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Jesus said" Behold I make all things new".
Again He says "Old things are passed away and all things are new"!
Thinking on these things, the believer will look back if for a moment, while living in the moment.
This life tho constantly changing, the heart of the disciple is focused on the things that do not change.
The love of Christ and His words.
"Tho heaven and earth pass away ,my word shall remain forever!"
So, yes we can.
We dye daily unto Him, who's promise will not fail, even unto eternal life!
Tho we are dying everyday, the life of a Christian is renewed day by day!
The revelation that Christ word is alive and renewing us everyday, is the revelation of the power of God, who is always working in and through us! Thanks be to God!
Repent and be Baptized
What exactly is Jesus saying? Luke 12; 51 Jesus said He came to cause division!
If we live according to the Spirit of God ,it is no longer us but Him that is in us. Also, that offences will come,that we who stand for the truth shall be brought before those who deny Him. Remember what He said, when that day comes, worry not about what to say , that the Holy Spirit will give you the words!
Are we entering into the tribulation? I think not, for we have not resisted unto the shedding of blood!
Never before, even so now, we should be in the paraclete, the comforter. What did Jesus say over and over again? Fear not, for I am with you until the end of time!
The media is satan's tool, otherwise He has no power other than that given to Him by God! We are ambassadors for Christ, and should remember we have power in and through His promises! Repent and be Baptized
( 2 Tim 2:15) "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed ((rightly dividing the word of truth))". This verse tells us to rightly divide the word of truth, we do have the word of truth to study today according to this verse, Right?
( Rom 10:17) "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing ((by the word of God)) Again, we have the Word of God today, Right?
( Jn 17:17) "Sanctify them through thy truth: ((thy word is truth)) ( Jn 8:31-32) v31 "If ye continue in my word" v32 "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free". ( Jn 14:6) ( Jn 14:23-24)
( Jn 3:34-35) v34 "For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God"
( Mt 4:4) "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by ((every word)) that proceedeth out of the mouth of God".
( Prov 30:5-6) v5 "Every word of God is pure" v6 "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar".
The word (pure) is #2889; it means clean, to be pure, sound, unadulterated, uncontaminated.
The KJB tells us in ( 2 Cor 2:17) "For we are not as many, which (corrupt) the word of God" The word (corrupt) is #2585; it means to adulterate.
The niv says in ( 2 Cor 2:17) "Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God". The niv's words are adulterated, contaminated, not sound, they are being found a liar.
( Jer 23:36) The word (perverted) is #2015; it means to change, overturn, pervert, change.
All modern version bibles have changed, perverted the Words of the living God.
The KJB ( Ps 12:6-7) v6 "The words of the LORD are (pure) words" v7 "thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever"
The niv says in ps, 12:7 "O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever" WOW
( Isa 55:11) ( 1 Cor 1:10)
Trust the KJB only!
Blessings.
So, Paul introduces that as a gage. "Oh, is this guy super spiritual? Well, don't let him waltz across the stage here. What kind of hardships has he suffered for that spirituality, or for that understanding? And he says don't compare the preaching and how well the guy preached. In fact, Paul says he was not a good preacher. He was known to be very rude in speech, which basically means unschooled.
He had a monotone, and some even believed he stuttered. So, if you had to listen to that for a couple of hours, you would understand what Paul's trying to say.
He was not a good speaker. But he says I might be rude in speech, but not in knowledge. So, he says that's what I'll compare with anybody. Let's see if they line up with the truth, not whether they have a charismatic personality, or they are able to preach or not!
Next, I will share my introduction to Galatians with you. God Bless!!!
CHAPTERS 8 AND 9: The discussion about the collection.
Remember in Chapter 16 of 1 Corinthians, Paul said that on the first day of the week, bring the money together every time you gather together, for a collection for the poor saints back in Jerusalem. So, he's going to discuss that. And he's going to give us more of the principles of giving, more than he did in his first letter.
CHAPTERS 10 THROUGH 13: The defense of Paul's ministry.
What Paul does, is he basically says, "Well, if I'm an apostle, and they are super apostles, then let's compare suffering." It was never how many people were saved or how many people you have preached to. It was how much you suffered for Christ while you are serving.
And he says, "Do any of these false teachers, have they ever suffered for Christ's sake?" Everywhere they went, they taught the people how to make them comfortable. And Paul is going to share with us the physical suffering that he had to go through, and suffering spiritually.
That is because God revealed to him special revelation. He was caught up into the third heaven, and because of that, because he saw things that he could not repeat for us down here, he was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him. He actually experienced health problems because of the revelation that God gave to him, in order for him to keep his flesh under.
IV: HOW IT WAS PREPARED:
1 Corinthians 5:9 indicates that there was a letter prior to 1 Corinthians. Some believe there were actually four letters. But only two were found. 2 Corinthians was written after Titus returned with the news of the church in Corinth. Paul was in Ephesus when the house of Chloe came across over to Ephesus and told Paul what was going on.
So, Paul sent back what we have as 1 Corinthians back to Corinth. But then Paul waited to hear back from them about the response. Well, none of the group, Chloe or anyone came back. So, Paul traveled up, and we read about Troas, which is just north of Ephesus. And he's going to tell them that the Lord gave him an open door to minister there.
And he was waiting for Titus to return. He sent Titus to say I haven't heard anything, what's going on? Paul said you go over there and find out what's going on. And I'm going to go to Troas and minister, and I'll be there, and you come and bring me word.
Well, while he was in Troas, Titus never showed up. So, Paul comes back across and he's going to be frantically making his way down looking for Titus. And Titus meets up with him and tells him what's going on and about the false teachers that had come in.
And that's what prompted Paul to write 1 Corinthians. So, he hears from Titus, he hears what's going on, and he sends this letter to them about false teachers and false teaching.
TALK ABOUT A LACK OF FAITH, I LOVE THIS ONE:
In Acts Chapter 12, Peter gets thrown in jail. So, they get together for a prayer meeting. I would hope that if I got thrown in jail for preaching Christ that my brothers and sisters would get together and pray. You might be praying "please keep him locked up as long as possible!" But at least you'll be praying.
So, they were praying "Lord, please deliver Peter." Well, Peter was delivered. He was walking down the streets of Jerusalem and he was looking for the fellowship to meet and he comes and knocks on the door. And the gal that's in charge of the door, she goes, and she says, "who is it?" And he says, "It's me Peter." She goes back in, and she tells the prayer group "Peter's at the door." They said "It can't be. He's in prison. Lord, please deliver him." He can't be at the door, he's in prison!
Look at the faith they had. They had no faith at all! They didn't believe it was Peter. And in spite of what they believed or didn't believe, in spite of what they were aware of or not aware of, God's Spirit just used them! In fact, they were so clueless, that they didn't get in the way!
Why did I even bring that up? The title to the book as I'm relating it to you, should be, and is according to Acts 1:1, the theme is the ministry of the Lord, what He continues to do and to teach. The apostles are just vessels. It's not what they do. It is the ministry that the Lord continues to do and teach.
If you look at it from that perspective, you realize that as you read through, there are things that happened through the apostles that they didn't plan or weren't even expecting. God just did it! There's no formula.
III. NOW ABOUT THE BOOK OF ACTS ITSELF:
Luke and Acts express the highest level of Greek in the New Testament. Again, from a very educated man! In fact, many scholars, not bible scholars, but many Greek scholars hold that Luke and Acts are the highest quality of Greek in all ancient literature!
Putting Luke and Acts together with all the literature that they have found, it's the highest quality of Greek. There are 312 Greek words in Luke that are not in the rest of the New Testament. There are 478 Greek words in Acts that are not in the rest of the New Testament. So, he's got a big vocabulary!
Now some think that Luke and Acts are actually trial documents. Paul was on his way to Rome, and it was required, to make an appeal to Caesar, you had to have documents that explain yourself, preceding any appeal before you stand before him. Theophilus was thought of putting this together for Paul, and Luke was doing this for him.
So, Paul was in Rome, and Luke's there, and he contacts Theophilus, and he says if I write up some documents on the ministry of Christ, and the life of Paul, will you use these in your court appeal that goes before Caesar before Paul can stand before Caesar?
Now there are two things by way of characteristics of the gospel and the book of Acts that support the trial document theory. All uprisings recorded in Luke and Acts were caused by Jewish leaders. At no time does Luke make anybody who's Roman the fault. The Roman soldiers are always good guys in the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. They're not the bad guys! It's the Jewish leaders who are the bad guys. So, it helps throw weight into this view that these were court documents because it would be favorably received by the Romans.
CONTINUED.
Moses also did not argue with YHWH concerning his pending death. He was 120 years old and ready to join the 'fathers' who had died before him. He had the hope of the heavenly promised land, as Hebrews 11-12 speak of. He did not fight death, but would go the way of all men into death. But he had the hope of eternal life to come. I wonder if it better to not know when you will die or to know. Moses knew that YHWH's will was always true and best. He had spent the last 40 years seeking to know YHWH's will in what he did concerning this time of deliverance from Egypt and sojourning to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was a faithful servant and thought that God's way was much higher and better than anything he could decide. He desired to do God's will, but like all men, he did fail at times. Meribah was certainly not his only sin in the wilderness, but as the leader God chose to be over these people, he dishonored God whom he was to be a representative for in his anger. God takes this type of sin seriously because it lessons the view of Him before the people he was delivering. How closely we need to watch our example before those who are younger in life and/or faith in our lives. We are to be an example of Christ, imitating Him in our conduct, words, motives, etc. Can we be perfect? No, Moses was not either. But Christ was. So, in this instance, Moses represented all men-we all have sinned. And God will always be God-merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth ( Ex. 34:6) Moses knew first hand of these things God demonstrated to him and the nation that Moses often pleaded for so strongly before Him. God heard Moses and extended mercy each time because Moses was a friend of God.
The third section of this chapter is the appointing of Joshua as Moses' successor when Moses would die. God told Moses to do this and to appoint Joshua. ...cont.
My question is about Matthew 22-23. Who is this prophet, and why is he told to use the name Emmanuel?
I look forward to any answers, thoughts or ideas,
DanYells
Matthew 10:36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
Matthew 13:58 And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
Jesus despite His statement in Matthew 12:48 (He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?) Jesus demonstrated at the cross his concern for his mother's care and had John live there with her in John 19. It was even worded in the same way "behold your mother"and "behold your son" in verses 26 and 27. We see from the verses above as well as others that family is often the most dificult to reach; even in Christ's case James only believed after the cross. ( John 7:5) shows this; along with unbelief of other brothers at the time. If a sinless Christ was viewed in His hometown as merely being the Son of Joseph and Mary at the time despite the virgin birth being a reality; then of course the only other option would have been as the Pharisees said in John 8:41. And of course we can't expect anything more; since we indeed are all sinners saved by grace. Our family will see something different about us from what we once were; especially if there is a dramatic change in behavior due to certain outward manifestations of behavior radically different after salvation. Of course all of our past mistakes and human weaknesses will be scrutinized by those who grew up with us.
We have challenges from Jesus in both loving God more than our own family as well as the mandates to honor our Father and mother. Clearly our Lord understood the right balance and we should learn from His example. Our natural family isn't our spiritual one; it may or may not become that in time. In my own life not only do I have 2 unbelieving parents in their 90's; NO one in my family to the best of my knowledge are saved. Having to live at home at present therefore means my walk and behavior has to be consistent. Preaching is not going to accomplish much; they are aware I have been a believer 40 years+
Well, who is the Jesus Christ that John is talking about? In 1 John, he's proving His humanity after he proved His deity. So, you can take the Gospel of John and just shove it off to the side and just use the Lord's name, Jesus Christ. Well, the question is which Jesus Christ are you talking about?
I don't know if you know this or not but in 2 Corinthians Chapter 11, Paul says that there is more than one Jesus. He says you Christians in Corinth, when I came and preached to you, after I left teachers came in and you are following another Jesus, a different one, a different Gospel, and a different spirit.
Now these are Christians who obviously couldn't tell the difference. But Paul says you are following another Jesus. It is very important to realize that even as Christians, not in a perverted way, but a very dangerous way, every believer has their own idea and understanding and realization of who Jesus is. If we were to get in a circle and share about "our" Jesus, we might hear somebody say that is a different Jesus than what I have. But there is only one Jesus Christ, Jesus the Christ.
And if you understand all of John's writings, and you can throw Revelation in with John if you like because John talked about the earthly ministry of God in the flesh, and in the book of Revelation, he presents Jesus Christ as the reigning King of kings and Lord of lords that is going to come and bring judgment.
But 1, 2 and 3 John is all about the humanity of Christ. John says that He is 100% God and 100% man, not 50-50, 100% of each! And anything less than that, as far as early church goes and as far as the scriptures are concerned, anything less than that is not the right Jesus Christ.
V. ABOUT THE THEME OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN:
Again, it is the deity of Jesus Christ.
VI. ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE OTHER BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT:
TIME:
The Gospel of John was next to the last book written. Of course, the last one written was the book of Revelation. So, this is an older book, but it is at the beginning of the New Testament.
COMPARISON TO JOHN'S OTHER BOOKS:
Now here's a fascinating thing that about the comparison to John's other books, and you have to know this, again the fool proof understanding of scripture, you need to know this about John's writings.
The Gospel of John was written to establish the Deity of Jesus Christ. But remember, John's gospel establishes the deity of Jesus Christ. That is, that He was, and is 100% God.
1, 2, and 3 John were written to establish the Humanity of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John the deity of Christ. 1, 2, and 3 John the humanity of Christ because the Gnostics came and they believed that all physical was evil and that Jesus didn't have a physical body, so He was not man. And then there are groups that don't believe that he was God, just a prophet, or just one of the gods.
The reason why we need to know this information is because in 1 John Chapter 4 Verse 2, John says hereby know you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
You might be thinking how is that a trick statement? Except the cults completely ignore the Gospel of John and they say we believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, so you are saying we are cults, we are false teachers, but it says right here, that every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: Therefore, we are of God!
John is written to the church, written around 95 A.D., approximately 30 to 35 years after the other Gospels were written. And the Gospel of John was one of the last letters written. In fact, there's a lot of evidence to say that the Gospel of John, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Revelation which were all written by John, but there's evidence that he wrote all those letters one right after another all at the same time.
John wrote to present Jesus Christ as the Son of God, not the Son of Man, but the Son of God. Son of God is a title known to the Jewish people for two things: Number one, the Son of God is the Messiah. And number two, the Son of God is God.
And here's where some of the cult groups get off track and actually lead people in the wrong way. They say how can Jesus be God if He's the Son of God? Well, the word Son in the title "Son of God" doesn't mean son by birth. There are different words used in the Greek New Testament for the word son.
This is a son by inheritance and so it has nothing to do with a father-mother-son relationship like we know here on the earth or in the human. It has to do with inheritance and that the Son of God is God coming to His inheritance.
VI. SECTION OUTLINE OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE:
CHAPTER 1:1-4: The Preface.
And by the way, the difference between a preface and prologue is that a preface is an introduction, and a prologue is like a book within a book. When you read the first 18 verses of John's gospel, that is a prologue, not a preface. So, this is a preface. This is an introduction, Verses 1 through 4.
CHAPTER 1:5 THROUGH 2:52: The Pregnancies of Elizabeth and Mary.
CHAPTER 3:1-4:13: The Preparation for the Ministry of both Yochanan ha-Matbil, that is John the Baptist, and Yeshua, for Jesus.
CHAPTER 4:14-9:50: The Preaching of Jesus in Galilee
CHAPTER 9:51-19:27: The Prompting of Jesus toward Jerusalem.
One of my favorite verses is Luke 9:51. When it came time to for Jesus to go to Jerusalem, it says He set His face towards Jerusalem, and that many villages rejected Him because His face was set towards Jerusalem.
As believers, we have to ask ourselves, what is our Jerusalem? What does God want us to do? What are we here for? When you find out what God wants you to do, set your face toward Jerusalem. Don't stop. Don't go to the left or to the right.
And you'll find that people will reject you because you're just passing through. You've got something God wants you to do and you are doing it. Very, very important section! It is almost 10 chapters of people rejecting Jesus because He had His face set towards Jerusalem.
CHAPTER 19:28-21:38: The Preaching of Jesus in Jerusalem. That final week, Passover week.
CHAPTER 22:1-23:56: The Particulars of the Crucifixion of Jesus, His suffering, the different trials, and the actual crucifixion itself.
CHAPTER 24:1-53, THE ENTIRE CHAPTER 24 OF LUKE: The Promise of the Resurrection of Jesus.
That is the Introduction to Luke's Gospel. I will share with you the introduction to the Gospel of John soon, Lord willing!
God Bless!!!
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. ( Proverbs 4:23).
Normally I prefer KJV (and after all that is the focus here) but in this case I prefer the word "Guard" to begin the sentence found in several other versions. In the case of dying to self; and focusing all our energies into serving the Lord several statements below may seem to contradict behaviors normally associated with being a Christian.
Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. ( Song of Solomon 8:6).
Granted; the whole book of Song of Solomon is focused on the story of human love but surely we can glean some meainings from this book which is included in the accepted Canon (although probably the most reluctantly by the early church). In any case; our God is a jealous God; and we can also apply this to the Spirit which contends against the flesh ( Gal. 5:24).
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. ( Matt. 7:6).
This can perhaps be best understood in conjunction with the admonition in Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure. ( 1 Tim. 5:22). There are several meanings for laying on of hands which could relate to delegating a promotion of church office or imparting spiritual gifts (I would suggest both would happen simultaneously). In any case; within the house of God we must be discerning enough to recognize those with bad fruit who are going to take whatever they have and use it for nefarious purposes. We also need to be careful that we aren't tempted by the sins of others who wer are attempting to help; whether by reason of our own weaknesses or those who are devious enough to entice us or unwary victims of Satan.
Fascinating study! One last thing I want to share with you before I end this introduction is the section outline of the Gospel of Mark:
CHAPTER 1 VERSES 1 TO 13 - is the prologue.
CHAPTER 1 VERSE 14 THROUGH THE END OF CHAPTER 9 - is The Service of the Servant, His ministry in Galilee.
CHAPTER 10 - is the Submission of the Servant, His ministry in Judea.
CHAPTERS 11 THROUGH 16 - We have The Sacrifice of the Servant, His ministry in Jerusalem. And as you can see, it is divided up into the three geographical locations that the Lord was in, Galilee, Judea, and then Jerusalem.
I realize this was a long introduction. The book (Mark) actually moves very fast. It is presented in a way as if we don't know anything about Jesus, or we are a doubter, or we have heard about Him, but He got crucified. How does that work out with the King of kings and Lord of lords? And as we read through Mark's gospel, even if we are a believer, we are going to know even more and more who Jesus is.
I will share my introduction to Luke next.
God Bless!!!
VII. THE THEME OF THE BOOK:
Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." That is the theme of the Gospel of Mark.
VIII. TO WHOM IT WAS WRITTEN:
It was written to the Romans and written in a style to reach the Roman mindset.
HERE'S THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE INTRODUCTION:
The Roman mindset was one that followed the judicial system. You had to prove everything by the law. If you couldn't prove anything by the law, they didn't buy it. It was strictly judicial. That's why the book of Romans, which is called the Constitution of the Christian faith, every doctrine is found in the book of Romans. The book of Romans is written like a legal brief. Romans is written like a lawyer would present a case in a courtroom.
And that is how he is talking to the people in Rome. Well, that is what Mark does also. I don't know if you have noticed or not, but Mark's gospel is pretty short and pretty blunt. He doesn't give a lot of details. If he didn't think something was necessary to prove a point, he left it out.
Mark does not give it to us because it is not necessary for proving the point. Mark presents his gospel like a script, fact after fact, and he is presenting it like a legal brief to the court. Jesus Christ will be presented to us as the Suffering Servant. Mark says I'm going to prove it to you, so that you people in Rome that have this mind that is governed by the judicial system, you'll find evidence. You are going to have to figure out what are you going to do with this Jesus? He didn't come as a king. He came as a servant. But I am going to prove to you that He is the Messiah.
And you and I need to take stock of this book because Mark is presenting to us a Messiah who refused to let the world make Him a king. Jesus Christ will never let this world make Him a king, period! He will not allow this world to honor Him as a king. He will come back at His second coming, and He will defeat all the enemies, and then (He) will set Himself up as king. But He won't let the world do it.
Even now, in many instances, the world honors Jesus Christ. But when He came, He was born in a cave, and He took the low road. He is presented as the Suffering Servant. Can you imagine God Himself coming in human form and you are one of His disciples, and you are looking forward to Him ruling and reigning out of Jerusalem, and He takes off His robe and wraps Himself with a servant's towel, and He begins to wash the disciples' feet?
Our man Peter says "You're not going to wash my feet. You are the Lord." And Jesus said if you don't let me wash your feet, you have nothing to do with me. Peter says "Well, then bathe me all over if it is going to be that important!" It was humbling and humiliating to have the Messiah come to be the servant of all, rather than say "I am Messiah," and get the applause and get set up as king.
The way you and I can learn from this book, is that we too do not yet rule and reign with Christ upon this earth. There are some teachers through our culture that will present the fact that we need to take the world now. No, we are just passing through. We are just servants. We are the lowly. We are not kings and queens. We are servant's following in the path of our Master. But one day, we are going to rule and reign with Him. I'll wait for that day because it's frustrating to do it any other way!
He is going to set His kingdom up on earth just like Isaiah said. "Oh, this is a great day!" Except once they got into town, they listened to His teachings, but by the end of the week He was nailed to a cross. They were devastated. Their hopes were gone, dashed!
And one of the reasons that Paul was so angry against the Christians was because the Christians were presenting this man who died on the cross as a criminal, as being the Messiah. That is blasphemy. Paul's thinking was that He died between two thieves because He Himself was a criminal, and only criminals get crucified. That is what made him angry, that people would make the Messiah out to be this type of a person.
Some Jewish scholars actually believed that there would be two messiahs. Some Jewish scholars say, well, we read certain portions of the Old Testament, and it looks like the Messiah is going to come and suffer. But the majority said no, the Messiah is going to come, and He's going to ride in on a white horse and He is going to become victorious.
You see, you had two groups of scholars that were saying how can He be both? What is He going to do? Is He going to ride in, suffer, and then jump on the white horse? I mean, how is this whole thing going to work? One guy suffers the whole time, the other guy conquers, which is why when John the Baptist was put in prison, he sent his disciples to Jesus and says are you the coming one, or do we look for another?
The word "another" in Greek means another of the same kind. So, he figures this must be the suffering Messiah. Are we expecting the next one to come too? They were not too far off! But you can imagine the confusion and all that they were going through. Little did they know that Messiah would come as the Suffering Servant, He would come not to rule and to reign, but to serve.
That's why in Luke, Luke records for us that Jesus, when He wept over Jerusalem, He said if you only knew this your day of visitation. In the Greek text, it's very emphatic, not just a general "Well if you knew what a special day this was!" He is making an allusion back to Daniel's prophecy. He's saying you guys are up on it. You should know that this is the 178,880 day. It is your day. Messiah is riding in. But He said you didn't. You rejected Him.
It also helps us, and I'll explain later why different people would come out, like with John the Baptist would come out and they would ask Him, what are you doing? Who are you? Because many Jewish scholars believed that sometime around that time in history, the Messiah was coming.
And there were actually quite a few people that presented themselves as being the Messiah about the same time that Jesus did. And they sent a delegation out to check John out. Who are you? Who do you say you are? And they would watch him, just like they did Jesus.
So, it is interesting that some Jewish leadership at that time were actually aware that around that time in history, the Messiah's supposed to come. And if they were really up on their scriptures, they would have known it was to the exact day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem. They should have known from Daniel's prophecy.
But He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey (the beast the burden), as a sacrifice. That week was Passover week. So, Jesus rode into Jerusalem as the Passover Lamb who would sacrifice His life for the sins of the world. But when He rode into Jerusalem, all the Jews were reciting the Hallel Psalm ( Psalm 118), that the Messiah is riding into Jerusalem, blessed be the one who comes in the name of the Lord, because they're anticipating that once He gets into town, this Roman government is going to be defeated.
We are up to the point now where Peter, in 1 Peter 5:13, he calls Mark "my son." Many historians believe that Peter actually led Mark to the Lord when he was in Jerusalem. And Mark may have figured that he needed some grounding, some foundation or something, some establishment in the Lord. So, when he came back from the second missionary journey, he says "Peter, I am your son in the faith. Let me be your disciple. Teach me." So, he travels with Peter. Later on, we see a quote about his relationship with Peter.
But apparently after Peter dies, around 63 to 64 A.D., Mark joins up with Paul. Now that is not a good combination at all. Paul did not want this guy around! Well, Mark is now changed. He is now matured in the Lord. Later, we see that Paul found him helpful to the ministry. As a matter of fact, in Philemon, Verse 24, Paul calls Mark "my fellow worker."
And then right before Paul died, and 2 Timothy is Paul's final letter that he wrote before he died there in Rome, but Paul asks Timothy to bring Mark with him because "he is useful to me for ministry." So, at the end of Paul's life, and at the end of his ministry, John Mark was somebody who was a strong pillar in the church and very effective for Christ. Hopefully that gives you hope.
IV. THE AUTHOR OF THE GOSPEL OF MARK:
Mark wrote his Gospel from the testimony of Peter. So, when Mark traveled around with Peter, he gained the information from Peter himself. Mark was not there to witness. In fact, he's the only one that did not have this historical presentation of what Jesus said and did. Papias, the Bishop of Hierapolis, wrote in 140 A.D. that Mark's presentation is like a lecture. So, John Mark wrote the Gospel of Mark. What a brilliant statement! I mean who else would write Mark? But I guess there were some people that doubted it.