THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Mark: Jesus, The Perfect Servant Of God

Part III: The Perfect Sacrifice Of Jesus, The Perfect Servant Of God, Mark 11:1-15:47

C. Learning Of The King's Desired Righteousness In His Subjects

(Mark 11:21-26)

I. Introduction

A. Mark's Gospel was written by John Mark who was rebounding from having abandoned Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey (Acts 13:13) due to a lapse in following the Lord over some unnamed difficulty.

B. Mark's failure came from some sinful failure due to human weakness, what could have been avoided by his petitioning God effectively for help, cf. Matthew 26:41.

C. Jesus in Mark 11:21-26 reveals His teaching on overcoming Israel's artificial righteousness with true righteousness and blessing as God's people rightly petition Him for help, an important lesson for us today:

II. Learning Of The King's Desired Righteousness In His Subjects, Mark 11:21-26.

A. Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem followed by His cleansing of the temple upset the godless religious leaders, events necessary toward their having Christ crucified and so having Him offer up Himself for sin.

B. In His cleansing of the temple, Jesus' expressed complaint was that the people of Israel had made the Court of the Gentiles a den of thieves instead a house of prayer for all of the nations, Mark 11:17.

C. For this reason, when Peter called Jesus' attention to His cursing of the fig tree, noting the tree had totally withered up overnight (Mark 11:20-21), Jesus gave a lesson on the faith and prayer that Israel had failed to produce, the righteous "fruit" He wanted to see on Israel's "fig tree" in the Court of the Gentiles (as follows):

1. First, Jesus responded to Peter's comment about the withered fig tree by saying, "Have faith in God," Mark 11:21-22, explaining what this directive entails in Mark 11:23-24 (as follows):

a. The Lord taught that just as He had caused the fig tree to be totally withered overnight by cursing it (Mark 11:12-14, 20-21), if one believed God so as to direct that the Mount of Olives that they were near (cf. Mark 11:12 re: Bethany with 11:1 where Bethany is near the Mount of Olives) literally "be uprooted" and "be thrown" into the sea, not doubting in his heart but believing God, whatever he thus wished he would have done for him, Mark 11:23; Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 158; U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 171.

b. For this reason, Jesus told His disciples to believe that they had already received (elabete, aorist tense, representing the "Semitic . . . prophetic perfect" to express "the certainty of a future action," Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Com. on the Grk. N. T., 1971, p. 109-110) what they were requesting in prayer when they prayed that they might have God give them what they had petitioned, Mark 11:24.

c. Yet, there is a controlling factor in this directive -- the will of God, Ibid., B. K. C., N. T., p. 159: 1 John 5:14-15 claims that prayer must be made in God's will to be answered. Well, it is not God's will that the Mount of Olives actually be cast into the sea, for Zechariah 14:4-5 had already predicted that it would split east-to-west, with the northern half going north and the southern half going south to form a valley for Israel's remnant to use in fleeing at Christ's Second Coming; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Zech. 14:1-5. However, Jesus' point in Mark 11:23 was not that the Mount of Olives would actually be moved to the sea, but the need for one to trust God to achieve great things by prayer as He had done with the fig tree. The aorist passive imperatives used for the verbs "be uprooted and be thrown" form the catchy phrase, "artheti kai bletheti" in the Greek text, indicating Jesus focused on the action involved without predicting the event would actually occur, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 171; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 23-24 and 130-131 respectively; The Analy. Grk. Lex. (Zon.), 1972, p. 51, 71.

2. Second, Jesus added that to pray effectively, one must also pray righteously, having forgiven those who have wronged him but have confessed their sins against him so that he prays with love and not hatred toward such other people, Mark 11:25-26. (cf. 1 John 3:22)

Lesson: The desired fruit of righteousness that Christ as King had sought in Israel was true faith in God and true love for other people as expressed in proper prayer in the temple Court of the Gentiles, all in great contrast to the faith in and the love for money that was actually expressed in that courtyard in Jesus' day.

Application: As subjects of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ, may we truly believe God's Word when we pray, and may we pray with loving forgiveness for those who have wronged us but who have confessed their sins (Luke 17:3), being free of the love of money, that we might be pleasing unto Him and gain His answers to our prayers.