AFTER JOHN THE BAPTIST IS ARRESTED, JESUS GOES INTO GALILEE WHERE HE PROCLAIMS: " THE TIME IS FULFILLED, AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND; REPENT, AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL, " 1:15. WITH THIS, JESUS MESSIANIC MINISTRY GETS UNDER WAY. WHAT HAPPENS? THE TRUE ISRAEL BEGINS TO GATHER ABOUT HIMSELF A NEW PEOPLE. HE CONFRONTS PETER AND ANDREW, JAMES AND JOHN, AND SAYS, " FOLLOW ME." 1:17. THERE IS NO TEST TO ASCERTAIN WHETHER THEY ARE WORTHY OF BEING IN JESUS COMPANY. NO STUDY IS MADE OF THEIR FAMILY BACKGROUND TO CHECK OUT THEIR PEDIGREE. THERE IS ONLY AN URGENT SUMMONS, 2:13,14. A LITTLE LATER, THE TWELVE ARE SET ASIDE AS THE NUCLEUS OF THE NEW ISRAEL THAT IS BEING FORMED, 3:13-18. THE MESSIANIC MINISTRY IS INDEED GETTING UNDERWAY. WHAT FORM DID THE MESSIANIC MINISTRY TAKE? MARK 1:14-8:30 OUTLINES THE BULK OF JESUS MINISTRY. HOWEVER, IT IS ONLY TOWARD THE CLOSE OF THIS MAJOR SECTION OF JESUS MINISTRY THAT HE PUTS TWO CRUCIAL QUESTIONS TO HIS DISCIPLES. THE FIRST IS: " WHO DO MEN SAY THAT I AM?" THE SECOND IS: "WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?" THOUGH JESUS DOES NOT ASK THIS QUESTION IN WORDS PRIOR TO THIS OCCASION, NEVERTHELESS HE POSES THE QUESTION TO HIS WATCHING AUDIENCE AND TO HIS DISCIPLES CONTINUALLY THROUGH HIS ACTIONS! THE WHOLE POINT OF HIS EARLY MESSIANIC MINISTRY IS TO MAKE PEOPLE THINK ABOUT WHO HE IS, WHAT HE IS DOING, AND WHY HE IS DOING IT. THROUGHOUT 1:14-8-30, MARK DEVOTES MUCH ATTENTION TO JESUS MIRACLES. TRUE, MARK FREQUENTLY DESCRIBES JESUS AS "TEACHING." HE RECORDS TEN INSTANCES WHERE JESUS IS ADDRESSED AS "TEACHER." HE SAYS HEARERS ARE ASTONISHED AT HIS TEACHING. DESPITE ALL THIS, MARK TELLS US LITTLE ABOUT WHAT JESUS ACTUALLY TAUGHT. HE RECORDS ONLY TWO.EXTENDED PARABLES, EVEN THOUGH HE SAYS THAT JESUS WAS ACCUSTOMED TO USE THIS FORM OF TEACHING, 4:2, 12:1. IF MARK PLACES SO MUCH EMPHASIS ON JESUS MIRACLES, ONE MUST ASK. " WHAT WAS THE INTENDED MESSAGE?! OF THOSE MIRACLES. JESUS STATED ON ONE OCCASION THAT OTHERS IN PALESTINE WERE ABLE TO CAST OUT DEMONS, MATTHEW 12:27 IT WAS BELIEVED THAT A PERSON COULD PERFORM MIRACLES. IN THE POWER OF GOD BUT ALSO IN THE POWER OF SATAN. MARK 3:22. THE MIRACLES JESUS DID WERE DESIGNED TO SPEAK A POWERFUL MESSAGE ABOUT WHO HE WAS, AND WHAT AGE HAD BROKEN IN WITH HIS MINISTRY.
THE ISAIANIC SIGNS. THE TERM " ISAIANIC" IS DERIVED FROM "ISAIAH." A RATHER PUZZLING EXCHANGED RECORDED IN MATTHEW 11: 2-6 AND LUKE 7: 18-23 HELPS US TO UNDERSTAND HOW THESE "SIGNS" WERE TO BE UNDERSTOOD. JOHN THE BAPTIST IS IN PRISON. HIS LIFE IS IN DANGER. HE SENDS SOME OF HIS FOLLOWERS TO JESUS TO ASK, IF HE REALLY IS THE ONE THEY HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR. JESUS DOES NOT ANSWER WITH A VERBAL "YES." INSTEAD, HE POINTS TO THE THINGS HE HAS DONE. JESUS ACTIONS REVEALS WHO HE IS. IN MATTHEW 11:5 JESUS SAYS, " THE BLIND RECEIVE THEIR SIGHT AND THE LAME WALK, LEPERS ARE CLEANSED
AND THE DEAF HEAR, AND THE DEAD ARE RAISED UP AND THE POOR HAVE GOOD NEWS PREACHED TO THEM. HUNDRED OF YEARS BEFORE, THE PROPHET ISAIAH WROTE:( THEN WHEN THE MESSIANIC AGE FINALLY COMES: THE EYES OF THE BLIND SHALL BE OPEN, AND THE EARS OF THE DEAF SHALL BE UNSTOPPED.) THEN SHALL THE LAME MAN SHALL LEAP LIKE A HART, AND THE TONGUE OF THE DUMB WILL SING FOR JOY," ISAIAH 35:5,6; NOTE ALSO ISAIAH 42:7 AND 61:1. THE JEWS BELIEVED THAT WHEN THE MESSIANIC AGE FINALLY CAME, THE "SIGNS" ISAIAH HAD REFERRED TO WOULD BE DONE--EVIDENCE THAT THE MESSIANIC AGE HAD COME. THEREFORE, THOUGH THE MIRACLES JESUS DID FOR THE BLIND, DEAF, DUMB, AND THE LAME WERE STUPENDOUS AND ASTONISHING, THEY WERE PRIMARILY INDICATIONS THAT THE HOPES ISRAEL HAD LONG CHERISHED WERE BEING FULFILLED. THAT SAID VOLUMES ABOUT WHO JESUS WAS. JESUS ACTIONS NEEDED TO BE READ WITH GREAT CARE. TOWARD THE CLOSE OF HIS MINISTRY, JESUS QUESTIONED THE DISCIPLES ABOUT HOW THEY HAD READ THOSE ACTIONS, MARK 8: 27-3O.
THE MIRACLES OVER NATURE MARK REPORTS THAT JESUS STILLED A STORM ( 4: 35-41.) WALKED ON WATER (6:45-52), AND FED THE MULTITUDES, 6:30-44; 8:1-1O. AGAIN, THERE IS MORE TO THESE MIRACLES THAN THE MERE WONDER OF THE EVENT. THE JEWS WERE AFRAID OF THE OCEANS AND THE DEEP. THEY NEVER BECAME A SEA-FARING PEOPLE AND PREFERRED TO LET OTHER PEOPLE'S PROVIDE THEIR SEA- TRANSPORTATION NEEDS. ONE ALMOST CAN HEAR THE SIGHS OF RELIEF IN REVELATION 21:1 WHERE JOHN SPEAKS OF THE COMING OF "A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH," AND THEN ADDS, " THE SEA WAS NO MORE." HOWEVER, A JEW TOOK COMFORT IN THE FACT THAT HIS GOD COULD CONTROL THE SEAS, THE ROARING OF THE WAVES," PSALM 89:9 IS SIMILAR IN TONE, " THOU DOST RULE THE RAGING OF THE SEA. " WHEN ITS WAVES RISE, THOU STILLEST THEM. WHEN JESUS STILLED THE STORMS ON THE SEA OF GALILEE AND WALKED ON WATER, HE DEMONSTRATED THAT HE HIMSELF POSSESSED THOSE POWERS THAT JEWS HAD ALWAYS ASSIGNED TO GOD, PSALM 107:23-32.
MARK CONTAINS TWO FEEDING MIRACLES. MARK 6:30-44 DESCRIBES THE FEEDING OF THE FIVE-THOUSAND (JEWS). MARK 8: 1-10 DESCRIBES THE FEEDING OF THE FOUR THOUSAND (GENTILES.) AS GOR HAD FED HIS PEOPLE OUT IN THE WILDERNESS (EXOD. 16; Ps 78:23-29), SO JESUS FED HIS "NEW PEOPLE " OUT IN THE WILDERNESS.
PRIOR TO JESUS MINISTRY, rabbis STATED THAT WHEN THE MESSIAH FINALLY CAME, THE HEAVENLY MANNA WOULD FALL ONCE AGAIN, 2 BARUCH 29:8. IN THESE FEEDING MIRACLES JESUS DOES WHAT THE "OLD TESTAMENT GOD ONCE DID BECAUSE HE IS THAT OLD TESTAMENT GOD.
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