February 6, 2022 - Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Praising the Same

 

Praising the Same

Numbers 15:32-36 - New International Version (NIV)

³² While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. ³³ Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, ³⁴ and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. ³⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.” ³⁶ So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Where were the Israelites (verse 32)?

When was the man gathering wood (verse 32)?

Where did those who found the man take him (verse 33)?

Why did they keep him in custody (verse 34)?

Who told Moses “the man must die” (verse 35)?

In your opinion, why was the man to be stoned “outside the camp” (verse 35)?

What did the assembly do (verse 36)?

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

Mark 15:21-32 - New International Version (NIV)

²¹ A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. ²² They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). ²³ Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. ²⁴ And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.

²⁵ It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. ²⁶ The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews.

²⁷ They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left.  ²⁹ Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰ come down from the cross and save yourself!” ³¹ In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! ³² Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

Who was forced to carry the cross (verse 21)?

Where did they bring Jesus (verse 22)?

What did they offer Jesus (verse 23)?

How did they divide Jesus’ clothes (verse 24)?

When did they crucify Jesus (verse 25)?

What did the written notice of the charge say (verse 26)?

Who was crucified with Jesus (verse 27)?

In your opinion, what is the irony of the insult “you who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself” (verses 29 and 30)?

How did the chief priests and teacher of the law mock Jesus (verse 31)?

What did the two being crucified with Jesus do (verse 32)?

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

In your opinion, why did the people who ended up stoning the man who was gathering wood on the Sabbath in Numbers 15:32-36 seem reluctant; but the people who crucified Jesus, felt the need to add insult to injury in Mark 15:21-32?    

Acts 7:44-53 – New International Version (NIV)

⁴⁴ “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. ⁴⁵ After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, ⁴⁶ who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. ⁴⁷ But it was Solomon who built a house for him.

⁴⁸ “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:

⁴⁹ “‘Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
    Or where will my resting place be?
⁵⁰ Has not my hand made all these things?’

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! ⁵² Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— ⁵³ you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

Where did “our ancestors” have “the tabernacle of the covenant law” (verse 44)?

Who brought the tabernacle “when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them” (verse 45)?

What did David ask God (verses 45 and 46)?

Who built a house for the “God of Jacob” (verse 47)?

Where does “the Most High” not live (verse 48)?

What has the hand of God made (verses 49 and 50)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “always resist the Holy Spirit” (verse 51)?

Who had the ancestors killed (verse 52)?

How had the members of the Sanhedrin, who are listening to Stephen, treated the “law that was given through angels” (verse 53)?

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

In your opinion, who, in Acts 7:44-50 is most like the man who was gathering wood on the Sabbath in Numbers 48:32-36?

In your opinion, how do those who are insulting Jesus in Mark 15:21-32 view the house of God compared to Stephen in his criticism of the Sanhedrin in Acts 7:44-50?

Hebrews 13:8-16 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

⁹ Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. ¹⁰ We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

¹¹ The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. ¹² And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. ¹³ Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. ¹⁴ For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

¹⁵ Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. ¹⁶ And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Who is the “same yesterday and today and forever” (verse 8)?

What should we not allow to carry us away (verse 9)?

What is good for our hearts (verse 9)?

Where do those “who minister at the tabernacle” not have a right to eat (verse 10)?

Where are the bodies of the animals whose blood is carried “into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering” get burned (verse 11)?

Why did Jesus suffer “outside the city gate” (verse12)?

What should we bear to Jesus “outside the camp” (verse 13)?

Where is the city “we are looking for” (verse 14)?

How should we “continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise” (verse 15)?

What sacrifices please God (verse 16)?

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

In your opinion, how are we who obey Paul’s command from Hebrews 13:8-16 and go to Christ “outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore” looking for salvation, similar to the man who gathered wood on the Sabbath in Numbers 15:32-36? 

In your opinion, what does Paul in Hebrews 13:8-16 help us understand about the reason that Jesus went through everything that is described in Mark 15:21-32?

In your opinion, in what way are the “stiff-necked people” that Stephen was talking to in Acts 7:44-50 different from the people Paul is writing to in Hebrews 13:8-16 who have “hearts strengthened by grace”? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Numbers, Mark, Acts and Hebrews help us understand about how Jesus is the same through all the different situations? 

In your opinion, how can we, who are not the same “yesterday and today and forever” throw off the burdens of yesterday, be holy today, and anticipate the “forever”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)