Filled With Faith

December 17, 2020December 17, 2020 / kdmiller55 / 1 Comment

²²And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” ²³And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. ²⁴And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. ²⁵Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” – Mark 14:22-25 ESV

With His unidentified betrayer seated at the table with them, Jesus and His disciples began to eat the Passover meal together. As each course of this sacred meal was served, these men would have found it difficult to take their minds off of Jesus’ earlier announcement. One of them was going to do the unthinkable and betray the Lord. And the only hint that Jesus had given as to who the culprit might be was that it was “one of you twelve who is eating from this bowl with me” (Mark 14:20 NLT). That meant it could be any one of them.

But, acting as the head of the family in their shared Passover celebration, Jesus administered the various rites associated with this traditional meal to His 12 “sons.” And on this night, this annual and highly familiar event took on new meaning for these men. Little did they understand at the time that their Lord and Master was standing before them as the Pascal Lamb. He was as John the Baptist had said, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29 ESV). And He was “the bread of God…who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:33 ESV).

These declarations concerning Jesus’ true identity were being illustrated right before their eyes. Jesus used the various elements associated with the Passover meal to point to His God-ordained mission as their deliverer. This meal, which they had eaten every year throughout their lives, had always been a foreshadowing of something greater to come. Yes, it was a commemoration of God’s deliverance of the people of Israel from their captivity in Egypt. But it had also been given as a sign of the deliverance Jesus would bring when He came to earth as the sacrificial Lamb. Through the offering of His sinless body and the shedding of His innocent blood, Jesus would provide mankind with a way to be delivered from its captivity to sin and death.

So, during the meal, Jesus took some of the unleavened bread (a symbol of sinlessness) and “after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body’” (Mark 14:22 ESV). And Luke records that Jesus added, “which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19 ESV). He offered them the bread and invited them to consume it, as a symbol of their faith in the sacrificial offering He was about to make on their behalf. It seems likely that the disciples recalled an earlier statement made by Jesus concerning the bread from heaven.

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” – John 6:51 ESV

As they held the broken pieces of bread in their hands, the disciples had to wrestle with the significance of Jesus’ words and actions. But before they had tie to take in what Jesus was saying, He “took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it” (Mark 14:23 ESV). And according to Matthew’s account, Jesus told them, “this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28 ESV).

Once again, the minds of the disciples must have been filled with memories of Jesus’ earlier teachings concerning the bread and the blood. At that time, His words had made little sense. But now, they were coming into clearer focus.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” – John 6:53-56 ESV

Just as the disciples consumed the bread and the wine that night, they would have to ingest the body and blood of Jesus. In order to benefit from what Jesus was about to do for them, they would have to make His life a part of their own. In an act of faith, they would need to take in the gift of His body and blood, believing that these sacred elements would provide them with eternal life. The eating of bread and wine is an act of faith, It is an outward demonstration of trust that their consumption will provide nourishment to the physical body, In the same way, the body and blood of Christ are “consumed” as an act of faith, a willful display of faith in the efficacious nature of Jesus’ death on our behalf. He becomes part of us. He comes to live within us. That is exactly what Jesus meant when He said, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:56 ESV).

In time, the disciples would understand the nature of Jesus’ words. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, they would be given the power to grasp and appreciate all that they had heard Jesus say to them. The apostle Paul would later describe the memorial aspect of what Jesus had done that fateful night. The church would go on to establish the eating of the bread and the drinking of the wine as a regularly occurring part of their corporate worship experience.

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” – 1 Corinthians 11:26 ESV

And the proclamation of His death is to continue until He returns again. It is His death that brings life. It was the sacrifice of His body and blood that made forgiveness of sin and freedom from death possible. But we must never forget that His death was followed by His resurrection. He was restored to life by the power of the Spirit of God. And He returned to His Father’s side in heaven. But, one day, He will return. And Jesus told His disciples, “I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God” (Mark 14:25 ESV). Jesus was assuring His disciples that His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension would be followed by His return. When He comes back, He will establish His Kingdom on earth and once again share a cup of celebration with His faithful followers.

The apostle John provides us with a glimpse into this future day when Jesus will share another meal with His disciples. On this occasion, there will be no bread broken as a sign of death or wine consumed as a symbol of His shed blood. This will be a victory meal, a time of joyous celebration as the people of God rejoice in the finished work of the Son of God.

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” – Revelation 19:6-9 ESV

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Just As God Had Planned

December 16, 2020 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

¹⁰Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. ¹¹And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.

¹²And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” ¹³And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, ¹⁴and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹⁵And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” ¹⁶And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

¹⁷And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. ¹⁸And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” ¹⁹They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” ²⁰He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. ²¹For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” – Mark 14:10-21 ESV

Two very different people performed two distinctively different actions that fateful night and both would be remembered. The first was the unidentified woman who graciously anointed the head of Jesus with expensive oil. The other was Judas, one of His own disciples who, driven by greed, chose to betray Him. Concerning the first, Jesus stated, “wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (Mark 14:9 ESV). She would be memorialized for her display of selfless sacrifice and love. But the name of Judas would become a byword for treachery and deceit. HIs selfish sellout of His friend and Master would forever label him as the consummate icon of betrayal. Jesus would say of him, “woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born” (Mark 14:21 ESV).

The woman did what she did out of love for Jesus. But the actions of Judas were motivated by financial gain. Matthew tells us that Judas left the upper room and headed straight to the Sanhedrin, where he bargained away the life of Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15), which was the average price for a slave. This man, who had spent the last three-and-a-half years of his life with Jesus, showed no remorse in placing a price tag on His life. Perhaps Judas had finally recognized that Jesus was not going to set up His Kingdom on earth, and he and the other disciples were not going to enjoy the positions of power and prominence for which they had hoped. So, he thought to make the most of his disappointment by turning Jesus over to the authorities.

But before Judas would have the opportunity to sell Jesus out, the two of them would celebrate one final Passover meal together. Jesus sent Peter and John into the city with instructions to make preparations for this important ceremony. He told them they would find “a man carrying a jar of water.” Since it was uncommon for men to perform such a menial task, this man would have stood out to the disciples. Once they found him, they were to follow him to his master’s house. There they would find a large room already arranged for their use. This meant that, in keeping with the laws concerning Passover, the entire house had been cleansed of all leaven. Peter and John then prepared the meal, which included the sacrifice of the Pascal lamb. All of this had to be done according to the commands given by God to Moses.

“You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset…” – Deuteronomy 16:5-6 ESV

All of this took place on Thursday night. The lamb was slaughtered at sunset and the Passover meal was eaten that evening. So, once all the preparations had been made, Jesus gathered with the 12 disciples in the upper room to celebrate the Passover with them. And it was during the meal that He announced His betrayal.

“Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” – Mark 14:16 ESV

This unexpected news came as a shock to all 12 of the disciples, including Judas. How could his carefully concealed plan have been so easily exposed? He must have been in a state of near panic as he considered what the rest of the disciples would do if they discovered he was the guilty party. Would they turn on him? Should he run?

But much to Judas’ relief, the other 11 disciples show no sign that they suspect him. Instead, saddened by Jesus’ accusation, they each question whether they might be the one of whom Jesus spoke. With a sense of disbelief tinged with concern, each man asks Jesus to clear his name by absolving him of any role in this terrible act of treachery. Rather than casting aspersion on one another, each man wonders aloud if he is the one who is destined to fulfill this infamous role. But Jesus’ answer provides them with little relief.

“It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me.” – Mark 14:20 ESV

The perpetrator of this heinous act of betrayal is one of them. And not only is this individual one of their own, but he has also just shared the Passover meal with them. There is a degree of intimacy and familiarity conveyed by Jesus’ words. This is no stranger, but a member of the family. And this brings to mind the warning Jesus had previously given to His disciples.

“Even those closest to you—your parents, brothers, relatives, and friends—will betray you.” – Luke 21:16 NLT

Judas was part of the family. He had shared an intimate relationship with Jesus and each of the other 11 disciples. They had shared countless meals, walked side-by-side over hundreds of miles, and enjoyed a variety of never-to-be-forgotten experiences. But now, one of them was going to do the unthinkable.

Yet, Jesus reveals that it was all part of God’s divine plan. This shocking act of betrayal was not an unexpected detour, but a divinely orchestrated sequence in the sovereign plan of God. Judas was playing the part for which he had been chosen. And even though Jesus had known all along that Judas would be the one to betray Him, He had treated him as one of His own. Judas had experienced the same unconditional love like all of the other disciples. And yet, he would turn his back on Jesus, selling Him out for 30 pieces of silver. But even this was in keeping with the sovereign decree of God as prophesied by Zechariah.

Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. – Zechariah 11:12-13 ESV

God’s will would be done. The Son would be betrayed. The Lamb of God would be sacrificed. And the Savior of the world would become the ransom for many.

Mixed Messages

December 15, 2020 / kdmiller55 / 1 Comment

¹It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, ²for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”

³And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. ⁴There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? ⁵For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. ⁶But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ⁷For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. ⁸She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. ⁹And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” – Mark 14:1-9 ESV

It is Wednesday and, as Mark indicates, the celebration of Passover is just two days away. The events surrounding Jesus’ earthly ministry are quickly coming to a climax. Whether His disciples fully comprehend it or not, their Master’s days are running out. Mark makes special mention of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This particular feast, which accompanied Passover, was an important part of the annual celebration. It was to act as an additional reminder of the miraculous deliverance God had provided for the people of Israel.

And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there. You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days… – Deuteronomy 16:2-4 ESV

Leaven represents sin. It has an invasive quality to it, that left unchecked, permeates and spreads, influencing everything with which it comes into contact. For seven days, the Israelites were to remove all leaven from their homes and eat bread made without leaven. While the original Passover provided the Israelites with divine deliverance from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, it foreshadowed an even greater deliverance to come. Jesus, by being sacrificed during the Feast of Passover, was offering Himself as the Bread of Life. He was the sinless Savior who was willing to lay down His life for the sheep.

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” – John 6:51 ESV

With the sacrifice of His life, Jesus would offer a way for sinful men and women to be delivered from their bondage to sin and death. But Mark’s mention of the Feast of Unleavened Bread had another purpose. It juxtaposes the actions of the religious leaders who were feverishly plotting the death of Jesus. During the seven days in which they were to remove all leaven (sin) from their homes, these men were devising a strategy to end the life of the Son of God.

And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.” – Mark 14:1-2 ESV

They didn’t view their actions as being sinful and, therefore, they saw no need to purge their lives of greed, anger, malice, jealousy, or hypocrisy. In their twisted minds, they were in the right and fully justified in their hatred for Jesus. They truly thought they were doing God and the nation a favor.

But with the image of the heavily “leavened” religious leaders fixed in our minds, Mark refocuses our attention on Jesus, the bread from heaven. He has joined His followers for a dinner hosted by Simon the leper. The location is Bethany, located just east of Jerusalem, the same town where Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. In the middle of the meal, an unidentified woman walks into the room, opens a flask containing expensive and aromatic oil, and begins to anoint the head of Jesus. While similar to the story recorded by John, this appears to be a different scene altogether. John’s story takes place six days before Passover and the woman involved is Mary, the sister of Lazarus.

Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. – John 12:1-3 ESV

We are looking at two different anointings, one that took place on Saturday, at the beginning of the week, and the other on Wednesday. And because both Matthew and Mark leave the second woman unnamed, it is unlikely that it is Mary. In this case, an unidentified woman makes her way into the room and anoints the head of Jesus with a costly and highly aromatic oil. As soon as she broke the flask, the scent of the oil must have permeated the room, attracting the attention of all the guests, including the disciples of Jesus. And they immediately expressed their disapproval.

“Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” – Mark 14:4-5 ESV

Without realizing it, these men had responded after the manner of the Pharisees. In doing so, they exposed their own obsession with earthly rather than spiritual things. Appalled by what they believed to be a wanton display of wastefulness, they rebuked the woman. They were incapable of seeing the rich symbolism behind her actions. But Jesus reprimanded them, saying, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me” (Mark 14:6 ESV).

Just a few days earlier, when Mary had anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them dry with her own hair, Judas had expressed a similar disdain for her excessive waste of resources. But Jesus had told him, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial” (John 12:7 ESV).

In both cases, these women were anointing the one who was about to offer His life as a sacrificial offering for the sins of mankind. While they were unaware of the import of their own actions, both Mary and the unidentified woman were preparing the body of Jesus for burial. And Jesus makes this quite clear.

“She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.” – Mark 14:8 ESV

The religious leaders were obsessed with putting Jesus to death. The disciples were preoccupied with temporal concerns. But this unnamed woman was focused on the Savior. Her love for Him was displayed by her willingness to make a tremendous sacrifice on His behalf. He meant far more to her than money or possessions did. And Jesus tried to help His disciples understand the vital lesson behind her actions.

“For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me.” – Mark 14:7 ESV

Time was running out. In just a matter of days, they would witness the crucifixion and death of their friend and Master. And not a single one of them had done anything to show their gratitude or appreciation for all that He had done for them over the last three-and-a-half years. They were hours away from eating their final Passover meal with Jesus. And at that event, He will take on the role of a slave and wash their feet. The Savior will sacrifice His glory for their good. He will humble Himself so that they might be made clean. The Son of God will offer His life as a ransom for many.

The Pharisees plotted His death. This woman anointed His head. The disciples questioned her actions. But in the midst of it all, Jesus remained committed to His calling and fully prepared to fulfill His Father’s will.

Awake and Waiting

December 14, 2020 / kdmiller55 / 1 Comment

²⁴“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, ²⁵and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. ²⁶And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

²⁸“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. ³⁰Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

³²“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. ³⁴It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. ³⁵Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— ³⁶lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. ³⁷And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” – Mark 13:24-37 ESV

Almost the entire focus of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse is the far-distant future. He is telling His disciples about events that will take place long after they are gone. But He uses language that conveys a sense of anticipation, almost as if these things could happen tomorrow. In a sense, He is trying to help them understand that, in just a few days, they will be eyewitnesses to one of the most significant parts of God’s grand redemptive plan.

With all the emphasis on things to come, it is easy to forget that Jesus is just days away from His own death. But that singular event will inaugurate a new age. With His death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus will usher in the church age. His return to His Father’s side will make possible the coming of the Holy Spirit. And on the day of Pentecost, His followers will receive the “power from on high” that He promised, transforming them into bold and powerful ambassadors of the Gospel. And their efforts will help give birth to the church. And for generations, the church will grow and prosper, spreading throughout the world and impacting every tribe, nation, and tongue. But one day, Jesus will return for His bride, the church, and take them to be with Him in heaven. And with the removal of all believers from the face of the earth, the stage will be set for the day of Tribulation, a seven-year-long period of divine judgment upon the earth and its inhabitants. And Jesus has warned that “in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be” (Mark 14:19 ESV).

Yet, even in those dark days, God will continue to redeem the lost, beginning with 144,000 Jews that will represent every one of the 12 tribes of Israel (Revelations 7:4). And they will become witnesses to the world, resulting in the salvation of countless individuals from every people group on the planet. And many of those believers will become martyrs, suffering death at the hand of Antichrist. But, according to God’s divine plan, the seven-years of the Tribulation will finally come to an end. And Jesus indicates that the end will be marked by cosmic disturbances.

“…the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” – Mark 13:24-25 ESV

These dramatic celestial displays will act as signs of another significant feature of God’s redemptive plan: The return of His Son.

“And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.” – Mark 13:26-27 ESV

This will be the long-awaited Second Coming of Jesus. Unlike His first advent, when Jesus came to earth in the form of a helpless baby, this time He will come as a mighty warrior and a conquering King.

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. – Revelation 19:11-16 ESV

Jesus will return to earth in order to wage war against all the forces of evil on the earth. He will gather all His saints, both living and dead. And He will defeat the forces of Satan, capturing and imprisoning Antichrist and his associates (Revelation 19:19-21). And then Jesus will set up His earthly Kingdom, ruling from His throne in Jerusalem for a period of 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4-6).

All of these amazing events are included in the future events Jesus is describing to His disciples. It is as if He is giving them a highly condensed preview of all that is going to take place in the days ahead, and it will begin with His own death in Jerusalem.

So, Jesus tells them, “when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates” (Mark 13:29 ESV). He is not suggesting that they be around when these events take place. He is simply suggesting that before the end comes, there will be ample signs that will make its arrival clear. Like a fig tree that blooms and presages the arrival of summer, the various stages of God’s redemptive plan will have warning signs.

His referral to “this generation” in verse 30, seems to be an indication that the disciples represent a new dispensation or age among mankind. They will become the firstfruits of those who make up the church age. But they will also represent all those who live after the cross and who face the choice between salvation through faith in Christ alone or the condemnation and death that come through disbelief.

“This generation” includes all those who will witness Christ’s ascension and all those who will see His second coming. They and the world they inhabit will not be destroyed until all these things take place. Believers and unbelievers will inhabit this planet until the bitter end. And Jesus assures His disciples that they can trust His words. His word will prove more lasting and permanent than the universe itself.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” – Mark 13;31 ESV

But while all that Jesus has told them will take place, it will be according to the secret plans of God. No one knows the timing of God’s plan, not even Jesus Himself. That’s why Jesus told His followers, “Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come” (Mark 13:33 ESV). Jesus wanted them to live with a sense of urgency, with their eyes focused on the fulfillment of His mission. Jesus had not come just to die and rise again. He had come so that He might come again. His second coming will be the final act in God’s grand play of redemption and restoration. That is why Paul told the believers living in Philippi, “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior” (Philippians 3:20 NLT).

Jesus wanted His disciples to live with a sense of urgency and expectancy. So, He told them to “Be on guard, keep awake” (Mark 13:33 ESV). There is no room for complacency or laziness among God’s people. We are to live as if His Son’s return could take place at any moment. We are part of that “generation” that “will not pass away until all these things take place.” We may not live long enough to see any of these things take place, but we are to live with confident assurance that they will. And we are to eagerly wait for Him to return as our Savior.

The End Will Come

December 13, 2020 / kdmiller55 / 1 Comment

¹⁴“But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁵Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, ¹⁶and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. ¹⁷And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! ¹⁸Pray that it may not happen in winter. ¹⁹For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be. ²⁰And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. ²¹And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. ²²For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. ²³But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.” – Mark 13:14-23 ESV

The disciples had asked what they believed to be a simple question for which they hoped to get a simple answer.

“…when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” – Mark 13:4 ESV

But Jesus rarely, if ever, gave simple answers. The four disciples, who had posited their question to Jesus while sitting on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem, had been anxious to know the exact timing of the temple’s destruction. His earlier announcement of this event had left them stunned and more than a little bit concerned. But Jesus ended up providing them with a highly condensed overview of the eschatological future. He pieced together a host of end-times events that would culminate with His return to the earth.

The disciples believed Jesus to be their long-awaited Messiah, and they had fully expected Him to set up His Kingdom on earth in their lifetimes. That is why His repeated references to His death in Jerusalem had been so difficult for them to accept. And His mention of the destruction of the royal city of Jerusalem further frustrated their hopes of a restored and revitalized Israel. These men were living in the here-and-now, with their hopes fully focused on the immediate inauguration of His reign and their personal participation in His new Kingdom.

Yet, Jesus wanted them to know that there was far more going on they realized. He had not come to set up an earthly Kingdom – at least, not yet. There were other events that would have to occur before He took His rightful place on the throne of David in Jerusalem. And Jesus mentions one such event: “the abomination of desolation” Mark 13:14 ESV). Whether or not the disciples understood this reference is unclear. But Jesus, well acquainted with the Hebrew scriptures, reaches back into the book of Daniel and utilizes a prophecy from the book of Daniel.

“And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” – Daniel 9:26-27 ESV

This prophecy was partially fulfilled in 167 BC, when Antiochus Epiphanes, the king of the Seleucid Empire, profaned the temple in Jerusalem by erecting an altar to Zeus and slaughtering swine on it. This blatant desecration of the temple was followed by a series of other devasting decrees, including the criminalization of the rite of circumcision and the requirement of all Jews to offer sacrifices to Zeus. These unacceptable demands infuriated the Jews and ultimately led to the Maccabean revolt.

But like many Old Testament prophecies, this one had a now-not-yet aspect to it. While the actions of Antiochus had partially fulfilled Daniel’s predictions, Jesus was revealing that there was a future element to this prophecy that remained as yet unfulfilled. When Jesus had prophesied regarding the destruction of the temple, His words had also included a now-not-yet dimension. The temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed by Titus in 70 AD, but this would only be a partial fulfillment of Jesus’ words. The disciples were being given a glimpse into the distant future when the full scope of Jesus’ predictions would take place.

Jesus is revealing events that will take place in conjunction with His second coming. There will be another desecration of the temple, but it will not take place in the lifetimes of the disciples. This future event will precede His return and usher in a time of great tribulation on the earth. Jesus describes it as an unprecedented period of suffering, like nothing that has ever happened before.

“For there will be greater anguish in those days than at any time since God created the world. And it will never be so great again.” – Mark 13:19 NLT

He warns that those who are alive when it happens should do everything in their power to run for their lives.

“Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. A person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return even to get a coat. How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. And pray that your flight will not be in winter.” – Mark 13:14-18 NLT

The Daniel passage to which Jesus refers speaks of “one who makes desolate” (Daniel 9:27 ESV). This individual will wield great power and become “the prince who is to come” who “shall destroy the city and the sanctuary” (Daniel 9:26 ESV). This future world leader will be the Antichrist, who will appear on the scene at the beginning of the seven years of Tribulation. He will rise to power, make a treaty with the nation of Israel, and use his great influence to coordinate the reconstruction of the temple in Jerusalem. For three-and-a-half years, things will appear to be going well, but then all hell will break loose. He will end up breaking his treaty with Israel, turning his wrath against God’s people, setting up an idol of himself in the temple in Jerusalem, and launching an all-out offensive against all those who refuse to worship him. And this will begin a period of great tribulation like nothing the world has ever seen before.

Knowing that this information has left His disciples stunned, Jesus assures them that God will have everything in full control.

“But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.” – Mark 13:20 ESV

Even during those dark days, God will be choosing to redeem a remnant from among His people, setting them aside as His own. The church, made up primarily of Gentile believers, will have been removed from the earth just before the period known as the Tribulation. With the Rapture of the church, the only ones remaining on earth will be God’s chosen people, the Jews, and all the unbelieving Gentiles. Yet God will continue to redeem and rescue, resulting in the salvation of many from every tribe, nation, and tongue, many of whom will become martyrs at the hands of the Antichrist.

But those days will come to an abrupt end. They will last only as long as God has ordained, and they will culminate with the return of His Son to the earth and with the establishment of His earthly Kingdom.

So, Jesus warns His disciples to be wary. In just a few days, He will offer His life as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. He will die on a Roman cross and then be raised back to life and return to His Father’s side in heaven. But He will return one day. And Jesus wants His disciples to know that they will be rumors concerning His return. Along the way, there will be those who claim to be Him, but they are to be ignored as liars and deceivers. These charlatans may even be able to perform signs and wonders, giving credibility to their claims. But they are to be rejected because the Tribulation will be the final sign that must happen before Jesus returns again. And He tells James, John, Peter, and Andrew, “be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand” (Mark 13:23 ESV).

A Preview of Coming Attractions

December 12, 2020December 12, 2020 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

³And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴“Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” ⁵And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. ⁶Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. ⁷And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. ⁸For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.

⁹“But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. ¹⁰And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. ¹¹And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. ¹²And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. ¹³And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” – Mark 13:3-13 ESV

After delivering the shocking news that the beautiful temple would one day be destroyed, Jesus led His disciples out of the city of Jerusalem and up the Mount of Olives. This location, just across the Kidron Valley, provided an elevated vantage point from which the view the temple and the entire city of Jerusalem. From this secluded spot, Jesus continued to teach His disciples and prepare them for the fateful days that lie ahead. His address to these men has come to be known as the Olivet Discourse.

As usual, the disciples were wrestling with the stunning pronouncement by Jesus that the sacred house of God was going to be destroyed. This information would have been unfathomable to the disciples, and it would have caused them to consider the last time the temple of God had been destroyed. It had take place more than six centuries earlier, when the Babylonians had conquered Jerusalem, leaving a wake of death and destruction in their wake. In the process, they destroyed the majestic temple that Solomon had constructed. The city and its once-magnificent temple had sat abandoned for 70 years until God orchestrated the return of a remnant of the people from their exile in Babylonian. This ragtag group of former slaves, under the leadership of Nehemiah, were able to rebuild and restore the temple and the city. But it would be more than five centuries later before Herod the Great orchestrated a massive remodeling project that would greatly enhance and expand the temple.

As the disciples looked back across the Kidron Valley, they could see the facade of this beautiful structure gleaming in the afternoon sun. This sight, coupled with Jesus’ words, led four of the disciples to approach Him for more information. James, John, Peter, and Andrew wanted to know more, so these two sets of brothers asked Jesus for an explanation.

“Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” – Mark 13:4 ESV

Their questions reveal that they were focused on the destruction of the temple. They wanted to know when this horrific act of judgment would take place and if there would be a warning sign. Basically, they were wanting to know if it was going to happen soon and if they would have ample warning so they could be out of the city when it took place. But their full attention appears to be on the city and the temple. Despite all of Jesus’ earlier announcements regarding His pending death in Jerusalem, these men are more concerned about the possible destruction of the temple.

In his gospel account, John records another Passover, three years earlier, when Jesus had cleared the temple of the moneychangers and vendors. The Jewish religious leaders had demanded that Jesus show them a sign that would prove His authority to do such a thing. And Jesus had responded:

“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” – John 2:19 ESV

But these learned men failed to catch the symbolic nature of His answer. Instead, they took Him literally, viewing His answer as utterly ridiculous and impossible.

“It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” – John 2:20 ESV

But as John reveals in his gospel account, Jesus “was speaking about the temple of his body” (John 2:21 ESV). And John goes on to reveal that even the disciples would not connect the dots until after Jesus had died and been raised back to life. So, as they sat on the Mount of Olives watching the rays of the setting sun reflect off the gold of the temple, they were fixated on its destruction, but not on the fast-approaching death of their Lord and Master.

But Jesus, sensing their confusion and concern, provides them with a foretaste of things to come.

“Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in many parts of the world, as well as famines. But this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.” – Mark 13:5-8 NLT

Jesus fast-forwards the narrative to a day in the far-distant future, when the end of the age will take place. Jesus is compressing and combining a great many events into a single answer, providing His disciples with an overview of things to come. They are fixated on the day in which they live. They are wanting to know when the temple will be destroyed and what will be the conditions under which it will happen. But Jesus is speaking of future events that will take place long after the disciples are dead and gone.

Roughly four decades later, the Romans would destroy the city of Jerusalem and its magnificent temple. Some of the disciples would live long enough to witness that fateful day. But Jesus was speaking of events that remain unfulfilled, even in our day. He describes those who will show up claiming to be Him, declaring themselves to be a messiah or savior, and offering to provide deliverance. He warns of a future marked by wars, civil unrest, and natural disasters. But these “signs” will be nothing but the “birth pains” that precede the birth of what is to come. They will merely preface the end of the age.

Jesus is providing James, John, Peter, and Andrew with a comprehensive overview of the end times. But He is not doing so in easy-to-understand terms that fall into a simple chronological order. The disciples have no idea what is about to happen. In just a matter of days, their world will be rocked by the death of Jesus. But then, three days later, He will rise again. Then, He will return to His Father in heaven, sending the Spirit to indwell and empower the disciples for the work He has given them to do. And they will play a major part in the decimation of the gospel and the subsequent growth of the church. But centuries will pass and, even as the church continues to grow, the spiritual state of the world will continue to decay. And it will do so until Jesus returns to the earth. The downward spiral of humanity’s spiritual condition will continue to accelerate and intensify, reaching its lowest point when the church is raptured from the scene. This mass exodus of all believers from the face of the earth will usher in a time of tribulation, “such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be” (Matthew 24:21 ESV).

Jesus was giving these four men a crash course in eschatology or the study of end times. While their minds were fixated on the temple and its possible destruction, Jesus was trying to get them to see the bigger picture. There was far more going on than they realized. The temple was not as important and integral as they believed it to be. Jesus’ emphasis on nations and kingdoms subtly reveals that the people of Israel will no longer be the focal point of God’s redemptive story. It is not that He will abandon them, but that He will use their rejection of His Son and their subsequent role in His death, as an impetus for the inclusion of people of every tribe, nation, and tongue into His family.

And the apostle Paul reminds us that God has great plans in store for His chosen people. Their initial rejection of the Messiah did not permanently invalidate His covenant commitments to them. He will remain faithful and fulfill every promise He has made to them.

Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves. Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it. – Romans 11:11-12 NLT

But Jesus wanted these four men to understand that while much of what He just described was to take place in the distant future, they were to be on their guard. The days ahead were going to be filled with uncertainty and the very real threat of persecution. With His death, resurrection, and ascension, their lives were about to get much more complicated. In the process of taking the gospel to the nations, they would face trials and difficulties of all kinds. But they would have the indwelling Spirit of God to guide, protect, and empower them. They needed to stop worrying about the temple of God and begin thinking about the will of God. What was He doing in their midst? What did He have planned for them to do in the days ahead? And Jesus told them that. while things would get far worse before they got better, there was going to be a happy ending to this story.

“…you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” – Mark 13:13 ESV

Exposed and Condemned

December 10, 2020 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

³⁵And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? ³⁶David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

³⁷David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.

³⁸And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces ³⁹and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, ⁴⁰who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” – Mark 12:35-40 ESV

Up until this point, it has been the Jewish religious leaders who have been asking all the questions, but now Jesus turns the tables on them. In verse 34, Mark indicated that, as a result of their three failed attempts to entrap Jesus, “no one dared to ask him any more questions.” They simply gave up. But they didn’t go away.

As Jesus continued to teach in the temple, He posed a question of His own. Matthew indicates that He directed it at a group of Pharisees standing nearby. This was probably the same group who had shown up with the scribe who asked Him which was the greatest commandment. These men are still standing close enough to hearJesus but are most likely plotting their next move against Him. They have completed discounted any notion that Jesus might be the Messiah. This fact is important because it sheds light on the question that Jesus poses.

“How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?” – Mark 12:35 ESV

It’s interesting to note that the three gospel writers who cover this event each word Jesus’ question slightly differently. Matthew reports that Jesus directed His question at the Pharisees, asking them, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” (Matthew 23:42 ESV). And Luke has Jesus asking, “How can they say that the Christ is David’s son?” (Luke 20″41 ESV). It seems likely that this was a series of questions that Jesus posed. First, He asked the Pharisees what they believed about the Messiah or Christ. After all, these men were the religious conservatives of their day and were supposed to be highly knowledgeable of the Hebrew Scriptures.

According to Matthew, these men quickly responded, declaring that the Christ would be “The son of David” (Matthew 22:42 ESV). Jesus then asked the Pharisees to explain how the scribes, the experts in the Mosaic law, would justify their belief that the Christ would be the son of David. All of these men were supposed to have a strong grasp of the Old Testament Scriptures and they shared a common belief that the Messiah would be a descendant of King David. But how would they justify it from God’s Word? One of the passages they would use was 2 Samuel 7:12-16, which records a promise that God had made to King David.

“I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”

While this promise was fulfilled in part with the birth of Solomon, the Jews believed it had longer-term implications that would ultimately come about through the arrival of the Messiah, the anointed one of God.

Keep in mind that Jesus has already publicly shamed these men, declaring them to be ignorant of God’s Word and strangers to the power of God.

“…you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.” – Mark 12:24 NLT

Their understanding that the Messiah would be a descendant of David was what drove their expectation that He would be a powerful king and ruler just like His predecessor. They were fully expecting the Messiah to arrive on the scene and wield a sword just as David had, conquering the enemies of Israel and restoring the people of God to their former position of prominence in the Middle East.

But Jesus turns to the Old Testament Scriptures in order to teach a vital truth regarding the Messiah. He quotes from the opening verse of Psalm 110, a psalm written by King David himself.

The Lord says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.” – Psalm 110:1 ESV

Through His ongoing confrontations with the religious leaders, Jesus has been subtly revealing the justification for HIs authority. This whole situation had begun when the chief priests, scribes, and elders confronted Him over His unacceptable behavior in cleansing the temple. They demanded to know, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” (Mark 11:28 NLT). And in every subsequent conversation Jesus had with these men, He had gave them glimpses of who He was by revealing His knowledge of God’s Word and declaring Himself to be “The stone that the builders rejected” (Mark 12:10 ESV). Through use of a parable, Jesus had described Himself as the son of the master of the vineyard. And the Pharisees had fully understood His meaning,

But here, Jesus uses the words of King David to make an important point about the Messiah that these learned men had somehow missed in all of their studies of the Scriptures.

Jesus notes that, in the psalm, David refers to his coming descendant as “my Lord.” In Hebrew the text reads, “Jehovah has said to my Lord (‘adown).” In other words, David records that God had spoken a promise to his future descendant. But Jesus wants to know why David would call this man his “Lord” or Adonai, one of the most common names in the Old Testament Scriptures used to refer to God Himself. So, Jesus wants to know why David used this particular word to refer to a man. And why would God offer a mere man a position of prominence at His side?

“Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet?” – Mark 12:36 ESV

There was more going on in this passage than the scribes and Pharisees understood. Jesus is revealing that the Messiah would not only be the son of David, He would be David’s Adonai (Lord and Master). The Messiah would be the Son of Man and the Son of God, the God-man who was fully divine and fully human. Even King David understood that his future descendant would have a unique relationship with God that was greater than anything he had ever experienced.

And Jesus summarized His point by asking these experts in the Hebrew Scriptures to explain how this could be.

“David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” – Mark 12:37 ESV

But they refuse to answer. They had already discovered that their attempts to debate with Jesus had left them looking like fools. Yet Mark indicates that the crowd who overheard this conversation loved what Jesus had to say. To a certain degree, they probably enjoyed watching the public humiliation of these arrogant men, who prided themselves in their vast knowledge of the Bible and flaunted their superior righteousness. And, to their delight, Jesus dropped another bombshell.

“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” – Mark 12:38-40 ESV

Mark presents a very abbreviated recounting of Jesus’ teaching, leaving out the seven “woes” that Matthew records. After putting up with a constant barrage of condemnation from these religious leaders, Jesus turned the spotlight on them. And, according to Matthew’s account, Jesus essentially told the crowd to “do as they say, but not as they do.”

“The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.” – Matthew 23:2-4 NLT

In other words, these man taught the law of God, but failed to live up to it. They could proclaim the truth of God’s Word but had no desire to let it influence the way they lived their lives. And in Matthew’s account, He records that Jesus called these men hypocrites and blind guides. They were frauds. And, not only that, they were like blind men futility attempting to provide guidance to others.

Jesus declares that these men were more interested in their reputations than they were in living according to God’s will. They loved being recognized for their fine robes and coveted their status as celebrities. They were addicted to honor and recognition. It was all about them. And Jesus declares that these men will receive greater condemnation. God would hold them accountable for their pride and arrogant mistreatment of His people.

These men had no right to question the authority of Jesus. He was the Son of God and was doing the will of God. But they were supposed to be the servants of God, caring for the flock He had placed under their care. Yet, they had failed miserably.

But Jesus, the Son of David and the Son of God, would faithfully fulfill the the will of His Father, sacrificing His life for the sake of His Father’s flock.

Religious, but Not Righteous

December 9, 2020 / kdmiller55 / 1 Comment

²⁸And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” ²⁹Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³²And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. ³³And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions. – Mark 12:28-34 ESV

The Sadducees faired no better than the Pharisees and Herodians. Jesus had handled their carefully crafted question with ease, revealing that their misunderstanding of the doctrine of the resurrection was based on their ignorance of the Scriptures. These men were supposed to be the brightest and the best that Israel had to offer. They were considered the spiritual rock stars of their day. The people revered them for their knowledge, power, and influence. Yet, Jesus had exposed them as pretenders who were ignorant of God’s Word and unfamiliar with His power.

“Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?” – Mark 12:24 ESV

The Jewish high council had two strikes against them, but they were far from ready to concede defeat. Matthew records that they quickly assembled a third team made up of Pharisees, one of whom was a scribe, an expert in the Mosaic law.

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” – Matthew 22:34-36 NLT

According to the Rabbis, the Mosaic Law contained 613 commands, 365 positive and 248 negative. It was a common practice among Israel’s religious scholars to categorize these laws according to their weight, classifying them as either heavy or light. Some laws were considered more important than others, and these men enjoyed debating which of the 613 laws was the most important.

By posing this question to Jesus, the scribe was attempting to put Him on the spot by forcing Him to reveal what He considered to be the greatest of all the laws of God. But without a moment’s hesitation, Jesus responded by quoting from Deuteronomy 6:4-5.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

This was a very well-known passage among the Jews because they were expected to recite it two times a day. It was known as the Shema, which is the Hebrew word for “Hear,” the first word in the verse.

This passage was to be a reminder of the covenant relationship between Yahweh and His chosen people. He was to be their only God and they were expected to give Him their full and unwavering allegiance. Every aspect of their lives was to reflect their faithful commitment to Him. It’s fair to assume that this scribe considered himself to be in full compliance with this command. And Jesus seems to know that the scribe and the rest of the Pharisees who sent him, all shared an overinflated sense of their own adherence to this particular law. So, He added a second part to His answer. This time, Jesus quoted from another part from the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses that they so greatly revered.

“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” – Leviticus 19:18 ESV

Not only were they to love God, but they were to show love to their neighbor as well. And this second part of Jesus’ answer was intended to expose a flaw in the thinking of these self-righteous religious leaders. They could easily proclaim their love for God, but it was far more difficult to prove their love for others. And Luke records an earlier encounter Jesus had with another scribe. This man had come to Jesus wanting to know what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus had responded to his question by asking him what the Mosaic law said. And the man had responded by quoting Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” – Luke 10:27 ESV

Jesus commended the man for his answer, telling him to “do this, and you will live” (Luke 10:28 ESV). But this led the man to seek clarification. He wanted to know what the law meant by “neighbor.” In essence, he was asking Jesus to narrow the definition so that it made compliance to the law feasible and doable. But Jesus had answered him with the parable of the Good Samaritan. In that parable Jesus described a man who had been attacked by thieves and left for dead. A priest and a Levite both encountered the man lying on the side of the road, but chose to ignore his plight. But when a Samaritan saw the man, he stopped and administered aid, even covering the cost of his convalescence at a nearby inn. And when Jesus asked the scribe which of these three men “proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” (Luke 10:36 ESV), the scribe answered, “The one who showed him mercy” (Luke 10:37 ESV). And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise” (Luke 10:37 ESV).

The Leviticus 19 passage required that the Jews love their neighbor in the same way they loved themselves. And God had provided no room for them to determine who their neighbor might be. This wasn’t about loving the lovely or showing affection to those who loved you in return. Jesus had earlier told His disciples, “Do to others as you would like them to do to you. If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much!” (Luke 6:32-33 NLT).

And the apostle John would later expand on this idea, declaring that the failure to love others was evidence of a lack of love for God.

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. – 1 John 4:20 ESV

So, when Jesus combined these two commandments together, He was indicating that it was impossible to love God without expressing selfless love for others. That is why He told the scribe, “There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:31 ESV). These two laws went hand-in-hand. They were inseparable. But the scribes and Pharisees were guilty of expressing their deep love and affection for God while treating their “neighbors” as second-class citizens. They looked down on the lower classes, viewing them as ignorant and incapable of living up to God’s holy standards as revealed his His law. These very same men had regularly attacked Jesus for associating with tax collectors and prostitutes. They viewed His love for these people as sin. And yet, Jesus was telling them that a failure to love the unlovely was evidence of a hatred for God.

The answer Jesus gave left the scribe with no other choice than to agree with Him.

“Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.” – Mark 12:32-33 NLT

But Jesus sensed that the man was beginning to see the light. He had heard what Jesus said and it had made sense to him. So, Jesus responded, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34 NLT). Jesus was commending the scribe for his willingness to listen and learn. He had shown an openness to the truth, which was a critical first step in coming to an understanding of who Jesus was and what He had come to offer.

For the third time, the religious leaders had swung and missed. They had failed to trap Jesus with their cleverly worded questions. Instead, He had exposed them for their hypocrisy. By using the Scriptures against them, Jesus had revealed their ignorance of God’s Word which explained their inability to comprehend God’s power. The Son of God stood in their midst, but they failed to recognize Him. The Old Testament Scriptures they studied so diligently had predicted the Messiah’s coming, but because of their hardness of heart, their eyes were blind to His presence among them. The Kingdom of Heaven was near, but they couldn’t see it or enter into it.

With their latest setback, the religious leaders called off their attack. They no longer posed any more questions to Jesus. But their hatred for Him did not dissipate, so they were forced to come up with another strategy to plot His demise.

A False Assumption and a Faulty Conclusion

December 8, 2020 / kdmiller55 / 1 Comment

¹⁸And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, ¹⁹“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁰There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. ²¹And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. ²²And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. ²³In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”

²⁴Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? ²⁵For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ²⁶And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ²⁷He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.” – Mark 12:18-27 ESV

Driven by their mutual hatred for Jesus, the Pharisees and Herodians had set aside their long-standing differences and joined forces in a vain attempt to bring His ministry to an end. But they had failed. They had tried to expose Jesus as a political insurrectionist who stood opposed to the Roman government and its excessive taxation of the people of Israel. But these men had misunderstood the nature of Jesus’ Kingdom. It was not of this world. He had not come to free Israel from slavery to Rome, but from slavery to sin and death. And His mission was spiritual in nature and not political.

When the Pharisees and Herodians returned to the Sanhedrin and reported the results of their less-than-successful mission, they were replaced by a contingent of Sadducees. These men would form the second phase of their well-orchestrated attack on Jesus. The Sadducees were a powerful religious/political sect made up of the wealthy and influential upper class of Israel. They held the majority of the 70 seats in the Sanhedrin and controlled much of what happened in and around the temple. Their aristocratic mindset caused them to disdain the common man and to elevate themselves as members of the religious and political elite.

In order to preserve their superior status within the nation, the Sadducees had become reluctant partners with Rome, willingly accepting their presence as a necessary evil. Compromise with Rome allowed them to maintain their control over the nation of Israel. The Sadducees were essentially a political party that dabbled in religion. And while they expressed strong belief in the books of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy), they rejected many of the established doctrines of the Hebrew religion.

For instance, they denied any resurrection of the dead. And this led them to reject the concept of an afterlife. They had concluded that the soul perishes at death, so this eliminated any idea of rewards or penalties. Therefore, in their theology, there was no heaven or hell. And to top it all off, they discounted any belief in an invisible spiritual realm populated by demons and angels. In a sense, they were the religious progressives of their day, espousing liberal views on a wide range of important doctrines that put them at odds with the more traditional Pharisees.

But since the Pharisees and Herodians had failed in their mission to entrap Jesus, the more liberally minded Sadducees were given their chance. And they approached Jesus with a very carefully concocted and convoluted story that was meant to expose His more conservative and antiquated religious views. These men knew that the majority of the peasant class also clung to the more traditional views on the doctrines of the afterlife and resurrection. So, they made up a hypothetical story that was meant to reveal the absurdity of these beliefs.

But like the Pharisees and Herodians who preceded them, the Sadducees were going to meet their match in Jesus. While they viewed Him as nothing more than an uneducated peasant from the backwater village of Nazareth, He would prove to be far more knowledgeable of the Scriptures and more than able to defend the doctrines of the resurrection and the afterlife.

And it is important to remember that Jesus had made many comments about eternal life. In fact, Jesus had told Nicodemus, a member of the Pharisees, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV). He had offered the Samaritan woman water that would permanently satisfy her thirst and provide her with eternal life.

“…whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” – John 4:14 ESV

And most recently, Jesus had told Martha, the sister of Lazarus, that her dead brother would rise again.

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” – John 11:25-26 ESV

These statements, and others like them, would have made their way back to the Sadducees. Jesus’ persistent claims regarding eternal life and the resurrection of the dead would have infuriated them. So, they decided to use their superior intelligence and vast knowledge of the Scriptures to expose Him as an uneducated fool.

They set up their trap by recounting a well-known law of Moses.

“Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name.” – Mark 12:19 NLT

They were referring to the levirate law, as outlined in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. This law required that the brother of a man who died without a male heir was obligated to marry his brother’s widow. The primary purpose of the law was to preserve the name of the deceased and to prevent the widow from becoming destitute.

But in an attempt to expose the ridiculous nature of belief in the resurrection, they created a convoluted and highly unlikely story. It involved a woman who ends up marrying seven different brothers, each of whom dies unexpectedly and prematurely, leaving her a widow without a male heir. Their strange tale ends with the death of the woman who had the unfortunate burden of being widowed seven different times. And they summarize their story with a question:

“So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her.” – Mark 12:23 NLT

You can almost see the smug expressions on their faces as they drop this bombshell on the unsuspecting Rabbi from Nazareth. They had Him. There was no way He would be able to answer this confusing conundrum and maintain His naive belief in the resurrection.

Little did they know that their whole story was built around a false premise. Jesus was about to expose their ignorance regarding the doctrine of the resurrection and it was because they did not understand God”s Word.

“Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.” – Mark 12:24-25 NLT

Jesus gave them a one-two combination that must have been a devastating blow to their overinflated egos. First, He accused them of not knowing the Scriptures. Then He added that they had no idea of the nature of God’s power. Because they could not fathom the idea of life after death, they had simply discounted it. And in spite of all their careful study of the books of Moses, they had been unable to appreciate the fact that nothing was impossible for God. They worshiped a God of limited power whose only interactions with mankind were relegated to this life.

They were trying to take an earthly-oriented law and apply it to eternal matters. But it was as Jesus had told Nicodemus: “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12 ESV). These men were incapable of understanding eternal truths. They were trying to comprehend the ways of God by looking through the cloudy lenses of their earthly perspective. And, had he been around, the apostle Paul would have told them, “Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!” (Romans 11:33 NLT).

Their limited understanding had led to a limited view of God. They could not conceive of an afterlife because they viewed it as implausible and impossible. They were intimately familiar with death and probably feared it. And since they could not see what lie beyond the grave, they simply refused to acknowledge that anything was there. This life was all there was. But the whole story they had concocted had been based on misconceptions and misinterpretations of the Scriptures. Jesus informed them that there would be no marriage in the afterlife. So, it really didn’t matter how many husbands the fictitious widow had in this life. There will be no marriage because there will be no need to procreate. By virtue of His vast power, God will give resurrected and glorified bodies to all those who live in His eternal Kingdom. Men and women will no longer be expected to bring new life into the world. Their God-given order to fulfill the creation mandate to be fruitful and multiply will no longer apply.

And Jesus adds another not-so-subtle point of clarification that was meant to blow holes in one of the Sadducees’ other errant beliefs. He states that, in their eternal state, men and women will be much more like angels than human beings. They will be divine creatures who have the capacity to live in unbroken fellowship with God the Father for eternity. And like the angels, they will focus all their time and energy on His glory and offering Him their ceaseless praise.

Jesus ends His response with a lesson on the Old Testament Scriptures. He takes them back to the writings of Moses, recounting the story of the burning bush as recorded in the book of Exodus. It was there in the Midianite wilderness, that God appeared to Moses and called him to be the deliverer of His people. Out of the burning bush, God had declared to Moses, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6 ESV). By the time Moses had come along, all three of these men had been long dead, and yet God refers to Himself as their God – present tense, not past tense. Jesus was trying to reveal to these so-called experts in the Pentateuch what they had missed. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not gone, they had just been relocated. They were in the presence of their God.

Like the Pharisees and Herodian before them, the Sadducees failed. They proved no match for Jesus, the Son of God. They had put all their hope in this life, so when Jesus appeared offering the gift of eternal life, they could not bring themselves to believe what He had to say. But the doctrine of the resurrection was a central tenet of Jesus’ teaching. And it would be His own resurrection from the dead that would give His offer of eternal life validity. The apostle Paul summed it up well.

…if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. – 1 Corinthians 15:13-20 NLT

Render Unto God

December 7, 2020 / kdmiller55 / 1 Comment

¹³And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. ¹⁴And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” ¹⁵But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” ¹⁶And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” ¹⁷Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him. – Mark 12:13-17 ESV

Jesus’ ransacking of the temple courtyard had caused quite a stir. And, as a result, His already strained relationship with the Jewish religious leaders took a dramatic turn for the worse. These men questioned His authority as well as His sanity, having earlier claimed that Jesus was possessed by a demon and in league with Satan. But when they met Him face to face, they found that He was anything but crazy. Jesus proved to be a formidable debater who, although an educated Rabbi from Nazareth, could stand toe-to-toe with the best and brightest members of the highly trained Sanhedrin. These professional religious scholars and experts in the Mosaic law found Jesus to be no pushover. And in today’s passage, we find the Sanhedrin taking a tag-team approach, sending wave after wave of their best thinkers to do mental battle with Jesus.

In chapter 11, Mark records the first onslaught. He described the chief priests, scribes, and elders confronting Jesus in the Courtyard of the Gentiles. But their attempt to trap Jesus didn’t turn out so well. Which led the Sanhedrin to send another team made up of Pharisees and Herodians. Now, this was a particularly strange alliance because these two groups were normally diametrically opposed. The Pharisees were a highly conservative religious sect, while the Herodians were essentially a political party that, as their name suggests, supported Herod Antipas, the Roman puppet king of Israel. To the Pharisees, the Herodians were sell-outs, whose support of Herod and willing tolerance of Roman rule greatly compromised Jewish independence.

Yet, these two opposing groups found unity in their shared hatred for Jesus. So, they made an unholy alliance, joining forces in an effort to trap Jesus. And Luke adds that these “spies” were driven by a desire to find condemning evidence that would result in Jesus’ arrest.

The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. – Luke 20:19-20 ESV

As soon as the Pharisees and Herodians begin their questioning of Jesus, it becomes clear why the Sanhedrin had decided to pair these two groups together. The entire scene is a set-up that begins with false flattery. They try to lower Jesus’ defenses by attempting to stroke His ego.

“Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?” – Mark 12:14-15 NLT

Their reputation as enemies was well known, and that was part of their scheme. They led Jesus to believe that they had come to Him for help in settling a dispute. The issue was the Roman poll tax. This was an annual tax imposed upon the Jews by the Romans that the Pharisees found in violation of their own laws concerning the sabbatical year. This was a head-tax that every Jew was required to pay every year, with no break during the seventh or sabbatical year. To the religiously-minded Pharisees, this tax was unacceptable. But to the Herodians, who supported the Roman government, it was a cost they were willing to pay because it helped maintain the peace.

But this entire “debate” was a ploy. The Pharisees must have assumed that Jesus was conservatively minded, just as they were, and would side with them. If He did, this would provide the Herodians with more than enough evidence to accuse Him of fomenting revolution against the Roman government. Their ultimate goal was to get Him in trouble with the civil authorities.

But “Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, ‘Why are you trying to trap me?’” (Mark 12:15 NLT). He was not fooled for a second. Their motives were painfully transparent, and Jesus refused to step into their poorly conceived trap. Instead, He was that they show Him a denarius, which was a Roman-minted coin. Jesus was about to turn their question regarding taxation into a lesson on veneration.

When they presented Him with the coin, Jesus asked a simple question: “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” (Mark 12:16 NLT). And they quickly responded, “Caesar.” And what Jesus said next would leave them in a state of amazement.

“Well, then,” Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” – Mark 12:17 NLT

This had not been what they expected to hear. With His response, Jesus neither favored nor opposed the poll tax. Instead, He turned the whole debate into a lesson on loyalty and spiritual faithfulness. The Herodians placed a high priority on keeping the law of the Romans. The Pharisees countered that the laws of God had greater precedence than those of men. But Jesus was driving home the point that both groups were guilty of worshiping the wrong thing.

“The denarius of Tiberius portrayed the emperor as the semi-divine son of the god Augustus and the goddess Livia and bore the (abbreviated) inscription ‘Tiberius Caesar Augustus, Son of the Divine Augustus’ on the obverse and ‘Pontifex Maximus’ on the reverse. Both the representations and the inscriptions were rooted in the imperial cult and constituted a claim to divine honors.” – Lane, William L. The Gospel According to Mark. New International Commentary on the New Testament

For Jesus, this had nothing to do with taxation or Roman occupation. It had to do with the focus of the heart. Both of these groups were guilty of false worship. In a sense, the Herodians worshiped Caesar because they believed he provided them with protection and allowed them to enjoy their relative power and freedom. On the other hand, the Pharisees worshiped their oral and written laws, treating them with greater veneration than the One who had originally given them to Moses.

In a sense, Caesar required coins that bore his image as payment for services rendered. His troops kept the peace. His government provided social order and stability. And those who benefited from these amenities were expected to pay for them.

Jesus had no problem with rendering unto Caesar what belonged to him. The coins bore his image, so they were rightfully his. But mankind bears the image of God and, therefore, rightfully belongs to Him. That is why Jesus said, “give to God what belongs to God.”

God doesn’t need our money. He doesn’t even need our feeble attempts at religious rule-keeping and pharisaical posturing. Jesus knew that the Pharisees were guilty of going through the motions and only pretending to revere and worship God.

“You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’” – Matthew 15:7-8 NLT

In a sense, Jesus is taking the conversation back to the issue of authority. Because of his position and power, Caesar had every right to demand a tax from the people over whom he ruled. But God also had the authority to demand worship from those whom He had made. Every man and woman on the planet bore the Imago Dei (the image of God) and were expected to give God what rightfully belonged to Him: Their lives and their worship.

Yet, as the apostle Paul discloses, even since the fall, mankind has repeatedly refused to render unto God what is rightfully His.

Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. – Romans 1:21-23 NLT

And for Jesus, the issue was the failure of the religious leaders to honor Him for who He was – the Son of God and the Savior of the world. To the Herodians, Caesar was like a god, worthy of their veneration and willing subjugation. And the Pharisees had made their religion their god, placing all their hope in the rules and regulations that governed daily life, and provided any hope they had of salvation. But both had failed to recognize that God was in their midst. He had come to dwell with them. And all He asked was that they give Him what was due Him: Their lives and allegiance.

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Gospel of Mark