Class Notes: 7/20/2014

Mark 11:17 - Mark 11:22; Jesus addresses negative volition in the temple and the Fig tree; God's Word is immutible because it is absolute truth

In our study of Mark we are in Mark 11:17; where after driving out all of the buying and selling that was causing distraction in the temple He begins to teach and he said:

"My house shall be called the house of prayer for all nations" (His house is the temple because every article of furniture in the temple represented Christ).

In other words, this is a place where people can reach me; "but you have made (perfect tense keep on making it) a den of robbers.

We saw that the Jewish religious leadership had deluded their congregations with false teachings that resulted in their rejection the truth that Jesus was their Messiah.

Church leaders today have also deluded their congregations with false teachings with the result that they have become distracted and rejected the truth of God's Word.

Given this possibility for deception God has given us a mandate not to be deceived in Col 2:8; We see here that it is the believers' responsibility to know the truth so they can discern the lie and not fall for it.

When we do this our attitude should be remain objective because we understand that in a free society people are free to believe whatever they want. The Invisible War is waged on the premise that through free will God allows each individual the freedom to choose to believe the truth or accept the lie.

Those who believe the lie will always outnumber those who believe the truth. Our job is to guide those who are objective to the truth and leave those who disagree alone for Jesus to deal with when He returns because He is the only one who has authority to judge. Jude 14-15;

Our duty is not to be critical of people but to recognize the lie that they believe. The believer must defend the truth and demonstrate it by living it without any compromise by using the God given free volition that every human being has to choose for the truth rather than the lie.

Most ideologues have an insatiable desire to forcibly impose their ideas or as described by Peter "their merchandise" on everyone because they arrogantly believe their ideas are the best for everyone, especially those who they think are "unenlightened" that they attempt to sway into their sphere of influence.

The confidence the advanced believer has in their relationship with God and their superior knowledge of the truth that is revealed in God's Word provides courage toward adversaries, toward life, and toward circumstances.

Because of this there is no need for believers to be involved in judging those with opposing views. Jesus Christ is the only one who has the authority to judge.

Our duty is to discern the thinking and the speech of those with opposing views and to reject their ideas while simultaneously demonstrating integrity love toward them

The Word of God gives us precise instruction about how to do this in 2Tim 2:23-26; Avoid foolish and ignorant controversies knowing they foment needless battles.

v24 The servant of the Lord must not be belligerent, but must be kind toward all in the congregation, apt to teach, and patient,

v25 correcting with grace those who in opposition need discipline so that perhaps God will give them a change of mind for the purpose of advancement in knowledge of the truth,

v26 and that they may come to their senses and be delivered out from the devil's trap of reversionism, having been held captive by him to execute his plan.

Mark 11:18; The Jewish party bosses are now afraid and see Him as a threat that has to be eliminated without creating an uprising from the crowd that is amazed by His teaching.

The Greek word translated "astonished" in the NASB and KJV is "ekplesso" that is also translated "amazed" means they were struck out of their senses or overwhelmed with awe at what He was teaching.

His popularity with the crowd kept the Jewish party bosses from arresting him right then and there.

The Jewish leadership saw Him as a threat because they were imputing their own emotional and mental attitude sins onto Him. They were afraid of Him because they thought that He would do what they would do if they had His power. They were afraid because they were arrogant.

Arrogance is self-absorbed so it self deceives, self justifies, denies, and projects its failures on others. This is exactly what those in the executive branch of our government are doing today. They are blaming others and projecting their own failures on those they perceive to be their enemies even though they are not.

Crusaders are always occupied with their own failures and when thy operate in arrogant self justification and denial they project their own failures on others and try to change others rather than just dealing with their own problems.

Arrogance is also weak because it is sensitive to public opinion because public opinion is what makes it possible for arrogance to influence others because arrogance has no inherit power it only has borrowed power.

The Jewish party bosses recognize Jesus as a prophet but they do not recognize or accept Him as Messiah so they reject the truth that is the only source of inherit power.

They don't like what he is saying even though it is the truth and they don't want to hear it because of their preconceived expectations.

They are afraid of Him because they think he is going to sway the crowd against them and they are paralyzed because they are dependent on power borrowed from the crowd.

They assume that Jesus will do what they would do but Jesus has no such intention at all. Remember Jesus' objective is to go to the cross. He knows the Jewish people have already rejected Him as Messiah so His focus is to fulfill His overall mission as savior of the entire human race.

He is at the temple this final time to make His identity very clear any of the Jews who is objective but there is no objectivity because they are all self absorbed, arrogant and emotional.

Mark 11:19; At the end of the day Jesus and His disciples go back to Lazarus' home in Bethany for the night.

Mark 11:20; The next morning (Tuesday) on their way back to the temple they pass by the same fig tree that Jesus cursed the day before and it was withered dried up and dead.

The parallel passage in Matt 21:19-20; says it withered and died immediately while they were standing there the previous day.

Mark 11:21; Peter remembered Jesus words (from the previous day) and said "teacher, look the fig tree that you cursed has withered.

Jesus prophetic words of Mark 11:14; were fulfilled. What we see here is the power of the Word of God. The power of Bible Doctrine. The power of Faith Rest.

Remember the Fig tree with leaves and no figs represents Israel in their state of unbelief and lack of spiritual production because of their arrogant emotional religious overt ritual without inward reality.

Israel is going to dry up and the Jewish people are going to be scattered throughout the world for the duration of next age (The Church Age).

Mark 11:22; and Jesus says to them have faith (trust) in God. This statement introduces His teaching on the believer's use of the faith rest drill.

We have faith or trust in God by recalling, believing and resting confidently in His Word because we know and believe that it is absolute truth. John 17:17;

Remember God's Words are immutable. Mark 13:31; This is because God's Words are a readout of the contents of the divine decree so when we trust in God we are trusting in His immutable essence that is the same yesterday, today and forever. Heb 13:8;

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