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)

May 17, 2015 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – The Son of David and the One Who Knocks

  

Matthew 28:18-20 – New International Version (NIV) – The Great Commission

¹⁸ “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The Son of David and the One Who Knocks

Matthew 22:41-46 – New International Version (NIV)

⁴¹ “While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, ⁴² “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

⁴³ He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

⁴⁴ “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
    under your feet.”’

⁴⁵ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” ⁴⁶ No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.”

Who was gathered together (verse 41)?

What question did Jesus ask them (verse 42)?

How did they answer (verse 42)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus say that David was “speaking by the Spirit” (verse 43)?

What does “the Lord” say that “my Lord” should do until He will “put your enemies under your feet” (verse 44)?

In your opinion, why does the question Jesus asks, “If then David calls him ‘Lord’ how can he be his son” confound the Pharisees (verse 45)?

Who could “say a word in reply” (verse 46)?

In your opinion, why didn’t anyone dare ask Jesus more questions (verse 46)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 22:41-46 show us about the Great Commission?

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.”

Who said to “my lord” to “sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (verse 1)?

Where will the Lord “extend your mighty scepter” from (verse 2)?

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

In your opinion, why does David say “you are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek” (verse 4)?

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

Who will He judge (verse 6)?

What will He do when He drinks from “a brook along the way” (verse 7)?

In your opinion, how does knowing that the quote that Jesus gave in Matthew 22:41-46 came from Psalm 110, in which it was followed by discussion about the scepter extending from Zion and the crushing of nations help you understand what the Pharisees thought when they heard it from Jesus?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Psalm 110 show us about the Great Commission?

Hebrews 1:5-14 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵ “For to which of the angels did God ever say,

“You are my Son;
    today I have become your Father”?

Or again,

“I will be his Father,
    and he will be my Son”?

⁶ And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,

“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

⁷ In speaking of the angels he says,

“He makes his angels spirits,
    and his servants flames of fire.”

⁸ But about the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
    a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
⁹ You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
    therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
    by anointing you with the oil of joy.”

¹⁰ He also says,

“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
¹¹ They will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
¹² You will roll them up like a robe;
    like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
    and your years will never end.”

¹³ To which of the angels did God ever say,

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

¹⁴ Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”

In your opinion, to whom did God say, “You are my Son” (verse 5)?

What does God say when He brings “his firstborn into the world” (verse 6)?

Who does God make into spirits (verse)?

Who does God make into flames of fire (verse 7)?

How is the scepter of God’s Son described (verse 8)?

With what is the Son anointed (verse 9)?

Who “laid the foundations of the earth” (verse 10)?

What will perish but the Son remain (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that the foundations of the earth and the heavens will be rolled up like a garment by the Son, but the Son will remain the same (verses 11 and 12)?

To whom does God say “sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (verse 13)?

What are angels (verse 14)?

In your opinion, how does the understanding of the person that David was talking about when he said “The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” in Psalm 110 change when you get to the passage in Hebrews 1:5-14 where Paul quotes the passage of David and continues to talk about the Father and the Son?

In your opinion, how does Paul in Hebrews 1:5-14 answer the question that Jesus ask the Pharisees in Matthew 22:41-46, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Hebrews show us about the Great Commission?

Revelation 3:14-22 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. ¹⁵ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

¹⁹ Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. ²⁰ Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

²¹ To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²² Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Who was John supposed to write to (verse 14)?

How did Jesus describe Himself to the people of Laodicea (verse 14)?

What does Jesus know about the Christians in Laodicea (verse 15)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus say He will “spit you out of my mouth” to the Christians in Laodicea (verse 16)?

How are the Christians of Laodicea deceived (verse 17)?

What kind of gold are the Christians of Laodicea to purchase from Jesus (verse 18)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus rebuke and discipline those whom He loves (verse 19)?

Where does Jesus say He is (verse 20)?

What will Jesus do for anyone who “hears my voice and opens the door” (verse 20)?

Where is the one who is victorious going to have the right to sit (verse 21)?

Who did Jesus sit down with when He was victorious (verse 21)?

Who should hear what the Spirit says to the churches (verse 22)?

In your opinion, how does it change your understanding of the statement in Hebrews 1:5-14 that Jesus, who God said to “your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom” is the one who tells John in Revelation 3:14-22 that he “stands at the door and knocks”?

In your opinion, how does your understanding of the crushing of kings and the judgment of nations in Psalm 110 expand when you know that the Son of God may want to “spit” the lukewarm from His mouth in Revelation 3:14-22 but that He is knocking at the door and will “come in and eat” with the one who hears His voice and lets Him in?

In your opinion, why might the statement in Revelation 3:14-22 that “those whom I love I rebuke and discipline” change the way we think about how Jesus might have felt about the Pharisees in Matthew 22:41-46?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Revelation show us about the Great Commission?

Next, back to Matthew 23:1 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)