No other passage shows the heart of love of the Lord seen in the Suffering Servant, the Messiah, Jesus, more than this one. And all this 700 years before Christ lived on earth. The NT quotes more from Isaiah than all the other prophets combined, with an amazing 308 references in the various NT books. For example, John quotes Isaiah in chapter 12 of his Gospel, and then he adds this commentary in verse 41, “These things Isaiah said when he saw (Jesus’) glory and spoke of Him.” As a matter of fact, when one reads verses like these, it’s almost as though Isaiah was an eyewitness to the flogging and the crucifixion—that he was there. But remember, Isaiah’s long ministry was roughly 700 years prior to that of Jesus. Seven centuries separate them. I’ve used this as an example before, but that’s like someone writing in the early 1300s about the events related to the terrorist attacks here on 9/11/01!

Some of you may remember the classic A Charlie Brown Christmas. There’s a scene where an exasperated Charlie Brown yells, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” I have to admit I’ve felt that way before. Amid the commercialism, materialism and the general confusion of the holiday, we probably all want to understand what happened to make Christmas the largest season in retail. During my short time as a manager at Walmart, I was truly amazed at what happened in our stores around Christmas. Multiple millions of dollars in retail moved through the stores I was in. People going into debt, for gifts that others don’t really want or need, in some cases attempting to impress those who don’t care, and buying things that will be out of the style trends next year. We seek to understand, just like Charlie Brown. “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”

1. Are you troubled by the events, people, or circumstances in your life?

2. Are you worried about the events, people, or circumstances in your life?

3. Are you fearful because of the events, people or circumstances in your life?

4. Is your heart at peace?

I’m going to suggest that if we’re honest, we are prone to being troubled, worried, and fearful. And we’re not alone. It’s common for all of us. Just look at the disciples of Jesus and consider that Jesus knew their hearts.

Today is our first Sunday of Advent. I love this time of year for a number of reasons. Advent is a time that we set aside each year to celebrate the birth of our Lord and King! It is a time when we are to long for or strongly desire His coming. The appropriate sense of the season is one of waiting with great anticipation for the Savior who will ransom captive Israel. This is the attitude of this portion of the season. It is an attitude of hope. Some of us were raised in Christian homes, and it’s hard to remember a time where Jesus was not in our life. It’s that way for several in our church. Praise God for that. However for some of us, we didn’t have that. No matter what your upbringing may have been, try to contemplate your life before Jesus saved you. Think about life before you made a public profession of faith. Think about a life of darkness and slavery. For all of us, no matter when we came to Christ, there are sins of the past which we deeply regret. We were in bondage. We were children of wrath. There was no hope for us. There is a list of sins given in 1 Corinthians 6, but there’s a great verse—verse 11 which states of those sins “such were some of you.” Now, think about the certainty that our salvation is secure. Think about our everlasting covenant from our everlasting God who does not break His promises. Indeed we hope in the promise of Christ!

This is the final installment of our verse by verse study through Mark's Gospel. We will look at the resurrection of Jesus, His ascension into heaven, and the Great Commission.

In keeping with the theme of covenant, we are going to see today what I’m calling the covenant ratified through the death and burial of Jesus. In his book, The Roman Empire Colin Wells states, “The Romans had a highly developed and theatrical sense of the public ceremonial.” They loved the triumphal parade. You could say, “Everyone loves a parade.” What is happening here with Jesus is a mock triumph. Instead of a parade with the victorious king or general leading the line, the soldiers are marching Jesus to His crucifixion. There were 2 purposes for such a horrible execution. First, as we’ve already seen, the crucifixion meant to prolong the pain, and force the victim to linger on the cross possibly for days until they slowly died from asphyxiation brought on by muscle fatigue. Second, the public exposure served as a warning and a deterrent. The victim would be marched through the streets with a placard announcing the crime, and the cross would be placed near a well-traveled road, so that a passers-by would see.

According to the historian Josephus, when Jerusalem was besieged, anyone caught outside the wall attempting to forage for food were crucified next to the wall of the city. The Roman general Titus, “hoped that the spectacle might perhaps induce the Jews to surrender, for fear that continued resistance might involve them in a similar fate. The soldiers out of rage and hatred amused themselves by nailing their prisoners in different postures; and so great was their number, that space could not be found for the crosses nor crosses for the bodies.”

We are continuing on with the theme of the acknowledged covenant as the arrest and trial of Jesus comes to an end. Lord willing, next week up to the first week of Advent, we will see the covenant ratified through Christ’s death and burial, and we will see it vindicated in His resurrection. That will get us through Mark 16:1-8, and we will finish with Christ’s victory as we consider verses 9-20. We have seen the acknowledgment of Jesus by the counsel of Jews, and now we are going to see the acknowledgment by Pilate. Based on their trumped-up charges, they now seek Rome’s involvement.

Last week I gave us part 1 of what I’m calling “The Covenant Acknowledged.” What I mean by this is that the enemies of Christ have gathered around Him now to basically ask Him how He pleads to the charges they are bringing against Him, and in so doing they are in a way, acknowledging His teachings, miracles, and all other activities.

One of the things which I have emphasized is that Christians are covenant people. The Church is a covenant body. When we become Christians, we enter into this sacred covenant with God through Christ. When we become confessional members of a church, we are saying that we believe in what this church stands for, and we enter into covenant with each other. Covenant is what we actively do, and it is actively who we are. So, please keep this in mind as we continue to examine what our Lord goes through here.