MARK

Mark Chapter 11

• Mark 11:1 And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples,
• 2 And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him.
• 3 And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.
• 4 And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him.
• 5 And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt?
• 6 And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go.
• 7 And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him.
• 8 And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strewed them in the way.
• 9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
• 10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.

The Lord is preparing to enter the city on a donkey. In these verses we see our Lord getting the glory due unto His holy name. As we will see later though, that praise quickly turns into hate when the trouble-making scribes and Pharisees stir up a crowd of people against Him. At this brief time we see a preview of the end times when Christ will rule over all. This is a picture of Christ the King who is triumphant.

This also fulfills scripture. Zechariah, 9:9 " Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.:"

Oh how much we should praise the Lord and rejoice in His salvation. There is nothing wrong with shouting and singing praises to the Lord. We must remember, however, that when things change and praising the Lord is not the politically correct thing to do, we do not turn from Him and follow the multitude like those in the day of Jesus. We keep on praising Him not just outwardly but inwardly in all our actions and with all of our heart.

For one brief moment they saw Jesus, as He really was, the coming King. The Lord who before instructed most people to keep quiet about who He was, now, was allowing them to see who He really was. This may have been what stirred up the Pharisees and scribes to reach a boiling point, "the last straw." They probably came to the conclusion that this guy has got to go. This demonstration could have been what led to the crucifixion. Maybe this is why Jesus avoided this previously, He was not to die until His ministry on earth was finished. The plan of God was going according to schedule. Nothing happened by accident but all was by God's divine plan.

You might say, you mean God planned for Jesus to die such an awful painful death on a cross? How could a God who loves His Son, allow that? A parent who doesn't even care that much for their own children would not willingly allow something like that to happen to them would they?

Yes, God planned it all and yes God does love His Son. God saw a picture of lost humanity entering into an eternal hell with no way out. Sin brings eternal judgment. Sin destroys the soul. All have sinned and broken the law of God. No one who grew to adulthood ever lived without breaking the law of God in some point. Someone had to come who could keep the law, fulfill the law and then die for breaking the law even though He did not break it himself.

Jesus fulfilled this. Jesus kept the law in all points. He was the only adult human being ever to live upon the earth completely without sin. He was the only candidate who could possibly take the penalty for sin and die for someone else. Someone had to die who was not dying for his own sins. His death could count for us who sinned because He did not sin.

Readers, please do not take this lightly, This is your salvation and eternal life. To pass this by will mean eternal judgment and death in hell for eternity.

Jesus allowed this praise and adoration, He was allowing the evil ones to be stirred up against Him, and He was allowing the will of His Father. At any point of this journey of Jesus, He could of backed out. At one word from Him the angels would have rescued Him.

I don't know about you, but this brings tears of thanksgiving to my eyes. I sit in awe of our precious Lord. There is absolutely nothing I could ever do to repay such a sacrifice on my behalf. Nothing!

• Mark 11:11 And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. 
• 12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
• 13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
• 14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.

The environmentalists may not like these verses but it really teaches us much. First of all, Jesus was in the beginning with God, and was God and was at the creation with God. He created everything that we see. If He wants to destroy any part of His creation, He has that right. Be not high-minded but fear. If He chooses to sacrifice a tree to teach a point, that is His right as our creator.

He cursed the tree that did not bring forth fruit when fruit was needed. This showed power over all creation. Whether this means that all who do not bring forth the fruit of repentance will likewise be destroyed or not I don't know. We can read the 15th chapter of John to see more about fruit bearing. The disciples did take note of these events and were surprised later to discover the tree withered. At His word nations can stand or fall. I fear for the leaders of any nation who forsakes the Lord and teaches the people to follow evil ways.

This passage goes along with what is written in Luke.

• Luke 3:4  As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 
• 5  Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; 
• 6  And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. 
• 7  Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 
• 8  Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 
• 9  And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

This has a prophetic significance in that the fig tree represents the nation of Israel and what would happen if they ignored this visitation of the very Son of God and did not bring forth fruit of repentance. God can raise of stones (the Gentiles) if the Jews rejected Him. They did reject them temporarily but in the latter days they become a nation again and after much tribulation will discover the Christ their ancestors rejected.

• Mark 11:15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
• 16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
• 17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
• 18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.

The main part of the above passage to me is "My house shall be called a house of prayer." The temple was built to worship God and honor Him. I realize that our church buildings are only buildings and the true church are the people but when we build a place for worship, for teaching the Word and for prayer, we dedicate those buildings to God. Shouldn't we honor our places of worship and not use them for evil purposes? I don't want to offend anyone but I shutter when I hear of bingo games being played in a building dedicated for the worship of God.

Look how angry the Lord became when He saw people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. People were profiting from the religious desire of people to sacrifice according to the law of Moses. They were using the temple, house of prayer to make a profit and were even cheating in doing so because the Lord called them, thieves. This made the jealous Pharisees even angrier. This gave them even more of a reason to want to be rid of this man.

People do not always want the truth. A person who preaches truth will not always be accepted. Today in the United States we have groups who rise up against any preaching of the Word of God by calling it unconstitutional.

These same groups cry out against censorship if we try to ban vulgar books and filth on the Internet to protect the children but there is no cry of censorship when one tries to ban the bible from public schools. They don't want truth because it exposes their sin, it commands repentance, so they reject the Word that brings life and prefer the way of death because it allows them to sin. They don't mind religions that do not warn against sin and evil. The only religion that they hate is the truth.

Think about it; they fight for the rights of a woman to abort her baby, they fight for the right to publish filth and display them in places for children to read, they fight against the death penalty for criminals but desire that little innocent children die in the womb. Yet they are afraid of the bible in public places. "No censorship except for God's holy word."

I will also add here that we can't receive the part of the word we like and reject the part we don't like. The same bible that says, "He that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out." also says, "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away." This is why we must study the word with a desire to understand and seek for the correct understanding as taught by the Holy Spirit not by the opinions of men.

• Mark 11:19 And when even was come, he went out of the city.
• 20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
• 21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
• 22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
• 23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
• 24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Now we another reason for Jesus cursing the tree, to teach faith. The scripture seems to interpret itself if we continue reading and do not stop at one verse and place our own interpretation on it.

Jesus said that whatever we ask in His name believing, we receive. Why do we have trouble believing that? Is it because it is so simple. It takes faith. You may ask, what if someone asks for something silly or harmful?

My guess is and this is only my opinion. If one asks for something ridiculous, God probably doesn't allow that person to have faith to believe it shall come to pass. We don't just get everything we want. This is a spiritual God given Holy Ghost faith here. This faith comes from God. It comes by prayer, study of the Word and sometimes even fasting. It is God-given. When we have faith that is genuine and given from God, whatever we ask will be given. If we are not asking in His will, we will not have God-given faith to receive it. When we walk in the spirit and have the mind of Christ we will not be asking for things out of His will.

• Mark 11:25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
• 26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

Here is some requirements for answered prayer. Forgive others if you want the heavenly Father to forgive you. If we feel bad toward someone, our prayers are hindered, we cannot pray with faith and thereby we cannot receive an answer. Also, part of the Lord's prayer is forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us. We are in reality asking God to forgive us if we forgive others. If we don't, neither does He forgive us. This is not my opinion this is God's word. If you don't agree argue with God not me.

• Mark 11:27 And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders,
• 28 And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things?
• 29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
• 30 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me.
• 31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him?
• 32 But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed.
• 33 And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.

Here the Pharisee and scribes question the authority of Jesus. Ah, if only they knew who they were speaking to. He has all authority given by His Father, we have no right to even question His authority. Jesus did not put up with their questioning but answered their question with a question. They could not answer Jesus for fear of the people so Jesus did not answer them. DC