Mark 7 & 8

Faith is a matter that is greatly misunderstood in the world today. Unlike the ancient Hebrew and the Koine Greek we do not use Faith as a verb. In the Old Testament the words translated faith were also used as a verb to show action. The same is true of the words from the New testament from the Greek but we do not faith a thing today. When Abraham was called to test his faith he was not given a question he could orally respond to, his answer took the form of action. I believe that, in like manor, God is calling us today. We must learn to give our faith feet to move on.

Mar 8:11 The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him.
Mar 8:12 Sighing deeply in His spirit, He *said, "Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation."
Jesus had just fed the four thousand men with seven loaves and a few fish and all that partook were filled and still seven large baskets were were collected of the left overs. The Pharisees did not seek after a sign, they sought only to discredit Him. We like to think that the Pharisees have passed on but they haven't. Today we have them in the form of every manor of man known to be on the earth. Just as they use earthly rational to do away with the Gospels they would invent a new rational to pass a miracle away, in fact they do it every day.

Mar 8:13 Leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.
Mar 8:14 And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them.
Mar 8:15 And He was giving orders to them, saying, "Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."
Mar 8:16 They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.
Jesus, having just rebuked the Pharisees, and the disciples not having the Holy Spirit, because they had God with them, mistook the intent of His statement as cautioning them not to seek relief for their lack of bread from the Pharisees or the Sadducees. Herod II was a Sadducee.

Mar 8:17 And Jesus, aware of this, *said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart?
Mar 8:18 "HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR? And do you not remember,
Mar 8:19 when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?" They *said to Him, "Twelve."
Mar 8:20 "When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?" And they *said to Him, "Seven."
Mar 8:21 And He was saying to them, "Do you not yet understand?"
Much like many claiming the name of Christ for their own, today, they had missed the point. They had been witness to the miraculous feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand and and still they did not understand. God was not constrained by the limitations of men and yet that was exactly where the Jewish leaders of that day stood. This was the leaven Jesus spoke of, not the leaven that caused the bread to rise but the leaven that inflated false teachers, pride. (The keeping of the Law, the Tithe, the Sacrifices and all other manor of worship? was rooted in pride.)


Mar 8:27 Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, "Who do people say that I am?"
Jesus is laying the foundation to teach a difficult concept for the Jewish believer of that time. The people of God expected their Messiah to expel the Romans from their land and to restore the glory they had experienced under David ad Solomon.

Mar 8:28 They told Him, saying, "John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets."

People did not see this man, Jesus, as the King they had anticipated and although God had not sent another prophet for four hundred years before John, they thought that Jesus was surly a prophet and not more than that.

Mar 8:29 And He continued by questioning them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter *answered and *said to Him, "You are the Christ."
Not overly concerned with the precepts of the crowds Jesus sought to nail the disciple's answer down. After all, these men were to build the church after He was gone. Peter, bless his pea pickin' heart, always ready to step out of the boat, answered that he knew Jesus was the promised Messiah.

Mar 8:30 And He warned them to tell no one about Him.
Mar 8:31 And 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.
Having His foundation in place He proceeded to let them know that He had not come to liberate Israel from it's yoke at that time but that He was there to pay the sin debt that all mankind owed to their maker.

Mar 8:32 And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
Mar 8:33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."
Peter, like every Israeli and every Jew, was not ready for the Messiah to to fulfill all the prophecies written and told of Him. God had a greater plan ad would not be thwarted.

 

... Sorry to be so late but it's 2300 hrs here as I have been playing Faze 10 at a brother's home.
... When I look at all four of the gospels and dwell on why He wanted little notice I see His enemies, the Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees doing their best to eliminate Him and He sometimes tells folks that it is not His time yet. (John 7:4-6) Jesus knew that He was to be crucified, He was already teaching the disciples this truth and He knew that His popularity ratting was going off the scale. He wanted, not to tempt the Father, whose hand He was in from the very moment He stripped Himself of His divinity. He knew that the Father would never allow Him to die before it was time but then He, Jesus, before His human birth, also taught that we were not to tempt the LORD, our God. Isa. 7:10-12, Matt. 4:87, Luke 4:12, and others.)

 

Yes sir, that's true. I have taught with and without a quarterly but the Grumpy Old Men, mostly deacons, like the quarterly so I let them spend the money for it. Actually the quarterly is a good idea because I am afflicted with RRMS and have relapses at the drop of my hat and this way another can step forward and carry on when I fall sick over night.

 

Hello Marcia,
... In Matt. 28:18-20 we, as followers of the Christ there is a command that cannot be altered that applies to every Christian that has ever lived, is living and ever will live. I was ordained of God to this ministry and I have remained faithful to what the LORD has set before me for the past 17 years of my 19 year walk with the LORD.
... Since I, like my pastor, am a teacher by interaction, yes, my comments are open to discussion. I post on several forums and some are more interactive than others. Having said that there is one very important factor that governs the folks I engage. Conversation is the best means of intelligent discourse but arguments are a fool's folly and almost every debate over the internet degrades into a fight very quickly. I avoid that by limited response.
... If you disagree or wish to add to my comments, from the female perspective, by all means do so. One, important point to consider is the ranking God has given to each of us, i.e. Titus 2:1. We must always do our works in a godly fashion.