It's A Mystery

At a recent Bible study - I won't say where (My point is not to condemn or point fingers at anyone person or church.), we were on the topic, "mystery kept hidden for ages" in Col 1:26.

This mystery being about Jesus Christ made known through the prophetic writings  Ro 16:26.  These prophetic writings would be Psalms and Isaiah, among other prophets. 

It's all about Jesus; the Old Testament and the New.  The Old Testament leads to and points at His coming.  The New Testament is about that life and death and the second coming.  Yes!  Jesus.  All Christians know this much.  No problem in the Bible study group.  So why is it called a mystery? 

Let me back up by saying that this revelation is a bit new to me.  I never could understand the writings of Paul until I understood this "mystery", which has been made clear to me in the recent couple years.  Then, Paul's writings took on so much meaning.  I have been in church for many (many) years.  A couple years back, I really stuck my nose into "the book".  I purchased a Hebrew Bible with translation and have learned more in the past two years than in my other sixty-nine.  I am so thrilled with what I am seeing that I want to study 24/7.

The "mystery" is the plan of redemption through Jesus Christ.  Again, something all Christians understand:  Jesus took our sins upon Himself so we might be free of sin.  Let's pause and think about that statement for a minute.  Jesus took our sins on Himself.  All of them; past, present and future.  After all, He is the beginning and the end.  We are free of sin.  FREE of sin; past, present and future.  How does that work?

This plan of redemption is: grace trumps the 10 commandments.   There, I said it.  I said it in that Bible study and really opened a can of worms.  People were demanding I show a verse that states this fact.  Well, there is none.  No one verse that specifically states "the ten commandments are done away with through Jesus".  You have to read and search out answers; we are told to "seek and find", "knock and the door will be opened".   I went home in shock.  Shouldn't have because, until two years ago, this was new to me.  I had come to believe that I was the odd man out for years - the only one who did not understand grace over the 10 commandments, the "law".  I thought every believer knew.  Now I am thinking there are more people out there walking a fine line of me or God, self centered or God centered, I do or God gives, law of stone or grace of God.

I always thought "the law" meant the temple laws, the sacrificial laws.  Not so.  Bible refers to the 10 commandments as "the law written on stone".   Ex 24:12, Ex 31:18,  Ex 34:4   Paul constantly refers to law versus grace.  

There is nothing wrong with the Ten Commandments.  They are perfect; perfect law of God.  Only a God can keep them.  They were broken before they were given on Sinai and through to the end of the Old Testament.  They are still broken today by good Christians everywhere.  God knew when He gave these laws that they could not be kept by mortals.  (Satan himself, as a high ranking spirit being, could not keep them.)  God had the plan of redemption (the great mystery) in mind when He gave the laws. 

You cannot go through life and keep the letter of the law.  Example, stealing: ever cheat on income taxes?  Ever keep the wrong change from a store clerk?  Example, false witness (lying):  Ever stretch the truth to save the feelings of a friend?  Lie!  Ever exaggerate a story?  Lie!  Ever wish someone dead in your mind?  Murder!  Ever admire a friend's spouse in a lustful way?  Adultery!  Do you go to church on Sunday?  Sabbath!  Do you value your children over God?  Idolatry!  Jesus explained in the Beatitudes that even thinking against the law is breaking it. The "law" can't be kept.  We all break the law on a daily basis in thought and/or deed. 

Here's the Good News (gospel means "good news"):  We don't have to keep the law "written on stone".  Jesus brought new law:  "Love your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself".  Then, Jesus took all our sins (past, present and future) on Himself, once and for all.  (Ro 6:10)  It is over, done, finished, ended.  Jesus took ALL our sins upon Himself and nailed them to that cross.  We are free and do not have to put the stress upon ourselves to abide in a law that cannot be kept.  This is what grace is.

Oh, great, that means we can all go do any evil we want.  Of course not!  As believers in Jesus and what He has done, we don't want to.  That would be tantamount to slapping our Savior in the face.  What a wonderful thing He did for us.  As understanding believers who are grateful for His sacrifice, we want only to please Him.  That is all we have to do - believe, turn our back on a wayward life and try.  Easy - peasy!  God and The Son have made it easy for us - out of perfect love.  No one wants to knowingly defy such love.

This plan of redemption, this great mystery is the grace of God through the sacrifice of Jesus that covers us with the blood of the perfect sacrifice to be seen as pure in the eyes of our Heavenly Father.  We have been redeemed from all our past, present and future wrong doings.

It's all about Jesus, the Great "I Am" 
Amen

Shape Up

Today:

God has spoken to me.

He told me to "shape up".  Like a spoiled child who wants something they cannot have RIGHT NOW, I have been anxious for our relocation.  My husband's job is over and he will be relocated to another across the state. 

We are unsettled, living in a state of limbo.  There are boxes sitting around with seasonal items packed.  I am trying to close a non profit organization which is dragging out with a couple outstanding checks in the account stopping me from getting final reports to my accountant. This goes on and on with our lives being on hold, trying to close one door and reaching for the next.  

I am anxious to get settled in our retirement home; the one where we can finally put down roots and treat it like ours instead of always considering what the next buyer will want.  I day dream about landscaping and wall murals; organizing a new kitchen and setting up my studio.

Last night, my husband told me of yet another delay.  I wanted to cry out of frustration.  Patience is not one of my  virtues.  This threw me into a bad mood for a time.  The dog sensed it and he was a real "pill" all evening.  I was my old self snapping at my husband all through supper.  (I thought I had put that gal behind me.)

By the end of the evening, I thought I had a hold on things.  The apostle Paul said he was  content in whatever situation he found himself - and he was in many situations worse than what I am.  (I am not in jail or being stoned.)  If he can do it, so can I.   All through the night, my dreams were full of bad scenes about everything that has delayed this transition and more of what can go wrong in the near future - all the issues we face with a major relocation.  The enemy was really working on me.  Just before waking this morning, I remember saying, "I rebuke you, Satan, in the name of Jesus".  Truly, I tell you, this was a major battle that waged most of the night.

Listening to my favorite television evangelists this morning and working through my Bible study, God spoke to me through their words - and His, "Nothing will improve until you learn your lesson to accept things as they are and make the best of this situation."  It's not about me!  (Imagine that.)  It's about the people who will sell the house we will buy.  It's about the people who will buy our home.  It's about timing - God's timing because He is working things out to our benefit and the benefit of all who will be involved.

Time has been a precious commodity for several years.  I have wanted more of it for gardening, cooking and painting in my studio.  Now that I have that time, I am complaining.  Have you ever done that?  So, today, I make a new resolution to get back into my studio, take more time for personal grooming and time with friends I will have to say "goodbye" to and blow the dust off of a cook book.  There are going to be moments when I let all the delays get to me.  After all, the enemy never stops.  But, I have turned a corner and will stop and remember to take advantage of this time God is providing for me - because He is involved in my personal life - just like he is involved in your life.  

Everything in God's  good time.

Amen

The Gospels - Mark

Mark was not one of the twelve chosen by Jesus but, rather, a follower of Peter.  It is believed Mark wrote from the teachings of Peter.  Mark concentrated more on what Jesus did rather than what He said.  After all, Mark was not a direct witness to Jesus.

What Mark might have looked like

It is the shortest of the gospels with 16 chapters.  This book of Mark was written to Gentiles in Rome and Greece.

Acts 12:12 tells us Mark was somewhat affluent by the reference to his mother’s as a “big” house, because “many people had gathered”, and a servant is mentioned.

In Col 4:10 we learn that Barnabas, Paul’s frequent companion, was a cousin of John Mark.

In his account, Mark sees Jesus as the servant, symbolized by the ox (Rev 4:6&7), because of his tireless ministry in pure motive, represented by the color white.  He presents Jesus to the reader as a tireless worker; always doing and serving others (like a minister, our high priest).  Thus, setting example for His followers.

Mark had failed in his service at one point: Acts 13:13.  The “John” listed here is Mark (called John Mark).  He returned to Jerusalem due to some difficulty.  Acts 13:2 & 4 tells us the Holy Ghost called 2 but 3 went.  Mark was not yet called.  He was eager but not yet called by the Holy Spirit.   New believers are often very enthusiastic but may not yet be made ready.  Mark was experienced as a failed servant writing about the servant of man, Jesus, the ultimate servant.

Col 4:10 and II Tim 4:11 shows us Mark restored.  He went on to be quite  successful as an apostle. 

Mark’s gospel opens with Jesus busy: baptized, calling disciples, driving out demons, healing, tempted and preaching. 
Closes with Jesus working - with the apostles, 16:20.

In Mark, Chapt. 1, Jesus came into our darkness.  (In Mark 16, He left us with His light.)  I want to note that Jesus was baptized at the lowest point in the country and crucified at the highest point.  A good subject to ponder.

Chapter 3 tells us Jesus started with 70 apostles and chose 12.  In Hebrew (Jesus was a Hebrew), the number 12 represents authority/government: 12 tribes, 12 stones in first foundation of New Jerusalem, 12 stones on priests breastplate and more I will not explore at this time. 

Like Matthew, he records many of Jesus parables and healing.  He also accounts for Jesus’ brothers and sisters in Chapt 6.  Indeed, Jesus is very busy in this account by Mark.  He does one thing after another and Mark makes this clear with words like: immediately, and, then Jesus, at once, when Jesus and repeatedly following Jesus name with a verb.  All emphasis is on the perfect example of Jesus the servant.  Another point is the absence of the word “and”.  In original Greek text the conjunction “and” was used more frequently to show He was busy: and He healed, and He walked, and He went, and He saw, and He appoints.  Right away, Mark establishes Jesus as the servant. 

Further along in Chapt. 6, He feeds the 5,000.  If we include what must have been the presence of women and children, He fed even more than this; possibly around 15,000.  Mark tells us they were fed and satisfied; Jesus gave them the bread of life and they were content, just as we are fed with His word and find rest.  It is noted there were 12 full baskets left over.  He gives us all we need - and more.  I find it interesting to note there were also 12 apostles.

In 10:14, rather than the NIV word indignant or angry, original Greek states “severely displeased”.  I am a great advocate of how much Jesus was especially gracious to children and widows; what His brother James called “pure religion”. 

In Chapt. 11, Mark records the crowd crying “Hosanna!” as Jesus came into Jerusalem on a colt.  “Hosanna” translated from Hebrew, means “Save us, please.”  This is especially interesting in v.10.  He notes that they were to find a colt that had never been ridden - you could say a “virgin” colt.  Jesus was born of a virgin woman, rode a virgin colt and was buried in a virgin tomb (one that had never been used).

Mark also relates to us the last supper, Peter’s denial, Gethsemane, His arrest, trial, death, crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

All gospels mention either flogging or punishment of Jesus at the hand of Pilot.  Maybe Pilot was hoping the Jewish priests would have pity when they saw Him beaten within an inch of His life.  It didn’t work.  Surely, it is significant that every one of the gospels accounts for the flogging.  It was common in Roman law to use a cat of nine tails that had pieces of bone and pottery tied to the end of the nine leather tails to latch on to and tear flesh.  It was also likely that he received 38 to 40 lashes (x 9 tails) by Hebrew Old Testament law.  Pilot was dealing with Hebrew priests who were insisting on death.  The Psalmist recorded how His bones “stare back at me”.  The importance of shredding His body of flesh (as fulfilled in prophesy) was to take our ills and pains upon Himself so we might be whole, Isa. 53:4, I Pet.2:24

Moving on to the crucifixion, Mark mentions the time Jesus was crucified in 15:25   Nine in the morning was the time of the morning sacrifice at the temple. 

Verse 16:15 reads “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”  The Greek translates this “Go to all creatures and preach and publish openly.”  The Greek is so much more explicit.

It was a Gentile, a Centurian, that first stated, “This man was the Son of God!”.  His own people, through the priests, had turned against Him (the very people He came to save) so the apostles were sent out to Gentiles, who were quicker to believe.  The Gentiles did not have 5,000 years of law and tradition to over come.

Mark also mentions the women who were in service to Jesus during His ministry and were present at the cross.  This would have been unusual in those days.  A crucifixion was no place for a woman; it was very brutal.  Most likely, they stood off a few yards.  However, we are to believe that His mother was in hearing range when told to behold her new son, John.

One last note: These first four books of the New Testament are called “Synoptic Gospels”.  This translates “Good News In Agreement”.

Amen