Let’s continue our worship of God by learning from His Word through the Gospel of Mark. We had noted at the beginning of the Gospel that Jesus immediately began His ministry on earth right after He was water baptized. Jesus immediately proclaimed the Kingdom of God by stating He is the Savior; He taught God’s Word and performed many miracles including bringing a dead child back to life! Open your Bibles to Mark 6….. Let’s continue to worship God and learn what we can apply to our lives today. Read along with me Mark 6:17-29…..
We can note 2 main topics in this passage.
First,
v14-16: Many excuses to not accept Jesus Christ as God!
v14a: Jesus was already well known!
v14b-16: Jesus was a ghost from the past.
v15b: Jesus was just a prophet.
Do we hear people today making excuses not to accept Jesus Christ as God? We’ll talk more about this in our applications.
The second main topic in this passage is,
In v17-29: Greed and lust led to an unwanted oath!
Let us note the 2 main characters in the story:
Herod:
- The last of the 3 Herods in the Gospels
- Ruled over Galilee and Perea during Jesus’ time (Luke 3:1)
- v17: Married to Herodias who was his brother’s wife
- v20: believed John the Baptist righteous and holy and listened to him
- feared and was puzzled by John
- v21: lusted over his daughter-in-law
- boasted to his friends and offered half his kingdom to the girl
- v26: pride trapped him to a displeasing decision
Herodias:
- married her husband’s brother (why??)
- v19: hated John the Baptist for publicly confronting her sins
- v22: allowed her daughter to be amusement to men
- v24-25,28: wicked and controlling
What biblical principles can we apply to our lives today from this passage?
History books tell us that Jesus Christ was a real person who lived on earth. Like people 2000 years ago, the person Jesus Christ cannot be denied! But as an excuse not to believe that Jesus Christ as God, what do people today say who Jesus was??
Many people today would say that Jesus was a good teacher and even a prophet but not God!
Now, there is one major difference between the people of today in comparison to the people In Mark 6:14-16 2000 years ago. What is the major difference between the people of 2000 years ago to today??
Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead for people of today!
To help people understand that Jesus Christ is God and Savior, we must state that He:
- left heaven and became a human being (Christmas)
- ministered on earth as an adult
- proclaimed He is God
- was crucified and died for man’s sins
- rose from the dead
- testified to over 500 witnesses with His resurrected body
- went back to heaven for a little while
- will return to earth to judge the living and the dead
And simply, what can we note in general about Herodias??
There are evil people in the world who we need to stay away from!!
This does not mean we should not relate to people; follow Jesus' example! and also what John the Baptist did. John took the opportunity when Herod was listening to tell him about he's sins; we must do the same AND share the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ! But again, we must be careful in being "yoked" with an unbeliever (whether as a partner or in actual marriage).
And what must we be careful of based on Herod??
We must watch ourselves of lust, boasting, and pride!
