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April 23, 2014

House of New Beginnings

Jesus the Rabbi

Mark 9:5


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The Transfiguration

Mark 9:2-10

Delivered 10/01/2006

We have been looking at the account of Jesus' dialogue with Hisdisciples at Caesarea Philippi. Jesus asks His disciples who theysay He is:

Mark 8:29 (NASB) And He continued by questioning them,"But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said toHim, "Thou art the Christ."

"Christ" is the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew, Messiah. This

title carried overtones of political power. The Psalms of Solomonwas a Jewish writing of the Messiah as the son of David. TheirMessiah was a warrior-prince who would expel the hated Romansfrom Israel and bring in a kingdom in which the Jews would bepromoted to world dominion. Jesus, therefore, accepted Peter'sconfession and immediately spoke of the sufferings of Messiah tocorrect the disciple's idea of what the Messiah would be:

Mark 8:31-32 (NASB) And He began to teach them that the

Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by theelders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed,and after three days rise again. 32 And He was stating thematter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began torebuke Him.

For Peter, Messiah was a title of a glorious personage bothnationalistic and victorious in battle. They believed that Messiahwould come and rule; they had no idea of Him coming, then

leaving, then coming again. Peter reacts strongly when Christtalks about His death. His death would be the end of their hopesand dreams; they couldn't understand Him being put to death.The Jewish understanding of Messiah is clearly expressed in:

John 12:34 (NASB) The multitude therefore answered Him,"We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remainforever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be liftedup'? Who is this Son of Man?"


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They didn't conceive of Messiah leaving once He had arrived.They thought He would come and set up His rule.

Micah 5:2 (NASB) "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Toolittle to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go

forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are fromlong ago, From the days of eternity."

The word "ruler" is the Hebrew word mashal, which means:"make to have dominion, governor, have power." They viewedMessiah as a Ruler:

Psalms 8:6 (NASB) Thou dost make him to rule over theworks of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet,

Zechariah 6:12-13 (NASB) "Then say to him, 'Thus says the

LORD of hosts, "Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for Hewill branch out from where He is; and He will build thetemple of the LORD. 13 "Yes, it is He who will build thetemple of the LORD, and He who will bear the honor and sitand rule on His throne. Thus, He will be a priest on Histhrone, and the counsel of peace will be between the twooffices."'

Branch it is a familiar title for the Messiah (Isaiah 4:2 and 11:1,

Jeremiah 23:5 and 33:15). So you can easily understand thatthey were not looking for Jesus to leave, but to set up Hiskingdom. Jesus talked to them about His death and going to theFather, but they did not understand it at all:

John 13:33-36 (NASB) "Little children, I am with you a littlewhile longer. You shall seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, Inow say to you also, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' 34"A new commandment I give to you, that you love oneanother, even as I have loved you, that you also love oneanother. 35 "By this all men will know that you are Mydisciples, if you have love for one another." 36 Simon Petersaid to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus answered,"Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall followlater."

John 16:16-17 (NASB) "A little while, and you will no longer

behold Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me." 17Some of His disciples therefore said to one another, "What is


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this thing He is telling us, 'A little while, and you will notbehold Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'; and,'because I go to the Father'?"

This account in John takes place after He had given them theOlivet Discourse, and they still didn't understand that He wasleaving them. Even after the crucifixion, they still didn'tunderstand that Jesus was going to rise from the dead:

John 20:8-9 (NASB) So the other disciple who had first cometo the tomb entered then also, and he saw and believed. 9For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that Hemust rise again from the dead.

We are a collection of what we have read, heard, felt, imagined,

and been taught by those crossing our paths as well as bytradition. Sometimes that produces blessing, other times a curse!Inevitably, our concepts of God, His Son, and eternal issues getconfused in the mixture, much like that of the disciples. So whenour concepts of Christ fall short of truth, we must be instructedby the Word of God to correct our thinking. Wrong thinkingabout Christ affects everything about us. We cannot properlytrust One whom we do not know. We certainly cannot face death

with confidence and assurance if we have a fuzzy picture of theJudge before whom we shall stand. In similar fashion, thedisciples kept hearing Jesus talk about the "kingdom." Theyknew what they meant by that term. So when Jesus spoke aboutthe kingdom, they funneled it through their own paradigm ofkingdom understanding. That's why Peter could react to Christ'sprediction of His impending suffering and death. He was beingtrue to his own understanding. So through the Transfiguration,

Jesus begins to correct the disciples' thinking, which wouldultimately transform everything about them.

Jesus followed up His teaching of His suffering and death byteaching that even the way of the disciple must involve self-denial, taking up his own cross, and then following Christ. Again,this likely puzzled the disciples who still had visions of earthlygrandeur in their kingdom concepts. So Jesus pointed to thecertainty of future glory in His kingdom, a glory that was not

earthly but heavenly. But how would they be able to grasp thisreality? That's where the Transfiguration comes in:


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Mark 9:2 (NASB) And six days later, Jesus took with HimPeter and James and John, and brought them up to a highmountain by themselves. And He was transfigured beforethem;

He opens with the words "Six days later." That's unique in thefact that Mark almost never gives any kind of a chronologicalreference, so to say this happened "six days later" is veryunusual. Matthew and Mark both say six days later, but Lukesays:

Luke 9:28 (NASB) And some eight days after these sayings, itcame about that He took along Peter and John and James,and went up to the mountain to pray.

Luke says, "about" or "some" eight days after. His sourceprobably included the day when Jesus spoke (9:1) and the day ofthe Transfiguration itself, not just the six days in between.Luke's time period is only a generalization, which could bestretched to be a little longer or shorter - in this case, the latterof these options is necessary.

"Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John" These threeare also the ones chosen who alone accompany Jesus when He

raises the ruler's daughter from the dead (Mark 5:37) and are thesame three that Jesus takes with Him when He goes intoGethsemane to pray before His arrest (Matthew 26:37) when allthe others are left behind.

"Why did Jesus pour more into Peter, James and John than theother nine?" I think the answer is fairly easy. It is because theywanted it more. If you read through the Gospels, it's evidentthese three just hungered for Jesus more than the others. And

Jesus was happy to give His time to those who wanted it.Jesus is taking His inner circle of disciples, Peter, James, andJohn, up onto a high mountain for a time of solitude. Luke tellsus they, "...went up to the mountain to pray." This kind ofthing was not unusual for Jesus. He was always stealing away toa solitary place to pray. But this time, He had brought His innercircle of disciples.

Why did Jesus take these three disciples to this mountain retreatto pray? Probably because they needed to be encouraged. Six


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days earlier the Lord had revealed to them the inevitability ofHis eventual suffering and death. They'd had to grapple with thereality of the Cross, and they were stunned by it. Peter hadobjected and received a devastating rebuke from Jesus. Jesus hadgone on to share that if any would follow Him, they must also

take up their own crosses as well.What they were about to experience on that mountain would bethe most incredible sight they had ever seen. They wouldn'tunderstand it. They would be totally blown away by it. There isno doubt they would replay this event in their minds for the restof their lives, seeking to plumb the depths of its meaning and tounderstand its true significance. But what they would receivewas encouragement. What was about to happen would be themost exciting thing they had experienced thus far and they hadseen a lot.

Which mountain were they on?We cannot identify thismountain with any certainty. Possible locations are MountHermon, near Caesarea Philippi. But it would have been snow-capped, so not a likely spot for an overnight stay, which Lukeindicates happened (Luke 9:37), though one of Hermon's spurs

could have been the place. We know that Jesus was certainly inthis general region, but in the six days which have transpiredsince the last recorded event, there's certainly enough time forJesus and the disciples to have been some distance away fromthe area.

The presence of scribes in the crowd that formed around the ninedisciples in Mark 9:14 would necessarily have needed to beJewish and, therefore, should be considered to be in

predominantly Jewish territory (which Caesarea Philippi is not).Some have suggested Mount Miron on the way to Capernaum tobe the mountain. Others have said Mount Tabor southwest of theSea of Galilee is the place. I would say that Miron or Tabor arethe best guesses.

They were alone on top of some mountain. Evening had fallen,and they were in prayer. Luke tells us that as the prayer meetingcontinued, His disciples were "very sleepy"and that they

eventually dozed off. But then something amazing happened.


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"And He was transfigured before them" That word"transfigured" comes from a Greek word from which we get ourEnglish word "metamorphosis"--to be changed into somethingelse. The Greek word is a compound word from "morphe"meaning: "form" and "meta," which implies change. Very simply,

therefore, the underlying meaning of the word has to be "tochange form," though this concept can be applied to relate tothe essential character of something or to its externalappearance and it's not always easy to attempt a definition as towhich is being hinted at by the use of the word. We know fromthe following verses that Jesus' physical appearance changed.

Mark 9:3 (NASB) and His garments became radiant andexceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whitenthem.

Matthew 17:2 (NASB) And He was transfigured before them;and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became aswhite as light.

Luke 9:29 (NASB) And while He was praying, the appearanceof His face became different, and His clothing became whiteand gleaming.

This vision prefigured what lay beyond the cross. It unveiled fora brief glimpse what believers shall gaze upon without hindrancein eternity. It foreshadowed the triumphant splendor of Christthe King.

Most commentators are quick to jump to the conclusion thatwhat's being revealed is the intrinsic divine nature of Jesus, thatthe veil which was covering His own deity was being drawn backfor the briefest of moments that the hiding of the incarnation

might be temporarily reversed.One commentator writes, "For a brief moment the veil of Hishumanity was lifted and His true essence was allowed to shinethrough. The glory which was always in the depths of His beingrose to the surface for that one time in His earthly life."

Most view this as Jesus' divinity being the light which was nowshining from Him that the incarnation had concealed within His

human body and which was now being drawn back like somecurtain to let the light be displayed for a short period of time.


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This is incredibly logical and certainly isn't based upon a wrongconcept of the incarnation.

However, it seems to be a wrong conclusion based upon Peter'sown commentary of the event in 2 Peter where the apostle whowas present on the mountain tells us exactly where the lightcame from and what it was:

2 Peter 1:16-18 (NASB) For we did not follow cleverlydevised tales when we made known to you the power andcoming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses ofHis majesty. 17 For when He received honor and glory fromGod the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Himby the Majestic Glory, "This is My beloved Son with whom I

am well-pleased"-- 18 and we ourselves heard this utterancemade from heaven when we were with Him on the holymountain.

Peter tells us "It was the Father who...clothed Him with glory"Luke 9:32 states that the three disciples, Peter, John, and James"saw His glory," and it's the same Greek word which is being usedin both verses. Therefore, the connection appears to be fairlycertain that the glory being referred to in both cases came from

the Father Himself rather than as a revealing of what was withinHim.

Peter stated quite plainly that the glory made known to thedisciples as shining from Jesus was that which came not fromwithin His own nature but from without, a clear bestowal ofglory upon Him from the Father which reflected outwards.The purpose of the transfiguration is to demonstrate theconclusion of the obedience of God's Servant when the time of

His suffering is at hand. In this way, the discussion which Jesusis having with both Moses and Elijah, who appear also in glory,concerning His imminent death (Luke 9:31) becomes particularlyrelevant, and this experience becomes a reassurance to JesusHimself that obedience to the demands of God the Father arevitally necessary for the glorification to be achieved.

I am sure this is what John is referring to in his Gospel when,though he does not give us an account of the transfiguration, he

does say:


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John 1:14 (NASB) And the Word became flesh, and dweltamong us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the onlybegotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Though he does not tell us where, it was undoubtedly thismoment on the mountain that he remembered.

Mark 9:4 (NASB) And Elijah appeared to them along withMoses; and they were talking with Jesus.

If Jesus' transfiguration were not enough to blow them away, I'msure the appearance of Moses and Elijah was. These were two ofthe greatest figures in all of Israel's history. They were mightymen of God. They were also no strangers to mountaintops. Moseshad quite an encounter with God on Mount Sinai; as had Elijah

on Mount Horeb. They had both experienced God's glory on thetop of these two mountains. But in these two figures we see asymbol of the law and the prophets. And together they weretalking with Jesus.

It's interesting that the disciples seem to have no difficulty at allin recognizing instantly who these men were? Jesus did not say,"Now, Peter, James, and John, I'd like to have you meet Mosesand Elijah." No, they knew instantly who they were. This can

only be explained as divine revelation. God made known to themthat this was Elijah and Moses. Often in rabbinic writings, Mosesand Elijah are put together to refer to the Law and the Prophets.

What were they talking about? I know exactly what they weretalking about:

Luke 9:30-31 (NASB) And behold, two men were talking withHim; and they were Moses and Elijah, 31 who, appearing inglory, were speaking of His departure which He was about toaccomplish at Jerusalem.

The word for "departure" is the Greek word exodos. There was anexodus that was to begin at the cross and start another fortyyear journey. The first exodus period is one familiar to all of us.Israel, after the flesh, was removed from bondage to Egypt atPassover, and they were put in the wilderness on a physicaljourney to a physical promise land. Now the more important and

the spiritual exodus we are not so familiar with: This exodus runsfrom the Cross to A.D. 70. In this exodus, Israel, after the Spirit,


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left its bondage to the law of sin and death (Ro. 8:2) and beginsa forty year spiritual journey to a spiritual inheritance, theKingdom of God or the New Heavens and New Earth.

Moses, the lawgiver, and Elijah, the consummate prophet,engaged Christ in conversation centered on His death,resurrection, and ascension (implied by Luke's term "departure").Can you imagine being in on that conversation?

As Jesus conversed with the "living dead", Moses and Elijah, itgave the disciples assurance that His death would not be the endbut only the beginning of eternity for all that believe.

Mark 9:5-6 (NASB) And Peter answered and said to Jesus,"Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three

tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one forElijah." 6 For he did not know what to answer; for theybecame terrified.

The disciples were overwhelmed. What they were witnessing wasan otherworldly, terrifying experience. They stared in stunnedsilence. What was there to say? They had nothing to say, andPeter said it!

Interestingly, he called Jesus "Rabbi", the word by which he

knew Him. In the circumstance of terror, Peter called Him thatbecause he always called Him that.

"Jesus, let's build three tents!" It is interesting that Mark saysPeter said this because he was terrified. He didn't know what elseto say! You remember that Mark's source for this Gospel wasPeter himself. You can almost hear Mark sitting down with Peterand saying, "Peter, why did you say that?" And Peter said, "Idon't know; I was terrified!

"They became terrified" this Greek word is only used here andin Hebrews where we read of Moses' fear in the presence of Godat Mt. Sinai:

Hebrews 12:21 (NASB) And so terrible was the sight, thatMoses said, "I AM FULL OF FEAR AND TREMBLING."

It is a very strong word for fear. We are so used to theTransfiguration scene that it may no longer fill us with awe. But

if we pause for a moment and think, perhaps the awe willovertake us. They had come up unsuspectingly into the mountain


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with Jesus and suddenly this immense change took place in Him,something brighter and more glorious than the sun in itssplendor, and a sense of extreme whiteness, of awful holiness,and purity. And then the two greatest men ever known, as far asthe Jew was concerned, appeared there with them talking with

the glorified Jesus. No wonder it was all too much and turnedPeter into a babbler.

It may be that Peter said this about building the tabernaclesthinking that the necessity of the cross has passed and that theglory of God's presence has returned as would have beenexpected in the future establishing of the Kingdom of Heaven onearth.

Jesus has been talking about being rejected and put to death.They go up on this

mountain, and up on the mountain it's always more pleasantthan it is down in the valley. And Peter is saying: This is morewhat I had in mind. Let's just build some tents and stay up here;let's set up camp on the mountain. Let's not go down again. Butimmediately there's this cloud that comes over them,

Mark 9:7 (NASB) Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them,

and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is My beloved Son,listen to Him!"

A "cloud" is used in the Old Testament as a symbol of God'spresence (Ex 13:21, 19:9, 34:5, 2 Chr 5:13-14) and it's best totake the mention of such a cloud on the mountain as asupernatural phenomenon. It was the cloud of Shekinah glorythat appeared on that mountaintop. Shekinah comes from aHebrew root, which means "to dwell." The Shekinah glory of God

was the manifestation of the presence of God.When the Tabernacle was finished, this cloud descended upon itin such a manifestation of God's glory that Moses himself couldnot even enter it. When Solomon's Temple was completed, thecloud again descended so that the priests could not enter. Thecloud symbolized the dwelling of God among men. And thisshekinah glory of God had not been seen is Israel for six hundredyears. But now, this luminous cloud not only came, but itenveloped all of them. The entire top of the mountain wascovered by the glory of God.


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If we look at all the synoptic gospels we see that the voice fromheaven said: "This is My beloved Son, [My Chosen One (Luke),with whom I am well-pleased (Matthew)]; listen to Him!"Thevoice from the cloud strings together (in reverse order!) a phrasefrom the Torah, a phrase from the Prophets and a phrase from

the Writings.Deuteronomy 18:15 (NASB) "The LORD your God will raise upfor you a prophet like me from among you, from yourcountrymen, you shall listen to him.

Isaiah 42:1 (NASB) "Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; Mychosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spiritupon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.

Psalms 2:7 (NASB) "I will surely tell of the decree of theLORD: He said to Me, 'Thou art My Son, Today I have begottenThee.

The Father himself is saying: Peter, do not put Jesus on a parwith Moses and Elijah. You listen to Him. He is the one of whomMoses and Elijah spoke. He is the one who fulfilled all thepredictions of the prophets and the sacrifices of the Law. Listento him; this is my beloved Son.

Peter was trying to put them on equal footing: "one for You,and one for Moses, and one for Elijah."They were great menbut still sinners; Christ alone must be worshiped! The writer ofHebrews express it this way:

Hebrews 1:1-2 (NASB) God, after He spoke long ago to thefathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom Heappointed heir of all things, through whom also He made theworld.

God has spoken His final word in His Son. The message of thetransfiguration is that Jesus is the one we must listen to.

"Listen to Him." Listen is strong and means: "take notice andobey." He was greater than Moses, He was greater than Elijah. InHim came the full truth about God. All other messengers hadbeen superseded.

What was the point of Moses and Elijah being there with Christ?It would have been no less spectacular if they weren't there.


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What was their purpose? They represent the Law and Prophetsthe Old Covenant. Jesus is the minister of the New Covenant:

Hebrews 12:24 (NASB) and to Jesus, the mediator of a newcovenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better

than the blood of Abel.

Hebrews 9:15 (NASB) And for this reason He is the mediatorof a new covenant, in order that since a death has takenplace for the redemption of the transgressions that werecommitted under the first covenant, those who have beencalled may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

On this mountain God is saying in picture form, The Old Covenantis being superseded by the New Covenant. Jesus has been saying

and doing things that go against the Law:Mark 7:18 (NASB) And He said to them, "Are you so lackingin understanding also? Do you not understand that whatevergoes into the man from outside cannot defile him;

Do you understand how radical this statement is? To thePharisees and any Jew this statement went against their dietarylaws. Food was a major consideration under the Old Covenant asis clear from even a superficial reading of Leviticus 11.

What do we do when there is a conflict between what Jesusteaches and what the Law taught? God the father said, "Listen toJesus." The Old Covenant was to fade away in significance duringthe life time of the disciples:

Hebrews 8:13 (NASB) When He said, "A new covenant," Hehas made the first obsolete. But whatever is becomingobsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

Moses and Elijah were there so God could say it is now time tolisten to my Son.

Mark 9:8 (NASB) And all at once they looked around and sawno one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

Suddenly, Moses and Elijah were gone. God had spoken. He hadsingled out His Son. And now all that filled their vision wasChrist. What God was saying was that His Son, Christ, was ofsupreme significance.All the other things were to point toHim.


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What a vision! What an experience! I'm sure they could hardlywait to relate it to the other disciples. But Jesus forbids them:

Mark 9:9 (NASB) And as they were coming down from themountain, He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what

they had seen, until the Son of Man should rise from thedead.

The word "orders" was a military term for placing under orders.He gave them orders not to say anything until He had risen fromthe dead. Jesus did not want the message to be Histransfiguration. He wanted the message to be His Cross andresurrection. While the transfiguration is an interesting story, itcannot save anyone. The Cross is Christ's redemptive work. It is

the Cross we preach.Mark 9:10 (NASB) And they seized upon that statement,discussing with one another what rising from the dead mightmean.

These same three, Peter, James, and John had been present atthe raising from the dead of Jairus' daughter and the discipleshad been with Jesus in Nain where He raised the widow's sonfrom the dead. Their questioning and debating did not merely

deal with what was meant by Jesus' statement of rising from thedead. It dealt more with the prophetic significance of it. Whatdid it mean in relationship to the future kingdom and thesuffering their friend Jesus was beginning to talk about.

Would you have liked to have been on that mountain to haveseen the transfiguration? Do you think that if you had beenthere and had seen this it would have made an impact on yourChristian life? Notice again what Peter says:

2 Peter 1:16-18 (NASB) For we did not follow cleverlydevised tales when we made known to you the power andcoming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses ofHis majesty. 17 For when He received honor and glory fromGod the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Himby the Majestic Glory, "This is My beloved Son with whom Iam well-pleased"-- 18 and we ourselves heard this utterancemade from heaven when we were with Him on the holymountain.


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Peter is saying, I was on the mountain, I saw Him glow withbrilliant light, I heard the voice of God say "This is my belovedSon." We may think that Peter's confidence was built upon hispresence on that Mt. of Transfiguration, because he was there, hesaw and he heard. But the next verse in 2 Peter shows us were

Peter found his confidence:2 Peter 1:19-20 (NASB) And so we have the prophetic wordmade more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as toa lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and themorning star arises in your hearts. 20 But know this first ofall, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's owninterpretation,

Peter is saying that the Word of God, that we have before us thismorning is more sure than that experience on the mountain top,that the Word is even a greater reality than what was seen andheard.

Why is the written Word more sure than the transfigurationexperience? Your remembrance of an experience can change weforget or even embellish. The written word is unchangeable! Wecan read it over and over, and it will always say the same thing.

We may marvel at what it would have been like to see the Gloryof the Lord, to hear the voice of the Father and yet every timewe open the Bible, that is exactly what we are privileged to seeand privileged to hear.

And so I would ask you: Have you been listening to Jesus Christ?He has spoken to us clearly through His Word. He leaves no roomfor speculation on what constitutes life and joy and God'spurpose for humanity. Listen to Him!

Media #351a

Delivered 10/8/2006

Last week in our study of Mark we looked at the Transfiguration,and in that text Peter calls Jesus "Rabbi." This morning I want usto look at that idea:

Mark 9:5 (NASB) And Peter answered and said to Jesus,"Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three

tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one forElijah."


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Peter calls Jesus "Rabbi" because He was a Jewish Rabbi. ManyChristians don't understand this. Have you ever seen the bumpersticker, "My boss is a Jewish Carpenter"? How accurate is that?

Mark 6:3 (NASB) "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary,

and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? Arenot His sisters here with us?" And they took offense at Him.

The word "carpenter" is the Greek word tekton, which actuallymeans: "a craftsman who builds." Given that Israel's buildingswere constructed of stones and rocks, Jesus likely worked as astonemason rather than a carpenter. He probably spent hourshelping His father shape and cut stones. Knowing that Jesus is astonemason, look at what Peter has to say:

1 Peter 2:5 (NASB) you also, as living stones, are being builtup as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer upspiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Peter tells his readers that they are living stones being shaped bythe master stonemason, Jesus Christ.

So Jesus was not a carpenter, but He did work with His father asa stonemason. But what I want us to understand is that Jesuswas a Jewish Rabbi. He didn't spend His adult life building

houses but building kingdom citizens. Jesus functioned in firstcentury Israel as a man who was a Jewish Rabbi. If you want tounderstand Jesus and His teaching, you need to understandsomething of the Jewish Rabbis.

Let me back up a minute. Before we look at Jesus the Rabbi, Iwant you to understand that Jesus of Nazareth was God mademan. In theological language, this is called the doctrine of theHypostatic Union, which is the doctrine of the personal union ofthe two natures, the divine and the human, of the Lord JesusChrist. Jesus Christ is 100% God and 100% man. This is where weget the theological term "theanthropic," which comes fromtheos, which means: "God and anthropos," which means: "man."Jesus Christ is the God-Man.He is One person with two natures.

If you have trouble understanding the doctrine of the HypostaticUnion, you're not alone. Daniel Webster, the 19th-century

statesman, once dined in Boston with several eminent literaryfigures. Soon the conversation turned to Christianity. Webster, a


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convinced Christian, confessed his belief in Christ and Hisatoning work. A Unitarian minister at the table responded, "Mr.Webster, can you comprehend how Jesus Christ could be bothGod and Man?"

"No, sir, I cannot understand it," replied Webster, "and I wouldbe ashamed to acknowledge Christ as my Saviour if I couldcomprehend it. He could be no greater than myself, and such ismy conviction of accountability to God, my sense of sinfulnessbefore Him, and my knowledge of my own incapacity to recovermyself, that I feel I need a superhuman Saviour."

There is plenty of scriptural evidence that Jesus is God. The OldTestament taught that the Messiah would be God:

Micah 5:2 (NASB) "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Toolittle to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will goforth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are fromlong ago, From the days of eternity."

This One who is to be born in Bethlehem is eternal. The onlyperson that is eternal is God. Jesus Christ is eternal God. The NewTestament also affirms this:

John 1:1-3 (NASB) In the beginning was the Word, and the

Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in thebeginning with God. 3 All things came into being by Him,and apart from Him nothing came into being that has comeinto being.

"The beginning" is before all beginnings, prior to the beginningof Genesis 1:1. The phrase could be rendered "from all eternity."John, in this verse, establishes the preexistence of Christ ineternity past. He already "was" when the beginning took place.Notice what Jesus said to the Jews of His day:

John 8:58 (NASB) Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say toyou, before Abraham was born, I am."

Jesus made this staggering statement using the "Tetragramatin,"which is the Old Testament sacred name for God. Jesus is sayingthat He, a man, pre-existed the patriarch Abraham, who lived2,000 years earlier.


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Exodus 3:14 (NASB) And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO IAM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'IAM has sent me to you.'"

This is referring to absolute existence. By doing so, Jesus Christclaimed an existence that was timeless. There never was a timewhen Jesus Christ was not. He knows no past nor future. TheJews at the feast well knew that Jesus claimed to be eternal God,look at their response:

John 8:59 (NASB) Therefore they picked up stones to throwat Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.

His enemies knew that He claimed to be God. There are manytoday who claim to be Christians who don't even know what

Jesus's enemies knew-- He claimed to be God.Jesus, who is eternal God, became a man. We call this theincarnation, which comes from two Latin words, "in"plus"cargo,"meaning: "infleshment, the act of assuming flesh." Godchose to become united to true humanity. Paul teaches this in:

Philippians 2:5-6 (NASB) Have this attitude in yourselveswhich was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed inthe form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing tobe grasped,Verse 6 teaches us that Jesus Christ is God. This is where theincarnation begins, this is the point from which He descends,God becomes man. The word "form" is morphe. It has nothing todo with shape or size. Multin and Millagan say that "morphe" is aform which truly and fully expresses the being which under liesit.Morpheis the essential character of something. Jesus Christpre-existed in the essence of God.

Verse 6 says that Christ,"did not regard equality with God athing to be grasped," The word "grasped" is from the Greek wordharpogmos,which means: "to take by force, to seize." It is usedonly here in the Scriptures. The noun refers to: "taking anattitude of seizing something." Our Lord did not consider theexpression of His Divine essence such a treasure that it should beretained at all costs. He was willing to wave His rights to the

expression of His Deity.


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Let me give you a Curtis paraphrase of verse 6: "Who alwaysbeing the exact essence of the eternal God, did not considerequality with God as something that must be demonstrated."

The word "equality" is isos, and it means: "exactly the same, insize, quality, quantity, character and number." We use it thisway in English, for example: Isomer-- is a chemical moleculehaving a slightly different structure from another molecule butbeing identical with it in terms of its chemical elements andweight. Its schema may be different, but its morpheis the same.Isomorph-- is having the same form. Isometric -- is equal innumber. Isosceles triangle -- is one with two equal sides .

Paul is saying that Jesus Christ is exactly equal with God. Is God

omniscient? Then so is Jesus Christ. Is God omnipresent? Then sois Jesus Christ. Is God omnipotent? Then so is Jesus Christ. Is Godthe creator? Then so is Jesus Christ. Is God the beginning andend? Then so is Jesus Christ. But He did not consider His equalitywith God as a prize that had to be hung on to. He is equal withGod in every way, but while he walked the earth, He didn't lookequal to God, He looked just like a man.

Jesus Christ didn't grasp or clutch or cling to His rights but:

Philippians 2:7 (NASB) but emptied Himself, taking the formof a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

The word "but" here is a contrastive--"not this but this." Theword "emptied" is the Greek word kenoo, it means: "to makeempty." Figuratively, it means: "to abase, naturalize, to make ofnone effect, of no reputation."

This is what theologians call the Doctrine of the Kenosis --theself emptying of Jesus Christ. What did Jesus empty Himself of?

John 17:5 (NASB) "And now, glorify Thou Me together withThyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee beforethe world was.

He is asking to have His glory restored, because His glory was putaside when He became man. The Greek noun for "glory" here isdoxa. At first the verb meant: "to appear" or "to seem," and thenin time the noun doxa,that came from it, then meant: "an

opinion." In time the noun was used only for having a good


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opinion about some person, and the verb came to mean: "thepraise" or "honor" due to one of whom a good opinion was held.

If a man had a right opinion about God, this meant that he wasable to form a correct opinion of God's attributes. The orthodoxJew knew God as all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present,merciful, faithful, holy, just, loving, and so on with all His otherperfections. When he acknowledged this, he was said to giveglory to God. God's glory consisted of His intrinsic worthembedded in His character, and all that could be known of Godwas merely an expression of it.

Our word "worth" is somewhat equal to the word "glory." Theworth refers to intrinsic character. The worth of a man is his

character. Have you ever heard someone say, "That person isworthless." By this they mean he has no character. The worth ofGod is God's glory. When we praise God, we are acknowledgingHis worth-ship. We shorten that word and we get worship. Thatis what worship is, folks, it's acknowledging God's worth.

There is another and entirely different meaning of the word"glory," which is: "light or splendor." In Hebrew thought, anoutward manifestation of God's presence involved a display of

light. This brilliant outward manifestation of God's presence wasdescribed by the word shekinah, and in the Greek Old Testamentthe word "doxa" is often used to translate it.

Put these two meanings of the word glory together and you havea clear picture of Christ's oneness with God and of the humblingof Himself that went with the kenosis. When He became a man,He laid aside the brilliant manifestation of His glory. Secondly,he veiled his glory in the sense that He did not demonstrate His

attributes. He did not walk this earth in the power of deity, Hewalked this earth in the power of the Holy Spirit, in totaldependence.

From His own will, Jesus Christ did not use His attributes tobenefit Himself. They were not surrendered, but voluntarilyrestricted in keeping with the Father's plan. Christ gave up anyindependent exercise of certain divine attributes in living amongmen with their human limitations that He might become truly

man. dependence is a necessary characteristic or real humanity.


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Christ lived in dependence upon the Holy Spirit in all that He didwhile He walked this earth.

In Matthew 4, the temptations of Christ were related to His deityand the kenosis. His humanity longed for what His deity couldhave provided. He did not exercise the prerogatives of His deitybut was dependant upon the Father.

Jesus was the God/man, but He lived and functioned as a man.We must understand that He lived and functioned as a man infirst century Israel. If we are going to understand this, we mustget involved in Isagogics. Isagogics is a word that has all butdisappeared from English-language dictionaries. It is from theGreek eis, "into," and ago, "to lead." In English, an "isagoge" is

an introduction. "Isogogic," Is defined in the 1955 Oxford EnglishDictionary as "introductory studies, especially that part oftheology which is introductory to exegesis."

lsagogics is the study of the historical and cultural background ofBiblical passages. The Bible must be interpreted in light of thetime in which it was written. All Scripture was written foreverybeliever (2 Tim. 3:16) but not all Scripture was writtentoeverybeliever. If our goal is to understand what the writer wanted his

readers to understand, then we have to know something abouthistory.

Jesus the Jewish Rabbi

From accounts found in Jewish sources, one can form areasonably accurate picture of what Jesus was doing in Hischildhood and adolescence. He was studying, committing tomemory large amounts of material -- Scripture and commentaryon Scripture -- all the available sacred literature of the day.

This was exactly what most of the other Jewish boys of Jesus'day were doing. The memorization of written and oral Torah wassuch a large part of Jewish education that most contemporariesof Jesus had large portions of this material -- at the least almostall of the Scriptures -- firmly committed to memory.

Professor and Rabbi Shmuel Safrai, who was professor emeritus ofJewish History of the Mishnaic and Talmudic Period at the

Hebrew University, writes this:


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The Scriptures were known almost by heart by everyone. Fromquite early in the Second Temple period, one could hardly find alittle boy in the street who didn't know the Scriptures. Accordingto Jerome (342-420 A.D.) who lived in Bethlehem and learnedHebrew from local Jewish residents in order to translate the

Scriptures into Latin [producing the Vulgate Bible]: "Theredoesn't exist any Jewish child who doesn't know by heart thehistory from Adam to Zerubbabel [i.e., from the beginning to theend of the Bible]." Perhaps this was a bit of an exaggeration onJerome's part, but in most cases his reports have proved reliable.("Safrai," lecture on June 5, 1985)

Jesus was born, grew up, and spent His ministry among peoplewho knew the Scripture by memory, who debated its applicationwith enthusiasm, and who loved God with all their hearts, alltheir souls, and all their might (Deut. 6:5). God prepared thisenvironment carefully so that Jesus would have exactly thecontext He needed to present His message of "the kingdom ofheaven." He fit his world perfectly. Understanding this helps tounderstand the great faith and courage of His followers who leftGalilee and went to the whole world to bring the good news.Their courage, their message, the methods they used, and theircomplete devotion to God and his Word were born in thereligious communities in Galilee.

Capernaum was a small village of about 2,500 people. We mightthink of it as just some small hick town. This would be wrong. Itwas, in its day, Harvard or Yale. If you take the Mishnah - therecord of Jewish thinking from A.D. 0 - 100 - there are morequotes from Rabbis of Capernaum than all the rest of the Rabbisof the world put together. The Synagogue school found inCapernaum is four times larger than any other Synagogue schoolfound until the 1500's. This is the world where Jesus ministered.A world highly educated in the Word of God.

By the time Jesus began his public ministry, He had not onlyreceived the thorough religious training typical of the averageJewish man of His day, He had probably spent years studyingwith one of the outstanding rabbis in the Galilee. Jesus thus

appeared on the scene as a respected Rabbi Himself.


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The term "rabbi" is derived from the Hebrew word rav, which inbiblical Hebrew meant "much, many, numerous, great." It alsowas sometimes used to refer to high government officials or armyofficers (e.g., Jeremiah 39:3,13).

In Jesus' day, rav was used to refer to the master of a slave or ofa disciple. Thus rabi literally meant "my master" and was a termof respect used by slaves in addressing their owners and bydisciples in addressing their teachers.

The term rabbi in the time of Jesus did not necessarily refer to aspecific office or occupation. That would be true only after theTemple in Jerusalem was destroyed (A.D. 70 ). Rather, it was aword meaning: "great one; or my master," which was applied to

many kinds of people in everyday speech. It clearly was used as aterm of respect for one's teacher as well, even though the formalposition of rabbi would come later. Calling Jesus "Rabbi" by thepeople of His day is a measure of their great respect for Him as aperson and as a teacher and not just a reference to the activityof teaching He was engaged in.

Many people in Jesus' day referred to Him as Rabbi. His disciples;

John 4:31 (NASB) In the meanwhile the disciples were

requesting Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."The Pharisees called Him Rabbi:

John 3:1-2 (NASB) Now there was a man of the Pharisees,named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came toHim by night, and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that Youhave come from God as a teacher; for no one can do thesesigns that You do unless God is with him."

A Sadducee called Him Rabbi:Luke 20:27-28 (NASB) Now there came to Him some of theSadducees (who say that there is no resurrection), 28 andthey questioned Him, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for usthat IF A MAN'S BROTHER DIES, having a wife, AND HE ISCHILDLESS, HIS BROTHER SHOULD TAKE THE WIFE AND RAISEUP OFFSPRING TO HIS BROTHER.

A lawyer called Him Rabbi:


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Matthew 22:35-36 (NASB) And one of them, a lawyer, askedHim a question, testing Him, 36 "Teacher, which is the greatcommandment in the Law?"

The crowds called Him Rabbi:

John 6:25 (NASB) And when they found Him on the otherside of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You gethere?"

Note the diversity of those who addressed Jesus as Rabbi: alawyer, a rich man, Pharisees, Sadducees, and ordinary people.Clearly, there was a wide range of Jesus' contemporaries who sawHim as a rabbi.

What was it like to be a first century Rabbi?

From the Gospel accounts, Jesus clearly appears as a typical first-century Rabbi, or Jewish teacher. He traveled from place toplace; He depended upon the hospitality of the people; Hetaught outdoors, in homes, in villages, in synagogues and in theTemple; He had disciples who followed Him as He traveled. Thisis the very image of a Jewish teacher in the land of Israel at thattime.

Perhaps the most convincing proof that Jesus was a Rabbi wasHis style of teaching, for He used the same methods of scriptureinterpretation and instruction as other Jewish teachers of Hisday. A simple example of this is Jesus' use of parables to conveyHis teachings. Parables such as Jesus used were extremelyprevalent among ancient Jewish sages and over 4,000 of themhave survived in rabbinic literature.

In Jesus day there were two types of rabbis. The first were called

Torah teachers. The word Torah is used to speak of the first fivebooks of the Bible. Torah teachers were people who wereconsidered to be masters of the Torah, which meant they knewthe first five books of the Bible by memory. Secondly, they weremaster teachers, they could use parables and alliteration. Theywere recognized by the community as teachers of God's Word. ATorah teacher could only teach what the community believed wasright. They could not come up with new teachings. A Torah

teacher would teach in three parts like this:1. It is written he would quote the text by memory.


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2. And that means he would explain using parables or stories.

3. According to and then he would quote one of their Rabbis asauthority to the meaning he had given for the text.

These men were brilliant teachers but were limited by the

authority of others. In Jesus world there was also a small groupof what are called Rabbis with semikhah. We know of about adozen of them by name that lived from 30 B.C to A.D. 70. Theywere not common, and they didn't exist in Judea.

What is a Rabbi with semikhah?They were masters of theTorah and the Haftorah. Haftorah is a Hebrew word that simplymeans: "the rest." They were masters of the whole OldTestament. The Jews call it the Tanakh, which is an acronym

that identifies the Hebrew Bible. The acronym is based on theinitial Hebrew letters of each of the text's three parts: 1.Torah,meaning "Instruction" "The five books of Moses," also called the"Pentateuch". 2. Nevi'im, meaning "Prophets." 3. Ketuvim,meaning "Writings" or "Hagiographa".

These Rabbis knew the entire Tanakh by memory. How manyverses could you recite right now by memory from the OldTestament? Think of the time commitment to memorize the

entire Tanakh.They were also master teachers who were recognized by thecommunity, and many of them were healers. Most miracles thatJesus did except for raising the dead, these Rabbis withsemikhah did. They cast out demons, healed the blind and lepers,fed people, caused storms. So most of the miracles Jesus did weredone by the Rabbis of His day who had semikhah. The Mishnahrecords 150-180 miracles done by other Rabbis with semikhah.

Because of their unique ability to teach Torah and heal, theyreceived what was know as semikhah. Semikhah means:"authority." They had the authority to teach new ideas. Theywere so close to God that He had given them new insight into HisWord. Hillell, Shammai, Gamliel were all Rabbi's that hadsemikhah. This was their teaching method:

1. It was written

2. You have heard that that means this.3. But I tell you it means this.


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Do you recognize that form of teaching? This is how Jesustaught.

Matthew 5:27-28 (NASB) "You have heard that it was said,'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY'; 28 but I say to you,

that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her hascommitted adultery with her already in his heart.

Notice what the people said of Jesus' teaching:

Mark 1:22 (NASB) And they were amazed at His teaching; forHe was teaching them as one having authority, and not asthe scribes.

Jesus was one of this select group that were considered teacherswith authority to make new teaching.

How do you get semikhah? You had to have the Tanakhmemorized, as well as the Mishnah, and be a gifted teacher. Youalso had to have two other Rabbis with semikhah who publicallyput their hands on your head and declare from God that you hadGod's authority. When that happened, you were considered aRabbi who could make new teachings. Over and over in the NewTestament people come to Jesus and ask Him where did You getthe authority to say that?

Matthew 21:23 (NASB) And when He had come into thetemple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came toHim as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority areYou doing these things, and who gave You this authority?"

What they are saying is: Who gave you semikhah? Who were yourtwo Rabbis?

There is a Jewish Rabbinic technic, that is commonly used to this

day, where they would begin a debate or dialogue with aquestion. And the response from the group comes in the form ofa question. The question that comes is first of all an answer tothe first question, and it also extends it to a deeper level.

Luke 2:46-47 (NASB) And it came about that after three daysthey found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of theteachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions.47 And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding

and His answers.


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Jesus was asking questions, and they were amazed at Hisquestions. We see many times in Jesus' teaching ministry that Hewill respond to a question with a question. And in His question isthe answer.

Luke 20:1-2 (NASB) And it came about on one of the dayswhile He was teaching the people in the temple andpreaching the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribeswith the elders confronted Him, 2 and they spoke, saying toHim, "Tell us by what authority You are doing these things,or who is the one who gave You this authority?"

To this Jesus responds in the typical Rabbinic fashion with aquestion:

Luke 20:3-4 (NASB) And He answered and said to them, "Ishall also ask you a question, and you tell Me: 4 "Was thebaptism of John from heaven or from men?"

He is asking, Did John get his authority, his semikhah, from Godor man? Now remember His question answers theirs. Theirquestion was where did you get semikhah? And His question tothem was, where did John get semikhah? What did He just tellthem? I got semikhah from John. When did John declare God's

authority being in Jesus?John 1:29-30 (NASB) The next day he saw Jesus coming tohim, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away thesin of the world! 30 "This is He on behalf of whom I said,'After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for Heexisted before me.'

Who is the second one to declare God's authority on Jesus?

Mark 1:10-11 (NASB) And immediately coming up out of thewater, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like adove descending upon Him; 11 and a voice came out of theheavens: "Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well-pleased."

Jesus is the only Rabbi in history who got his semikhah directlyfrom God Himself.

These Rabbis with semikhah had talmid or disciples. Torah

teachers did not have disciples, only Rabbis with semikhah hadtalmidim. Jesus was not the only Rabbi who had talmidim. What


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made Jesus stand out was His age. He was only in His earlythirties. Apart from Jesus, the youngest Rabbi that we know ofwith semikhah was Akiba and he was sixty. Hillell got his whenhe was 70, Shammai, when he was 85. How could Jesus havesemikhah at 30? That is part of what blew them away. How could

Jesus know the Tanakh so well in only 30 years?Each of these Rabbis with semikhah had their own way of comingup with new teaching. And that method of interpretation wascalled their "yoke." The yoke of Torah is the way you take theburden of keeping Torah on your shoulder. You do it according totheir method. Every Rabbi had a different yoke. Torah teacherswould teach the accepted interpretations, or yoke, of theircommunity.

If you wanted to know what a Rabbi with semikhah's yoke, wasyou would simply ask him, "What is the greatest commandment?"The greatest commandment will tell you what his yoke is. Whatwas Jesus' yoke?

Matthew 22:36-40 (NASB) "Teacher, which is the greatcommandment in the Law?" 37 And He said to him, "'YOUSHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART,

AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' 38"This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 "Thesecond is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR ASYOURSELF.' 40 "On these two commandments depend thewhole Law and the Prophets."

This was Jesus' yoke. Other rabbi's had other yokes. So the talmidwould test the various Rabbi's to find out what their yoke was.We see this happening often to Jesus in the Bible. Various people

came to Him to test His yoke. They wanted to know if Hisinterpretation fit the Torah. Now picture that you have thesedifferent Rabbi's with their different yokes all really trying tounderstand the Torah. Then along comes Jesus and says:

Matthew 11:28-30 (NASB) "Come to Me, all who are wearyand heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yokeupon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble inheart; and YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 "For

My yoke is easy, and My load is light."


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Jesus is saying: Does your yoke tire you out? Come and take myyoke. He was probably not speaking to unsaved people burdenedwith sin but people unsure of the many interpretations theyheard in the dynamic religious debate in Galilee. What is Jesus'yoke? Love God with everything in you, and love your neighbor

as yourself. Is that an easy yoke? Easy to understand, notnecessarily to do. Yoke gives you the picture of an animal with ayoke pulling a burden. The burden is keeping the will of God,which is going to take hard work. Do you think it is easy to obeyGod? No, it's difficult and in order to do it, you must have ayoke. Your yoke is your way of interpreting the Torah.

In Jesus' day the great teachers used a technique today calledremez or hint, in which they used part of a Scripture passage indiscussion, assuming their audience's knowledge of the Biblewould allow them to deduce for themselves fuller meaning.Apparently, Jesus used this method often.

An example of this is Jesus' comments to Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10). Jesus said:

Luke 19:10 (NASB) "For the Son of Man has come to seek andto save that which was lost."

The background to this statement is probably Ezekiel 34. God,angry with the leaders of Israel for scattering and harming hisflock (the people of Israel) states the He Himself will become theShepherd and will seek the lost ones and deliver (save) them.Based on this, the people of Jesus' day understood that theMessiah to come would "seek and save" the lost. By using thisphrase, knowing the people knew the Scripture, Jesus saidseveral things. To the people He said, "I am the Messiah and God

no less." To the leaders (whose influence kept Zacchaeus out ofthe crowd) he said "You have scattered and harmed God's flock."To Zacchaeus He said, "You are one of God's lost sheep, He stillloves you."

This technique indicated a brilliant understanding of Scriptureand incredible teaching skills on Jesus' part. It also demonstratesthe background knowledge of Scripture the common people had.

Believer, do you want to understand the words of Jesus?Understand that He was a Jewish Rabbi, He taught using themethods and techniques of a Rabbi. He taught to people who


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knew the word. So if you really want to understand the teachingof Jesus, learn the scripture! The more you know the Bible, themore you will understand the words of Jesus. Read it, and re-read, and re-read it until it comes out of you in all your speechand actions.

Media #351b

Where's Elijah?

Mark 9:11-29

Delivered 10/15/2006

Peter, James, and John had been with Jesus on the mountain

and had seen Jesus transfigured before them. They had seen Himglow with the glory of God, and they had heard the Father say,"This is My beloved Son, [My Chosen One (Luke), with whom Iam well-pleased (Matthew)]; listen to Him!""Listen" is strongand means: "take notice and obey." He was greater than Moses,He was greater than Elijah. In Him came the full truth about God.He was the long awaited promised Messiah.

On their way down from the mountain they question their Rabbi:

Mark 9:11-13 (NASB) And they asked Him, saying, "Why is itthat the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" 12 And Hesaid to them, "Elijah does first come and restore all things.And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that He shouldsuffer many things and be treated with contempt? 13 "But Isay to you, that Elijah has indeed come, and they did to himwhatever they wished, just as it is written of him."

The disciples are thinking: You're the Messiah, we get that, but

we've been taught that Elijah will come before the Messiah.What's up with that? Since you are the Messiah, what happenedto Elijah? What about that prophecy?

The Jewish New Testament translates verse 11 this way:

Mark 9:11 (JNT) They also asked him, "Why do the Torah-teachers say that Eliyahu has to come first?"

They had been taught by the Torah-teachers that Elijah would

come before the Messiah. Where did this teaching come from:


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Malachi 3:1 (NASB) "Behold, I am going to send Mymessenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And theLord, whom you seek , will suddenly come to His temple;and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight,behold, He is coming," says the LORD of hosts.

Who is Malachi referring to as the messenger? The comingmessenger that Malachi speaks of is Elijah:

Malachi 4:5-6 (NASB) "Behold, I am going to send you Elijahthe prophet before the coming of the great and terrible dayof the LORD. 6 "And he will restore the hearts of the fathersto their children, and the hearts of the children to theirfathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse."

The question that perplexed the Jews of Jesus' day regardingMalachi 3:1 and 4:5-6 was whether these two Scriptures weredealing with a literal Elijah who was expected to return to earthor to one who would be a type of Elijah who was to come beforethe Messiah to prepare the way before Him and to draw back thehearts of the nation towards God.

The Pharisees' interpretation was to presume that the actualElijah who had been translated into Heaven (2 Kings 2:11) was

the one who would return to earth and so be the forerunner ofthe Messiah. They had no reason to understand the passage inany other way. Apart from the teaching of Jesus, we wouldn'tknow that this prophecy was referring to John.

It is only in the New Testament that we learn that John theBaptist is the Elijah of Malachi. The disciples knew the prophecyabout Elijah; apparently they thought it would be fulfilledphysically. It was actually, literallyfulfilled, but it was not

physicallyfulfilled. This is an important interpretive principle;something can be fulfilled literally and spiritually, but notphysically. John came in the spirit of Elijah. Speaking toZacharias and his wife Elizabeth about John, the angel said:

Luke 1:17 (NASB) "And it is he who will go as a forerunnerbefore Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THEHEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and thedisobedient to the attitude of the righteous; so as to makeready a people prepared for the Lord."


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Here the prophecy of Elijah is said to be fulfilled in John. Johnwill be a forerunner in the spirit and power of Elijah. The Jewsexpected the reappearance of the literal Elijah, and John repliesto that mistaken notion in:

John 1:21 (NASB) And they asked him, "What then? Are youElijah?" And he said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" Andhe answered, "No."

When the priests and Levites asked their question in John 1:21,they had in mind the actual Elijah, and it's to this question thatJohn the Baptist answers that he's not the Old Testamentprophet, without detracting from himself being the typificationof Malachi's passage. I think if they would have asked him

whether he was the fulfillment of that Malachi's prophecy, theywould have gotten a different answer!

John is likethe prophet in the sense that he moves in the samespirit and power as he did in his day and that, like Elijah in IKings chapters 17-18, his ministry was to restore Israel.

Many commentators and teachers today say that John did notfulfill the prophecy of Elijah in Malachi 4. This against the clearteaching of Jesus that he did. Instead of taking Jesus at His

Word, they look for a future fulfillment because they say thatJohn did not restore all things.

Malachi 4 (NASB) "For behold, the day is coming, burninglike a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will bechaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze," saysthe LORD of hosts, "so that it will leave them neither rootnor branch." 2 "But for you who fear My name the sun ofrighteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will

go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. 3 "And youwill tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under thesoles of your feet on the day which I am preparing," says theLORD of hosts. 4 "Remember the law of Moses My servant,even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him inHoreb for all Israel. 5 "Behold, I am going to send you Elijahthe prophet before the coming of the great and terrible dayof the LORD. 6 "And he will restore the hearts of the fathers

to their children, and the hearts of the children to theirfathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse."


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Verse 5 is the only prophecy of the coming of Elijah. Notice thatHe comes before the great and terrible day of the Lord. We see inMalachi 4 two groups of people; one being judged and one beingtransformed and restored. If you listen to this messenger, youwill enter into the restoration and miss the wrath (4:2).

The majority of Israel did not hear John's message. Because ofthis, God was going to strike the land with a curse (4:6b). Johnprepared the way. Those who listened to John came into thekingdom. This message of salvation or restoration came in John.Many scholars say that John didn't restore anything. But look atwhat the scripture says:

Isaiah 40:3 (NASB) A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the

LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert ahighway for our God.

Picture this imagery a highway is being prepared in thewilderness. This is restoration language.

Isaiah 40:4 (NASB) "Let every valley be lifted up, And everymountain and hill be made low; And let the rough groundbecome a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley;

The valleys are lifted up and the mountains are made low. A way

is being prepared for the Lord, and John is the one preparing it.These verses from Isaiah are quoted in Luke 3 of John's ministry.Listen to this passage from Isaiah and see if it sounds familiar toyou:

Isaiah 49:8-10 (NASB) Thus says the LORD, "In a favorabletime I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I havehelped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenantof the people, To restore the land, to make them inherit thedesolate heritages; 9 Saying to those who are bound, 'Goforth,' To those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.' Alongthe roads they will feed, And their pasture will be on all bareheights. 10 "They will not hunger or thirst, Neither will thescorching heat or sun strike them down; For He who hascompassion on them will lead them, And will guide them tosprings of water.


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This is restoration language in Isaiah. Notice the end of verse 8.Do verses 9-10 sound familiar? The One who has compassion willlead them:

Mark 6:34 (NASB) And when He went ashore, He saw a great

multitude, and He felt compassion for them because theywere like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teachthem many things.

These verses spoke of Christ, the bound are going forth; thehungry are being fed. Jesus has compassion on them and feedsthem. Notice the next verses in Isaiah:

Isaiah 49:11-12 (NASB) "And I will make all My mountains aroad, And My highways will be raised up. 12 "Behold, these

shall come from afar; And lo, these will come from the northand from the west, And these from the land of Sinim."

This is the same as Isaiah 40:3, this was John's function as Elijah.John prepared the way and then many came from afar; the Northand West. Compare this with:

Mark 3:7-8 (NASB) And Jesus withdrew to the sea with Hisdisciples; and a great multitude from Galilee (that's North),followed; and also from Judea, 8 and from Jerusalem, andfrom Idumea (that's South), and beyond the Jordan,(that'sWest), and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon,(that's East), a greatmultitude heard of all that He was doing and came to Him.

Is Jesus fulfilling Isaiah in Mark? Yes, absolutely, but noteveryone is seeing it!

Isaiah 65:8-10 (NASB) Thus says the LORD, "As the new wineis found in the cluster, And one says, 'Do not destroy it, for

there is benefit in it,' So I will act on behalf of My servantsIn order not to destroy all of them. 9 "And I will bring forthoffspring from Jacob, And an heir of My mountains fromJudah; Even My chosen ones shall inherit it, And My servantsshall dwell there. 10 "And Sharon shall be a pasture land forflocks, And the valley of Achor a resting place for herds, ForMy people who seek Me.

This is speaking of the remnant of Israel. They heard and saw

and believed. What happened to those who did not believe?


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Isaiah 65:11-13 (NASB) "But you who forsake the LORD, Whoforget My holy mountain, Who set a table for Fortune, Andwho fill cups with mixed wine for Destiny, 12 I will destineyou for the sword, And all of you shall bow down to theslaughter. Because I called, but you did not answer; I spoke,

but you did not hear. And you did evil in My sight, And chosethat in which I did not delight." 13 Therefore, thus says theLord GOD, "Behold, My servants shall eat, but you shall behungry. Behold, My servants shall drink, but you shall bethirsty. Behold, My servants shall rejoice, but you shall beput to shame.

Many in Israel did not see or hear. But some did. Some respondedto John's teaching as the forerunner of Christ.

Mark 9:13 (NASB) "But I say to you, that Elijah has indeedcome, and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it iswritten of him."

If Elijah has come, then so has the day of the Lord. John'smessage was one of judgement to those who did not heed hismessage of the Messiah:

Matthew 3:10-12 (NASB) "And the axe is already laid at the

root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not beargood fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 "As forme, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who iscoming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit toremove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spiritand fire. 12 "And His winnowing fork is in His hand, and Hewill thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gatherHis wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with

unquenchable fire."John's message is that of Malachi 4, judgment is coming.

Jesus said that John is the fulfillment of the Elijah prophecy, butmost Bible scholars today don't believe Him. Jesus said, "Elijahhas come." Many today say: How could John have been Elijah,what did he restore? We saw in Isaiah that he leveled mountains,he prepared the way. Many don't see it because they look forphysical and not spiritual realities. We now have reconciliationwith God, we now have Christ's righteousness. This is far superiorto any physical blessing. These blessings are eternal. John didn't


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physically level mountains but he did spiritually. John preparedthe Way, and only those with spiritual eyes can see it.

John was not a partial forerunner of Elijah, he is the fulfillmentof the prophecy, and the day of the Lord was right behind hiscoming. This was clearly A.D. 70. Elijah's coming was directlyconnected to the day of the Lord.

We should note that if we were to have lived in Jesus' day, wewould probably have taken Malachi's statements with equalliteralism and expected an Old Testament prophet to betranslated back to earth from Heaven and to restore the nationback into a covenant relationship with God through a return toobedience to the Law.

So, when we come to passages even in the New Testament thatspeak of events which don't appear to have yet taken place, howare we to know that what is being referred to is to be takenliterally and not figuratively? And even more difficult is that, inthis example, the Old Testament passage couldn't have beentaken as it was written to mean anything other than somethingthat was literal - it never said that someone in Elijah's powerwould come, or someone under a similar anointing, but referred

to the coming one as Elijah himself.By interpreting the passages in Malachi as being literal, thescribes missed the coming of the one promised and so did toJohn the Baptist whatever they pleased. Therefore, literalism canbe a grave danger to the believer for, in such interpretations, onecan ultimately reject the true fulfillment of prophetic passages.

As Jesus and the three disciples come down from the mountain,they face a confrontation. Going from the glory on the mountain

to the bickering crowd below presents us with a reality check!Can you relate to this experience? You've had some indescribablespiritual experience, and then you walk right into an uglyconfrontation. This is reality! As Christians we must not onlydelight in the great experiences of grace but learn how tomaneuver our way through the difficulties of life as well. That'sall part of our Christian walk. And all of it is to be done by faith.

Mark 9:14 (NASB) And when they came back to the disciples,they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribesarguing with them.


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While Jesus and the "inner circle" of disciples were on themountain, the other nine weren't sitting around but seeking tominister to others. A man had brought his son to them hoping tohave him healed. But the demonized boy stumped them. Theycouldn't cast out the demon nor heal the boy of his illness, even

though earlier they had ministered mightily in Jesus' name:Mark 6:7 (NASB) And He summoned the twelve and began tosend them out in pairs; and He was giving them authorityover the unclean spirits;

Mark 6:13 (NASB) And they were casting out many demonsand were anointing with oil many sick people and healingthem.

The Torah-teachers had no compassion for the boy in need or hisfather. They just saw this as a time to cast blame on Christ andHis disciples. Finger pointing ensued. Tempers flared. Disciplesdefended Christ and His kingdom. Scribes made fun of them andridiculed them for doing nothing to relieve the boy. Maybe evensome in the crowd chimed in, thinking that the disciples owedthem an explanation for their inability.

The fact that Torah-teachers (scribes) were there suggests that

they were somewhere in Galilee, from where they would "gothrough Galilee" (verse 30) to Capernaum. The Torah-teacherswould have limited authority outside Galilee.

Mark 9:15 (NASB) And immediately, when the entire crowdsaw Him, they were amazed, and began running up to greetHim.

What question do we need to ask ourselves here? What was thiscrowd so amazed about when they saw Jesus? The Amplified NewTestament reads, "And immediately all the crowd, when they sawJesus returning from the holy mount, His face and person yetglistening, were greatly amazed and ran to Him and greeted Him."The writers of the ANT give a commentary to try to explain"amazed." There is no scriptural justification for this it is simplytheir opinion.

The Greek word translated "amazed" is ekthambeo. It means: "to

throw into terror or amazement; to alarm thoroughly, to terrify."It is only used four time in the New Testament, all in Mark. What


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is the common thread in the three situations: the returnedRabbi; the agony in the garden; and the appearance of the angelat the resurrection? It seems to mean a "surprise," whethersorrowful or joyful, which brings an emotional shock.

Why was the crowd "surprised" at seeing Jesus? It is quite likelythat the disciples had told them that Jesus had gone up into themountain and would be there for some time, as had Moses whenhe went into a mountain to meet with God. Thus the idea wassettled in their minds that they would not see Jesus for quite awhile, and they were no doubt disappointed by it, while thefailure of the disciples accentuated the fact. Thus they were notexpecting to see Jesus and were quite taken by surprise andamazed when He arrived at such an opportune time. They clearlyhad confidence that He would be able to do something:

Mark 9:16-18 (NASB) And He asked them, "What are youdiscussing with them?" 17 And one of the crowd answeredHim, "Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spiritwhich makes him mute; 18 and whenever it seizes him, itdashes him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, andgrinds his teeth, and stiffens out. And I told Your disciples to

cast it out, and they could not do it."Jesus asks, What's the problem here? What are we arguing about?So a man from the crowd stepped out. This man had brought hisson who was demon possessed to the disciples. It is interestingthat he equates bringing the son to the disciples as bringing himto Jesus. He said, "I brought him to You" (meaning to Hisdisciples). Now just imagine what this father had endured. Thisboy from childhood has had this demon that makes his life

absolutely miserable--slams him to the ground; he foams at themouth; he grinds his teeth; he stiffens out. Can you imagine afather watching that in his child? You have to imagine this manwas at the end of his rope. He was at the end of himself. He hadnowhere else to turn. He was desperate.

Mark 9:19 (NASB) And He answered them and said, "Ounbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? Howlong shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!"

I think this rebuke, "unbelieving generation," is addressedspecifically to the disciples. He expected more from them. They


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had experienced success at casting out demons when theydepended upon God (Mark 6:13). Their failure to help this manwas because of their failure to trust their Rabbi. It was anotherinstance of what has already been highlighted in every previousnarrative about the disciples, whether of the inner circle or the

rest of them: They do not understand the identity of Jesus anddo not really have trust in Him. Jesus informs them that thedemon could only be exorcised "by prayer," indicating that thedisciples were relying on themselves instead of God.

Disciples were by definition apprentices in training to assume therole of their Rabbi. Jesus had already sent His disciples out, andthey had healed the sick and driven out demons. Had they notseen enough to believe?

Matthew 17:17 (NASB) And Jesus answered and said, "Ounbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I bewith you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him hereto Me."

Matthew adds the word "perverted." The perfect tense of the verb"perverted," expresses the condition that exists as long asunbelief toward Christ and the gospel rules the heart. The

scribes, though extremely knowledgeable, denied the revelationof God in His Word. The very Scriptures that they studied werethe truths they denied.

Mark 9:20-22 (NASB) And they brought the boy to Him. Andwhen he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into aconvulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling aboutand foaming at the mouth. 21 And He asked his father, "Howlong has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From

childhood. 22 "And it has often thrown him both into thefire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can doanything, take pity on us and help us!"

Mark alone records this second conversation which Jesus haswith the father along with the exact circumstances surroundingthe child's deliverance.

"If you can do anything." This father was in torment. He hadcome with high hopes to these famed followers of Jesus, a lastdesperate chance, but they had been able to do nothing. And hishopes had faded. Could Jesus do any better? It is sad that this


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father's faith in Jesus' power had been weakened from thepowerlessness of His disciples. At this point he doesn't know ifJesus can do anything--because that's how Jesus' disciples haverepresented Him. Of course, Jesus picks up on this. He says,Excuse me. Did you say if I can do anything?

Mark 9:23 (NASB) And Jesus said to him, "'If You can!' Allthings are possible to him who believes."

Jesus was saying, "You have said 'if You can.' To him whobelieves (what I can do), all things are possible." The strength ofthe argument is not that if the man has sufficient faith the boycan be healed, but that if the man has sufficient faith in JesusHimself then he could be. He must put aside his doubt and have

confidence in Jesus.Jesus is saying: There's no power shortage here. The problemhere isn't with Me and My power. The problem here is with Myteam, and they don't get it yet. You need to understand thatwith Me all things are possible. I can do anything!

Now just imagine this. You are a father of this boy and you'vebeen in agony for years, and absolutely no one has been able tohelp. Then up steps this Man who says: I can do anything.

Anything. All things are possible with Me.The reality is, with Jesus there is no such thing as hopeless.Some may look at their life and think it's hopeless. Some maylook at their marriage and think it's hopeless. Some may look attheir financial situation and say, "It's hopeless. "There is nopower shortage with Jesus! There is no such thing as hopeless.The only problem here is a group of men who don't get it. Theydon't believe.

This father responds to Jesus with words that have been theencouragement of many since:

Mark 9:24 (NASB) Immediately the boy's father cried out andbegan saying, "I do believe; help my unbelief."

That's a great statement, isn't it? I mean, isn't that where we alllive? Oh God, I believe! Help my unbelief. Out of the honesty ofhis weakness, he cast himself on the Lord: Yes, Lord, I do

believe; but I feel my unbelief and I don't know how to handle it.You make me believe. The moment he said those words, the


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moment he cast himself in his weakness back on the Lord, thatwas all God wanted.

The reality is when we come together to worship, it's kind of likebeing up on the mountain, isn't it? We say, "God, can't we justset up some tabernacles and stay here? Do we really have to goback out there?" We see Jesus, and He seems like He glows alittle bit in here. And we say in our hearts with all sincerity, "Ibelieve that." We sing all these wonderful truths of God in Hisgreatness and His power. And we believe that, don't we? In ourhearts we say, "Yes, I believe that"!

But then we have to go down the mountain. And by Mondaymorning we're starting to feel a little bit of a faith drain. In our

hearts we're saying, "God I believe it; but help my unbelief,because I'm starting to struggle. I'm starting to run into peopleand circumstances, and I'm struggling here to believe."

I believe that this man's request was the same as Jesus' disciplesrequest in:

Luke 17:5 (NASB) And the apostles said to the Lord,"Increase our faith!"

They had faith, but it was weak. This father also had faith, but it

too was weak.Mark 9:25-27 (NASB) And when Jesus saw that a crowd wasrapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying toit, "You deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out ofhim and do not enter him again." 26 And after crying outand throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; andthe boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said,"He is dead!" 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and raisedhim; and he got up.

This language is very precise. The verb "raised him" is the exactsame one used of Jesus rising from the dead. Jesus did for thisboy what nobody else could do. He appeared to be dead, but outof that death came life. For the first time in his life he was setfree from bondage. He was alive!

The reality is that Jesus can do for us what nobody else can do.

He alone can give us life. He alone can deliver us. He alone canset us free. He has the power to give us life.


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Jesus setting this boy free was again an evidence that He was theprophesied Messiah:

Isaiah 61:1 (NASB) The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the

afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, Toproclaim liberty to captives, And freedom to prisoners;

Jesus read this verse in the synagogue in Nazareth and then said,"Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke4:21).

Mark 9:28-29 (NASB) And when He had come into the house,His disciples began questioning Him privately, "Why couldwe not cast it out?" 29 And He said to them, "This kind

cannot come out by anything but prayer."It's only Mark who records Jesus' answer to the disciples that thistype of demon could only be cast out by prayer. Somemanuscripts add "and fasting." The majority of manuscripts havethis additional phrase but, because the ones which omit it aregenerally considered to be the more reliable, it's normallyaccepted by translators that it didn't exist in the original.

"This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer" Don'tmisunderstand this. Jesus is not saying: You should have quicklyhad a prayer meeting. What is prayer? It is a declaration of ourdependence. When He's talking about prayer, He is talking abouta day-by-day, minute-by-minute dependence upon Him. That'sthe essence of prayer. We pray because we know we are fullydependent upon Jesus to do for us and through us what wecannot do ourselves.

In their attempt to cast out this demon, the disciples were notdependent on Jesus; they were dependent on their methodology.What Jesus is saying is: You have to understand t

jesus the rabbi

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