WHEN JESUS ASKED THE DISCIPLES ON THE WAY TO CAESAREA PHILIPPI WHO HE WAS. PETER ANSWERED FOR THEM ALL, " YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE MESSIAH!"
(MARK 8:27-30). IT APPEARED THAT THE DISCIPLES KNEW WHO HE WAS, EVEN IF THE NATION DID NOT. DID THEY?
WHAT PETER SAID WAS CORRECT. HIS UNDERSTANDING OF CHRIST'S ROLE AS MESSIAH WAS WRONG. WHY? AFTER PETER'S "CONFESSION," FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MARK'S GOSPEL. JESUS SPOKE ABOUT HIS APPROACHING SUFFERING, DEATH, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION ( PASSION PREDICTION NUMBER 1). THIS WAS TO MUCH FOR PETER. HE REBUKED JESUS FOR SAYING SUCH THINGS. JESUS, IN TURN, ADDRESSED PETER IN STRONG TERMS, AND TOLD HIM THAT HE WAS ON THE SIDE OF SATAN (8:33). HE WENT ON TO EXPLAIN TO HIS DISCIPLES THAT IF THEY WANTED TO BE INVOLVED WITH HIM, THEY MUST THROW IN THEIR LOT WITH A SERVANT KING. WHO DENIED HIM-SELF TO SPEND LIFE IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS. " TO BELONG TO JESUS MEANS STRIVING TO USE LIFE AS HE DID, NO MATTER WHAT THE COST." ( 8:34-38). THE DISCIPLES FOUND IT DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND JESUS REFERENCE TO HIS COMING PASSION BECAUSE THE THOUGHT OF A SUFFERING, DYING MESSIAH WAS COMPLETELY FOREIGN TO THEM. THEY LIKE THEIR CONTEMPORARIES, WERE LOOKING FOR A MESSIAH WHO WOULD USHER IN A GLORIOUS AGE OF MATERIAL PROSPERITY, POLITICAL PRIVILEGE AND FREEDOM FROM FOREIGN DOMINATION. POSSIBLY THEY THOUGHT THAT THE MESSIANIC AGE WOULD MEAN POSITIONS OF HONOR AND CONDITIONS OF AFFLUENCE FOR THEMSELVES. JESUS' TALK ABOUT CARRYING THE CROSS OF SERVANTHOOD IN EVERY SITUATION FELL ON CONFUSED AND DISBELIEVING EARS! JESUS CONTINUED BY STATING THAT WITHIN A VERY SHORT TIME HIS DISCIPLES WOULD SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD COME WITH POWER '
(9:1). HE WAS REFERRING TO HIS APPROACHING CRUCIFIXION. JESUS THE SERVANT-KING, WAS AT HIS MOST POWERFUL IN MARCHING TO AND ENDURING, THE AGONY OF THE CROSS.
THE TRANSFIGURATION (9:2-8) RE-ENACTED THE "THEOPHANY" (APPEARANCE OF GOD). (EXODUS 24: 15-18). AS GOD ONCE MANIFESTED HIS GLORY AT SINAI, SO THE INCARNATE GOD MANIFESTED HIS GLORY TO THE DISCIPLES ON THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION. THE CONCLUSION IS OBVIOUS. THE GOD ISRAEL HAD KNOWN AND WORSHIPPED THROUGHOUT THE OLD TESTAMENT PERIOD HAD COME AMONG THEM IN JESUS CHRIST. THE WORDS, " LISTEN TO HIM." ECHO DEUTERONOMY (18:15) WHERE GOD PROMISED ISRAEL THAT AFTER THE DEATH OF MOSES, HE WOULD RAISE UP ANOTHER PROPHET (JOSHUA) WHO WOULD LEAD THEM INTO THE PROMISE LAND. THE NEW "JOSHUA" WOULD LEAD HIS PEOPLE INTO THE
ETERNAL PROMISED LAND.
AS THE GROUP WHICH WITNESSED THE TRANSFIGURATION DESCENDED THE MOUNTAIN, JESUS COMMANDED THEM TO TELL NO ONE WHAT THEY HAD SEEN UNTIL AFTER HIS RESURRECTION. HIS DISCIPLES WERE THOROUGHLY CONFUSED BY HIS REFERENCE TO RISING FROM THE DEAD. THE IMPORTANT OF THE QUESTIONS RELATING TO FAITH-SIGHT BECAME MORE APPARENT WHEN ONE OBSERVES THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH PASSION.
(1. PREDICTION BY JESUS OF HIS COMING PASSION.
(2. CONFUSION ON THE PART OF THE DISCIPLES.
(3. CLARIFICATION BY JESUS CONCERNING THE IMPLICATIONS OF MESSIANIC AGE FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO BE INVOLVED IN IT.
JESUS ENTERED JERUSALEM ON PALM SUNDAY. THOUGH HIS MODE OF ENTRY WAS HUMBLE, IT WAS NEVER-THE-LESS A SIGN AND AN ASSERTION, (11;1-10). WHEN A KING WENT TO WAR, HE RODE A HORSE. WHEN HE WAS ON A MISSION OF PEACE, HE RODE A DONKEY. THE CROWDS MISS THE POINT JESUS WAS MAKING; THEY WERE LOOKING FOR A WARRIOR KING. FURTHERMORE, THEY FORGOT WHAT ZECHARIAH 9:9 HAD WRITTEN LONG BEFORE, DAVID DECLARED THAT SOLOMON WAS TO BE HIS SUCCESSOR AND THAT HE WOULD RIDE ON DAVID'S MULE, (1 KINGS 1:33,38). DAVID'S GREATER SON NOW CAME ON A MULE TO WHAT ONCE HAD BEEN KNOWN AS THE "CITY OF DAVID", (2 SAMUEL 5:9; LUKE 2:11.)
SOON AFTER RETURNING TO JERUSALEM NEXT DAY, JESUS CLEANSED THE TEMPLE, (11:15-19), THE JEWS WERE DESECRATING AND ABUSING IT. THEY CHARGED VISITORS TO JERUSALEM EXCESSIVE RATES TO CHANGE FOREIGN CURRENCY.
IN THE FINAL WEEK IN JERUSALEM A NUMBER CONFRONTATIONS TOOK PLACE BETWEEN JESUS AND THE JEWISH LEADERS OF THE NATION, THAT QUESTIONED JESUS ABOUT THE SOURCE OF HIS AUTHORITY, (11:27-33).
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