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Most New
Testament scholars agree that the Book of Mark
is the earliest written account of Yeshua's life
and ministry. It was composed between 60 and 70
AD, and it likely served as the basis of the books
of Matthew and Luke.
Mark was
not one of the 12 apostles, but he was an early
Messianic Jewish leader who was closely associated
with them. Acts 12:12 records that the prayer
meeting for Simon Peter, when he was in prison
and about to be executed, was held in the home
of John, who was also called Mark.
Mark was
also a cousin of that wonderful man, the apostle
Barnabas (Col. 4:10). Not only was Mark related
to Barnabas, but he is linked to two of the most
prominent apostles, the leading apostle to the
Jews -- Simon Peter, and the leading apostle to
the Gentiles -- Rabbi Paul. He was a companion
of Peter (1 Peter 5:13), who this great apostle
calls "his son." He was also a companion of Rabbi
Paul, and accompanied him on his first great missionary
journey. Mark left that journey before it was
over (Acts 13:13). This led to a falling out between
Paul and Mark, but the two were later reconciled,
so that Paul could write to Timothy and instruct
him to pick up Mark and bring him with you, for
he is useful to me for service (2 Tim. 4:11).
Not only did Mark once again become useful to
Paul, but also to the Lord. What an amazing honor
to be chosen to write one of the books of the
Bible! Mark's life proves that one failure in
life does not mean the end of one's usefulness
(Ryrie).
For most
of human history, most of humanity has lived under
the rule of kings -- not in a democracy like ours.
Even today this is still true. For good or evil,
kings and emperors greatly influenced their people's
daily life. When a new king comes to power, it
is natural that people wonder: What will the new
king be like? Will he be kind and compassionate,
or selfish and ruthless? Will he be wise and just,
or a corrupt, unrighteous fool? Will he uses his
power to serve his own selfish ends, or will he
seek the welfare of all his subjects?
The Jewish
people of Yeshua's day, who had been oppressed
for a long time by foreign rulers, yearned for
a new king, a Jewish king -- one whom God would
send and anoint and use to establish the rule
of justice and peace, not only over Israel, but
also over all the nations of the Earth. Yeshua
of Nazareth was that king. And yet, as Yeshua
entered into His ministry, He met a growing wave
of opposition. Even though many of the common
Jewish people liked Yeshua, not everyone was pleased
with who He proclaimed Himself to be, or the kind
of kingdom He proclaimed. Many of the religious
and political leaders of Israel opposed Him.
Mark tells
the story of the greatest king of all. He relates
those events that were part of the most remarkable
life that was ever lived. There was much to record
about the amazing life of Yeshua. But, is seems
that Mark chose specific incidents to counteract
some dangerous distortions that were infiltrating
the community of believers. Apparently, some early
Messianic Jews and Christians were so focusing
on Yeshua's deity and glorious resurrection that
they began to ignore His humanity and His suffering.
As a result they expected to be spared suffering
in this life and to quickly join Yeshua in the
glories of Heaven. You can well imagine how their
faith may have been shaken when the emperor Nero
started using some of them as human torches, and
as snack food for his animals.
Matthew
emphasizes that Yeshua is the great rabbi from
whom we should learn. Luke focuses on Yeshua as
the ideal human being that needs to be emulated.
John focuses on Yeshua as the Son of God in whom
we should believe. Mark emphasized that Yeshua
is the suffering king that we must follow. If
we are to enjoy the glories of the kingdom of
God, like King Messiah, we too must follow the
way of suffering and service.
Many modern
day Christians and Messianic Jews also need to
hear this same message. That the cross must come
before the crown; that suffering in this life
is normal and will take place before we can experience
the glories of Heaven; and the pleasures of the
New Jerusalem.
Mark starts
off this amazing, divinely inspired book, whose
every word is faithful, true, accurate and reliable,
by telling us that this is the beginning of the
Good News of Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of God.
And, we
are in the most desperate need of some Good News,
because mankind is in such a horrible condition.
Our greatest problem is sin. That is the root
cause of all other problems. We are fallen, sinful,
alienated from God, who is the Source of life,
joy, peace, being, existence and meaning. Since
we are alienated from the One who is the Source
of all good, we are also alienated from life.
All of us will die. We are alienated from ourselves.
That's why so many people are so unhappy so much
of the time, and don't like themselves, and are
bored, or have mental problems or emotional illnesses,
and wind up full of despair, and engage in self-destructive
behavior, like drug and alcohol abuse and suicide.
We are alienated from each other. We often have
a very hard time getting along with each other.
We argue with each other, hurt each other. We
engage in crimes against one another. There is
so much injustice, so much inhumanity, so many
wars. We are alienated from nature. That's why
life is so difficult at times, and why it is a
struggle to survive. We find it so easy to abuse
the environment.
We sense
this alienation but may not know the reason for
it. Very early in human history, our first parents
rebelled against God, and sin, death, confusion,
alienation and chaos took control of humanity.
From the moment that Adam and Eve (who were very
real people) rebelled against our wonderful Creator,
everything changed. Their sin and rebellion affected
every aspect of their nature. Their body, their
soul, their will, their mind, their spirit, their
love for God, their relationship to God -- all
became corrupted. Instead of drawing nearer to
God, Adam and Eve ran away from Him. They became
alienated from God, from Heaven (which is a very
real place) and from eternal life. As a result
of their sin and alienation from the Lord, Adam
and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden, and
forbidden to eat from the Tree of Life. They were
headed toward death -- the First Death -- physical
death, and the Second Death -- Gehenna, Hell,
which is the Lake of Fire (also a very real place).
The consequences
resulting from the rebellion of our first parents
have been transmitted to all of their descendants,
spreading like a deadly virus. That corruption
of body, soul, will, mind, spirit, relationship
to God, and the loss of eternal life -- all of
it was passed on like a horrible disease, infecting
all of their descendants -- you and me.
Just as
we are incapable of saving ourselves from the
First Death -- physical death, so we are totally
incapable of saving ourselves from the Second
Death. Sin has so alienated us from God, and so
corrupted our nature, that we are in a state of
spiritual death. We are dead in our trespasses
and sins. Dead people are incapable of giving
themselves life!
Salvation
cannot come from anything having to do with human
effort or how good a person we are. We can never
be good enough, or righteous enough, or religious
enough. There are not enough good things that
we can do, not enough money we can give, not enough
good deeds that we can do, or merits that we can
earn that will enable us to avoid the First Death
or the Second Death. All human efforts will prove
inadequate.
We need
help. We need rescuing. We need salvation! We
need Good News! And there is Good News! What we
are utterly incapable of doing, God is completely
capable of accomplishing! God had a plan to make
salvation and redemption possible! The good and
merciful Creator did not leave us in that horrible
and hopeless condition.
The infinite
and almighty God, who is good and beautiful and
wise beyond description, so loved this fallen
world of sinful men and women that He sent His
Son, who shares the Father's name and nature,
deity and essence. God the Father sent the eternal
Son of God from Heaven to Earth. The Son of God
willingly took on this great mission. He left
Heaven, came to Earth, and became a human being.
Not just any human being, but part of the Chosen
People, and a member of King David's royal family.
Not just
His death, burial and resurrection, which is the
heart of the Good News, but everything about Yeshua
is Good News!
His
Heavenly origin is Good News!
His divine nature is Good News!
His relationship to God is Good News!
His arrival on Planet Earth is Good News!
His love for us is Good News!
His willingness to sacrifice Himself for us
is Good News!
His amazing teaching is Good News!
His miracles, and what they mean to us, are
Good News!
His death, burial and resurrection are very
Good News!
After
His death, burial and resurrection, the continuation
of His mission, first by His specially chosen
men, and then by the rest of us, is Good News!
This whole
book, and everything about Yeshua, is Good News
that we so desperately need! We must believe the
Good News!
Mark boldly
asserts from the beginning that Yeshua is the
long awaited Messiah. He is the Anointed One,
the One on whom God would pour out His Holy Spirit
and His Divine Presence. He is the One who would
fulfill the three offices in Israel in which lesser
men were anointed -- the offices of prophet, priest
and king.
Not only
is Yeshua the anointed Prophet, and the greatest
of all the prophets, who would speak most clearly
about God; and not only is He the Anointed Priest,
who brings a new priesthood that is better than
the priesthood of sons of Aaron, the Highest of
all High Priests, who brings us closer to God,
and brings God closer to us; not only is He the
Anointed King, the final and ultimate ruler over
Israel and the nations from David's family, endowed
with salvation, girded with righteousness and
faithfulness, who will rule over us with justice,
and bring about peace on Earth; not only is He
the Messiah, but He is also the Son of God. He
is fully man, and He is fully God. Just as a son
shares his father's nature, so Messiah Yeshua
shares the same divine nature and the essence
of deity as does His Father. He is the Son of
God, and He is God the Son. He is one with His
Father as far as His nature, and yet distinct
from His Father as far as His Person.
Next we
are introduced to Messiah's forerunner: a unique
individual known as John the Baptist -- Yochanan
HaMatbil -- John the Immerser, or John the Dipper.
Yochanan's
name means "God is gracious." John's name tells
us something -- that God was graciously sending
us this amazing prophet to prepare us for the
coming of King Messiah! John was a priest on his
father's side, and a relative of the Messiah on
his mother's side.
John was
very special. Yeshua said that among those born
of women, there is no one greater than John. He
was the greatest man who ever lived -- greater
than father Abraham. Greater than Moses, more
excellent than faithful Noah or righteous Daniel.
Greater than godly Joseph or the prophets Isaiah
or Jeremiah. Greater than Israel's greatest king,
David. That's high praise indeed.
John was
special because his life was a demarcation point
in history. A whole age, an entire dispensation
came to an end, and another one began, with the
coming of John. All the prophets and the Torah
prophesied until JohnYeshua stated (Matthew 11:13).
That is very special.
John ended
the longest interval between prophets. He was
the first prophet to appear in Israel in 400 years.
He ended the 400 silent years in which we were
without a prophet who spoke to us.
Other
than the Messiah, he was the only prophet whose
coming was predicted. The coming of Moses wasn't
predicted. The coming of Isaiah, or Jeremiah,
David or Abraham, wasn't predicted. But both the
prophets Malachi and Isaiah predicted the coming
of this great and unique prophet.
John had
a very special birth. Like some of the other great
figures in Jewish history -- Isaac, Samuel, and
Samson, and like the Lord Himself, John had a
supernatural conception. His mother Elizabeth
was beyond her time for childbearing, and yet
the Lord enabled her to conceive.
The other
prophets prophesied when the Spirit of God came
upon them after they were born. John was the only
prophet who was filled with the Spirit from the
time he was in his mother's womb, even before
he was born. This also teaches us that he was
fully alive and fully human while still in the
womb. Of course, that means that abortion is murder
-- the illegal killing of a fully human life.
John was
special because the other prophets only prophesied
the coming of the Messiah. But John was the prophet
who was chosen to directly prepare the Jewish
people in his own lifetime for the immediate arrival
of the Son of God, and then be there to lead them
to Him. He was the prophet who was blessed to
actually see with his own eyes the One that the
others only predicted was coming.
Next Mark
tells us about John's mission: It is written in
the prophet Yesha'yahu (Isaiah, whose name means
"the Lord is Salvation"), "See, I am sending My
messenger ahead of You; he will prepare the way
before You. The voice of someone crying out: 'In
the desert prepare the way for Adonai! Make straight
paths for Him!'"
This is
a combined quote from two prophets -- Isaiah and
Malachi. The prophets form a very special category
of human beings. These are men who were specially
chosen by God, who were enabled to hear from God
in a very clear and special way, and then clearly
speak the words of God to the rest of us.
By quoting
from the prophets Isaiah and Malachi, Mark is
teaching us that the New Covenant doesn't contradict
the Older Covenants. By quoting from the prophets,
Mark is teaching us that the Old Testament prophets
are inspired by God. By quoting from the prophets,
Mark is teaching us that the Old Testament is
authoritative. By quoting from the prophets, Mark
is teaching us that the New Testament is the natural
and necessary extension of the Older Testaments.
Is the penthouse at the top of the high rise not
part of the building? Are the lower floors of
the high rise not necessary for the penthouse?
The New Testament is the extension of the same
building. It is the fulfillment of the authoritative
and inspired Old Testament. It is the continuation
of the same story. It is the capstone, the crown,
the peak, the pinnacle, of what came before.
Mark quotes
two prophecies, from Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1,
seamlessly merging the two together. How could
Mark merge the quotes from the two prophets together,
if the message of the prophets didn't come from
a common source; if they didn't have the same
Divine Spirit inspiring them both? It might be
the words of Malachi and the words of Isaiah,
but behind them was the same Divine Author writing
to us!
Malachi
wrote more than 400 years before the coming of
Yeshua, and Isaiah wrote almost 400 years before
Malachi. That tells us that the Good News about
the Messiah, and the coming of His forerunner,
are deeply rooted in Holy Scriptures and in history.
That tells us that God was thinking about helping
us, and planning on rescuing us, hundreds of years
before the actual events of the Goods News about
the life of the Messiah happened. He was involved
in history, and working in history, to bring about
our salvation. Actually, the eternal God He had
been planning these things before the creation
of the universe! That is the kind of powerful
and good and merciful and loving and wise God
that He is!
"See,
I am sending My messenger ahead of You; he will
prepare the way before You. The voice of someone
crying out: 'In the desert prepare the way for
Adonai! Make straight paths for Him!'"
See! Pay
attention! This is very important! The Lord is
speaking to us about something that is very important!
But, Mark makes it clear that God the Father is
also speaking to God the Son. Mark seems to changing
the original quote in Malachi so that God is not
just addressing Israel, but addressing the Leader
of Israel. The Father is telling His Son that
He won't be on His own, that He will have His
Father's help, that God will be using all of His
vast resources to help His Son accomplish His
mission. God the Father assures His Son that He
was making special preparations, prior to the
coming of the Messiah into this world. God the
Father was preparing the greatest of the prophets,
who would be God's special messenger. John would
bring us God's message. John would help prepare
the Jewish people for the coming of the King,
the Messiah, the Savior, so that we would be more
receptive, more ready, when the Son of God arrived.
John, Messiah is told, will come before Yeshua,
and prepare the way for Yeshua.
He will
be in the wilderness, and cry out in the wilderness,
which is appropriate, because far too much of
the spiritual life of the Jewish people was like
a desert, spiritually dry, infertile, unable to
sustain much spiritual life. You know what? Truth
be told, we are still very much a spiritual desert!
John came
to cry out the truth, to be like a heavy rain
in the desert, which makes life grow and flourish,
so that when the King came, He would have life
to work with -- men and women who were alive to
God, and ready to follow the King.
How are
men and women prepared to encounter Adonai? By
a voice, and by crying out! Not by silence. The
voice speaks in a normal tone, and the voice cries
out with passion. Those who know the Lord must
speak -- speak up to those and around them, talking,
telling, declaring the truth about sin, salvation,
God and Messiah, Heaven and Hell. Yes, they must
speak, and they must also cry out with passion.
They must cry out because there is great danger!
They must cry out because there is such need!
They must cry out because the world is in pain!
They must cry out to prevent further suffering!
They must cry out, fearing the judgment of God
upon sin and those who won't obey!
They must
cry out because there is help! They must cry out
because God has supplied us with the help that
we need! He has give us the Savior. He has made
salvation possible! There is an answer! We must
cry out!
John's
mission was to come first, and prepare the way
for the arrival of Adonai, and make straight paths
for Him. In the ancient world, if the king was
coming to visit your city, you would do all you
could to prepare for his arrival. The people of
the city might go out and fix the road leading
to the city, so that the king would have an easy
ride into town. They might clear and clean the
streets, to make sure that there were no obstructions,
so the king would have a pleasant journey in the
town. In our day, cities that are hosting the
Republican or Democratic conventions will fix
up their city, so that the city will look its
best when the convention comes to town.
Just as
the men of a city prepared the way for the coming
of an earthly king, John was sent to prepare the
Jewish people for the coming of the King of kings,
so that the Lord's coming might be easier. It
wasn't just anybody who was coming. It was Adonai,
the Lord, the Creator of the universe, the One
who has life and being inherent in Himself. It
is the One who Everything else derives its being
from Him. The Lord is the source of all life,
being, and existence. It is the Eternal One, who
is without beginning and without end because He
always was, He is, and He always will be. It is
He who is coming! But, He is coming as a man,
a vulnerable human being, and He is coming to
a people who thought they were close to God, but
in actuality were far from Him.
John's
came to call us to repent -- to genuinely turn
to God and His ways, and away from our own selfish
and godless ways, with our veneer of religion.
John asked us to level the mountains of pride
and ignorance, thinking we were close to God when
we weren't, knowledgeable about God when we weren't,
understood the Torah when we didn't, acceptable
to God when we weren't. But, he also came to raise
up the valleys, and fill in the potholes of discouragement,
getting us encouraged that God was still active!
God was still speaking! God was still at work!
God was still helping us, and was about to help
us in the greatest way! God was still coming!
John came
to soften our hardened hearts, and call us people
to repentance, and raise up our Messianic expectations,
so that when King Messiah came, we would be ready,
receptive, able and willing to hear and learn
and believe and receive and follow the Son of
God.
May I
suggest that each one of us has been entrusted
with the same ministry as John? That the Almighty
is looking for men and women who will have the
same ministry as John, to be forerunners of the
Messiah? Yes, He has come already, and He is coming
again, but He wants to come deep into the hearts,
the minds, the souls, of millions of His own Jewish
people, and millions from every nation in the
world?
Won't
you be a John? Won't you speak, cry out, so that
the Lord will be better able to come, into the
hearts of your family? Your friends? Your neighbors?
Your co-workers?
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