Read Mark 4:35-5:20, Jesus Asleep and Sacrificial Pigs

Jesus had begun to teach in parables.  He also continued to teach in His preaching.  We have also seen that He taught through His miracles.  There were times that His miraculous signs were on display only for the Twelve.  There is one such story in Mk. 4:35-41.  The lesson for the disciples in one of faith.  To what extent will you trust Me?  Will you trust Me when I am asleep in the back of the boat?  How the disciples answer this question, and how we answer it as well, is linked to how we answer the question in v41: “Who can this be?!”  We must not be those who marvel at the miracle and fail to learn Christ, the miracle worker!

Mark 5:1-20 presents another story, the casting out of a “legion” of demons from a man who lived in a cemetery, in which, sadly, many who were aware of the powerful event did not learn Christ.  It is the story of “sacrificial pigs,” although I readily admit that’s probably just an attention getter.  It is more the story of “Compassionate Deliverance.” 

It helps if you can briefly put your imagination to work on Mk. 5:1-5.  Try to imagine the life of this man.  He could not control himself because spirit beings inside of him controlled him.  He was so strong that no one else could control him either.  The end result was that, in his misery, he was frequently cutting himself with stones.  Perhaps you have experienced this yourself.  Or perhaps you know loved ones who are “cutters.”  Mayo Clinic says that cutting or burning is a harmful way people use  to cope with emotional pain, intense anger and frustration.  I’m not trying to go “psychological” nor am I trying to say that people who do this are possessed by demons.  I’m trying to help understand the major problem this man in the graveyard had, and to understand that this is real in the lives of people today.

Jesus cast out the demons, and permitted them to enter into someone’s pigs in the area.  Some people try to justify Jesus’ doing this by saying Jews weren’t supposed to eat pork so had no need of pigs.  Actually, the area on the east side of the Sea of Galilee was heavily Gentile.  Jesus can allow whatever He chooses because of who He is!  The people of the area chose not to bow to Jesus when they asked Him to leave.

But note: the man who was delivered of his emotional pain, anger and frustration was ecstatic.  So ecstatic that he wanted to accompany Jesus.  That wasn’t in the Lord’s plan, but it was in His plan that those who benefited from the miracles should tell others about it.  Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.

Allow me to remind you: we can never read anywhere in the Bible as if it were simply a storybook of heroic characters to be admired.  The entire book is about the Christ, the need for the Savior, the truth of His coming to earth, and the response called for in the lives of those who hear this gospel message.  The pigs are nothing compared to the compassionate deliverance through Christ our Savior.

Read Mark 4:21-34, Ears to Hear

Besides telling us two more parables, Jesus teaches us some important things about listening (4:21-25,33-34).  First, everything will be revealed that we need to know to believe in and follow Christ (4:22).  Jesus said that the people of Israel were blinded so as not to see His truth.  But that does not mean they have an excuse for their unbelief.  They knew who Jesus claimed to be and what He was doing in their midst.  We should also understand that we have been given every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:3).  We have all that pertains to life and godliness (2 Pt. 1:2-4).  We even have the Holy Spirit to help us know these blessings (1 Cor. 2:12).

Second, what Christ reveals is meant to be heard (4:21).  Think about this.  If I choose not to hear His actual message, that is on me.  His message is life-changing and critical to one’s eternity.  The sower needs to declare Jesus’ message.  The listener needs to listen.

Third, it is up to the individual to hear (4:23).  We saw these words earlier (v9), and they are used in Revelation 2-3 in the letters to the Churches.  If one does not understand they need to do what Jesus’ disciples did in v10: they asked for clarification!  Do we want to hear Jesus’ words?

Fourth, Jesus also says that as you learn your capacity to learn increases, even as if you neglect to learn it diminishes what you have already learned (4:24-25).  In other words, Jesus’ words are intended to become “life” to those who hear.  It is intended to be used, to become part of our “mindset” if you will.

Later in the chapter (4:33-34) there is one other important fact: Jesus is a compassionate teacher.  He is willing to help us, but we must ask for and meet with Him.  The parables were intended to conceal certain truths.  But to those with “ears to hear” He was willing to explain them. 

Jesus taught two other parables to teach about what it would mean to follow Him after His rejection.  Both are in the context of “farming.”  In the “Parable of the Growing Seed” (4:26-29) we see that His servants were responsible to sow the seed and water the plant.  But the increase, the fruitfulness, would come from God.  Jesus built on this idea in John 4:34-38 and Paul did the same in 1 Cor. 3:5-8.  His kingdom grows as His servants tend the field.  But God gives the increase.

In the “Parable of the Mustard Seed” (4:30-32) we see that His Kingdom grows from something very small like a mustard seed to something very large, large enough for the birds to rest in its branches.  Jesus has in mind an actual mustard tree, common in the Middle East but not so in the West.  The Church, the “Mystery form” of Jesus Kingdom, though small at the start, has grown into something that will facilitate many from the nations that will believe (Rom. 11:25). 

Perhaps you can see some of why Jesus kept these things secret from the Jewish crowds.  His ministry was to the Jews, but He understood that His rejection would facilitate ministry to the Gentiles, something the Jewish crowd didn’t relish.

Read Mark 4:1-20, The Parable of the Soils

Jesus came to offer Himself as King to the people of Israel.  That was the “Gospel of the Kingdom.”  But by this time, the rejection of the nation was becoming evident.  For this reason, He had warned them of “the unpardonable sin” (Mk. 3:28-30).  If they persisted in this rejection, the refusal to believe in Him, their would be serious consequences.  Their rejection would result in a delay of His kingdom, bringing in the time of “the new wine in new wineskins” (Mark 2:18-22).  Therefore, Jesus used parables to explain the nature of His kingdom.  Matthew 13 contains a larger selection (eight) of these parables, and includes teaching on the nature of His kingdom given the upcoming “parenthesis” between His first and second advents.  Mark includes the parable of the soils (4:1-20), the parable of the growing seed (4:26-29), and the parable of the mustard seed (4:30-32). 

Jesus tells the “Parable of the Soils” in 4:1-9, concluding with the words, He who has ears to hear, let him hear! Some of His disciples, including the Twelve, asked Him about the parable (v10).  Jesus’ seems to say that this particular parable is essential to understanding the other parables.  Here are some things to note.

·       v14: His kingdom is spiritual.  We see this in that the seed is “the word” and not, say, a wheat or lentil seed.  It is certainly helpful to know about farming in Jesus’ day, but His kingdom is not about literal farming.  Be careful not to make Jesus say something that is not true.  He is not saying that His kingdom does not or will not have a “physical” form.  What He is saying is that entrance into His kingdom is “spiritual.”  In this parable, it depends on the nature of one’s faith.  And He is also saying that the nature of one’s faith in receiving the “seed” (the word) is effected by the nature of their soul when they hear the word.

·       v14,20: It appears that those who receive the word bear fruit.  Those who receive the word become “sowers” of the word as well.

·       v15-20: Believing is personal.  Sometimes you might think that receiving the King is a national thing.  It is in a sense.  But the nation is a group of individuals who are each responsible to receive the word and bear fruit.

·       v19-20: The key is fruitfulness.  The first soil produces no plant; the second and third produce plants that do not bear fruit; the last is distinct in that the plants bear various amounts of fruit.

·       v15-17: We can note as well that bearing fruit takes time, even as it takes time to see the lack of fruit in the stony and thorny ground.

Paul used the “farming” illustration in 1 Cor. 3:5-8 when he reminded us that God gives the increase.  Some of the ways God does this, as we are involved in spiritual farming, is that the Holy Spirit convicts people of their need of Christ (Jn. 16:9-11), the Holy Spirit empowers the sowers (Acts 1:8), and the Holy Spirit produces fruit (Gal. 5:23-24).

Read The “Mysteries” of God (2)

The Mystery of God involves several “mysteries.”  There is the mystery of Israel’s partial blindness (Rom. 11:25).  Here are several others.

2)    Rom. 16:25-27: The mystery of Christ.  What is Paul talking about here?  He connects the mystery with the preaching about Jesus Christ.  Perhaps he is referring to Jesus Himself, the two natures (God and Man), two advents, and so forth.  The OT I believe makes it clear that the Messiah is both God and Man.  But it is a mystery as to how this was revealed in His Incarnation.  Daniel prophesied 490 years until Messiah’s kingdom, but he knew nothing of 2 advents and the lengthy parenthesis between years 483 and 484.

3)    1 Cor. 15:51: The mystery of the rapture.  It is not just that there would be people who would enter their eternal home without dying.  It is that when the parenthesis was over, God would remove the Church so He could return to finish the final 7 years that involved Israel.

4)    Eph. 3:6: The mystery of the Church.  The OT prophets did not realize that Israel would be set aside, and that Jews and Gentiles would be brought together, as the people of God, in one Body of Christ.

5)    Col. 1:27: The mystery of Christ in you.  The prophets knew there would be a New Covenant and that it would involve the Holy Spirit and a new heart and the Law written on the heart.  But they could not have imagined the Messiah living in the believer.  Nor did they realize that His presence in the believer would be the hope of glory, the assurance that Job longed for (Job 19:25-27).

6)    2 Th. 2:7; Rev. 17:5,7: The mystery of iniquity.  Part of God’s plan is the increasing power of sin as the time for Messiah’s reign approaches.  This will set the stage for Christ’s rule as He will defeat all that sin can muster against Him.

7)    1 Tim. 3:16 (Eph. 5:32; Col. 1:27; Gal. 2:20): The mystery of Godliness.  How are believers to grow in godliness?  You see that the “mystery of Godliness” is simply the Lord Jesus Christ.  We become godly because He lives in us.  His work to make us more and more like Him is seen in the “mystery” of marriage.  As a husband seeks to help his wife grow to be a beautiful believer, so Christ works in His Church to make her His beautiful Bride.

8)    Mk. 4:11 (Mt. 13:11; Lk. 8:10): The mystery of the Kingdom.  Jesus was faced with the reality of His rejection by the people of Israel.  This was manifested in the “blasphemy of the Spirit” (Mark 3).  So, at that point, He began to teach His disciples, through parables, the truth that His earthly reign would be delayed (from the human point of view) and a mystery form would take it place until then.  These parables, and others during the rest of His ministry, began to describe that form.  He was laying the foundations for the Church age.

1 Cor. 2:6-8; 4:1-4, The “Mysteries” of God (1)

We are talking about the “mystery of God.”  In Eph. 1:9-10 Paul described it this way: “that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth.”  In our previous post we talked about the term “dispensation.”  I hope you noted that we did not call ourselves “dispensationalists.”  If this explanation sounds to you like “dispensationalism” (a theological position, often seen in opposition to “covenant theology”) that is pure coincidence.  What we have done is explain the meaning of words in the Bible, with explanations that can be found in any standard Bible study tools. 

a.     Psalm 2 actually refers to what Paul refers to in Eph. 1:9-10.  Psalm 2 says that, before time began, the Father and the Son had a conversation where the Father promised to give His Son authority over all the nations.  He would rule them all.  Thus, this being the “mystery of His will” in Eph. 1, Rev. 10:7 tells us that this will become reality in the days of the sounding of the 7^th trumpet.  Just “coincidentally” (by which we mean, “true to God’s word”), at the sounding of the trumpet of the seventh angel, (Rev. 11:15) there is an announcement from heaven: “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”  Then, in Rev. 11:17, there is great worship of God because, “The One who is and who was and who is to come (the Son, Rev. 1:8; 4;8), because You have taken Your great power and reigned.” Over whom does Christ reign?  In Rev. 11:18 they are the nations that “were angry,” just as Psalm 2 refers to them as nations that rage against the LORD and His Anointed (Ps. 2:1-3).  Psalm 2 says it was agreed upon in Heaven; it is the will of God.  The NT gives us details as to when and how it will happen. 

There is one more aspect of “the mystery of God” we need to consider.  In today’s reading Paul refers to “mysteries” plural.  In the Gospels Jesus, on the same occasion that we have in Mark 4:10-12, Jesus spoke of “mystery” (Mk. 4:10-12) and “mysteries” (Mt. 13:11).  How are we to understand this?  My answer is that God’s “mystery” comprises several “mysteries.”  THE mystery includes several events that were not known in the OT but that are revealed in the NT.  We have room in this post to begin our list of eight “mysteries,” so we will conclude in the next post. 

1)    Rom. 11:25: The mystery of Israel’s partial blindness.  Lord willing, in our next post, we will talk about this.  Two posts before this we spoke of Israel’s “ignorance” and we plan to return to that subject shortly.

Psalm 44

In this Psalm we see the saints involved inp a ministry of intercession for the sinful society in which they live.  The appearance of one particular verse (v22) in the New Testament helps us see how this passage fits our current context.  To benefit from this let us consider the Song in its context. 

·         V1-3: Testimony.  There is a reminder of the great works of God in the past, the testimony of older saints. In the Exodus, the time of the judges and the time of the Davidic kings God had repeatedly been the help of his people.

·         V4-8: Confession.  The writer has no hesitation in affirming that God has not changed.  He is still our “boast”; His name is to be praised.  This stanza is well worth the discipline to commit it to memory.

·         V9-12: Complaint.  The “complaint” section is somewhat lengthy.  And at first it is not hard to see the problem.  The current situation in Israel is that God has “cast off” His people to the point of being scattered among the nations.  The prophecies of the Pentateuch (e.g. Deut. 28,32) indicate the Nation’s disobedience has finally brought God to the place of severe judgment.

·         V13-16: Complaint.  The result of the “scattering” is that they are the reproach of their neighbors.

·         V17-22: Complaint.  This stanza reveals another important issue in the historical “context”.  In the midst of the sinful nation there is a righteous remnant, and they are the ones lifting this prayer.  Paul’s use of v22 in Rom. 8:36 helps us understand what is happening.  In Rom. 8 Paul says that terrible afflictions come on the righteous people of God; and yet they are never separated from His love!  So here in the Psalmist's situation the righteous are suffering affliction because of their being part of the wicked nation.  But they plead their integrity. 

·         V23-26: Petition.  Out of this confidence, that God remembers the righteous and makes a distinction in judgment between the just and the unjust (2 Peter 2:9), the saints pray that God will be their help.  They rightfully ask God to mercifully come to their aid, something He actually delights to do.

This Psalm reflects the actual situation in the time of the Babylonian captivity. Read about it in Ezekiel 36:1-15. Israel was severely ridiculed by her neighbors, particularly the people of Edom. But God promised that He would come to their aid and He would reestablish the nation.

Abraham prayed this kind of Prayer when he prayed for Lot and the people of Sodom (Gen. 18:16-33.)  He "bargained" with God to the point where God said that for the sake ten righteous people He would not destroy the city.  He pled for the city for the sake of the godly people who lived there.

Again, remember the intercession of our Lord Himself.  He too prays for the righteous who live in the wicked world (John 17:13-19).  As Romans 8 indicates, the intercession of Christ (v34) is one of the fundamental reasons that nothing shall separate us from Him!

Let us learn and commit ourselves to this privilege of intercession.  For example, if you're church family is going through a struggle of some sort, pray for them. Don't be the one that stands in judgment or criticism. Do this for the glory of Christ! We have a standing before God that allows us to pray in the name of Christ for those around us.  We have a faith that is built on the great work of salvation performed by our God in Christ.  Let us strongly pray for the world in which we live and testify. 

And let us not be afraid to be “sheep for the slaughter” in the cause of Christ.  Nothing can separate us from His love.  And beyond that, “we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us” (Rom. 8:37).  May these afflictions be stepping stones to the greater exaltation of Christ.

Rev. 11:15-19, The Mystery of God

I believe the Apostle Paul (by the Holy Spirit, of course) gives us the answer to the issue of “ignorance” in 1 Cor. 2:6-8.  Paul spoke the wisdom of God in a mystery, the “mystery of God” as it is called in Scripture (Col. 2:2; Rev. 10:7).  He then said that if the rulers of this age had known this mystery, they would not have crucified Christ.  When the people and rulers crucified Christ, they were ignorant of the “mystery.”  Christ had used parables to hinder them from understanding the mystery (Mark. 4:10-12).  The mystery was hidden in time before the cross, but was revealed after the cross, primarily through Paul (1 Cor. 4:1; Eph. 3:1-13).

Paul who opened our eyes to the “mystery,” was also one of those “rulers” to whom the mystery was hidden.  To understand the “ignorance” we need to be sure we have a handle on the mystery. 

1)    What is a “mystery” in Scripture? (Rom. 16:25-27; Eph. 3:5; Col. 1:26-27; 1 Cor. 2:7).  A “mystery” is something that was hidden in the past but now made known.  The NT use of the term therefore speaks of things not revealed in the OT but that were made known in the NT.  Note again the consistency.  The OT prophets said certain things were going to happen, but they did not understand how it would be worked out.  The easiest illustration of this is Peter’s reference to the OT prophets, that they knew the Christ would suffer and be glorified but they had no idea how it would happen (1 Pt. 1:10-12).  Isa. 53 clearly says He would die.  Yet it also says He would be honored by God.

2)    What is the “mystery of God”? (Eph. 1:9-10; Psalm 2:6-9).  Rev. 7:10 says the “mystery of God” would be fulfilled in the days of the sounding of the 7^th trumpet.  Col. 2:2 also refers to the mystery by that name (NKJV speaks of “the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ”).  Eph. 1:9 speaks of “the mystery of His will … which He purposed in Himself.”  That mystery is described as follows: “that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth.”

a.     The Greek term for “dispensation” is from the group of words having to do with the administration of a household.  It refers to the management of a household or of household affairs, specifically, the management, oversight, administration of another’s property.  What is Paul talking about in Eph. 1:9-10?  God owns the entire universe.  He has ruled the world in various ways according to the Scriptures.  After the flood of Noah’s time God established nations and governments to keep the peace.  Before the flood there is no record in Scripture of any nations.  God dealt with individuals, as He did with Cain in Gen. 4.  What Paul is saying here is that eventually God is going to manage His world through Christ.  Everything in heaven and on earth will be subject to Christ.  (We need to stop here and pick it up in the next post.)