May 16, 2021 - Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Permanent Priesthood

 Permanent Priesthood

Psalm 110 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The Lord says to my lord:

“Sit at my right hand
    until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.”

² The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,
    “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”
³ Your troops will be willing
    on your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendor,
    your young men will come to you
    like dew from the morning’s womb.

⁴ The Lord has sworn
    and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever,
    in the order of Melchizedek.”

⁵ The Lord is at your right hand;
    he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
⁶ He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead
    and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
⁷ He will drink from a brook along the way,
    and so he will lift his head high.

What is the Lord going to do for “my lord” (verse 1)?

From where is the Lord extending the “mighty scepter” (verse 2)?

How will “your young men” be arrayed (verse 3)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to be a priest “in the order of Melchizedek” (verse 4)?

Who will “crush kings on the day of his wrath” (verse 5)?

What will the Lord judge (verse 6)?

How will the Lord lift His head (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

Mark 12:35-37 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? ³⁶ David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared:

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
    under your feet.”’

³⁷ David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

The large crowd listened to him with delight.

Where was Jesus teaching (verse 35)?

What question did Jesus ask (verse 35)?

How was David speaking (verse 36)?

In your opinion, in the quote “the Lord said to my Lord” who is the first Lord?  And who is the second Lord? (verse 36)?

How was the large crowd listening (verse 37)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what would the already disgruntled “teachers of the law” of Mark 12:35-37 have thought about what Jesus was implying or claiming when He quoted the first verse of Psalm 110 in Mark 12:35-37?    

Acts 24:1-16 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Five days later the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the governor. ² When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented his case before Felix: “We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation. ³ Everywhere and in every way, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with profound gratitude. ⁴ But in order not to weary you further, I would request that you be kind enough to hear us briefly.

⁵ “We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect ⁶ and even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him.  ⁸ By examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him.”

⁹ The other Jews joined in the accusation, asserting that these things were true.

¹⁰ When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defense. ¹¹ You can easily verify that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. ¹² My accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple, or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city. ¹³ And they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me. ¹⁴ However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets, ¹⁵ and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. ¹⁶ So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.

Who went to Caesarea to bring “charges against Paul before the governor” (verse 1)?

In your opinion, why did Tertullus begin his presentation with “we have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation” (verse 2)?  Was it true?

How did Tertullus “acknowledge this” (verse 3)?

What did Tertullus want Felix to do “briefly” (verse 4)?

How did Tertullus describe Paul (verse 5)? 

What was Paul accused of doing (verse 6)?

How is Felix to “learn the truth about all these charges” (verse 8)?

What did the other Jews assert (verse 9)?

In your opinion, why is Paul’s beginning “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation” so much different that Tertullus’s in verse 2 (verse 10)?

When did Paul say he went “up to Jerusalem to worship” (verse 11)?

How did Paul respond to the charges Tertullus made against him in verse 6 (verse 12)?

How did Paul respond to the charges Tertullus made against him in verse 5 (verse 14)?

What did Paul claim to believe (verse 14)?

What did Paul hope for (verse 15)?

What does Paul strive for (verse 16)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how does Psalm 110’s discussion of God’s troops being arrayed “in holy splendor” enrich our understanding of the meeting of Paul the prisoner (and Christian warrior) meeting with Felix in Acts 24:1-16?

In your opinion, what part does Paul in Acts 24:1-16 play in the fulfillment of the prophecy of David’s Psalm that Jesus quotes in Mark 12:35-37?

Hebrews 7:11-28 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? ¹² For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also. ¹³ He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. ¹⁴ For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. ¹⁵ And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, ¹⁶ one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. ¹⁷ For it is declared:

“You are a priest forever,
    in the order of Melchizedek.”

¹⁸ The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless ¹⁹ (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.

²⁰ And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, ²¹ but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:

“The Lord has sworn
    and will not change his mind:
    ‘You are a priest forever.’”

²² Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.

²³ Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; ²⁴ but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. ²⁵ Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

²⁶ Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

What are the two orders of priesthood that Paul lists (verse 11)?

In your opinion, why must the law change if the priesthood changes (verse 12)?

What has no one from the tribe of the person being discussed ever done (verse 13)?

Where has “our Lord” descended from (verse 14)?

What do the two orders of priests become priests “on the basis of” (verse 16)?

Why was the “former regulation” set aside (verse 18)?

How do we “draw near to God” (verse 19)?

What has the Lord sworn (verse 21)?

What has Jesus become (verse 22)?

Why have there been many priests (verse 23)?

Why does Jesus have a “permanent priesthood” (verse 24)?

Who is Jesus able to “save completely” (verse 25)?

How is Jesus “unlike the other high priests” (verse 27)?

Who does the law appoint as high priests (verse 28)?

Who has been “made perfect forever” (verse 28)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how is the image of Jesus as the perfect high priest as presented by Paul in Hebrews 7:11-28 enhanced by the prophecy of Psalm 110?

In your opinion, why does Jesus, as He taught in the temple courts in Mark 12:35-37 discuss the part of Psalm 110’s prophecy that deals with ruling instead of the part that deals with priesthood while when Paul quotes from the same Psalm in Hebrews 7:11-28 he quotes the part about priesthood and not the part that deals with ruling? 

In your opinion, how do you think Ananias, the high priest who went to Paul’s trial in Caesarea in Acts 24:1-16, would have responded to what Paul said about the priesthood in Hebrews 7:11-28?  How does Ananias being there before Felix prove the differences between the priesthood of those appointed by the law and the priesthood of the One appointed by the oath? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Psalms, Mark, Acts and Hebrews teach us about how truly different Jesus is from what we in the world normally expect of a leader?

In your opinion, how should we respond today to the One who is sitting at the right hand of the Father until makes His enemies “a footstool for your feet”?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)