Mark-Lesson 16...Continued from page 2

DAY THREE: The Son of Man Teaches on Faith

Please carefully read Mark 11:19-23 and answer the following questions.

1.  As Jesus went home to Bethany for the night, He left behind a confused Jerusalem.  Religious leaders were afraid of Him, the people were astonished at Him, and no doubt His disciples wondered what was going to be happening the next day.  What happened as they headed back toward Jerusalem according to verses 20, 21?

2.  Peter looked at the fig tree and thought it was cursed; however, Jesus is going to use this as a symbol and a teaching device to instruct His men.  How did Jesus take this event and turn it into a teaching about faith (verses 22, 23)?

3.  Dried up comes from a Greek word that is used here in the perfect tense, indicating that the tree was completely withered away and dead.  The problem with this tree was that it had borne leaves far before the normal time.  The second problem with it was that it should've been bearing little bits of fruits by this time if the leaves had grown so fully.  What an amazing symbol this is of the state of Judaism of the day.[ix]  Jesus wasn't just ticked off and decided to get rid of that tree because it didn't have anything for Him to eat.  Instead, He was going use it to make a very important point.

Symbolically, Jesus represents God “inspecting” His people Israel to see what kind of fruit their lives had born.  No fruit was found in them and a certain end was declared, which took place around 70 A.D. with the destruction of Jerusalem, the beginning of the end of Judaism as they knew it in those days.  What are some ways that the Old Testament used the fig as a symbol for God's people Israel, and also sadly prophetic of this destruction?

Jeremiah 8:12-14

Hosea 9:10-12

4.  In using this as a teaching device, Jesus instructed His men to put their faith in God, and that as they trusted in Him He would do amazing things through them.  In Matthew 17:20 Jesus had told His men that if they had the faith as small as the size of a mustard seed that they could do great things like this.  Warren Wiersbe points out that to have faith in God means "constantly be trusting God; live in an attitude of dependence on Him."[x] This might make us think that our faith must be pretty small; I haven't moved around too many mountains lately, at least mountains that we can see.  Rather this is more of the emphasis that we will be able to see great things done as we trust in God and live in that attitude of depending on Him.  What are some ways that the following passages encourage us to have faith in God and see results?

Romans 4:19-22; 10:17

Hebrews 10:19-25; 11:1, 2

James 2:14-23

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.

Therefore I say to you, ______________________ things you ask when you _____________, ______________________ that you receive them, and you __________ have them.   Mark 11:24, nkjv