Isaiah 5:1,2 - I will sing for the one I love

5:1

Let us look back at the situation. God has told of the disastrous state of the nation, of its sinfulness. Then we have had the promises in the previous chapter of glory of the Lord filling the nation. How can these two things be squared? God loves Israel. This is something that we must remember. People can come up with theories about how the church has replaced Israel, or is the true Israel, and it is true that we shae in all the benefits and promises of Israel. But God loves the nation of Israel. We must remember this, but we must also remember that God is fully aware of Israel’s sinfulness, and in this song we have a further description of that sin. Israel was God’s vineyard, and was placed on a fertile hill. Fruitfulness should have been straightforward. She had all the laws of God, she should have known what was good and what was not good.

5:2

God cared for the vineyard. He cleared it of stones, He planted choice vines. He built a watchtower. This probably refers to the prophets. God sent numerous prophets to tell the nation when they strayed from His ways. God cared for the vineyard and expected it to yield good grapes. Instead it yielded wild grapes, ie sinfulness. Christian parents can often be distraught when one of their offspring goes away from the Lord, getting involved in all sorts of evil behaviour. There can be guilt, thinking if only we had been better parents our child would not have strayed from the Lord. God cared for Israel, yet Israel strayed, and in a big way. We are all imperfect parents, but each person, including our children, is responsible for their own behaviour. Good upbringing does not guarantee a good result. It obviously helps, but there is no guarantee. We should also remember that the story if Israel is not over yet. One day they will acknowledge the one they have pierced.

Mark 3:22-26 - He is possessed

3:22

Along with Jesus’ family, the teachers of the Law came down as well, they accused Him of being possessed by Beelzebul (probably a name derived from Baal worship) and claimed He was casting out demons by the “prince of demons” (ie Satan). It is a common tactic to accuse your enemies of being evil, today Christians are commonly accused of being bigots.

3:23,24

Jesus answered by pointing out the ridiculousness of their arguments. How can Satan drive out Satan? Why would the prince of demons cast out demons? This would be a very strange way to behave. If it were true then the kingdom of darkness would be divided against itself and there is no way it could stand.

3:25,26

A house divided is destined to fall, and Satan’s end has come. Of course, Satan’s end had actually come. Moreover, Satan’s kingdom is divided against itself, it is always ultimately self-destructive. We see this if we look at examples like Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, they were riddled with division. Sadly the church is often not much better.

Isaiah 4:5,6 - The glory will be a canopy

4:5

The nation will be surrounded and protected by the glory of the Lord. The cloud of smoke and flaming fire point back to the exodus (Ex 13:21,22). When God’s people are set free the forces that previously held them captive seek to recapture them. we saw this in physical terms when the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. In spiritual terms the devil does not take kindly to a man or woman being set free from slavery to sin and he will endeavour to recapture them, but we are protected by the Lord.

4:6

The Lord gives us protection.There are many things in life which make life uncomfortable, and sometimes an awful lot worse than uncomfortable. There is no guarantee that these things will never happen, indeed there are promises about sharing in Christ’s sufferings. So hoping that nothing bad will ever happen to us is a vain hope, but in the midst of trouble we should expect to receive help from the Lord.

Mark 3:16-21 - He is out of His mind

3:16-19

We now get the names of the twelve whom Jesus appointed. We also see that Jesus gave “nicknames” to some. In Peter’s case this would signify a change in his character that would take place. With James and John being called “sons of thunder” it is much more of a nickname in the sense that we think of it.  There were a wide selection of people, Jesus was into diversity! Judas Iscariot is, of course, there. Jesus knew what He was doing in choosing Judas, that it was all part of God’s plan. God’s plans do not always (in fact, very rarely) take what we think of as a nice neat course.

3:20,21

More conflict is about to arise. Jesus enters a house and the usual crowds descended upon Him. “So He and His disciples were not even able to eat”. This is an interesting little detail. Jesus, and certainly not His disciples, was no superman, but was fully human with human needs. His family heard that He was here and went to “take charge of Him”. They were rather concerned about His notoriety, and could maybe see the direction things were going, at least in terms of conflict with the religious leaders. This is not something they would want, neither for Jesus’ own sake, nor for their own sakes either. When we follow Jesus there will be times when this demands that we do things or follow paths, that our friends and family do not understand.

Isaiah 4:3,4 - Those who are left

4:3

The remnant will be called holy. We need to appreciate that it is the Lord’s purpose to create a holy people, “be holy as I am holy” (Lev 11:44,45; 1 Pet 1:16). It is certainly not about affirming people in unholy lifestyles or practices. Nor is it about just increasing numbers, it is about making disciples. In our own lives we need to appreciate the fact that God’s primary concern is to make us holy, to make us ever more Christlike. If we do not appreciate these things we will misunderstand God’s working in our own lives, and His purpose for the church in the world.

4:4

How will the Lord do this? By a spirit of judgement and a spirit of fire. John the Baptist said that the Messiah would baptise with spirit and fire. The filth of the women and the bloodstains will be cleansed from Jerusalem. This does not mean God has anything against women! It is the sinful women of earlier chapters that He is speaking of, and the “bloodstains” represent the violence of the men. Note that the removal of this defilement is not a simple matter, it is not a matter of God simply overlooking the past sins. Judgement and fire are needed. If we are to understand the cross aright we must understand that it is a judgement upon our sin. You and I deserved to be there. And sometimes the Spirit will burn fiercely within us to cleanse us of our unholiness.

Mark 3:13-15 - He appointed twelve

3:13

We now have Jesus choosing the twelve disciples. He went up a mountainside to do this, so He would be away from the crowds. There are times when we need to be away from crowds. “He called those He wanted”. There were no job interviews, you could not apply for this role by submitting your cv. Jesus chose those whom He wanted. In our own lives we need to recognise what Jesus has called us to, and we need not to get upset or frustrated by what He has not called us to, or has not called us to yet. The disciples came to Him. When Jesus does call us to something, we must go to Him.

3:14,15

We now get the purpose of Jesus appointing the twelve. First, they were to be with Jesus, to learn from Him, to experience being with Him. We need to spend time with Jesus. This involves prayer, studying the word, worshipping Him, and doing the work He gives us to do. If we are not with Jesus then we can do nothing good or useful. Jesus also wanted to send them out to preach. So we see again the importance of preaching in Mark’s view of things. It was important in Jesus’ ministry, it was central in the ministry of the apostles as well. They were also to have authority to drive out demons. This, with preaching, were not in conflict or separate, it was all part of the same package.

Isaiah 4:1,2 - In that day ...

4:1

The chapter divisions were not part of the  original text and it seems that here it was put in the wrong place, at least if ESV and NKJV section headings are anything to go by, verse 1 very much seems to belong with the previous section. Women were desperate to find a husband. This is not sexist! Rather, it is just a reflection of the social and economic realities of the time. In times of war or other disasters one of consequences was usually a shortage of men, so this verse is just describing further the horror and suffering that would come. God is painting a vivid picture, seeking to bring home the point.

4:2

There is now a change in tone, a remarkable change in fact. The talk has just been of judgement, now it is of salvation. This sudden change occurs many times in the Old Testament prophets, and we need to take fully on board the judgement and God’s anger, along with God’s salvation. Indeed, we see the same at the cross. Part of what the cross is about is Jesus taking upon Himself the judgement, the punishment, that we deserve. You and I deserve to be nailed to a cross, Jesus was nailed there in our place. Sin is real, its seriousness in judicial terms is real, its seriousness in terms of the consequences in our own lives and the lives of others is real. It is not something that can just be overlooked, or brushed under the carpet. It needs to be addressed, and on the cross it was addressed in full. We should note that 3:18 begins “In that day”, 4:2 begins with the very same words. Jeremiah and Zechariah also speak of the branch when speaking of God’s Messiah.In Romans Paul says that where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more, and we see that here. We have just had all the judgement, but in the midst of it the “branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious”. The fruit of the Messiah will be the pride and honour of the survivors. The survivors are those who put their faith in Christ.

Mark 3:9-12 - You are the Son of God

3:9,10

Jesus told the disciples to get a small boat ready for Him. They didn’t have sound systems in those days! And sound travels better over water, so this would enable Jesus to better speak to the large crowd. We are then told precisely why such crowds had followed Him: He had healed many. So anyone with a disease was desperate to touch Him and so be healed. This was a further reason for Jesus going out in the boat!

3:11,12

The “impure spirits” knew who Jesus was. We should note that the New Testament treats the presence of demonic spirits as a reality. We should also note that we actually have nothing to fear. The demons know who Jesus is. Men may please ignorance, being blinded to reality, but spirits do know who Jesus is. So if we have faith in Christ then we are protected by the name of Jesus. James tells us that it is the devil who flees from us if we stand firm (James 4.7). So the spirits fell down before Jesus declaring who He was. Jesus commanded them to be silent. Why did He do this? Because if the people who heard exactly who He was they would totally misinterpret it.

Isaiah 3:18-26 - Instead of fragrance there will be a stench

3:18-23

There is now a detailed list of the things that would be taken away. Now parts of society like to pretend that there is no difference between men and women, or to say that there is a difference is misogynistic or patriarchal. But there are differences and to pretend otherwise is to be blind to reality. One of those differences is that on average women will pay a lot more attention to clothes and jewellery than a man would, but all this superficial beauty will be taken away.

3:24

Isaiah continues the diatribe with a litany of the “exchange” that will take place. Stench instead of fragrance, rope instead of a sash, baldness in place of beautiful hair, sackcloth instead of fine clothes, branding instead of beauty. The haughty women, the “beautiful people” of Isaiah’s day, would become utterly abject, dragged off into captivity.

3:25,26

Back to the men now. There would be defeat for the armies of Judah, many men falling in battle. Zion would lament for her dilapidated and broken state. She will have nothing to do but lament the way in which she has fallen.

Mark 3:6-8 - Jesus withdrew

3:6

We see here something which occurs on several occasions in the gospels. Having seen a great miracle, having seen a man healed, the Pharisees plot to destroy Jesus. It is also notable that they plot with the Herodians. Normally the Pharisees hated the Herodians, for the Herodians were in hock with the Romans, whereas the Pharisees tended to be nationalists. So we see the effects of sin and how it utterly distorts a person's rationale.

3:7,8

Jesus then withdrew. He frequently drew large crowds, largely because of the miracles, but Jesus was not in the business of drawing large crowds for the sake of it. And He wanted to be in communion with His Father. He also took His disciples with Him. However, the crowds followed Him, coming from many areas of Israel and the surrounding lands. Idumea was originally the land of Edom, but was forcibly converted to Judaism in 129 BC. Tyre and Sidon were Phoenician cities. The crowds came because they had heard of all that Jesus was doing.

Isaiah 3:13-17 - The Lord take His place in court

3:13-15

We now have courtroom setup. The most important fact is that it is the Lord who judges. This is a fundamental aspect of the Christian worldview, and any worldview that neglects it is seriously deficient. The Lord is the judge, ultimately we all have to give an account to Him. What God thinks is far more important than anything else.

Here it says that He will judge “peoples” (ESV), the next verse then makes it clear that it is His people. As 1 Peter says, judgement begins with the house of God (1 Peter 4:17). However, it does not end there. In Isaiah other nations will be judged, and other prophets have judgements about other nations, and in the end all peoples will have to give an account to God. The rulers, religious and civic, had “devoured the vineyard”, ie they had spoilt God’s vineyard. God gives us charge of things (including people) in order for us to care for them, to enable them to bear fruit and become what God intends them to be. If we rule for our own ends then we are failing God, as well as hurting or spoiling what God has entrusted to us. To make matters worse the rulers had acquired what little wealth that the poor had. This phenomenon is repeated again and again. We see that in times of crisis the rich somehow manage to remain rich, and it is the poor who suffer the most.

3:16,17

There can be a tendency to see everything as the fault of men, or men as the chief sinners. This is something we still see today with the MeToo movement. Now men do have an enormous amount of guilt and responsibility, and many things to be ashamed of, both then and now, but women are also sinners. We are truly equal in this regard! Here we see the women being rebuked as well. The “leading” women of Zion were haughty, and demonstrated this in feminine ways. Godly women are meant to be like Sarah (1 Peter 3:1-7). As it is, the Lord would do away with their superficial beauty.

Mark 3:4,5 - Grieved at their hardness of heart

3:4

Jesus then gets to the heart of the matter, and the heart of God’s purpose. “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm?” We will so distort the will of God. Some will do this in seeing God’s commands as harmful or restrictive, we see this mostly with respect to sexual morality, where God’s purpose of sex within marriage between one man and one woman, and nowhere else, is see as a restriction, rather than it being the life giving command that it actually is. But religious people, as here, can equally well distort God’s commands, turning something that is good and freedom giving into an absolute burden. At the root of these errors is often self-justification. The Pharisees wanted to prove themselves righteous. Whenever we seek to do this we will quickly descend into error.

3:5

Jesus was full of anger and grieved at the same time. He was full of anger because of the harm that the Pharisees did by their attitude, and associated actions. And He was grieved because of the goodness that was denied to the people, and because the Pharisees themselves were trapped by their own attitudes. When men are in rebellion against God they deny themselves the freedom and life that God gives. So Jesus told the man to stretch out his hand and he was immediately healed.

Isaiah 3:12 - Youths oppress my people

3:12

“Infants oppress them and women rule over them”. We are about to enter a passage with even more judgement upon the nation. This verse prepares the way for this, pointing out some of the problems in society. What does it mean when it says “infants oppress them”? Probably that the society was unduly influenced by those who were not fit to rule. Let’s look at our own society. It can be said that the young have far too much influence. This does not mean that we should not listen to the young, nor that they never have anything worthwhile to say, absolutely not. But we see throughout the Bible, Old and New Testament, leadership by elders. As we grow older we are meant to increase in godly experience, in godly wisdom. When this breaks down society break down. However, the young having influence is not the source of the problem, it is symptom of the problem. The root of the problem is supposedly mature men and women not having the necessary wisdom, not taking up the responsibility they should take up. Likewise “women rule over them” being seen as a bad thing is a phrase that is bound to raise the hackles of feminists, but again the problem is not “women ruling over them”, but men failing to take up their proper responsibilities. And this is something we definitely see in the church, as well as in society at large. “Women in leadership” is not the problem, nor is it the solution! Men taking up their proper responsibilities in a Christlike manner is the solution, and when we do so women will also rise up in a godly way, and will exercise proper authority as well.

As it was the nation of Judah had been badly led and so was going down dangerous paths. And much the same can be said for the West as a whole, and for the church in the West.

Mark 3:1-3 - Come here!

3:1,2

We now get another Sabbath encounter, this time more directly focused on the Sabbath, and directly involving Jesus, rather than using His disciples as a proxy. Moreover, there were some in the synagogue who were looking for an excuse to accuse Jesus. One has to ask why at this point the antagonism has arisen? In Mark’s account there is no obvious reason from what we have read so far. However, In Luke’s account we read that Jesus has already effectively claimed to be the Messiah, and said things that were highly critical of the current religious leaders (Lk 4:14-30). The miracles added a further threat, as Jesus was demonstrably more anointed than they were, and a far better teacher (Mk 1:27)! There was a man in the synagogue with a shrivelled hand.

3:3

Jesus was not perturbed, so He went right ahead and healed the man. God is committed to setting people free and will not let the accusing thoughts or actions of people stop Him from doing that. Jesus did not take the expedient route, either of waiting for another day, or healing the man secretly. Today we are far too ready to pussyfoot about and pander to the views of those who oppose God. But note that He did this not by violence, but by doing good. More generally, we should note that there are evil people about with evil intent. That is why Jesus told us to pray “deliver us from the evil one”.

Isaiah 3:9-11 - Tell the righteous it will be well with them

3:9

Moreover, their sin was not hidden, but was done openly, it was even boasted about. We see the situation today. Sexual sin is boasted about, homosexuality is something to be proud of, sex before and outside marriage is seen as normal. Indeed, if you do not have sex before marriage you are thought of as odd, if you do not think homosexuality is something to be celebrated then you are hateful bigot. Now sexual sins were not the only sins of Sodom, but arrogance and a lack of concern for the poor were sins also (Ezek 16:49,50). There is incipient financial collapse, the gap between those at the top and bottom is ever widening. The result of all this will be that the West has brought disaster upon itself, just as Judah brought disaster upon herself.

3:10,11

God now tells the people what they need to know! The righteous will enjoy the fruits of their deeds, while the wicked will suffer disaster. When a society is collapsing it can seem that neither of these things are true. It can seem a waste of time to do good, in fact it can be the case that we will suffer for holding to God’s ways. Conversely, there will be some who are wicked who will seem to get away with it and make money. We are assured that this will be the case only for a time. In the end justice will be done. Here there is teaching that we need to take on board, especially as being a Christian becomes progressively more difficult in our society (but nowhere near as difficult as it is in many other societies). We rightly react against prosperity teaching, and on occasion I have a little rant against it in these posts, but the clear and consistent teaching of the Bible is that it is better to do good than to do evil. We also sometimes have the attitude that because we are accepted by God only because of His mercy and forgiveness then we should never wish judgement upon anyone. This is a mistaken view, and not a Biblical one. It is quite clear from the whole of the New Testament that evil will be punished. Of course, we should desire that everyone repents and turns to God, but we also need to know that those who do not will experience the judgement of God upon them.

Mark 2:27,28 - The Sabbath was made for man

2:27

People often object to the idea of obeying God, or believing in God, because they think it reduces their freedom. They want to do their own thing without restriction, especially what they might consider to be out of date restrictions. There are (at least) two things wrong with this. One is that if we sin then we are slaves to sin, so any so-called freedom is completely illusory. The second is that in Christ we actually have more freedom and more authority than we could ever imagine. The Pharisees had turned the Sabbath into something of a nightmare, a day thwart with difficulty, for it was so easy to slip up and break the “law” (ie the bits the Pharisees had added on). We see this same pattern today. Governments are forever introducing new laws and it is ever more easy to break them. Just consider the case with offending people. The only way to avoid offending people today is to say nothing. With the Sabbath, the truth was that God had made the Sabbath for man, not man for the Sabbath. It was a gift from God, but the Pharisees had utterly corrupted it.

2:28

Jesus then adds that as He is the “Son of Man” He is Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus is the man par excellence. He is fully human and fully God. So He certainly has the right to do whatever He wishes on the Sabbath. See how Jesus is not backing away at all in the face of opposition from the Pharisees. Quite the opposite, if anything He raises the stakes, and we will see other Sabbath confrontations in the following chapter.

Isaiah 3:6-8 -Judah is falling

3:6,7

Leadership will be in such a state of collapse that anyone who looks to have a modicum of common sense will be urged to lead the nation. We can see this sort of situation arising in the West. I write from the UK on 9th Jan 2019. The country still has no idea how Brexit (leaving the EU) is going to work out, or even if we will leave at all. None of the politicians seem to have a clue, and none them seem to have any competence. Coincidentally, earlier today I was listening to a podcast from the Spectator in which Robert Kaplan was being interviewed and he opined that there has been a drastic loss of competence in leadership since the last of the Cold War presidents. And we see any politician who looks half presentable and can make a half decent speech is quickly talked up as a future leader (future possibly meaning tomorrow!) In france President Macron came from virtually nowhere and was hailed as the great saviour of progressive Europe, but he is now the most unpopular leader in France and the country has suffered regular protests.

We have not yet reached the state described in verse 7, there still seem to be enough candidates for political leadership. However, there is a great problem within the church, with it often being a problem to find people to take on responsibility.

3:8

The state of collapse in the nation was obvious to anyone with eyes to see, just as a similar situation can be seen in the various nations of the West today. The root of the cause of Judah’s problems was her disobedience to the Lord, “defying His glorious presence”. Israel would not exist if God had not created her, just as humanity would not exist if He had not created us. Yet Israel rejected God’s presence, preferring to be like other nations.

Mark 2:23-26 - Have you never read what David did?

2:23,24

Under the Law the disciples were allowed to take grain at the edges of the fields (Deut 23:25; Ruth 2:2), the issue here was that they were doing it on the Sabbath. Many of the confrontations between Jesus and the Pharisees centered around the Sabbath, and the synoptics record many of them. We should note that while the Pharisees were strict adherents of the Law, and were involved in most of these controversies, there were some aspects of keeping the Sabbath where there was not unanimous agreement between them. However, it seems that “plucking heads of grain” counted as work under their definition. They had come up with a multitude of regulations that defined “work”.

2:25,26

We should note that this resulted in their missing the point completely and so not keeping the Law! And we should then apply this to ourselves. There can be some point of Scripture that is indeed vitally important, and we can be tempted to surround this point with a whole raft of rules thinking it will help us keep it. It won’t and will only end in failure.

Jesus here points them to an incident from Scripture (1 Sam 21:1-6) where David and ate bread that by the Law should only be eaten by the priests. So note first of all that Jesus knew all of the Old Testament. His use of the Scriptures would carry weight with the Pharisees. Then note that Jesus is saying that there are some aspects of the Law where an over strict application is not helpful. At the same time we should also note that at other points Jesus is clear that there is no room for argument. So anyone who is tempted to then run off in all sorts of directions abandoning anything they don’t like should resist that temptation.

Isaiah 3:1-5 - The Lord will take away supply and support

3:1-3

Isaiah now tells the nation what is going to happen, but note it is not just what is going to happen, but what the Lord is going to do.. These will not be random events, but a deliberate action on God’s part, though He will use human means. At the end of chapter 2 Isaiah called on the nation to “stop trusting mere humans”, the actions outlined here will give them the opportunity to do this! In fact they will have no other option. We see from the list of things and people the many facets go to make up a functioning society. All would be taken away. This would happen in its fullest sense when Babylon invaded, so we see early on in Isaiah a reference to events that would happen long after his death, this has some bearing on the matter of the single authorship of Isaiah.

With regard to God taking away “supply and support”, it is true of most of us that “trusting God” is so often a last resort. We will try every other option before we try trusting God. That is why God will sometimes strip many things away from us, it as if He is saying “will you trust me now?!”.

3:4,5

The nation would be run by youths. In a properly functioning society age and experience is respected and valued. It is a sign of a collapsing society when this fails to be the case. In our society we see a wrong sort of “empowering” of the young. There are things that the young do not know because of the very fact that they are young and lack the experience. This does not mean that they should be ignored or discounted, but there needs to be a proper valuing of experience. Division within society is another sign of societal collapse.

Mark 2:20-22 - New wine

2:20

But while now was a time for feasting, a time for fasting would come. We do have a terrible habit of making traditions, and then laws, out of anything. We also have an equally terrible habit of ditching things that are meant to be for all time. John’s disciples needed to recognise what was happening, to discern the times. Indeed, to fully grasp what John was actually teaching. A teacher’s disciples are often the worst proponents of the teaching. The same could be said for some Calvinists!

2:21

Jesus was the fulfilment of the Law, the gospel is the continuation of the Old Testament, ie the two are completely in harmony. However, we also need to recognise that the New also takes us into a radically new phase. In one sense the Old is highlighting the nature of the problems, the New unveils God’s solution. John’s disciples needed to appreciate the nature of the new. The gospel is definitely more than a repair job on mankind. It is about being born again and about a new creation. Indeed, if we treat it as a mere repair job on humanity we will cause nothing much trouble.

2:22

Jesus then uses another analogy. Wine was kept in wine skins, and if one poured new wine into an old wine skin, far from containing the new wine it would burst. The new wine needs new wine skins. Likewise, the gospel requires a new paradigm.

Isaiah 2:20-22 - Stop trusting in mere humans

2:20,21

Once again we have the fleeing to the caves. Man living by his own strength, committed to his own autonomy cannot stand the glory of God, for it highlights and exposes the futility of man’s pride. The only way to live in the presence of God is through faith in Christ.

2:22

The chapter closes with Isaiah making another call to the nation. “Stop trusting in mere humans”. How was Judah doing this at the time? It was so much that they trusted in themselves, rather they looked to Egypt and to Assyria at various times, and there was also Edom. They looked to alliances with other nations to see them through, to enable them to endure the dangers they faced. This was a fatal mistake. There number one priority needed to be to get right with God. Why hold mere men in more esteem than the Lord? Now we need to apply this to ourselves, and we should note that Judah could see the strength of threatening armies, and they could see the “help” that various alliances might bring. They could not see the Lord, yet it was only He who could truly help them, and it is He who has all power and authority. Now look at the things that we fear or feel threatened by. The threats are real, and we have a natural tendency to want to rely on something we can see, something we can imagine how it will help us. We find it hard to trust in the Lord who we cannot see. Yet His help is real. In chapters 36-38 we will see how Jerusalem was saved from a very real threat by the divine intervention of the Lord.

Mark 2:18,19 - To fast or not to fast?

2:18

Objections and questions did not just come from “opponents” but also from “friends”. John the Baptist had been preparing the way for Jesus, yet now some of John’s disciples were confused about Jesus and what He was doing, for His ways were very different from those of John. John was austere, yet Jesus enjoyed feasting with people of all backgrounds. They didn’t actually direct the question as being about Jesus, but about His disciples. Maybe they thought they were having a tough time compared with Jesus’ disciples! They also pointed out that the disciples of the Pharisees were big on fasting as well.

2:19

Jesus’ answer is that the situation is different. As it says in Ecclesiastes, there is a time for this and a time for that. We need to understand what things are just temporal, or are sometimes to be done, but are not absolutes. We also need to understand what are absolutes as well! So there is a time for fasting and a time for feasting. Jesus tells them that the bridegroom is here, so it was not a time for fasting.

Isaiah 2:17-19 - Human pride will be humbled

2:17-19

The haughtiness of man shall be humbled. Man will be brought low in his pride. His limitations will be cruelly exposed. On that day it is the greatness of the Lord that shall be made plain to all. He alone will be exalted. All the idols that man has set up will be shown up for what they are, nothing at all. And man who has clung to idols will go and hide in caves and holes in the ground, anything to get away from the truth of the glory of the Lord. You see, when we seek to live as independent, as masters of the universe we are living a lie. For we are not even masters of our own little patch of earth, let alone the universe. We did not bring ourselves into existence, we do not control the essential elements of life. So does this mean that man is nothing at all? No, what it means is that it is only when we acknowledge our true place, that we become truly great. For God does commend people, but they are people who trust in Him. For we are created beings, and when we live as created beings we live as the people we were created to be.

Mark 2:15-17 - Why does He eat with sinners?

2:15

Jesus was the eating with Levi, and many other tax collectors were there, along with Jesus’ disciples. So this would be a learning experience for the tax collectors, and for the disciples. The disciples would see how Jesus interacted with the tax collectors, people whom they may well have considered to be beyond the pale. In the church we all know that Jesus can reach all people, and indeed wants to reach people from all sorts of backgrounds, including the most unsavoury. Sometimes we are made to feel guilty because we do not know how to interact with certain types of people. Well, in those situations it often not prejudice that stops us, but insecurity, a lack of knowledge. So in areas where we are strong we need to be careful about our attitude towards those who are not strong in that area. We must not have an attitude of making those who are weak in that area feel guilty. Instead, it should be one of gently teaching and developing and encouraging

2:16

Some of the scribes would be Pharisees. The Pharisees were the strictest sect of the Jews marked by their dedication to the Law and its interpretation. So when they saw Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners they were appalled. Our first reaction is to think that the Pharisees were just wrong and were really nasty people. Now, of course, in a sense they were, and Jesus had many hard things to say about them, but it is worth considering why they were so wrong. This comes down to a fundamental difference between they way that they saw the Law, and the way that Jesus (ie God!) saw the Law. Under the Law there was indeed a strong case for not consorting with tax collectors and sinners. It could make you unclean, and could be seen as having communion with unrighteousness. However, Jesus (ie God) had no such problem. The fundamental difference is that the Pharisees so the Law as a way of life. Jesus saw it as showing what perfection is, the way that things should be, but is pointed out how far short of God’s standards, God’s glory, we have fallen. So people who had failed the Law (and that means everyone) needed to be helped, not rejected.

2:17

Jesus then pointed out to the Pharisees the fundamental point. “It is not the well but the sick who need a physician”. Jesus came to save sinners, not the righteous. The truth, of course, is that we are all sinners, and the Pharisees were sinners just as much as the tax collectors. The grounds for knowing Jesus are not how good we are, but how willing to admit our sin and how willing to receive help from Jesus we are.

Isaiah 2:12-16 - The Lord has a day in store for the proud

2:12

Nothing that is “proud and lofty” shall be allowed to stand forever. For a time they may seem to be lifted up, but this will only last for a time. Then they shall be brought low. We need to understand that judgement is essential to understanding God. We have such a liking for seeking to do away with judgement, we may even try and argue that judgement was just Old Testament, and that Jesus has done away with all that. Nothing could be further from the truth. Look at any book in the Old Testament, look at any book in the New Testament, including (indeed, especially) the gospels, and we see that judgement is an essential element of God’s dealings with the world, and is essential for our having a right understanding of the God and the world.

2:13-16

The wood mentioned here was high quality and represents the pride of man. Man builds high towers and fortified walls, thinking he is great and can protect himself against anything. He builds ships for trading and develops many beautiful crafts. There is nothing wrong in the trading or building itself, it is the heart that lies behind it, it is what man thinks it represents. Man thinks he is god, he thinks he is great in his own right, he thinks he is independent and in control. But the Lord has a day that is against all this pride.

Mark 2:9-14 - Pick up your bed and walk

2:9-12

Jesus responds by asking “which is easier to say, “your sin are forgiven, or take up your bed and walk”. Jesus then tells the man to get up. He is doing this to demonstrate that He does have the authority to forgive sins. It is perhaps interesting that Jesus pronounced forgiveness first. I noted earlier that part of the reason for this may have been to help the man believe. Another possible reason is that forgiving sins is the primary reason that Jesus came. Having our sins dealt with is actually the greatest need of all men. Jesus came so that our sins could be forgiven. But how do we know that they actually have been forgiven? The resurrection is the proof (1 Cor 15:17).

So the man duly got up, picked up his bed and walked. Naturally, everyone was amazed at what happened, and they glorified God. We should also note that Jesus spoke and it was.

2:13,14

Jesus went out by the sea and the crowds continued to follow Him. “And He was teaching them”. One cannot read Mark without coming to the conclusion that Jesus did a lot of teaching and saw teaching is highly important. So far we have seen Jesus call four fishermen. Now He calls Levi, a tax collector, also called Matthew. Tax collectors were not loved!. One, because no one is particularly keen on paying taxes, then they were collecting taxes for the hated Roman Empire, and thirdly because they could be dishonest and intrusive. Even so, Jesus called Levi to follow Him. Jesus calls people from all walks of life, our background is of no advantage or hindrance. If we are called by Jesus we must follow and He is well able to sort us out.

Isaiah 2:7-11 - Go into the rocks and hide in the ground

2:7-9

The land seemed to be rich. It had plenty of silver and gold, it had horses and chariots. But it was also full of idols, and people bowed down to the things that they had made. The result would be that God would bring them low. And Isaiah calls on God not to forgive them. We might think that that is not a very Christian attitude to have, but let’s put it another way. “Do not overlook their sin”. We are all too ready to overlook someone’s sin, and all too ready to expect God to overlook our sin. The gospel is not a matter of overlooking sin, but of dealing with sin. This above all else involved the cross, but it also involves the work of God in our lives. So if God is being merciful towards me then part of this will be that He deals with the sin in my life. And if you or I know someone who is not a Christian and we want God to show mercy to that person, then part of that showing mercy will involve God confronting them with their sin.

2:10,11

Revelation 6:15,16 also speaks of men hiding in rocks at the opening of the sixth seal. In order to have any chance of understanding Revelation it is essential to appreciate its Old Testament roots and imagery. Both here and in Revelation the key message is that ultimately me cannot escape the glory of God. For a time men may strut the earth, seeming to be dominant and getting their own way, and blaspheming God in the process, but there comes a point when they are brought face to face with reality. The glory of the Lord will overwhelm them, and all of us need to know this. In looking at the world we always need to be aware that the Lord is God, He alone has all power and authority.Man, for all his strutting about, boasting of his so-called wisdom and power, will be humbled. On that day the Lord alone shall be exalted.