Did You Think This Would Never End? (PM Lesson Outline)
GIST: God is faithful in preserving His Word; we should be faithful in proclaiming it.
SCRIPTURE: Mark 16:9-20
9 [[Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
12 After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. 13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.
14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.]]
For the last time, I will invite you to open your Bibles up to the Gospel of Mark. Studying this gospel has been a truly wonderful experience. I felt such conviction that this should be our first book study together because it is all about Jesus, and we need Him more than anything! It has truly been a blessing.
We will not be long tonight, however, because what we’ve come to is actually sometimes not even included in sermon series on Mark. In fact, every pastor I listen to as part of my studying process addressed this passage as a “side note” in their final sermons, just to explain why they weren’t going to preach on it☺. Since we began this study, I have known we would come to this ending, and there would likely be questions because in nearly all modern translations this passage is in brackets, and that is perplexing. Therefore, what I want to do tonight is try to briefly explain why these brackets are here, address the supposed controversies in the passage, and end with some, as usual, takeaways☺.(However, if you are reading this blog, please note that Sunday evening messages are presented in outline form. If you have more specific questions, please feel free to personal message me.) The gist for tonight? God is faithful in preserving His Word; we should be faithful in proclaiming it.
1. Why The Brackets? The answer is pretty straightforward actually. The earliest manuscripts do not include it. Because of this, most modern scholarship concludes that Mark did not actually write these last serval verses. And when you read it, you can kind of pick up on that, right? It reads more like a quick summary of events, and that is not unusual for fast-paced Mark, but the fact that there does not seem to be a direct connection between verses 8 and 9 is.
And let me just pause to point out that the manuscripts we’re talking about here is a major point of evidence for why we should trust the validity of scripture. Let’s just say we have tons. I’ll just put this out there for you. It’s incredible!
Author
|
Book
|
Date Written
|
Earliest Copy
|
Time GAP
|
Copies
|
Plato
|
427-347 B.C.
|
900 A.D.
|
1200-1300 yrs
|
7
| |
Herodotus
|
History
|
480-425 B.C.
|
900 A.D.
|
1300 yrs
|
8
|
Aristophanes
|
450-385 B.C.
|
900 A.D.
|
1200 yrs
|
10
| |
Caesar
|
Gallic Wars
|
100-44 B.C.
|
900 A.D.
|
1000 yrs
|
10
|
Aristotle
|
384-322 B.C.
|
1100 A.D.
|
1400 yrs
|
49
| |
Sophocles
|
496-406 B.C.
|
1000 A.D
|
1400 yrs
|
193
| |
Homer
|
Iliad
|
800-900 B.C.
|
400 B.C.
|
400-500 yrs
|
643
|
New
Testament
|
Rest of New Testament (more detailed charts available)
|
1st Cent. A.D. (50-100 A.D.
|
130 A.D.-325 A.D
366-500 A.D. (Translations)
|
less than 100-225 yrs
284-400 yrs for translations
|
5600 Grk mss
+19,000 trans
+24,900
|
John
|
New Testament Gospel Fragment
|
50-100 A.D.
|
130 A.D.
|
+50 yrs
|
Fragments
|
(Josh McDowell, Five Tough Questions, 36).
So, what do we do with Mark likely not being the author of the last portion of this Gospel? Should we toss it out? Let me just make one quick observation. The true author of Scripture is the Holy Spirit, not any particular man. One of the main objections to including this passage in the gospel of Mark is that Mark himself did not write it. That’s fine, but did Moses write all of the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible)? What about the part about his death? Who wrote the book of Psalms? (Various) What about the book of Hebrews? (Unknown). If someone added this later, and it does not contradict teachings found in any of parts of Scripture, it really doesn’t matter if Mark wrote it or not.
2. What Is This Saying About Baptism? Ok, so let’s look at the two points that are often presented as contradictions. The first is verse 16 about baptism: “16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” This has sometimes been taken to teach baptism as a means of salvation, but to get this interpretation, you would not only have to take the verse out of context...but not finish reading the verse. What does it say condemns you? Unbelief...not lack of baptism! Why combine them then? Because belief saves, and baptism naturally follows as a sign of both obedience and public proclamation of the salvation Jesus has already won in your heart!
3. What Is This Saying About Tongues and Snakes? This next passage has led to all kinds of weird interpretation, not least of which would be people actually handling poisonous snakes in their church services. Let’s look at it really quickly. “17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs. (emphasis added).” That last part is key. These were signs which accompanied the apostles as they went into the world spreading the Gospel. They helped to confirm their testimony. However, they were not meant to be implied for all believers.
TAKEAWAYS
1. God is faithful in preserving His Word. I see no reason to completely disregard the end of Mark here because God in His provision has let it remain in many manuscript copies and, in what is a glorious testimony to the truth of Scripture, it confirms what all Scripture proclaims.
2. We are called to be His witnesses. 15b Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
3. Even though many will not believe. Look at the immediate responses: 11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. 12 After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. 13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.
4. Because God isn’t done yet!
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
-The Doxology
No comments:
Post a Comment