Search The Scriptures —Study 8 — Mark 4:1-20

Study 8 From The Book of Mark is: Mark 4:1-20

1.      What does this parable teach concerning (a) the reasons why even the teaching of Jesus failed to produce fruit in the lives of many of the hearers; (b) the method by which the kingdom comes in this present age; (c) the criteria by which true success is measured in gospel preaching?

2.     ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear’. Is the Word of God finding entrance into my heart (verse 15)? Is it taking deep root (verses 16, 17)? Am I allowing some other crop to mature in my heart (verses 18, 19)? What measure of fruit is being produced in my life (verse 20)? Cf. Heb. 3:7, 8.

Notes

1.        A new method in Jesus’s teaching begins here.  The first parable is itself an indication of the purpose of teaching by parables.  See verse 13. Such a method brings hearers under judgment, and finds out the truly responsive. The real cause of blindness to the truth is unwillingness to repent and to be forgiven.  Those who, as disciples, are responsive are given fuller understanding.  See verse 34.

2.     Verse 11. ‘The secret’ or ‘mystery’ (AV and RV); this is not something which cannot be understood.  Rather it is something specialty disclosed by divine revelation to those who are ready to understand it. ‘The secret of the kingdom of God’s is the content of the gospel of Christ.  Cf. Eph. 3:4; 6:19.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 7 — Mark Revision: Mark 1-3

Study 7 From The Book of Mark is: Mark Revision of Chapter 1-3

1.      What strikes you most about Jesus in Mark’s picture of Him at the beginning of His ministry? Of what truths was Jesus most concerned to make people aware? In other words, what is the essence of ‘the gospel of God’ which He preached?

2.     What different kinds of reaction and result did the activity of Jesus provoke? To which class of people was Jesus prepared to give most? What must I be prepared to do to belong to this class? What may I then expect Him to give me? 

Search The Scriptures —Study 6 — Mark 3:19b -35

Study 6 From The Book of Mark is: Mark 3:19b -35

1.      Note the official source and the evil character of the opposition which Jesus now had to meet. His reply to their accusation falls into three parts: (a) He disproves their assertion; (b) He sets forth the true explanation of His power over evil spirits; (c) He gives a solemn warning. State His argument in your own words.

2.     Jesus here distinguishes His spiritual kinsmen from His human relatives.  Why did the latter misunderstand Him? How do the former reveal their kinship with Him?

Notes

1.      Verses 19b-21 are connected with verses 31-35. The words ‘his friends’ in verse 21 mean literally ‘they from His home’, and might be translated ‘His family’.

2.     Verses 29, 30.  The scribes’ sin was unforgivable because it was a defiant rejection of God-given light.  They were knowingly calling good evil and holy unclean.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 5 — Mark 3:7-19a

Study 5 From The Book of Mark is: Mark 3:7-19a

1.       At this stage in His ministry, what obvious dangers and what positive desires made Jesus withdraw and go up into the hills? Whom did He take with Him, and why? What were the overriding aims and the underlying strategy of His method?

2.     The Twelve are first described as ‘disciples’ (i.e., ‘learners’) and later as ‘apostles’ (see 3:14, mg.; ‘men sent on a mission’). What kind of response did each calling demand? Can we become one without becoming the other? How far have you got in this sequence?  

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Search The Scriptures —Study 4 — Mark 2:13 – 3:6

Study 4 From The Book of Mark is: Mark 2:13 – 3:6

1.      Note how, when questions were asked about His behaviour, Jesus made Himself and the work which He had come to do the sufficient justification for His action.  Cf. 2:6-12.  What claims was He thus making for Himself?

2.     Why did not Jesus’s disciples stand condemned for ‘doing what is not lawful on the sabbath’? Who did stand condemned for their wrong use of the Sabbath in the subsequent controversy concerning the healing of the man which a withered hand? Since Jesus used the Sabbath as His day, and for men’s good, how ought we to use the Lord’s day?

Notes

1.       2:19.   The ‘bridegroom’ is, according to Old Testament usage, virtually a description of God in His covenant relation to His chosen people Israel.  Cf. Ho. 2:16-20

2.      2:25, 26.  Note the repeated phrase ‘those who were with him’. In such company their action could not be condemned.

3.     2:23, 24 and 3:2.  The scribes taught that to pluck ears of corn was a form of reaping which the law did not allow on the Sabbath (Ex. 34:21); also that it was unlawful to do the work of healing on the Sabbath, unless life was in danger.  

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Search The Scriptures —Study 3 — Mark 1:35 – 2:12

Study 3 From The Book of Mark is: Mark 1:35 – 2:12

1.      After the astonishing events of the preceding day Jesus had to consider what He should do next. How did He arrive at a decision, and to what decision did He come?  In what way did the healed leper’s disobedience hinder Jesus’s work? What bearing has this upon (a) our prayer life, and (b) the Church’s missionary duty? Cf. Jn. 20:21; Mk. 16:15

2.     What evidences do you find in this story in chapter 2 of our Lord’s powers of discernment? What did Jesus ‘see’? And when He confirmed a verbal claim, which men questioned, by a miraculous work, which none could deny, to what truths was He bearing decisive witness?

Note. 2:4. The house would have a flat roof, which could be reached by an outside stairway (cf. 13:15).  

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Search The Scriptures —Study 2 — Mark 1:16-34

Study 2 From The Book of Mark is: Mark 1:16-34

1.      In what different ways does Jesus here exercise His authority? What kind of questions did such actions make people ask? On what did they repeatedly focus attention?

2.     How were these Galilean fishermen to become personal soul-winners? What were the conditions and the cost of the realization of such a surprising suggestion? Is there any reason why a similar change could not happen in my life?

Notes

1.      Verse 22. The scribes quoted the great authorities. Jesus spoke as if He Himself were the supreme authority.  Cf. ‘But, I say to you’ (Mt. 5:21, 2233, 34).

2.     Verses 25-27. Jesus did not invoke God’s name like Jewish exorcists. He spoke as if the decisive authority was His own; and it ‘worked’. The unclean spirits obeyed Him. 

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Search The Scriptures —Study 1 — Mark 1:1-15

Study 1 From The Book of Mark is: Mark 1: 1-15

1.      Why ‘the gospel’ (verse 1)? How is this record different from a biography?  What blessings of the gospel of Christ were anticipated in the Baptist’s preaching? Cf. Acts 2:38. When Jesus Himself preached ‘the gospel of God’ what aspects of its accomplishment and enjoyment did He stress?

2.     Observe how the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were all active in the events recorded—and Satan also. What does this imply concerning the issues involved in the coming story and in our own earthly lives?

Note. Note Mark’s significant use of the description ‘gospel’.  It is of such ‘good tidings’ that Isaiah had explicitly written.  Cf. Is. 40:9-11; 52:7 -10; 61:1-4.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 0 — Book of Mark

Study 0 From The Book of Mark is: The Introduction of the book of Mark

It is generally held that this Gospel was written by John Mark, the nephew of Barnabas, and is the earliest of the four Gospels. According to tradition it is based upon the teaching of the apostle Peter, whose interpreter Mark became (cf. 1 Pet. 5:13), and was written in Rome for the church there.  It begins with a short preliminary statement of John the Baptist’s ministry, and of the baptism and temptation of Jesus, and then passes on to His public ministry in Galilee.  In common with the other Gospel, it devotes a comparatively large space to Jesus’s sufferings, death and resurrection.

 The story centres in the confession of Peter, ‘Thou art the Christ’ (8:27-29).  Up to that time it tells of our Lord’s activity in preaching and healing; but after the confession of Peter, Jesus makes known to the Twelve that He must suffer and die, and be raised the third day, and His face is turned towards the cross.  The disciples failed to understand; and the work of Jesus in this latter half of the Gospel consists largely in teaching His disciples, and seeking to wean them from the false ideas of the kingdom which possessed their minds.

The  closing verses of the Gospel (16:9:20) do not appear to be the original ending.  Some ancient manuscripts end at 16:8, and others have a different paragraph at the close.  But, these verses contain the great missionary commission and have an established claim to be regarded as a part of Scripture.  

Search The Scriptures —Study 25 — Numbers 33-35.

Study 25 From The Book of Numbers is: Numbers 33-35.

With this study we end the book of Numbers.  The next study will take us to the book of Mark (Part 1)

1. What details stand out in this statistical account which make one aware of the particular interests and concerns of Moses (see 33; 2) the ‘statistician’? What does he want his readers to take note of an remember?
2. The theme of entry into a promised inheritance appears several times in the New Testament. especially Acts 20:32; Rom. 8:17; Gal. 3:29; Heb. 11 makes it clear that our real inheritance, both Israel’s and Christians’, is a heavenly one. What does Israel’s entry into its earthly inheritance teach us about preparing for an claiming our true inheritance? To what warnings ought we to pay heed?
3. What can we learn from chapter 35 concerning God’s standards of judgement as regards manslaughter and murder?

Note.  For consideration of Numbers 36 see study #20  few days ago.

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