God’s Unfolding Story for Older Preschoolers.Fun Ways to Teach How the Bible is Organized.Fun Ways to Memorize the Books of the Bible.Understanding How the Bible Is Organized.I beat my body and bring it into submission. I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection. I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave. Gal 5:24 (NIV) Paul: "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires".ġ Cor 9:27 (NIV) ". Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them then they will fast". Mat 9:14,15 (NIV) "Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus said that his disciples would fast when he was removed from them. Gal 4:19 (NIV) "My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you". Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but can also be born in us. The number 40 stands for pregnancy, because a woman is pregnant for 40 weeks. So Luke 4:1-13 and Matthew 4:1-11 are based on the Markan account, with some details added regarding the nature of Jesus' temptations. Adam Winn says ( The Purpose of Mark's Gospel) that in the first eight years of this century, at least eight significant critical commentaries on Mark’s Gospel have been published all eight assume Markan priority as a starting point. Nearly all New Testament scholars accept Mark to have been a source for Matthew and Luke. The baptismal events and the temptation in the wilderness introduce the new reader to the mission of Jesus, then the events surrounding the Transfiguration confirm this. Just as this allusion to Elijah and Moses follows the baptism of Jesus and the voice of God from heaven ( Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased), so Mark makes the disciples privileged to see Jesus talking to Elijah and Moses at the Transfiguration and hearing the voice of God from heaven ( This is my beloved Son: hear him). I notice a close parallel to this event later in the gospel. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. This also brings into play another allusion, to Moses when he fasted for 40 days while he wrote the words of the Ten Commandments on tablets:Įxodus 34:28: And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God. In the case of Elijah:ġ Kings 19:5,8: And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. Both Elijah and Jesus are in the wilderness for forty days, both are tempted, both are attended by angels and both are in the presence of wild animals. Adam Winn ( Mark and the Elijah-Elisha Narrative) says that all the details of Jesus' temptation narrative find parallels in the wilderness experiences of Elijah. The earliest story of Jesus going into the wilderness occurs in Mark 1:13. So it may be that Christ spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness to receive spiritual strength for the coming temptation, ministry and crucifixion ahead, and draw closer to God the Father to seek answers. For example, in Daniel 9:3 (KJV):ģ And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: We see here that fasting seems to have been necessary to give the disciples the spiritual fortitude required to cast out the vexing spirit.Īlso, fasting is a method used to draw closer to God and seek answers. When the disciples of Christ were unable to cast out a spirit, they take part in the following discussion recorded in Matthew 17:19-21 (KJV)ġ9Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?Ģ0 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you.Ģ1 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. There have been instances when fasting was used as a tool to gain spiritual strength.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |