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. 2 But 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. 3 He 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. 4 Then 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]

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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!

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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!”

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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.

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/ 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!”

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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!”

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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!

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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

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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. 60 Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62 and 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.’ 63 When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, 64 and 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]

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Intrigue, Conspiracies, & Assassinations

Posted on August 12, 2023 by PastorDave

JEREMIAH | Lesson 8 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Jeremiah, chapters 37-44

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ I told you in our last lesson that this section we’re going to survey now is called by Bible teachers ‘Jeremiah’s Via Dolorosa’ because it describes at least some of the sorrows and travails Jeremiah suffered as a faithful prophet of Yahweh. [See also chs 25-26.] In ch 36, we saw how Jeremiah’s life was threatened again by King Jehoiakim after he burned the scroll that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s inspired dictation from Yahweh because he didn’t like the judgments Yahweh had pronounced against him and Judah.

2/ Hang on and put on your fast-listening ears because what we want to do in this lesson is do a quick survey of seven of the next chapters. All we will be able to do is give you the ‘CliffsNotes’ summary of each chapter. But in those quick summaries, we will see more of the sufferings that this faithful prophet experienced as he was true to Yahweh’s word and the prophetic mission he had been sent to fulfill.

3/ NOTE: we are going to fast-forward about twenty years from our last lesson from ch 36 which occurred during the reign of King Jehoiakim [609-597 BC]. However, these next chapters will transpire during the reign of King Zedekiah. He was the last king of Judah and was reigning when the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem, destroyed the city, burned the Temple, and deported masses of the people to captivity in Babylon [this was the third deportation over the past twenty years]. He reigned for eleven years [597-586 BC]. You’ll find his story in 2 Kings 24.18-25.21. This King Zedekiah is a common character in these stories we will survey – along with a number of other characters who followed him during the post-captivity years that followed.

4/ I’m calling this lesson ‘Intrigue, Conspiracies, & Assassination’ because that is the common theme that runs throughout all these chapters and stories. [We could also add ‘coups,’ ‘atrocities,’ et. al.] I am using ‘intrigue’ in the sense of ‘make secret plans to do something illicit or detrimental to someone.’ What we will witness is a nation that persisted in their rebellion against Yahweh, their covenant God, abandoned all spiritual precepts and principles, and descended into chaos, anarchy, and violence under the judgments of God’s Holiness, righteousness, and justice.

5/ So, here we go as we follow Jeremiah’s faithful commitment to Yahweh’s Word and the sufferings that this ‘man of sorrows’ endured as he dealt with a faithless people who opposed Yahweh and His prophet.

I / chapter 37 / Jeremiah warns Zedekiah of Yahweh’s judgments and is thrown into prison

1/ vv 1-10 / Zedekiah came to power under the appointment of Nebuchadnezzar [‘puppet-king’] after he [Nebuchadnezzar] had already taken other Jerusalemites into captivity in Babylon [see 2 Kings 24.8-17]. They still refused to respect Yahweh’s words of warning through his prophet, Jeremiah. He did, though, ask and pretend to want Jeremiah to pray for them. This came about during a brief spell when the Babylonians were distracted and diverted away from their on-going siege against Jerusalem [v 5]. Zedekiah had secretly conspired against the sieging Babylonians by sending an offer to the Egyptians to come to his aid and help Judah fight against the Babylonians. When they came up from Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar had to interrupt his siege of Jerusalem to go and fight against the Egyptians. But Yahweh warned Zedekiah through Jeremiah that they would be back shortly. They did return and finish the job of destroying Jerusalem as Yahweh had warned.

2/ vv 11-21 / During this brief lull in the siege, Jeremiah attempted to go to his nearby home village to take care of some personal family business. Zedekiah’s guards accosted him and accused him of trying to defect to the Babylonians – in other words, treason. They arrested him, beat him, and threw him into prison for many days. Zedekiah still had the nerve to bring Jeremiah in for a private counsel to ask him Is there any word from Yahweh? Jeremiah assured him there was – the same words he had been delivering to him. But Jeremiah did plead with Zedekiah to please not send him back to the prison. Zedekiah relented and Jeremiah was then confined in a lower security courtyard and given a scant ration of bread.

II / ch 38 / Jeremiah is thrown into a mucky cistern – and then rescued by an Egyptian eunuch

1/ vv 1-6 / This would have happened some short time after Jeremiah’s imprisonment as he continued to deliver Yahweh’s messages of judgment. However, we must note here, that all along, Jeremiah had been telling Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem that there was a way to enjoy peace and escape death and destruction – surrender to the Babylonians. If they did, the Babylonians would have allowed them to remain in Jerusalem, but under Babylonian sovereignty and rule. They refused to accept Yahweh’s words. So some of Zedekiah’s henchmen again accused Jeremiah of sowing sedition and demoralizing the soldiers and citizens of Jerusalem. They called for Zedekiah to execute Jeremiah – put him to death. Zedekiah again caved in to their demands. So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern [or reservoir] of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

2/ vv 7-13 / There was a court-servant, an Ethiopian eunuch, by the name of Ebed-melech who had mercy toward Jeremiah. He went to King Zedekiah and interceded for Jeremiah. Again, Zedekiah relented and changed his mind by allowing Ebed-melech to take thirty men with him and rescue him from the cistern.

3/ vv 14-28 / Zedekiah was still panic-stricken and wanted to hear some words of promise from Yahweh through His prophet. He secretly called again for Jeremiah to come and give him advice. Jeremiah did, giving him the same advice he had been giving all along: surrender to the Babylonians, and they will allow you to live…but continue to rebel and resist Yahweh’s judgments against them, and they will die. Zedekiah was trying to play all the sides here. He was afraid that if his officials and advisors found out that Jeremiah was still sticking with Yahweh’s consistent prophecies, they will still put him to death. So he advised Jeremiah to just tell anyone who asked him what he and Zedekiah had talked about, “…then you shall say to them, ‘I made a humble plea to the king that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” Jeremiah did just that when he was asked, and his life was spared again.

III / ch 39 / The sad account again of the fall of Jerusalem | Jeremiah’s mercy from the Babylonians

1/ vv 1-10 / This historic, pivotal account of the fall of Jerusalem is repeated here again. You will find the same account in Jeremiah 52; 2 Kings 25; and 2 Chronicles 36.17-21. It is well-documented so everyone will know that Yahweh is faithful to His warnings of judgments as well as His promises of salvation and deliverance to everyone who believes in Him, trusts His Word, and obeys Him.

2/ vv 11-14 / The conquering Babylonians know all about Jeremiah. They actually respect and treat him better than the covenant peoples who should have listened to all his words from Yahweh and obeyed their God. 11 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying, 12 “Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you.” 13 So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon 14 sent and took Jeremiah from the court of the guard. They entrusted him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he lived among the people.

  • NOTE: we now meet this Gedeliah. We’ll see him again in ch 40.5. He is the new governor that Nebuchadnezzar is appointing to oversee the affairs of Judah and Jerusalem under his command.

3/ vv 15-18 / Yahweh also had a message of commendation, salvation, and deliverance for the Ethiopian eunuch, Ebed-melech, who had been merciful to Jeremiah and interceded for his rescue from the mucky cistern [see ch 38.7-13].

IV / ch 40 / Jeremiah is granted liberty to remain alive in Judah | Johanan warns Zedekiah about the conspiracy to assassinate him

1/ vv 1-6 / Jeremiah was taken to Ramah, which was the staging city for the deportees Babylon had taken from Jerusalem and Judah – before they were marched off to Babylon. As they were processing them for deportation, Nebuzaradan, who was the captain of the guard, took Jeremiah aside and offered him a free choice: he could come to Babylon and be taken care of there, or he could remain in Judah under the custody of Gedaliah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had installed as governor of Judah. Either way, Jeremiah would be protected and provided for by Nebuchadnezzar’s command. Jeremiah opted to remain in Judah. See ch 39.11-14.

2/ vv 7-12 / Governor Gedaliah had set up his governor’s headquarters in Mizpah. When the surviving people who had not been deported, but had been left in Judah [along with others who had fled to surrounding kingdoms] heard that Gedaliah had been appointed as Judah’s governor, they began migrating back there. Gedaliah promised them that if they would live in peace under the sovereignty of Babylonian dominion, they could cultivate the land and prosper. Judah would be a ‘safe place’ if they chose to live in peace. Many did.

3/ vv 13-16 / Among those who migrated back to live in Judah under Gedaliah’s governorship were a couple of power-hungry rogues:  a certain Ishmael and Johanan [see v 8]. Johanan went to Gedaliah and told him that Ishmael had been hired by the king of Ammon and was conspiring to assassinate him, stage a coup, and take over the leadership of being governor of the remaining inhabitants of Judah. Gedaliah didn’t believe him. Johanan asked Gedaliah if he would commission him to assassinate Ishmael to prevent Ishmael from assassinating him. Gedaliah refused: But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing, for you are speaking falsely of Ishmael.” That would prove to be the undoing of Gedaliah.

V / ch 41 / Gedaliah is, indeed, assassinated by Ishmael | Johanan, in turn, seeks to assassinate Ishmael, but he escapes

1/ vv 1-3 / Surely by now you’re getting the picture of why I’m calling this lesson ‘Intrigue, Conspiracies, & Assassinations.’ This Ishmael was conspiring against Governor Gedaliah to assassinate him – and he did. And he assassinated Gedaliah as Gedaliah was hospitably hosting him and they were dining together. Not only did Ishmael assassinate Governor Gedaliah, but he also murdered a number of the occupying Babylonian soldiers who were stationed there.

2/ vv 4-10 / The next day, groups of eighty refugees from surrounding cities came to Mizpah, not knowing what Ishmael had done. They were seeking refuge in the newly-established Judah ‘safe-place’ settlement there. Ishmael went out to them pretending to be receiving them, but then when they came into the city, Ishmael turned on them and massacred them and threw their corpses into a large cistern/reservoir from the days of King Asa. Ten of these refugees escaped being slaughtered when they offered Ishmael some food stores they had hidden away. Ishmael then proceeded to kidnap and take hostage the refugees who had settled in Mizpah and set out to go back to Ammon [see ch 40.13-14].

3/ vv 11-18 / Johanan had power-hungry/-seeking plans of his own. So when he heard about Ishmael’s atrocities, he and his band of rival rogues set out to intercept Ishmael. They encountered them at the great pool that is in Gibeon. When the kidnapped hostages from Mizpah saw him approaching, they bolted from Ishmael and ran to join Johanan. Johanan was afraid to go back to Mizpah where all the previous killing had taken place for fear of reprisal from the Babylonians [see vv 1-9]. So they fled to a village near Bethlehem, planning from there to go to Egypt for their safety and survival. Keep in mind: this intention to flee to Egypt was in overt disobedience to Yahweh who had promised them that if they would remain in Judah and submit to the Babylonians, He would preserve them there. These promises are in Yahweh’s messages to them in the next chapter…

VI / ch 42 / Yahweh warns Johanan through Jeremiah NOT to go to Egypt … but he will disobey

1/ vv 1-6 / Johanan again pretends to want to hear from Yahweh through Jeremiah whether they should go to Egypt or stay in Judah. Jeremiah promises them he will ask Yahweh what His will is for them and get back with them in ten days. Johanan and his men solemnly commit to obey Yahweh’s word. They won’t. NOTE: from here on…the repeated reference to ‘obey’ and ‘did not obey.’

2/ vv 7-22 / Jeremiah does bring them word from Yahweh. Yahweh promises to be with them, protect them from the Babylonians, to plant them and make them prosperous if they will obey Him. He will grant them mercy, save them, and deliver them if they will do what He says and remain in the land. IF they disobey Him and flee to Egypt, He will send the Babylonians [whom they are fearing in Judah] down to Egypt, and they will die there. Yahweh has revealed to Jeremiah the deceit and duplicity of their pretenses. He pronounces His solemn judgments: 19 The LORD has said to you, O remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Know for a certainty that I have warned you this day 20 that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. For you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the LORD our God, and whatever the LORD our God says, declare to us and we will do it.’ 21 And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in anything that He sent me to tell you. 22 Now therefore know for a certainty that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live.”    

VII / chs 43-44 / Johanan and his crew do flee to Egypt with the hostages they have taken in Judah | They kidnap Jeremiah also and take him with them | Yahweh will follow them there…

1/ vv 1-7 / As soon as Jeremiah delivers Yahweh’s message to Johanan and all the insolent men [as they had asked him to do in the pretense of sincerity], they then proceed to accuse Jeremiah of lying to them. And they also implicate Baruch in their charges – that somehow and for some reason Baruch had exerted his influence on Yahweh’s prophet and led him to make this pronouncement. 4 So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the LORD, to remain in the land of Judah. 5 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven [see ch 41.10]— 6 the men, the women, the children, the princesses, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. 

2/ vv 8-13 / They were not only devising their own means to escape from the wrath of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians, but they were also arrogantly and insolently defying the word of Yahweh and His express command through Jeremiah to stay in Judah. They thought that by fleeing to Egypt in disobedience to Yahweh and taking Jeremiah with them, they could exercise their own control over Yahweh’s prophet, Yahweh’s message, and their own destinies. But Yahweh continues to speak through His prophet…even there in Egypt! He commands Jeremiah to perform a ‘sign-act,’ an object lesson in their audience – this object lesson will illustrate what He is going to do: 8 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes:  9 “Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, 10 and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. 11 He shall come and strike the land of Egypt, giving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. 12 I shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. 13 He shall break the obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.’”

3/ ch 44 / Yahweh delivers an expanded message through Jeremiah to the refugees in Egypt – He will follow them and send His judgments on them there in Egypt … because of their continuing rebellions and disobedience.

“… and ALL … shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs!” ~ Yahweh / ch 44.28

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Yahweh’s Word is not Bound! [2 Timothy 2.8-9] / When Jehoiakim burned the scroll

Posted on August 5, 2023 by PastorDave

JEREMIAH | Lesson 7 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Jeremiah 36.1-32 [when Jehoiakim burns the scroll]

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ Chapter 36 begins another one of those shorter ‘booklets’ I’ve been telling you about – shorter collections of messages and events that are keyed to a common theme, and then compiled to make up the larger ‘book’ of Jeremiah. Chapters 36-45 are sometimes called ‘Jeremiah’s Via Dolorosa [Way of Sorrows]’ because they chronicle some of the prophet’s more traumatic experiences of opposition, persecution, and sufferings he endured while being faithful to deliver Yahweh’s messages. Jeremiah also was a ‘man of sorrows’ much like his Messiah whose life Jeremiah illustrates.

2/ This chapter, in particular, will tell the story of how King Jehoiakim didn’t like what Yahweh was saying through Jeremiah, and so he thought he would ‘destroy’ the word of Yahweh by burning it in the fire pot, thinking he would avert the disastrous judgments that Yahweh was pronouncing against Him and Judah. But, as he found out, you can’t destroy the Word of God by any means you may fight against it. …but the word of the LORD remains forever. [1 Peter 1.25].

3/ Yahweh not only preserved His Word, but He also did what He had said He would do.

“Last eve I paused beside the blacksmith’s door,

And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime;

Then looking in, I saw upon the floor,

Old hammers, worn with beating years of time.

‘How many anvils have you had,’ said I,

‘To wear and batter all these hammers so?’

‘Just one,’ said he, and then with twinkling eye,

‘The anvil wears the hammers out, you know.’

And so, I thought, the Anvil of God’s Word,

For ages skeptic blows have beat upon;

Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,

The Anvil is unharmed, the hammers gone.”

—attributed to John Clifford

4/ This is why I have titled this lesson ‘Yahweh’s Word is not Bound!’ taking this phrase from 2 Timothy 2.8-9. The apostle Paul found himself in a situation much like Jeremiah’s – he was imprisoned and forbidden from the public proclamation of the Gospel as he had formerly done. But Paul knew God’s Word cannot be restrained from accomplishing His desired and designed mission! This is our confidence also!

5/ There is also another very valuable lesson we want to learn from this prophetic narrative: here is a historical illustration of how God inspires, records, and preserves His Word in the Holy Scriptures. See 2 Timothy 3.3.16 & 2 Peter 1.20-21.

6/ What we will witness here is: [1] how God inspired holy men of God to speak His words; [2] how He commanded them to record His words in writing; and [3] how He has preserved His words from the times they were first delivered all the way to us … and to the end of the world.

7/ So what we will do is follow this narrative as it develops. There are at least four ‘readings’ of Yahweh’s messages that are recorded here. We will note them in order and then show how Yahweh’s words were still preserved even though Jehoiakim sought and thought he would destroy them.   

I / vv 1-4 / The first reading: Jeremiah to Baruch      

1/ The dating of this narrative is ‘In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.’ This is such a significant date, not only in the prophetic ministry of Jeremiah, but also in the history of Judah. Jeremiah dates others of his messages in this same year: 25.1; 36.1; 45.1; 46.1-2. The year was 605 BC. What happened in this year was that Nebuchadnezzar had made his first invasion against Jerusalem and had taken some of the Jerusalemites captive to Babylon [see 2 Kings 24.1-2 & Daniel 1.1].

2/ Inspiration begins in the mind of Yahweh – He has words He wants to deliver to us … for us to hear from Him, and know, and respond to.

3/ Yahweh instructed Jeremiah to hear His words – words that He had been speaking through Jeremiah from the beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry ‘from the days of Josiah until today’ [see ch 1.1-3]. Yahweh had been passionately and patiently pleading with Judah to repent and turn from their disobedience and rebellion against Him. If they would do so, He would forgive their iniquities and not execute all the disaster He had been threatening to bring upon them – the destruction of their city and Temple.

4/ Jeremiah faithfully called for Baruch who was his personal ‘recording secretary,’ or ‘amanuensis’ to listen to him as he recited Yahweh’s words. And Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of Yahweh that He had spoken to him. This was the first reading of these messages.

II / vv 4-10 / The second reading: Baruch reads these words to the people  

1/ v 5 / Jeremiah had been ‘banned’ from publicly preaching around the Temple. This may have been from the messages that are recorded in chs 25-26. They were preached during the same times and delivered in the court of Yahweh’s house [chs 25.1-2 & 26.1-2]. When the leaders and authorities heard the messages at that time, [they] laid hold of him, saying, “You shall die!” [ch 26.8]. Jeremiah was spared from being killed, but they may have banned him from any more public speaking.

2/ vv 6-8 / So he told Baruch to go in his place and ‘you shall read the words of Yahweh from the scroll that you have written at my dictation. You shall read them also in the hearing of all the men of Judah who come out of their cities.’ Jeremiah still held out hope that the people would listen, hear, and obey Yahweh’s calls to repent and turn from their sins.

3/ vv 9-10 / Baruch faithfully obeyed Jeremiah. ‘In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month….’ You’ll notice that this is one year later from v 1. So, during this year, Jeremiah had been reciting to Baruch many of the messages he had previously delivered – the same messages we have written in our Bibles – and Baruch had been writing them down.

4/ In the meantime, it appears that the people themselves had declared this fast day before Yahweh. This was a ‘grass-roots’ movement … probably because they had witnessed the amassing Babylonian armies that were besieging Jerusalem at that very time, and they were terrified at the prospects of the impending disaster Yahweh had been warning them about.

5/ This reading of Yahweh’s words was in the house of Yahweh, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the secretary….

  • BTW, this prominent family of ‘Shaphan the secretary (royal scribe) goes all the way back to the previous king, Josiah / see 2 Kings 22.3, 8-10. Shaphan was the ‘secretary/scribe’ who had read to Josiah the words of the previously-abandoned ‘book of the law’ they had discovered in the Temple during Josiah’s sweeping reforms only a few years before…   

6/ So, this was the second reading of Yahweh’s words.  

III / vv 11-19 / The third reading: Baruch reads these words to the royal and priestly officials

1/ v 11 / There was a certain priestly/Temple official who attended this public reading of Yahweh’s words by the name of Micaiah. Interestingly, he was the only one who was personally present, even though Jeremiah’s prophetic messages held weighty importance and consequences for them all. But they hadn’t cared enough to attend the public reading.

2/ vv 12-13 / When Micaiah ‘heard all the words of Yahweh from the scroll, he went down to the king’s house, into the secretary’s chamber, and all the officials were sitting there….’ We don’t know, but they may have gotten wind of the public reading and had gathered in council to deliberate what it meant and what they should do about it. Micaiah gave them a full report of what he had just heard.

3/ vv 14-15 / So now there’s another prominent character who is introduced: Jehudi. They promptly dispatched Jehudi to go back to the Temple compound to fetch Baruch and bring him to them: ‘Take in your hand the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people, and come.’ They wanted to hear these words for themselves. “And they said to him [Baruch], ‘Sit down and read it.’ So Baruch read it to them.”

4/ v 16 / These officials were terrified. They had enough confidence in the inspiration of these words – that they had, indeed, come from Yahweh – and in Jeremiah’s authority to speak from Yahweh, that they took the messages as a dire warning that must be heeded. ‘We must report all these words to the king!’

5/ vv 17-18 / They just wanted to be sure, though, that these were bona-fide words, so they asked Baruch once again: “‘Tell us, please, how did you write all these words? Was it at his dictation?’ Baruch answered, ‘He dictated all these words to me, while I wrote them with ink on the scroll.’” I just want to reiterate and reinforce at this juncture that this is indeed how all the words of our Bible, God’s Holy Word, the Scriptures, have come to us: from Yahweh Himself, through His inspiration of His prophets, and then written down for us in perpetuity! You can trust your Bible – it is The Word of God!

6/ v 19 / How Jehoiakim will respond is still an unknown, so they care enough about Jeremiah and Baruch that they want to be sure they are protected: ‘Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are.’ This is now the third reading of these words.

IV / vv 20-26 / The fourth reading: Jehudi reads Jeremiah’s words to King Jehoiakim

1/ v 20 / These concerned officials put the scroll containing Yahweh’s messages through Jeremiah in a safe place in Elishama’s office area – they want this scroll preserved. They go first to give King Jehoiakim an oral report. They want to see how he is disposed to what they have heard. They are terrified for themselves; perhaps King Jehoiakim will share their concern and take the lead to act for their preservation.

2/ v 21 / King Jehoiakim wants to hear it for himself. So, once again, he dispatches Jehudi to go where they had secured the scroll and bring it to him. ‘And Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king.’

3/ vv 22-23 / It was winter-time, our December. ‘…and the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him’ … some kind of heating stove or brazier, maybe even open-flame. Whatever it was, it was convenient for Jehoiakim to display his overt displeasure with what he was hearing Jehudi read from the scroll. ‘As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them in the fire that was in the fire pot.’ The scroll would have been written in the Hebrew form: from left to right. As the scroll was unrolled, the words would be written in columns. In succession, as Jehudi read what Yahweh had inspired Jeremiah to write, Jehoiakim would show his contempt and disdain for the words by taking the same kind of scribal razor Baruch had used to trim the scroll to begin with, and just cut the scroll and burn it … ‘until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot.’

4/ vv 24 / Jehoiakim deceived and deluded himself into believing he could destroy the Word of Yahweh and avoid the impending disaster Yahweh was pronouncing against him by burning the scroll that contained the words. [Like cancelling an event by burning a flyer that advertises it.] Nor was he even phased by them: ‘Yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they tear their garments.’ This is in stark contrast to the fear his officials felt among themselves when they heard the same words [see v 16].

  • AND, Jehoiakim’s arrogant response was the opposite of his father, Josiah’s, when he had heard similar words from his secretary, Shaphan [see 2 Kings 22.8-11]. [The ‘tearing of garments’ was a sign of repentance, grief, remorse, horror, or despair at one’s realization of sin against Yahweh or the danger of impending trauma.] But the proud rebel, Jehoiakim, feels none of this.

5/ v 25 / Even when Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemeriah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. These officials were among those who had attended Baruch’s previous reading [see v 12]. They ‘got it’ and understood the clear and present danger they were facing. That’s why they had brought it to Jehoiakim’s attention and had arranged this present reading of the scroll.

6/ v 26 / Not only was Jehoiakim unmoved by Yahweh’s words of judgment and calls to repentance, but he also ordered his immediate attendants to go and seize Jeremiah and Baruch, have them arrested, and bring them into custody so he could execute his wrath against them. ‘…but Yahweh hid them.’ Whether it was through the instruction of the officials who were sympathetic toward them [see v 19], or through some miraculous intervention, Yahweh providentially protected them. Of course, we know why, because even though Jehoiakim had burned that scroll, Yahweh still remains. And His Word will yet be preserved!      

V / vv 27-32 / “Take another scroll and write on it…”

1/ vv 27-28 / YES! The Word of Yahweh remains! His Word cannot be destroyed, nor can it ever be cancelled! Why? Because Yahweh Himself remains, and He still has His words in His mind, and He can re-deliver it as easily as He delivered it the first time! His purposes will be accomplished, and His words will be fulfilled! So, Yahweh tells Jeremiah simply to take another scroll and dictate to Baruch the same words that Jehoiakim had burned – ‘AND many similar words were added to them’ [see v 32].

2/ These words that Jeremiah dictated and Baruch wrote down are the words we are holding in our hands and reading right now! This is WHERE and HOW and FROM WHOM the words we are reading came to us!

3/ vv 29-31 / Yahweh has a word of personal judgment for King Jehoiakim: ‘You rejected and burned the words I delivered to you, calling you to repent from your rebellion against Me and avert the disaster I have pronounced upon you, Judah, and Jerusalem … because you didn’t like what I have to say. But it all is going to happen just as I have prophesied!’

  • Jehoiakim and his immediate family/clan will be deposed from the royal lineage of Judah, and the Davidic promises Yahweh has made will be kept – but they will pass to another line within Josiah’s family. Jehoiakim will die an ignominious death, and his corpse will be unceremoniously abused. Interestingly, the verb Yahweh used for ‘cast out’ [v 30] is the same verb used for ‘throw’ [v 23]. They would do with Jehoiakim’s corpse just as he had done with Yahweh’s words.
  • NOTE: we do know that even though an individual king and his immediate descendants may be disqualified from carrying on the Davidic royal lineage, “David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel…” Jeremiah 33.14-17 & 2 Samuel 1-17. This covenant promise can be and will fulfilled – only in Jesus Christ and His Gospel!
  • All the disasters Yahweh has threatened against Judah will be executed … and all because ‘but they would not hear!’

4/ The value of reading aloud The Word of God. I want to conclude here with an excerpt from ESV Expository Commentary [Jerry Hwang]:

“The narrative of Jeremiah’s first scroll illustrates how reading in Biblical times always involved the act of reading aloud (Jer. 36.2, 8, 10, 13-15, 21, 23). In turn, the oral performance of God’s word through Jeremiah formed the basis of Baruch’s written text, which journeyed to places where the prophet himself was unable to go. The first scroll of Jeremiah not only traveled into the temple and palace in Jerusalem, where Jeremiah was forbidden to enter; its public reading in these places also caused fear, which eventually resulted in its destruction by King Jehoiakim. Ironically, that scroll was replaced by another scroll and eventually an entire canonical book that prophesies the demise of Jehoiakim and the kings of Judah who follow him. / These observations show the unique power of reading Scripture when orality and textuality work together according to God’s design. An oral event of receiving and proclaiming God’s word is captured in a written text, while a written text provides a stable basis for oral performance on new occasions when God’s authorized messenger is restricted or has passed from the scene. Such a synergy applies not only to the inspiration of Scripture in biblical times but also to its reading today, when oral performance brings out the dynamism of Scripture in a way that generates greater passion for reading the written text, and vice versa.”

“But the word of the LORD remains forever…And this is the Good News that was preached to you!” [1 Peter 1.25-26]

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