To read the chapter studied below—type in Mark & Chapter# and hit enter at our Bible Search to the left———————————–>

Lessons:

LESSON 1: Into.           LESSON 2: Overview           LESSON 3: Mark 1

LESSON 4: Mark 2         LESSON 5: Mark 3              LESSON 6: Mark 4

LESSON 7: Mark 5         LESSON 8: Mark 6              LESSON 9: Mark 7

LESSON 10: Mark 8       LESSON 11: Mark 9             LESSON 12: Mark 10

LESSON 13: Mark 11      LESSON 14: Mark 12           LESSON 15: Mark 13

LESSON 16: Mark 14a    LESSON 17: Mark 14b          LESSON 18: Mark 15

LESSON 19: Mark 16:1-8           LESSON 20: Mark 16:9-20

The Christmas story is found in Matthew (1:18-2:18) and in Luke (1:26-56, 2:1-40). However, Isaiah should never be ignored:

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Is. 7:14)

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Is. 9:6)

Matthew gives us the story largely from the perspective of Joseph, including the dreams that he had and his family genealogy. In this gospel the ‘Kingship’ of Jesus is the major topic. Starting with the Davidic Kingly genealogy through Joseph and the coming of the Magi (Wisemen) who are looking for the new king. Also King Herod’s reaction is in Matthew.

The events in Luke are given to us from Mary’s view. The angel Gabriel appears to Mary and announces the coming of the child. Mary’s genealogy is also given in Luke (3:23-38), she was also a descendent of David, but not in the ‘Kingly’ line. Chapter 2 begins with the Christmas story that everyone is familiar with:

1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

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Completed Lessons:

1. Joel: Introduction 2. Joel: Outline 3. Joel: The Message (not Complete)

4. Joel: 1:1-12 5. Joel: 1:13-14 6. Joel: 1:15-20

Vs.15 The writer compares ‘that day’ to the final ‘day of the Lord’ in this verse. ‘That Day’ is code for decisive events where God intervenes in history similar to the final ‘Day of the Lord’ at the end of time. Joel understands the natural attack of the Locusts to be a Divine intervention of Judgment–”destruction from the Almighty”.

Vs.16-18 Not only has all the food been destroyed but all the gain and even the pastures. The animals that could be used in sacrifices to God are suffering along with the people. Fasting and prayer are the only rituals left for the priests and the people to show their repentance before the Lord.

Vs. 19-20 Joel cries out to God in intercession for the land and also for the animals. Even the animals and the streams are naturally forced to fast and they are crying out to the Almighty. The locusts like a fire have destroyed everything. God’s judgment– ‘that day’– has touched everyone and every thing in the land. *Top

1:13-14 A Time For Repentance

Vs 13 Joel is declaring to the priests that it is time for them to repent. With the coming of the locust plague, those who administer the daily grain and drink offerings in the temple are out of business. All they can do is put on Sackcloth and cry out in repentance before the Lord directly.

Vs 14 Joel also tells the priests to call for an official fast, to notify the elders and all the people of the land that now is the time for everyone to cry out to the Lord in repentance.

Joel, in his prophetic role, sees in the locust plague a judgment from God over the whole land and people. According to the prophet Joel, it is time for the whole nation to repent.

Today when natural disasters strike, the last thing that people want to hear is that it could be a judgment from God. Most of the time it probably isn’t, but if a minister does declare that the event could be a judgment, than he or she is always ridiculed. However, in the last days according to the scriptures, God will bring major judgments upon the whole earth. In those days, He will also send his prophets once more to declare his word and his judgment. *Top

In chapter one, a natural invasion of locust infests the entire land of Israel and the prophet Joel sees the plague as a judgment from God and calls for repentance. One key to understanding the purpose of this writing is in the prophet’s own name itself, Joel means: Yahweh (or Jehovah in English) is God’.

1:1-12 The Invasion of Locusts

Vs. 1-3 Joel calls the people to recall past locust infestations and no one alive can recall an invasion of this nature or magnitude in the past or even in the legends past down by their people. This invasion is unique in nature and intensity.

Vs. 4 Here Joel is claiming that the land is being devastated by locusts in every level of their development at the same time. From the larva stage to maturity and through to the swarming movement when the insects reach incredible numbers in one location.

Vs. 5 The wine drinkers and particularly the alcoholics will immediately be affected by the plague since the production of new wine will immediately cease.

Vs. 6-7 Joel likens the locust invasion to an army with devastating strength and numbers. In hyperbole he compares their teeth to those of a lion, but then talks of the destruction done by the invasion in realistic terms. All vegetation is utterly and completely destroyed.

Vs. 8 The whole nation is going to suffer anguish. A ‘virgin’ here is one who has been pledged but whose betrothed husband has died before the marriage could be consummated. The farmers have planted and tended the crops but the entire effort was in vain because it was all destroyed before the harvest.

Vs. 9-10 The priests in the Temple will not even have grain or drink offerings to give to God because everything is gone. The gain and the new wine was totally destroyed. Gain, new wine, and olive oil were the staples of the entire economy of Israel. Not only was it gone but they would not be able to continue the obligatory sacrifices to God at the very moment when they needed his help and favor.

Vs.11-12 Everything is gone, the wheat, barley, figs, vines, apples, pomegranates, and palms. It is a complete destruction of the agrarian economy of Israel. Total devastation of all the harvest.

This leaves the entire country in a dire situation. At this point many would be asking God why this was allowed to happened to their land and what to do now in the face of this crisis where potentially the entire nation could perish or suffer incredible losses? In the next section, Joel counsels the priests and the people to repent.

In the Western world today it is hard to conceive of such a situation where the entire population of a nation is threatened. However, we have seen severe famines in North Korea, Ethiopia, and several African nations which threatened the lives of millions even in our modern world.

There have also been natural catastrophes which have brought severe devastations to large areas of land recently, including earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis which have resulted in huge relief efforts to rescue large populations of people at risk. *Top

JOEL: A Teaching Outline

I. The Day of the Lord in the Past 1
A. The Past Day of the Locust 1:1-12
B. The Past Day of the Drought 1:13-20

II. The Day of the Lord in the Future 2:1-3:21
A. The Coming Day of the Lord 2:1-27
1. Prophecy of the Coming Invasion of 2:1-11
Judah
2. Conditional Promise of the Salvation 2:12-27
of Judah
B. The Ultimate Day of the Lord 2:28-3:21
1. Last Events Before the Terrible Day 2:28-32
of the Lord
2. Events of the Terrible Day of the 3
Lord
a. Judgment on the Gentiles 3:1-17
b. Restoration of Judah 3:18-21

(from Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary) *Top

The book of Joel is part of the ‘Scroll of Twelve’ referred to as the ‘minor prophets’. ‘Minor’,not because their message is less important in anyway than major prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, or even Daniel. They are called the ‘minor prophets’ because they are much shorter in length. Joel is the second book in the collection of twelve.

We really don’t know much about the prophet Joel personally. His father’s name was Pethuel, who we don’t know anything about also. He does seem to be familiar with the Temple ministry so some have supposed that he may have been a priest.

There are no historical features that we can point to in order to properly date the writing. Scholars are divided over the potential dating of the writings. Some hold that Joel was a 9th century BC prophet, that his writing show many linguistic characteristics that are common with Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Micah, and Zephaniah from that time period. Others believe that Joel was a prophet in the post-exilic period (6th century BC) following Haggai and Zechariah, that he drew upon some material from the earlier prophets.

(To be Continued) *Top

Mark 16:9-20 is called the ‘Longer Ending’. None of the earliest and most reliable NT manuscripts have verses 9-20. It was missing from nearly all of the Greek manuscripts used by Jerome in his Latin translation. Clement and Origen do not reference these verses. The earliest mention comes from Irenaeus and Tatian’s Diatessaron. The evidence seems to indicate that it was not in circulation until the middle 2nd century.

The words, style, and content of verses 9-20 have lead many scholars to conclude that these verses were written by a different author. Nearly 1/3 of the words in the twelve verses were not used in the rest of the Gospel of Mark. Verse 9 abruptly continues the story and then changes the direction. The angel in the tomb tells the women that Jesus will see the disciples in Galilee. However, all the appearances of Jesus in these verses is confined to Jerusalem and the immediate area.

Many scholars believe that a final page of the original manuscript may have been lost since the Gospel does not seem to end very well at verse 8. The manuscript evidence shows that there have been several attempts to ‘finish’ the Gospel besides verses 9-20.
There is also an alternate ending called the ‘Shorter Ending’. The evidence for this ending is even later, starting in the 7th century. Here’s the entire reading:

“But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from the east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.”

The Shorter Ending is also used as a transition between verse 8 and 9-20 in several manuscripts.

Conclusions: The original ending must have been lost if it didn’t end at verse 8. The earliest manuscripts and the earliest Christian writers do not reference verses 9-20. These verses must be seen as an attempt to finish the Gospel in better form.

16:9-20 The Longer Ending: The Appearances and Ascension of Jesus

Vs. 9-11 The mention of the ’seven demons’ in connection with Mary Magdalene is information that was never given earlier in Mark. It actually comes from Luke 8:2. Though earlier, the women didn’t tell anyone, here Mary Magdalene tells the disciples that she has seen Jesus but they do not believe her.

Vs. 12-13 Here the appearance to two traveling on the road is mentioned in the longer ending. The whole story also recorded in Luke: 24:13-35. The disciples don’t believe them either.

Vs. 14 Jesus finally appears to the eleven and rebukes them for their unbelief.

Vs. 15-16 Here a shorter version of The Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) is given: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation”.

Vs. 17-18 The promise of signs is distinctive to the longer ending and is not found in any other Gospel. It is reflective of the experience of the early church in the book of Acts and in church history.

Tongues are mentioned here but they don’t appear till Pentecost (Acts 2). Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake and survived with no symptoms (Acts 28:4-5). He healed the sick through laying on of hands (Acts 28:8-9).

While drinking deadly poison is never mentioned in scripture, stories about the Apostles being forced to drink poison and surviving are recorded in early Christian literature.

Vs. 19 Here the ascension of Jesus is recorded. It does not appear in any other Gospel but is recorded in Acts 1:9. Also, ’sitting at the right hand of God’ was observed by Stephen as he was being martyred (Acts 7:56).

Vs. 20 The longer ending finishes with a clear response by the disciples. They went out and followed through preaching the Gospel everywhere. There is nothing like this verse in the other three Gospels. It is like a summary of what the Apostles did in the book of Acts.

Conclusion: So much of the ‘longer ending’ is reflective of the book of Luke-Acts which was written much latter than Mark. For this reason, many scholars conclude that the original ending was lost somehow. Then later someone tried to complete the book with a new ending using material from Luke-Acts (which was originally one book) and early church literature.

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To read the verses studied below, just type in each verse or verses wanted, in the Bible Search to the left —–example: Mark 16:1—–>

Mark 16: -Things You Don’t See Every Day:

Vs. 4- Stone was rolled away

Vs. 5- Angel was in the tomb

Vs. 6- Jesus has risen -he is resurrected

16:1-8 The Resurrection of Jesus

Vs. 1-3 The two Marys and Salome went to the first Sunday morning sunrise service on Resurrection Day. The three women were at the crucifixion: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and Salome who was the mother of the Zebedee brothers- James and John (Matt. 27:56). Now they were going to the tomb to show their devotion to Jesus and complete the anointing of his body for burial. On the way they were wondering who was going to move the stone away from the tomb once they got there.

Vs. 4-5 When they got to the tomb the rock was already rolled away from the entrance. When they entered, there was a young man dressed in a white robe sitting there. Matthew identifies him as an angel (Matt. 28:2). The woman were taken back and alarmed at this unexpected sight.

Vs. 6-7 The angel speaks to them:

“Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”

Vs. 8 The women responded to the message with fear and trembling and actually were afraid to tell anyone. Luke 24:9-11 tells us that the woman did go back and tell the eleven but the apostles did not believe.

Comment: The disciples and apostles of Jesus really were not expecting a resurrection. The woman went to the tomb to complete the preparations for burial that they were not able to do earlier because of the Sabbath. The brave men were back at the upper room hiding out.

Even though Jesus had spoken repeatedly about rising again on the third day, they were not expecting or even hoping for a resurrection. When Jesus finally did appear to them, it changed everything and the world hasn’t been the same since.

This is the earliest Gospel account of the Resurrection. The Gospels written later have all sorts of details and testimonies left out of this brief account. The earliest written account and testimony of the Resurrection of Jesus is found in the writings of Paul, I Corinthians 15: 1-8. Paul testifies that he saw the Lord, Peter and the Twelve also, James and over 500 on one occasion. Most were still alive at the writing of the letter.
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