A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS

RR. Learning From Israel’s Rejection Of John

(Matthew 17:9-13; Mark 9:9-13)

I. Introduction

A. Christ’s transfiguration into His Kingdom glory certified His identity as the Messiah and the certainty of His future Kingdom to Peter, James and John. However, that transfiguration also created a theological problem for the disciples: they with Israel’s scribes believed that Messiah’s arrival would be preceded by the return of Elijah as predicted in Malachi 4:5-6, but the disciples had not identified Elijah as having come before Jesus.

B. This problem led to a conversation with Jesus that provides a lesson for us in our walk of faith as believers today. We view this event in Matthew 17:9-13 and Mark 9:9-13 for our insight, application and edification:

II. Learning From Israel’s Rejection Of John, Matthew 17:9-13; Mark 9:9-13.

A. The conversation between Jesus and His disciples when they descended from the Mount of Transfiguration exposed the tragic consequences of Israel’s unbelief in God’s messengers in John the Baptist and Jesus:

1. When Jesus with Peter, James and John were coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus charged them to tell no one about the vision they had just seen until He had risen from the dead, Mark 9:9.

2. The three disciples started to question among themselves what Christ meant by His rising from the dead, and that in turn led to their asking Jesus why the Hebrew scribes taught that Elijah must come first before Jesus as the Messiah was revealed, Mark 9:10-11. “The progression of thought is this: If Elijah is to come before the last day and ‘turn the hearts’” of the apostate people of Israel back to the Lord “(Mal. 4:5-6), why should the Son of Man have to die?” (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Mark 9:11-13)

3. “Christ replied that they” were “correct about Elijah but that their concept of the Son of Man was deficient, since it did not include the truths of His suffering and death (Ps. 22:6; Isa. 53),” Ibid.; Mark 9:12. The disciples and Israel’s scribes did not know about Christ’s predicted rejection, suffering, death and resurrection that would occur at His First Advent, and that He would establish His Kingdom at His Second Advent. They were not aware that there were two different advents of the Messiah!

4. In Mark 9:13, Jesus then added “that Elijah already had come, and been unrecognized, in John the Baptist,” Ibid; Mark 9:13a. The failure of Israel’s people and their religious leaders to recognize John as the Forerunner to the Messiah Jesus had led to John’s imprisonment and execution by Herod Antipas, Mark 9:13b with 6:14-29; Ryrie, op. cit., ftn. to Mark 6:14.

5. Matthew 17:12c recorded Jesus as adding the thought that just as John the Baptist had not been accepted to where he had been mistreated, so Jesus as the Messiah Whom John introduced to Israel would likewise not be accepted so that He too would suffer at the hands of sinful, unbelieving men in Israel.

6. In retrospect, God had known that both John and Jesus would be rejected and mistreated due to Israel’s apostacy and unbelief, but had the nation accepted and believed God’s messengers in John and Jesus, Israel would have had the Kingdom established at Christ’s First Advent (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 60).

B. This conversation provides a much-needed application for God’s people today (as follows):

1. The requirement that God’s people trust God’s revelation to them that they act upon it in faith has existed throughout Bible history. Hebrews 11:1-38 tells how Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Rahab the harlot, Gideon, Barak, and many others by faith achieved great things for God or handled great trials and mistreatment by the ungodly all by a life of faith in God and His Word.

2. So it is with God’s people today: we have a host of Scripture directives on God’s will for our lives in every realm of life, and if we trust the Lord and obey His Word, we function with spiritual victory in the issues of life we face. However, if we choose not to believe God or not to obey what he says in His Word, we live in spiritual defeat and miss out on eternal rewards and often on God’s temporal rewards in this life.

3. Hebrews 12:1-2 then directs us in the Church era as based on the track record of Old Testament saints who lived by faith in Hebrews 11:1-38 to lay aside every figurative weight that keeps us from trusting the Lord and run with patience the race set before us. In looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, we note how He endured the cross and was rewarded by being set down at the Father’s right hand in glory.

Lesson: We can learn from Israel’s failure to see Messiah’s Kingdom established in Messiah’s First Advent due to her unbelief not to fail to trust the Lord in what He calls us to believe today if we would be blessed.

Application: May we believe God and heed His Word on the issues we face in our lives that we might be blessed.