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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Talking Points 3rd Quarter 2024: The Book of Mark

Kameron DeVasher

Mark Howard

01 The Beginning of the Gospel

02 A Day in the Ministry of Jesus

03 Controversies

04 Parables

05 Miracles Around the Lake

06 Inside Out

07 Teaching Disciples Part 1

08 Teaching Disciples Part 2

09 Jerusalem Controversies

10 The Last Days

11 Taken and Tried

12 Tried and Crucified

13 The Risen Lord

Almost to the conclusion of our Book of Mark lesson series.

Of course, anything in the Bible is great, especially those things that deal with the life of Christ and these closing scenes.

And I've been blessed by, you know, we've mentioned this before, how much, you know, oh, Mark's the shortest gospel record.

We pack so much in there that there's, I've been re-enlightened again, and my eyes have been opened again.

It's just how much Mark has put into his gospel record and how the gospel records can together paint such a full picture of the ministry of Jesus.

This is this is really a good study so I've appreciated it greatly.

Yeah, Mark's is a shorter gospel but it is not scant, it is not missing, he just has a way of distilling it all into a small space.

And this week we're in the, like I mentioned, the 12th lesson of this series.

And I'm the 1 who put our talking points together this week.

We're going to be looking at primarily Mark chapter 15, or basically exclusively Mark chapter 15, as we've moved past the closing scenes that you had introduced us to last week.

We're moving closer and closer and now we arrive to the very sacrifice.

We've come through the Lord's Supper, we've come through Gethsemane, and now right Now we're headed to the trial and crucifixion experience.

So before I get into that, why don't you give us a word of prayer to start us off?

Heavenly Father, we're thankful for the testimony of your word.

Again, as Cameron mentioned, for the 4 gospels, Lord, and the complete picture that they paint.

We thank you, Lord, for the privilege we have of studying this and also sharing it in our Sabbath school classes.

We want to pray a special blessing on every class that meets around the world that all would be blessed as we spend this time on these closing scenes of Christ's life and sacrifice, and I pray a special blessing on the teachers who will be teaching this lesson that they may be able to teach with clarity and power, for we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.

Well, As I mentioned before, this is looking at Mark chapter 15 and the experiences recorded there in the very closing hours of Christ's earthly life.

He, praise the Lord, continues living to this day and he always lives to be an intercessor, but we're looking at this experience here on earth.

1 of the things that this week's lesson did that I've seen in other week's lessons also do is try to, and not try to, but they pull out some really interesting ways of looking at it.

Like this week they focus on ironies, like the irony of Jesus being condemned as, quote, a heretical king of the Jews, when he actually is the king of the Jews and the king of the universe.

There are some other interesting parallels that I hadn't ever quite seen before.

And I don't know that I would necessarily make them the primary focus of the lesson, but they are interesting additional insights that the lesson provides.

We used to call them things that make you go, That's interesting.

And they're valid, but I want to focus on the story itself as much as possible.

And 1 of the things that brought out on Wednesday's lesson was the basis for our first talking points.

And that is number 1, the events of Christ's death fulfilled prophecy.

Now I don't mean that tritely like, oh yeah, anyway, some people knew he was gonna die and so he did.

But there were some specifics to that we're gonna see in talking point number 1.

Then, talking point number 2, the enemies of Jesus confessed his kingship, focusing on some of those ironies there, and this comes from Sabbath, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

This was a thread that ran throughout this week's lesson.

And finally, talking point number 3, Christ's greatest pain was spiritual.

So there's some overlapping days that are drawn out, but we're trying to look at, you know, not each day has its own, but there's themes that run through and sometimes overlap on different days.

So, the events of Christ's death fulfilled prophecy.

Now, there are many, many, many, there are scores, dozens of Bible prophecies from the Old Testament that were culminated in the life and ministry and even death of Jesus.

But of those, particularly the ones that look at the crucifixion, the trial that led up to it, the Garden of Gethsemane, you think of Isaiah 53, last time you quoted that a lot from the Gethsemane experience.

And here we're going to find that there are 2 chapters, 2 prophecies from the Old Testament they're particularly drawn out in the trial and the Crucifixion of Jesus and that's Daniel chapter 9 verses 24 through 27 and Psalm 22 Now if you're in Daniel, why don't you read again?

We've seen this from previous lessons, but let's revisit 24 to 27, if you would.

Yes, Daniel 9, 24 says, "...Seventy weeks are determined for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.

Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be 7 weeks and 62 weeks, the street shall be built again and the wall even in troublesome times.

And after the sixty-two weeks, Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself.

And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.

Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for 1 week, but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering, and on the wing of abomination shall be 1 who makes desolate, even until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate." Now we've looked at this previously when Jesus foretold end time events and he spoke of the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel.

So Jesus obviously was aware of Daniel, but noted its prophetic significance in pointing out world events and historical, and some of those apply directly to his own experience.

So in this context, notice the timing, know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, which of course he was that Messiah, the anointed, the prince, there should be 7 weeks and sixty-two weeks.

So we can calculate when the coming of the Messiah would be.

Then in the middle of that last week, after the sixty-two weeks, Messiah should be cut off, but not for himself.

So when Jesus opens his ministry, for instance, in Mark chapter 1, in verse 14, the very first sermon he preaches, at least is recorded in the Gospel of Mark here, says now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, so whatever he's about to preach was the content of his sermon, right?

He didn't just say time in a general sense, he said the time, the definite, there was a particular chronology that he was relying on.

And you notice this, and I put a few references and you know, John chapter 7 Matthew chapter 26 But starting there the mark chapter 1 the time is fulfilled When he would begin preaching because that's the prophetic time of Daniel 924.

Well, I Time doesn't permit because Rebecca but I've been studying with this recently in in fact right now What's airing on talking points is what we covered last quarter in?

Great controversy Mm-hmm And this prophecy was something that was covered and I just got a question on it from somebody who said how do we prove for 57 BC and And I'm looking at even in my Bible here because I've gone over some things recently 20 verse 25 says no therefore and understand that from the going forth the command to restore and build jerusalem and they give nehemiah as the verse while nehemiah Records them coming back to build the walls in the 20th year of our desert He's not the seventh year which we get in ezra 7 7 and it wasn't so For seventh day adventists our understanding is unique for a couple reasons.

First of all, the timing of the prophecy starting in 457 brings us to 27 AD.

And that's when Jesus was anointed at his baptism, and the Bible records it.

It's the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.

So if we're wrong, nothing would have happened, but bam, Jesus comes right on time, and to your point, he begins proclaiming that time is fulfilled.

Which also, by the way, is, if you recall, in Jesus' own experience, when he was 12 years old he goes to the feast for the first time and he sees the Passover.

He has a recognition, he tells his parents, do you not know I must be about my father's business?

Because there was a time for it to be started.

So when Jesus starts preaching, why did he start at this point?

Because there was a calculation, there was a calendar of events that he was following as 1 would.

The other piece I was gonna bring up is, for most evangelicals, they view a good portion of this prophecy to point to a future Antichrist who's going to make a covenant.

So what we're saying, this pointing forward to Jesus coming and being baptized and dying for our sins and even ascending into his heavenly ministry, you shift that off to some future Antichrist and the whole power of the prophecy is gone.

And Jesus, to my point, was going to say, he begins his ministry that when there were times in his ministry where he was going to be stoned to death and thrown off and he would walk through them.

He knew he was on his calendar, But as he approached, he would say, the hour has come.

In paragraph 5 of Wednesday, there's a great statement kind of explaining this, if you want to read that, about the baptism of Jesus in Mark 1.

I believe so, if I've got the right reference in here.

Yeah, it's right below that grid, that box.

Okay, what these parallels suggest is that as the baptism of Jesus in Mark 1 is the beginning of his ministry, as prophesied in Daniel 9 24 to 27, what occurs in Mark 15 at the cross is the culmination or goal of his ministry as he dies as a ransom for many.

Series

Talking Points 3rd Quarter 2024: The Book of Mark

12 Tried and Crucified

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Talking Points, 1st Quarter 2021: Isaiah

10 Doing the Unthinkable

33m

Plenary

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1h 22m

Christ in Daniel

Christ in Daniel- Part 5

1h 16m

Overcoming Addictions (Evening Meetings)

Overcoming Like Jesus

50m

Presidential Pardon

48m

Talking Points 4th Quarter 2024: Themes in the Gospel of John

10 The Way, the Truth, and the Life

30m

Talking Points 3rd Quarter 2025: Exodus

05 Passover

29m

The Depth of His Love

41m

SWYC 2012: As In the Days Of ...

In the Days of Moses

55m

The Divine Design, Part 2

46m

Talking Points, 2nd Quarter 2021: The Promise, God's Everlasting Covenant

10 The New Covenant

34m

Love, The Only Reason Why

36m

Sound Doctrine