The first four words in the Bible really set the basis for our theology. “In the beginning, God…” God does not offer evidence for His existence. He does not tell us how or when He came into being. And as the rest of the first chapter of Genesis unfolds, we aren’t really given a lot of detail or scientific evidence about how the earth or how humans came into being either. Though a lot of things presented in the Bible can be corroborated by science, or by verified history, God doesn’t seem to be concerned about trying to prove that He exists, or prove that He created the world, but He expects us to believe in Him by faith.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” The point is, that if you can believe that God exists, that in the beginning was God, then you should be able to believe in creation and everything else that God tells us in the scriptures. And God’s word says that creation is evidence enough for a person to believe in God. Rom 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

So as a person who is not a scientist, nor particularly educated in the sciences such as biology or astronomy or any of the sciences, I would be amiss if I were to try to explain creation according to some scientific criteria. Neither will I try to debunk evolution. I think evolution requires as much faith to believe as does creation. I think that you could make the argument that evolution isn’t really science, but a form of religion. And you can choose which religion to believe. But I would say that you cannot logically say you believe in the God of the Bible and yet believe in evolution as well. You must choose between one or the other. If you believe in the first four words of the Bible, then you will have no trouble believing in the rest of the story. But if you don’t believe in creation, then you obviously do not believe in the God of the Bible.

Last time we started with that premise of “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and we didn’t get much further than that. We introduced the first day, when God said, “Let there be light.” And we said that “in the beginning” has no beginning. God existed from eternity past which has no beginning as we can understand it. And I must confess I certainly cannot understand eternity, past or future. My mind balks at trying to comprehend eternity. But somewhere in eternity past God created the heavens and the earth and that includes all that is in our universe. And as Paul said, when you consider the creation, all that God has made, it should reveal to you the eternal nature of God. The finite explains the infinite.

In the first stage of creation, Genesis says “the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” The earth was made of some form of earth, and water covered the earth. It was a water covered orb in space, and in some fashion the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the water.

Some critics have tried to say the Biblical description of creation is only an allegory. I don’t believe that. I think it’s a literal description. God was somehow controlling, keeping together all the elements that made up the earth. I suppose that at that time the Spirit of God set the earth’s rotation and orbit in motion, and is perhaps still controlling that rotation and orbit. Or maybe once the Spirit of God set it in motion, it continues in perpetual motion. I don’t know, but I believe that the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the waters for some reason, and to some effect. And I believe that in some way the universe is still under His control. Col 1:17 says, “He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.”

Then God said… might have been an hour later, might have been eons later, we don’t know. Then, or you could interpret then as next, God said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” That indicates it happened immediately. God said it, and it happened immediately. And perhaps due to the rotation of the earth in relation to the light, there was evening and their was morning, one day. Light came into being on day one. And time began to be counted with the advent of light.

Notice Moses says that God divided the light from darkness. All of this was accomplished without the sun, moon or stars yet created. The light then was a supernatural light, the light of God. God is light, and He manifested His light unto the world. But there was darkness which God called night, and light which God called day. And evening and morning constituted one day. We know today that evening and morning constitutes 24 hours, and 24 hours are in one day. So I think it’s clear that scripture defines a day in regards to the creation as a literal day.

There is no need to try to accommodate science and say that a day could be a thousand years, or a million years. And actually, for evolution to even have a remote chance of being possible in the minds of it’s scientists, they don’t need millions of years, they need billions of years. So it’s pointless to try to stretch a 24 hour day into some million year age. We believe a supernatural God supernaturally created the earth and all that is in it in 6 literal days.

After the first day of creation, there is the work of the second day. Vs 6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.”

Some translations of the Bible interpret firmament as an expanse. The waters of the land are separated from the water vapor in the sky. Some creationists think that there was a significant type of blanket of water vapor in the sky. This canopy of water above the earth would have created a very different environment and climate on the earth than what we have today.

Henry Morris said of this water canopy; “The waters above the firmament thus probably constituted a vast blanket of water vapor above the troposphere and possibly above the stratosphere as well, in the high temperature region now known as the ionosphere, and extending far into space.” It would serve as a global greenhouse, maintaining an essentially uniform, pleasant temperature all over the world.

Without great temperature variations, there would be no significant winds, and the water-rain cycle could not form. There would be no rain, as we know it today. There would be lush, tropical-like vegetation all over the world, fed not by rain, but by an evaporation and condensation cycle, resulting in heavy dew or ground-fog.

This vapor blanket would filter out ultraviolet radiation, cosmic rays, and other destructive energies bombarding the planet. These are known to be the cause of mutations, which are said to decrease human longevity. So under this canopy human and animal lifespans would be greatly increased. A vapor blanket would also provide the necessary reservoir for a potential worldwide flood. And notice Moses repeats the statement, that there was evening and morning, marking the second day.

Vs 9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry [land] appear”; and it was so. And God called the dry [land] Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that [it was] good. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb [that] yields seed, [and] the fruit tree [that] yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed [is] in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb [that] yields seed according to its kind, and the tree [that] yields fruit, whose seed [is] in itself according to its kind. And God saw that [it was] good. So the evening and the morning were the third day.”

Having separated the water of the earth by an expanse, having water above and the water below on the second day, now on the third day God separates the water on the earth to let dry land appear. Some creationists imagine that at this point in creation the land formed one large continent surrounded by water, rather than the various continents that we have today. God called the dry land Earth, and the water He called Seas.

On this same day, God created grass, herbs and trees. The plants were created not as seeds, but as full-grown plants each bearing seeds. So they were created as mature plants, having the appearance of age. Someone has speculated, I believe correctly, that the trees bore growth rings, and yet were created in one day. God built in age in His creation. That answers the great question, which came first, the chicken or the egg? The answer is that the chicken came first. Now you know.

Notice also the repeated statement in each day of the creation account; And God saw that it was good. There can be no good without God. God is good. God did not create evil. But God created good. I would suggest that the devil created evil. And in turn man creates evil. But God creates good.

So the earth was created, and the foliage of the earth was created, but as of the third day there was no sun, only the light of God. Vs 14, Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; [He made] the stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.”

God made the sun and the moon — these lights in the firmament of the heavens to be for signs and seasons. Since the beginning, man has used God’s provision of the sun, moon, and stars to mark and measure time and direction. Already had God used light to mark a day, evening and morning, but now He adds the sun and moon and the stars as physical manifestations of light. And man being able to track the sun and moon and stars is able to differentiate seasons and days and months and years. These orbits are not random, sporadic movements, but are very mathematical calculations which were set in motion by intelligent design.

Now I am unable to articulate it all scientifically, but the sun and moon especially exert gravitational forces on the earth which control many aspects of our climate and tides and even the orbit and rotation of the earth. So in the beginning when God made the heavens and the earth He was the light, and the Spirit of God controlled the earth. But at this point in creation God appoints the sun and moon and stars to give light, and the gravitational forces of those objects control the direction and orbit and rotation of the earth as well as other significant factors like climate and tides and so forth. Scientists tell us that the Earth orbits around the Sun at an average speed of about 67,000 miles per hour. This forward motion is crucial in counteracting the pull of gravity from the Sun and the Moon. There is obviously a critical, delicate balance in gravity in regards to the earth’s orbit which makes Earth habitable at all, and keeps life from either burning up or freezing, that provides enough gravity to keep us on the earth and yet doesn’t pin us to the ground. The thought that all of that is the result of random chance requires much more blind faith than believing in intelligent design.

Vs 20 Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

One of the primary characteristics of God is that He is Creator. Again and again in Isaiah we read where God extolls the fact that He created the heavens and the earth. And what is really amazing to consider is the immense diversity in creation. It’s interesting that God takes a day to create sky and sea creatures, the fish and the birds, and then another day to create land born creatures. But consider how many different species of fish and birds He created. One scientific source has concluded that there are 18,000 different species of birds, and possibly more still to be discovered. Plus what is possibly now extinct. Google says that there are 33000 species of fish. It’s really incredible to research all the different species and with modern technology such as computers, to see how incredibly diverse fish are, with a vast array of amazing designs and colors. Again, a testament to a Almighty Creator. So many attributes of fish and birds that have no evolutionary reason for their existence or color or shape according to necessity, but it would seem just because God enjoyed creating incredible creatures.

Day six. Vs 24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.”

All animal life was created according to its kind. God deliberately created plenty of variation within a kind, but one “kind” does not become another. For example, the teacup poodle is very different from the Great Dane, but they are both dogs. However, they will never become mice, no matter how much breeding is done or how much time elapses. Evolutionists often give convincing examples of microevolution, the variation of a kind within its kind, adapting to the environment. But there has been no change outside of the kind. Microevolution does not prove macroevolution.

And then God created the crowning achievement of creation on the sixth day. Vs 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, [I have given] every green plant for food”; and it was so. God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

First of all, notice the repeated use of the plural pronouns (Let Us… in Our image, according to Our likeness) which is consistent with the idea that there is One God in three Persons, what we call the Trinity. So our fundamental understanding of who God is, is taught in Genesis 1. And secondly, an understanding of who man is begins with knowing we are made in the image of God. Man is different from every other order of created beings because He is created in the image of God, according to His likeness. Man was created spirit, soul and body, and in that sense, we are made in His likeness. Man is distinct from the animal kingdom in that they are not only physical beings, but spiritual beings. And only in spirit can we have fellowship with God. We were created to have fellowship with God.

Notice also that man was made to rule over the world, both the plant and animal kingdoms. When God created man, He decreed that man would have dominion over the earth. Man’s pre-eminence of the created order and his ability to affect and care for his environment is part of God’s plan for man and the earth. But notice that the earth was made for man, not man for the earth. Creation is in opposition to the tenets of evolution and the religion of environmentalism which says that man is evil for utilizing nature. But creation says that nature was made for man, and man has a responsibility to rule over it responsibly. The earth was made for man, to support his life and to provide for his needs. God gave man dominion over the whole earth, but only vegetation is specifically mentioned as being for food. Seemingly, before the flood, the human race was vegetarian, but after the flood, man was given permission to eat the flesh of animals (Genesis 9:3), if not the necessity to eat meat. We may discuss that further when we get to chapter 9.

But we are plainly told God created man fully formed, and created him in one day, not gradually over millions of years of progressive evolution. It’s impossible to conceive of a man that was only partially evolved to even survive, much less continue to reproduce and populate the earth. So man was made fully formed, fully mature, with all the signs of having lived already on the day that he was made.

Now there is some speculation and debate among Bible scholars as to whether or not Eve was created in the same day as Adam. I personally am of the opinion that on day six God made man, Adam, singular. But in making man, God created the blueprint for male and female, and put the DNA and chromosomes necessary for male and female in the body of Adam. Now I cannot be dogmatic about that, but reading chapter 2 it is difficult to see all of the planting of the garden, the order to Adam to tend to the garden, the naming of the all the animals and creatures in creation, all of that to occur in 24 hours. I suppose it’s possible but I don’t see that it’s necessary to see all of that happening in one day.

Furthermore, I believe God delayed the creation of woman by some indefinite period of time to illustrate a greater principle, which answers the question of why God created man to begin with. In chapter 2, after creating man, God says it is not good for man to be alone. Obviously, that means that man was created alone at first. But although God intended from the beginning to make man a helper, a mate, yet He allows some time to elapse as God brings all the animals of creation before Adam to name them. The result was that Adam did not find in all of creation a mate suitable for him. Then after that fruitless search, God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and God made woman from his rib.

Now I think that could very well illustrate something that may have occurred before Creation. I know it’s speculation on my part to some extent, but I can’t help but think this is the reason the Bible presents the creation of man and woman in this way. We know that God is the Creator, creation of immense diversity of creatures is a primary characteristic of God. But perhaps at some point in eternity past, God looked at all the creatures, all the heavenly hosts if you will, in all the galaxies that He has made, and God found no creature suitable to be a help mate for Him.

And so God created man in His image, in His likeness. God desired a help mate to share life with, to be His bride, to have fellowship with. And God chose to create man for that purpose. The Westminster Shorter Catechism first question asks, What is the chief end of man? And the answer given is, Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.

As we will see in our next study, in all of creation, God spoke everything into existence. God needed only to speak things into existence, and it was so. Yet with man we see a different approach. With man, God formed him out of the clay of the ground, presumably with His hands, and breathed the breath of life into His nostrils. We see an intimacy there that is unmatched in the rest of creation. One can almost visualize the love that God has toward man, stooping to scoop up the clay, lovingly forming him into His own likeness, and then bending down in almost a kiss to breath the breathe of life into Him.

Now I hope that imagery is not offensive in some way, either God or to you. But I do think it perhaps answers the question why God created man, and how God loves us enough to die for us. I think it reinforces the principle that man was made for God, for fellowship with God. But I realize that I also have taken liberties with the word of God that are not explicitly stated in scripture. But I hope that I am not being presumptuous in my speculation.

The last day of creation is one where God rests from His work. Ch. 2 vs 1, Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

God did not need rest on the seventh day because He was tired. God rested to show His creating work was done, to give a pattern to man regarding the structure of time (in seven-day weeks), and to give an example of the blessing of rest to man on the seventh day. God sanctified the seventh day because it was a gift to man for rest and replenishment, and most of all because the Sabbath is a shadow or illustration of the rest available through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Colossians 2:16-17 and Galatians 4:9-11 make it clear that Christians are not under obligation to observe the Sabbath today because Jesus fulfilled the purpose and plan of the Sabbath for us and in us (Hebrews 4:9-11). Though God rested on the seventh day of creation, He did not institute the Sabbath as an ordinance for man at that point or show us His rest for His own sake. God does not take the Sabbath off. Jesus Himself said, My Father has been working until now, and I have been working (John 5:17). God does not need a day off, but man needs to see the finished work of God and know he can enter into that rest by the finished work of Jesus.

The description of each other day of creation ended with the phrase, so the evening and the morning were the second day and so forth. However, this seventh day of creation does not have that phrase. This is because God’s rest for us isn’t confined to one literal day. In the new creation, God has an eternal Sabbath rest for His people.

Heb. 4:9-16 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through [following] the same example of disobedience.

2Cor. 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, [he is] a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.

Today, as we are on the cusp of beginning a new year, we are going to begin a new series on the book of Genesis. Genesis is a book of beginnings. The word Genesis literally means origins. It is a record of the beginning of time, the beginning of the earth, the beginning of the animal kingdom, the beginning of man, the origin of marriage, the origin of sin. There are many other firsts that we will see as we study through this book. But I call this a series in Genesis, because it will not be a complete exegesis of every chapter and verse, but an expose of significant passages that form the foundation of the gospel.

The foundations of our theology are established in Genesis. For example, the doctrines of the trinity -God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the creation of everything that exists by the expression of God’s will, the fall of man, redemption, judgment, and the kingdom of God. The foundation of the gospel is presented in Genesis, and without a firm faith in the truth of Genesis as the word of God, I believe it is impossible to be saved. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith [it is] impossible to please [Him], for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and [that] He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

That being said, it is important to know that though Moses is said in scripture to be the human author of Genesis, the inspiration of the word was by the Holy Spirit. 2Peter 1: 21 “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke [as they were] moved by the Holy Spirit.”

And 2Tim. 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

So in actuality, God is the author of Genesis. He was the only one that was around to witness it. That’s important to keep in mind because if you begin to study the origins of the world in many academic institutions both religious and secular, you will very quickly be told that there were multiple authors of Genesis that altered and added to it’s account down through the centuries. So that what we have today is a mishmash of traditions and myths and handed down stories all edited and combined together in such a way as to make it completely unreliable and actually a creation myth that is not dissimilar to other creation myths such as the Babylonian epics like the Enuma Elish.

But of course, modern academic criticism doesn’t believe in the divine inspiration of scripture at all. However, if we are to have Biblical faith, saving faith, then we must believe in the literal interpretation of scripture according to it’s literary context, as we have received it. A creationism theologian by the name of Henry Morris said, “The only proper way to interpret Genesis 1 is not to ‘interpret’ it at all. That is, we accept the fact that it was meant to say exactly what it says.”

So we don’t rely upon Moses having reliable documents or verbal traditions to guide him or to use as a reference. We don’t rely upon ancient rabbinic editors who added or changed Genesis to suit their preferences or teach a particular view point. We rely on God to speak through his servant Moses the truth concerning Himself and His creation, and His salvation of man, and to guard His word and establish His word for all generations to come.

The most reliable interpretation of scripture comes from scripture itself. Someone has counted over 200 quotations or allusions from Genesis in the New Testament. And probably one of the best interpretations or explanations of the creation account is found in John 1, starting in vs 1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

So notice the correlation between John 1:1 and Genesis 1:1. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” And John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” John is actually writing a commentary on Genesis 1:1, expounding details that were not fully made clear in Genesis.

But first I want you to notice that phrase, “in the beginning.” In Genesis, you might suppose that to mean that at the beginning of creation, God began to create the earth. But according to John, there is more to the phrase “in the beginning” than simply a starting point of creation. Because John goes on to stress the eternal nature of God by saying of the Word; “He was in the beginning with God.”

There is no starting point in “in the beginning with God.” God is eternal. He was before all things. As was God in the beginning, so was the Word in the beginning. Paul says in Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible [attributes] are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.”

So many scriptures speak of the eternal nature of God that I cannot begin to quote them all here, but we see it in Psalm 93:2 which says, “Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.” And Psalm 90:2 “Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” His eternal nature is essential to our salvation, because the great gift of salvation is eternal life. And if God is not eternal, then how could He give eternal life? So our salvation is bound up in the doctrine of God being eternal.

The next word I would like to address this morning is the name of God given in vs 1, which is Elohim. Hebrew scholars tell us that this word is plural, which speaks of the Godhead, the trinity. That plural aspect of God is further borne out by the phrase in vs 26, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.’” Once again notice that the plural pronouns are used in reference to God. And of course that correlates with what John said about the Word being in the beginning with God and active in the creation of all things.

Someone has pointed out that you can see all three persons of the Godhead at work in Genesis; Elohim in vs 1, the Spirit of God moving on the water in vs 2, and the Word of God speaking in vs 3, “Then God said…” The concept of the Word being one of the Godhead is established in John’s account. So believing in God as He is described in scripture is essential to our salvation as we read earlier from Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith [it is] impossible to please [Him], for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and [that] He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

So then “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God is the creator of the heavens and the earth. The word create in the ancient Hebrew means to bring forth something out of nothing. God didn’t use preexisting materials. God spoke the world and the heavens into existence, from nothing into something. Psalm 33:6 says, “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host.” The creative power of the word of God is beyond our comprehension.

John 1:3 says “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” It’s important to understand that everything was made by Him. God created everything that exists. Everything spiritual, everything physical, everything in the heavens. Col. 1:16-17 speaking of the Son of God says, “For by Him all things were created, [both] in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

Paul refers in 2 Cor. 12 to there being three heavens. He said he was caught up into the third heaven. Theologians have determined that there are three heavens; the first is our atmosphere, the region of the clouds, the second heaven is the sphere of the stars, and the third heaven is the sphere of God. I’m not sure how that looks, since they may not be stacked upon one another but intermingled in some way. In other words, the third heaven may not be beyond the farthest star, but somehow between the particles which make up our atmosphere. I don’t know. There may be even more than three heavens. But one thing’s for sure, God made the heavens and all the occupants of the heavens.

I must confess that there is a part of me that wants to believe that there is an indefinite period of time between vs 1 and vs 3. There is something in theological circles called the Gap Theory which says that there was a space of time between vs 1 and 3 which may have been millions of years long. I can see that as plausible just from reading those verses, and it lends itself to explaining the geophysical age of the earth. But the Gap Theory also claims that there was a previous creation which God had destroyed and part of the judgment of God was that He condemned Satan to the confinement of the earth. And so they see the chaos and darkness that covered the earth as evidence of that.

I don’t think that scripture supports that theory in the full dimension of what they claim. I don’t think the fossil record is from a previous creation, but rather is evidence of the flood. I believe the Bible teaches only one creation on earth. But I do think that it is possible that the earth and the heavens were dormant for possibly millions of years before creation, and the earth was just formless and void.

But I have to say I cannot be dogmatic about that view in light of further study of this passage. And that’s due to the events of day four. Because on day four God created the sun and the moon and the stars. So that would seem to indicate that the entire universe was created on day four. I don’t know if that includes other galaxies or not. I would tend to think that God made other galaxies prior to ours, but I don’t know that there is any support for that one way or another. But it seems that on the basis of scripture, God created our universe in the six days of creation.

I do find it odd though that the creation of the earth is described in this way by Moses, which seems to imply a separate act of creation in creating the heavens and earth, and then in vs 3 another definitive aspect of creation, that being light, which happens on day 1. The best explanation that I can come up with is that Moses says in the beginning, an indefinite period of time, God created the heavens and the earth. But the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. We know from further reading that there is earth under the water because on day two God separates the water and dry land appears. But in the beginning, for an indefinite period of time, there is globular form of water suspended in space.

I find it interesting that when scientists search for evidence of life on other planets, the primary thing they want to find is evidence of water. Without water there can be no life as we know it. And as far as we know, the earth is the only planet that has water in any sort of liquid form.

But scientists tell us that they believe there is something in the universe called dark matter and dark energy. I don’t even begin to understand it, but they seem to think that the mass–energy content of the universe is 5% ordinary matter, 26.8% dark matter, and 68.2% a form of energy known as dark energy. I don’t understand any of that, except to say that according to scripture the heavens and the earth were created and yet the sun, moon and stars had not yet been created. One noted scientist has said that dark matter is the glue that holds all the universe together. I believe that is actually God Himself, or as Moses says here, the Spirit of God moved across the waters. Col 1:17 says, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

Notice also what Hebrews 1:3 says, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. So even in the beginning of creation, God is moving, controlling, energizing His creation. Holding the waters of the earth together. Holding the universe together. Without that power of God over His creation, the entire universe would explode and scatter across space.

Now let’s assume that in the beginning God made the matter which constitutes the heavens and the earth, and that existed for an indefinite period of time. But when God makes the light on day one, it does not become a day until He makes light appear. The light separates the darkness, and makes one day. That day does not exist until there is light.

Let’s read that. Vs 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.”

So the The first day of creation is defined by the manifestation of light. Notice I don’t say that God created light because the scripture doesn’t say God created light. On day four God creates the lights in the heavens, the sun, moon and stars. But on this day one, God says let there be light. John 1:4-5 “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

But on day one, God said, “let there be light.” If there is no sun, moon or stars yet created, then where does the light come from? The only answer is that the light comes from God. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” 1John 1:5 “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”

Now you may say correctly that the gospel is light. But you must also remember that Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” But however we try to explain it, there was light which God commanded to appear to the world and it was so. It is the light of God, so I say it was not created, because God was not created, but it was manifested to the world. 2Cor. 4:6 “For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

So Genesis tells us that light, day, and night each existed before the sun and the moon were created on the fourth day. This shows us that light is more than a physical substance; it also has a supernatural aspect. It says in Revelation 22:5 that in the new heavens and the new earth, there won’t be any sun or moon. God Himself will be the light.

The other important thing to consider about this statement is that God created time. Time is relevant only to our universe, and a day is calculated by the cycle of evening and morning. A day is defined as evening and morning. So the rotation of the earth in relation to the light constitutes one day. And we have further divided a day into 24 hours. This concept of time is important to understand because God exists outside of our time space continuum. And further, it refutes the theory of Theistic Evolution, which is a belief that the day spoken of in Genesis actually refers to an age that may have lasted for thousands, if not millions of years in order to correlate to evolution.

So the creation of the world and all that is in it happened in six literal days, as defined by evening and morning. And that should not be something that is difficult to believe, if you believe that God created the heavens and the earth, or if you believe in the eternal nature of God. But if you do not believe in God as eternal, then neither will you believe in His gospel.

Jesus said in John 5:46-47 “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

So if we believe what Moses said concerning the origin of the heavens and the earth, then we must believe that God Himself was before the beginning in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We must believe that before creation there was a plan of God. Eph 3:11 says [This was] in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We must believe the mission of Jesus was foreordained before the foundation of the world. 1Peter 1:20 says, “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

We must believe that eternal life was promised before time began: Titus 1:2 says, “in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.”

We must believe that the mystery of the gospel (the cross) was foreordained before the ages: 1 Corinthians 2:7 “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory.”

We must believe the grace given unto us was given before the world began: 2 Timothy 1:9 “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.”

And we must believe that believers in Jesus Christ were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world: Ephesians 1:4 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”

Do you believe what the word of God says concerning what happened in the beginning? Then believe also in Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 12:46 “I have come [as] Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.”

And He said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies.”
As Jesus prayed with the disciples before His crucifixion, in John 17:3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

One of my favorite Christmas carols is “What Child is this?” And I think that this carol asks the quintessential question of all mankind, what is this Child that was born of Mary. It’s a question that hopefully you have answered in your heart. The answer to this question is declared by the angel, “for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.“

But to fully appreciate the anticipation of what this Child was that was to be born, you must be familiar with the prophesies that were made concerning Him, and which progressively were made more explicitly down through the centuries revealing more and more details concerning what this Child would be. His birth was initially prophesied at the dawn of creation. In fact, God Himself prophesied to Satan concerning One who would be born of a woman, who would crush Satan beneath His feet. God said in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

God furthered promised to Abraham, that from his seed would come One through whom all the world would be blessed. Gen 22:18 “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

Joseph was a further prophetic illustration concerning the question of what child is this, by being the son of his father rejected by His brethren, and yet providing salvation for the very ones that had rejected him.

Another type or prophetic symbol of the One who was to come and the purpose for which He came is found in the Passover Lamb that was slain so that the angel of death would pass over the people of God who had the blood of the lamb on their door. The Christ would be the spotless lamb of God that was slain for the sins of the world, so that those who had the condemnation of death might be delivered from it.

In the book of Exodus, we have the prophetic typology of this seed of Abraham pictured in Moses, who would be the deliverer of His people from enslavement. Moses was a type of the Christ to come, who spoke the word of God, who performed mighty wonders and miracles, who delivered his people from slavery, and who led them safely through the sea, and through the wilderness into the Promised Land.

David was another prophetic type of who this child would be, as David was anointed King, and God promised David that his kingdom would endure forever. Psalm 89:3-4 says “I have made a covenant with My chosen; I have sworn to David My servant, I will establish your seed forever And build up your throne to all generations.” So this child that would be born was to be the Anointed One, who will reign as King over the kingdom of God.

Isaiah answers this question of “what child is this” by several prophecies. We looked at a couple of them last week, but I will just read them to you again to refresh your memory, and to show how God progressively reveals more and more details concerning this child through prophecy as the day of His birth drew closer.

Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” In this verse, much more detail is given, He will be called Immanuel, which means God with us. Now it becomes even more clear that this child will be the Son of God in human form.

That truth is prophesied even more clearly in Isaiah 9:6 which says, “For a child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of [His] government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”

This prophecy explicitly makes clear that this child that will be born, will be the Son of God, will be the ruling head of the kingdom of God, will be the Almighty God, the Father of Eternal Life, will be of the line of David, and His government will be forever.

There are many other prophesies and illusions in Isaiah to the future child that will be born, but we cannot brush past the prophesy found in Isaiah 53, which speaks even more clearly and specifically about for what purpose this child was born. It speaks of the Christ being the Savior, that He will grow up before the Lord, despised and rejected of men, unrecognized as the King of Glory, yet offering Himself up to be beaten, bruised, and slaughtered for our iniquities, that as vs 11 says, “As a result of the anguish of His soul, He (God the Father) will see [it and] be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.”

There are many other prophesies concerning the Messiah, the Anointed One of God who was to come to mankind as a baby in a manger. But not to remain a baby, but to grow up and live a righteous life, to teach the word of God, to save man from the condemnation of sin by the offering of Himself as our substitute. So that when the angels announce His birth on that much anticipated night, they say “today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

But this is not just a theological spiritual exercise, but the birth of Christ is a historical, actual, physical event that is well documented both in scripture and by secular writings. At the outset of Luke chapter 2 you see a census being taken of all the inhabited earth. It was a census by the decree of Caesar Augustus who was over the Roman Empire, which was the dominant government of the civilized world. It’s interesting to think that for the next century or two, you could have looked at that census and found the name of Jesus of Nazareth, born of Joseph and Mary. In fact, Justin Martyr, writing in the middle of the second century, said that in his own day (more than a hundred years after the time of Jesus) you could look up the record of the same census Luke mentioned.

Joseph and Mary were required to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem to register, which was a journey of about 80 miles, at the very time when Mary was about to give birth. Joseph was a carpenter. Mary was a young woman who was scandalized by gossip that she was the mother of an illegitimate child, even though the baby was conceived of the Holy Spirit. After an arduous trip they were strangers in a tiny town that had no room for them in the one inn the town could boast of. And so desperate to find shelter for his wife who was soon to bear a child, Joseph found what many think was a cave hollowed out as a shelter for livestock, and he made a bed for the baby in a manger. Mary had the baby with presumably no midwife to help, and she swaddled Jesus in cloths and laid Him in a manger.

What a contrast in imagery! This Jesus, the long anticipated Messiah, the God’s Anointed One of countless prophesies, of the royal line of David, destined to be King over all the earth, inconspicuously born in a tiny town of Bethlehem, in a feeding trough, to a young woman and a carpenter, in the most common of common circumstances. As Isaiah said 700 years before, “He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.”

But though the townspeople of Bethlehem are oblivious to the birth of the King in a manger on the outskirts of the village, yet God chose to announce it to some common shepherds out in the country, who were keeping watch over their flocks that night.

And Luke says “And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.” I suppose they were. A lot of people claim to have seen angels, but one thing that seems common to all Biblical accounts of someone seeing an angel is that they are terrified. We saw that at the tomb of Jesus in our study the other week. “They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

But however terrifying angels may appear, they are the messengers of God. I don’t know in what form these angels came that appeared to the shepherds. They could have been in blinding light, their forms in flames, their appearance like lightening, they might have had wings, or they might have looked like ordinary young men, they might have been standing or they might have been hovering in the air. We don’t really know. But we do know that Luke says the glory of the Lord shone around them. That probably means there was a very bright light that shone from them and around them. We also know that there were more than one, for Luke says that the angels went away from them into heaven.

Popular tradition says that the angels sang. But the Bible doesn’t say they sang. However, Luke records them as saying, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This [will be] a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

As I mentioned previously, the angels announcement answers the question, “what child is this?” Saying that there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Notice that the angels give titles for Jesus. First they say this child that is born is a Savior. This was a title that was used for deity, which refers to Him as a deliverer. The second title is Christ. Christ is the Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah. The Messiah is the promised Anointed One of God. The Son of David, who would reign on the throne forever. And the third title they give is Lord. Adonai in the Greek. Again, another title of deity. Master, ruler, sovereign. And of course we know that previously the angel Gabriel said to Joseph that His name would be Jesus. Jesus means Jehovah Saves. Jesus is the Savior, the Messiah, and the Lord.

Then suddenly with the angel that made this announcement is a multitude of the heavenly host. Hundreds, if not thousands of angels appear, the armies of heaven, all praising God and saying, “glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” That peace from God is not the same kind of peace that John Lennon called for. It doesn’t mean the end of war. It’s the peace brokered by Jesus Christ on behalf of man, when we were at enmity with God. Jesus became our peace. He satisfied the justice of God so that we might become adopted into the family of God. That’s why Isaiah prophesied that He would be the Prince of Peace. Jesus arbitrated our peace with God.

“When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds [began] saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger.”

Vs17 When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.” I find it very interesting that God relied upon common shepherds to be the witnesses of the incarnation and to make it known. Do you know that the word pastor comes from the word shepherd? Shepherd is from word which means to pasture, which is where the word pastor comes from. Your pastor is supposed to be a shepherd, one who cares for and tends to the flock of God. But a pastor is also supposed to be a preacher, a proclaimer of the good news. And so I suppose it’s fitting that God chose these shepherds to proclaim the good news, the gospel, that Jesus the Messiah, the Lord, had been born in Bethlehem. That is the same job that God has given pastor’s today, to proclaim the good news, the gospel to all men.

The gospel is just this, that Christ was born to be our Savior, our Lord, and our King.That He was born to free us from our sins, and to procure our peace with God, that we might be made a part of God’s kingdom. If anyone believes in Jesus Christ as Lord, and receives Him as their Savior, they can be saved and be delivered from the condemnation of death and receive instead everlasting life.

Today we celebrate and proclaim the Lord’s birth as Christmas. Christmas means God’s gift to man. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Receive Him today, and be saved.

Luke says that all who heard the shepherd’s message wondered, or were amazed. Luke doesn’t say that they believed. He doesn’t say that the ones who heard came to worship Jesus. But they wondered. Many people wonder about Jesus today. They wonder if He was truly the Son of God. They wonder if His message is really the truth. They wonder if He is the only way to God, as He claimed. They wonder if it might be true, or some of it might be true, but maybe none of it’s true. They wonder if it really matters. And they die without coming to saving faith in who Jesus is and what He has done to save man. Don’t let your life pass you by and you never truly believe. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. He that doesn’t believe is condemned.

But some believed. Luke says in vs 19”But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.” Did you know that Mary needed to be saved? The Roman Catholic Church says that Mary was sinless, that she never died, she was assumed into heaven. They have made a deity out of Mary which is a terrible sin of idolatry against God. Mary was a virgin, but she was a sinner. The Bible says for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But Mary believed what the angels said concerning her Child. She believed that she had been conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Back in Luke 1vs 30 The angel Gabriel said to Mary, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”

So Mary believed these things, pondering them in her heart. How do we know that Mary believed? You simply have to read what is known as Mary’s Magnificat, which is found in Luke 1 vs 46. I won’t take the time to read all of it, but in the first two verses she praises God as her Savior. And Mary said: “My soul exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.”

The shepherds also believed. Vs 20 “The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.” They were praising God that today in the city of David there has been born for them a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” That belief, that faith, is all that is required for salvation, to have peace with God.

Today the shepherds have declared unto you that in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Do you believe in your heart in Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior? Do you receive the gift of God? I pray that you do.

Well, since we finished the gospel of Mark, I thought it was appropriate to do a couple of messages for the next two Sundays on the subject of Christ’s birth before we get into our next series on Genesis. And since we are studying Isaiah on Wednesday nights, I thought it would be appropriate to base our first message on Isaiah’s prophecies concerning the birth of Jesus Christ.

What I want to do though is just focus on two passages of scripture in Isaiah which speak of the birth of Christ. There are other Messianic prophecies in Isaiah, but I just want to focus on two that particularly mention the birth of Christ. The first is found in Isaiah 7:14. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Now if you look at the context, it may have not been immediately evident that Isaiah was speaking of the birth of the Messiah. In context, the king of Judea was Ahaz, and he was a rebellious king against the Lord. The king of Israel and the king of Syria had plotted an attack against Judah. They wanted to attack Jerusalem, defeat the capital of Judah, then depose Ahaz and set up their own king. But God had promised that Judah would not succumb to their attacks. Ahaz, however, didn’t believe God, but wanted to make an alliance with Assyria who he thought would protect them. So God told Ahaz to ask for a sign as divine confirmation that God would deliver them.

And so Ahaz says, rather self righteously, “I will not ask neither will I test the Lord.” But of course it is God who has asked him to accept the sign and so now God says, “All right, Ahaz. If you are not going to ask for a sign, I am going to give you a sign just the same.” “Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel.” Ahaz, that is your sign.

This is one of the most famous prophecies regarding the birth of Jesus the Messiah in the Bible. It also illustrates a principle of Biblical prophecy, that prophecy may have both a near fulfillment and a far fulfillment. Theologians have found much to debate about concerning this prophecy. Many contemporary theologists want to find a way that this prophecy was fulfilled in the immediate sense. Now I don’t want to get bogged down this morning about all the ways this may have been fulfilled. Personally, I don’t think it was fulfilled until the Messiah was born which is about 700 years later. I think the next verses speak of Isaiah’s son, and the fact that within 3 years or so, God will deliver Judah from the two kings who had conspired against them.

So without fully understanding why the Holy Spirit chose to interject this prophecy of something which will take place 700 years in the future in the middle of a prophecy that is more or less quickly fulfilled, I want instead to focus on the Messianic prophecy. Because almost everyone agrees that this particular verse is a prophecy of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Note first of all that the sign given by God is a supernatural event, a divine intervention in the affairs of man, a miraculous sign that a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. The miracle is that a virgin, a young woman who had never been with a man, should conceive.

And we know that this prophecy was fulfilled at Jesus’s birth. Matthew writes in his gospel, in chapter 1 vs 20 “But while he (Joseph) thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

So you see Matthew quotes from this verse in Isaiah, showing that indeed Mary was a virgin, and she was conceived by the Holy Spirit. This text is ultimately the basis of the Apostles’ Creed, which says Jesus was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary.

What that reveals is a very important doctrine of Christology; that Christ was fully God and fully man. Conceived of the Holy Spirit in a virgin who gave birth to a son. And then Isaiah’s prophecy goes on to present even more specifics: they shall call His name Immanuel. Immanuel means God with us. John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Previously in John 1:1 John said that the Word was in the beginning with God, and the Word was God. So Jesus was God, in the beginning with God, and yet He added humanity to HIs nature by being born of a woman.

So Immanuel speaks of the dual nature of Christ. God became man and thus God is with us. And that introduces us to the next major Messianic prophecy that we are looking at in Isaiah, which gives us more information concerning the birth of the Messiah, and who He is, and for what purpose He was born, and that prophecy is found in chapter 9 vs 6. “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of [His] government and peace [There will be] no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”

Many of you will recognize verse six as the basis for part of Handel’s Messiah, which was an oratorio written in 1742. Handel wrote this oratorio based on direct quotes from the King James Bible, and covers the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the Messiah. It’s one of my favorite pieces of music, and it’s unfortunate that we don’t hear it played more often at Christmas.

But here in this text we have an unusual pair of verses in which the names of the Messiah are all grouped together and the result is that we have more names or titles of the Messiah crowded into one verse than we do anywhere else in all of the Bible. We read in the 6th verse: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor (that comma after Wonderful should not be there), The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” And when we think of the name Jesus which is given to the Lord in the New Testament, remember, by God Himself, it is a divinely chosen name, a divinely significant name. “Thou shall call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins.” The name Jesus is probably the complete summary of all of these Old Testament names that are given to our Lord here in Isaiah. He is Jesus. He is Jehovah’s salvation.

Now for context notice the 2nd verse, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.” Darkness was within Galilee at the time of Isaiah’s writing.. Darkness was upon Galilee for the Assyrian was coming down upon the land but God says that the light is to come. Once again we see predictive prophecy having both a near and far fulfillment. But it is to the future fulfillment that we look today, at the promise of the coming of the Messiah who will provide the ultimate deliverance of God’s people. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.

This passage is quoted in Matt. 4:12-17 “Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. [This was] to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES– “THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED.” From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” So the gospel of Jesus Christ is the light of God shone upon people who were under the condemnation of death.

So continuing in our text in Isaiah 9, verses 6, it tells us that, “For unto us, a child is born, unto us a son is given.” The first thing I want you to notice is that in this verse it states, “The child is born, but the Son is given.” Now I do not believe that this is written accidentally. The child is born, the Son is given. You see the first expression, “The child is born” is an expression that looks at Jesus as a man in his relation to men. Just as we are born of flesh so He is born of flesh. Our Lord’s human nature comes into existence in the same way as our human nature comes into existence.

He was born as other men are born. So even in his birth he entered into the experiences of humanity. It is the child that is born, His relationship to men, His humanity. God becomes flesh and dwelt among us. But then the text states that the Son is given. This is his relationship to God the Father. He was the preexistent Eternal Son and he is given to men. As John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son.” So a child is born, and a Son is given.

Now as child, He is called a descendant of David. But He is at the same time, the Son, who is the descendant of God. In fact, he is God’s only begotten Son. And so here, Jesus is the Son of God, that is, He is divine.

So, unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given. Then notice, the government shall be upon his shoulder. What is this government that shall be upon his shoulder? I would say without question it is the government of the Kingdom of God. He is the King of the Kingdom of God. Back in Matthew 4:17 which we read a moment ago we read that from that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus is the King of the government of God, or the kingdom of heaven. Both expressions speak of the same kingdom.

Notice vs7 “Of the increase of [His] government and peace [There will be] no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” The government of the kingdom of heaven is an eternal government. It is a spiritual government. Jesus announced the spiritual aspects of it at His first appearing, and He will bring about the consummation of the physical aspects of His kingdom at His second coming, and it will then continue for eternity.

Rev 21:3 speaks of this consummation of the kingdom of God. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.’ And all aspects of the kingdom of God will be accomplished because of the zeal of the Lord of hosts. That’s a reference to the Lord of angelic armies. I’m reminded of John 2:17, after Jesus cleansed the temple, it says in vs 17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.”

Notice then the titles of the Messiah. The first one, Wonderful Counselor. When we think of the Lord as wonderful, that means marvelous, incomprehensible, miraculous. We then think of Him as wonderful in the past, wonderful in the present, wonderful in the future. He is beyond the creation. He is beyond man. He is beyond all of the ministry and wisdom of men. He is the wonderful counselor. Wonderful in the past for He is the eternal one. He had no beginning.

He was wonderful in his birth, miraculous conception. He was wonderful in his ministry. He was wonderful above all in his death. And he was wonderful in His resurrection and he was wonderful in his ascension. All of these great events expressed the supernatural character of our Lord Jesus. You know this word which is used here, translated here “Wonderful” is the Hebrew word pele. Now, this word has a root that is used in several places in the Old Testament and often it is a word that refers to deity.

In Judges chapter 13 there is the story of Samson and the story of how Manoah, his father, had a visit from the angel of the Lord and in verse 17 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, “What [is] Your name, that when Your words come [to pass] we may honor You?” And the Angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask My name, seeing it [is] wonderful?” So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the LORD. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on– it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar–the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw [this], they fell on their faces to the ground. When the Angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He [was] the Angel of the LORD. And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!”

So it was God who appeared to Manaoah. It was Jesus in his pre-incarnate glory. It was what is called in theology a Theophany, a preincarnate appearance of God. Wonderful Counselor, the supernatural counselor. Counselor means teacher, adviser, guide. Jesus is Wonderful Counselor.

Then the next tile is “The mighty God.” The word El in the Book of Isaiah never means anything but God. El can sometimes mean something other than God. But in the Book of Isaiah it never means anything other than God. Very clearly here the Messiah is identified as the God. I think that the chief priests and scribes knew this to be true about the Messiah. And they knew that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, and thus claimed to be God. That’s why they accused Him of blasphemy. That was the crime they accused Him of that they said was worthy of death. And yet they knew that the Messiah must be God. This baby who was born of a virgin was none other than the Almighty God in human flesh.

Phl. 2:5-11 says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, [and] coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to [the point of] death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” This baby in a manger was the Almighty God.

The next title is Everlasting Father, the Father of eternity, isn’t it interesting? The infinite is an infant. The infant is infinite. Unto us a child is born and He is the Father of Eternity. He is not saying that Jesus is the Father. He is talking about his relationship to us, not his relationship within the counsel of the Trinity. In the Godhead of the Trinity there is one God in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, but when he speaks of him as the Father of Eternity, he is speaking of Him in relationship to us. He is the life giver. He is the parent of Eternity. He is the one who made all things, and who gives eternal life to us and in that sense he is a father of that which is eternal.

And then the last title is the Prince of Peace. Jesus is the One who makes peace between God and man. Because He was fully God and fully man, He was able to reconcile man to God. To be the substitute for man who was condemned to die, and so He took our place and died for our sins so that we might have peace with God. A favorite Christmas hymn is “Hark the herald angels sing.” In that song there is the line, “Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King, peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.” Christ has the authority and the power to rule over our peace with God.

So Isaiah says in vs 7 “Of the increase of [His] government and peace [There will be] no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this eternal salvation for His people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. God is jealous to accomplish it. That is the meaning of the Hebrew text by the way, that the jealousy of the Lord of Hosts will perform this and all of his power and all of his authority and all of his wisdom is pledged to the Son, to the Child, Immanuel, God with us, who is our Wonderful Counselor, the Almighty God, our Father of eternity, and the Prince of our Peace.

I pray that you have received Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, that you might enter into that rest, and be born again as a child of God, a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.

Today we will finish preaching through the book of Mark. Mark began this book by calling it a gospel, in ch.1 vs 1.  He now concludes it, in chapter 16, with the Lord Jesus sending His disciples out to preach this very gospel in vs 15.  And we stand before you today preaching this same gospel, as evidence of the power of the gospel, and the eternal purpose of the gospel. 

The gospel simply means the good news of Jesus Christ.  The good news is that Jesus is God, revealed in the flesh, who came to bear our sins, to be our substitute, that He was crucified, buried and rose again, and now lives to make intercession for us, and to indwell us in HIs Spirit, until He returns even as He was taken up, to claim His church as His bride.  That is the gospel, and those who have believed it, and accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord, have been born again to a new life in Him.

There is a large part of what is called Christianity today that no longer really preaches the gospel. They may sound like they still espouse faith in God, but they are teaching a new gospel, which Paul says is not really the gospel at all.  It’s not really the gospel because they eliminate all the thorny doctrines of the gospel like sin and righteousness and judgment, and only talk about love, which has been reduced to some kind of sentimental euphemism for embracing diversity.  I heard recently about a new kind of church that is becoming popular, replacing the traditional church service with coffee shops and craft beer infused get togethers to talk about social issues.  That’s not the gospel.  

The problem with most contemporary “Christian” music is that the only message that they have is love. But it’s a self serving view of love. Listen, love means that God sent Jesus to be tortured and beaten and nailed to a cross to pay the penalty for your sins and mine.  In spite of the psycho babbling Christian preachers that say we need to love ourselves, the first and foremost commandment is that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul,  mind and strength.  And the only way we can know how to do that, is if we preach His gospel faithfully, and obey His word.  Jesus said if you love Me, you will keep My commandments.  We will keep His word.

Now last week we looked at the first eight verses of chapter 16 concerning the resurrection.  And some of you might notice in your Bible version that the remainder of the chapter is set apart in some way, and there may be notes which say that the following verses are not found in the oldest known manuscripts.  Many Biblical scholars have debated for centuries as to whether or not these verses were actually penned by Mark, or were appended at a later date by various editors.  

I am not a Biblical scholar, nor a Greek language expert.  And there are men on both sides of this debate that I think highly of, who take opposing views concerning these last eight verses.  However, I feel a certain reluctance to discount a passage of scripture on the basis of most modern criticisms.  I would tend to think that though there may be problems with this text from certain perspectives such as style or terms used, or older copies versus less older copies, yet my view is that God has intended these verses to be included in Mark as accurate and reliable.  
It is believed by a majority of modern textual scholars that the oldest copies of the Greek manuscripts that we know of do not contain these twelve verses, but it is also true that the overwhelming majority of the Greek manuscripts that we have today do contain these verses. And it is also true that two of the earliest church fathers, writing from the beginning of the second century, quote from this passage. So it is clear that, from the very beginning, the church has accepted these twelve verses as authentic, even though there is some dispute today that they may not have come from the hand of Mark.

My personal opinion is that it’s almost a certainty that Mark’s original letter continued after verse 8.  Ending at vs8 would be an odd way to end a book, and it would be at odds with the way the other gospel writers ended their books.  But there is a possibility that something happened to the end of the original manuscript, and the early church fathers wrote a summary of what Mark had written as a way to finish off the book.  It’s also a good possibility that these last 8 verses are original to Mark, but there were other verses that were interspersed in this passage which were lost for some reason or another.  And so what we have sounds a bit disjointed, and seems different stylistically, but it may be due to the fact that some connecting verses were lost. 

Irregardless, many very early Christian writers refer to this passage in their writings, such as Papias, AD100, Justin Martyr, AD 151, Irenaus, AD 180, Hippolytus, AD 190, Vincentius and Augustine also wrote concerning this passage in the around AD 200-250. This shows that the early Christians knew about this passage in the Gospel of Mark and accepted it as genuine.

So we are going to accept it as genuine, as something that the early church accepted as the gospel, and now let’s move on and consider what it says.  There are three divisions in this passage; the first verses, 9-14, deal with the basis of apostolic belief; verses 15 and 16 deal with the commission of apostolic preaching; and the final verses 16-20, deal with the confirmation of the apostolic witness.

Let’s look first at the basis of apostolic belief. In vs 11, Mark emphasizes that initially the apostles, when told of Mary Magdalene’s experience, did not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead.  You will remember at the beginning of the chapter how the women had come to the tomb early in the morning, at the first light of dawn, and found the stone rolled away and saw the angel. The angel told them that Jesus was not there, but He had risen.  But they did not see Jesus then. 

According to John’s gospel, Mary Magdalene had gone ahead of the others and, seeing the empty tomb, she ran to tell Peter and John immediately. Evidently she did not hear the angel’s explanation. Peter and John both ran to the tomb. Peter went inside and saw the grave clothes lying there still wrapped as though they were around a body, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head was folded and placed aside. This convinced John that indeed Jesus was risen, but he still had not seen him.

Mary Magdalene returned more slowly to the tomb and as she stood weeping in the garden she saw what she thought was the gardener, and she asked him where they had laid the body of Jesus. Jesus spoke her name and she then recognized Jesus. This was the first appearance of the risen Lord to one of His followers. He came first to Mary Magdalene. She ran and told the disciples. But Mark tells us that when Mary told them that Jesus was alive and that she had actually seen him, they did not believe it.

In vs12, Jesus appears to two other disciples on the road to Emmaus. “After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country.” Notice that Mark says that Jesus appeared to them in a different form.  He either disguised Himself to them in some way, or His resurrected body was altered in some way that made Him unrecognizable.  Luke 24 tells that as they walked along with Him discussing the things that had recently happened concerning His crucifixion and resurrection,  He began with Moses and the prophets and showed them from the scriptures all the things that referred to Messiah. Later as they sat at table with him and saw his hands as He broke bread, they recognized their crucified Lord. Then He disappeared.

These two disciples came back to Jerusalem immediately and told the eleven what they had seen, but but they did not believe them either. Then in Verse 14, Mark says “Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table; and he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.”

It’s interesting that the disciples are having such a hard time believing that Jesus had risen from the dead.  They don’t really even want to believe other eyewitnesses.  And yet that is exactly what their own ministry would be founded on.  They were eyewitnesses to HIs majesty, to His miracles, and they would be eyewitnesses to His resurrection and ascension, and so it would be incumbent upon the hearers of the gospel to believe their eyewitness testimony.  Yet they themselves were slow to believe. 

Jesus expected the eleven to believe before they saw Him. He wanted and expected them to believe the reports of the eyewitnesses who had seen Him. They were trustworthy persons and were reporting what they themselves had actually seen, and that should have been enough to convince these disciples that Jesus was risen from the dead. So concerned is Jesus about this that He rebuked them. Even as He did in the days of His ministry, so now, as their living, risen Lord, He rebuked them for their unbelief. He takes them to task because they refused to believe those who had seen Him. You can see the importance Jesus attributes to this matter of believing eyewitnesses.

Because that is what one of the pillars our faith is to be founded upon; the testimony of credible witnesses. Paul wrote in 1 Co. 15:6 that 500 people saw the risen Jesus at one time, most of who were alive at the time of his letter.  So we have reliable testimony. The apostles were reliable witnesses, and we are required to believe their testimony.  When we have adequate, trustworthy witnesses who report to us what they have seen, we are expected to respond with belief. These men saw the risen Lord. They were granted a privilege that we are not granted; but nevertheless, our faith can rest upon a solid foundation. Even though we have not seen him, we can believe because of the eyewitness accounts recorded in the word. And as Jesus would tell doubting Thomas later who persisted in disbelief, those who do not see and believe will receive a greater blessing. In John 20:29 Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” So then the basis for apostolic belief is the eyewitness testimony of reliable witnesses.

Next, let’s look at the apostolic commission starting in vs15. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”  Notice that there are two  main points in the  command which Jesus gives here.  “Go” and “preach.”   Just as the Savior seeks and saves those that are lost, so are the apostles to seek the lost.  To go into the highways and byways and invite the lost into the kingdom of God. To go into their neighborhoods, their communities and preach the gospel.  Then to go to the ends of the earth and preach the gospel.  Now we are not commissioned as apostles, but we are called to be ambassadors to a lost world, to tell them the good news of Jesus Christ. An apostle by the way was someone who had been a witness to the resurrection.

The good news is that the power of evil in your life and mine can be broken! Sin no longer controls us and ruins and robs us of life. The bondage of sin is broken by the power of the resurrection of Jesus. The Spirit of Christ lives within us and imparts to our life the power of Christ. This is the good news, and this is the gospel we are to preach. That is what Scripture calls being saved. That is why Jesus said, “He who believes  and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”

Notice the order there.  Belief comes first, baptism follows.  Believing is the means of justification, we are justified by faith, which is believing, trusting in the Lord to save.  Then baptism is the evidence of repentance, dying to the old man, being raised to new life in Christ. Belief and repentance that changes us and converts us is real saving faith, and the way that we demonstrate it is by being baptized.  In other words, belief is action, not just an intellectual exercise.  It changes your life, and as Jesus was raised to life, so we die to sin and are raised to new life in Him which results in righteousness. That is what baptism symbolizes, dying to sin, and being raised to new life in Christ.

Maybe some of you here today have never liked the word “saved.”  But what it means is that we are hopeless and helpless, dead in our sins and the condemnation of that sin, and the good news is that Jesus Christ has come to rescue us, save us.   The late RC Sproul said, “God doesn’t just throw a life preserver to a drowning person.  He goes to the bottom of the sea, and pulls a corpse from the bottom, takes him up on the bank, breathes into him the breath of life and makes him alive.”  Being saved is being delivered from death, but also being changed from a life held captive to sin, to a new life through the power of Christ in us.

Knowing the unbelief that would face these apostles as they testified to the gospel, the Lord now goes on to give them certain signs which will accompany them in preaching the gospel and validate that they are speaking for God. Against a climate of unbelief is the setting in which Jesus promises these signs in verse 17, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; If they pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 

Now of all the verses in this passage that are reported to be problematic, from my perspective these are the most problematic.  And I think it really comes from a popular misunderstanding that what Jesus is promising is that all future believers will be able to perform these signs and wonders.  But I think that the context of the passage indicates that Jesus is saying the apostles will exhibit these signs, as a testimony to their witness.  These signs were testimony to the authenticity of the apostles’ message.  God would confirm their word by signs and wonders.  And Paul speaks of that in Second Corinthians 12:12: “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.”  Hebrews says the same thing; Heb. 2:3-4 “how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard (he’s speaking of the apostles), God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”

These then, are the signs of a true apostle. They were authenticating signs to accompany those who had seen the risen Lord, who had first been sent out with the gospel into an unbelieving and hostile world. Consequently, I believe that these apostolic sign gifts expired with the apostles.  The word of God which they have spoken has all the authentication that it needs.  It has stood the test of time.  It has stood the test of thousands of critics through the centuries.  But even more importantly, it has changed millions of lives.  It has proven to be powerful to save millions and millions of people through the centuries.  And furthermore, scripture authenticates scripture.  The scriptures authenticate themselves as you study it and read it.  You find it proves itself over and over.  There is no more need for signs and wonders to authenticate new revelation.  The revelation is complete, and it is in our hands as the Holy Scriptures, the word of God, which was given to us through the agency of the apostles.

So what were these signs of the apostles?  Well, Jesus said they would cast out demons.  We see evidence in the scripture that the apostles did this before the ascension of Christ, as well as after Pentecost. They will speak with new tongues. Unfortunately, the translators persist in translating this word as tongues rather than languages. The word Glossa can refer to the physical tongue, or the natural language of a person. It doesn’t mean some spiritual language, but natural language.

This sign was fulfilled at Pentecost as everyone heard the gospel in their own dialect.  And it continued for a time as the apostles carried the gospel to the world.  Peter, preaching at Pentecost, says that the new tongues were a fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel 2:28,  “It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions.”  Peter says in Acts 2:15-16  “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day;  but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel.”  So that was fulfilled at Pentecost and during the apostolic age.  It’s not something that is prophesied for the end of the age as is often taught.  It was one of the signs of an apostle.

Furthermore, the disciples would have power to survive physical attacks upon their lives. Bitten by a poisonous serpent, they would not die. If they accidentally drank poison, they would not die. They would have power to survive, that the gospel might go forth. This would be one of the authenticating signs given to them.  You remember that Paul was bit by a snake when shipwrecked on an island, and he did not die.  And consequently, he was able to share the gospel with the people there. He survived stoning, and also he survived being thrown to the lions. Peter was released from prison.  So God was able to providentially protect the apostles until their mission was finished here on earth.

The fourth sign is power to heal, to lay hands upon the sick, and they will recover.  Acts records many examples of the apostles being able to heal the sick and even raise the dead.  Again, this was to authenticate their message as being from God.

So God gave these authenticating signs to the apostles as His confirmation of the word that they were preaching.  And the last paragraph tells us that after the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven, the apostles confirmed the power of the gospel by going throughout the world preaching the gospel and God working through them in establishing not only the scriptures, but the universal church.  As Ephesians 2:19 says,  “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,  having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,  in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” 

So Mark closes this gospel of his with the Lord ascending into heaven sitting at the right hand of God, yet living as Lord in the midst of his church, empowering His word, carrying it unto the farthest reaches of the world. And the apostles, scattered throughout the known world of that day, preached this good news, their witness being confirmed by these great signs. They thus laid the foundation of the great building that Paul calls the church, the body of Christ, that has grown through all the centuries since. 

Today the gospel has been preached to you, just as it was 2000 years ago.  As Isaiah the prophet spoke: “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?” You can receive the good news, believe the testimony of the apostles, believe in the saving power of Jesus Christ, and be saved, receive new life, abundant life.  The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is able to give you new life, and make you into a child of God, if you will just repent of your sins and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  I trust that you will trust Him today, and call upon Him to save you.  The Lord is mighty to save all who come to Him in faith. 

Death is something that is inevitable, it comes to everyone sooner or later.  And yet I suppose, for something that is so universally common, considering it on a personal level is studiously  avoided.  At the risk of sounding overly morbid, the reality is that all of us are dying.  When we are young, death seemed like such a distant, otherworldly concept, that it scarcely concerned us.  We live like we will live forever.  But as we get older, as we see more and more of death, and as we see considerably more of the sands of time in the bottom of the hourglass than is left in the top, the reality of death becomes something which seems more inevitable.

Still, I think most people try to avoid thinking of death right up to the bitter end.  There is no other reason that explains why people live the way they do.  Right up to their last breath, it seems many people continue in their amusements and enterprises as if they will live forever.  

Funerals are a mechanism which can cause people to stop and think about death and dying.  However, I think there is even a tendency today to do away with funerals because people don’t want to face death.  A big trend today is to cremate someone and then at a more convenient time have something like a celebration of life, but without a body to remind us that they are dead.  

But I would suggest that death is something we need to think about, and even embrace, to a certain extent.  I suggest that the scripture talks a great deal about death and burial because it is a vital part of the sequence of life.  Physical death is a vital part of our existence, and it’s a vital link in our salvation.  For this reason I believe we are given details of the burial of Jesus Christ.  In fact, I think that God deliberately planned for the burial of Jesus Christ, that He might teach us certain important principles.  There could have been other ways in which Jesus could have died, and satisfied the wrath of God, which would not have included a burial.  But the burial of Jesus Christ is an essential link in our salvation, which God orchestrated down to the smallest detail. 

As we look then at the death and burial of Jesus Christ, we need to understand the necessity of His death.  As I said a moment ago, in reality all of us are dying.  Ephesians 2:5 and Colossians 2:13 says that we were dead in our trespasses and sins.  This sin nature that we are born with we inherited from Adam.  1Corinthians 15:22  “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”  The curse of death began at the fall, and it came upon all of creation.

Adam and Eve sinned, and as a result, they incurred the curse of death which was passed on to all men.  But you should remember that even as God pronounced the curse, He also promised there would come One from the woman who would break that curse.  Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

Satan bruised Christ on His heel, by nailing Him to the cross.  But through the death of Christ, God crushed Satan’s head, by taking away the sting of death.  1 Cor. 15:54, says, It is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This victory over death was accomplished in the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In life He was innocent, He was the spotless, righteous Lamb of God.  In His death He took the punishment for sin that was meant for us by offering Himself as our substitute.  And in His burial He fulfilled the penalty for sin that was due to all men.  “For the wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23 

Isaiah 53:8 says, “By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.”

Now I want us to consider more fully the theological implications of His burial, but let’s do so within the context of the details that Mark gives us here in this passage.  Note first of all vs40 “There were also [some] women looking on from a distance, among whom [were] Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome. When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and minister to Him; and [there were] many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.”

It’s interesting that these women, who themselves were far from home,  were in Jerusalem with the Lord, and though all of His disciples had deserted Him, yet they stuck with Him.  These women were witnesses of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We see them here at the cross, then at the end of this passage in vs47 we see them watching to see where Joseph buries Jesus, and then in the next chapter, we see them as the first to visit the empty tomb, and the first to tell the other disciples that He had risen. Their  faithfulness and testimony was critical to the faith of His disciples.  God gave them the opportunity to witness everything concerning Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection firsthand.  And I believe that was because of their faithfulness. 

And I think that there is a possible lesson in that for us here today.  God rewards faithfulness in the little things by giving you greater faith to do greater things.  And we could also say that God confirms your faith when you are faithful in little things.  Being stedfast, persevering even in the face of persecution is promised a great reward.  Jesus promised a reward to the church of Philadelphia because of their faithfulness. Rev. 3:8 “I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.” In being obedient to what you have been shown to be true, God then reveals to you greater knowledge or revelation.

The second person that we see here is Joseph of Arimethea.  Mark tells us that he was a prominent member of the council.  That means he was a member of the Sanhedrin, perhaps a leader.  This is the same institution that arrested Jesus and put Him on trial and condemned Him to death.  Luke tells us though that he did not consent to their plan.  Either he wasn’t at the trial, or he abstained from the proceedings. Mark goes on to tell us that he was looking for the Kingdom of God.  That means that he was looking for the Messiah.  That implies that he believed that Jesus was the Messiah. In fact, John’s gospel describes Joseph as a secret disciple.  And the other gospel writers also tell us that Joseph was a rich man. 

So Jesus died about three o’clock on Friday afternoon, and this secret disciple, knowing that the Sabbath is quickly approaching at sundown, wants to ask for Jesus’s body so that he might give Him a proper burial.  In fact, he gives Him a burial fit for a king.  He puts Jesus’s body in his own tomb, in which no man had laid. A more common tomb would have held multiple bodies in holes in the walls, or a series of holes in a cliff face. So this would have been a very expensive tomb.  It’s big enough for people to stand inside, it’s big enough for angels to sit down inside of, and Mark tells us in the next chapter that it had a very large stone rolled across the opening.  This was a burial vault fit for a king.  And I think that is an indication of Joseph’s faith, in that Mark says he was looking forward to the kingdom of God.  I think that Joseph was looking forward to Christ reigning in His kingdom.  

I think we see the same idea conveyed in the answer of the thief on the cross to Jesus.  He said in Luke 23:42 “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”  Jesus is dying on the cross, and the thief is confessing his faith that Jesus will come back in His kingdom.  That’s pretty incredible faith when you think of it.  Though he was watching Jesus physically die, yet he believed in the resurrection of Jesus, that He would come back as the King of His kingdom.

And perhaps Mark indicates that Joseph believed that as well.  Because if he believed that Jesus was the Messiah, as is indicated by the gospel writers, then he would have also believed the prophecies concerning the eternal reign of the Messiah.  He may not have understood the timing, but I think he believed the promises. But perhaps something in the manner in which Jesus died, made Joseph move from secret discipleship to being willing to take up his cross and follow Jesus. You know, the Lord doesn’t want us to be secret disciples. That’s why we are to confess with our mouth Jesus as Lord. That’s why we have public baptism. The Lord wants us to step out and follow Him, as a testimony to others.

So Joseph steps out from the shadows and makes his faith known. Mark says that Joseph gathered up his courage and went to ask Pilate for Jesus’s body.  Like the centurion who also saw the manner in which Jesus died, he decided that surely this was the Son of God, and so whatever position he had as a member of the Sanhedrin, whatever gain he had because of riches, he counted but loss, for the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ as His Messiah and Lord. 

Undoubtedly, this public confession of being a disciple of Jesus Christ would have resulted in his being excommunicated from the Sanhedrin.  Quite possibly, it could also have meant that he would be barred from attending the synagogue.  So for Joseph to publicly proclaim Jesus in this manner would have meant his social, political and eventual financial ruin.  I wonder if we would make public our faith in Christ if we knew it would ruin our career.

There was another secret disciple, and that was Nicodemus.  You will remember Nicodemus who came to see Jesus at night in John 3.  Jesus called him the teacher of Israel, indicating he was an important rabbi.  John tells us that Nicodemus accompanied Joseph in burying Jesus, and he brought a great wealth of myrrh and spices to anoint His body for burial.  So ironically, we see the women and the fearful, secret disciples becoming bold at His death, while the ones who were closest to Him had abandoned Him.

At crucifixions, it was a common practice for the soldiers to either leave the criminal’s bodies to rot on the cross, to be eaten by birds, or to dump them on the nearby garbage heap which was called Gehena.  It was a place of continually burning garbage outside the town, which the Lord alluded to in a sermon about hell.  But the law of the Jews required that the bodies of one hung from a tree be taken down before dark, and the fact that it was also the evening before a high Sabbath, meaning during the Passover, they wanted the bodies taken down.  Joseph and Nicodemus were the only friends that were willing and able to see to it that Jesus was buried.  

And as we will see, it served God’s purposes that Jesus be buried.  There are a lot of questions that could be raised concerning the death and burial of Jesus Christ.  For instance, why did God choose to crucify Jesus?  Why not some other death?  Why did God choose to torture Jesus on a cross as opposed to a more normal death?  Why did God choose to bury Jesus for three days?  And there are even more questions that could be asked.  

Well, concerning the method of death, ie, crucifixion, it satisfied the wrath of God towards sin.  Hebrews 2:10 “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.”  Isaiah 53:10 says,  “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.” 

God’s judgment against sin, His wrath against sin, is measured by the affront of sin to a Holy and Righteous God.  As I said last week, We have too small a view of sin, and too mild a view of God’s wrath against sin.  When we understand the affront of our sin, then we can understand God’s wrath against sin. Crucifixion was the Roman government’s harshest punishment for the vilest offenders.  And so God satisfied His wrath against sin by crucifying Christ.

The second question is why the burial of Jesus?  Why not raise Him up immediately upon death? Why was He buried and in the grave for three days?  Well, again let’s look at Hebrews chapter 2, this time in vs9, “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”

First of all, His burial attested to  the certainty of His death.  He was reported as being dead by Joseph to Pilate.  Pilate couldn’t believe that He was already dead, and so he sent for the centurion.  The centurion attested to His death.  We have already seen that the Jews attested to His death, and also that the women from Galilee witnessed His death and burial.  So God made sure that He was dead, and that everyone knew that He was dead. Pilate then gives the body to Joseph.  And when he does so, Mark records that he uses the Greek word, ptōma, which means a corpse.  So the death of Jesus was witnessed, certified by Roman soldiers, and attested to by many people.

What the author of Hebrews tells us though is that Jesus tasted death for everyone.  Now that gets to the theological underpinnings of the burial.  Hebrews again, this time in chapter 9, tells us that Christ was manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and then in vs27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,  so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”  

What that means is that we are appointed to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ died on our behalf, so that we might escape judgment, having been justified by faith in what He accomplished for us.

And what did He accomplish for us through His death and burial?  One thing we know for sure, He satisfied the wrath of God in fulfilling the complete punishment for sin, but also He was considered righteous before God, and thus God delivered Him up from death through the resurrection.

In the Apostle’s Creed, which some of you might be more familiar with than others, there is the following statement. It is not scripture, nor inspired, but it is a synopsis of the doctrine of the apostles as recorded in about the third century.  It is an early Christian statement of faith.  And in it, we read, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.”

Now notice that phrase concerning the burial of Jesus Christ, “Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead…” That raises an important point.  Jesus’s body was buried, His corpse was buried, but His Spirit was not dead, and neither was it in the tomb.  The Apostle’s Creed said He descended into hell.  Now a lot of people are offended by that, or don’t know what to make of it.  

Let me try to explain.  Remember when Jesus was on the cross, He cried out with a loud voice, “it is finished!” and then Luke 23:46 says, And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” Having said this, He breathed His last. 

Now “into your hands” simply means into your care, and then notice that Jesus commends His Spirit to pass out of His body, signaling death to His body. He had the power to lay down His life, and He entrusts His Spirit to the care of the Father.

Now remember also that just previous to this, He told the thief on the cross who confessed faith in Him, in Luke 23:43 And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” 

Jesus Himself described Paradise by using the familiar phrase “Abraham’s bosom,” in telling the story of the rich man and Lazarus, and Lazarus was being comforted in Abraham’s bosom, while the rich man was being tormented in flames.  And Abraham said to the rich man, that between them was a great gulf which no man could cross.  Jesus was giving a picture of Hades, called Sheol in the Old Testament, which the Jews understood to mean was in the center of the earth, with an upper and lower chamber, and in between a great chasm which separated the two, being Paradise and Hell.

Now the Apostle’s Creed gets that idea of descended into hell, from 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;  in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.”

Now I could preach a message or two on these verses but we don’t have the time this morning, so suffice it to emphasize that Peter says, “having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;  in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison…”  What he is saying is that though Jesus’s body was in the tomb, His Spirit was alive and went to what he calls prison, and preached to those who had died during the days of Noah. So Jesus’ Spirit was not in the tomb, though His body was.

But also note vs 22, where Peter says that He is at the right hand of God having “gone into heaven, AFTER angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.”  So sometime between the crucifixion and the ascension, the angelic powers and authorities, which is how Paul refers to demonic powers in Ephesians 2, are subjected to Him.

Paul also refers to this ascension and descention in Eph. 4:8-10 “Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.”  (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, so that He might fill all things.) Paul says that Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth, which is a reference to Hades.

Now we cannot be dogmatic about all of that happened to Jesus during those three days when His body was in the grave.  But I do know that Jesus fulfilled all of God’s wrath against sin, and He fulfilled all righteousness so that according to Psalm 16:10 “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.”  God punished Jesus unto the full extent of the law, even unto Hades, having been made sin for us, but God also raised Jesus because He was innocent of any sin, being righteous in all things and having fulfilled perfectly the punishment for sin.

Going back to Isaiah 53 again, looking at vs 9 “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.  But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.”

Most commentators believe that vs 9 is speaking of Joseph of Arimethea’s grave, in the phrase, “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death.” So Jesus’ burial was an incredible fulfillment of prophecy made 700 years before His death. But another aspect of the grave is that it establishes the doctrine of the resurrection. Without the grave the certainty of the resurrection would be in doubt. But the resurrection is vital to proof of the divinity of Christ, the doctrine of salvation and the promise of new life in Christ. Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection, which is promised for all who believe in Him. But for there to be a resurrection, there must first be a death, being in the grave, though the spirit is alive in Paradise awaiting the call of God.

Well, we must leave this for now.  But I want to impress on you one last aspect of the burial of Jesus Christ that is for our application.  The burial of Jesus Christ speaks to the mortification of the flesh.  Putting to death the flesh.  Paul says in Romans that baptism is a picture of dying to the flesh. Romans 6:4 “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

Christ died for sin, so that we might die to sin.  Christ overcame sin through death, so that we might have life through His righteousness.  We now walk in the Spirit, by putting to death the passions of the flesh.

The flesh and the Spirit are diametrically opposed to one another.  Repentance is recognizing the need for dying to the flesh, so that we might live in the Spirit.  That’s what it means to be conformed to the death of Christ.  I said earlier that Joseph was an esteemed member of the Sanhedrin, a rich man, a man of social standing in the community.  Yet those things which were of great earthly value to him, he counted as loss for the sake of knowing Jesus as Lord.  

The apostle Paul was also once greatly esteemed by the Sanhedrin.  And yet he came to know the surpassing value of counting such things as dead, that he might have life in Christ.  He said in Phil. 3:7-11 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;  in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

May we have the same attitude as Paul, and be conformed to His death, that we might be raised to walk in newness of life in the Spirit.  And that life we have in Christ is everlasting life, because as He lives, so we will live.  Jesus said in John 11:25-26 “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,  and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

It needs to be restated, that Mark is not writing a biography, but a gospel.  In other words, he is not attempting to record every little detail that occurred in the life of Jesus.  None of the four gospel writers do that.  Some may omit some things the others include, while including some things others omit.  And the reason for that is that they are writing a gospel, or a sermon if you will, which presents certain doctrines and principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ that they want to emphasize. 

So as we consider this text before us today, it’s important that we resist the temptation to try to fill in all the blanks or gaps in the historical narrative, by bouncing around all the other gospels for the parts Mark seemingly left out.  We must remember that behind Mark is the authorship of the Holy Spirit.  And the Holy Spirit, speaking through Mark, certainly knows that He is omitting certain details.  So rather than focusing on what is not said, we need to focus on what is being said.  The important question then is what is being emphasized in this gospel account?  What is the message that Mark, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is trying to convey to us?  

Well, to start with, we are introduced to a couple of new characters in this passage.  The first being the governor of Judea, who is Pilate, and the other being Barabbas, a convicted robber, murderer, and insurrectionist.  These are the main players in this scene before the crucifixion. The other players who have side roles are the Sanhedrin, who are the governing religious body of the Jews, and the crowd, and the Roman soldiers. 

In vs1, we see the Sanhedrin, which is the whole Council that Mark mentions, made up of the chief priests and 70 the official religious leaders of the Jews, having a quick trial now that it was daylight, in order that they might officially condemn Jesus to death.  Now they had already had a trial during the early morning hours, but it was an illegal proceeding since  it was against the law to condemn a man to death in a nighttime trial. So they convene again at dawn, condemn Jesus as worthy of death, and bind Him and send Him to Pilate.  Notice some of the symbolism here; that He was bound, that He might set men free.  He was rejected, that men might be accepted.  He was condemned, that we might be forgiven.  

And so the Sanhedrin condemned Jesus of blasphemy in their religious trial.  They say in the previous chapter that His claim to be the Son of God makes Him worthy of death. But the Sanhedrin do not have the authority to take a person’s life. They don’t have the authority to put a person to death.  For that, they must get Roman approval.  But Rome didn’t care too much about blasphemy. They were, however, concerned about crimes against the state. So the Jews are going to accuse Jesus in the civil trial before Pilate with the crime of treason; particularly claiming to be King.

We looked at the religious trial of the Sanhedrin in detail in a previous message, so today we will not spend much time on that.  But Pilate is the officiator of the civil trial.  And Pilate seems to only be concerned about the  charge of Jesus claiming to be a King. Not just because of the possibility of insurrection, but perhaps because he was only the governor of Judea, and if it was true that Jesus was a king, then Jesus would have outranked him.   First and foremost, Pilate is a politician.  He served under Caesar Tiberius.  He had in fact gotten in trouble in time past with the Jews, and had been censored by Caesar.  So he is very concerned to keep his position, to hopefully advance his career in Roman government, and to do so he must try to walk a line between pleasing Rome and not offending the Jews in his jurisdiction.

One thing about Pilate’s position though, it is that he has been given the authority to administer the death sentence.  That is why the Jews have come to him. 

So he asks Jesus, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And Jesus answered him, “It is as you say.” Mark adds that the chief priests began to accuse Him of many things.  Luke and John’s gospel’s add considerable more to the dialogue.  And I would encourage you to read their accounts for yourself.  But what I think Mark is trying to emphasize here is the contrast between this petty, political ruler of Judea, and the King of the Jews.  Pilate is governor by the decree of Caesar, and so he has judicial rule over Judea, only a portion of Israel, but which does include the Jewish capital, which is Jerusalem. 

Jesus, on the other hand, is the King of the Jews.  In actuality, Jesus is King over the whole Earth, but since He specifically came to fulfill the purpose of the Messiah, it is to the Jews that He claims sovereignty.  He is sent to the Jews first.  He is of the royal line of David. So He is a legitimate heir to David’s throne. He has already told the high priest in the preceding chapter that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. Now in response to this appointed politician, He adds the claim that He is King of the Jews.  

It’s interesting to note the contrast between Jesus and Pilate.  Pilate has the authority to condemn, but Jesus has the authority to forgive.  Pilate has the authority to put to death, but Jesus has the authority to give life.  Pilate has a limited, temporal rule, Jesus has a sovereign, eternal reign.  According to John’s gospel, Jesus said to Pilate that His kingdom is not of this world.  It is a spiritual kingdom.  And thus it has no boundaries, it has no end, and no limitations.  Pilate’s rule will come to an end, a rather inglorious end at that as tradition tells us he commits suicide in his later years. 

Pilate represents the natural man, the material man, the temporal man, who claims his right to self rule, who thinks that he can determine for himself what is right and what is wrong.  He thinks he has freedom, when in fact he is in servitude.  He thinks he is making his own decisions, but in fact he is cowering and caving in to popular opinion.

Jesus, in affirming that He is King, adds another dimension to what it means to believe in Him.  Faith in Christ means acknowledging that He has the right to rule over your life.  He is the creator of life, He has authority over life, and He has the power to give life.  But Pilate, as the quintessential natural man, though intrigued by Jesus’s claim,  will not believe in Him, will not submit to Jesus’s sovereignty.  

Isaiah writing 700 years earlier prophesies concerning this failure to recognize Jesus as King in Isaiah 53:2-3,  “For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.  He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

Then Mark tells us that the chief priests begin to accuse Jesus harshly. We could piece together all that they were accusing Jesus of from the other gospels, but the details do not concern Mark as much as the fact that they make all kinds of wild accusations, and yet He makes no answer.  Pilate, on the other hand, feels he must respond to their accusations.  Because Pilate is a politician.  He makes his career by acquiescing, or at  least appearing to acquiesce, to the demands of the Jews and to the demands of Rome.  But Jesus answers to no man. This judge and jury think that they have authority over Him, but in fact, all authority in heaven and on earth belong to Jesus.  He has the authority to lay down HIs life.  But He is not going to try to defend Himself.  He has said, I am the Messiah the Son of God.  I am the King of the Jews.  And that is all He needs to say in HIs defense.   In fact, He makes no defense at all.  It may be argued that Jesus is on the offensive, not the defensive.  He is going to lay down His life, voluntarily.  He is resolutely headed for the cross. He’s not interested in trying to avoid it.  And so He doesn’t defend Himself and Pilate is amazed at His silence.

But even His silence is fulfillment of the prophecy that He was the Messiah.Isaiah 53:7  “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.”

Mark then tells us that it was the custom to release a prisoner at the feast of the Passover.  And so the Jews come to Pilate and ask for him to do that.  So Pilate asks them, “‘Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?’ For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.” Pilate, the politician, is trying to walk both sides of the fence.  The other gospels tell us that Pilate had already announced that he found no fault in Jesus.  But rather than seeing that justice was done and releasing Jesus, he wants to please the crowd.  However, perhaps this was just an attempt to pass the blame onto the Jews, by offering to release Him.  But I think that Pilate knows that they will not want Jesus released.  The Jews have made it clear that they want Jesus dead.  I think Pilate is just trying to salve his conscience somewhat by being able to say he offered to release Jesus.  And Mark says that he knew that there was no evil that Jesus committed, it was just a matter of jealousy on the part of the priests.  So I think Pilate knew that they wouldn’t let Jesus be released, but he is just trying to portray that he is innocent in the matter. 

And let me say again that Pilate is a good example of the natural man who thinks that he is his own ruler, he is the king of his castle, but in reality, he is subservient to the peer pressure of  the world.  He claims to be independent, but actually he is a slave of popular opinion.  He caves in to the dominance of the world’s demands, whether it be from the media, or the entertainment industry, or his career, or from the influence of friends.  They reject the dominion of Christ as King, but become enslaved to the passions of sin and the world, which is ultimately orchestrated by the devil.  Like Bob Dylan once wrote, everyone is going to serve somebody.  It may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna serve somebody.  Pilate chooses to serve the world, which ultimately achieved the purposes of the devil.

Vs.11 “But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead.”  So Mark indicates that the crowd is induced by the priests to ask for the release of Barabbas instead.  And Pilate, wishing to accommodate the crowd, releases Barabbas, the condemned murderer, and delivers Jesus to be crucified.

What Pilate and the Jews do not realize, is that by their actions they have illustrated the symbolism of the Passover.  Barabbas, the convicted robber, murderer and insurrectionist, is obviously guilty of his sins and condemned to death. He represents the sinner.  And in setting the sinner free, and putting to death the righteous, spotless Lamb of God, they have illustrated nothing less than the truth of the gospel.  Especially that principle of the gospel that Jesus came to save sinners.  The principle that the innocent would die for the ungodly.  The principle that God would transfer our sins upon Jesus, who would be punished to die in our place, so that we might be set free from sin and death, and receive the transfer of Christ’s righteousness upon us.  That is the gospel, and though they rejected it, yet by their actions in freeing the guilty and condemning the righteous they have given us a tremendous illustration of the gospel of God.

Once again Isaiah predicts this divine justice wrought by God upon Christ for our sins. Isaiah 53:6 “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

Such an illustration of God’s grace towards sinners makes me wonder what happened to Barabbas.  Nothing more is said in scripture concerning him. But  I cannot help but wonder if this great exchange, resulting in his freedom, while Christ went on to suffer and die, did not have a tremendous effect on this condemned man.  I cannot help but wonder if he did not follow the crowd to Calvary, and there watch as Jesus was crucified in his place.  I can’t help but wonder if he was converted by this divine act of the innocent dying for the guilty. I suppose we will find out in heaven.  But maybe we will see Barabbas in heaven. 

However, let’s not miss the point that all of us here today are represented by Barabbas.  According to the gospel, we are all sinners, condemned to death, but Jesus took our place on that cross, so that we, by faith in Him, might be set free.

The question of the ages for every man is found in the next verse, 12, “Answering again, Pilate said to them, ‘Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?’”  What shall I do with Jesus?  That is the question for every man. That is the question for you today.  What will you do with Jesus?  Will you accept Him as your Savior from your sins?  Will you accept Him as your King?  Will you bow your will to Him?  Will you trade your sinful life for new life in Him?  What will you do with Jesus? Pilate wanted nothing to do with Him.  He tried to get out of making a decision concerning Jesus.  He tried to shunt Him off on Herod.  He tried to release Him.  He said repeatedly that He found no fault in Him.  But ultimately, Pilate did not submit to Jesus as King.  Ultimately, Pilate choose the favor of the world, and rejected the Savior of the world.

Some of you here today may not want to make a decision concerning Jesus.  You want to remain ambivalent about Jesus.  But if you put Him off today, if you put Him off until a more convenient time, then you are really doing exactly what Pilate did.  You are rejecting the Lord in favor of maintaining your own sovereignty.  And as such, you condemn yourself.  You are not guaranteed another opportunity tomorrow.  Tomorrow may be too late.  What will you do with Jesus?

Well, when the crowd was offered that choice, they cried out, “Crucify Him!”  They wanted to murder the Son of God.  Their hatred for Christ has reached a fever pitch.  Pilate calls back, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify Him!”  They didn’t have to have a reason to want to kill Christ.  Their hatred is all the reason that they need.  You know, Jesus was correct to equate hate as murder in the Sermon on the Mount.  Hatred is a scary thing.  I’ve personally seen hatred escalate to murderous intent.  I’ve seen hatred become so manifest in a person it was scary, it changed them into a monster.  And I will tell you something, rejection or rebellion leads to hatred.  Rejection of the truth is not an innocuous thing.  It’s not a harmless choice. It’s not as simple as you believe what you want, and I’ll believe what I want. Rejection of the truth leads to hatred of the truth, and that leads to murder of the truth. 

Notice what Mark says concerning Pilate in vs 15 “Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.”  Wishing to satisfy the crowd.  I wonder how many people have crucified Jesus by wishing to satisfy the crowd?  Trying to satisfy the lusts of the world, we crucify Jesus Christ.  Trying to make people like us, to not lose face in public, trying to gain the approval of the world, we crucify the King of Glory. 

Mark barely mentions in vs15 of the flogging that Pilate gave Jesus.  But a cat of nine tails was commonly used to scourge a convicted person before heading to the cross.  It was meant to weaken them, so that they might not last too long on the cross.  It is said that such a flogging was stopped at 39 lashes, because it was determined that 40 would kill you.  Such a tremendous cost was our sin, that it required such a terrible punishment.  

Once again, consider Isaiah 53:5 “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.” What a travesty of salvation when the modern day faith healers use this verse as some sort of mantra to guarantee healing of diseases. By His scourging, we are cleansed of our unrighteousness. That is what Isaiah says.  He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. Our physical health is not the issue, it’s our spiritual health that is being spoken of.  The wrath of God against our sin was satisfied in the suffering of Jesus our Savior.

So beaten to within an inch of His life, His back and legs ripped to shreds, there are still more indignities left for Jesus to bear.  The soldiers now take part in the ridicule and mocking of Jesus.  Mark tells us more detail of the mocking than he does of the scourging. Perhaps the wounds caused by words cut deeper than the whip.  And the mocking of the soldiers is especially cruel.  Perhaps they took out their pent up hatred for the Jews upon Jesus.  After all, He was said to be the King of the Jews.  It was common in those days to disrespect the fallen monarch of a defeated enemy.  Maybe that was it then, as the soldiers call all the Roman cohort from the Palace together to ridicule and scorn Jesus.  

The whole idea of Jesus being a King is obviously the point of their ridicule.  They dress Him in purple, a royal fabric, and crush a crown of plaited thorns upon His head, calling out “Hail, King of the Jews!”  Vs19 “They kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him.”

This is savage mockery.  This is hatred at it’s lowest form.  It’s easy to imagine that these soldiers were the lowest of the low.  That they were no better than animals.  But the fact is, that such savage mockery of Christ happens today on our concert stages and in our theaters and it is applauded by the world.  The fact is that sin is a savage beast.  Sin is an evil that turns men into the lowest of the low.  God’s is justified in dealing with divine wrath upon sin. But the retribution that these hateful soldiers deserved, God struck the blows due to them upon Jesus. 2Cor. 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

God’s wrath against sin will be satisfied.  And God’s purpose is that in Jesus He would punish sin, put to death sin, and by His resurrection overcome sin.  If you remember in the Garden of Eden at the fall, God pronounced a curse upon the earth.  He said in Genesis 3:18 that part of the curse would be that the land would produce thorns and thistles.  Thorns then are a picture of the curse of the fall.  The soldiers by crushing the crown of thorns upon Jesus’ head, unwittingly illustrated the justice of God, that He would put the curse of sin upon Jesus, that we might be free from sin.  

So as the soldiers hit Him and spit upon Him and revile Him, I can picture Jesus standing there in all of HIs bloody wounds, standing there bravely and purposefully bearing our reproach, that even those who were assaulting Him might go free.  Isaiah 53:4 says “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.”

Then Mark tells us in vs20 “After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him.”  

The question that I want to leave with you today, is what will you do with Jesus?  You cannot avoid the question.  You cannot avoid making a decision.  If you try to avoid it, then you are really rejecting Jesus as your Savior and King.  I pray that no one here is like Pilate.  I pray that no one here is like the chief priests, or the soldiers who scorned Him, nor the crowd who hated Him without a cause.  I pray that you would be like Barabbas.  That you would recognize that your sin has condemned you to death, but that Jesus has taken your punishment upon Himself, that He might grant you life everlasting.  

If you don’t know Jesus as your Savior and King, then today I urge you to accept His invitation to enter into His kingdom.  Jesus said in Revelation 22:17  “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.”  Come to Jesus today.  He will save you.  Jesus said in Matt.11:28-30  “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Jesus has taken the burden of our sin upon Himself, that we might be given the righteousness of God.  If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  He can forgive us, because He has paid our penalty.  Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  Come to Jesus today as your Savior and King and receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ, resulting in salvation unto life.

In the passage of scripture we read today, we have seen a tragic picture of the fall of one of Christ’s closest friends, and devoted disciples.  Peter, by all accounts, was the foremost of the disciples.  He was the first to declare that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.  He was the one to jump in the water to walk on the waves with Christ in a storm.  If he had been a fireman, or a policeman or soldier, he would have always been first through the door.  Peter was a man that everyone looked up to.  He was a natural leader.  And yet we see him here falling – falling to the lowest level that anyone could have ever imagined.

It reminds me of the lament that David sang of Saul and Jonathan when they died on the battle field.  David said, “Oh, how have the mighty fallen!” Peter was the mightiest, the most courageous of all the disciples, and yet here he is pictured, denying the Lord three times while Jesus was being tried and beaten just a few yards away.  A tragic figure.  A terrible fall into sin. The old adage seems to be true that the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

The question though, as we see Peter rushing out into the night, weeping bitter tears, ashamed at his lack of faith, the question is, how did Peter get to this point? How did he go from being the foremost disciple, part of Jesus’s inner circle, the leader of the band of 12, how did he end up swearing repeatedly that he never knew Him? 

Well, to understand Peter’s fall, we must go back in the gospel accounts to the first step in his decline.  No one goes from the heights of faith to the pit of despair in just a moment. It’s a progression, a downward slide that may be an almost indiscernible drift at first, but it ends up in shipwreck.  It’s like when I see a homeless person on the streets, caught up in addiction, living in poverty and filth, I have to remind myself not to judge him by the way he looks now.  But remember that once upon a time he was a young boy, running around the neighborhood.  Once he was an innocent child.  And I cannot help but wonder what happened in his life that caused him to end up there?  

So let’s retrace the steps of Peter’s denial.  Because I believe we can show that there was a progression which led him to deny Christ.  And perhaps Peter’s fall might serve as a warning to us, that when we think we stand, let us take heed lest we fall.  If Peter could fall, then we all could fall. And perhaps this lesson learned from Peter might even reveal our own fleshly attitudes and actions which are leading us towards a similar fall, and a similar denial.

The first step in the progression of Peter’s failure of faith is found in vs29.  There we see Peter boasting in himself.  Peter said to Jesus, “Even though all may fall away, yet I will not.”  The key to what was wrong in Peter’s response to the Lord’s statement that all of them would fall away that night, was not necessarily in his determination not to fall, but in his superior attitude.  Proverbs says that “pride goes before a fall,”  and Peter shows that in his pride he considers himself superior to the other disciples.  They may fall, they may be weak, but I am not.  I’m better than the other disciples.  I’m not spiritually weak like they are.  

Paul warned the Corinthians not to compare themselves against one another. 2Cor. 10:12 “For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”  Avoid the pitfall of pride by comparing yourself to others and recognize that it is by grace that you stand. Recognize your sinful nature and know that it’s not by your merit, but by the grace of God you have been saved.

The pride that Peter’s answer reveals is that he is trusting in his flesh, in his courage, in his strength of will to accomplish what the others could not do.  But again, Paul writing the Romans tells us not to trust in the flesh.  Rom. 7:18 “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.”  We have to walk in the Spirit, to keep from fulfilling the desires of the flesh.  Peter though is boasting in his flesh, in his strength. And that’s a dangerous first step in the wrong direction.

The second step in the progression to backsliding, was that Peter argued with the Lord and with the word of the Lord. Vs.31, “But Peter kept saying insistently, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!’ And they all were saying the same thing also.”  Notice, he kept on
insisting even after Jesus corrected him.  Jesus said that they would all fall away, then Peter denied it.  Then the Lord specifically told Peter that before the cock crowed twice he would deny Him three times.  And Peter argues with the Lord.  He keeps on insisting that he is right. 

It’s a dangerous thing to argue with the Lord. You may say, well I would never do such a thing.  But of course you do that very thing when you argue with God’s word.  When God says, leave something alone, do not touch, we argue that it won’t really be a bad thing for us.  We can do it and not be tempted, we can go there and not fall away.  It may happen to others, they may become alcoholics, but not me.  They may fall into sexual sin, but not me. That admonition might be true for some people, but it doesn’t apply to me. And so we find ourselves arguing with the Lord.  We think we know ourselves better than our Maker does. 

Peter should have remembered what Jesus said to him earlier; “Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat.”  It turns out that Satan didn’t have to use some great tool  to turn Peter.  He simply had to use the accusation of a little servant girl, and Peter ’s faith fell like a house of cards.  Because he was dependent upon his own strength. And Satan knows that though our spirit is willing, the flesh is weak.  To rely upon the Spirit, is to walk according to the word of God.  “Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11)  And Isaiah 45:9 says, “Woe to him who strives with his Maker!”  If the Lord said it, don’t be foolish enough to go against His wisdom in lieu of your own.  Let God be true, and every man a liar.

The third step in the progression to Peter’s betrayal is that he was sleeping when he should have been praying. Vs.37.  “And Jesus came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’”  There is a saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And I suggest that one of the best ways to prevent falling away is by prayer.  It’s hard to be praying and fall into sin at the same time.

It’s interesting that Mark says that Jesus came to them three times to wake them up from their sleep.  You would think that they would have set themselves on fire in order to stay awake after the first time they fell asleep.  But instead, they seem to have become calloused.  They have no sense of urgency.  They forgot the admonition of Prov. 6:9-11 “How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?  “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest”–  Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your need like an armed man.”  Now in context, Solomon was talking about laziness in regards to work, but it certainly applies as well to spiritual poverty.  Phil.2;12 says we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.  Peter himself, though writing many years later in his last letter says, “be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness.”

There are really only two sources of spiritual strength, prayer and the word of God.  And notice that Jesus puts a great deal of emphasis on prayer as the means of overcoming or resisting temptation. That’s when we confess with our mouth our faith.  That’s when we call upon the Lord to help us to stand, to keep us from falling.  And finally, I can’t help myself on this one, notice that Jesus says, “could you not keep watch for one hour?”  I’m amazed at the excuses that people come up with in regards to coming to church.  One hour a week, and that is too much it seems.  And then we don’t understand why we are having such problems in our lives. Jesus said the church should be a house of prayer.  Peter could have possibly prevented a lifetime of heart ache if he would have just made prayer a priority.  

There is an old song, “What A Friend We Have in Jesus.” The one line declares “O what needless pain we bare, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”  Prayer is not just declaring what we want, but our submission to what God wants.  Jesus taught us to pray “Your will be done.” But ultimately, the error of Peter was he prioritized his physical needs above his spiritual needs. And I think that error is common to many of us. We prioritize the physical above the spiritual, and that leads us to fall away from the Lord.

Another step in the progression to failure of Peter’s faith, is that in the garden he relies upon physical weapons to fight a spiritual battle. Vs.47, “But one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear.”  That individual was Peter, according to the gospel of John.  And we would have expected no less.  They only had two swords among 12 disciples, but you would have expected that Peter made sure he would wear one of them. 

Listen, what happens when we walk in the strength of our flesh, in the wisdom of our mind, rather than in the wisdom of God and the Spirit of God, is that we then find ourselves fighting spiritual battles with fleshly methods.  And not only does that not work, it’s counterproductive to spiritual things.  We may think it makes perfect sense.  We may think we have figured out a method for dealing with a problem, but in the long run, it accomplishes nothing for the faith, or even results in outright disaster.  

Peter forgets that Jesus could have called 10,000 angels to defend Himself if He had wanted to do that.  This was a pretty large mob, it included not only the temple guards of the high priest, but also a group of Roman soldiers.  Peter’s efforts could have ended up getting him and the rest of the disciples killed.  And the sad part of that is, that it was not God’s will.  It was just the consequences of a headstrong, foolish determination on Peter’s part to do things according to what he thought was right.  It’s one thing to suffer for the Lord, it’s another to suffer the consequences of unspiritual thinking.  Peter learned his lesson here though, because many years later he writes; in 1Peter 3:17 “For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.”

The fact is that what seems like common sense to us is often not the method of the Lord. Isaiah 55:8-9  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”  And Zechariah 4:6 speaks to that as well, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.”

The fifth step in Peter’s progression to denial is found in vs54, which says Peter followed the Lord at a  distance. “Peter had followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the officers and warming himself at the fire.”  After Jesus’s arrest in the garden, Peter fled with all the other disciples.  But then he sort of doubled back and followed the mob back to the high priest’s house.  But whereas in the garden, Peter was right beside the Lord, now he is following at what he thought to be a safe distance. 

Listen, there is no safe distance to be from the Lord.  The further you are from the Lord, the more unsafe it is.  If you think you are in a comfortable place with the Lord, then you are about to get a lot more uncomfortable.  James said, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”  But we often think that we don’t want to end up looking like a religious nut, so we find ourselves a comfortable distance from the Lord, where we think we are still close enough to hear Him and see Him, but not too close for comfort, and not so close as to bring undue scrutiny upon ourselves by the world.  We follow at a distance when our hearts are not fully given to the Lord.  We think we are ok being half way.  But that’s a dangerous place to be.

The truth is, we need to be as close as being in the same yoke with the Lord if we are going to have any safety.  It’s much safer to be close to the Lord than close to the world.  The world hates you, if you are a Christian.  Satan is your mortal enemy and looking for an opportunity to devour you, to sift you like wheat.  And when you start hanging near the back of the herd, and then straggling a few dozen yards behind everyone else, the devil’s ears prick up and he begins to stalk you, looking for the right moment to attack.  But poor old Peter has to learn the hard way.  His prideful confidence regarding his own resources is his downfall, and already he has started to pick up the pace in his descent.

The devil is always going to tempt you to think that you can go over there and still be ok.  You can do this or that and still be a Christian.  He uses the allure of the world to lure you further and further from being in communion with the Lord.  It reminds me of the story of a rich man that was hiring a new chauffeur to drive his limousine.  And so he came up with a test course to see how well each applicant could drive.  And the road near his mansion had a hairpin curve around a mountain, with a sharp cliff off the side of the road.  The first driver drove his car pretty fast around the curve, and got within a few feet of the guardrail without skidding out.  The second driver decided he needed to outdo the first, so he went even faster and got within a foot of the edge of the road, and he made it fine.  The third driver drove very slowly around the curve, and he stayed as far away as possible from the edge of the road.  Well, the rich man hired the last driver.  He had no interest in seeing how close he could come to running off the road.  He wanted a driver that would stay as far away as possible from danger.

Now that’s the attitude that we need to have.  When we want to see how close to the world we can get and not end up in trouble, then we are playing right into the devil’s hands.  Our desire should  not be to see how close we can live to this world, but how close we can live to Jesus.

Finally, we see Peter warming himself and sharing a fire with the Lord’s enemies. Psalms 1:1 tells us that there is a progression to falling away from the Lord.  It says, “Blessed [is] the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful.”  Notice that there is a progression; walking in the counsel of the ungodly, then standing in the path of sinners, then finally sitting in the seat of the scornful.  Peter made the same mistakes.  He walked afar off.  He stood near the fire.  Then finally he is seated with and sharing the fire with the very men that are enemies of the Lord.

Trying to find friendship with the world is always a sign of having moved away from a close relationship with the Lord.  And when we find ourselves sitting by the fire of the world, we find ourselves dangerously close to denial of the Lord.  James 4:4 says “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”  

Peter found himself sitting by the fire of the enemies of Christ, the very servants of the high priests who would strike the Lord repeatedly as He was blindfolded, and without realizing it he had put himself in a position to readily deny the Lord, not just once, but three times.

Yet I am sure that none of us today would think that we would ever deny the Lord.  Oh, everyone else may deny the Lord, but I never will.  Yet we may already have denied the Lord either by our words or our actions.  We may have denied HIs word, by not doing what He says, by thinking that His word doesn’t apply to me.  We may have denied Him by avoiding spending time with Him in prayer as He desires.  We may deny Him by the way we talk, or the way we act when we are around the world. No body can tell that we are a Christian.

Notice, that the more the enemies by the fire accused Peter of being with the Lord, the more incensed he became, until he finally begins to curse and swear.  Now cursing and swearing can be a sign of a heart that is far from the Lord, but I don’t think Peter was necessarily saying curse words.  The commentators tell us that Peter was swearing by God, and pronouncing a curse upon himself if he was not telling the truth, that he did not know the Lord.  That’s really a lot worse than saying a couple of four letter words.  It’s hard to imagine Peter falling that far, that fast.  Yet as we saw, it really wasn’t an immediate thing.  It was a downhill slide that started some time before with an attitude of pride.

I think Mark is careful to point out the contrast between Jesus speaking under oath in the inner courtroom and Peter’s oath in the courtyard. Jesus said he was the Messiah, the Son of God, and Peter denied that he knew Jesus at all.  If there is anything good that comes out of this situation, it is that Peter’s pride was broken that night.  He realized when the cock crowed the second time that what Jesus had prophesied concerning him had come true.  His spirit was willing, but his flesh was weak.  Luke tells us that when the cock crowed, Jesus looked at Peter.  And I’m sure that look broke his heart, because Mark tells us that he ran out and wept.  

Sometimes, God has to break us before He can use us.  I heard the story of a famous conductor who had written a beautiful love song, and a  young woman was chosen to sing it in his presence at a rehearsal.  The woman was very talented, and she sang the song perfectly.  But when the friends of the conductor asked him what he thought of her rendition, he said, “She will be great when something happens to break her heart.”  

In the life of faith, whereby we walk by faith and not by sight, it is not enough to simply believe with your mind the facts of Jesus’s life.  But  a necessary component to faith is repentance, and that comes not simply from sorrow, but from brokenness over your sinfulness.  Recognizing as Paul said, that there is nothing good in you.  And yet the Lord still loves you, and has died for you, so that He might purchase you for His own.  Brokenness is the key to usefulness. Brokenness is realizing that the flesh is worthless.  Jesus said in John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

Even Peter’s professed love for the Lord was not able to sustain him in his time of trial because he was dependent upon his flesh, on human abilities and human resources, to carry him through. In the hour of crisis, even love was not really effective in keeping him close to the Lord. Love and loyalty and determination mean nothing when they rest on the shaky foundation of the  human will.  Our steadfastness is not dependent upon our will power, but on the power of the Holy Spirit, who works in us through prayer and the word of God. 

When I look at the lives of many Christians today, I am afraid for them because they depend upon the flesh.  They exhibit sentimentalism instead of sacrificial love. They evaluate spiritual things with worldly appraisals. They propose fleshly methods for dealing with spiritual problems. But God choses to work in the Spirit, which is contrary to the flesh.  Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”  

But we bring fleshly desires into the church, we bring the world’s perspective into the church, and like Peter slashing with the sword, we try to fight spiritual battles with worldly weapons.  And like Peter, it leads to our spiritual destruction.  That’s why Paul could say, that he gloried in his weakness.  Notice he doesn’t say he gloried in his sinfulness.  He was not glad he was weak, but in recognition of his weakness he knew his dependency was in Christ.  And so he dared not stray from  closeness to Christ.

Paul goes on to say in 2Cor. 12:5, 9-10  “On behalf of such a man I will boast; but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses. … 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”  The source to our spiritual strength is our utter dependence upon Christ dwelling in me and my fellowship with Him through prayer and through His word.

The late Paul Harvey used to end his popular radio broadcasts by saying, “And now you know the rest of the story…”  The chapter ends with Peter going out and weeping bitter tears at denying Christ.  But I want to leave you with the rest of the story.  Jesus, after He was resurrected, made a special  private visit to Peter in order to restore him to Himself again.  And then, one more time before His ascension, Jesus made another appearance as Peter and the disciples were fishing, and this time Jesus publicly restored Peter not only to fellowship with Him, but also usefulness to the kingdom. Once Peter recognized his weakness, and repented of his pride and self sufficiency, then the Lord could use him.

The good news is, that if you have seen in yourself some parallel today in the life of Peter, you recognize that you have started slipping away from fellowship with the Lord, then there is the invitation of Christ to be renewed and restored to usefulness.  And that starts with repentance.  David, who also fell away and by his actions denied the Lord, prayed a prayer of repentance in Psalm 51, 10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. … 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. … 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

The Lord is willing to forgive and restore all who come to Him in faith and repentance.