Jean's Bible Study Topics of the New Testament

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Mark Chapters 15 & 16

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Mk 15,1-32

· (18a) Sin Ø Unrighteous judgment Ø Condemning Jesus

Mk 15-2

· (17i) Sin Ø Ignorance Ø Speaking truth without knowing it

· (58k) Paradox Ø Two implied meanings Ø Are you the king of the Jews? / You are the king of the Jews!

· (85a) Thy kingdom come Ø Your words can lead to your own demise Ø They will keep you out of heaven -- Instead of asking Jesus whether He was the king of the Jews, Pilate could have converted his question to a declaration of faith merely by switching two words around from "Are you?" to "You are!," and possibly changing the course of history. No one knows whether Pilate went to heaven, but if he didn't, you could see it as the result of those two simple words out of order. 

Mk 15,3-5

· (18f) Sin Ø False Judgment lacks evidence Ø Accusing God

Mk 15-3

· (25g) Sin Ø Poverty (Forms of fear) Ø Killing Jesus -- This verse goes with verses 10-32

Mk 15-4,5

· (62d) Paradox Ø Anomalies Ø Being clever Ø Answer with wisdom

Mk 15,10-32

· (25g) Sin Ø Poverty (Forms of fear) Ø Killing Jesus -- These verses go with verse 3

· (24f) Envy (fear of not obtaining) (Key verse)

· (24g) Sin Ø Poverty (Forms of fear) Ø Envy Ø Angry at God because of their poverty -- Man's issues with God are not altogether obvious. Besides being prodded by the devil into sin, Man's greatest enemy is poverty. An easy way of arriving at that conclusion is to determine the common thread between all wars fought throughout man's bloody history. If you are truthful, you would have to conclude that poverty is at the root of our dilemma. If we were not so needy, we would not be so greedy. It is our fear of the future and the stockpiling of supplies that causes us so much anxiety and grief. Once greed enters the world, those who don't have as much as they want become envious of those who have more, and start wars over the things they think they need, rather than living one day at a time. 

· (170c) Works of the devil Ø Manifestations of the devil Ø Pursuing the glory of man turns us in the wrong direction Ø Fighting God to keep the glory of man

· (185b) Works of the devil Ø The origin of lawlessness Ø Mystery of lawlessness Ø Having no grounds for your hate Ø Hating Christ without a cause

Mk 15,11-16

· (186d) Works of the devil Ø The result of lawlessness Ø Man’s role in becoming a reprobate Ø The fool throws Jesus away for something better

Mk 15,11-15

· (179d) Works of the devil Ø Practicing witchcraft Ø Wolves stir up the crowd through jealousy

Mk 15,16-37

· (103i) Thy kingdom come Ø Purifying process Ø God purifies His church Ø Jesus goes through God’s purifying process -- If Jesus is innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens, then why did He need to go through a purifying process? Heb 5-8 says that He learned obedience through the things which He suffered. Although God is totally complete and in need of nothing, He still lacked experience with sin. God found a way to experience sin by experiencing ours on the cross without ever personally sinning. Eph 4-9,10 says, "Now this expression, 'He ascended,' what does it mean except that he also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things." Jesus was already Lord of Satan, but He wanted first hand experience with the realm of darkness, so God sent His Son all the way to the bottom of human depravity to experience the full impact of sin on His soul, in order that He may become Lord even of darkness and evil. If God required His Son to experience the things that He learned, how much more does He require it of us that we do more than just say we love God. He expects us to prove it. God's purifying process always involves suffering. Our relationship with God grows deeper as we endure His will in our lives. This process is painful because it always involves sacrifice, but our reward is experiencing God through the things we suffer in His name. 

Mk 15-28

· (141f) Witness Ø Validity of Jesus Christ Ø Old Testament bears witness to the new Ø It bears witness to Jesus Ø Prophesy about Jesus’ death

Mk 15,29-32

· (19m) Sin Ø Nature of sin Ø Unwilling to believe Ø Spirit of unbelief

· (243b) Kingdom of God Ø Opposition toward the kingdom of God Ø Persecuting the kingdom Ø Mocking Christ

Mk 15-29,30

· (58j) Paradox Ø Two implied meanings Ø The temple building / The temple of His body

· (140e) Temple Ø Temple made without hands Ø Hiding place Ø The entrance exam -- Heb 9-24 says that Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, but into heaven itself to appear in the presence of God for us. The way into the holy place for Jesus was through the cross, then in Mat 26-24 Jesus told us to take up our cross and follow Him. We are all going to die some day; that day will be the point of transition and will be our ticket to the holy of holies in the most literal sense, but until then God has commanded us to deny ourselves the petty pleasures of this life that conflict with the life He has prepared for us behind the veil, a spiritual realm we can experience and enjoy until we meet Him face to face. To know more about this subject, read my book, Temple Of God Made Without Hands.

Mk 15-37

· (192a) Die to self (Process of substitution) Ø Result of putting off the old man Ø Gain by losing Ø Life for life Ø Losing your life to gain God’s life

Mk 15-38

· (205h) Salvation Ø Salvation is based on God’s promises Ø New covenant Ø The old one is obsolete -- The veil was torn from top to bottom to symbolize that the ministry of the old covenant had reached its end and that a new, better covenant was being inaugurated in its place. A man would have needed a stool just to reach the top of the veil; therefore, the fact that the veil was torn from top to bottom, not from bottom to top, indicates that God was responsible for tearing the veil. 

Mk 15-39

· (86e) Thy kingdom come Ø Belief Ø God’s works act as evidence to support our beliefs

· (150f) Witness Ø Validity of Jesus Christ Ø Works of the church bear witness of Jesus Ø Confessing Jesus as the son of God

Mk 15,40-47

· (14e) Servant Ø Ministry of helps Ø Being in charge of the details

Mk 15,43-47

· (123d) Thy kingdom come Ø Manifestations of faith Ø Love Ø Spiritual affection Ø Compassion Ø Reaching out to those in need

Mk 16,1-10

· (14i) Servant Ø Ministry of helps Ø Indirectly in charge of the word Ø Minister to men of God

· (228g) Kingdom of God Ø God’s kingdom is a living organism Ø God is working in you to place you in His will Ø To lead you in His purpose -- It looks like Jesus may have appeared to Mary Magdalene twice. The first time at the tomb where they saw the stone rolled away, she and her companions fled, telling no one what they had seen because they were afraid. The second time He appeared to her, she reported it to the other disciples, who did not believe her. God gave her a second chance to report to His disciples about His resurrection, just as He gave His disciples a second chance to believe His resurrection. God has a plan for each of us, who patiently works His plan into our lives to fulfill His purpose. If we make a mistake, He helps us get back on track, so long as we don't oppose His will. If we resist Him beyond human blundering and demonstrate that we just don't want Him in our lives, He will get the hint and find someone who is interested in doing His will. God knows we love Him; He understands we are but dust, and that we are blundering little children who frequently need help and a second chance.

Mk 16,5-7

· (15e) Servant Ø Angels are messengers from God sent to impart information

Mk 16-8

· (23m) Sin Ø Poverty (Oppression) Ø Fear of the unknown Ø Fear the appearance of angels

· (88i) Thy kingdom come Ø Fearing the power of God is the beginning of wisdom

Mk 16,10-14

· (4m) Responsible to advocate God’s cause Ø Disciples are chastened by the Lord

· (18b) Sin Ø Unrighteous judgment Ø Condemning God’s people

· (20i) Sin Ø Doubting miracles

· (197a) Denying Christ Ø Man exercises his will against God Ø Spiritual laziness Ø Rebelling Against what God wants you to do Ø Refusing to renew your mind

Mk 16,11-16

· (20e) Sin Ø Nature of sin Ø Having a hardened heart

Mk 16-12

· (224a) Kingdom of God Ø Illustrating the kingdom Ø Description of heaven Ø Describing the kingdom after he makes all things new Ø Description of the resurrection -- Prior to the cross, for 33 years Jesus had the same kind of body as ours. In every respect Jesus was a human being of the male gender. However, after the resurrection, some say that He was no longer tied to the limitations of human flesh. He appeared in different forms and He walked through walls, but are those greater miracles than walking on a storm-tossed sea? Some say that Jesus' resurrected body was no longer human flesh, and others say that He had a composite of human and heavenly body, but Jesus was clearly not glorified, which only a heavenly body could experience. We read in the book of Revelation that Jesus' face shines like the sun in its strength, among other things. Whether Jesus could still feel pain with His new body or whether it was of earthen material is questionable, but we do know that He still bore the nail marks in His hands and feet, indicating that it was exactly the same body. Was it the same body but of a different substance? there is not enough evidence to support that idea. I think the only thing that changed at the resurrection was His ministry. Jesus no doubt could have walked through walls before the cross, but He wanted to relate to the people. After the resurrection, however, Jesus' ministry was going to turn spiritual, so His disciples needed to adjust to a new way of relating to Him. 

Mk 16-13,14

· (138b) Temple Ø Building the temple (with hands) Ø Reproof Ø Jesus reproves His disciples for their unbelief

Mk 16-14

· (5i) Responsibility Ø God tests your loyalty to believe whatever He says

· (74l) Thy kingdom come Ø Let not your heart be hardened Ø Insensitive to the things of God

Mk 16-16

· (47j) God judges the world Ø Eternal judgment against unbelief toward Christ

· (157f) Witness Ø Validity of the believer Ø Evidence of being hell-bound Ø Being displeasing to God Ø Living in unbelief -- The whole world lives in unbelief toward God; the church only believes in Him. 1Jn 5-19 says, "We know that we are of God, and that whole world lies in the power of the evil one." When those of the world repent of their unbelief and acquire a faith in God, they join ranks with a group in the world who believe in Him called the church. Whether or not they actually go to church does not make them any less a member of the body of Christ (which is the church); they are, however, strongly encouraged to seek fellowship with others of like faith for their own sake and for the welfare of the body. This means that the world remains in total darkness, except for that one special group, whom Jesus named the light of the world. The worlds unbelief can be described as secular (devoid of all spiritual and religious philosophies). Upon this platform of systematic rejection of anything pertaining to God the world's thought processes are built with the lumber of materialism and atheism (the religion of no-god), which uses evolution as its means of explaining the origins of the universe. The world does not offer any hope. 

Mk 16-17,18

· (146i) Witness Ø Validity of Jesus Christ Ø Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself Ø Purpose of Miracles, Signs And Wonders Ø Proof that Jesus is the son of God Ø That the world may be saved

· (156g) Witness Ø Validity of the believer Ø Evidence of salvation Ø Manifesting the Holy Spirit is evidence of salvation

Mk 16-17

· (95d) Thy kingdom come Ø Positive attitude Ø Speaking in tongues Ø Tongues are a sign of obedience

Mk 16-18

· (243h) Kingdom of God Ø The eternal kingdom Ø The body of Christ is indestructible Ø The new man is indestructible

Mk 16-19,20

· (67d) Authority Ø Jesus delegates authority from the right hand of the father

· (115d) Thy kingdom come Ø Working the grace of God Ø Through your ministry Ø Through your calling Ø In preaching the gospel

· (237h) Kingdom of God Ø Pursuing the kingdom Ø The church is transferred to the kingdom Ø The ascension Ø Jesus’ ascension

Mk 16-20

· (254k) Trinity Ø Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son Ø Jesus is equal with the Holy Spirit Ø Power of Jesus’ Spirit -- The disciples who personally walked with Him, who knew Jesus for three and a half years, whose hands handled the word of life, did not see a contrast between He and the Holy Spirit. This verse says that Jesus worked with them through various signs to authenticate the gospel. The Holy Spirit is simply Jesus minus His flesh. This is how closely tied the godhead is within the members of the trinity.