The Gospel of Mark-Conclusion

Would you please turn in your copies of God’s Word to Mark chapter 1. This morning we move to the conclusion of our series in the Gospel of Mark. What I would like for us to do this morning is quick review of this powerful Gospel, a reminder of the all important message God delivered to us through the pen of Mark, as he wrote from Peter’s perspective. Undoubtably in our time in Mark, and in looking at the life of our Savior we have witnessed Jesus unparalleled power and authority over all things.

While we are closing out our look at the Gospel of Mark, our Scripture reading this morning will not be taken from Mark, rather we will move to the tail end of the Gospel of John. I believe one of the reasons why the Gospels end with John as opposed to one of the Synoptic Gospels is what we read in John 20:30-31, as to a very large degree these verses record the ultimate purpose of the combined message of all of the Gospels. With that, would you please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word?

John 20:30–31 ESV

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name.

May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Word, please be seated.

Now, lets go before the Lord in prayer.

Heavenly Father,

As we approach Your throne this morning, we do so with Unspeakable Joy, for the Lord is come. And Father, I pray that as we look into the pages of Your Word this morning that Every heart would prepare Him room. That You, Lord would reign as our Savior. Because You rule the world with truth and grace, in the glories of Your righteousness.

Lord, what a joy it is for us to celebrate You, Born the King of Israel, may you also rule as the King of our hearts. Glory to God in the highest. God most high in a manger lay. We lift our voices and now proclaim, Great and glorious, Love has come to us, and because of that truth we Join now with the host of heaven in lifting our praise to Your great Name.

Father, it is hard for me tho fathom what we sang earlier this morning that long ago in Bethlehem, You our Lord, Helpless lay the invincible, Maker of Mary, now Mary’s Son. When I think of the Omnipotent, the Invisible God as a helpless baby in a manger, You, a helpless Babe, yet in complete control of all things, as Your whole purpose in coming was the pay the price for our sins on the cross of Calvary. I Rejoice, with heart and soul and voice, Now we hear with endless bliss, Jesus Christ was born for this! He hath opened heaven’s door and man is blessed forevermore. Glory to the newborn King, Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. And because if these truths, All is calm, all is bright. You left the splendors of heaven to Be near me Lord Jesus. And Father I know, based on the unchanging truths of Your Word that You will also stay close beside me, O that I would cling closely to You.

Father, we thank You for You Word, You love letter to us. As we look into the pages of Your Word now, we ask that You would open our eyes to the powerful truths of Your Word, that our hearts would be transformed by what we see this morning.

These things we pray in the Name of Jesus Amen

I don’t know about the rest of you, but this journey we have been on through the pages of the Gospel of Mark has brought me a great deal of joy. As I mentioned earlier,

this morning we complete that journey, and what I want to do as we close our time in the Gospel of Mark, is to do a quick review of the entire Gospel as a reminder of the powerful truths we have been considering this past couple years. With that, if you haven’t already, turn to Mark chapter 1 and let’s begin.

In 1:9-11 we see His authority confirmed by both the Father, in the opening of the heavens at His baptism, as well as His declaration of Jesus being His “beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased”, we also see His authority confirmed by the Holy Spirit in His “descending on Him like a dove”.

In 1:12-13 as well as a review of the corresponding Gospels, we saw Jesus authority over sin and Satan and His use of Scripture to win a battle over temptation. We would do well to follow His lead.

In 1:16-20 we see Jesus calling of Peter, Andrew, James and John to drop their nets and follow Him that they would be “fishers of men”.

In 1:21-28 we see His authority over the demonic realm when he cast a demon out of a man.

In 1:29-34 we see His authority over sickness when He heals Simon Peter’s Mother-in-law as well as a host of others.

In 35-39 Jesus gives us another example to follow in his rising early in the morning to seek the Face of God the Father, and then in being obedient to Go where God directs.

In 1:40-45 we see a different type of authority in the Cleansing of a Leper. Different because with leprosy, the healing could not be complete without body parts-fingers, ears, the nose and other body parts that had fallen off, being restored. This meant that Jesus had the ability to create!

In 2:1-12 we not only see His authority to heal a paralyzed man, but also his authority to forgive sin. Remember that before He healed the man, He declared his sin’s forgiven. Then for the disbelieving and appalled Pharisees, He proved that authority by saying to the paralyzed man “‘I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.’ 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all”.

Moving forward to verses 13-17 we see a beautiful portrait of Jesus seeing past what others saw in the calling of Levi, whom we know as Matthew, a hated tax collector, whom Jesus transformed into an unswerving follower who was used of God to carry the Gospel as far away as Ethiopia and the Persian Empire.

In 2:18-22 Jesus answers questions about the appropriate time to fast, at the same time emphasizing one’s heart in relation to things like fasting.

In 2:23-29 Jesus points out that He is Lord of the Sabbath and how “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”.

In 3:1-6 we see His authority to heal a man with a Withered Hand.

In 3:7-12 we see Jesus surrounded by so great a crowd He had to teach from a boat and avoid being crushed by the crowd.

In 3:13-21 we see Jesus place a specific call on the 12.

In 3::22-30 Jesus is accused of doing His mighty works through the power of Satan, He sets the record straight and warns the Pharisees of blaspheming.

Chapter 3 closes with a picture of Jesus drawing a direct correlation of those who seek to do the will of the Father with being a part of the family of God, even more a part of God’s family than Jesus physical siblings, who at the time did not believe in Him.

In the first 34 verses of chapter 4 we see Jesus teaching through the use of parables, which is the use of stories to illustrate the truth of God’s Word.

In 4:35-41 we see a whole new authority, the authority over nature, and over creation when He spoke “Peace be still!” and instantly the wind and the waves obeyed.

In 5:1-20, we saw His incredible authority over as many as 2,000 or more demons at one time, when He cast them out of the The Gerasene Demoniac and into a herd of pigs.

In 5:21-43, Jesus heals the woman with the 12 year flow of blood and in the same verses he raises a 12 year old girl from the dead, once again proving He had authority over sickness, but even more significant, proving He had authority over death!

Chapter 6 begins with Jesus being rejected in His Own home town of Nazareth.

In 6:7-13 We see He has the authority to transfer some of His powers to the 12 when He sends them out on a short term missionary journey with the ability to perform miracles.

From 14-29 the Gospels take a break from Jesus and moves to the account of John the Baptist being beheaded.

In 6:30-44 and 8:1-10, we see once again, His ability to create something out of nothing, in the feeding of the 5,000 and 4,000 (not including women and children!). He was able to create fish and bread from nothing, enough in the 2 episodes combined to feed as many as 43,000 or more people.

In 6:45-52 He demonstrates a different type of power over nature when He was able to walk on the water, but right before that, He was miraculously able to see His disciples, through the darkness, through the storm from a distance of at least 6 miles! Which again highlighted His power over nature, as well as showing Him as El Roi, The God Who sees.

Chapter 6 closes with Jesus healing many in the region of Gennesaret.

In the first 23 verses of chapter 7 we see Jesus battling against the religious teachers, who were more concerned with following the traditions of man, than they were in being obedient to the truths of God’s Word. How they only gave the impression of being faithful, but were in fact filled with evil thoughts.

In 7:24-30 we see Him demonstrate His power over demons when he cast a demon out of the Syrophoenician’s daughter, with nothing more that thoughts in His mind. He didn’t even go to see the little girl.

In 7:31-37 He opens the ears of a deaf man and gives him the ability to speak. Something similar takes place in 9:14-29 with a demon possessed boy who was mute. Jesus both restored his ability to speak and cast a demon out of him.

We mentioned the feeding of the 4,000 earlier, also in the early part of chapter 8 we see the Pharisees demand a sign, which Jesus refused to give them.

Continuing in chapter 8, we see a brief picture of how the faith of the disciples still had a long way to go. They had just witnessed Jesus feeding of the 4,000, yet they struggled understanding that just as Jesus provided food for the multitudes, He could also care for their physical needs even on a boat.

In 8:22-26 We see Jesus open the eyes of a blind man, proving He had authority to restore sight to the blind.

In 8:27-9:1 We moved to what is widely considered The Hinge pin of the Gospel of Mark. The pivot point of Mark’s record of the life of Jesus. In fact many commentaries call this “The Continental Divide of the Gospels”. From this point forward, everything changes, especially His message. This important section begins as we wrestled with The Most Important Question. What do we do with Jesus, Whom do we believe Him to be? Jesus also begins teaching that He was to be put to death and raise from the dead 3 days later.

In chapter 9, beginning in verse 2 we see Jesus literally transfigured before Peter, James and John, when they were given a glimpse of the unveiled glory of God in Him.

Beginning in verse 14 we again see Jesus power over the spiritual realm as He castes a demon out of a boy who had an unclean spirit.

Chapter 9 closes with Jesus again foretelling His death and resurrection as well as giving us a picture of the true path to humility.

Chapter 10 begins with Jesus teaching about divorce before moving to giving us a picture of the tale of two hearts, a heart of the powerful faith of a child, children naturally have unswerving faith in the the adult loved ones around them. How we are to emulate their faith when it comes to our relationship to God. He contrasts their faith with that of the rich young ruler, who had a greater devotion to his own wealth and possessions than he did to God.

In 10:32-34 Jesus again foretells of His death and resurrection.

In verses 35-45 Jesus challenges the pride of James, John and their mother, who sought places of honor, pointing out how counter culture Jesus Himself was, which is magnified greatly in the theme verse of Mark’s gospel, Mark 10:45

Mark 10:45 ESV

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Beginning in verse 46, we see a picture of persistent faith in Blind Bartimaeus, who wasn’t about to be stopped in his pursuit of being in the presence of Jesus. O that we wold follow his lead!

In chapter 11, we move to the last week of Jesus life, what we call Holy Week, which began with His triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.

If you will remember correctly, His entry into Jerusalem was the fulfillment to the exact day, of a prophecy given by the prophet Daniel more than 500 years earlier in Daniel chapter 9. Where Daniel gives the exact timeline to the day, on which the Messiah would enter Jerusalem, in what we now call the Triumphal Entry. The countdown begins the day the order is given to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. We see King Artaxerxes give that order in Nehemiah 2. Based on Daniels prophecy, 173,880 days from the day that Nehemiah was given the command to rebuild the walls - which was March 14, 445 B.C. - Jesus the Messiah would be presented to Israel. That is exactly what we see taking place in the Triumphal Entry, on the exact day foretold by Daniel.

Moving forward in chapter 11 we see Jesus curse the fig tree, before He cleansed the temple, which by the way He also did at the beginning of His public ministry. Then we see the lesson of the withered fig tree, which gave us a picture of how the Jewish religious system, which refused to acknowledge Jesus as the long awaited Messiah, was withering to nothing just like the fig tree He had cursed.

Chapter 11 closes and chapter 12 begins with what we called the Ultimate Chess match, where Jesus was challenges by the religious leaders of the day, which ended with their being humbled as they attempted to match wits with the God of all creation.

Beginning in chapter 12:13, we see Jewish leaders who were in many ways enemies of one another, team together to attempt to trap Jesus, hoping He would give them a valid reason to have Him put to death. Which is an early example of the well known phrase “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Of course just as He had done on multiple other occasions, Jesus made all of them look foolish.

In 12:28-40 Jesus highlights the Greatest Command as He answers a question from the Rich young ruler. He also points out His timelessness, and warns those present of the hypocritical scribes.

Chapter 12 closes with Jesus pointing out what true devotion looks like, as He points out the unswerving devotion of the widow, who was willing to give everything she had in service to the Lord.

Moving into chapter 13, we see Jesus foretell the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, which correlated with the complete destruction of the Jewish religious system. A religious system which, from the very beginning looked forward to its ultimate fulfillment in the coming Messiah, Who was to become the ultimate and final Lamb of God, the spotless Lamb of God, whose death, burial and resurrection ended any need for future passover lambs to be sacrificed.

As we move forward in chapter 13, in many ways Jesus takes the disciples through sort of a boot camp to prepare them for carrying on His ministry in His absence. He also addresses what the future held for them, the church and future followers.

Chapter 14 opens with a plot to kill Jesus, however, their plan was to kill Him after the Passover, whereas God’s perfect plan had Him dying at the exact moment the passover lambs where being sacrificed, signifying He was the ultimate Passover Lamb that completely ended the Old Testament sacrificial system.

We are then given a picture of extravagant love when Jesus was anointed by a woman with very expensive perfume at the home of Simon the Leper in Bethany. Which was followed by the opposite of extravagant love, as Judas Iscariot leaves for the purpose of betraying Jesus. At the same time we see the selfishness of the disciples, as they argue among themselves as to which one was to be the greatest in the Kingdom of God.

From verses 12-25 we see Jesus establish the Lord’s Supper, Communion, which we celebrated earlier this morning. At that time He also foretells Peter’s denial of Him and then He leads the disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane for a time of intense prayer. Which they all slept through. Followed by His arrest in the Garden, His illegal trial by the Jewish Council, and closes with Peter’s denial.

Chapter 15 was a particularly powerful chapter, which began with Jesus trial before Pilate. Pilate delivering Him to be crucified. Jesus being mocked by the soldiers, then His crucifixion, death and burial. All throughout the crucifixion, as well as so much leading up the the crucifixion, we watched as Jesus miraculously fulfilled prophecy after prophecy, leaving no stone unturned in fulfilling every single prophecy concerning Jesus in His first coming.

And in chapter 16, we focused On Jesus resurrection and post resurrection appearances. Additionally, we also looked at some of the post resurrection appearances in the other Gospels, because, truthfully, Mark contains very little in regards to His appearances after the resurrection.

Look in your copies of God’s Word towards the end of chapter 16, what do you see directly before verse 9 and directly after verse 20 [Brackets]. The reason for that is verses 9-20 are missing from the oldest and most reliable ancient manuscripts. We actually don’t know who added these verses or when they were added. Some suppose they were added by a scribe who perhaps felt ending with verse 8 was to abrupt, and he added what we see at the end of Matthew 28 as well as some miraculous things we see taking place in the Book of Acts. Most scholars believe verses 9-20 to be a completely uninspired addition, in other words these verse would not be from the Holy Spirit.

Sunday’s Children

I love the way one of my favorite commentators, R. Kent Hughes addresses the abrupt ending we see in verse 8. He writes;

Mark—Jesus, Servant and Savior (2 vols.) (The Effects of the Resurrection (16:1-8)) What a perfect ending for Mark’s Gospel. William Lane says, “The … ending of Mark is thoroughly consistent with the motifs of astonishment and fear developed throughout the Gospel. These Motifs express the manner in which Mark understands the events of Jesus’ life” An authentic encounter with the gospel is compelling. [In speaking about the women and Jesus disciples he goes on to write]

They all had been Saturday’s children a few moments before, depressed and despairing. But [because of the empty tomb] they then they became Sunday’s children, joyously flying along. When they told the disciples “and Peter”—especially Peter, the arch-offender—they all became Sunday’s children. It was Sunday’s children who took the gospel around the Mediterranean, into the vast temperate terrain of Russia, to Germany, to Spain, and to Ireland. It is Sunday’s children who take it today to the tiny villages and great cities of the world.

To Sunday’s children Jesus says, in the words composed by Bishop Melito of Sardis: I am your forgiveness, I am the passover of your salvation, I am the lamb which was sacrificed for you, I am your ransom, I am your light, I am your savior, I am your resurrection, I am your king, I am leading you up to the heights of heaven, I will show you the eternal Father, I will raise you up by my right hand.

Sunday’s children live in the historical, intellectual, and emotional reality of the Resurrection. Next to the empty tomb and the witness of God’s Word, it is Sunday’s children who form the greatest argument for the Resurrection.

Now, as we close in prayer, would you do me a favor? As I pray, I’d like you to hold in your hands and above you heads your copy of God’s Word.

Father in Heaven,

I am overwhelmed with gratitude at Your provision of the Gospel of Mark. On these pages You have gone to great lengths to provide proof after proof that Jesus is, indeed, the very Son of God, God in flesh.

With power over the demonic realm,

power over sickness and disease,

the ability to cleanse lepers,

power to heal the paralyzed and at the same time forgive sins,

unparalleled knowledge of the truths of Your Word (which makes perfect sense, since He wrote it),

we see Him as the Lord of the Sabbath,

we see His ultimate power over nature when He speaks 3 words; “Peace be still” and the wind and the waves obey.

And yes, we also see He has power over death, as He raised the dead back to life on several occasions.

And in the end, we see He has the power over sin and death in His own death and resurrection.

Father I pray that we would be so moved by what we see in these pages, that we would not be stuck in the mire of the depression of Saturday’s children, whose hero was dead and gone, locked behind a sealed stone in a borrowed grave, but that instead, we would become Sunday’s children, basking in the joy of an empty tomb and a risen Savior.

There is no joy in Christmas, without an empty tomb and risen Savior!

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today! He walks with me, and talks with me, along lives narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.

These things we pray in the Name of Jesus, Who moved past just being the Babe in a manger to become the Risen Savior, Amen