Despised and Rejected

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Please turn in your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 9. You'll find that on page 891 if you're using the New King James Pew Bibles for you. Mark chapter 9, and this morning we'll pick up where we left off two weeks ago on the Mount of Transfiguration. We'll be reading verses 1 through 13, but the sermon will be more narrowly looking at verses 9 through 13. Hear now God's perfect Word. And He said to them, Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.

Now after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves, and He was transfigured before them. His clothes became exceedingly shining, exceedingly white like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.

And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here, and let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, because he did not know what to say.

For they were greatly afraid. And a cloud came and overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son. Hear Him. Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves. Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant. And they asked, saying, Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? Then Jesus answered and told them, Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And how is it written concerning the Son of Man that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to Him whatever they wished, as it is written of Him."

And the reading of God's perfect and holy word there. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank You for Your Word. Father, we pray now, we need You to teach us, to help us to understand. And Father, we pray that as we think about the words of Jesus, that Your Spirit would let us abide in Him and bear much good fruit. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Well, I got a lot of fish to fry and not a lot of time to cook it, so you and I are going to go on a roller coaster ride together, so I need you to buckle up. The main point of this sermon, let me put it again, the main point of this sermon is, the Messiah has come, now go tell people. The Messiah has come, now go tell people.

I need to jump right into things this morning and talk to you straight in the face, because we got to go to school, we have to do a little bit of page turning in the Bible today, so you need to warm up your thumbs, get ready to flip some pages, because we're going to be going a few places, but we have to understand the context of this passage to get at what Jesus is trying to teach them. So I need you to put on your school ears, to put on your thinking caps, and to be ready to go to school with me. And then we're going to rethink about what Jesus has just said to his disciples, and how that puts us in a place to do something about it. Okay, so first, let's go to school together. To go to school first, we need to go and unpack some of the things that Jesus says here.

There's a few things that he says that if we don't understand what the Bible says, we're not going to get what Jesus is getting at. And the first is that he calls himself the Son of Man. This is not a term that Jesus has used a lot of times so far in the book of Mark, but it is an extremely important part. So what does the phrase, the Son of Man, mean?

I'd like you to turn in your Bibles with me to Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7, keep your finger there in the book of Mark, we'll be back. But Daniel chapter 7, turn in your Bibles if you're able to get there. This is one of the first of the major prophets. Not because they're more important, just because, or minor prophets, sorry, not because they're less important, but because, well, they're shorter. Daniel 7, verses 13 and 14. This is part of Daniel's vision.

I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven, He came to the ancients of days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. The Son of Man was the one promised in this vision to Daniel to receive an everlasting kingdom. One of dominion and glory forever.

And Jesus in Mark chapter 9 says it this way. Mark chapter 9 verse 12, And how is it written concerning the Son of Man? He's referring to Himself. He's referring to himself as the Son of Man from Daniel chapter 7. He's saying, Daniel, hundreds of years ago, in exile he had a vision and you know who he saw? It was me. You just saw a glimpse of it. You just got a little taste of it on the Mount of Transfiguration. When you saw my clothes, when you saw my glory, you just got a taste of it.

The Son of Man is the one who receives dominion, kingdom, and glory. He is the conquering Messiah. Jesus is talking about Himself. So He asks, indeed Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And how is it written concerning the Son of Man? But they ask this question, right? Because there's something going on in the back of their heads. In verse 10 they asked, so they kept this word to themselves questioning what the raising from the dead meant. And so we have to put ourselves in the disciples shoes here and ask, what knowledge did they have of the resurrection? What knowledge did they have of the coming of the kingdom?

And the most clear thing we have is from Daniel chapter 12. Your fingers ready in Daniel chapter 7? You're welcome, just turn a few pages. Daniel chapter 12. And in Daniel chapter 12, verses 1 through 13, we learn about part of this. At that time, Michael shall stand up the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake." Let me just put that into layman's terms. People who are dead are going to get up. Right?

That's what Daniel 12.2 says. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. And there's going to be two different parts here. Some to everlasting life. Some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament. and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever." And then God says, Daniel, shut the book. Write these things down, shut the book, and you're going to find out more later.

Jesus comes, and the disciples are wondering, what does this mean? See, in their minds, they understand that people are going to raise again from the dead when the King comes. When the Messiah finally arrives, that's the end of the age. And at the end of the age, you're going to have the resurrection. Everybody who's asleep in the dust is going to raise, some to everlasting glory and some to everlasting contempt.

And their minds are wrestling with this. Jesus, what do you mean? He had told them on the Mount of Transfiguration that he was going to have to die and suffer. But that doesn't line up, right? Hold on, Daniel chapter 7, he's going to have an everlasting kingdom, he's going to have dominion, he's going to have glory, the dead are going to raise again. How does this line up?

And they're seizing on to that question. They're asking Jesus, how can this be? They are confused. But not just that, verse 12. Or verse 11, sorry. Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? Now in your sermon handout, I have 1 Kings 16, 17, 18, and 19. I'm not going to read all those chapters for you. If you want homework, you can go and read that later this afternoon. That would be a good use of the Lord's Day. But what happens with Elijah? Who is Elijah? And why is he so important? How does Elijah play into all of this? He only has a few chapters in the Bible, so why is he so important?

Well, in 1 Kings 16, this is page 320 of your few Bibles, he's called to oppose the false worship of the Baals during his day. He's called to be a prophet in the northern kingdom against idolatry. And then in chapter 17, He's obedient to God's Word. God sends him out as a prophet into the wilderness. He's fed by ravens. And he's this guy who's way out there on the outskirts of society saying essentially, repent, repent, repent.

And then in chapter 18, we have one of the, I'm serious, this is a good thing, if you especially have kids, go home and read this with your kids sometime. 1 Kings chapter 18 is where there's this competition between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. And he says, okay, you know what, we're going to find out who the real God is. You guys go ahead and build your altar and put your sacrifice there. And if Baal is real, there will be a fire that will burn up your sacrifice.

And so they're there all day long. I mean, they're cutting themselves. They're doing all sorts of crazy dances. They're doing everything. At the end of hours and hours, Elijah goes, maybe Baal's busy. Maybe he's on the pot. Maybe he's preoccupied. I'm serious. That's the crassness of the Hebrew. He's really mocking them.

And then after they finally give up, he says, dig a trench. And he builds a simple altar. He digs a trench around it, puts a sacrifice on top and he says, go get some water. Pour the water, pour water, pour water, pour water, pour water, pour water. And then he gets down on his knees and he asks a simple prayer.

And the sky lights up and fire comes down from heaven and utterly consumes the entire sacrifice. And there's a destruction of all the prophets of Baal. But Jezebel, the queen, ain't too happy about that. In chapter 19, she tries to kill Elijah for this.

So he flees out into the wilderness. He goes out to Mount Horeb, to Sinai itself. And there he comes into an encounter with God himself. He hears God in the gentle breeze. Elijah is this powerful prophet, but one of the most amazing things about Elijah's life is in 2 Kings 2, he's one of the very few people in the entire Bible to not taste death. He's taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot. Okay, so we've reviewed who Elijah is. Well, why does this have to do anything with Mark chapter 9? And they asked him, why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?

Well, for that we have to go to the book of Malachi. Malachi, chapter 3, it's going to be on page 844 of your pew Bibles again. Malachi is the very last of the minor prophets. If you flip one page past Malachi, you're in the New Testament. Malachi chapter 3 verse 1, God says this, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.

And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come, even to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But the question is, who is this messenger? Who's this messenger who's going to come preparing the way for the Lord?

Well, flip over one chapter. One page over in your Bible is Malachi chapter 4. Malachi chapter 4, beginning at verse 4. Remember the law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb and for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. See, before the final coming, before the day of the Lord came, Elijah would show up.

And the scribes write about this. They were the ones who wrote out the law of God. They were the grammarians. They were the ones who literally were the copyists. They would take one copy of the Bible and they would write it out into another copy of the Bible. This was their job. This was their occupation. This is what they did. And they said, Elijah's got to come first. And then you get the Messiah.

And see, in Jewish culture, this is where the second part of, right, this is period two of class, right? We need to go from Bible into history now. Elijah is a big deal in Jewish culture. This prophecy isn't taken lightly, but even today, if you were to go into a synagogue, and you were to take your eight-day-old son, and you were to take him to be circumcised, you would take him to the seat of Elijah. And there you would hear the cantor sing a song along these lines of a prayer. Elijah, angel of the covenant, here is yours before you. Stand at my right hand and support me. I'm not saying they should be praying to Elijah.

I'm just saying this is what Jewish people even today will say. And even at the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, one of the last things they say is the words of Elijah himself in 1 Kings 18. The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God. But one of the places that we see it most in Jewish thinking, most in Jewish minds of Elijah being this prophet who must come, is in the Seder meal. The celebration of the Passover. And there's a whole imagery that they have that Elijah must come and then the Messiah comes. And they have this whole wine ceremony.

If you go to a Seder, even today for Jewish people, they will pour four different cups of wine. Each one of those cups representing a promise that God had made in Exodus chapter 6. The first cup they pour and they say that, I will bring you out. The second cup of wine they pour and drink is, and I will deliver you. The third cup of wine that they pour and they drink is, I will also redeem you. And then the fourth cup will be, and I will take you. So all of these promises that God made in Exodus chapter 6, verses 6 and 7. I will do these things. I will do these things. I will do these things.

And they drink each one of these cups of wine, but there's one more cup. It's called the cup of Elijah. The fifth cup. The fifth cup, go ahead, Exodus chapter 6 verse 8. We're about to get out of school, don't worry. But we need to turn here to understand Exodus chapter 6 verse 8. And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And I will give it to you as a heritage. I am the Lord."

They read that last one and they call it Elijah's cup. Because even Jewish people during Jesus' day and even Jewish people now today long for this promise to come true entirely. that they will once again have the land which was sworn to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And this fifth cup, they leave, the cup of Elijah, they leave full. They do not drink it, because they wait for Elijah to come, because when Elijah comes, then the Messiah comes. Then they get the promises in fulfillment back.

And then after this, the family sings a song. Jewish tradition has it that during the Seder they sing Elijah's song. Inviting Elijah to come back again. And the third thing of Elijah within the Seder meal is someone as the table was set up here, and they were eating their meals, they would send a child to the door to go open the door. And to go invite Elijah to come and join them for the Seder. I wonder how many times Peter went to the door as a child. and said, Elijah, come, come to the Seder.

I wonder how, now we don't know exactly, right, when all these Jewish traditions came about. Some people think that they're very old, coming in the 150s BC and about that time, or maybe some of them are later. But Elijah's got this core part of the messianic hope that Elijah must come, and then the Messiah shows up. So what is Jesus doing here in Mark chapter 9? What's the heart of their questions? We need to look to Jesus to understand what's going on here. The disciples obviously do. They're asking Him the questions.

So they ask, why did the scribes say that Elijah must come first? Then He, that's being Jesus, answered and told them, Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And then verse 13, But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written him. The Son of Man is Jesus himself, but the Elijah who was to come and had come was John the Baptist.

Matthew chapter 17 clarifies this for us. It says at the end of this other telling of this story that they look and they go, oh, he was talking about John the Baptist. We find this throughout the scripture that this is what's going on. When Jesus is talking to his disciples in Matthew chapter 11, John the Baptist even sent his disciples to Jesus and said, are you the Christ or should we be waiting for someone else? And Jesus assures them that He is the Christ, but He teaches them about John the Baptist. Matthew chapter 11, beginning at verse 10. I'm going to read that for you. Matthew chapter 11, verse 10. If you're a page flipper, you're more than welcome to turn to page 859. Matthew 11, verse 10.

This is Jesus speaking of Jesus, or Jesus speaking of John the Baptist, and he says, for this is he of whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. Jesus quotes Malachi chapter three, and he says, it's John the Baptist who is fulfilling the prophecy of Elijah to come. But some of you might be really good Bible scholars and you might go, but John said he's not. The Pharisees in John chapter 1, in the gospel of John chapter 1, they ask him, they say, are you the Christ? Are you the Messiah? Are you the prophet? Are you Elijah? He says, no. No, I'm not.

So how do we reconcile this? I'm not sure if John knew. I'm not sure if John knew the special place that he had in the story of redemption, but I think Jesus knew John better than John knew himself. And when we go to the book of Luke, when we go to the very beginning of the story in Luke chapter 1, and we find John the Baptist's dad at the temple, he's speaking to an angel. The angel is speaking to him in verse 16.

And here's what he says to Zacharias. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah. To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Malachi chapter four, verse five and six. See, Jesus says, if you're able to accept it, the Elijah has come.

John, they did whatever they wanted to him. They killed him, beheaded him. But there's something else that they're not understanding, and that's tucked in the middle of this whole part of this conversation with Elijah. or about Elijah. Verse 12, And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that he must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

See, in the disciples' minds, here's how it works. Step number one, Elijah shows up on the scene. Step number two, the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ shows up. Step number three, political revolution. We get rid of all of our oppressors. We get the land back. We get the promises. We get all of it back. Step number four, kingdom forever.

But they're missing a key element. The Messiah has to suffer and die. That doesn't fit into their paradigms. But what Jesus is telling them, tucked in between there, what you're not getting, is that Isaiah 53.3 has to happen. That I have to be despised and rejected. Jesus is getting to them that, boys, you don't understand, as you sing Psalm 22, I'm the worm that's going to be despised. As you would sing Psalm 118, I'm the chief cornerstone who has to be rejected.

See, Jesus is trying to get them to understand that the promises are bigger than what they're imagining, and His role is greater than what they've tried to pigeonhole Him into. He's giving them a whole new way to understand that Elijah is fulfilled in John the Baptist. That he really is the Christ. He is the promised, anointed one. But the kingdom they're going to receive is not a kingdom of this world. And the redemption that they're going to have is going to come at the cost of his own blood. They're still going to wrestle through this.

They're still going to struggle with this and I don't want to give away everything in the book of Mark right now, but you need to understand what Jesus is getting at with this whole conversation. God has preserved this conversation in Matthew, in Mark, and in Luke for a reason. But if we don't understand the cultural background behind it, the biblical reasoning behind it, we'll miss the point that Jesus is giving one of the strongest biblical and cultural proofs that He is the Messiah. but it's not going to click for them for a while. But I want to leave us with a few applications as we think about Him being our Messiah, as we know the end of the story, how does that affect our lives?

Number one, I'm going to plead with you that you pray for Jewish people. Every single year, we just had another Seder where people gathered in their homes, to eat the lamb seasoned with bitter herbs, to have the matzo bread and pour the four cups of wine, to drink those and to leave an unfinished cup, hoping that Elijah would come.

They need to hear these words. Pray that they might know that redemption has come in Jesus Christ. Pray for the Jewish people Did you know the largest population of them lives in our own country? You only have to drive three and a half hours to Chicago to find thousands and thousands of them. They used to live amongst these people. They're nice people, but they need the gospel. Pray for them.

Secondly, prepare. Now you might think, how in the world are you getting there? Well, do you know what the last words of the apostles were to Jesus? The very last words that we have recorded in the New Testament that the apostles had with Jesus before he ascended up into heaven.

Look at the book of Acts. I promise there's a connection here and you'll see it. Acts chapter 1. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. Acts chapter 1. The resurrected Lord is right in front of them. He's about to go to heaven. And he promises them that they're going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now, in verse 6.

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, this is the interesting thing, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? Is it now? Is it now? Is the kingdom now? Are you going to overthrow the Romans now? Are you going to give us political freedom now? Is the land going to be ours now? Is it finally going to be here?

And what does Jesus say? It's not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put into His own authority. Boys, that ain't your business. It's not your business. Scriptures will tell us elsewhere, we need not worry about when the kingdom's coming. The question is, are we faithful now as we wait for Jesus to return? Live your life now knowing that the Messiah lives and his kingdom is going to return.

But lastly, notice what Acts 1.8 says. He doesn't say, you just sit on your laurels, hey guys, I'm gonna come back so just have some more matzo bread and wine and I'll be back in a little bit. No, what does he say? But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

He commissions them and sends them out. This is where they change from disciples to apostles. Disciples means a student of someone, a follower of someone. This is why they called him rabbi, teacher, my loved one. Now he sends them out as apostles, sent out ones, commissioned to tell of the kingdom in Jerusalem, where they're scared.

But they know that the Messiah is real. And then they're going to have to go out broader than that. And they're going to have to go to Judea, the whole southern territory in Rome. And they're going to have to go and tell all these Jewish people, the Messiah has truly come. The Elijah came before. His name was John the Baptist. He cried out in the wilderness, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

You're going to have to tell those people. And then you're going to go to Samaria. You know those same people that you said, should we call down hell and fire down upon them? You're going to go tell about the kingdom going to them. And you know what, some of you, you're going to go to the ends of the world.

I can imagine him looking at Thomas, the one who doubted him, knowing that he was going to have to go to India. And looking at Peter and knowing, you're going to go and you're going to die for me in Rome. looking at John in the eyes as he's telling him into the ends of the earth knowing that he's going to be exiled on the island of Patmos but he's going to be a faithful martyr a faithful one who testifies that the Messiah has come I need you to walk out of here today knowing the Messiah has come the kingdom of God is at hand our King is in heaven And He's reigning today.

Our Messiah is alive. And He has fulfilled all the prophecies. So take hope, Christian. God executes all His decrees in creation and providence. And in His providence, He lined up everything for Jesus to come and to save sinners like you and me. So pray for the Jewish nation. Pray for the Jewish people. Prepare your own life for His coming again. And go and tell other people that your King lives.

Closing Prayer

For our Messiah has come. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your perfect plan of redemption. And Father, we pray that we would live in the light of our risen Lord Jesus Christ. God, please help us. We pray that we might not just have big heads. But Father, that we would have hearts that would love one another. Love you. And that these words would have impact in our lives. and continue to change the whole world, that all the nations, tribes, and peoples might be under the dominion of Jesus Christ. In His name we pray.

Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.