Mark-Lesson 12...Continued from page 3
Thomas Klock
DAY FOUR: Who Do You Say That I Am?
Please carefully read Mark 8:27-33 and answer the following questions.
1. We have now come to the climax of the first part of our studies in Mark. What did Jesus ask His men as they walked along the road, and how did they respond (v. 27, 28)?
2. Jesus then asked His men a question that, as John MacArthur well said, the answer given to it will determine one’s eternal destiny![xiv] What did Jesus ask, and what was the response (v. 29)?
3. Matthew 16 and Luke 9 expand on Peter’s answer and Jesus’ response, but Mark recorded Peter’s confession in the simplest, most direct form, consistent with his presentation of Jesus to his readers.[xv] The reason Jesus asked this was because they clearly needed to understand He was Christ, the Messiah, but also understand the true purpose of His coming. What was that purpose, how did Peter react, and what was Jesus’ startling response (v. 30-33)?
SIDELIGHT: CAESAREA PHILIPPI
This city shouldn’t be confused with Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast 60 miles northwest of Jerusalem. It was rebuilt and enlarged version of the ancient city Paneas, completed by Philip the tetrarch. A grotto dedicated to the god Pan was there. Herod the Great built a temple in Paneas, dedicating it to the emperor Augustus. When Herod died and Philip succeeded him, he renamed the city for the emperor and for himself. The qualification “of Philip” was to distinguish the city, which was about twenty-five miles north of Lake Galilee, from the Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea, which was built by Herod the Great and also named for Augustus. The city had a beautiful setting at the foot of Mt. Hermon, beside some gushing springs that constitute one of the sources of the Jordan River.[xvi] “It was a place dedicated to the glory of Rome, and that glory is now gone, but the glory of Jesus Christ remains and will go on eternally.”[xvii]
4. Peter of course reacted to this out of shock. One minute ago he had hit the ball out of the park, and the next he struck out completely! He didn’t understand yet the relationship between Jesus’ suffering and glory, and didn’t comprehend God’s will in view of his deep love for Jesus.[xviii] But why such a response by Jesus? Kenneth Wuest helps understand this:
It was an agonizing cry, for Jesus recognized a repetition of the temptation of Satan when the latter said to Him, after he had shown Him the great Roman empire, “These things, all of them, I will give to you, if having fallen down, you will worship me” (Matt. 4:9). This is the order of the words in the Greek text. Notice the bargaining power of the Devil. It was a temptation to go around the Cross and receive the rulership of the world empire from the hands of Satan, the price, the worship of him. Here was Satan again, using the foremost of the disciples, to tempt our Lord to go around the Cross. It is the opinion of the present writer that our Lord did not call Peter, Satan, but that, recognizing the source, He spoke directly to the Tempter, including Peter in the rebuke. Since Satan is incorrigible, he could not be brought to repentance, and epitima? (πιτιμαω) is most fitting here. Our Lord, in His utterance, brands Peter’s words as Satanic.[xix]
Peter did eventually realize the true purpose of our Lord, and would later boldly proclaim this. What are some ways he did so?
Acts 2:22-24, 32-36
1 Peter 1:3-5, 2:21-25
Scripture Memory: Try to fill in the missing words in the blanks below, by memory if at all possible, and then review the passage several times today.
He said to them, “Whoever desires to _______________ after Me, let him _____________ himself, and ______________ _______ his cross, and ________________ Me. For whoever desires to _________________ his life will _________________ it, but whoever ________________ his life for My sake and the ____________________ will _______________ it.” (Mark 8:34b-35, nkjv)