Qualifying The Called - Mark 3:6-19 Series

Introduction

The Promised Kingdom

Before we pick up where we left off in Mark 3, I need to remind you of something. Do you remember back in ch.1 when Mark told us the topic of all Jesus’ preaching? Jesus preached about the arrival of the kingdom.

Mark 1:15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near.”

What did that mean to the people back then? It meant God was finally going to restore what had been broken for hundreds of years. Way back, 1000 years before Jesus’ time, were the glory days of Israel when all 12 tribes were united in one, great kingdom—in the days of King Saul, and then David, and then Solomon. But then, after Solomon died, the 10 northern tribes rebelled against the house of David and the kingdom was ripped in two. Then eventually both north and south were defeated by their enemies and there was no kingdom at all in Israel, and eventually all the Jews were scattered to the nations. And so God sent prophets who promised that someday, when the Messiah arrived, he would regather the people of God and reunite the fractured kingdom. And that restored kingdom would be far greater and more glorious even than the glory days of David and Solomon. God would bring his people streaming back into Israel from every direction, there would be glorious miracles and mass healings, and all the people would repent and bow the knee to the Son of God, who would reign over God’s kingdom forever and ever.

Can you remember those four parts?

1) The divided kingdom being unified under one king

You can read all about that is Ezekiel 37.

2) The regathering of God’s people, where they come streaming in back to Israel from all directions

Isaiah 43:5 … I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. 6 I will say to the north, `Give them up!' and to the south, `Do not hold them back.'

God will bring his people back from the surrounding nations, north, south, east, and west.

3) Mass healings

Isaiah 35:5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.

4) All the people responding to the Messiah in repentance and worship

Ezekiel 37:21 I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land (there’s the ingathering). 22 I will make them one nation in the land … There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. (there’s the reuniting of the kingdom. And now here comes the repentance and obedience:) 23 They will no longer defile themselves … with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 24 " 'My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees.

When Jesus went around preaching that the kingdom was about to come, that’s what it meant to those people. The reason I remind you of all that is we need that background to understand today’s passage in Mark 3. We left off last time with Jesus healing this guy with a withered hand. Now keep in mind—Mark doesn’t always give us specific descriptions of miracles. Sometimes he just says, “Jesus healed everyone in the whole crowd” – no individual accounts. But then he’ll turn right around and describe one specific healing – a woman with a fever, a leper, a paralytic. Whenever he does that, there’s a reason. Each miracle is designed to teach us something. For example, cleansing a leper was a picture of spiritual cleansing. Or the fever – that was to show Jesus’ care for the disciples’ families, and for the marginalized of society. Each one has a meaning. So what is the significance of healing a withered hand—why single that miracle out? Here’s why: it’s designed to call our attention to the one other time in the Bible where someone had a withered hand. That other withered hand event that will help us understand this passage, because it has to do with the kingdom. And I’ll tell you when that was in just a minute.

But first let’s take a look at what happened right after this withered hand so we can set the stage. Look at the very next verse.

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake