We call this event ‘the cleansing of the temple.’ And a ‘cleaning’ it was! Again, we return to…

Malachi 3.1-4: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. ²But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. ³He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. ⁴Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.

3/ So, we may ask: How was the temple defiled and rendered unclean? And the answer is: by all the abuses the leaders of their religion had instituted in God’s ordained and prescribed center of worship. As we have said before, the religious leaders who should have been teaching and leading the worshipers to give and yield to God His due and deserved worship and service … had instead hijacked the temple, instituted their own influence, traditions, and personages to aggrandize and peddle their own influence, power, and even their monetary profit.

“Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?” This is a quotation from Isaiah 56.6-8. In that passage, Yahweh is prescribing and describing the worship that is pleasing to Him and that He will accept. His temple was to be used as a proclamation center of His own saving grace and mercy – even to Gentiles who would believe on Him and be converted to people of faith and worship of Him. ‘Prayer’ is offered here to include all of our professions of faith in Him, our prayers and offerings of worship and praise, and all the sacrifices of service of our lives and resources that we give Him as an expression of our gratitude and devotion to Him. NOTE: that it is not just Jews and Israelites who are to be welcomed, but ‘all the nations.’
But you have made it a den of robbers. Again, this is an echo of Jeremiah 7.11. What Yahweh had condemned in Jeremiah’s day, they were still perpetrating it in Jesus’ day – right then and there, before His very Face. They were a den of robbers in at least three ways: [1] Their religious leaders were robbing the worshipers spiritually by withholding from them the purity of God’s true worship and substituting their own traditions; [2] they were robbing the people physically and financially by charging exorbitant prices to exchange their currency and purchase the needed offerings for the Passover services; [3] they were robbing especially the Gentiles because they had moved their selling kiosks and bazaars from other areas of the temple compound into what had previously been designated ‘the court of the Gentiles’ where the uncircumcised Gentiles could gather to worship and make offerings. In effect, they had displaced the Gentiles after God had specifically commanded them to welcome them into His house.

IV / vv 20-25 / “Have faith in God!”

1/ Jesus made this pronouncement in response to Peter’s amazement the next day – after Jesus had cursed the fruitless fig tree and also performed the accompanying ‘cleansing’ or ‘purifying’ of the temple. Both of these events portray the same thing: God’s rejection of their perverted systems of man-centered ‘worship’ and the coming destruction of their temple, city, and religion by the Romans in 70 AD.

2/ This ‘Have faith in God’ is so much more than just a generic command and promise for those who will believe God will give them what they ask for if they have a ‘strong enough’ faith. It does include that, of course, but Jesus is restoring true worship in the Temple HE IS! See the final Kingdom fulfillment in Revelation 21.22. This is what Jesus is proclaiming and what He is restoring in Himself!

3/ This truth is reinforced also in many other New Testament references such as Ephesians 2.19-22; 1 Peter 2.4-5; and others. The New Testament churches are the Temple of God. We are founded and grounded on Him and our faith in Him as the True Cornerstone. We worship Him! We obey Him! We serve Him! We do everything we do in His Name!

4/ vv 23-24 / The ‘this mountain’ that must be removed is anything and everything that stands in the way of Jesus receiving all our worship, praise, and service. We remove those mountains of hindrances that stand in the way of our obedience to Him by committing all our faith in God to Jesus Christ. We must ask in prayer and stand praying, not only in faith in God but also with forgiveness in our hearts toward anyone who has trespassed against us or aggrieved us in any way. Our sin was the ‘mountain’ that stood in the way of our salvation through the forgiveness of our sins that is in the death and blood of Jesus Christ, ‘… by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross’ [Colossians 2.14]. What we have so freely received from our King of Grace, we must just as freely preach and extend to others as we preach, live, and practice ‘the Gospel of the Kingdom of God’!

5/ This same Christ-centered and Grace-filled prayer is how we must conduct all our lifestyle, worship, and Kingdom advancement as Christ’s churches: My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations!

And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations – and then the end will come! [Matthew 24.14]

mark.l6.mark-11.1-25.the-king-and-his-temple Download

Posted in Bible Studies, Lesson Notes, MARK, Sunday School lessons | Tagged Bible Studies, Cleansing of the temple, Cursing of the fig tree, Den of robbers, Have faith in God, Hosanna, House of prayer for all nations, Isaiah 56.6-8, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Malachi 3.1-4, MARK, Mark 11.1-25, Messianic secret, Psalm 118.25-26, Royal entry into Jerusalem, Sunday School lessons, The King and His Temple, Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Zechariah 9.9 | Leave a comment

But you…who do you say I AM?

Posted on October 7, 2023 by PastorDave

MARK | Lesson 5 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Mark 8.27 – 9.1

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ We have now come to the mid-point / turning-point in Mark’s account of the Gospel ministry of Jesus Christ. Up to this point, Mark has been giving us accounts or ‘short stories’ [I have been calling them ‘vignettes’] of occasions and incidents as Jesus has been declaring and demonstrating His Kingdom authority. Mark opened up his Gospel account with “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” And then Jesus Himself went about throughout Galilee, Judea, and even the surrounding predominantly Gentile regions “…proclaiming the Gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel.’” [ch 1.14-15]

2/ Jesus’ primary mission in all that He proclaimed and performed was not only to reveal the Gospel and the now-come Kingdom of God to the lost peoples of the world, but especially to His disciples – the apostles. Because they will be the ones He has chosen to continue carrying the Gospel into all the world from the time of His ascension until He comes again to bring in the fullness of the Kingdom of God with power and Glory.

3/ So now the time has come: Jesus must begin with earnest to reveal to His disciples the fullness of His Messianic identity, His mission, and His plan for that time and the ages to come. The key verse to this purpose of this conversation is v 31: And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. We will deal with this when we come to it…

4/ They still, even after all this time they have been with Him, and after all they have heard from Him and seen Him do – they still do not fully comprehend the specifics of His Messianic identity and mission … and that is, to be crucified, to die for the sins of His people, to be resurrected from death, and then to ascend back to Heaven until He comes again. Again, this incompletion understanding – and even gross misunderstanding – is expressed by Peter’s objections to Jesus’ own stated mission in v 32. That, too, we will address when we come to it.

I / v 27a / And Jesus went on with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi…

1/ It is so significant that Jesus chose this particular site to make this full disclosure of His Scriptural Messiahship and His impending death. Caesarea Philippi was a city and region about 25 miles north of Capernaum. You can tell by the very name of the place that it is a Gentile region. The family of the Herods had named the city in honor of Caesar Augustus and also after one of them, Philip, the brother of Herod Antipas [see Luke 3.1].

2/ But it was also much more than just a Gentile enclave – it was also the site of much pagan and debauched pagan worship. I want to explain it with this lengthy quote from Ray Vander Laan [relate this quote also to Matthew 16.13-20] [https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/gates-of-hell-article]:

Caesarea Philippi, which stood in a lush area near the foot of Mount Hermon, was a city dominated by immoral activities and pagan worship. [It] stood only twenty-five miles from the religious communities of Galilee. But the city’s religious practices were vastly different from those of the nearby Jewish towns.

In Old Testament times, the northeastern area of Israel became a center for Baal worship. In the nearby city of Dan, Israelite king Jeroboam built the high place that angered God and eventually led the Israelites to worship false gods.

Eventually, worship of the baals was replaced with worship of Greek fertility gods … [ands especially] became the religious center for worship of the Greek god, Pan. The Greeks named the city Panias in his honor.

Years later, when Romans conquered the territory, Herod Philip rebuilt the city and named it after himself. But Caesarea Philippi continued to focus on worship of Greek gods. In the cliff that stood above the city, local people built shrines and temples to Pan.

Interestingly, Jesus chose to deliver a sort of “graduation speech” to his disciples at Caesarea Philippi. In that pagan setting, he encouraged his disciples to build a church that would overcome the worst evils.

The Gates of Hell. To the pagan mind, the cave at Caesarea Philippi created a gate to the underworld, where fertility gods lived during the winter. They committed detestable acts to worship these false gods. Caesarea Philippi’s location was especially unique because it stood at the base of a cliff where spring water flowed. At one time, the water ran directly from the mouth of a cave set in the bottom of the cliff. The pagans of Jesus’ day commonly believed that their fertility gods lived in the underworld during the winter and returned to earth each spring. They saw water as a symbol of the underworld and thought that their gods traveled to and from that world through caves. To the pagan mind, then, the cave and spring water at Caesarea Philippi created a gate to the underworld. They believed that their city was literally at the gates of the underworld – the gates of hell. In order to entice the return of their god, Pan, each year, the people of Caesarea Philippi engaged in horrible deeds, including prostitution and sexual interaction between humans and goats.

When Jesus brought his disciples to the area, they must have been shocked. Caesarea Philippi was like a red-light district in their world and devout Jews would have avoided any contact with the despicable acts committed there. It was a city of people eagerly knocking on the doors of hell.

II / vv 27b-28 / And on the way He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

1/ We have seen these speculations numerous times before. The Pharisees [and other religious leaders] had asked John the Baptist the same questions when he first appeared [see John 1.18-22]. These questions were hot-button issues because of the intense expectations that the Jewish nation had for their Messiah.

2/ John the Baptist. But now, with Jesus, even John the Baptist himself is thrown into the speculations about who Jesus is. This is because John the Baptist had just recently been executed by Herod Antipas [for this story, go back and review ch 6.14-29].

3/ Elijah. We need to keep in mind throughout every exchange in this passage: when Jesus began to conduct His ministry throughout their cities, it inflamed their expectations they had held since the prophecies of Malachi 4.5-6 that Elijah would appear before Messiah Himself appeared. So they kept wondering [and hoping] that Elijah had indeed come to announce the soon arrival of their long-expected Messiah. See how Jesus interpreted the prophecies of the coming Elijah in ch 9.11-13.

4/ However, as we shall see, all of their Messianic expectations were ill-founded upon their distorted, misinterpreted, and misguided perceptions of what kind of Messiah He would be when He did appear and what He would do when He appeared. Their convinced expectation was that their Messiah would be a political, militaristic King-warrior who would come in the likeness of King David to fulfill the covenant Yahweh made with David in 2 Samuel 7.4-17. Except that, in their context, they were expecting their Messiah to overthrow the occupying Romans, deliver Israel from their subservient status, and restore them to the sovereign ‘head’ over all the other nations of the world. Their expectations were summed up in Zechariah’s prophecy at the birth of John the Baptist: …that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. [Luke 1.74-75] All of those promises were given by Yahweh and were [and are] true. But the ‘enemies’ they expected to be delivered from and the ‘salvation’ they were looking for were radically different from those which Jesus came to fulfill.

5/ Because of these intense expectations for a political, militaristic Messiah, the whole social and civic culture of the Jewish society was always tense and volatile. All it took was a leader in whom they thought they could invest their trust, and they were ready for a revolution. Some of the more recent false ‘Messiahs’ were brought up in Acts 5.33-39. It also explains John 6.15 and why Jesus would have no part in these expectations. As Jesus told Pilate in John 18.36: Jesus answered, ‘My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my Kingdom is not from this world.’

III / v 29 / And He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I AM?’

1/ So then, this is the question that Jesus pointedly asked His disciples [and which each of us must answer also]. Jesus did not ask to be informed. He knew. He asked them to test them. He wanted them to hear their own answer because He’s going to begin teaching them to a fuller, truer understanding of who He is. They needed to know and to learn.

2/ Peter answers for the others: You are the Christ. The word ‘Christ’ is not Jesus’ surname or a second name. ‘Christ’ is His title. It means ‘Anointed.’ The same word in the Hebrew language [maw-shee’-akh] is the very word we get our English ‘Messiah’ from. In the Old Testament, anointing signified a special and particular calling and inauguration into an office and ministry for Yahweh. Kings, priests, and prophets were ‘anointed’ to show that they were serving Yahweh. All throughout the Old Testament, the Messiah / Anointed / Christ would come from Yahweh to fulfill His will, bring in His Kingdom, and restore the creation purposes and order back to what Yahweh had ordained in the beginning.

3/ Matthew 16.16 adds that Peter also confessed You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Which is true. And Peter and the other disciples did believe this about Jesus. This was their true confession of their faith in Christ. And Jesus acknowledges their faith in Him in His response to Peter: And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in Heaven. However, even though Peter’s confession of faith is true and a true expression of their Divinely-bestowed recognition and belief in Jesus, it was still incomplete and ill-informed by his buy-in to the traditional expectations of who Messiah would be which were held by the populace. He will prove his lack of a full and Scripturally-informed understanding of who Messiah would be and what Messiah would do when he would begin to rebuke Jesus and take measures to correct Him. [coming up…]

IV / v 30 / Then He strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ

1/ This is not the first time we have heard Jesus charge or command those who confessed His Deity and Messiahship not to publish, broadcast, or tell it around [see, for example, chs 1.44; 5.43; 7.36]. He will do so again twice on this occasion [chs 8.30; 9.9]. So, the question is: Why would Jesus tell anyone, and especially His disciples here, NOT to tell others what they had seen in Him? Didn’t He want everyone to know that He is the Messiah of God? Of course He did – but Jesus insisted on revealing His true identity as Messiah, Son of Man, and Son of God on His terms and in His own time. Jesus knew that THEIR Messianic expectations were distorted, mis-informed, and mis-guided. They wanted Messiah to be who THEY wanted and expected Him to be. Jesus was NOT that Messiah.

2/ This has come to be known as ‘The Messianic Secret.’ Not that Jesus wanted His Messiahship to be a secret or that He was trying to keep it a secret. But He would not allow misguided teachers or ‘believers’ to interpret His Messiahship for Him on their terms. His Messiahship must be kept secret from their misinterpretations until He could reveal it according to God’s prophetic plan.

3/ That brings us then to what God’s prophetic secret [or ‘mystery’] for His Messiah is – and always has been in the Scriptures…

V / v 31 / And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things…

1/ So NOW, Jesus began to teach them. This means that it is now time for Jesus’ full disclosure of who He really is. YES! He is the Christ. YES! He is the Son of God. BUT, the disciples are going to have to first ‘unlearn’ much of what they thought they knew and believed about the true identity and mission of Jesus as their Christ/Messiah. They did believe that Jesus is their Christ – they just didn’t know what all ‘Christ’ means according to the Scriptures. Their faith in Christ is real and genuine. It was God-given and true. But their understanding was badly and sadly incomplete. So what Jesus begins to do is inform them of what will really happen to their Messiah. He will reign! But He will reign after He has suffered and died. He will subdue all His enemies. But first He will be killed by those same enemies.

2/ I should also add here just as a side-note that this is only the first of three separate intense teaching sessions Jesus will conduct with His disciples here in Mark: 8.30; 9.30-32; 10.32-34

3/ And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. You really should read this statement in the words of all three Gospelers: Mark 8.31; Matthew 16.21; Luke 9.22.

4/ ‘And He said this plainly…’ [v 32a] meaning: no nuance, point-blank, no ambiguity, no hedging or beating around the bush, no room for misunderstanding. He wants them to hear this so that they will not be surprised or caught off-guard when it comes to pass. But they won’t ‘hear’ it in the sense of accepting it [again, as we shall see…].

5/ Jesus foretells these events:

He must go to Jerusalem [but not to lead a revolt or provoke a Roman government overthrow]
He must suffer many things
He must be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes [expert teachers of the Law]
He must be killed
He must be raised again

6/ We must always bear in mind–every time we read “Son of Man”–that this is not just an allusion to Jesus’ humanity. “Son of Man” is always Jesus’ personal identification with the Messianic promise in Daniel 7.13-14, when ‘there came one like a son of man’ who was presented to The Ancient of Days to receive from Him an everlasting Kingdom and dominion which shall not pass away…that shall not be destroyed.

7/ But this Son of Man shall acquire and obtain that Kingdom as the Suffering Servant that is prophesied in Isaiah 53. These promises: Royal Son of David, Reigning Son of Man, and Redeeming Suffering Servant are all-inclusive in Messiah and His mission. THIS is what the disciples must understand!

VI / v 32 / And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him

1/ Peter will learn better later – even after he had denied Jesus when all this actually was fulfilled and took place. And even in the subsequent like teaching sessions, the disciples were at least not comprehending how their Messiah could or should suffer such ignominy and abuse as Jesus is describing to them. ch 9.32: But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask Him.

2/ But here, Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. As if to correct Jesus, straighten Him out about His role and mission as their Messiah. Matthew 16.22: And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’ Maybe this also explains how perhaps Peter carried this Messianic misperception all the way to Gethsemane when he drew out his dagger to ‘protect’ and deliver Jesus from the arresting party that came to get Him. Like he, Peter, was going to ‘save’ the ‘Savior/Messiah’ from allowing His enemies to thwart His Messianic mission! [?] The sum of what Peter is saying…to the Messiah…is: What you are describing is NOT our Messiah’s mission. We are all in with you, and we will not allow what you have just foretold to happen to you!

VII / v 33 / Get behind me, Satan!

1/ Jesus could not and did not allow Peter’s well-intentioned objections stand. As He and Peter are having their little off-to-the-side exchange, Jesus knows this has to be addressed before them all. But turning and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.’

2/ Again, we have seen numerous instances when Satan had confronted Jesus in his attempts to defile, detour, distract, derail, and destroy Jesus’ power and mission. Now, Peter, one of His own inner-circle disciples was playing ‘Devil’s advocate’ for him.

3/ What Jesus has just described to His disciples is The Gospel. It is The Gospel Jesus has come to proclaim and fulfill. It is The Gospel we must believe to be saved. It is The Gospel that will finally usher in the time for restoring all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets long ago [Acts 3.21].

Repent and believe in The Gospel!

mark.l5.mark-8.27-9.1.but-you.who-do-you-say-i-am Download

Posted in Bible Studies, Lesson Notes, MARK, Sunday School lessons | Tagged Bible Studies, But you who do you say I AM, Caesarea Philippi, Gates of Hades, Gates of Hell, Get behind me Satan, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, MARK, Mark 8.27-9.1, Messiah, Messianic secret, Son of Man, Sunday School lessons | Leave a comment

To the Jews first and also to the Gentiles

Posted on September 30, 2023 by PastorDave

MARK | Lesson 4 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Mark 5.1-20; 7.24-37

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ In our last three lessons [Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3], we have emphasized Mark’s purpose and themes for writing this Gospel account: to give us vignettes in which Jesus declares and demonstrates that He is the Son of God, and to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. This Gospel of the Kingdom is God’s covenant purpose to come in the Person of Jesus Christ to inaugurate, introduce, and begin the fulfillment of His eternal Kingdom, establishing His sovereign rule over all His creation – redeeming, reconciling, and restoring it back to His originally-intended order.

2/ Jesus Christ begins to exercise His Kingdom dominion and rule over every element and force that opposes His sovereign Lordship … all the while preaching the Gospel that calls us all to repentance from our sins and following Him – placing our total faith, trust, and the submission of our lives in His substitutionary death He will die for us on His Cross.

3/ We want to follow Mark’s ‘authorial intent’ and scheme as closely as we can as we make our way through these few lessons. We’re having to do a whole lot more ‘skipping around’ certainly than I prefer to do. I would rather follow the Gospel account chapter by chapter, paragraph by paragraph, in the order in which Mark wrote it; but our course schedule doesn’t allot us that many weeks.

4/ So, what I do want to do is still highlight some of the prominent themes Mark wants to publish to the world here in this Gospel account. We have already drawn our attention to some of those themes:

GOSPEL: Lesson 1 highlighted some of Mark’s distinctive characteristics and descriptions of the Gospel
KINGDOM: Lesson 2 attempted to define more clearly and fully what Jesus and the Scriptures mean by ‘the Kingdom of God’
AUTHORITY: Lesson 3 presented a collection of connected vignettes in which Mark gives us accounts how Jesus demonstrated His Kingly and Kingdom authority over all the powers and elements He confronted during His ministry:
- over the Old Testament Scriptures and history
- over the teachings and teaching of the Scripture
- over Satan and his temptations to sin
- over the wills and lives of those whom He calls to follow Him
- over ‘unclean’ demonic spirits … and all the forces of evil and darkness
- over sicknesses and diseases
- over our human bigotries, prejudices, and biases against others
- over the Sabbath Day [and all the Old Covenant laws]

5/ Now, with this Lesson 4, I want to point out how Mark begins to highlight another one of his themes: that is, how Jesus came to preach His Gospel to ‘all the nations,’ and not just to the Jews; and how He came to include in His Kingdom and rule believers from ‘all the nations,’ and not just the Jews.

We are all familiar with Paul’s words in Romans 1.16: For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
And we thrill at the prospects of the future multi-nationality population of the Kingdom of God in Revelation 5.9-10: And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, ¹⁰ and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

6/ So what I want to do in this lesson is follow Mark as he continues to develop the theme of Jesus’ outreach to more predominantly-Gentile cities and regions here in his Gospel account. NOTE: how Mark has already told us that Jesus’ reputation has spread far and wide among all the surrounding regions – both predominantly Jewish and Gentile: …and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. [ch 3.7-8].

7/ We’ll look at three more vignettes in this lesson. They all have a common theme: they are accounts of Jesus’ Gospel ministry among Gentiles – those who were not Jews. He had come to save them, too, and Mark wants us to see how Jesus set out immediately, very early on in His ministry, to reach out to the neighboring cities, towns, and villages that were populated predominantly by Gentile peoples. Because they, too, were sinners and lost. And He had come to seek and save those who were lost. So He must go to where they are, seek them, confront their sins and unbelief, and call them to repentance from their sins to believe and trust in Him.

ch 5.1-20: The first of these three vignettes is not connected in the storyline with the other two which will follow – but it is connected by theme and geographical location [Decapolis] … as we shall see…
ch 7.24-30: We know this story as ‘The Syrophoenician Woman’ and her significance to the Gospel ministry of Jesus is in just that – that is, where she is from…
ch 7.31-37: This account of the deaf-mute man will return us to the Decapolis region where the demoniac story took place. So these two stories are related after all: because the demoniac began to preach Jesus in all the region where he lived, and by the time Jesus returned there some time later, the way had been prepared for Jesus to perform more Kingdom works.

I / ch 5.1-20 / The demoniac who lived among the tombs in Gergesa: ‘…sitting, clothed, and in his right mind’

1/ v 1 / “They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.” In each of these accounts, we need to consult the map to see where each incident takes place. The people who inhabit the region where this demon-possessed man lived are known by at least three names: Gadarenes, Gergesenes, and Gerasenes. The differences in various manuscripts may be accounted for by different local names they may have been called by, or by variations in spelling. But they were located in a small village on the NE shore of the Sea of Galilee, just below Bethsaida.

2/ What is significant about this region is that it was predominantly Gentile-inhabited. How do we know that? Because we’re going to find out they are big-time pig farmers [see vv 11-13]. A Jewish community would never have a pig-farm economy. Pigs [swine] were ‘unclean’ animals in the Jewish law and culture.

3/ v 2 / As Jesus disembarks the boat after sailing from the regions around Capernaum, He is met ‘immediately’ by this deranged, demon-possessed man. NOTE: Satan is an equal-opportunity destroyer. Satan is committed to enslaving, corrupting, and damning every person in the world. Jesus has already demonstrated numerous occasions of having superior power and authority over Satan, and He will do again here with this Gentile.

4/ vv 3-5 / All the physical conditions this poor man suffered from are also symptomatic of his spiritual lostness: he was ‘unclean,’ wild, untamable, self-destructive – yet the demons also gave him extraordinary physical strength. Verse 4 makes you think of The Incredible Hulk! But Satan’s whole purpose in possessing this man was ‘to steal, kill, and destroy’ his physical and spiritual life.

5/ vv 6-8 / Jesus had come to give him life – and life to the full! The man recognized who Jesus was and ran to beg Him for deliverance. You have to read v 8 from the beginning of the encounter: For He was saying to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’ You almost get the idea that the poor demoniac realized his possession by Satan and was begging Jesus to deliver him. Of course, the demons will protest and hold on to their prey to the full extent of their ability to possess.

6/ vv 6-7 / The demons began screaming at Jesus to leave them alone. They know His supreme authority and sovereign power over them. They protest as they have done before [ch 1.24] that they and Jesus have no common interests: “What have You to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” Meaning, ‘You have no interest in what I am doing, my business.’ Oh! But Jesus does have an interest in what you are doing, Demon! “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil!” [1 John 3.8].

7/ vv 9-13 / So, Jesus requires the demon spirits to identify themselves. This man was full of demon spirits: “My name is Legion, for we are many.” Jesus commands them to come out of the poor man. They know they have to obey Jesus’ superior power and authority. But they don’t want to be disembodied. That’s when they asked Jesus’ permission to enter the herd of pigs that were grazing nearby. Jesus gave them permission. They did. The pigs were so tormented by the demons that they rushed headlong over a precipice into the sea to their death.

8/ vv 14-16 / When the herdsmen ran into the city and country to report what had just happened, the people all rushed to the scene to see for themselves. Everyone from around there knew this man and all about him. But when they arrived at the place of deliverance, ‘the one who had had the legion’ was there – except he’s different now! He’s been delivered from his demons! He’s been transformed! They found him ‘sitting there, clothed and in his right mind.’

9/ vv 17-19 / When the pig-farmers saw that their livelihood and economy had just drowned in the sea, they asked Jesus to depart from their region. When Jesus consents to leave, the delivered man begs Jesus to go along with Him and His disciples. Instead, Jesus tells him he can be the most effective witness by going back home to those who knew him before: “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.”

10/ v 20 / Now, NOTE how the next line sets us up for Jesus’ next visit which we will consider a little later: “And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.” [see ch 7.31-37]

II / ch 7.24-30 / The Syrophoenician woman: “…yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs”

1/ v 24 / “And from there He arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.” This next event will take us in the opposite direction – from the NE shore of the Sea of Galilee up NW to the Mediterranean coast. Centuries before, when the Israelites first entered Canaan and allotted it to the twelve tribes, this region had been settled by the tribe of Asher. Over the centuries, it had changed hands numerous times. Now, it was occupied by the Gentile descendants of the Phoenicians. This woman is clearly identified in v 26, Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. The ‘Syro’ part of the name comes from this portion of the country having been historically known as Syria.

2/ vv 24-26 / Jesus’ desire for going to this relatively secluded part of the country was two-fold: [1] He wanted to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to these predominantly Gentile regions also; and [2] He wanted to do so in a more restful environment – where He wouldn’t be known so well, recognized, and followed so closely by the multitudes of those needing to be healed, etc. But, Satan has been at work here also. And Satan has come to oppose and withstand Jesus’ Kingdom in Gentile Tyre and Sidon also.

3/ Here is a poor, humble, believing mother of an oppressed little daughter. She has heard of Jesus – His ministry has preceded Him. So when she learns He is in the house where He was lodging, she came to Him with her urgent, passionate request: ‘And she begged Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.’

Matthew will add some dimension to her recognition of Jesus and her faith in Him: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” [Matthew 15.22]. She is recognizing Jesus’ Divine Kingly Kingdom authority!

4/ Jesus’ initial response to her may seem, on the surface, to be insulting, mean-spirited, and even derogatory.

If you read Matthew’s account again, at first, He seemed to not even acknowledge her: But He did not answer her a word.
The disciples seemed to take Jesus’ silence as ignoring her, considering her a pesty nuisance: And His disciples came and begged Him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she is crying out after us.’
He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ [Matthew 15.22-24].
In truth, what Jesus is stating here is the priority of His mission and ministry. Yes! His first priority in order was to go to ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But, here He was, wasn’t He, in the land of Gentiles?
On a deeper level, Jesus was testing her faith and trust in Him – her belief in His willingness to reach out to her and give her the grace He had been granting down in Galilee and Judea.

5/ vv 27-28 / So He issues this final test of the genuineness of this Gentile mother’s faith by comparing His ministry among the predominantly-Jewish regions as feeding the ‘children,’ and then His ministry here among the Gentile regions as among ‘dogs’: And He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” This word that Jesus uses is not referring to the wild, feral dogs that roamed the open countryside – rather, Jesus refers to the ‘little dogs’ the Gentiles commonly kept as house pets. Though they weren’t prioritized as the children were, yet they were fed with treats and favors. But she answered Him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” And with that, she confessed that she was willing to take some of the crumbs of Jesus’ grace that fell from the Jews’ table – and be happy to receive it!

6/ vv 29-30 / Jesus rewarded this Gentile believer’s faith: And He said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

III / ch 7.31-37 / The healing of the deaf-mute in Decapolis: …when Jesus sighed…

1/ v 31 / Then He returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. So now, Jesus is re-tracing His path back to The Decapolis where He was earlier in ch 5.1-20 of this lesson. He had exorcised the demons Legion from the crazed man who had lived among the tombs. ‘The Decapolis’ means ‘The Ten Cities.’ This was an enclave of predominantly Gentile cities here on the east side of the Jordan River and Sea of Galilee.

2/ When we last saw the crazed tomb-dweller whom Jesus had delivered from his demons, Jesus had told him to go back to his family, friends, and neighbors, and tell them what great things Jesus had done for him. And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled [ch 5.20]. Now when Jesus returns, those who have heard these reports are anxiously awaiting his arrival.

3/ vv 32-34 / This deaf-mute man couldn’t advocate for himself at all. He couldn’t hear what was going on; and he couldn’t speak for himself because he didn’t know how to pronounce and say words he couldn’t hear. But his friends brought him to Jesus, and Jesus had compassion on him. Jesus didn’t do His works to show off or grandstand – so He took the deaf-mute off where just the two of them could interact without distraction. [1] Jesus locked eye-contact with the deaf-mute so he could see that Jesus was the source and actor of all He would do; [2] Jesus put His fingers into the needy man’s ears to show that’s where He would work; [3] Jesus then strangely applied His own saliva to the man’s mute tongue…again to draw attention to where He would work; [4] Jesus looked up to Heaven to bear witness that He was praying and appealing to God – whatever would be done would be the work of God through Him; [5] Jesus ‘sighed’ – this word is translated in other NT references as ‘groaning’ in spirit with grief, frustration, exasperation [Romans 8.23; 2 Corinthians 5.2, 4]. Surely with Jesus, it was His grief over the cursed effects of sin on the world – but He was here to establish His Kingdom and restore it all back to God; [6] Jesus commanded with His own authority over this needy man’s deafness and mute tongue: ‘Ephphatha!’ which is their speaking language, Aramaic, for ‘Be opened!’

4/ vv 35-37 / Whatever Jesus commands to be opened, opens. And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying…

“He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”

mark.l4.mark-5.1-207.24-37.to-the-jews-first-and-also-to-the-gentiles Download

Posted in Bible Studies, Lesson Notes, MARK, Sunday School lessons | Tagged Bible Studies, Ephphatha, Gentiles, Geresene, Jesus sighed, Kingdom Authority, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, MARK, Mark 5.1-20, Mark 7.24-30, Mark 7.31-37, son of David, Sunday School lessons, Syrophoenician woman, To the Jews first and also to the Gentiles, tomb dweller, two stage healing | Leave a comment

The Son of Man has Authority on Earth

Posted on September 16, 2023 by PastorDave

MARK | Lesson 3 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Mark 2.1-3.35

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ In our last two lessons [Lesson 1 & Lesson 2], we have emphasized Mark’s purpose and themes for writing this Gospel account: to give us vignettes in which Jesus declares and demonstrates that He is the Son of God, and to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. This Gospel of the Kingdom is God’s covenant purpose to come in the Person of Jesus Christ to inaugurate, introduce, and begin the fulfillment of His eternal Kingdom when He will establish His sovereign rule over all His creation – redeeming, reconciling, and restoring it back to His originally-intended order.

3/ As you can see, we will cover a wide range of Gospel Scripture in this lesson. So these Lesson Notes will, of necessity, have to be incomplete and sketchy at the best. We will have to save our comments on each of these passages for our class time. All I can and will attempt to do here in these Lesson Notes / Talking Points is to summarize Jesus’ purpose and Gospel theme in each of these vignettes – how each encounter points to His Lordship and further fleshes out and defines His authority as the Son of Man, Son of God, and promised Messiah/Christ who was prophesied would come from the beginning of time.

4/ So let’s look for and note these common thread-themes that Mark will weave throughout these vignettes:

Jesus’ Kingdom authority over all;
His direct, personal, and unmistakable claims to be the Son of God – God the Son;
His claims to be the Old Testament promised Messiah, the Son of Man;
the growing divisions between Jesus and the world of unbelievers, especially the unbelievers among the religious leaders/teachers of that day – Pharisees & scribes;
the escalating enmity and opposition of the religious leaders against Jesus – they begin to form their murderous schemes and plots to kill, assassinate, eliminate Him.

I / ch 2.1-12 / “Son, your sins are forgiven”

Jesus heals the paralytic [lame man] who was carried to Him by four friends and let down through the broken-up roof of the house where He was teaching.

1/ But before Jesus heals him, He pronounces that He forgives the man’s sins. He does this by His immediate authority as God – not as an intermediary messenger.

2/ The Jewish leaders immediately accuse and ‘indict’ Him for blasphemy [punishable by death].

3/ Then Jesus heals the paralytic, …that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…

4/ NOTE: Jesus’ primary mission activity is: ‘And He was preaching the Word to them.’ This Word is the entirety of the Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

II / ch 2.13-17 / “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners”

Jesus calls Levi [Matthew] to follow Him as one of His disciples.

1/ Levi, of course, is a tax collector, rendering him a pariah, outcast, untouchable by the Jewish society.

2/ But Jesus has come to demolish all our man-made prejudices, bigotries, and discriminations by His Gospel. We all are sinners, and Jesus has come to call all sinners to repentance, regardless of our ethnicity, cultural background, social status and standing – regardless of how we may be judged by the culture-elites around us.

III / ch 2.18-22 / “…when the Bridegroom is taken away from them…then they will fast…”

The question of religious fasting comes up by the Jewish leaders: Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

1/ This is just another, one more, attempt by the Jewish leaders to publicly discredit Jesus, cast shade on Him, hopefully to destroy His growing influence and popularity among the populace. They must retain their control over the thinking and lives of the people.

2/ Jesus declares Himself to be the Heavenly Bridegroom who has come to redeem and ‘marry’ His people to Himself and back to God. It would be out of place and inappropriate for His disciples to fast and ‘afflict their souls’ while He is present with them.

3/ But the days will come when the Bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. This is the first oblique reference [at least in Mark] that Jesus makes about His upcoming death. See Isaiah 53.8.

IV / ch 2.23-28 / “So the Son of Man is LORD even of the Sabbath”

Jesus is accused again [just one of many such occasions] of violating the Sabbath Day when His disciples plucked some grains of wheat from the field they were passing.

1/ They did this because they were hungry. The Law permitted this. But it violated and ‘broke’ the legalistic strictures imposed by the ruling class of Pharisees/scribes, religious leaders and teachers.

2/ Jesus cites how David and his men did the same sort of thing out of necessity when they were fleeing from murderous King Saul. See 1 Samuel 21.1-10.

3/ Jesus declares His Lordship and sovereignty over this Sabbath creation mandate also: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

V / ch 3.1-6 / “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?”

Jesus heals another man who had a withered [paralyzed] hand – again on a Sabbath Day.

1/ He did this intentionally in the presence of the Jewish leaders: And they watched Jesus, to see whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.

2/ Jesus did this, not only to give a public demonstration again of His Lordship over the Sabbath Day, but also to publicly teach those who were present what God’s original-creation purpose and intent for the Sabbath was…and is: And He said to them, ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?

3/ This additional act of His sovereign Lordship and God-ness ‘sealed His fate’ with the Jewish leaders. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians [political allies of Herod Antipas, the client ‘king’ of Galilee], how to destroy Him. They determined from that point on that they must kill Jesus. See a similar account in John 5.16-18 & 7.19-23.

4/ NOTE: Mark will begin from this point on to chronicle how the enemies of God and Jesus begin to intensify their opposition to Jesus and the Kingdom purposes of God from merely trying to publicly discredit, contradict, and undermine His influence … to now making plans to kill Him. This theme will continue to intensify and increase until they finally crucify Him in the end of the Gospel story.

VI / ch 3.7-12 / “for He had healed many…the unclean spirits…fell down before Him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God’”

Jesus’ fame continues to grow and spread into the contiguous surrounding regions.

1/ …and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea [S of Judea] and from beyond the Jordan [E of the Jordan River, including Perea and Decapolis] and from around Tyre and Sidon [on the Mediterranean coast NW of Galilee].

2/ Of course, this is much to the consternation, frustration, and panic of the Jewish leaders. Jesus continues to exercise His authority over physical sicknesses / diseases and demon spirits. See especially ch 1.21-39.

VII / ch 3.13-19 / “And He appointed twelve (whom He also named apostles)…”

Jesus chooses twelve core disciples from among the now-more-numerous disciples … and calls them His apostles.

1/ This is an advanced stage of Jesus’ training ministry of those whom He will appoint to be the chief spokesmen for the Gospel of the Kingdom after His death, resurrection, and ascension back into Heaven – to await His return again in the Last Day to bring in the fullness of His eternal Kingdom. NOTE here: Acts 1.26; 2.42; et. al.

2/ NOTE the two purposes of His appointment of the Twelve: …so that they might be with Him and He might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.

VIII / ch 3.20-21 / “When His family heard it, they went out to seize Him…‘He is out of His mind…’”

Jesus returns once again to Capernaum. Divisions and schisms begin to manifest themselves, first between Jesus and His household family…

1/ Mark inserts this little insight here which he will explain a little more fully in vv 31-35.

2/ The main point Mark wants to make here is how Jesus’ Kingdom mission sets Him at odds with the ‘world,’ even among His own family members. See John 7.5.

3/ Mark highlights this contrast and division to demonstrate how those who follow Jesus must expect the same reactions from unbelievers, even those who are closest to us.

4/ Jesus’ commitment to the mission the Father had sent Him to fulfill is His primary, priority, and preoccupying interest and activity, even to the degree that …so that they could not even eat. Jesus’ values, interests, orientation, and worldview was focused on His Heavenly mission. His family’s were not.

5/ This phrase, He is out of His mind, is commonly translated to be amazed. It means literally ‘to be standing outside of yourself.’ It also means ‘insane.’ His family’s diagnosis is that His preoccupation with His Heavenly mission was causing Him to lose His base-ness. He was going crazy, ‘off His rocker.’

IX / ch 3.22-30 / “…whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness…”

Jesus confronts this stringent public accusation from the Jewish leaders that He is actually acting from the authority and power of Satan himself – not from the Holy Spirit.

1/ The Jewish leaders continue to stalk Jesus everywhere He goes, seeking an occasion to discredit Him before the people and regain control over them for themselves. “He is possessed by Beelzebub,” and “by the prince of demons He casts out the demons.”

2/ Jesus’ demonstrations of authority over Satan, demons, and the powers of the kingdom of darkness are well-known from numerous exercises of exorcism in many places.

3/ To which accusation Jesus responds, showing how ludicrous it is on its own face: How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. That is a simple exercise of logic – Satan will not divide and destroy his own kingdom and control over those who he seeks to destroy.

4/ Then, Jesus illustrates that logical truth with a reiteration of His own sovereignty and authority over Satan – He employs a parable: But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he can plunder his house.

The ‘strong man’ here is Satan.
His ‘house’ is the godless world that Satan is seeking to deceive and lead to destruction.
The ‘goods’ in his house are the people whom Jesus is delivering from Satan’s dominion.

Jesus has come to ‘bind the strong man’ and ‘plunder his goods’ by exercising His own sovereign Kingdom authority over Satan.

5/ Then Jesus condemns the religious leaders/teachers for their own personal unbelief and for their demonic intentions to perpetrate Satan’s deceptions over the very people they professed to be teaching.

6/ Let’s pay attention to this statement, commonly called ‘the unpardonable sin’ – it has been commonly misunderstood and mis-applied to any number of other sins and offenses which Jesus clearly teaches can and will be forgiven for those who repent of them.

Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” – for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

7/ Jesus is clearly applying this charge of the ‘unpardonable sin’ to their accusing Him of acting from the power, spirit, and influence of a demonic spirit … rather than from the influence and power of the Holy Spirit of God.

8/ The reason this sin is ‘unpardonable,’ both in this world and in the world to come is because, in so saying, they were rejecting Christ Himself and the only Gospel which can save them.

9/ Paul personally testifies that he was a former enemy of Christ, even a blasphemer. But I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of all acceptance, that Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life [1 Timothy 1.12-16]. I have quoted Paul’s testimony in some length because Paul reiterates many of the themes that Mark is weaving here in our lesson passage [see Mark 3.17 & 28-30].

X / ch 3.31-35 / “…whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother”

Jesus re-defines who our spiritual relatives and relationships are in the Gospel of the Kingdom of God – not those who are members of our blood kin and family, but those who are members of the Kingdom of God through repentance from sins and faith in Jesus Christ.

1/ Connect this short exchange with vv 20-21 above. His mother and half-siblings had come to stage a ‘crisis intervention.’ Their intention was to ‘seize’ Him and take Him by whatever force was necessary to take Him home to ‘de-tox’ Him from His insanity – what they perceived to be an insane obsession with His mission activities.

2/ When it was announced to Jesus that they were outside and calling Him to come out to them, Jesus responded by claiming His relatives were those who were believing in Him: And He answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking about at those who sat around Him, He said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins … repent and believe in the Gospel!”

mark.l3.mark-2.1-3.35.the-son-of-man-has-authority-on-earth-Download

Posted in Bible Studies, Lesson Notes, MARK, Sunday School lessons | Tagged Bible Studies, Calling sinners to repentance, Fasting, Forgiveness of sins, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, MARK, Mark 2.1-3.35, Sunday School lessons, The Son of Man has Authority on Earth, Unpardonable sin | Leave a comment

The Gospel of the Kingdom

Posted on September 9, 2023 by PastorDave

MARK | Lesson 2 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Mark l.16-45

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ In our last lesson, we noted how Mark introduced the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what the prominent tenets and distinguishing characteristics are of Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

2/ Not only was The Gospel the Good News about Jesus Christ, but The Gospel IS Jesus Christ, and it was also the Good News that Jesus Christ Himself proclaimed / vv 14-15: …Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel!”

3/ Now, in that summary statement that Jesus proclaimed, we will hear the major themes that Mark will proceed to expand and expound upon as he relates to us what Jesus said, meant, and did to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God [see Matthew 4.23, et al]:

The time is fulfilled. The ‘time’ God had promised and the faithful people of God had long expected and longed for ‘has been fulfilled.’ So, what ‘time’ is this? It is the ‘time’ of the arrival and establishment of the Kingdom God had promised He would bring into the world / see Daniel 44-45, for example.
And the Kingdom of God is at hand. With this proclamation, Jesus announces that, with His arrival and appearance, the Kingdom of God is here! The Kingdom of God has come in Himself, the King. So, what is this Kingdom of God? Summarily, the Kingdom of God is God’s rule over all / Psalm 103.19. Jesus Christ has come to ‘invade’ the world of time, space, and history … and inaugurate, usher in, God’s sovereign, redemptive, and covenant purpose and will. Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven [Matthew 6.10; 25.34]. This Kingdom of God has both a past history; a present history being fulfilled in our present age; and a future perfect fulfillment when our Lord returns[see 1 Corinthians 15.24-28; Matthew 25.34; Revelation 11.15; numerous others]. We are now in what we call the ‘already / not yet’ age of the Kingdom of God.

4/ So what Mark will proceed to show us is how Jesus Christ inaugurates the perfection of that final Kingdom by the acts He will perform and the messages He will proclaim through those acts. If you will use this summary key to help you understand the Kingdom of God, you will see more clearly why Mark specifically highlights the various accounts he gives of Jesus’ life and ministry: The Kingdom of God is God’s purposed redemption and restoration of all things – the whole creation – back to the perfect Kingdom order in which He created it … even better – through Jesus Christ and His Gospel!

5/ That’s why, as Mark proceeds to give us the account of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, he will show us, especially in this first half of Mark [chs 1.16-8.26], Jesus’ ever-expanding sovereign rule and authority over all the forces and influences of sin that have ruined, marred, and broken the creation and our lives: unbelief, alienation from God, human sickness and disease, and especially the demonic world under Satan’s rule [see 2 Corinthians 4.3-6; John 8.44; 10.10, et al]. Jesus Christ has come to proclaim and exercise His sovereign authority over them all … and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross [Colossians 1.15-20].

6/ Here’s how Mark describes and demonstrates Jesus’ sovereign rule and reign by proclaiming The Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Our response must be to repent and believe in the Gospel!

I / ch 1.16-20 / Jesus calls the first disciples

1/ Jesus demonstrates His authority, sovereignty, and Lordship over the faith, wills, and lives of those whom He calls to follow Him. When He calls Simon and Andrew – and James and John – to ‘follow’ Him, He is commanding that they repent, and believe in the Gospel of His Kingdom by surrendering their all to Him. And, it is Him that He commands that they follow … not a tradition or a movement or an agenda.

2/ Since they were fishermen by trade and vocation, His command means that their vocation from that moment on will be to commit and employ their lives to obeying and serving Him. They obeyed, thus submitting to His authority, Lordship, and Kingdom.

3/ Mark is also pointing out here that the Kingdom of God is not only His authority over our external activities; but more, God’s Kingdom rules over our innermost hearts and wills. We are ‘born’ into a spiritual relationship with God through His Gospel [see John 3.1-5] as well as conformity to His Kingdom rule in all our external activities. See 1 Corinthians 6.9-11.

4/ This same call to exclusive discipleship of following Jesus in this way sets the template and pattern for all the rest of His disciples who will believe on Him and follow Him for all time – including us.

II / ch 1.21-28 / Jesus heals a man with an ‘unclean,’ demonic spirit

1/ This event happened in Capernaum. Capernaum had become Jesus’ adopted ‘hometown’ and where He performed many of His miraculous acts as well as much of His teaching ministry [see Matthew 4.12-17]. Capernaum was a thriving center of commerce and a crossroads of major trade routes that ran through the city. When we consult all the Gospels, we can pinpoint at least twelve events in Jesus’ life and ministry that are pinned to Capernaum. It was also the subject of a scathing condemnation by Jesus because they didn’t accept and believe on Him when they had witnessed His mighty works and teaching [Matthew 11.20-24].

2/ NOTE: Mark introduces the word ‘authority’ here – and he will use this word at least ten times throughout his Gospel account. This ‘authority’ is Jesus’ exercise of His Kingdom Lordship. And they were astonished [awe-struck] at His teaching, for He taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. Jesus’ teaching was with His own first-hand ‘authority’ as One sent from God. He was teaching from His own credibility as the Truth. It was well-known that their ‘experts in the Law,’ or ‘scribes,’ derived their authority from endlessly droning on and citing the predecessor teachers who supported their interpretations. Jesus spoke from His own authoritative knowledge of the Truth – He was the Truth He was teaching.

3/ When Jesus confronts this demonic ‘unclean’ spirit in this man … in the synagogue … He was confronting the all-out assault Satan was mounting against Him. As we read through the Gospels, we have to note how prevalent demonic activity was, not just in that locality, but all of it targeted against Jesus and His Kingdom ministry. It’s almost as if Satan had put out an all-points-bulletin for his demonic forces to go to Galilee and make war against the Kingdom of God that had come. The demon spirit recognizes Jesus for who He is – What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God [see James 2.18-19]. It isn’t enough just to know who Jesus is and have an intellectual knowledge of Him – you must repent of your sins and believe the Gospel of His Kingdom to be saved.

4/ The truth of the Kingdom is: Jesus HAD come to destroy the kingdom of Satan and the dominion he exercises over his subjects. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil [1 John 3.8]. Jesus exorcised the unclean spirit – commanded him to come out of the man. And they were all amazed [awe-struck], so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him!”

5/ This is another major and prominent exercise of Jesus’ Gospel of the Kingdom. Satan had introduced sin into our world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve and brought all the ruin, degradation, perversion, and curse of sin that has marred, not only the creation, but also the image-bearers of God. Jesus has come to reconcile and restore the rule of God through His Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Satan’s doom was sealed [John 12.31] until finally …and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur … and…will be tormented day and night forever and ever [Revelation 20.10].

III / ch 1.29-34 / Jesus heals Simon Peter’s mother-in-law … and many others

1/ Sickness and disease are among the multitude of curses that have plagued our world since the introduction of sin in the Garden of Eden. Jesus will demonstrate and exercise His authority over all this as well by His authority and proclaiming the Gospel of God and His Kingdom. In this case, it is Peter’s mother-in-law. She was deathly sick with a ‘fever.’ After teaching in the synagogue that day, Jesus goes home with Peter [who also lived in Capernaum] and heals her of her fever. Jesus is showing that in the ultimate, final, and perfect fulfillment of the Kingdom of God, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away [Revelation 21.4]. …and sorrow and sighing shall flee away [Isaiah 35.10].

2/ When Jesus heals this sickness – and many/all the others He healed – He is giving us an object-lesson and ‘earnest/down-payment’ of that ultimate fulfillment in the Kingdom of God that is proclaimed in The Gospel of God.

3/ As Mark explains, that evening at sundown, after the Sabbath-day rest had expired, they brought to Him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons…

IV / ch 1.35-39 / Jesus prays and communes with His Father … and proceeds to preach in the neighboring towns

1/ This account in Jesus’ life and ministry is so telling, so instructive, and so power-packed on so many levels. What Jesus will demonstrate here by His own example is where the power of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God comes from … and where real spiritual activity of the Kingdom of God is transacted.

2/ And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed. “In this short verse, four verbs (“rising” / “went” / “departed” / “prayed”) describe Jesus’ persistent goal of cultivating and maintaining close fellowship with His Heavenly Father (cf. 6.46; 14.32-39), despite often pressing circumstances.” / Hans F. Bayer, ESV Expository Commentary.

First, we must note that if Jesus prayed, then we must pray. Keep in mind, the previous day had been a most intense, stressful, and action-packed day. Just think of all we are told Jesus did just in Mark’s account here: He had taught in the synagogue on the Sabbath day; He had warred with demons; He had healed Peter’s mother-in-law; He had healed many others and had cast out demons well into the evening and night before. All of this had taken a heavy toll on His human constitution, energies, and resources – He was physically, emotionally, spiritually drained and exhausted. But Jesus knows that His strength, power, and authority comes from His communion with His Father. Yes! He is God incarnate – but He is also submitting to His human-form servanthood. And so, He prays to commune with His Father whom He loves … and also to receive the necessary strength and power He must have to fulfill the Father’s Kingdom mission. I repeat, if Jesus prays, then how much more must we pray if we are to follow Him in the mission He has sent us to fulfill.
I have been so impressed by this model for ministry Jesus exemplifies since preaching through Mark years ago in my former pastorate. I called this instructive lesson: The Mechanics and the Dynamics of Ministry. We so often focus only on the ‘mechanics’: the tasks, activities, functions we perform in the course of ministry. But what we also so often neglect is the ‘dynamics,’ how those ‘mechanics’ must work, if indeed they effectively work at all in the ways we want them to work and accomplish the ends and results for which we perform them. The ‘mechanics’ will not work and won’t be effective without the ‘dynamics’ of the power of God. We are not going to perform the mechanics of our ministries, however well-trained we may be, or how experienced we are at doing them, or how well we may perform them … if we are not connected with the ‘dynamics’ of the power of God without which we can do nothing. It reminds me of when I was a teenager and just starting to drive – my car would intermittently not start. I took it to our service station mechanic, Mr. Bean [I don’t remember his first name – we called everyone ‘Mr.’]. Mr. Bean raised the hood, checked the battery, took his wire brush and scrubbed out the insides of the terminal clamps, tightened it back up, and that was it. As he was doing this, I overheard him saying to himself, “The car runs no better than its connection to the power.” I still remember that so well and often. So it is with us.
We must also note how Mark keeps coming back to the ‘wilderness/desert/deserted places’ motif. He will employ this word ‘eremos’ nine times in his Gospel, and six of those mentions are here in chapter 1: vv 3, 4, 12, 13, 35, 45. [see also ch 6.31, 32, 35]. Throughout Scripture, the ‘wilderness / desert / deserted places’ have been venues of purification, preparation, testing and temptation. These are the times and places [‘desert experiences’] where God often isolates us, brings us to the ends of ourselves and resources, and gets us alone with Him so He can teach us that we must depend on Him – train and equip us for His Kingdom work – and work His power and will through us.

3/ After this time of prayer and communion with His Father, Jesus announces to His disciples, Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for this is why I came out. And He went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. Which is what He also commands us to do in our own time: And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come [Matthew 24.14].

V / ch 1.40-45 / Jesus touches and cleanses a leper

1/ Jesus exercises and demonstrates His Kingdom authority not only over another physical illness and malady, but one that is pronounced ‘unclean’ and that separates, isolates, estranges them from others.

2/ This term ‘leper’ [‘lepros’] refers to a wide range of skin diseases, though it would also include the flesh-eating disease we most often think of – what we call ‘Hansen’s Disease.’ What is most significant about the Biblical leprosy is that it was considered to be an ‘uncleanness’ and required ostracism and isolation from contact with others in the community. It is extensively treated in Leviticus 13. We are most familiar with verse 35: The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.

3/ This leper has heard of both Jesus’ ability and willingness to heal; so he approaches Jesus, casts himself at Jesus’ feet in humility and homage, and begs for mercy – appealing to Jesus’ willingness: If you will, you can make me clean.

4/ No one was permitted to touch the leper, and the leper was forbidden to touch another person or object. If another person came into physical contact with a leper, then that person was considered ‘unclean’ and must go through the same ‘cleaning’ regimen as the leper until it was demonstrated that he was ‘clean.’ But, Jesus IS both able and willing to cleanse him: Moved with pity [a deep, inward, even convulsive, sympathy and compassion], He stretched out His hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” Not only is Jesus touched with the feeling of our infirmities [Hebrews 4.15 KJV], but He reaches out to us and touches us with His own Divine healing and cleansing Grace.

5/ There is so much we can say – and will say as we work our way through Mark – about the numerous times Jesus instructed people He healed and His disciples with words like these: See that you say nothing to anyone… or some similar injunction. We’ll talk later about what is called ‘the Messianic secret’ and why Jesus wants to reveal the full disclosure of His Messianic identity/mission in His own way and time. I’ll just say here that it has a lot to do with the Jewish people’s expectation of what their promised Messiah would do when He did come – what kind of Messianic Prophet and King would He be? Their expectations were for a political Messiah who would immediately throw off the Roman yoke of bondage, lead a ‘freedom movement’ and rebellion, and liberate them from foreign oppression [see, for example, John 6.15]. That was NOT the Kingdom of God Jesus had come to establish [see John 18.33-37]. He WILL inaugurate and establish The Kingdom of God, but it will be a redemptive, Covenant of Grace, Kingdom of God.

6/ When Jesus will commission His disciples to go to other places and do what they have seen Him do – and what He will give them authority and power to do – He will instruct them to announce: Heal the sick in it and say to them, “The Kingdom of God has come near to you” … Nevertheless know this, that the Kingdom of God has come near” [Luke 10.9, 11]. So it is when He first teaches continuously and performs these acts of The Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

7/ This is who Jesus is and what He has come to do: …proclaiming the Gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand [near / here]; repent and believe in the Gospel.”

“Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the Glory, forever. Amen!”

mark.l2.mark-1.16-45.the-gospel-of-the-kingdom Download

Posted in Bible Studies, Lesson Notes, MARK, Sunday School lessons | Tagged Bible Studies, Discipleship, Follow Me, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, MARK, Mark 1.16-45, Sunday School lessons, The authority of Jesus, The Gospel of the Kingdom, The Kingdom of God, The Kingdom of God has come near | Leave a comment

Common Evangelist … UNcommon Gospel

Posted on September 2, 2023 by PastorDave

MARK | Lesson 1 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Mark l.1-15

INTRODUCTION

We will begin this survey/study of THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. Just some quick bullet points to acquaint us with some of the basic features of this book:

This Gospel was the first Gospel account to be written, and maybe even the first New Testament book to be written, with the possible exception of James.
Although Mark does not ascribe authorship to himself, it was immediately recognized by the earliest ‘church fathers’ who were contemporaries with the apostles that he is the author.
Mark was written around the early-mid 60s AD [see comments below in the next section]. This would place it only around 30 years after our Lord’s ascension back to Heaven.
Although Mark was not an apostle, he was a close companion of both Paul and Peter [see especially Colossians 4.10; 1 Peter 5.13]. Those same early testimonies to Mark’s authorship refer to this Gospel as ‘the memoirs of Peter.’
Mark was written, we believe, from Rome while he was a ministry partner with Peter there. Mark had heard Peter give his own personal accounts of Jesus’ life during their times together; and perhaps also from the urging of other leaders among the churches, put Peter’s accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry into writing for the instruction and edification of the larger communities of churches. Mark’s Gospel was…and is…an evangelistic tract to be used as a witness to Jesus Christ and the Gospel.

I / WHO IS ‘MARK’?

1/ This is why I call Mark a ‘common evangelist.’ He was a preacher of the Gospel, but he was not one of the apostles, nor was he one of the ‘eyewitness’ followers of Jesus. He did know about Jesus, and we have to wonder whether he is making a veiled reference to himself in ch 14.51-52. But, he is a ‘common’ evangelist in the same way you and I should be.

/2 Mark is commonly identified as ‘John whose other name was Mark’ [Acts 12.12]. There are ten references to Mark [or ‘John’] by name in the New Testament. Let’s survey them:

Acts 12.12. We first meet Mark here. He lived in Jerusalem with his mother, Mary. Mary opened her home for meetings of the church in Jerusalem. He also knew the apostle Peter from these associations. In fact, Peter was so well-known to Mark’s family and household, that when Peter was miraculously released from prison in this Acts 12 account and made his way to where the church was gathered and praying for him, and when he announced his presence to the servant girl at the door of the gateway to the house, the servant girl recognized him by his voice. [BTW, we know that by the time Luke wrote his Gospel and The Acts, he and Mark had spent quite a bit of time together in ministry partnership, especially with Paul / see Philemon 23-24; 1 Timothy 4.11.]
Acts 12.25 [circa AD 45]. Mark accompanied Barnabas and Saul [Paul] back to Antioch after Barnabas and Saul had come to Jerusalem to bring some relief funds for the saints there [Acts 11.25-29; 12.25].
Acts 13.1-5 [circa AD 46]. Mark accompanied Barnabas and Saul on their first missionary journey from the church at Antioch.
Acts 13.13. Mark prematurely left Barnabas and Saul to return to Jerusalem.
Acts 15.36-40 [circa AD 49]. Mark accompanied Barnabas on a subsequent missionary journey after Barnabas and Paul had a sharp disagreement over whether Mark should accompany them on the journey they were planning to conduct together. [This is where Paul and Barnabas parted to go their separate missionary ways.]
Colossians 4.10; Philemon 23-24 [circa AD 61-62]. Paul was reconciled to Mark later in his life and ministry, and the two of them traveled and ministered together. Mark also was a personal companion to Paul during his Acts 28 imprisonment in Rome [where these two letters were written]. BTW, we also learn here that Mark was a ‘cousin’ or ‘nephew’ to Barnabas: ‘sister’s son to Barnabas’ [KJV].
2 Timothy 4.11 [circa AD 64]. In fact, during Paul’s last and final imprisonment, he specifically and personally asked that Mark might be sent to help him.
1 Peter 5.13: She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son [circa AD 63].This is one of the key references that leads us to believe that Mark wrote his Gospel account under the tutelage and influence of Peter; perhaps while in Rome and first to the Christians in the church in Rome to give them a deeper and more personal acquaintance with Jesus Christ and His earthly ministry; and then to be circulated from there to the other churches and communities throughout the Roman empire.

II / ‘The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God’

What is ‘a gospel’ [with a little ‘g’]? Let’s play the word association game. If we say or hear the word ‘gospel,’ we immediately associate it with the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. But the word ‘gospel’ was already in common usage when Mark wrote his Gospel. The word itself [euangelion] means ‘good news.’ The ‘eu’ is ‘good,’ and ‘angelion’ is the Greek word for ‘message/news.’ That’s what an ‘angel’ is: a messenger, [see v 2].

1/ And so, in the Graeco-Roman world, they had for centuries used this word to refer to ‘good news’ announcements or proclamations – either written or spoken.

In fact, their fastest means of local communication was by runners. See, for example, how Paul quotes Isaiah 52.7 in Romans 10.15: As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.’ These ‘beautiful feet’ are those of the runners who were dispatched to announce the ‘good news/gospel’ of the moment. These runners were their ‘evangelists.’ Many times, it was the announcement of a major military victory – like the ‘Marathon’ runner who ran the approximately 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to announce to the Senate that the Persian invasion of Greece had been turned back. Legend has it that he burst into the Senate who were in session to negotiate their terms of surrender to the Persians … to announce “You are free! We have won!” – and then dropped dead.
Even that ‘good news’ had the distinguishing characteristics of The Gospel: [1] Public announcement or proclamation; [2] of a momentous event that was history-making and life-transforming; [3] that someone else had done for them … that they could not do for themselves; [4] and it was ‘good news.’
More specifically to Mark’s immediate historical and cultural context, there was an archaeological discovery made in Priene [ancient Greece, now turkey] – stone tablets dating back to c. 9 BC with the inscription “…the beginning of the gospel of Caesar Augustus…” in which it was announced “…and since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of good tidings [euangelion] for the world that came by reason of him…” Can you imagine the courage and holy audacity of Mark to begin his Gospel of Jesus Christ with this ascription to Caesar Augustus already in use and circulation?

2/ But Mark is here to announce the True Gospel – the only Gospel: The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God! This is why I have called it ‘the UNcommon Gospel.’ It is the only True Gospel, and it demands that everyone in the world repent of their sins and believe Christ and His Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is one thing – and one thing only: The Gospel is Jesus Christ and about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who has come into our world to save us from our sins by His substitutionary life, death, and resurrection which Mark will chronicle [see 1 Corinthians 15.1-8].

3/ Maybe we should say just a word about what Mark means by ‘the beginning of the Gospel…’ He may mean:

[1] the Gospel of Jesus Christ ‘began’ with the announcement of John the Baptist;
[2] or the Gospel ‘began’ with the appearance of Jesus Himself who IS the Gospel of God [v 14] and who proclaims the Gospel concerning Himself [see Romans 1.1-6];
[3] or Mark may be intentionally referencing Genesis 1.1 to say that Jesus Christ has come to BE and to BRING IN a new creation and ‘beginning’ of the reconciliation and restoration of the fallen world and people of God which was ruined by the entrance of sin into the first ‘beginning’ see Colossians 1.20.

III / What is this ‘Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God’ that Mark is announcing to the world? What are its distinctive characteristics and tenets? [… and the prominent themes of Mark?]

1/ v 1 / The Gospel is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus Christ is God the Son, sent to us from God the Father, to announce to us the salvation God is giving us through His Son. In contrast to the other so-called and self-proclaimed ‘gods’ [like Caesar Augustus] or all their pagan patron ‘gods’ whom they worshiped, there is only one God who is Supreme and saving – and He has appeared from Heaven in the Person of Jesus Christ!

2/ vv 2-3 / The Gospel of Jesus Christ was prophesied and promised in the Old Testament, and Jesus Christ is the Personal fulfillment of them all.

Mark specifically quotes from Malachi 3.1 to show that Jesus is the Personal fulfillment of the ‘messenger of the covenant’ whom Yahweh would send to them in time to come. We’ll address this here in a moment, but in this Malachi 3.1 Scripture, there are two ‘messengers’ who will come. The first ‘messenger’ will announce the impending appearance of the primary ‘messenger’ … whom Yahweh says will be Himself: ‘he will prepare the way before Me.’ But the principal ‘messenger’ is ‘the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight.’ That is Yahweh coming in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God!
Then the second OT prophecy is from Isaiah 40.3. This is such a powerful witness to Christ’s fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies. This whole passage, Isaiah 40.1-10, was the promise the people of God had clung to for the past 700 years. Yahweh promised that He Himself would come with might [v 10] to save them from all their enemies, and that His coming would be announced by the forerunner who would precede Him, ‘go before Your face,’ and ‘prepare Your way … Prepare the way of the Lord’ [Mark].
Both of these specific OT prophecies were dramatically fulfilled in their sight and experience by the appearances of both John the Baptist and then Jesus Himself.

3/ vv 4-8 / The Gospel of Jesus Christ was announced by the appearance of John the Baptist.

John the Baptist appeared ‘in the wilderness [of Judea] in striking similarity to Elijah. Again, in Malachi 4.5-6, Yahweh promised: Behold, I will send Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. [You can also compare even John the Baptist’s physical appearance and lifestyle with that of Elijah’s in 2 Kings 1.7-8.]
When the angel announced to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, that these promised prophecies were coming to pass, he told Zechariah: …and he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah… [Luke 1.17]. Zechariah then acknowledged this fulfilled promise in Luke 1.76—77: And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins…
Jesus Himself declared that John the Baptist was that promised Elijah [Mark 9.11-13].
But John’s announcement and preaching was not about himself, but rather to the Supremacy and priority of Jesus Christ [compare ‘mightier than I’ with Isaiah 40.10].

4/ vv 4-5 / The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for ‘the forgiveness of sins.’ This forgiveness of sins will reconcile and restore the fallen world marred and ruined in the first ‘beginning.’ Our sins have separated and estranged us from the grace of God. Jesus has come to forgive us of our sins by the substitutionary death He will die on the Cross. John was preaching that we sinners must repent of our sins and turn from them to enter into the Kingdom of grace and life that Jesus has come to bring us.

5/ vv 4-5 / The Gospel of Jesus Christ is publicly confessed by water baptism. That is what ‘proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’ means. NOT that our sins are forgiven through baptism [see 1 Peter 3.21-22], OR that baptism itself is the act of repentance through which we receive the forgiveness of sins, BUT that baptism is our public confession and declaration that we have believed on Jesus Christ, that we have repented of our sins, and that we are now making an open admission that we have done so. NOTE: baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins means ‘our confession in relation to our repentance from our sins and the forgiveness of them.’ …and [they] were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

6/ vv 9-11 / The Gospel of Jesus Christ was portrayed and manifested by Jesus’ own baptism. Jesus’ baptism was a multi-faceted act of obedience to His Father:

[1] It demonstrated His obedience to the Father to come as the Savior of His people [Matthew 3.13-15];
[2] It demonstrated His commitment to the mission His Father had sent Him to fulfill;
[3] It demonstrated His identification with the sins of His people whom He had come to save and whose sins He had come to forgive;
[4] It demonstrated in this picture-act how He would be ‘baptized’ into His death on the Cross, and then be ‘raised again’ in resurrection to give His eternal life to those who would believe in Him [Romans 6.1-11].
[5] It publicly demonstrated His Father’s pleasure in Him and His ‘seal of approval’ from God in Heaven & Christ’s unity with the Holy Spirit – the Trinity.
[6] This was also the sign by which John the Baptist would know the Messiah [John 1.29-34].

7/ vv 12-13 / The Gospel of Jesus Christ is God’s declaration of war and promise of victory over Satan and the kingdom of darkness. As Satan has been at war against God, His creation, all people – and especially against the Christ – even from the beginning of the creation, he is at war with Christ in His earthly life and ministry. If Satan can tempt the Christ to sin and thus fail, as he did with Adam in the Garden of Eden, then he can continue his campaign to overthrow and usurp the Kingdom and rule of God in His creation – take ownership, lordship, and control of the world for himself. BUT, even though Christ was solitary in the wilderness of temptation, He was not alone. Christ was accompanied by the Presence of the Holy Spirit and also by the angels who ministered to Him. For fuller descriptions of the wilderness temptations by Satan, see Matthew 4.1-11; Luke 4.1-13. Through Jesus’ victory over Satan in the wilderness of temptation, He demonstrated His Holiness, sinlessness, and sovereignty and declared Himself to be the Redeemer and Savior of all those who are tempted and under Satan’s dominion. He will conquer Satan, the Serpent, and fulfill all the promises of the protoevangelion in Genesis 3.15 [which is the first ‘beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.]’

8/ vv 14-15 / The Gospel of Jesus Christ is also ‘the Gospel of God’ to us in His Son…and of His Kingdom. We return now to the opening line: The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Does this mean: ‘the Gospel which is about Jesus Christ’? or ‘the Gospel which Jesus Christ Himself preached’? The answer is both! AND it also means that Jesus Christ Himself IS the Gospel, Good News! “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand.” The Gospel of Jesus Christ is also ‘The Gospel of the Kingdom’ [one of Matthew’s favorite expressions]. The Kingdom of God is God’s sovereign, Supreme rule over all things. God’s rule is over all His creation, all the events that go on in His creation, and especially over His eternal covenant to save His people from their sins [Matthew 1.20-23].

And so, with this introduction, Mark has written his headline and summary statement which he will expand on in the rest of his Gospel!

REPENT AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL!

mark.l1.mark-1.1-15.common-evangelist.uncommon-gospel Download

Posted in Bible Studies, Lesson Notes, MARK, Sunday School lessons, The Gospel | Tagged Baptism, Bible Studies, Common Evangelist...UNcommon Gospel, Elijah, Gospel, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Isaiah 40.1-10, Isaiah 40.3, John the Baptist, Kingdom of God, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Malachi 3.1, Malachi 4.5-6, MARK, Mark 1.1-15, Repentance, Sunday School lessons | Leave a comment

The Lamentations of Jeremiah

Posted on August 26, 2023 by PastorDave

JEREMIAH/LAMENTATIONS | Lesson 10 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Lamentations 1-5

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ We have now come to the last lesson in our current course of summary/survey of Jeremiah. So we will devote this last lesson to Lamentations. Rather than focus on a specific passage in Lamentations, I want to give us a ‘bird’s-eye’ overview of the book.

2 / Lamentations is a much-neglected book, but it shouldn’t be. There are so many personal and theological truths that are expressed here in the high-intensity theater of human suffering … and first-hand human suffering at that. Lamentations is written from the perspective of a real-time witness who was there, saw it, suffered with it, and then gives a personal account – all the while putting their suffering in the context of God’s perspective. The writer recognizes the hand and purposes of God in it all.

3/ So, we will learn at lest these lessons: [1] the unfailing character of God and how His character is consistent with all the Providences He brings into our lives; [2] how we should respond to God even in the bitterest experiences of life; [3] and how trusting in God’s renewed mercies and faithful promises gives us hope even while we are suffering the most excruciating losses and griefs.

I / Who wrote ‘Lamentations’?

1/ The truth is: we don’t know. It is called ‘The Lamentations of Jeremiah,’ but Jeremiah doesn’t identify himself as the author. It began to be called ‘The Lamentations of Jeremiah’ when the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Latin in the translation we call ‘The Latin Vulgate’ during the 400s AD.

2/ In fact, in the Hebrew Scriptures, it wasn’t even called ‘Lamentations.’ It was simply named by the first word in chapters 1, 2, and 4. That word is ‘Ekah,’ or ‘How.’

“How lonely sits the city…” ch 1.1;
“How Yahweh in His anger…” ch 2.1;
“How the gold has grown dim…” ch 4.1.

This ‘How’ was a common word that was used in the Jews’ funeral dirges, or lamentations. See, for example, David’s lament over King Saul in 2 Samuel 1.19: “How the mighty have fallen!” or Israel’s taunt song against the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14.12: “How you are fallen from heaven!” This word “How” can also be understood as “Alas!” thus lending weight to these poems as ‘lamentations.’

3/ However, since these lamentations were written, we believe, shortly after Jerusalem had been destroyed in the graphic words and images written in this book, it stands to reason that Jeremiah is a likely candidate to have written it. Some have also pointed to 2 Chronicles 35.25 where it is written “Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah; and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made these a rule in Israel; behold, they are written in the Laments.”

4/ But, even though the text itself records nothing about its authorship, we do know its unnamed author was an eyewitness to the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC. And we know Jeremiah was there, felt it deeply, and mourned it grievously.

5/ Just a word here about the placement of the book right after Jeremiah. Again, in the Hebrew Scriptures, it was not placed where it is in our English Bible. It was placed rather in a collection called ‘The Writings’ or ‘Festive Scrolls’ which were set in a section by themselves to be read during special occasions. They were: Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. This book of Lamentations was read annually during occasions for commemorating and mourning for the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 587 BC, and then later by the Romans in AD 70 [yes! both destructions of the Temple more than 600 years apart happened on the same day of their calendar!]. Interestingly, modern-day Jews commemorate the Holocaust with the reading of Lamentations. NOTE: You cannot begin to appreciate the ‘voice’ and feeling of Lamentations unless you read it aloud with the same feeling with which it was written!!

II / The Event that inspired the writing of these Lamentations

1/ Of course, it is the writer’s and the nation of Judah’s response to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian armies in 587 BC and all its grievous aftermath. Those historical events are recorded in 2 Kings 24-25; 2 Chronicles 36; Jeremiah 39.1-10 & ch 52 – immediately before the placement of Lamentations in our English Bible [see I, 5/ above]. But these historical accounts of Jerusalem’s fall, the massacre of their people, and the deportation into captivity don’t come close to the personal pathos with which the Lamentations are written by this eyewitness. It’s like the difference between a reporter’s stoic account versus live interviews with people who have personally experienced the same event and suffered losses and grief because of it.

2/ As the writer of the Lamentations will remind them, they had been forewarned of these disastrous events of Yahweh’s judgments against their faithlessness to His covenant as far back as Leviticus 26.14-46; Deuteronomy 4.28-31 & 28.36-68. We need to constantly remind ourselves about these forewarnings going all the way back to the days of Moses and the Exodus – even before they first entered the Promised Land.

3/ They had also been repeatedly and specifically warned by Yahweh’s faithful prophets during the preceding 200 years that this disaster was coming on them if they did not repent of their sins and return to Yahweh [2 Kings 21.10-15 & 24.1-4; 2 Chronicles 36.15-21; and many others].

III / The Purpose and Message of Lamentations

What I want to do here is include a lengthy quote from A Survey of the Old Testament by Andrew E. Hill and John H. Walton. Although I will break up the quote into sections, it will be one quote:

1/ “In contrast with 2 Kings 24-25, which documents the historical data about the fall of Jerusalem, Lamentations captures the pathos of that tragic turn in Israel’s covenant experience with Yahweh. The poems preserve the Hebrew response to the unthinkable and inexpressible – the utter destruction of David’s Zion, the ruin of Yahweh’s Temple, and the divine abandonment of ‘the elect’ of God. (‘Zion’ is a favorite expression for Jerusalem in Psalms, Isaiah, and Lamentations. The origin of the term is uncertain, but the Hebrew ‘Siyon’ may be understood as ‘fortified tower.’)

2/ While the tragedy did confirm the prophetic message and vindicate prophetic interpretation of the relationship between covenant stipulations and curses, this was of little comfort to the stunned survivors of the Babylonian onslaught.

3/ Lamentations records ‘the day of the LORD’ for Judah enacted in all its terrible fury. The threat of covenant curse became a grim reality and an unforgettable nightmare. Moses’ admonition that covenant violations jeopardized Israel’s presence in the land of Canaan was revealed to be more than hollow theologizing. Yahweh had finally exacted punishment for Judah’s covenant transgressions. The people of God had been ‘vomited’ out of the land of Yahweh’s covenant promise (Leviticus 18.24-30).

4/ The only consolation for ‘the Daughter of Zion’ was the knowledge that one day the nations would also drink from the cup of God’s wrath (Lamentations 4.21-22; cf. 3.55-66).

5/ As funeral dirges, the poems of Lamentations were designed to offer a type of catharsis or purification to the survivors of Judah’s calamity. This expression of sorrow and venting of emotions could never fully answer the questions related to the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of God’s sovereign rule over human history. But it did allow the suffering Hebrews to deal honestly with their grief and to mitigate the trauma of Yahweh’s abandonment.

6/ The poet bared the soul of the penitent nation, bowed in shame and admitting her many transgressions and great rebellion (e. g., 1.14, 22). The purging of sin and guilt permitted the ‘widow of Zion’ to acknowledge that Yahweh was indeed just in His judgment of Jerusalem’s covenant unfaithfulness (1.18).

7/ Only this response of confession and repentance could give meaning and substance to the words of future hope prayed in chapter 3. The very wrath of God signaled His covenant love for Israel. The loving Father must punish His wayward child. The call to wait upon the LORD and His unfailing mercy instilled hope for Israel’s future restoration, because the nation’s history had demonstrated Yahweh will not cast off forever (3.21-29).”

8/ We might also state it this way: “…the historical context for the book cannot be overstated: the destruction of Zion (the city of God) and her temple (the dwelling place of God) were of cataclysmic significance for Judah (the people of God). In the desolation of both city and temple Judah’s world fell apart.” Jonathan Gibson, ESV Expository Commentary.

IV / The Poetic Structure and Organization of Lamentations

1/ Lamentations is comprised of five poems. Although none of the original texts of our Bible were written with chapter, verse, or even word divisions, the poet-author clearly demarcates his poems into distinct compositions.

2/ Three of the poems [chs 1, 2, and 4] are funeral dirges, and they open with the keynote of mourning and wailing that was customary in their culture: ‘How?’ [see I, 2/]. The other two poems [chs 3 & 5] are written as ‘lamentations’ or ‘complaints.’ And by ‘complaints,’ we don’t mean like griping or finding fault – but rather as an appeal to Yahweh as a merciful God for His Divine intervention in their desperate crisis. They are formal appeals of ‘Help!’ to Yahweh. And there is also a difference in the ‘voice’ of these two lamentations: ch 3 is a lamentation in the individual voice of the poet and ch 5 is a lamentation in the collective voice of the afflicted community.

3/ In addition, four of the poems are written in alphabetical acrostic form. Let me explain:

There are 22 characters in the Hebrew alphabet.
Poem/ch. 1 contains 22 verses of three sets of parallel lines. Each first word of the first line in each verse begins with a successive character of the alphabet: for example, the first word of v 1 begins with aleph, the first word of v 2 begins with beth, and so on until v 22 begins with tau.
Poem/ch. 2 follows the same pattern.
Poem/ch. 4 follows the same pattern also, except the verses have only two sets of parallel lines.
Poem/ch. 3 is different in these ways: there are 22 stanzas of three verses – 66 verses. So there are three verses for every successive Hebrew alphabet character, and every one of those three verses begins with that character.

4/ What this shows us is that, even though every word and line of these poems were written with the deepest emotion and pathos, they are in no way random expressions, impulsive venting, or impromptu ‘streams of consciousness.’ The poet is not just writing ‘what popped into his mind’ or ‘how he was feeling.’ Every poem in Lamentations was intentionally crafted and even artistically stylized. Obviously, the reason for writing this way was to aid the hearer to remember these lamentations so they could more easily be recalled and recited … and also to give weight and gravitas to the seriousness of every expression.

V / Subjects, Themes, and Threads in Lamentations

1/ As we have noted before [IV, 3/], Lamentations contains 154 verses and 286 lines. And every one of them is pregnant with theologically-rich, emotionally-laden expressions. So, there is no way we can even begin to introduce, much less expound on, or even give all the references to the following subjects, themes, and threads that are woven into these poems.

2/ But I do want to at least itemize some of them and encourage you to look them over, get them into your mind, and then read aloud these poems to see how they are brought out from the poet’s heart and experience and put into words…

3/ Some of the broader themes are:

The seriousness of sin
Suffering as a consequence of sin
The Providence of God
Divine abandonment
The justice of God
The faithfulness of God
The comfort of hope in God’s promises
The place, purpose, and function of prayers of all kinds, and especially laments

4/ Here are some statements that will help itemize some of the ‘threads’ to look for in Lamentations. I pray they may serve as ‘markers’ for you to use to guide you through your reading and understanding of Lamentations [NOTE: these are copied from the ESV Study Bible and available to you also in it]:

“It offers compelling prayers that confess sin, express renewed hope, and declare total dependence on God’s grace.
It is the only book in the Bible written by a person who endured one manifestation of the divine judgment the Bible consistently calls “the day of the LORD” (cf. Joel 2.1-2; Amos 5.18; Zephaniah 1.14-16).
The book’s authorship, setting, contents, and theology underline its value for understanding the nature of pain, sin, and redemption.
Lamentations agrees with the theology of Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 27-30, Joshua-Kings, and Jeremiah in that it affirms that Jerusalem fell: [1] because of the people’s sins (Lamentations 1.18); [2] because they rejected God’s Word sent through the prophets (2.8, 14, 17); [3] because their leaders led them astray (4.13). God warned (2.17), but the people did not heed the warning.
It affirms God’s faithful, never-ceasing mercy (3.19-24; cf. Deuteronomy 30.1-10). Therefore, readers can know that God is not finished with His people even when they sin greatly.
The book agrees with Psalms in that it affirms that prayers of confession and petition are the means for restoring a broken relationship with God. These poems also coincide with the Psalms in their honest expressions of pain and their dismay at what God has allowed to happen. By attributing what has occurred to God’s will, the poems also share the Psalms’ emphasis on God’s sovereignty as King of creation (Psalm 103.19).
Lamentations agrees with the emphasis on “the day of the LORD” found in the prophetic books. This “day” is the day God comes to judge sin. It can occur in historical contexts like 587 BC, or it can occur at the end of time and be the final “day of the LORD.” Regardless, such “days” do occur, and people need to take seriously the warnings about such days in Lamentations and the rest of the Bible.”

VI / Lamentations, Christ, and the Gospel

1/ Note the plaintive, yet hopeful, note Lamentations ends with:

“For this our heart has become sick, for these things our eyes have grown dim, for Mount Zion which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it. But you, O Yahweh, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations. Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days? Restore us to yourself, O Yahweh, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old – unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us! / ch 5.17-22

2/ With these words, they are still mourning over the dead bodies, smoldering ashes, desolate ruins, tarnished former glory, and dashed dreams. YET, they are waiting, longing, and hoping. “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope … therefore I will hope in Him … there may yet be hope” [ch 3.21, 24, 29]. And ALL their hopes will be finally fulfilled when Christ comes! The New Covenant has been made, and it will be accomplished in Christ and by Christ when He comes in the fullness of time!

The steadfast love of Yahweh never ceases!

His mercies never come to an end!

They are new every morning! Great is Your faithfulness! / ch 3.22-23

jeremiah.l10.lamentations-1-5.the-lamentations-of-jeremiah-1 Download

Posted in Bible Studies, JEREMIAH, LAMENTATIONS, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged Bible Studies, JEREMIAH, LAMENTATIONS, Lamentations 1-5, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Sunday School lessons | Leave a comment

Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great!

Posted on August 19, 2023 by PastorDave

JEREMIAH | Lesson 9 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Jeremiah, chapters 50-51

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ We have now come to the end of Jeremiah’s prophetic messages and writings here with chapters 50-51 [see ch 51.64]. And a most fitting end it is – both in terms of Jeremiah’s writings and the subject matter of the prophecies.

2/ The very last chapter, ch 52, will be another recounting of the final fall and destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonian armies. That event has been the primary focal point of everything Jeremiah has prophesied – and also a fitting backdrop and context to the next writings: The Lamentations of Jeremiah.

3/ These two chapters 50-51 will deliver Yahweh’s holy and just pronouncements against the Babylonian empire – the ones who had committed such violent and bloody atrocities against Judah and Jerusalem. Ch 51 will serve as an expanded commentary on the prophetic announcement Yahweh delivers in ch 50. Together, they contain 110 verses in our Bible. Of course, we won’t be able to treat both chapters in any detail, but what we will do is focus on ch 50.1-10 especially. In those few verses, all the themes will be introduced that will be expanded upon and explained in the remainder of chs 50-51.

4/ Habakkuk. We don’t have the time to bring in Habakkuk into our lesson or discussion, but Habakkuk was an early contemporary of Jeremiah.

Habakkuk struggled with the moral dilemma and enigma that will be answered more fully here in our present lesson chapters.
Habakkuk was prophesying during the days when the Babylonian empire was just beginning to ascend to power and turning their ominous threats toward Judah.
Babylon had asserted their independence from the previous superpower of that part of the world, Assyria. They would conquer their former conquerors, Assyria, in 612 BC with the overthrow of Nineveh. Then they began their campaigns to conquer surrounding nations, and were turning their attention toward Judah.
Habakkuk saw the threats of violence that would eventually destroy Judah, Yahweh’s covenant people. Habakkuk was confused, as he cries out to Yahweh for answers [see Habakkuk 1.1-6].
His consuming confusion was reconciling the Holiness and justice of Yahweh with His allowing such a wicked and violent nation as Babylon to serve as His agent of punishment against Judah. YES! Judah had sinned against Yahweh. They had insistently and persistently rebelled against Yahweh for centuries. YES! They had stubbornly refused to listen to Yahweh’s repeated passionate calls for them to return to Him. YES! They had rebelled more and more instead of repenting and returning to Yahweh.
BUT, Babylon was such a worse offender! How could Yahweh allow such a wicked people as the Babylonians to serve as His agents of punishment against His covenant people? He presents His questions to Yahweh in Habakkuk 1.12-13: Are you not from everlasting, O Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Yahweh, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?
The only answer Yahweh will give Habakkuk is: Trust Me!

5/ Vengeance / repay[ment]. So what Yahweh will do here in Jeremiah 50-51 is give a somewhat detailed and expanded response to Habakkuk’s moral dilemma: YES! Babylon is a wicked empire. YES! They have violated me and my covenant people. YES! They have arrogantly mocked me and boasted over me and destroyed my Temple [see especially 50.28 & 51.11]. BUT, their day is coming, too! I will do to them as they have done to you and to me! I will make it true for Babylon “What goes around, comes around”! If you go through chs 50-51, you will note that Yahweh announces His vengeance against Babylon no fewer than eight times. He will use the word repay five times.

6/ In other words: Babylon will not escape my Holy justice and vengeful judgments. What I have used them for against my covenant people, I will use other nations to exact the very same punishments against them. And these two chapters 50-51 will announce beforehand and describe in prophetic detail precisely how and by whom Yahweh will destroy Babylon and bring them to their deserved end.

7/ So what we will do here in ch 51.1-10 is point out the prominent themes that Yahweh will bring out in more detail in the succeeding messages…

I / vv 1-3 / Yahweh pronounces His Holy judgments against Babylon

1/ v 1 / Yahweh announces up front that this message He is giving to Jeremiah is concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans… This is the same Babylon that has already taken three waves of captives and deportees to Babylon – the latest one being during the reign of Zedekiah described again in ch 52. Yahweh has a sure and certain word concerning their own downfall and destruction which He will describe in detail in the next two chapters. See, for example, ch 51.12, 29.

2/ v 2 / Yahweh’s pronouncement and announcement goes out into all the then-known world. He wants to make it publicly known before it comes to pass so that everyone will know it came from Him … and He has done it. His declaration/proclamation is: Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed. Her images are put to shame, her idols are smashed. These two god-names are alternate and local names for Marduk, the supreme patron god of Babylon [see also Isaiah 46.1]. Yahweh will pronounce His own sovereignty, supremacy, and superiority not only over all the super-power nations of the world, but also over their preferred gods in which they trusted.

3/ v 3 / This is very interesting – and shows again the wisdom and sovereignty of Yahweh’s supremacy: He has been telling Judah from the very beginning that their invaders are coming against them from the north [see ch 1.13-16]. That was the direction from which the Babylonians came against Judah. Now, He pronounces that Babylon’s future invaders and conquerors will also come against them from out of the north – that is, north of them. Then, to make it more specific and precise, Yahweh even identifies who they will be – it will be the kings of the Medes [see ch 51.11 & 28]. This is awesome! The Medes, at that time, were not even a rising threat. They were a vassal state of Babylon – subject and subservient to Babylon. But He will raise them up in His time, and they come out of the north against Babylon to destroy and overthrow them. Hold this thought in mind because it will factor into the next pronouncement of this message of Babylon’s doom…

II / vv 4-6 / “…they shall ask the way to Zion…”

1/ v 4a / “In those days and in that time, declares Yahweh…” So what days and time is this? It is the days and time when Babylon has been destroyed and another super-power has taken over dominant rule in that part of the world. Who is that kingdom that has destroyed Babylon and taken the super-power reins? It is the kings of the Medes we just were prophetically introduced to. That overthrow of the Babylonians by the Medes is described by the account Daniel gives in Daniel 5, especially vv 30-31. Yahweh not only knows where all history is going, but He is the One who directing it, revealing it, and unfolding it in our real-time!

2/ vv 4-5 / So what is Yahweh going to do in those days and in that time? He is going to bring His people back home to Judah. He has already prophesied through Jeremiah that He will do this seventy years in the future! See chs 25.11-14 & 29.10-14. So, in those days and in that time, declares Yahweh, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek Yahweh their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’ Yahweh will give them a spirit of repentance and brokenness over their sins that took them into captivity to begin with. AND, even that spirit of repentance, brokenness, and weeping over their sins will be the fruit of the New Covenant that He will make with them. This New Covenant is His preparation of His people for the coming of Jesus Christ and His Gospel – and will be accomplished and fulfilled in Christ and by Christ!

3/ Before we go to the next verses, we need to stop and marvel at Yahweh’s omniscience and omnipotence again! Do you remember who this future king of the Medes and Persians is who issued the proclamation for them to return to their beloved Homeland? It was Cyrus. This Cyrus is introduced to us by Isaiah [ch 45.1-4] even 100 years before Jeremiah! And he is the Persian king Yahweh calls ‘my anointed’ to fulfill His sovereign purposes to proclaim liberty to the captives in Babylon and commission all who wished to return to Judah and Jerusalem! And that’s exactly what he did! See 2 Chronicles 36.17-23 & Ezra 1.1-4.

4/ vv 6-7 / The covenant people of Yahweh had been driven like lost sheep into foreign mountains and folds far away from their Homeland.

And those who had preyed upon them denied any guilt of their own for doing so. In fact, those who were knowledgeable of Judah’s centuries-long rebellion against Yahweh, their covenant God, justified themselves by saying, “We are not guilty, for they have sinned against Yahweh, their habitation of righteousness, Yahweh, the hope of their fathers.” You’ll find a good example of this self-justification of their volitional atrocities in our last lesson. In ch 40.2-3, when the captain of the Babylonian armies was extending leniency to Jeremiah during their invasion of Jerusalem, he proffered this reason for their being there: The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, ‘Yahweh your God pronounced this disaster against this place. Yahweh has brought it about, and has done as He said. Because you sinned against Yahweh and did not obey His voice, this thing has come upon you.’ He was right. Yahweh had employed the Babylonians to come against Judah because of their sins.
But that did not excuse the Babylonians! They did what they wanted to do. And they did what they did out of their disdain for Yahweh, His people, and His Temple. They are culpable and guilty of their own sins. And Yahweh will bring upon them His Holy vengeance and the just recompense that their sins deserve. But, in so doing, He will bring eventual destruction upon Babylon by the Medes in order to fulfill His purposes of saving His people from their captivity and bring them back to their Homeland … according to all His promises in every respect!

III / vv 8-10 / “Flee from the midst of Babylon…” “Go out of the midst of her, my people!”

1/ v 8 / ‘Flee from the midst of Babylon!’ [see also ch 51.6 & 45; Isaiah 48.20] Not only will Yahweh command Cyrus to release His people from the captivity into which Babylon had taken them [“Let my people go!”], but He also wants His people to come back home to Him and to Judah because they want to. Their decision to return to Jerusalem was not one of compulsion – they were not required to return home. In fact, the vast majority of those who had been taken captive to Babylon, or who had been born in Babylon, chose to stay there. It had become their new home. They were comfortable there. But Yahweh wanted them to return to Him – to become once again His distinctive people in the Land He had given them. We saw in ch 29 how Yahweh had told them to settle in while they were in Babylon for the seventy years He had determined they would be there.But now, the seventy years have been fulfilled. It is now His purpose and plan for them to come back to Jerusalem. And He wants them to come back to Him and Judah with the spirit of repentance and reconciliation He is demanding and providing for.

2/ vv 9-10 / But there is another reason Yahweh commands His people to return home: because His next purpose and plan is to destroy Babylon for their sins they have committed against Him, His people, and His Temple … and He doesn’t want His people to be destroyed with Babylon!That’s the spirit and voice with which God commands His people to ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back as she herself has paid back to others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed’ [Revelation 18.4-6]. This is just one of numerous Revelation references where God goes back to His judgments against the ancient geopolitical Babylon delivered in Jeremiah … and applies them in principle to all those in succeeding generation and on to the last-day generation. God warns them and us not to have any part in any of the anti-God philosophies and activities that are practiced by the ‘Babylon’ worldview, mindset, and cult of every generation.

3/ So what does Yahweh purpose to do against Babylon? What is it that He wants His people to flee from, escape from, separate themselves [ourselves] from? Concerning [see v 1] that historical geopolitical Babylon, Yahweh pronounces: For behold, I am stirring up and bringing against Babylon a gathering of great nations, from the north country. And they shall array themselves against her. From there she shall be taken. Their arrows are like a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed. Chaldea shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, declares Yahweh.

4/ In order to make a public pronouncement of His purposes, Yahweh instructed Jeremiah to write down all these prophetic messages and send them to Babylon by the hand of a royal ambassador who was going there on a personal mission from Judah King Zedekiah.

Jeremiah 51.59-64: The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. ⁶⁰Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. ⁶¹And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, ⁶²and say, ‘O LORD, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.’ ⁶³When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, ⁶⁴and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.’”

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

IV / A brief survey of ‘Babylon’ in historical and prophetic Scripture

1/ As I have already stated during this lesson, this Babylon was a geopolitical super-power that was dominating and terrorizing the then-known world with their barbarism, cruelty, and atrocities. Yahweh pronounces His condemnations and judgments against them. They were also, at that time, the most vicious enemies Israel and Judah were facing.

2/ However, this Babylon traces its roots, both in location and philosophy, back to the ancient Tower of Babel [Genesis 11.1-9]. Their names are the same. In fact, ‘in the land of Shinar’ [Genesis 11.2] is the same name retained even to Daniel’s time [Daniel 1.2] Babel, of course, was an exercise of rebellion against the Most High God and an effort to supplant and dethrone Him as the Supreme God and usurp for themselves the right to rule themselves and the world according to their own wills. They failed.

3/ There were many enemies who opposed, fought against, and attempted to war against Yahweh by directing their enmity against His covenant people: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon … and then later on, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and the kingdoms of the world who have come after Rome [see Daniel, chapters 2 & 7 especially]. The two most recent nations in Jeremiah’s day, Assyria and Babylon, are brought under Yahweh’s vengeful judgments in Jeremiah 50.17-18. God will raise them up in their own times to accomplish His purposes … and then in His times, He will bring them down and destroy them.

/4 But since Babylon is the most historical and inglorious example of them all, Babylon sort of stands out as the icon of all these God-opposing kingdoms. Rome will inherit this mantle to a large degree in the New Testament times [see 1 Peter 5.13].

5/ That’s why Yahweh’s judgments against Babylon will stand the test of world history times to serve as a kind of template for His final judgments against all the world’s anti-God governmental systems and powers. You will find these final judgments against ‘Babylon’ in Revelation, chs 14, 16, 17, and 18.

“HALLELUJAH! [Revelation 19]

jeremiah.l9.jer-chs-50-51.fallen-fallen-is-babylon-the-great Download

Posted in Bible Studies, JEREMIAH, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged Babylon, Babylon in historical and prophetic Scripture, Babylon is fallen, Bible Studies, Fallen Fallen is Babylon the great, JEREMIAH, Jeremiah 50.1-10, Jeremiah chapters 50-51, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Sunday School lessons | Leave a comment

	PastorDave on Following Jesus!
	Sharon LaTour on Following Jesus!
	Debbie E. on ‘HOT TAKE’ ON PROV…
	lynn stuart on ‘Beulah’ songs (an…
	Wanda Hatcher on “I love you for love…

	PastorDave on Following Jesus!
	Sharon LaTour on Following Jesus!
	Debbie E. on ‘HOT TAKE’ ON PROV…
	lynn stuart on ‘Beulah’ songs (an…
	Wanda Hatcher on “I love you for love…

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / vv 1-2 / The plot to kill Jesus thickens

II / vv 3-9 / Mary anoints Jesus’ body ‘for burial’

III / vv 10-11 / Judas bargains and strikes the deal to betray Jesus to them

IV / vv 12-16 / The preparation for the Paschal meal at the home of a friend

V / vv 17-21 / Jesus hosts and shares the Paschal meal with His disciples and identifies Judas as the betrayer

VI / vv 22-25 / Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper ordinance

VII / vv 26-31 / Jesus foretells Peter’s denial

VIII / vv 32-42 / Jesus agonizes and prays in Gethsemane … commits Himself to His Father’s will – death on the Cross

“…Worthy is the Lamb who was slain…!” / Revelation 5.12

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / vv 1-2 / Jesus foretells the destruction of their temple

II / vv 3-4 / ‘When will these things be…and what will be the sign…?’

III / vv 5-13 / See that no one leads you astray … be on your guard

IV / vv 14-23 / The abomination of desolation

V / vv 24-31 / But in those days, after that tribulation…

VI / vv 32-36 / ‘And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake!’

And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations – and then the end will come! [Matthew 24.14]

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / vv 1-11 / “Behold, your King is coming to you…!” [Zechariah 9.9]

II / vv 12-14, 20-21 / “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!”

III / vv 15-19 / “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.”

IV / vv 20-25 / “Have faith in God!”

And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations – and then the end will come! [Matthew 24.14]

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / v 27a / And Jesus went on with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi…

II / vv 27b-28 / And on the way He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

III / v 29 / And He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I AM?’

IV / v 30 / Then He strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ

V / v 31 / And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things…

VI / v 32 / And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him

VII / v 33 / Get behind me, Satan!

Repent and believe in The Gospel!

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / ch 5.1-20 / The demoniac who lived among the tombs in Gergesa: ‘…sitting, clothed, and in his right mind’

II / ch 7.24-30 / The Syrophoenician woman: “…yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs”

III / ch 7.31-37 / The healing of the deaf-mute in Decapolis: …when Jesus sighed…

“He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / ch 2.1-12 / “Son, your sins are forgiven”

II / ch 2.13-17 / “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners”

III / ch 2.18-22 / “…when the Bridegroom is taken away from them…then they will fast…”

IV / ch 2.23-28 / “So the Son of Man is LORD even of the Sabbath”

V / ch 3.1-6 / “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?”

VI / ch 3.7-12 / “for He had healed many…the unclean spirits…fell down before Him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God’”

VII / ch 3.13-19 / “And He appointed twelve (whom He also named apostles)…”

VIII / ch 3.20-21 / “When His family heard it, they went out to seize Him…‘He is out of His mind…’”

IX / ch 3.22-30 / “…whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness…”

X / ch 3.31-35 / “…whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother”

“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins … repent and believe in the Gospel!”

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / ch 1.16-20 / Jesus calls the first disciples

II / ch 1.21-28 / Jesus heals a man with an ‘unclean,’ demonic spirit

III / ch 1.29-34 / Jesus heals Simon Peter’s mother-in-law … and many others

IV / ch 1.35-39 / Jesus prays and communes with His Father … and proceeds to preach in the neighboring towns

V / ch 1.40-45 / Jesus touches and cleanses a leper

“Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the Glory, forever. Amen!”

INTRODUCTION

I / WHO IS ‘MARK’?

II / ‘The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God’

III / What is this ‘Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God’ that Mark is announcing to the world? What are its distinctive characteristics and tenets? [… and the prominent themes of Mark?]

REPENT AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL!

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / Who wrote ‘Lamentations’?

II / The Event that inspired the writing of these Lamentations

III / The Purpose and Message of Lamentations

IV / The Poetic Structure and Organization of Lamentations

V / Subjects, Themes, and Threads in Lamentations

VI / Lamentations, Christ, and the Gospel

The steadfast love of Yahweh never ceases!

His mercies never come to an end!

They are new every morning! Great is Your faithfulness! / ch 3.22-23

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / vv 1-3 / Yahweh pronounces His Holy judgments against Babylon

II / vv 4-6 / “…they shall ask the way to Zion…”

III / vv 8-10 / “Flee from the midst of Babylon…” “Go out of the midst of her, my people!”

IV / A brief survey of ‘Babylon’ in historical and prophetic Scripture

“HALLELUJAH! [Revelation 19]

Recent Posts

Recent Comments