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Jesus Reveals His Purpose in Coming (Protestant/Evangelical Caucus and Devotional)
ligonier.org ^ | 6/15/2016

Posted on 06/15/2016 10:22:12 AM PDT by Gamecock

“[Jesus] 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. And he said this plainly.”

- Mark 8:31–32b

Immediately after Peter’s confession of Christ as the Messiah, our Lord “strictly charged [the disciples] to tell no one about him” (Mark 8:30). He did not make this charge, however, because He disagreed with the confession of faith. Note that Jesus did not say, “Do not tell anyone that I am the Messiah because I am not the Messiah.” Instead, to paraphrase our Lord, He said, “Do not tell anyone that I am the Messiah even though I really am the Messiah.”

Of course, that was not the first time that Christ forbade people to spread the word about Him (see Mark 1:40–45; 7:31–36). We have seen that the reason for this order seems to have been that most of the Jews had incomplete expectations about what the Messiah would do. They rightly believed that the Messiah would reign over them in righteousness (Isa. 9:7), but they did not understand that His path to the throne would pass through the valley of suffering and death. In fact, Jesus knew that idea would be anathema to most Jews. To proclaim Him as Messiah at the wrong time would create problems for His mission and encourage people to persist in their misunderstanding. So, He forbade His disciples to call Him Messiah publicly.

As we will see, Peter’s response to what Jesus says in today’s passage helps to confirm our interpretation. But for our purposes here, let us note what Christ says about His messianic vocation and what His being the Savior means. His words in Mark 8:31 indicate that this calling includes both sovereignty and suffering—sovereignty because Jesus is the “Son of Man,” who Daniel says will have dominion over all the kingdoms of this world (Dan. 7:13–14), and suffering in the form of being rejected and murdered. Mark 8:31 indicates that the suffering must come first—only after Jesus is handed over to the authorities to be executed can He be resurrected and enthroned as King of kings and Lord of lords (see Phil. 2:5–11).

Jesus taught the path from His humiliation to exaltation “plainly” (Mark 8:32a). He was insistent that He had to suffer. This death, we learn later in Mark 10:45, was the only means by which the price for our sin could be paid. Dr. R.C. Sproul writes in his commentary Mark: “The Father had determined that the Son would suffer, be rejected, and ultimately be killed to redeem His people from God’s righteous wrath against their sin. The punishment for sin before almighty God was death, and if Jesus was to save His people, it would be necessary for Him to make full payment for their sin.”

Coram Deo

If we are not careful, we may likewise entertain false ideas of the work of the Messiah. Thus, we must not selectively read Scripture the way many ancient Jews did but rather study the whole counsel of God so that we can get a full-orbed picture of the person and work of Christ. Let us read and meditate on all of Scripture so that we may know who Christ is and what He has done.

Passages for Further Study

Psalm 22 Isaiah 52:13–53:12 Luke 17:24–25 Romans 3:21–26


TOPICS: General Discusssion
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 06/15/2016 10:22:12 AM PDT by Gamecock
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To: Alex Murphy; bkaycee; blue-duncan; boatbums; caww; CynicalBear; daniel1212; Dutchboy88; ealgeone; ..

Ping!


2 posted on 06/15/2016 10:22:55 AM PDT by Gamecock ( Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul...Matthew 10:28)
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To: Gamecock

"For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice."

3 posted on 06/15/2016 10:45:03 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("We can't fix a rigged system by relying on the people who rigged it." --Donald Trump, 6/7/16)
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To: Gamecock
Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; THAT through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the *devil*.

That is why Christ told Nicodemus that those born from above ‘children’ in the flesh, passed the first requirement to ‘see’ the kingdom of God. John 3...

4 posted on 06/15/2016 10:51:27 AM PDT by Just mythoughts (Jesus said Luke 17:32 Remember Lot's wife.)
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To: Just mythoughts

I take issue with the statement that Christ had to suffer death or He could not Reign as King.

Christ was already King. He was perfect and therefore did not need to suffer any punishment to earn a reward that His Father promised Him, that is all that His Father had.

He died on the cross very early in the process, people can survive on the cross several days. The other two that hung on the cross were very much still alive when their legs were broken so that they could not stand and therefore would be unable to breath. Christ was already dead because He gave up The Ghost. He had power over life and death and used that power to die.

We are not perfect. The punishment for sin is death. Christ suffered our punishment for us if we accept Him. By our accepting the punishment given freely by Him we may live again with God because our sin is covered, hidden in the blood of Christ because the debt of our sin is paid. It was paid by someone who did not owe it and paid it anyway.

I don’t think most people have a clue what all that means, about how Christ can somehow take upon Himself my pains and agony and suffer for them in the past even before I had them. How he can be punished for my sins even before I commit them. His punishment had to be unbelievably horrible to cover not just my sin but every bodies sins.

He did not have to do it. The Lord said that “greater love have no man but that he lay down his life for another”. He did that but multiplied by billions.


5 posted on 06/15/2016 1:40:15 PM PDT by JAKraig (my religion is at least as good as yours)
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To: JAKraig
I take issue with the statement that Christ had to suffer death or He could not Reign as King. Christ was already King. He was perfect and therefore did not need to suffer any punishment to earn a reward that His Father promised Him, that is all that His Father had. He died on the cross very early in the process, people can survive on the cross several days. The other two that hung on the cross were very much still alive when their legs were broken so that they could not stand and therefore would be unable to breath. Christ was already dead because He gave up The Ghost. He had power over life and death and used that power to die. We are not perfect. The punishment for sin is death. Christ suffered our punishment for us if we accept Him. By our accepting the punishment given freely by Him we may live again with God because our sin is covered, hidden in the blood of Christ because the debt of our sin is paid. It was paid by someone who did not owe it and paid it anyway. I don’t think most people have a clue what all that means, about how Christ can somehow take upon Himself my pains and agony and suffer for them in the past even before I had them. How he can be punished for my sins even before I commit them. His punishment had to be unbelievably horrible to cover not just my sin but every bodies sins. He did not have to do it. The Lord said that “greater love have no man but that he lay down his life for another”. He did that but multiplied by billions.

The purpose in Christ coming was foretold by the holy prophets. And as it was foretold "A bone of Him shall not be broken", Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12. Christ was the final perfect required 'blood' sacrifice of all time.. The Passover lamb. The crucifixion was not required for Christ to gain, He in the flesh was God with us.. But, the devil and a numbered of his fallen angels have already been judged to death. God created these entities in love, but they rebelled and attempted to replace God and drew from God large numbers of soul/spirit intellects... The devil and those fallen angels will never partake of flesh, they are already judged to death. It is/was a fulfillment of prophecy - similar to a kinsman redeemer .. legal binding contract.

There are still some sins, like premeditate homicide and rape that require a 'face to face' with the Creator to be forgiven... The ONLY thing that changed, fulfilled, was no longer a blood sacrifice required for remission of sin. We can go directly to the Father, in Christ name with a repentant heart/mind to seek forgiveness.

Too many Christians think those Ten Commandments do not apply to them. Well, no Christian worth his/her salt would call themselves Christian if they break any of the Ten. That is what is meant to believe in Christ, by keeping His Commandments.

6 posted on 06/15/2016 4:42:17 PM PDT by Just mythoughts (Jesus said Luke 17:32 Remember Lot's wife.)
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To: Just mythoughts
There are still some sins, like premeditate homicide and rape that require a ‘face to face’ with the Creator to be forgiven... The ONLY thing that changed, fulfilled, was no longer a blood sacrifice required for remission of sin. We can go directly to the Father, in Christ name with a repentant heart/mind to seek forgiveness.

Too many Christians think those Ten Commandments do not apply to them. Well, no Christian worth his/her salt would call themselves Christian if they break any of the Ten. That is what is meant to believe in Christ, by keeping His Commandments.

___________________________________________________________

I suspect you are correct about premeditated murder is likely close to the sin of denial of The Holy Ghost but not quite as bad.

You said that blood sacrifice is no longer needed, but, it is. I know what you mean and don't really disagree with you but the blood sacrifice has already been made.

It is the blood of Jesus that hides our sin because that sacrifice represents punishment, the punishment that we deserve and that He took for us.

As far as a bone not being broken, in the Passover meal there is a lamb for the meal. The condition of the lamb is that it must be perfect, and that in the slaughter and preparation for the meal there can be no bones broken. Yes in this we see that it has been foretold and then we are reminded each year at Passover. We are reminded that by partaking of the sacrificial lamb that we are passed over by the angel of death, now if we partake of The Lamb we can again be passed over by the angel of death. Many people have strange ideas of what it means to partake of The Lamb. I personally believe that it is much more than just admitting that He is. It is following Him, trying to be like Him, obeying His commandments and much more. Those who think that the Ten Commandments no longer apply are fooling themselves, who do they think gave them? When were they repealed? I am no judge, but, I imagine that if you are breaking the ten commandments and not begging forgiveness for doing so then you likely have no part of Him. he will not know you no matter how many times you have called our His name. Confession of the name of Jesus is no magic trick, either you follow Him or you don't.

As Christians we focus on Easter, rightly so because the most important event in the history of mankind is the Resurrection of The Savior Jesus The Christ. It is also important for us to remember the events of Passover so that we can be reminded of how this was all foretold for millennia, that it is all part of a glorious plan.

7 posted on 06/16/2016 2:24:14 PM PDT by JAKraig (my religion is at least as good as yours)
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