The Gospel of Christ – I'm Following Jesus

King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34

Date: Thursday, November 14, 2019
Chapters: Mark 15-16
Message: The Gospel of Christ

Hello My Friend,

During my childhood, I was not very popular in school, in fact, I did not have many friends at all, except one girl, my best friend, she was actually the first and only Christian I knew, and I was not even a Christian myself back then. I did not even know what that term meant, I and grew up Catholic. The world rejected me, but even then, I knew I was not like them. I was the one who never got in trouble, the nerd, teacher’s pet, and on the chubby side. There is the saying, “Sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” This is not true at all, words hurt more than anything, and they break you. Today, I have learned to accept who God made me to be, and am not ashamed to say that I know I am a Christian, not because of anything I did by myself, or some man made religion, but because I have accepted Christ as my Saviour. Praise God! Today, God has led it on my heart to help you understand the Gospel, and exactly what it means. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” – Luke 4:18-19.

“to set at liberty them that are bruised,” Of course, this was Jesus quoting from the Book of Isaiah. The Gospel; it is the sinless death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is something that Jesus was preparing for the second sin entered into the world (Genesis 3:15). Sin is what bruises us, and keeps us at odds with God. And believe it or not, the second we receive Christ as our Saviour we are anointed with the same power to preach the Gospel to the poor, and when we do, we are healing the brokenhearted, freeing the captives, giving sight to the blind, and setting liberty them who are bruised. How? We lead them to Christ by telling them how He saved us. And let me tell you, Christ saves us from more than the second death and hell, He literally saves our lives. Now, as we read the Gospel from the Book of Mark, we actually see that Jesus spent a night in jail for it was the next morning that He stood before the chief priests, elders, and basically all those who wanted Him dead. These cowards wanted to kill Him right then and there, but they did not want to “defile” themselves as it was still Passover, so, they delivered Him over to Pilate, who reluctantly handed an innocent man a death sentence.

“And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it. And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing. And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee. But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled. Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired. And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them. And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.” – Mark 15:1-8,15.

“to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them.” This means that a multitude of people were shouting for Pilate to release Barabbas, a murderer, and crucify Jesus. Pilate knew that Jesus was an innocent man, but fearing the people, he turned Jesus over to be crucified (executed). Crucifixion is probably the cruelest way a person could be executed, they literally drive spikes into the hands and feet of the person onto a huge wooden cross that they have to carry themselves to the place of execution. Think about all the weight of your body being suspended up on this cross, with only three nails holding it in place. Not to mention the hot sun beating on you, and the excruciating pain of your flesh and bones. Mark goes into detail of the timeline of His death.

“And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.” – Mark 15:25,33-39.

“And it was the third hour,” This is nine o’clock in the morning, and actually the time in which the priest would offer the daily sacrifice of the morning in the Temple. “And when the sixth hour was come,” This is noon; and from noon until three o’clock in the afternoon, “the whole land until the ninth hour.”. This is time the Jews call “between the two evenings”, and an eclipse covered the entire earth, and incidentally, this is confirmed by historians. “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” “Why have you forsaken me?”, Is that not the question we all ask God at times when we are going through such pain? Right there on the cross, God turned His back on His Son. Why? All of the sins of every person born, even those yet to come, were covering His broken body. Jesus, became the required sin sacrifice needed to redeem and atone for, not one sinner, but all who believe in Him. Now, it was finished; the bruised would be cured once and for all from the sin that covered the body of the one who admitted they were a sinner. “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” – Isaiah 53:5.

Now, as the evening and Sabbath drew near, they did not want to leave the body on the cross much longer, Joseph, a disciple of Jesus, went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus to bury Him. “And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.” – Mark 15:42-46.

“and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.” For three nights; the Jews gloried in what they had done, having thought that they won. And for three nights; Satan himself gloried in what was done, having thought that he defeated the Son of God. And for three nights; all of the disciples as well as all those who had hoped that their Messiah had finally come, mourned. But on the third day, the first morning of the week, it was Jesus, and His believers that won when He arose from the dead.

“And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” – Mark 16:2-6,14-16.

“they saw a young man sitting on the right side,” Do not quote me on this, but quite often when you read about the angel of the Lord throughout the Old Testament, it is Jesus Himself. I can see Him waking up in that tomb and receiving His glorified body, unwrapping Himself instantly, folding the linen cloth and napkin that was covering His body and face, and as He sits up, rolls away that stone. You know, one day, when Christ returns, this will happen to each and every one of us whom have received Christ as their Saviour. Our body will just wake up, arising out of their tombs (See Ezekiel 37:1-14), even those cremated will miraculously form into their new glorified bodies. Praise God! “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” – I Corinthians 15:52-54.

Today’s Prayer: Jesus, Thank You again for the great sacrifice that You made. You did not have to die, You could have chosen any other way to redeem me, or You could have chosen not to do anything at all and leave me still trying to work my way to salvation. You endured the cross, took my place, took the punishment that I deserved, and took all my sins to the cross with You. But You were not done there, You went further after your burial by raising from the dead three days later so that I too not only have victory over death, but eternal life with You, even death cannot separate us because of Your great sacrifice. Lord, let me always live my life by Your example and let me never stop preaching the Gospel, for You are the only way, truth, and life. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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