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In this
chapter Mark has introduced us to:
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The Pharisees and Herodians:
They were antagonistic to Yeshua and planned
to kill Him.
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The crowds: They were attracted
to Yeshua, but didn’t fully understand
Him and His mission, and were not loyal to
Him.
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The demons: They knew Yeshua
best of all but did everything they could
to oppose Him.
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The Twelve: While they
were imperfect, and will make mistakes, they
were loyal to Him, committed to being with
Him, and serving Him – although one
was a betrayer.
Next Mark
introduces us to two more groups: Yeshua’s family,
and the religious experts from Jerusalem. You
might think that these two groups would know Him
the best and support Him the most. Let’s see.
3:20
And Yeshua came home – probably to the
home He was living at in Capernaum, and the
crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they
could not even eat a meal. Although Yeshua
was extremely popular with the crowds, He was
not so popular with His own family. When His
own people heard of this, they went out to take
custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has
lost His senses." Word had reached His relatives,
and we will find out shortly that it is was His
mother and brothers, about Yeshua’s great popularity.
They may have heard that things were so chaotic
that He didn’t have time to eat. They may have
heard that He was angering the religious and political
leaders of Israel.
And, how
did they react? By loyally rallying to Yeshua?
No – they thought that something was wrong with
Yeshua. He had lost His senses. He wasn’t in His
right mind. They really didn’t understand who
He was or how God was using Him. So His mother
and brothers left Nazareth and came to take custody
of Yeshua, to restrain Him from causing any more
problems for Himself or others.
Before
Yeshua can deal with this family situation, He
must first deal with the Torah-teachers who came
down from Jerusalem. These are the big guns, the
religious experts from the center of Judaism.
These religious leaders were well aware of Yeshua's
miracles and healings, and His growing popularity
but here is their explanation for it: The scribes
who came down from Jerusalem were
saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "He
casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."
Ba'alzibbul
was a name for a Philistine god. It means “Lord
of the Flies.” It became a title for the Adversary
as the Lord of the demons. Why Lord of the Flies?
I think because flies feed on dead bodies. They
feed on corruption and death. Satan and the demons
seem to be nourished by corrupting human beings,
and ensuring our destruction. Notice that although
most Jewish people don’t believe in Satan and
demons anymore, we did believe at that time.
So, these
religious experts have considered Yeshua, and
analyzed Him, and His teachings and His ministry,
and they have concluded that Yeshua was not on
God’s side. The Lord is not doing these miracles
through Yeshua and with Yeshua. Yeshua is doing
miracles and casting out demons because Satan
possesses Him. The Enemy of God is the source
of Yeshua’s powers, and that is why the demons
obey Him. But, their explanation made no sense
and couldn’t have been more wrong!
Not only
had these men made this amazingly wrong determination
for themselves, but they had also gone on the
offensive and were trying to influence others
to come the same conclusion. These religious leaders
of Israel were engaged in "damage control." They
didn't approve of Yeshua. They had rejected Him.
They were opposed to Him. They knew that Yeshua
was making inroads among many of the people, and
making disciples, and they wanted to keep the
rest of the Jewish people away from Yeshua. So
they slandered and “demonized” Yeshua.
And, you
know what? Jewish leaders still use this same
technique to keep our Jewish people away from
the rightful King of the Jews! “He’s not the Messiah.
Don’t believe in Him, stay away from Him. Belief
in Him is not Jewish.” And, they use the same
techniques on us. Messianic Jews are demonized
as bad, evil, corrupters of Judaism, destroyers
of the Jewish people, when in fact the exact opposite
is true. We are the truest expression of Biblical
Judaism, and the ones offering the message of
salvation to our people.
Now Yeshua
will give His disciples the true explanation for
the supernatural activity operating through Him.
And He called them to Himself and began speaking
to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom
cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself,
that house will not be able to stand. If Satan
has risen up against himself and is divided, he
cannot stand, but he is finished!
“If the
Torah-teachers were right,” Yeshua says, “it means
that a demonic civil war is in progress. Satan
and his demons are divided, and fighting against
each other, and are in the process of destroying
each other. That means that Satan’s dominion must
shortly end.” All they had to do was wait a few
days and find out, and if evil ceased on Earth,
the Torah-teachers would have been right! Of course,
Satan’s evil kingdom didn’t end at that time,
and therefore the horrible explanation of the
Torah-teachers was wrong.
The real
explanation wasn’t that Yeshua was possessed by
Satan, and being used by the Prince of Darkness.
Yeshua gives us the true explanation: But no
one can enter the strong man's house and plunder
his property unless he first binds the strong
man, and then he will plunder his house.
Yeshua
isn't being used by the devil for the destruction
of humanity. In fact, the exact opposite is true!
He is the Leader in the battle against him! He
is the only One who can bind him! He is the One
who can limit his evil activity. The reason Yeshua
is able to do so is because He is stronger than
the strong man – Satan. He is El Gibor – the
Mighty God, the almighty Son of God, and the Righteous
One, and the Lord of Glory, sent and empowered
by God the Father, operating in the power and
authority of the Spirit. He is long awaited Seed
of the Woman, the Messiah, the Savior, who had
started crushing the head of the Serpent, and
destroying the works of the devil, rescuing those
the strong one had been able to control. And,
the Prince of Evil had a right to control them,
having won them by tempting them to come to his
side.
But the
rightful King has come to this fallen planet,
and entered Satan’s kingdom and has began to limit
what the Adversary can do. That is why Yeshua
was able to cast out Satan's demonic assistants
from human beings.
Today
there are those who try to "bind" Satan. But that
is unnecessary and wrong. There is only One who
can bind the devil, and He has already done it!
Yeshua bound the Adversary even in the days of
his ministry and limited his power and authority
over certain human beings. Yeshua made it possible
to plunder Satan’s house, and begin to rescue
some human beings that Satan and the demons had
held captive. So today we don't need to try binding
the devil and the demons. We are not authorized
to try to put invisible spiritual cords or ropes
around demons, or pray the blood of Yeshua over
these forces (whatever that means), or “take authority”
over cities and town and cast out all the demons
from entire regions. “Binding and loosing” means
permitting something or not permitting something,
and using and enforcing proper spiritual authority
in the Church.
What we
are to do is tell people the truth – declare the
Gospel – the Message of Salvation, which is the
power of God that will save people. We may properly
when necessary exercise the authority to cast
out evil spirits. But we have that authority because
the devil has already been bound, and his power
and authority have been limited by Yeshua.
Yeshua
gives us another important principle with these
words: If a kingdom is divided against itself,
that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided
against itself, that house will not be able to
stand.
A direct
attack from an enemy comes from without and is
easy to spot. An attack that comes from within
is more subtle and harder to spot. So we need
to watch out for those within who will try to
divide God's house. Congregation Shema Yisrael
is like a house. We are trying to be like one
big loving family living in the same home. That
means that we need to watch out for those who
may be within the family, but who may try to divide
the family from within. Over the years we have
had several people who have tried to do that,
and one time we lost several families as a result.
So, all of us need to be on guard.
Let us
not be a house divided against itself, but cleaned
by the Holy Spirit, and united by our common faith
in God and Messiah, let us gather together undivided
and be like Messiah’s early Community, a multitude
who were of one heart and one soul.
Having
answered the claim that He is being used by the
Devil, and getting His miraculous powers from
him, Yeshua now moves on to issue a very severe
warning to these Torah-teachers: Truly I say
to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of
men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but
whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never
has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"
– because they were saying, "He has an unclean
spirit."
Many have
been frightened by these words (and rightly so),
and have wondered if they have blasphemed against
the Holy Spirit and committed the unpardonable
sin and are going to Hell. Let’s find out: Remember,
these are religious experts who have looked carefully
at Yeshua, and at the things He was doing, and
His miracles and His teachings and have concluded
that Yeshua is not being used by God, but is operating
by the power and authority of the Devil.
When someone
can carefully consider the sinless Son of God,
who is just like God the Father in name and nature,
in character and essence; when someone can take
a good looked at the Savior of Humanity, who is
serving God in the power of God’s Spirit – and
conclude that something that God was doing through
Him was really being done by the devil – then
that person is very close to blaspheming against
the Holy Spirit – saying something horrible, false
and dishonoring against the Spirit of God and
that person is close to losing the possibility
of salvation.
When someone
is so far from God, and so twisted, that they
call the goodness of God the evil of Satan – and
think that the power of God is the power of Satan,
then that person is almost beyond redemption.
What is
the unpardonable, unforgivable sin today? It is
seeing a clear demonstration of the Spirit of
God at work, and then speaking evil of it.
Is it
rejecting Yeshua, who is full of the Holy Spirit,
after repeatedly being witnessed to? Maybe.
Can it
be the one who experiences a sign, and then rejects
it? Martha had a cousin Sidney, who had a near
death experience. Yeshua appeared to Sidney when
he was in that condition. Sidney survived, and
knew that Yeshua had revealed Himself to him,
and contacted a believing member of the family,
but after that, Sidney refused to follow Yeshua.
Sidney recently died a tragic end, after having
spent time in jail after being convicted of selling
pharmaceutical drugs illegally.
Can it
be the scientist, seeing the fingerprints of God
all over Creation? Creation, which shows such
overwhelming evidence of design, beauty, elegance,
power, simplicity? And then concluding that there
is no God? Possibly.
Can it
be the liberal theologian, who after reading and
studying the Holy Scriptures, which is a great
and powerful work of the Spirit, concluding that
the Bible is not inspired by God, but is just
an ordinary book?
Can it
be the one brought up in the Church, lovingly
nurtured in the truth, taught by godly parents
and good teachers, who rejects the Faith and speaks
ill of Christianity? Maybe.
Can it
be the intellectual, who has seen how Christianity
has grown over the centuries, and done so much
good for Western Civilization, and then rejects
Christianity and attacks it? Quite possibly.
Blaspheming
the Holy Spirit is seeing God at work – perhaps
in creation, in history, in the Scriptures, in
personal experience, and most especially in Yeshua,
and resisting the truth, and opposing it.
That brings
us to the second group of people that Mark calls
our attention to: Yeshua’s family. Remember, Yeshua’s
family had heard about what Yeshua was saying
and doing, and the impact He was making. They
may have heard that Yeshua was angering the political
and spiritual leaders of Israel, and putting Himself
into danger. They may have heard that He wasn’t
taking care of Himself, and wasn’t eating properly.
And so, they concluded that He had lost His senses,
and was acting crazy, and needed to be brought
home to Nazareth and restrained from doing anything
further. Then His mother and His brothers
arrived, and standing outside they sent word to
Him and called Him. When Yeshua’s family finally
arrived from Nazareth, because a crowd was
sitting around Him, and there were so many
people trying to get closer to Yeshua, and listen
to Him, and see the miracles He might do, that
His family had to stand outside the house. They
couldn’t get in! They had to send word to Yeshua
– either asking Him to come out to them or for
Him to make it possible for them to come to Him.
What a contrast between these crowds on non-family
members were closer in touch with what God was
doing with Yeshua than His own mother and brothers!
And
they – the messengers sent into the home by
His family to call Yeshua on behalf of His family
– said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your
brothers are outside looking for You."
Could
this be understood as a temptation by His family?
That Yeshua might have been tempted to go out
to them, and listen as they expressed their concerns
about Him, and heed their advice that He should
end His crazy activities, and stop angering the
leaders, and come back home to Nazareth where
He would be safe?
After
all, this was His family asking Him to end His
activity – His mother and brothers. They were
His family, and family comes first, right? Honoring
one’s family is very important.
But Yeshua
did not immediately stop what He was doing – being
with those who wanted to learn from Him, and go
outside to mother and brothers who wanted to restrain
Him and take Him home. Instead, He remained in
the home, and said something unexpected, and the
Lord’s action and His words teaches us the priority
of putting God first in our lives – even above
family.
Answering
them, He said, "Who are My mother and My brothers?"
Looking about at those who were sitting around
Him, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers!
For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother
and sister and mother."
Respect
and honor are to be given to our family. Yeshua
never instructed a person to ignore his responsibilities
to family. But what Yeshua makes clear is the
relationship that joins us to our brothers and
sisters in the Faith, and to Himself and to God,
are stronger and make greater demands upon us
than those of our own natural family.
When there
is a conflict between what God says, and the advice
and desires of our relatives which contradict
the will of God, it is the will of God which must
come first. God's will, God's word, God's commands,
must be the deciding factor in our life.
Like Yeshua,
we're responsible to stand up to our families,
and tell them – with compassion and understanding,
that we must follow what God says, and that His
will must come first – otherwise we are idolaters.
Sadly, I’ve seen many who refused to make the
commitment to follow Yeshua, and therefore forfeit
eternal life; and I’ve seen quite a few begin
to follow, then fall away from the truth, because
they were not willing to stand up to pressure
from their family.
And, it
is God’s will for us to follow Yeshua. Yeshua
said, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate
his own father and mother and wife and children
and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own
life, he cannot be My disciple." Yeshua can make
this supreme claim upon us, having fulfilled it
Himself by putting God above His family.
If we
are opposed or rejected by our earthly family,
we can receive comfort from Yeshua's words: "See!
Here are My mother and My brothers! Who ever does
what God wants is My brother, sister and mother!"
Yeshua
specifically wants us to know that each one of
us who believes in Him can be closer to Him than
Mary and His brothers were to Him. By believing
in Him, and then doing the will of God, you become
closer to Yeshua than His natural mother and brothers
were to Him.
This is
a warning against putting too much importance
on Mary, and that having a relationship with Mary
is not necessary to be close to Yeshua, who is
close to God. It's almost as if God knew the perversion
of love and affection and prayers and devotion
and worship that Mary would in later years receive,
and here purposely warned us to prevent that from
happening.
Any attempt
to go through Mary because you think Yeshua is
too distant, too uninterested, too busy, or not
compassionate enough, indicates a heart that doesn't
understand the Son of God, His nearness, His reality,
His love, His Name. It is a heart that doesn’t
know the Word of God, or the reality of the new
birth.
Those
who want to serve God must expect to meet with
opposition, both from those closest to them –
like their family, and from those who are distant,
like the religious and political leaders. They
can expect opposition from Satan, and even from
betrayers in their own midst. So many aren’t willing
to face this rejection and that’s why so few follow,
or give up along the way. Only a wholehearted
commitment to God and Messiah, and a willingness
to do the will of God, will enable us to endure
the opposition. May the Lord, with His grace,
enable us to make and keep that wholehearted commitment,
and have that willingness to obey Him.
I am indebted
to Ray Stedman for much of this message.
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