Introduction to the Book of Mark

Welcome Message Good morning again everyone. Please turn in your Bibles to the book of Mark. If you are using your pew bibles that is on page: As you turn there thank you for having me here today, I have to say, I've really enjoyed speaking to you over the last few months, but I am extra excited about what we are going to be starting today. That being said, let me pray for us and we can jump right in. Prayer Grateful Wisdom Prepare my heart and their hearts to receive the TREASURE of your word! Purpose of the message (What's the Big Idea) Why preach through whole books of the Bible? As I was saying before, I am really excited about what we are starting today. Today we are starting a series preaching through the entire Book of Mark. This is really exciting to me for a lot of reasons, but mostly because I love the word of God. I love to read it and study it and preach it to you. I love that God does not make it hard to know Him - he gave us a book all about Him. I had a conversation with a close relative a few months ago about God, and he kept telling me about how he heard God "speak to him" and he described his relationship with God as a sort of super spiritual thing that was very emotional and unclear. I used the analogy of a father. Would a father who wants to have a relationship with his kids be far off and hard to understand? Would he make the requirements for a relationship with him unclear like floating around and making you guess what it takes? Of course he would not do that - he would make it crystal clear and would say it over and over in a bunch of different ways to make sure there was no chance you could misunderstand. This is Reason #1 why we preach through whole books of the Bible. We want to know EVERYTHING God has to say to us, not just bits and pieces. Reason #2 we preach through whole books of the Bible because we frankly aren't smart enough to figure out all of the topics that people need to hear in this room. There is no way we can know the struggles, fears, and challenges that all of you are going through. Inevitably, if we relied on our own strength, we would miss the mark and simply preach what we think you need to hear. Even worse, we would preach what we think you WANT to hear so we can keep the seats full. In other words, our confidence is not in ourselves but in the power of the Word of God. Not because the Bible is a handy book of moral lessons we can use to live a better life, or because it is like a magic 8-ball we can use to give answers to our daily questions, but because the Bible is more than just a book. Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. So the Bible contains the very character and nature of God who wrote the Bible through men. The God who created you, knows you inside and out, has revealed himself to humanity through His son Jesus and we know this Jesus through this book. As if that wasn’t enough, this book was not only inspired by the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, but now it is illuminated and understood through the same Holy Spirit who lives in us – the church, the children of God. So yes, this book can be studied and read and examined by anyone like any other book. But for those who know the author, who call the author Father, this book comes alive. And what happens is – this books begins not to be read by us, but begins to read us. So we believe that preaching through this book, the Holy Spirit can use the words on these pages to do deep and long lasting, life changing work in us that no amount of motivational speaking, or good advice, or self-help books can give. This isn't to say that we can't use the Bible as a guide to help us in our lives: 2 Timothy 3: 16-17 16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. We know this is true because of what the Bible itself records about scripture: Moses - wrote the law as instructed by the words of God - God wanted his words written in a book. The prophets - spoke by the word on how to live out that law (exposition for the Scripture in a very real sense). NT writers - quote the Word of God and exposit it as led by Spirit. But the most powerful case for the unending relevance of Scripture is Jesus Himself says he only speaks what the Father tells him to and he literally quotes from and preaches himself out of the Scriptures of the Old Testament throughout his whole ministry. Reason #3, we preach through whole books of the Bible and encourage you to study scripture every day on your own is because a Christian's life is a life of warfare. And we want you to be fully equipped. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 3For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We cannot simply attend church on Sunday mornings and expect to be victorious in battle. I hate to over-use my military background as an analogy, but I think it is highly relevant here. Do you know everything a young Marine has to go through before he can deploy to a combat zone? First there is 13 weeks of boot camp, where they are broken down physically, mentally, emotionally, and made into Marines. They are literally made into new people - "born again" if you will. Next they go to a specialized school, for Infantry Marines, they attend the School of Infantry. If they have a specialty, like a machine gunner or a mortar man, they get even more specialized training. Finally after several months of training, they arrive at their first unit. Marines call it getting to the "fleet." At this point they have to learn how to function within their new unit. They need to get to know their new leaders, learn unit specific procedures, and if the unit they are assigned to has a specific mission, they go through even more training. As a company commander, this is when I got them. Right after the School of Infantry. They were basically trained but were definitely not ready to deploy. How often do you think we trained them? Once a week for a couple of hours? Of course not! We spent 12 hours per day 5 days per week, and even weekends if we had a special training event scheduled. Drilling over and over on everything from weapons handling to first aid. We needed them to be so good that when things got crazy, the Marines could respond on muscle memory rather than having to think. So if you really want to be victorious in this life and be told "well done good and faithful servant" when you stand before Jesus, then you must immerse yourself daily in this book. Read it, study it, meditate on it, drill it over and over until it is muscle memory. If you don't already do this, start writing notes in your Bible, if you run out of room, start a notebook. I don't have time to teach a class on how to take notes in your Bible, but there are a ton of resources out there. But get the reps in no matter what you do. I promise you, you will never get tired of studying this book. That is the amazing thing about God, even if you studied him for a million years, you would never scratch the surface of the depths of his glory - he is Infinite! If in the process of reading through the word, you have questions, ask some of your leaders - I know they would be thrilled to walk through with you. I also know you have a great library here, don't try to reinvent the wheel, learn from the masters who have gone before you. This is another one of the amazing things about Christianity. We are the ONLY religion that encourages everyone to own a copy of and study our Holy Book. The great reformers bled so you could have a copy of this book in your native language. Everyone else in the world wants you to simply "take their word for it". Here is a headline from the New York Times on an article about Coronavirus: "The solution isn’t to try to think more carefully. It’s to trust the experts." So I'm here to tell you, first of all, I'm no expert, but even what little I do know, don't take my word for it. Think for yourself, study this book and become proficient at wielding it against the attacks of the enemy. So now that you understand why we preach through whole books of the Bible and why we want you to have a disciplined life of daily study, let's look into the Book of Mark. I would encourage you that if your Bible does not already have an overview of the Book of Mark, to grab a pen, and to actually write some facts that I am going to give you this morning into the margins of your Bible for future reference. What type of literature is the Book of Mark Mark is a type of literature in the Bible that we call – the gospels. 4 of them, Mt, Mk, Lk, Jn. Unique in that it is narrative literature, in other words, it simply tells a story which is different from: an epistle like Colossians or Romans, different from prophetic literature in the OT, which was basically a series of messages or sermons to a group of people, different from wisdom literature or poetry like Psalms, proverbs. The gospels sought to tell the story of the life and ministry of Jesus. You have 3 gospels which are called synoptic gospels, Mt, Mk, Luke, because they are very similar in how they tell the story of Jesus. Synoptic literally means “together sight” and so these three books tell the story of Jesus together in a similar view. John on the other hand has a very different perspective on the life and ministry of Jesus and most of the material in John is very unique and not recorded in Mt, Mk,Luke. In fact, about 90% of Mark is also recorded in Mt, and about 50% of Mark is recorded in Luke. So why not just study one of those bigger books and you get most of Mark along with it. That was the feeling the church had for much of it’s history until it was discovered in the 1800’s that Mark was in fact the first gospel. I suggest that although much of the content of Mark is covered in Matthew and Luke, Mark offers a unique perspective and literary style that conveys the good news of the gospel with a different emphasis. It's my hope that after my message today, you will understand what I mean. All of the gospels in fact, have their own purpose and goal and none of the gospels have the purpose of recording everything Jesus did. In fact, John himself says: John 21:25 25Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. So why the differences in the gospel. Why can you read an account of the same event in 2, 3, or even 4 of the gospel and the details don’t always match up 100%. Like the feeding of the 5,000, one of the few events recorded in all 4 gospels, if all 4 guys were there, shouldn’t it sound very familiar? Cold-case homicide investigator Jim Wallace, wrote a book called "Cold Case Christianity" which is a book that explain The book investigates the claims of the New Testament, especially the four Gospels, with the intent of proving the reasonableness of Christianity. As a homicide investigator, Jim addresses the issue of differences in eye-witness testimony in the book. He tells a story about a robbery that he investigated. There were two witnesses to the robbery and they both had very different descriptions of the robber. At first their stories seemed almost contradictory, for example one said he didn't have a gun, the other said he did. One said he seemed like a nice young man, the other said he was older and threatening. How can this be? Well, the person who said he was older, was in fact, younger than the robber. The person who said he didn't have a gun was standing in a position that made it to where they could not see the gun. You get the idea. In fact, Jim goes on to say that it is actually a sure sign that the witnesses cooked up a story between them if their stories match perfectly. So in truthful witness testimony you would expect differing accounts, and each different story will have missing pieces that when put together make the whole. This is exactly what we see in the Gospels. Authorship and place of compositionSo, as I said before, the gospel of Mark is now believed to be the first Gospel ever written. It is written in a more common, everyday Greek style, and although it does not identify it's author is believed to have been written by Mark who was identified as an "interpreter" of the Apostle Peter. We know this because a man named Papias, bishop of Hierapolis in Asia Minor recorded it before his death around AD 130. The Mark under consideration is evidently John Mark, son of a woman named Mary. Here is what we know about him: in whose house the early church gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12). "the same dwelling was apparently the site of the Last Supper (Acts 1:13–14; Mark 14:14).10 He accompanied Barnabas and Saul as an assistant on the first missionary journey (Acts 12:25; 13:4),. At Perga he quit the journey for undisclosed reasons (Acts 13:13). This desertion caused a rift between Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:37–41). John Mark is not heard from again until a decade later, when scattered references show him reconciled to Paul (Col 4:10; Phlm 24; 2 Tim 4:11). A final NT reference shows him laboring with Peter in Rome (1 Pet 5:13). According to tradition, Mark evangelized in Egypt and there established churches eventually becoming the first bishop of Alexandria (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 2.16). Date of compositionAs with the authorship, the gospel of Mark does not give a specific date for when it was written. The only evidence available is from external sources and from clues within the text itself. The writings of the early church fathers such as Iraneus, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen, disagree on exactly when Mark was written but seems to suggest that it was written either very close to the end or shortly after the end of Peter's life. Early church tradition is unanimous that Peter died during the latter years of Nero’s reign, who ruled from 54 to 68. External evidence thus suggests a date for Mark in the mid to late 60s of the first century. Historical ContextIt is clear from reading Mark that his intention was to portray the person and mission of Jesus Christ for Roman Christians (most likely gentiles) undergoing persecution under Nero. This is apparent because: Mark quotes relatively infrequently from the OT, and he explains Jewish customs unfamiliar to his readers (7:3–4; 12:18; 14:12; 15:42). He translates Aramaic and Hebrew phrases by their Greek equivalents (3:17; 5:41; 7:11, 34; 10:46; 14:36; 15:22, 34).17 He also incorporates a number of Latinisms by transliterating familiar Latin expressions into Greek characters.18 Finally, Mark presents Romans in a neutral (12:17; 15:1–2, 21–22) and sometimes favorable (15:39) light. These data indicate that Mark wrote for Greek readers whose primary frame of reference was the Roman Empire, whose native tongue was evidently Latin, and for whom the land and Jewish ethos of Jesus were unfamiliar. Again, Rome looks to be the place in which and for which the Second Gospel was composed. Style and OverviewDespite the fact that until recently Mark was looked down upon compared to the other gospels as lacking in "literary style" - in reality Mark's gospel does an incredible job of describing Jesus as one who challenges and breaks conventional stereotypes. Mark uses irony throughout the Gospel to reinforce this - for example the religious leaders are constantly at odds with Jesus, but an unknown gentile woman is commended for her faith. As we go through the entire narrative of the gospel of Mark you will be able to see the other ironic situations that occur throughout the book. All of this is to reinforce Mark's message that Jesus is not who anyone expected, but that he is in fact, the promised Messiah. So let's take a high level view at the Gospel of Mark. Mark portrays Jesus as a man of action throughout his Gospel, not telling you what you should think about Jesus, but rather describing Jesus' actions and then describing how other people react to Jesus. The book of Mark is broken up into three sections: The first section covers chapters 1-8 and takes place in Galilee, and shows how everyone is shocked by Jesus and are wondering who he is. The middle section covers chapters 8-10 and shows Jesus on the way from Galilee to Jerusalem and shows the disciples and their struggle with understanding that Jesus is the Messiah The third section covers chapters 11-16 takes place in Jerusalem and shows the surprising way that Jesus becomes the Messianic King. Section 1 begins with the following quote from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah: Mark 1:2-3 2As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, 3the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” Mark is showing that the King is coming and will be heralded by the messenger prophesied of in the Old Testament. Mark then introduces John the Baptist as that messenger in the following verses. So Mark has now set up the arrival God himself and then unexpectedly, he introduces Jesus. Here we can see the first of the recurring theme throughout the gospel of Mark we talked about earlier - Jesus is the Messiah, but is not what people expected. After Jesus' baptism, he begins his Ministry proclaiming that: Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Jesus is showing people how God's promise to restore his reign over the world was being fulfilled through himself. At this point, to show that Jesus is in fact, the promised Messiah, Mark begins to tell several stories that show Jesus' power. Jesus casts out demons Heals large groups of people Cleanses lepers Even heals a paralytic But most importantly, Jesus does something that only God has the right to do. Let's look at Mark 2 verses 3-5: 3And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. 5And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” So Jesus forgives the sins of the paralytic man. It's important you understand how incredible this action would have been to the 1st Century Jews. You can see that This action produces many different responses among the witnesses: The scribes were outraged and called Jesus a blasphemer, but then Mark goes out of his way to show how Jesus called Levi a tax collector to follow him. Here is another ironic example - religious leaders reject Jesus despite his miraculous signs, but a tax collector - hated among the Jews - becomes a follower of Jesus. Jesus is not unaware of these varying responses and in fact he calls attention to them. In Chapter 4 we see a collection of parables that Jesus tells. The purpose of the parables is to show the mysterious an unexpected nature of the Kingdom. Jesus explains the reason why he speaks in parables in verses 10-12: 10And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12so that “‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” This was to fulfill a prophecy given in Isaiah Chapter 6 that some people would not be able to understand God's message. In fact in Chapter 8, even though Jesus had been working miracles for all of his ministry up to this point, the Pharisees demand a "sign". But Jesus responds that they will not receive any such sign. Even Jesus' disciples themselves were struggling to understand. This leads into the next section in Mark's Gospel: Section 2: "On the Way" Section 2 begins with a very important conversation between Jesus and His disciples. Let's look at Chapter 8 starting in verse 27. 27And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. 31And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Now I want to take a minute here an talk about Peter - here we see that Peter has been gifted with supernatural insight in his ability to determine that Jesus was the Messiah. But no sooner has Peter said this, than he tries to rebuke Jesus for saying that Jesus would have to suffer and die. Jesus says something interesting here in that Peter's idea of the Messiah is coming from his own mind, not from what God has revealed in scripture. You might remember last week, I talked about one of the amazing things about the Bible - that is strong proof that you can trust it is true, is the way it treats its main characters. Peter is definitely one of the most important people in the entire Bible, and here you can see him with all of his mess. Remember this Gospel is most likely the story told from Peter's perspective, so if he was making it all up, why in the world would he include this story? The only explanation is that it is the truth. So this story of Jesus and Peter shows that even Peter is still struggling with his expectations relating to the coming Messiah. Peter has his own ideas about who the Messiah should be - a conquering king, but Jesus is trying to tell them that he is "Suffering Servant" described in Isaiah 53. In keeping with the recurring theme of irony in Mark's gospel, Jesus goes on to tell the disciples that if they want to follow him, they shouldn't expect fame and power, but instead should "take up their crosses" and follow Him. Following Jesus is a call to die. After this conversation with the Disciples, something amazing happens. Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to a high mountain and there he is "transfigured" before their eyes. The Glory of God comes down on the mountain in the form of a cloud, and Jesus was glowing and white - filled with glory. This story hearkens back to God revealing himself to Moses in Exodus 33 and to Elijah in 1 Kings 19 on Mount Sinai. And through this story, Mark is making the amazing claim that Jesus is not just the Messiah, but is in fact the embodiment of the Glory of God, God Himself. And - contrary to everyone's expectations, God Himself, the glorious creator of all the universe was going to suffer and die for the sins of His people. This claim confuses and scares the disciples, and Jesus goes on to tell them again that He must suffer and die in Chapters 9 and 10 - but they still don't get it. In fact, right after Jesus foretells his death for the third time, James and John ask Jesus to give them special places of honor at His right hand. His conversations with the disciples finish with his statement we can read in Chapter 10 verses 42-45: 42And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,d 44and whoever would be first among you must be slavee of all. 45For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” So Jesus again shatters all expectations and pre-conceived notions by saying that to be "great" in the Kingdom of God means to be a servant, and that He would be the ultimate servant by giving his life so everyone else could be saved. This brings us to the final section of Mark's Gospel. Section 3 "How Jesus Becomes King" This section begins with Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem - fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah Chapter 9: 9Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He then goes into the temple and asserts his royal authority by clearing out all of the corrupt money changers, and then for the next week he debates with and condemns Israel's leaders. This so incenses the power hungry leaders that they set in motion plans to have him killed. Even after asserting His royal authority, Jesus again shatters expectations when in Chapter 13, he foretells the destruction of the Temple within a single generation and the persecution of His followers, but also gives them hope in His future return. In Chapter 14, Jesus celebrates the "Last Supper" which would have been a traditional Jewish Passover meal. The Jewish Passover meal is filled with symbolism describing Israel's protection from God's wrath and liberation from slavery by the death of the Passover Lamb. But when Jesus celebrates this meal with his disciples, he gives new meaning to the symbolism in the Passover meal. Now, instead of an imperfect (and temporary) liberation from physical slavery that the Israelites received from the death of the Passover Lamb, Jesus now promises a perfect and permanent liberation from Sin and Deathitself through the death of the Messiah. Next, Jesus is arrested and condemned to death. There are several parallells we see here to the beginning of the book and even to the transfiguration. Jesus is on a hill, but this time instead of the Glory of God descending, darkness descends, and instead of God speaking, Jesus cries out. Then we see another amazing irony. As Jesus, God Himself, hangs on the cross dying, who else, but a Roman soldier understands and then proclaims who Jesus is. Remember, Jesus Himself, had earlier asked God to forgive the Roman soldiers because they didn't know what they were doing, but now, one of those same previously ignorant soldiers receives a revelation from God that Jesus was in fact the Son of God. Here again is another part of this story that would NEVER have been included if it were not true. If Peter had made all of this up, Peter would have been the one to boldly proclaim that Jesus was the son of God. No, Peter had just betrayed Jesus by denying Him three times, it is a Roman, a hated Roman, sworn enemy of the Jews, who is here honored as the first one in the whole of Mark's gospel who understands the truth. Mark's gospel concludes with Jesus death and burial and then on the first day of the week, two women go to the tomb and discover that it is empty. There they find an angel who informs them that Jesus has risen from the dead and to go and tell the disciples that Jesus is alive and will meet them in Galilee. How do they respond? In Chapter 16:8 8And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. And this is how Mark's Gospel ends! Now you may notice that there are actually a few more verses, 9-20. But these verses weren't in the earliest manuscripts. This isn't to say that these verses aren't true, but I think the original ending of the Book of Mark adds a perfect capstone to the message that Mark was trying to convey throughout the entire Book. Jesus is not who everyone expected. Even now, after the fulfillment of everything he said, the women were still shocked and afraid, just as so many people were throughout the entire Book. The crucified and risen Jesus is the Messiah - just as he said he would be over and over again throughout the entire book. I believe Mark's gospel ends without closure to make us uncomfortable and to force us to take action. And this leads me to my application points for today: Application I have two points for us: Number 1 - Compare what we think to what the Bible teaches We might be highly educated, we may have grown up in church, and have what we have been told are all the right answers. As Americans we have unprecedented access to the truths of God. Not only do we have access to the scriptures in their raw form, but we have the fruit of thousands of years of intellectual giants debating and processing through the hardest questions. But does what we think match what the scriptures actually teach? What do we think we know about God? Is God simply a benevolent "force" floating around in space somewhere? Is He love, but not ALSO just? Does he want us to live our best life now through material blessing, health, and wealth? Do we believe that is what love is - someone who gives us things we want? What about salvation? Does growing up in church make someone a Christian? Does having Christian parents make you a Christian? Do all "good people" go to heaven? Is it possible to be a Christian and yet still enslaved to sin, with no desire or power to overcome? Maybe we don't even know what we believe compared to what the Bible teaches because we don't think we need to be reading our Bibles! This is exactly what the Devil wants! He is a master of telling lies that are "almost right". He is a master of convincing people that it is legalism to have a disciplined life of Bible study - because he doesn't want us to know the truth. These lies pervade through our culture and are destroying the church! Maybe you are saying to yourself, no I don't believe those things well then that leads me to my next point: Number 2 - Consider how your actions match what you claim to believe. The religious leaders claimed to believe the scriptures, and yet expected the Messiah to be a conquering King over-throwing the Roman Empire The disciples claimed to believe Jesus Himself, yet time and time again misunderstood the upside down Kingdom of God, even running away in fear when the tomb was empty! IF they really believed Jesus' then why did they run away in fear when the tomb was empty? He TOLD them he would rise again! The actions of the religious leaders, and the disciples prove what was really in their hearts - what they truly believed. So, all of us, me included, need to continually check our integrity. Do we claim to believe that God is good and in control, yet we obsesses over our material possessions and stress out if we can't control every part of our lives? Do we claim to believe that God just, yet secretly question the existence of hell and judgment? Do we claim to believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God Himself, yet never read it or study it? Do we claim to want to have a closer walk with God, yet never make time to pray? Do we claim to value the advance of the Kingdom of God, but our pocketbooks say otherwise… Being a Christian is not about what you say you believe, but about what you actually believe, and I guarantee there is no disconnect between what we truly believe and what we do. What is in our hearts WILL come out in our actions. Just like the women at the empty tomb who ran away in fear. They didn't really believe he would rise again - it’s a simple as that. So. Are we like so many Cultural Christians of today, and like so many of the people in the Book of Mark, all talk? If this is you, then Mark is telling you - God may not be what you have always been told. He may not be what you are expecting, he is so much more. He is the Infinite, Eternal, King of the Universe who came down from His throne, to die, so that you might have life and have it in abundance. Let's pray. Prayer