We come now to an element of our Lord’s teaching that many would like to ignore. Unfortunately for them, the Lord taught the doctrine of eternal punishment in many settings and in many ways, and it is impossible to ignore this doctrine of His without ignoring Him. And this is precisely what our modern reinterpreters …
How Jesus Said to Receive Him
In this portion of Scripture, we find the Lord teaching the disciples a lesson of enormous importance, and we find that Mark presents this lesson to us in a series of unforgettable contrasts. “And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them …” (Mark …
Baptism of Light
Peter has confessed the identify of his master. He has spoken the truth, but has still spoken more than he knew. The Lord is now revealed in His glory to three of his disciples, and the foretaste of glory helps to ameliorate the difficulties of the hard sayings He placed upon them at the end …
Like Trees Walking
We find here a passage with great contrasts and comparisons. Peter the Confessor is also Satan, and the blind man who saw men as trees walking provides a good picture of the disciples. “And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him . . .” …
Leaven of the Pharisees
The passage we consider here culminates in Christ’s rebuke of the disciples for their continued and ongoing hardness of heart. The picture we have of hardness in a believer is most instructive — provided we are not hard of heart ourselves. “In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus …
All Things Well
Recall that Jesus has just finished a controversy with the theologians of Jerusalem over the meaning of ritual purification. He differed with them utterly over the meaning of the word unclean. This sets the stage for His great kindness shown here to the Syrophonecian woman. “And from thence he arose, and went into the borders …
Spiritual Excrement
NB: For some mysterious reason, I cannot find the notes I had for the second half of Mark 6. Oh, well. On to chapter 7. In this next passage, we find that the Lord Jesus Christ rejects man-made piety in the strongest possible terms, and in a way calculated to offend the devout. “Then came …
Kings Who Devour and Kings Who Feed
The incident of feeding the multitudes is recorded in all four Gospels, and is clearly considered by the witnesses of Christ’s ministry to be very important. And as we consider the meaning God has written for us here it is crucial for us to note the context. “And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves …
The Death of John Baptist
When Jesus comes to His own hometown, He is rejected by the people there. After this, He sends out His disciples to preach on His behalf, but before they return we hear a parenthetical explanation of the death of John the Baptist. “And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and …
Making the Unclean Clean
When Jesus comes back across the sea, He performs two remarkable miracles, the first performed while He is on His way to the second. The woman with the issue of blood was healed while Christ was on His way to the house of Jairus. “And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the …