The Beginning of the Gospel - 240301

SPEAKER A Hello, I'm Clive Nash. Welcome to let God speak. We begin a new series of Bible studies today, focusing on the story of Jesus life as seen through the eyes of Mark. These studies are an opportunity for us to soak ourselves in Jesus life and teachings. His miracles of deliverance, of suffering humanity will inspire us. We suggest taking time to read through the whole of Mark early in this series. We'll make a start today. Well, on our panel today we have Rod Butler and John Kosmeier. Good to have you with us, gentlemen. SPEAKER B Thank you. SPEAKER A I'm looking forward to our discussion as we begin this new series. But before we start, let's take time to pray. Our loving Father in heaven, we just want to thank you again that we have the opportunity to open the sacred word of God. I pray that you'll bless our listeners and viewers that they might be blessed by what we discussed today, and that you will speak to us through the word in Jesus name, amen. Well, we're looking at the gospel of Mark. We're starting a new series, as we said. So, John, it's called Mark, but do we know that it was actually the author of the Book of Mark? SPEAKER C Clive, interestingly enough, none of the gospels declare who the authors were. Ever since ancient times, the belief has been that the Gospel of Mark was actually written by Mark. And even modern commentaries agree with that. SPEAKER A Yes. And, Rod, we've got four gospels. They're all telling the story of Jesus Christ and his life. They have their variations. You know, is it one blind man being healed or two, and things like that? But why do we have these different perspectives on the life of Jesus? SPEAKER B Well, we do have different perspectives. I mean, Matthew, he writes the book of Matthew from the perspective of Jesus as a teacher. Then we have Mark. Mark writes his account from Jesus as the perspective of the messiah. Luke was a physician, so he tended to focus on the healing ministry of Jesus and John the beloved. He focuses on God as the, Jesus as God and the creator. So whilst the Holy Spirit provided inspiration for the writing of the books, they brought their own perspective to that particular book. SPEAKER A Yeah, and we would expect this of eyewitnesses, too, wouldn't we? You know, if you and I were both to witness something, we'd have a different outlook on the way it is described. Now, John, the writing style of Mark, this the shortest of the gospels. How would you describe his style of writing. SPEAKER C Mark being a servant? Everything had to be done immediately. And this is where it's the shortest gospel. It's fast moving, but it introduces us very easily to the life of Christ, as it says here, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. And so it's a wonderful story, and. SPEAKER A I like your point about things being done immediately. You see that word come up over and over again in his gospel, don't you? Yeah. So Mark one, one very succinct, isn't it? The beginning of the gospel, as you say, of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Let's talk about Mark himself. Rod, do we know much about Mark? SPEAKER B Not a lot, but we get enough about him to know what he was about. We get it from the Book of Acts, and we first pick up the introduction of John Mark in acts. Actually, it's acts, chapter twelve and verse 25, it says, and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry and took with them John, whose surname was Mark. And then we get down to what sort of activities he was up to. We go down to chapter 13 and verse five. And it said, and when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had also joined the minister. Now, Paul and Barnabas, they were on their first missionary journey to Asia, and they had taken John Mark with them to assist them. And that's where we get the introduction to John Mark, who he was. He was a young guy who was assisting Paul and Barnabas. SPEAKER A Okay, so, John, how did that mission trip go? SPEAKER C Not well. When you read acts chapter 13 and verse 13, and I'm reading from the new King James version, it says now, when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in fan Philia. And John, that's John, Mark, departed from them, returning to Jerusalem. So apparently, halfway through the work that they were doing, John Mark decided that it was too hard for him, so he went home. And fortunately, the story gets better. SPEAKER A Well, Rod, how did this abandoning ship go down with Paul? SPEAKER B Well, with Paul, it didn't go down well. He was not impressed at all. And about three years later, Paul and Barnabas were going to go back to Asia again to visit the churches they'd set up. This would have been their second tour. And essentially we have in acts 15, verses 38 and 39, it says, but Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed them from Pamphilia and went not with them to the work. And basically, Barnabas wanted to take John Mark, but Paul didn't. So Paul had a long memory. SPEAKER A Ok, so, John, how did Mark's cousin Barnabas feel about this? SPEAKER C Yeah, Barnabas is one of the kind of natures in the Bible, even the New Testament, because here in acts 15 and reading now verse 39 and 40, then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. So Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God. And so while it's a bit sad, in actual fact, it doubled the work that was being done by the two teams now instead of one. SPEAKER A Yeah, the use of the word contention between them is a bit of a kind word, isn't it? There probably might have been other ways of describing it as well. Well, some 20 years later, Paul had something interesting to say about Mark, and I'm looking at two Timothy, chapter four and verse eleven, where he writes, only Luke is with me. And notice who he asked for. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry. What do you make of that, Rod? SPEAKER B Well, I make of that the passing of time. You know, there was about 20 years going past Paul's now actually sitting in prison in Rome for the second time. And he's writing to a young minister, Timothy, and reflecting on his ministry. And in those reflections, he's obviously got John Mark on mine, because we don't know what John Mark had done in the meantime to assist Paul, but obviously they, as time passed, they mended their bridges and John Mark would have been working with Paul, conciliation. And now when Paul is there reflecting, he's really valuing the contribution that John Mark's made in his ministry. So it shows how people can change and they can accept when we do things. When we're younger, that might not have been. SPEAKER A Yeah. Look, we all make mistakes, don't we? What do you. You ever made a mistake, John, or. SPEAKER C Oh, no, never just made one, then. That is true. But God gives us another chance. And that's what happened with John, Mark and Paul when he was imprisoned by himself. He thought about the sort of person that Mark was, and Mark was a very comforting person. And this is where it's no wonder that he wrote one of the gospels, because he could bring out the best in Christ. SPEAKER A With this background of the life of Mark, we'll move on to the account, his account of Jesus life. And I'm going to read Mark, chapter one. Now, verses two and three. He's quoting from the Old Testament. He says, as it is written in the prophets, behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. Now, this prophecy that he's quoting here, Rod, who is he referring to? SPEAKER B Well, he's referring to John the Baptist. And this was a prophesy, a prophecy that was given by Malachi. And if I can just read that in Malachi three one, it says, behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. So this prophecy illustrates how important John the Baptist ministry was in preparing the way for the Messiah. SPEAKER A Yeah. And John the Baptist, of course, was kind of related to Jesus in a way, too, wasn't he? There was definitely a relationship between them. And so it was very appropriate that we have someone with a knowledge of Jesus Christ and a commitment to be able to prepare the way for the coming of the messiah. So what does this prophecy tell us about prophecy in general? Rejoinder the importance of it? SPEAKER C Well, here Mark is telling the story of Jesus, and all of a sudden he says something which turns out to be very interesting, where he says and saying, reading Mark, chapter one and verse 15, it says, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. And here, all of a sudden, Mark introduces a concept of Christ's life being foretold, that what had been prophesied was now being fulfilled. And these kind of presentations in the gospels make it very evident that here Christ had been sent by God to do certain things at certain times. SPEAKER A Yeah. And God has said in the Old Testament, I know the end from the beginning. He's not like the soothsayers. He's not like people who are reading a crystal ball or something. God knows all. And so he was able to accurately foretell the future. But back to John the Baptist. And we'll come back to that time prophecy in a moment. Back to John the Baptist. Rod, what was the main thrust of his message to the people who came to listen to him? SPEAKER B Well, his main thrust was pretty direct. It was to repent and turn away from sin and be baptised. You know, when we read the account, it comes across as being very direct. He didn't mince his words. And I could just imagine the people that went to that message and seeing John, because he lived in a remote place, he was in the desert, he was dressed like a prophet, he ate simply the appearance. Plus the message would have had a powerful impact on the people. And it did, because a lot of people did repent. The Pharisees came out there and wanted to know, and it was a very powerful ministry. SPEAKER A So you're referring to the verse four of chapter one, aren't you? SPEAKER B Yeah. It says here John did baptise in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. So that's his core message, repent and turn away from sin, be baptised. SPEAKER A It's interesting because I was just reading this week that repentance is the very first work that we must do. Obviously, referring here to the mission of John the Baptist, isn't it? We need to repent. Firstly, what was the result of John the Baptist's ministry? John. Your namesake, John. SPEAKER C Yes, John. Mark. When you read verse five, it's amazing that Mark portrays John the Baptist in this way. Then all the land of Judea and those from Jerusalem went out to him and were all baptised by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins. And this is remarkable. I mean, from Jerusalem, it's a fair way to go down to the Jordan to go and hear somebody preach out in the open by a river and he's telling you how bad you are and you agree with him and then you're baptised. And so this is a remarkable story. SPEAKER A Yeah. You've been to that spot, have you, John? SPEAKER C I have, yes. And I was already baptised, so I didn't have to get baptised again. But you are very conscious of the fact that here is Christ being revealed by his servant in the way that he is prophetic. It's going to happen and here it is happening. And so the book of Mark, I recommend it to anybody who hasn't read the Bible. Start reading the Bible with the Book of Mark, because then you get this wonderful story. SPEAKER A Yeah. So, Rod, what was John's main point? John the Baptist, that is. SPEAKER B Well, his main point was that one greater than he was coming, he was there to prepare the way. SPEAKER A He was indeed the star. SPEAKER B No, he wasn't the star. And this points out the humility of John to have a ministry pointing to somebody else. He picked this up in verses seven and eight. It says and preached, saying, there cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. Now, that's a statement in itself that he would consider so much lower than this particular person he's prophesying for. And verse eight, I indeed have baptised you with water, but he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost. So this is another part of his ministry. His whole purpose was to prepare the way, prepare the people's hearts, repent and be baptised and get ready for the Messiah. And he's coming and very powerful. But it does highlight the humility of John and it highlights John knew exactly what his mission was, his ministry. SPEAKER A He may have had some questions later, but he didn't at this stage. SPEAKER B Not at that stage, no. SPEAKER A So what defining event, John happened when Jesus came to see John? SPEAKER C Oh, yes. Jesus came down to the Jordan river and there he and John the Baptist met. It came to pass, verse nine of mark, chapter one. And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth, and that is a long way up north, up the river of Galilee, and was baptised by John in the Jordan. I mean, here Christ had no sin and yet he was baptised. Verse ten. And immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the spirit descending upon him like a dove. And here Jesus becomes the anointed one. Now, in prophecy, that's very important because it's foretold that someone would come and that he would be anointed. And here the anointing takes place, and it takes place in something which we can do ourselves, too, and that is to follow Christ's example and to be baptised, confessing our sin and having the washing of the forgiveness of sin. What a blessing. SPEAKER A And then Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. And what did jesus do then, rod? SPEAKER B Well, we again, picking up from the chapter one, it says in verse 14, now, after that, John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Now, it's interesting that the gospel of Mark launches straight into Jesus galilean ministry and doesn't touch on his judean ministry. When you look at verse 13, where it says he was driven into the wilderness, and in 14, there's more than almost a year and a half of time between verses 13 and 14. And it's only the gospel of John that deals with the judean ministry. So we have here John. Mark's version of the gospel is the galilean ministry, and he gets straight into it. We don't have in Mark, for example, the miracle of the wedding feast at Kana. We don't have the samaritan woman at the well, we don't have Nicodemus and these other stories that John has, part of the judean ministry, but he gets straight into the galilean side of things, where Capernaum was his base by the Sea of Galilee. SPEAKER A Mark's narrative moves quite quickly, doesn't it? You were talking about immediately earlier, John. SPEAKER B The other word is straight way, straight away. SPEAKER C Mind you, that brings up the point that Mark was actually a servant. And here Jesus is portrayed as a servant, now a slave back there had no heritage. And there's no heritage mentioned in the book of Mark. There is in Matthew and there is also in Luke, but not in Mark and not in John. Because in John, Christ is portrayed as God. And God doesn't have a heritage. He's been there forever. And Mark doesn't have heritage because he's nothing. A servant. And here Christ has come as a servant. What a blessing. SPEAKER A Yes. Now, Jesus message was similar to Mark's to John the Baptist in a way, wasn't it, John? But he had something extra to it. SPEAKER C Oh, yes. It was very prophetic because in verse 15 saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. And so because Christ fulfilled the prophecy, therefore it comes to us as absolutely genuine. SPEAKER A Okay, so you mentioned time, and this is a prophetic time in connection with the coming of the Messiah. So let's just focus on that time prophecy. The wording is significant here. It's not just thrown in by way of a casual word. There is significance to the word that time was fulfilled. So what prophecy, Rod, was Mark referring to here? SPEAKER B Well, this is probably one of the most powerful prophecies in the whole Bible. And it's referring to the prophecy in Daniel chapter nine and verse 24, which I'll just read, and it says 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. Now, the 70 weeks here is a time period talking about 70 weeks, 70 times sevens, which is 490 days. We know from numbers 1434 and Ezekiel four six that in Bible prophecy one day equals a year. So this is a prophecy of 490 years which is pointing to the Messiah. And this is one of the most powerful prophecies to prove the truth of the Bible because we can look back and say, was this fulfilled? And this is what is being referred to when it's talking about time is fulfilled. SPEAKER A Yeah, and it's not something that you can manufacture, you know, say, well, I'm going to go and there's this prophecy. I'm going to go and fulfil it. It doesn't just happen. Bye by manufacturing it, does it? Jesus was the real thing when it comes to being the Messiah. So when does this 490 years start? John? SPEAKER C Jerusalem had been destroyed. And when this prophecy was given, the prophecy, Washington, in verse 25, the first section, know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem. And so the commandment went forth. Cyrus said, go and rebuild Jerusalem. And there were three times that the Jews were told to go and rebuild Jerusalem. And it happened in 457 that they went. SPEAKER A Yeah, yeah. There were a number of decrees, I think. But there's one specifically that fulfils this criteria, isn't it? SPEAKER C And 457 was the beginning date. SPEAKER B And it's interesting, 457 is a verifiable date in archaeology that they can say that was the date of that decree. So we can have confidence that that was the starting date. SPEAKER A Okay, so, Rod, how do we know, if you do the sums on this? When does the prophecy end? The 490 year prophecy end? SPEAKER B The 490 year prophecy ends in. If you go for 457, then add 490 years and remember that there's no year zero. It goes one BC, then one ad. You come to the start of the last week at AD 27 and the end of the 70th week at AD 34. So we can look back and say, were those dates real? They actually happened. Was that when Jesus ministry started in AD 27, so forth? SPEAKER A Okay, so we've got a chart here that we have benefit to our viewers, apologies to our radio listeners. You'll have to have a description of it. So, John, Rod, just talk us through that prophecy. What's happening there in that last week? SPEAKER B Well, you'll see in the last week, you'll see that AD 27, that was the starting date of Jesus ministry, which was the date he was baptised. And we know from the record that on that day, the Holy Spirit came down, the Father spoke and there was Jesus being baptised. SPEAKER C He became the anointed one. SPEAKER A Yeah. So that's the end of the 69th week. SPEAKER B End of the 69th week. And on that chart there, you'll see that is ad 27. So if you look at 483 years from 457, ends up at AD 27, because there's no year zero, then we have the last week, which is seven days or seven years in Bible prophecy. And we look at, there's a cross there at 31 AD. That's the middle of the week. And the middle of the week, something happened. The Messiah was cut off. SPEAKER A Okay, so, John, can you just give us that text about the cutting off. SPEAKER C Back to Daniel chapter nine. And verse 26, after the 62 weeks, Messiah shall be cut off. And so here in the middle of that last week, which was three and a half years after he was anointed, we find Christ's death took place. SPEAKER A Okay, so cut off means. SPEAKER C It means to his crucifixion. His crucifixion. And it's interesting how that this prophecy is verified by the life, the ministry and the death of Christ. SPEAKER B And we also can pick up from the gospels that when Christ was crucified, the Old Testament sanctuary system ended. The veil was torn from top to bottom. The evening sacrifice lamb ran away. There was a change, a major change, in the way the sanctuary was now fulfilled by the lamb of God who take away the sins of the world. SPEAKER A And Daniel 927 is quite specific here. It says, he shall confirm and covet with many for one week that last seven year period. But in the middle of the week, exactly halfway through three and a half years in says he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering, as you mentioned there, Rod. Well, thank you very much, gentlemen, for your contributions to our discussion today. A very important introduction to the gospel of Mark. My guest today have been Rod Butler and John Kosmeier. And I'm Clive Nash. So Mark has introduced us to Jesus. He has demonstrated from the Bible prophecy that Jesus was indeed the long hoped for Messiah. He has also revealed to us that Jesus himself knew he was on a divinely foretold timeline. Nothing was happening by random chance. It was all part of God's careful plan to save humanity. Well, we're glad you joined us today on let God speak. You can view this programme again as well as download the teacher's notes on our website. That website is 3abnaustralia.org.au. Or you can email us if you wish on [email protected]. We look forward to your. Up to you next time. God bless. SPEAKER B You have been listening to let God speak, a production of 3ABN Australia television. To catch up on past programmes, please visit 3abnaustralia.org.au. Call us in Australia on 02 4973 3456. Or email [email protected]. we'd love to hear from you.