Focus:
kjv@Revelation:14:12 @ Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
(
FaithOfJesus thread begun by r
RandyP )
Today's Verse:
kjv@Mark:10:32-34
kjv@Mark:10:32 @ And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him,
kjv@Mark:10:33 @ Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles:
kjv@Mark:10:34 @ And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again.
Today's notes:
Context:
- Before - with men it is impossible
- After - thy right hand and left
Key Concepts:
sl[kjv@Psalms:22]
What is God's righteousness observed doing?:
- Sending Jesus to Jerusalem to now fulfill the prophecy.
- Pulling the twelve aside to give them details of the prophecy
What does this tell us about God's righteousness?:
- The plan of God was never to hold Jesus to His earthly ministry until enough people were convinced of His authenticity and fluent in obedience to His teaching, that would never happen. Just look at His own disciples. Rather the plan was to hold Him to this ministry until all could be convicted of their desperate state and depravity minus Him. That time is now being signaled from above and will be consummated shortly upon the cross.
- There appears to be an effort to purposely keep private many of the details until after the great sin is committed. It may be not to give men any ideas, to have them come up with this largely on their own. There need not be any divine influence other than the many confirmations of Jesus as Christ by the Father and Spirit to coax the heart of men into revealing itself, it is the reaction of those in darkness to He that is the light.
How is man reacting?:
- Amazed that He would go now (in another account He had been warned by a few sympathetic Pharisees not to). Afraid, either by the notion that this end need not be or that they themselves are in tremendous danger.
Notes:
We spoke of which is most effective on God's part against this sin, convincing or convicting. Which is worse, a man who believes in God (even Jesus) but for his flesh thinks and acts as he sees best only to offend God and others? Or the man who assumes to know God by a harsh list of obediences and rituals and traditions that he hypocritically holds others to for the sake of appearances to others that hold him in high regard? Or the man who knows not and trusts not and sees it all as a vain exercise? Literally they all the same because they are all merely operating in the flesh.
You can imagine in either case if everything that you thought you knew about the law and the prophecies and goodness was used against you, led you to do the very thing that you are trying most not to do: Sin against your God. You can imagine even being within His inner circle knowing what additional things He has told you not being able to do the slightest thing to make it not happen. You could imagine even those that you held in regard of being able to figure all of this out being the chief instigators of this which you greatly fear and are shamed by. This is the nature of our sin. When He says that with men it is impossible, with men it is impossible; we are "with out" and have more than proven it. That is the conviction from which our spiritual life in Christ begins. From this His further convincing can be lived forward.
Key Messages:
What does this say about our present condition?
- A hundred times we can follow like on pilgrimage along the way to Jerusalem. These many times there is anticipation, celebration and excitement. And in the course of a life time these adventures though memorable have little if any effect on the nature that surely needs to be reconciled. Once, however, there will be that time with amazement and fear a few will travel the way there and better understand what Jerusalem means. Even if to not comprehend it will they sense the depths and impossibility God seeks to overcome to make our greater pilgrimage what it needs most to be: a walk along the course with Jesus.
Further Resources:
Comment Board:Mark:10:32-34
index:FAITHOFJESUSDEVOTION - Devotional Index
strkjv@Mark:10:32-34 rwp@Mark:10:32-34 mhcc@Mark:10:32-34
FaithOfJesus2 - Devotion Index