Mark

Don’t be Sorry

“Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me”

1 Samuel 8:7

School children will be well aware that they are now in the final term for the year and that means Christmas is drawing near. They will soon, if they haven’t already, be making a list for parents and grandparents. No parent will give their child that they love a gift that will harm them.

God loves all people and will not give any gift that will bring harm but He sometimes allows people to have what they demand so they can experience the consequences with a view to a change of heart. Those who do not know God in a personal way interpret God’s restrictions as hatred and so they respond to God and His people with hatred. They fail to understand that the commands of God are to lead us into green pastures and keep us from the dead barren desert.

In Ezekiel 18:32 we read, “’For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,’ says the Lord God.” God has no pleasure in judgment after a person dies (Hebrews 9:27). God has provided the greatest Gift possible in Jesus Christ who takes away our sin by bearing it in Himself. The Lord is not willing that anyone perish (2 Peter 3:9). The evidence of this is that Jesus Christ has already borne our sin on the cross.

While some may attest that they want to go to hell to be with their friends, if they had any real idea of hell as described by Jesus (Mark 9:42-48) they would not wish for such a thing. There is only one reason a person will end up in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10, 15); they have rejected Jesus as God’s only remedy for sin. They will have what they wanted; existence without Jesus Christ but they will not be at all happy or content.

As with Israel in Samuel’s day, God sometimes gives people what they demand but they will be sorry they rejected Him. There is no way to God except through Jesus because He is the only One who has dealt with sin. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Peter wrote “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

People who do not know Jesus see God as a harsh dictator out to spoil their fun. In reality He loves them and sets boundaries to protect us in the way a good shepherd does his sheep.

Arguing with a Donkey

“The word that God puts in my mouth, that I must speak”

Numbers 22:38

Balaam was a prophet of God but was moved by the temptation to use that role to gain material wealth. Balak had promised him wealth if he would come and curse Israel. Balaam knew that God would always bless Israel in accord with the covenant He made with Abraham.

The lure of wealth warped Balaam’s thinking. But God had a purpose for Balaam. He met him along the way but only Balaam’s donkey could see the threat and refused to go on. Balaam’s temper rose so high that he didn’t think it at all odd that he was having an argument with a donkey. At last the Lord revealed Himself to Balaam and then he realised his foolishness. From that moment of meeting with the Lord Balaam was a changed man. No one can meet the Lord and not be changed. Either he will surrender to Him or become outspoken and violent against Him.

The professing church is currently being tested as to whether it will abide by God’s word and only speak the word that God has given. The outcome will be a clear division between those who are the Lord’s and those who profess to be but are not. Those who are not the Lord’s will take the world’s lead and refuse to pay the price of faithfulness to the word of the Lord.

Balaam was in a sticky situation humanly speaking. He would only speak as the Lord directed and that meant that he would not get any money. It also meant that his life was at risk. Those who truly are Christ’s will only speak in accordance with what the Lord has given them in the Bible even at risk of losing all material things or their lives.

Balaam had met the Lord and now understands the words that Jesus would later speak: “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:34-37)

There are many faithful Christians in the world today who are living this out. If we refuse to do so it dishonours the Lord Jesus Christ and those who endure persecution for His sake. Let us speak only that which God has given us and leave the outcome to Him.

Making the Connection

“But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel” Luke 24:21

At Passover Israel looks back and reflects on the great deliverance the fledgling nation experienced under Moses’ leadership. But the Passover also looks forward to the Messiah who would deliver Israel again from Gentile dominance – and much more. The two disciples discussing this were speaking to the risen Jesus though they didn’t know that it was Him at that time.

Even though Jesus had told His disciples several times that He would die and rise again (Luke 6:44; 18:33; Mark 9:31; Matthew 16:21; 17:9, 23) they still had not grasped it even now that He had been crucified. They had not yet made the connection between the Passover and Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.

One of Jesus’ statements on the cross was, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). Not only the religious Jews but also Jesus’ own disciples had not understood that the Christ must be crucified and rise again before anyone could be forgiven. The angel reminded the women, “He is not here, but is risen. Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again’” (Luke 24:6-7). These two disciples walking to Emmaus knew of the encounter the women had with the angel (v 22) yet they did not yet believe that Jesus had risen. As a consequence, instead of being overjoyed, they were extremely saddened at what they perceived a failure.

Israel is still in a similar position. They are still missing the truth that Jesus is the Passover Lamb. They have not made the connection. John the Baptist recognised Him from the start crying out, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Many people will take part in some Easter activities and may even attend a church service and yet they will not make the connection and miss the true meaning.

One of the thieves crucified with Jesus did and understood who Jesus is. He confessed his sinfulness and asked for forgiveness (Luke 23:40-43). Since Jesus had just asked the Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him he knew he would receive a positive response. Let us pray that, this Easter, many more people will come to the same realisation as this thief on the cross. If they follow his example they will also be forgiven.

Ancestry Matters

Nicodemus asked Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old?” John 3:4

In recent years there has been a lot of interest in ancestry. Online access to data enables us to discover some of our ancestry without even leaving home. There is also a television program dedicated to searching out the ancestry of well known people. There have been surprises one way or the other. All kinds of questions may turn out to have unexpected answers.

One thing is certain and that is that if we are able to trace our ancestry back a hundred or so generations we would discover that we all have Noah and his wife as ancestors. If we follow that back further we discover that we are all descendants of Adam and Eve. As descendants of Adam we inherit the curse that his sin brought – death to intimacy with his Creator evidenced by bodily death (Genesis 2:17; 3:17-19). The consequence is that all of Adam’s descendants have inherited a sin nature, no intimacy with our Creator and bodily death.

We are helpless to change our ancestry. That is history and no amount of rewriting will change the fact. People who try to rewrite history by denying our ancestry in Adam and replacing it with a fiction story are only deceiving themselves and fail to understand Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus’ question. Rather than rewriting history we need to have our ancestry actually changed. Hence we have Nicodemus’ question that ordinarily would defy an answer.

When Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again (born from above)” (John 3:3) He was saying that he needed a new ancestry. Not surprisingly Nicodemus realised that this was humanly impossible. On another occasion Jesus said. “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27). This is essentially what Jesus was endeavouring to communicate to Nicodemus. What was necessary in order for Nicodemus to enter the Kingdom of God was impossible with men but not with God.

Everyone trying to enter God’s Kingdom by their own effort will fail because he cannot change his ancestry. John made this clear in the early part of his Gospel. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ is the condition that must be met and then God will create us new in Christ. That which is impossible with men God achieves in response to faith in Christ.

By the birth of Jesus into the world and the His death and resurrection He is able to change our ancestry from the first Adam to the last Adam, Himself. In Christ alone we have God as our Father.

Pleasing the Crowd

“So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd released Barabas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified” Mark 15:15

In democratic countries of the world the political systems have deteriorated into essentially politicians seeking to please the people in order to be elected to office. One only has to take a casual look at the style of electioneering to observe this. When leaders of a country have only their own interest at heart and thereby seek to gratify the crowd then righteousness will be crucified.

In Daniel’s explanation of king Nebuchadnezzar’s dream regarding his and future kingdoms, the last kingdom in the image prior to the Lord’s return is a mixture of iron and clay (Daniel 2). These substances cannot hold together. We know that the iron represents the oppressive dictatorship of the Roman Empire but in the last days that will be mixed with a weak form of government depicted by clay in the feet and toes of the image. Just as iron and clay cannot mix, neither does a dictatorship and democracy. Just as iron is strong and clay crumbles, so a dictatorship is strong and democracy is weak. The weakness of democracy is in the fact that in order for politicians to be elected they must please the people. If the people seek righteousness it is strength but when they seek unrighteousness the weakness of democracy is revealed.

In Saul’s day the people demanded a king like the surrounding nations. In doing so they rejected God as their King (1 Samuel 8:7). The final renunciation of Jesus by the chief priests is expressed in their words, “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15). In these days we observe that politicians, in order to please the crowds of lobbyists, are choosing to crucify Jesus all over again by turning from righteousness to unrighteousness and oppression of His people.

God gave Israel the king they desired essentially saying, “You can have the king you desire but you will be sorry” and “You will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day” (1 Samuel 8:18). Samuel had just told the people of Israel that the kind of king they wanted would tax their hides for his own luxury and a vast military force.

If, as a nation, we demand unrighteous leaders (by our democratic vote) God may give what we ask for but we will be sorry.

In the current alignment of nations and the raising up and pulling down of nations, we are observing the horizon of fulfillment of the prophetic Scriptures drawing ever nearer. “… knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11).

Serving Christ Together

“Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it” Mark 10:15

The faith of a child is a simple faith yet it is the very essence of what is required for a person to be saved. Their faith in parents is based on the relationship. The actions of parents will reveal whether that faith is well placed or not. One of my granddaughters, when very young, liked to jump into the pool for me to catch her. This was repeated many times until I was distracted by her younger cousin and missed her jump. Her faith in me vanished and no amount of encouragement could get her to jump to me again that day. Her child-like faith endured until the object of her faith proved unreliable. Jesus will never be unreliable though there may be times that we think He has. That is our error not His unfaithfulness.

In the verse previous to the one quoted above Jesus tells his disciples to bring children to Him while they are young and are still capable of that simple faith. Once the world has filled their minds with false ideas and questioned God’s reliability and love (Genesis 3:1-7) faith in Jesus will be more difficult.

It is not difficult to see why parents are, when possible, opting to remove their children from public education. Political lobby groups of the spirit of Antichrist know the value of the mind of a child and are doing all they can to fill children’s minds with worldly concepts and values before they hear the truth in the Gospel of Christ.

The role of parents is being diminished year by year by a world system that makes it difficult for a mother to stay at home. Mothers who choose to actually mother their children are not valued as they should be. There seems to be a move toward professional child carers who are under some degree of government control, through licensing, training, and often, through funding arrangements.

We have heard about the “stolen generation” in Australia’s past but now we are experiencing an attempt to steal a whole generation of children from their parents and destroy the intimacy of the parent-child relationship. Included in this is an attempt to prevent children hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We live in the world but we are not of the world. It is critical that we resist ungodly worldliness as much as possible and ensure that our children hear the true Gospel of Christ as early as possible. This role is for parents, grandparents and church family serving Jesus Christ together.

Caution Advisable

“They are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty” Revelation 16:14

People usually follow those who perform miracles whether real or illusionary. The reason is that they want the benefit of the miracle. They have no other interest in the person who performs such miracles. Sometime after feeding the five thousand Jesus said, “You seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled” (John 6:26). Jesus knew their heart and saw that they wanted what He gave but they didn’t want Him. Neither did they see any purpose in the miracle apart from their need.

Though Jesus did many signs, wonders and miracles, and multitudes followed Him at first, when they realised that following Him would cost everything they deserted Him. They left Him because they wanted the miracle and not Jesus himself. The miracles drew followers because they sought their own pleasure not because they had any interest in spiritual truth or in Jesus.

Signs, wonders and miracles will attract a large following. What the followers may fail to realise is that Satan and demons are also able to perform miracles. They counterfeit Jesus and the prophets in order to deceive and bring people into bondage. The sorcerers of Egypt, leading up to Israel’s exodus, were able to deceive Pharaoh and the Egyptians by duplicating the miracles of Moses (Exodus 7:11-13, 22; 8:7). False prophets could perform signs (Deuteronomy 13) and God’s people needed to be able to discern the origin of the signs.

In the New Testament there are several references to the satanic or demonic origin of miracles. Jesus affirmed it in Matthew 7:22; 24:24 and Mark 13:22. Paul also affirmed that Satan could and would perform signs and wonders in 2 Thessalonians 2:9. Apparently Judas who betrayed Jesus was able to perform miracles (Matthew 10:1-4) and the Pharisees believed that Satan could perform miracles (Matthew 12:24). In Revelation 13:13 we read that the demonic power behind the second beast is able to perform signs including bringing down fire from heaven.

The majority will follow the miracle worker seeking their own benefit. They will not give attention to the nature or purpose of the one performing the sign and will be deceived and brought into bondage. People who demand God perform signs or miracles are already in bondage. In the verse above (Revelation 16:14) we have one of the last expressions of this. Demons will perform signs with the result that people will follow them in a battle against God. The outcome is certain. Only the few who choose Jesus Christ and are discerning will not be deceived.

We must be able to discern the origin of miracles – or risk being deceived. Miracles do happen, but we should be careful in attributing origin; and we must be careful as to whether it is the miracle or Jesus Christ that we really want. In the tribulation those who attribute the signs of the demons to God will find themselves fighting against God. If we attribute miracles of satanic or demonic origin to God we will also find ourselves fighting Jesus Christ. Do not automatically attribute every miracle to God, be discerning!

Don’t Exhume the Dead

“Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” Mark 8:34

We do not need to be all that bright to realise that we cannot rise from the dead without first dying. If we are to experience Christ’s resurrection life we must first die to ourselves, be buried, and don’t try and exhume ourselves.

The subtleties of Satan and sin will be working to exhume our old lives so as to deprive us of resurrection life. It is therefore important to continue to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God (Romans 6:11). To reckon means to count on it as fact because it is factual. This is not brainwashing or self deceit; it is believing what God has revealed as true. Not to believe what He has said is to blaspheme His name by calling Him a liar.

On resurrection Sunday we focus especially on Christ’s resurrection but we must never forget that it was necessary for Him to first die. Similarly, we cannot expect resurrection life in us without our first dying to self.

Luke records Jesus’ description of one who has died to self in Luke 14:25-33.

  1. He loves Jesus more than any other person such that it appears to observers that he hates even his own family
  2. He is loyal to Jesus though it costs him suffering, persecution and all material possessions (i.e. Job)
  3. He clings to Jesus but holds everything else with loose fingers

Jesus is not just talking theology; He is speaking of moment by moment, day by day attitude and application in our relationship with Himself. The question for us is, do we really want Jesus and do we want to come after Him or do we just want only what He gives?

The thieves on the crosses either side of Jesus owned nothing and they had no earthly future. That is what it is to deny ourselves and take up our cross. We become as they were and we say to Jesus as one did, “Remember me.” We have no claim on God for anything but the blood of Jesus shed on that cross. Like the thieves we justly deserve the wrath of God.

If we are to live resurrection life now we must first die to self. Martha made the mistake of thinking that resurrection life was only possible after bodily death (John 11:24) but Jesus corrected her. He is the resurrection and the life. To all who die to self, He lives His resurrection life in and through them now and forevermore. Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

It is very easy for us to accept this verse as true but not actually live it. Jesus cannot live His life in and through us if we exhume our own will and ambition. Self must remain buried. Jesus Christ and self cannot both be alive. We sing the following words; let them be true from the heart.

“All of my ambitions, hopes and plans,
I surrender these into your hands”

Healing for the Deaf

“They did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask him” Mark 9:32

It can be very difficult to communicate with someone who is not “on the same page” with regard to a particular subject matter. There can be misunderstanding among people because of this. No one views and comprehends their world from a vacuum or blank sheet. Jesus’ disciples were not listening to Jesus from a blank sheet either. They had been taught in the synagogues by the Rabbis.

When Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain their heads were filled with the teachings of the Rabbis. Much of it was very good but some was not helpful. When they arrived high on the mountain Jesus was transformed before their eyes and His glory shone through (v 3). In addition, Moses and Elijah appeared before them speaking with Jesus concerning His approaching death. Peter recognised that this is what the Scriptures taught; that Elijah would appear prior to the establishing of the earthly kingdom. What he had not been taught and did not understand was that there was still other Scripture to be fulfilled before the earthly kingdom would be established (cf. Isaiah 53).

On this occasion the Father spoke audibly and directly to the disciples. This may be the only time He did this, so it must also be very important. It was a short message but one we would profit to take notice of: “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” (v 7). The disciples had heard other teachers but now they must listen only to what Jesus was saying if they were to correctly understand and be prepared for what was soon to happen. Before the earthly kingdom would come Jesus must die and rise again (vv 9, 31).

The disciples had no idea what He was speaking about. The Rabbis had not taught them of a Messiah who would die and rise again so they dismissed it as too hard to understand or irrelevant. Jesus wanted them to understand this future event so that they would be prepared and not panic or despair when the event occurred. They dismissed His words even though they had just heard the Father say, “Hear Him.”

We can only correctly understand the times in which we live when we “Hear Him.” Jesus and the Bible give us a huge amount of information concerning our times and future times and events. These will prepare us so that we do not panic or despair when they come to pass. When Jesus was taken to be crucified the disciples fled because they had not heard and understood His words but were still held in the grip previous teaching. They were afraid to ask Jesus what He meant when He spoke of rising from the dead and therefore they remained in ignorance. We have no reason to follow their example. God has spoken, Jesus has spoken and we have His word to prepare us. Will we “Hear Him?”

Current world events may lead a person to worry or despair but when we hear what Jesus, the prophets and Paul  have said regarding the latter days we can observe that God has foretold all these things in order to prepare us. It is essential that we come humbly to His word at least daily and ask Him to correct us where we have unwittingly misunderstood or dismissed His word.

All Were Amazed

“All were amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We never saw anything like this!’” Mark 2:12

All were amazed but were they all amazed in the same way and for the same reason? The answer is not in the passage but it is in the Gospel records. In the incident Mark describes all were amazed but there are two possible reasons for that amazement; the miracle or the words of Jesus. Either would have caused amazement to His Jewish audience.

The purpose of the miracle in Mark 2:1-12 is to demonstrate that Jesus has authority to forgive sin (v 10). Only God has that authority so Jesus is declaring Himself to be God. The miracle was to confirm Jesus’ authority to make such a statement but being physically healed was not evidence that the man was forgiven. The evidence that the man is forgiven is revealed in the man’s faith demonstrated when he obeyed Jesus by taking up his bed and walking.

People often seek the miracle of physical healing but are less interested in seeking forgiveness of sin. The people on this occasion were amazed and gave glory to God for either the miracle or that the man’s sins were forgiven. In either case each person realised that God had done a wonderful thing and in that recognition they gave God the glory. However, it meant different things to the two possible groups. One group glorified God for the miracle of healing and the other group glorified God that in Jesus Christ their sins could be forgiven.

The man knew his sins were forgiven. If he didn’t, he would not have obeyed Jesus and taken up his bed and walked. The many who witnessed the words and miracle of Jesus had a choice. They could either accept the testimony of Jesus or reject it. The miracle was of no value to them in itself. The man would still eventually physically die and so would they.

Jesus said, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (v 17). Some in the gathering did not see themselves as sinners and went away amazed with the miracle of healing but with sins still unforgiven. Any who recognised that they were sinners, as the formerly paralytic man had, had the opportunity to go away forgiven.

Jesus would later say, “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it” (8:35-37). Those who seek physical healing often forget that their bodies will still eventually die even if they are healed of the current malady, then what? Those who have their sins forgiven are forgiven for eternity and their bodies will be healed for eternity in the resurrection.

Luke records that Jesus sent out seventy disciples to give witness to the coming Kingdom. When they returned they were all chatting among themselves about the miracles they had performed (Luke 10:17) but Jesus quickly pointed them to the most important thing. He said to them, “rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (v 20). Their names are not written in heaven because they have experienced personal physical healing or even that they have healed others. Their names are in heaven because their sins are forgiven.

The trend these days for many is to seek physical healing and neglect the infinitely more important matter of forgiveness of sin.

I am glad that I have a doctor who is treating me through my current bronchitis but I am immeasurably happier that my sins are forgiven. That is what amazes me – Amazing Grace that saved a sinner such as I.