Bible In One Year-Day 72 (Thursday, March 13, 2014)

Comment: Mark1-3. The gospel of Mark started by introducing Jesus as the Son of God. There are two basic ways to know who Jesus is; knowledge (i.e. teaching and signs and wonders) and revelation (i.e. seeing beyond the physical into the spiritual). People were astonished at Jesus’ teachings, preaching and exercising authority over demons, Mk1:22. Because of what they saw, they followed Him; they needed life and not eloquence. John the Baptist and demons (Mk3:11) recognized Him beyond the physical;

Mark 1:23-24 “And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.”

John the Baptist came in fulfillment of the scripture, Mal3:1-3/4:6. His message was repentance for the kingdom of God that is at hand. He was so honest to stay within his ministry; his pulpit was in the wilderness, his food was locust and wild (unrefined) honey and his best cloth was Camel’s hair. People trooped to him. A man must have been dead before he could be buried; in the same manner, you must have repented from all known sin before the water Baptism. Water Baptism is for repented sinner and not for a sinning sinner. This is the simple message of John the Baptist, Mk1:4&8. A sinning sinner who goes into the water just because others are doing it or because of problems, will only go in with his/ her sins and come out with his/ her sins. Therefore, for one to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Jesus duty), you must have been convicted of your sin, seen that you are guilty of it, soberly repented and decided to forsake it; all these is within you, i.e. internal battle that must have been won, and this is expressed in the Baptism of John. When you have done this, then you must open up to the gospel, i.e. accept Jesus’ work, message and purpose;

Mark 1:15 “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel”.

Without the Holy Spirit there is no knowing the deep things of God, i.e. one stays on the surface, the shallow place in the knowledge of Jesus and such are easily carried away by diverse teachings and deceits. Those who shouted crucify Him, were on the surface, the shallow part, even though they saw the signs and wonders. To believe is not good enough, to have faith is the utmost. Signs and wonders could make you believe (still on the shallow part, not rooted), but the Holy Spirit takes you deeper and thereby establish your belief on the power of God. When your believing is established on the power of God (which is confirmation of His words by the Holy Spirit), faith is built. Hence, faith, which is the gift of the Holy Spirit, is an evidence that the Holy Spirit has taken you (what you believe) beyond the physical into the reality (that which you believe and being fed or watered from the spiritual, not minding what is going on around you. That which is going on around you, of course, will not reflect what you have received in the spirit through faith) and when this happens you don’t need anybody to confuse you any longer because you have seen the real thing. You could read the bible and still be confused especially if you read it with a reprobate mind; you need the Holy Spirit to guide you into the truth, i.e. His thought, because He inspired it. The letters lovers write to each other are easily understood because of the spirit of love binding them together, but the letters written by two enemies will carry a lot of misinterpretations because they have different spirits. The Holy Bible is God’s letter to man and you need the Spirit of God to enter God’s thought as you read it;

John 16:13 “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come”.

1 Corinthians 2:10 “But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yes, the deep things of God.”

This is the problem with those who regard the Bible as unrealistic, incomplete, and full of errors and lies; it is because the light of the Holy Spirit isn’t in them. To read the Bible you must be full of the Spirit and without this you remain a natural man;

1 Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

To be ordained is not to be in the spirit, to go to Bible school does not mean you are not a natural man, church position has not made you spiritual either; to be spiritual is to operate under the authority of the Holy Spirit. You approach the Bible with the mind of receiving, because the Bible is the only book that reads you as you read it, i.e. the light in it shines into your soul if you open up to the Spirit behind it.

Psalms 119:130 “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”

It will be good, therefore, to prayerfully read this gospel of Mark. Where you experience a certain light, you need to pause there and pray for the Spirit to speak to you on that part; He has something to say. This is how to open up and enjoy the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In chapter2, we could see two set of people sitting before Jesus; those with faith who uncovered the roof (they enjoyed the grace in Jesus) and those who foolishly reasoned in verse6, they queried Jesus on grounds based on the principles of the law they had been taught.  These ones did not enjoy grace in Jesus. Grace is calling the sinners to repentance, Mk2:5&17, while the law condemns. When we were reading Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, we saw the power of the law, but in the gospel, we could see the power of grace (life and truth). In these first three chapters, those who lived by the principles of the law never enjoyed Jesus, while those who lived by faith enjoyed Him to the fullest. Only those with faith do the will of God and this is how Jesus rounded up the third chapter, Mk3:32-35;

Hebrew 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD, can change your story to the glory of God. Prayer: Lord Jesus, show me more of you. Our reading for today shall be Mark4-6. Keep the fire burning and alive.