In our study of Mark we are examining Jesus Christ who is presented in His unglorified humanity as the God-Man, Savior, and Lord in His first advent.

Jesus Christ entered the human race so that He could fulfill the Father's plan as savior of the world through His substitutionary spiritual death and spiritual victory on the cross through the baptism of the cup that occurred on the cross.

Our celebration of the Lord's table recalls that spiritual victory, God's strategic victory that Jesus Christ accomplished while he was on the earth in unglorified humanity.

Jesus Christ is the pattern for humility and obedience and becoming a channel for the fulfillment of God the Father's plan by complying with the grace principle of pivot power where the power of God's word is deployed through positive volition. Luke 22:42;

God demonstrated His love for us first Rom 5:8; 1John 4:19; we reciprocate love by complying with His mandates. 1John 5:2-3;

Our celebration of the Lord's Table is therefore an expression of our reciprocal love for our Lord who is the strategic victor of time and eternity. We concentrate on him through the elements of the only ritual for the post-canon period of the Church Age Luke 22:19-20;

Jesus Christ was obedient to the Father's unique plan for His life by enduring the suffering and death on the cross Phil 2:8; that resulted in his humanity being exalted above every created being, such that, every created being will ultimately bow down to him. Phil 2:9-10;

He completely and perfectly fulfilled the directive will of the Father by unilaterally providing a way of salvation for everyone. Rom 5:8; as the "lamb slain from the foundation of the world" Rev 13:8; KJV John 1:29;

While we were enemies of God, God demonstrated his love for us by giving his uniquely born Son "monogenes" who entered the world through the virgin birth. John 3:16

As a result of Jesus' substitutionary spiritual death on the cross God is propitiated so He is free to reconcile mankind from their fallen state of depravity without compromising his perfect righteousness and justice because TLJC willingly laid down his life for us as our substitute. John 15:13 ; 1John 3:16

This is why believing in TLJC is the only way to a relationship with God John 14:6 , salvation Acts 4:12 and eternal life John 3:16;

Anyone can appropriate this Grace gift of salvation which is secured by the Power of God John 10:26-29; simply by believing in TLJC 1Cor 15:3-4 in the same way that Paul and Silas instructed the Philippian Jailer who asked "what Must I do to be saved?"

Their response recorded In Acts 16:31

Anyone, any time, anywhere can become saved in a moment in time simply by believing in TLJC privately in their thoughts only.

TLJC left his friends, the members of The Royal Family of God, this one and only ritual in the church age The Lord's table which we are mandated to observe in remembrance of Him.

The mandate is found in 1Cor 11:24; in the second person plural present active imperative of the Greek word " poieo" that where Paul references TLJC's own instruction found in Luke 22:19-20;

An expanded translation of 1Cor 11:24 taking into consideration the tense mood and voice of "poieo" would be " Keep on doing this in remembrance of me"

Because these verbs are only imperatives regarding ritual in the New Testament the Lord's Table is one and only ritual of the Church Age and it is a test of our capacity to concentrate on our Lord Jesus Christ through the Bible Doctrine that is resident in our soul as we partake of the elements that represent his work on our behalf.

We have these instructions for partaking of the Lord's Table from the Apostle Paul starting in verse 26 of 1Cor 11.

1Cor 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.

We understand from this that we are to examine ourselves (imperative mood is a mandate do something because of failure) in the light of the word, privately in our thinking, in the privacy of our priesthood, and when we find we are outside of the word, we apply the first problem solving device, and simply acknowledge the sin as described in 1 John 1:9;

If we acknowledge our sins he is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Having examined ourselves, and taken appropriate action by acknowledging any known sin, we are then instructed to partake of the elements, the bread and the cup.

The bread which represents his body in which he bore the sins and the judgment for our sins and the sins of the whole world, past present and future.

1Cor 11:23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
1Cor 11:24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.

eat the bread

The cup which represents his substitutionary spiritual death on the cross which purchased the freedom from spiritual death and eternal condemnation of everyone who believes in him.

1Cor 11:25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper saying This cup is the new covenant in my Blood do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.

drink cup


In our study of Mark we left off in Mark 12:35; and the parallel passage in Matt 22:42; where after completely confounding the Jewish leaders with His answers to the questions they asked for the purpose of entrapment, He asks them about who's son the Christ is.

This is also a leading question because this is the critical issue. Their attitude toward Christ will determine their eternal destiny and their negative volition toward Christ and their failure to recognize Him as Messiah is their problem.

Their response is "The son of David" so He responds with a follow-up question that is designed to challenge their unbelief in an attempt to them to the correct response.

Their answer indicates that they understood the Messianic line and the Davidic covenant so their answer emphasizes the humanity of Christ. "Of David" emphasizes His humanity. They could not deny that he was a descendant of David.

In His humanity Jesus Christ is the son of David but Jesus Christ in His deity is also the Son of God.

Understanding the perfect humanity of Christ, is important because the perfect humanity of Christ died as our substitute but they are missing out on identifying his complete identity because He is the God-Man.

So their answer was only half an answer and as far as God's Word was concerned it was only half and answer so it was wrong Jesus therefore asks them another leading question in an attempt to help them understand that He is also undiminished Deity as Son of God.

Mark 12:36; In this verse Jesus quotes David in Psa 110:1;"The Lord (Jehovah) said unto my Lord (Adonai)." In our passage the Greek says: "Kurios said unto my kurios."

This leaves no doubt regarding what God's Word is saying about Jesus Christ in Psa 110:1. God is saying to God. In the Greek kurios is the word for deity.

God is saying to God, "Sit down at my right hand," and God doesn't sit down because God is omnipresent. Sitting is a posture that human beings take.

The scribe had answered with a correct answer it just wasn't a complete answer and the Pharisees are being willfully ignorant. Messiah is the son of David but Messiah is also son of God so their answer ignored the fact that Jesus Christ is Messiah, Savior and this is the critical issue for salvation in the Gospel.

John 3:16; Salvation requires belief in the uniquely born Son of God.

As Messiah Savior, Jesus Christ is not simply a descendant of David, He is the God-Man in hypostatic union so if you are going to approach from the standpoint of His being Savior you start from the fact that He is God because He was God long before He was man. John 1:1,14;

When God says to God, sit down, it means that the God who is to sit down has to be more than God, He must also have a resurrected human body.

When did God say this? He said it after the cross, after Jesus resurrection and after He had ascended into heaven. That is when the Lord Jesus Christ was told to sit at the right hand of the Father because His humanity was acceptable and God was satisfied with His work. Rom 3:23-26;