Meditations From The Holy Mountain | Mark 9:9-13 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Mark nine nine reads, and as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen until the son of man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked him, why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come? And he said to them, Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the son of man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased as it is written of him. Lord, we sincerely ask for the assistance of the precious Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds concerning this portion of holy scripture. We ask, Lord, that there would be a grace upon the transmission of this word, and that, Lord, it would be done with your great power and wisdom, and that, Lord, our hearts would be made ready. And we know, Lord, that there is the evil one who is ready to snatch away the seed of the word from our hearts. We know that he is conniving and clever, and that he, even now, will seek to try to rob us of this truth.

And so we pray for divine protection. We pray that you would silence him, and that you would cancel any assignment against us in this meeting. For those who are prone to distraction, would you give us a grace? For those who are anxious in heart and disturbed in their souls, would you speak peace to them so that they may hear you. Lord, we trust you that this word is spirit and life and that we would be transformed through it.

In the name of the living Christ we pray, amen. Amen. We've seen this before, haven't we? We've seen the Lord Jesus on different occasions ask of those who are recipients of his miraculous power to remain silent about the matter. And, unfortunately, in many of those occasions, they did not take heed.

And now the Lord Jesus Christ looks to his inner circle, and he asked them the same, to keep what they have witnessed to themselves. And I can just imagine the temptation that these three felt when they saw what they saw, that spectacular sight of the glory of Jesus Christ, the appearance of Elijah and Moses. The visitation of God's glory through a cloud. The voice of the heavenly father himself speaking directly to them. You can imagine what grace was needed to keep them from going to the mountaintops and declaring to the masses what they have seen with their own eyes and what they have heard with their own ears.

Regardless. Regardless of the privilege, regardless of the splendor, regardless of the opportunity that they had received, the charge of the Lord Jesus Christ was clear. Do not say anything about what you have seen. And with that, the Lord does not give a reason. He doesn't explain why they should keep this to themselves.

He doesn't elaborate. He doesn't try to satisfy perhaps their curiosity with such a a strange instruction. He simply tells them what to do. And it reminds me how often that when we are in a certain circumstance or situation and we understand God's wisdom or will for that particular situation, how it doesn't necessarily satisfy our reasonings in that very moment. How when we are faced with something, we believe at times that it's our way, our wisdom, our understanding that should prevail even at the expense of Christ's word.

And there are times where you will have an opportunity to either obey or disobey, to trust and not to trust. And in those moments, would you do what these disciples are about to do, and that's simply believe what Christ has to say even though you don't understand it. To simply continue on the path of obedience even though you are being tempted in one way or another. Stay on the path of obedience. Stay on the path of trusting him.

The answer will come. You can never go wrong in trusting the Lord. You can never go wrong in believing his word even though it may seem to contradict human wisdom. We often think what we know is better for ourselves. We often even sometimes think what we think is better for Christ.

Lord, I'm trying to help you out here. Lord, I'm trying to promote you here. Lord, I'm trying to give you a better image here. He doesn't need our help. He wants your obedience and mine.

And so what will these disciples do? Will they follow in the pattern of so many who've been told to remain silent and instead went on to declare what they were told to keep to themselves? Oh, you might be surprised because the disciples have disappointed us on many occasions, but not here. What do we read in verse 10? So they kept the matter to themselves.

They did it. They actually obeyed. They actually trusted, and they might have not known why, but we know why. We know why the Lord told the disciples, shh. I know it was amazing.

I know it was glorious, but keep it to yourselves. Do you know why? Because these disciples who had witnessed the glory of the Messiah were also the disciples who were not ready to accept the suffering of the Messiah. And until they were ready to accept the suffering, the death, and the resurrection of the Messiah, they had no right to declare who the Messiah is and what he would do. How do we know that?

Look at the rest of verse 10. Questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. So they still didn't get it. They still didn't understand. And the Lord knew this about his own, so he told his own, just don't say anything.

And he doesn't need to explain because he is the all knowing one. But the command was not simply for them to keep this to themselves, because it was not the will of Jesus Christ for this to be privatized forever. No. There was a time where they could make it known, and this is what the Holy Spirit says in verse nine. Says here, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen until the son of man had risen from the dead.

You will share what you have witnessed at a particular point when I conquer the grave. When I overcome. When I rise. Then you can declare what you have witnessed on this holy mountain. So this command is really twofold.

Don't say anything, but there's a time where you can and you will say this. Did the disciples obey the latter portion? Yes. Do you know how we know? Through the writings of Peter.

Turn your bibles with me to second Peter chapter one. Look at second Peter chapter one verse 16. Did Peter write this long after Jesus rose from the dead? Yes. He did.

And look what he wrote. Second Peter one sixteen reads, for we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Pause. He's assuring the readers of his epistle. Hey.

The the teachings that you heard from us concerning the return of Jesus Christ, the triumphant return of the Lord who will judge everyone and establish his kingdom, that is not sourced from myths. This is not man made, and he gives his apologetic to why. He gives his reason why, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. At what point?

Well, he tells us in verse 17. For when he received honor and glory from God the father, and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased, We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the Holy Mountain. Remember what Jesus said in Mark nine one. He had promised some of his disciples, well, all of them, but he assured that some of them would not taste death until a selected few would witness the coming of the kingdom of God in power. You remember that.

Right? And we agree that that prophecy that Jesus made was fulfilled on the Mount Of Transfiguration. It doesn't teach that, the kingdom of God has already come in power. Usually, people believe that happened at seventy AD, nor does it convey that some of the disciples are yet still alive because the kingdom of God has not yet come with power. No.

We know that what happened on that mountain fulfilled that promise, and Peter confirms that. Again, he's saying, we taught you about the second coming of Christ when he will come in power and glory. And do you know how this is true? We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. In other words, Peter is saying that we saw a glimpse of the kingdom of God coming in power.

We received a sample of it. This is why this is important. If Peter believed that what he saw, Jesus unveiling his glory fulfilled the promise he made that some of you will not die until you see it, then why are we hesitant to believe it ourselves? Why are we going here and there with different teachings about end times when Peter himself here in second Peter says, no no no, we were eyewitnesses of that same glory, that majesty. And there's so much else to say here, but did you notice how Peter refers to the location of that experience?

Look at verse 18 again. We ourselves heard from this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the Holy Mountain. Can I ask you something? Was there anything intrinsically holy about that mountain? This this mountain is is not even named to us.

There's debate about which mountaintop Jesus transfigured on. So we don't even have the exact geographical location. But was there anything about that mountain that was inherently sacred? No. Did Jesus choose a specific summit that would be appropriate to host that demonstration of his beauty and glory?

No. It wasn't that Jesus took the disciples to a holy mountain, it was that Jesus in his glory made that mountain holy. It was where he was and what he did on that mountain that sanctified it in a sense, that made it something special. And when I thought about how Peter says this mountain was holy because of the holy one who was there at that time and did something spectacular and majestic, I think about you and I. Is there anything inherently holy about you or me?

We can all say no. Far from it. In fact, the Bible tells us we are the very opposite of that which is holy. But because Christ shown in our hearts, because he has given us the gift of the sealing of the Holy Spirit, you and I now are holy. We are sanctified.

We are consecrated. We are different. Not because of you, but because of what he's done in you. Not because of what you do, but because of how you and I identify with him and how he has identified with us. You and I, before Christ, were far from holy.

Not just ordinary. No. No. We were evil, wicked, depraved, ugly in light of the holiness of Christ. But because of Christ, just like that mountain was just an ordinary mountain, now you and I are no longer ordinary people.

A royal priesthood. Royalty. Not because of you, not because of me, but because of the glory of Jesus Christ in here. And we see here that Jesus made this mountain glorious and holy. And we've been told by the prophets that there is a time coming when the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the seas cover the earth.

There's a time coming where Jesus will descend in his glory, and in descending in his glory and planting his feet again on this earth, the whole earth will be exposed to the aroma of the holiness of Jesus. So not just gonna be a mountain, but every mountain, every valley, every city, every village, every institution, every education center, every home, every corner will be exposed and saturated with the holiness of Jesus Christ. You don't believe me? You think that's exaggeration? When you get the chance, look at how the book of Zechariah ends in chapter 14.

And there's an interesting prophecy that we would kinda look over. We are told in Zechariah fourteen twenty one that when the Lord Jesus comes in his glory, you know what's gonna happen? Every pot every pot will be made holy unto the Lord. Every furnishing, every instrument for cooking will be sanctified. What is that saying?

Even the mundane, even the ordinary will know something about the holiness of Jesus Christ. That's what's gonna happen when he comes. So we're in this atmosphere here now as the people of God and we should sense something sacred and holy, not because of the building, not because of images, but because we are the church. But can you imagine during the millennial reign where you go down to a specific area and probably you've driven through those areas and you have to go there and you feel evil, you feel darkness, you feel perversion. That's not gonna happen when he comes.

Even the horses were told in Zechariah that will have bells. The bells will be inscribed with holiness unto the Lord. Vehicles, pots and pans, furniture, it's all gonna be known and consecrated onto him. I can't wait for that day. Now while we're here in second Peter, allow me to expand on something.

Look what he says here in verse 19. And we have the prophetic word this is in light of what he just said. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Look and focus with me on the first phrase here, and we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed. This is a challenging verse because it's interpreted generally in one of two ways.

One common interpretation is that Peter is pointing us to a source after just explaining what he had witnessed with his eyes, what he had heard with his ears. Now he's going on to say that there is a source more reliable than our experience. There is something that's more profound than an eyewitness account concerning the return of Jesus Christ on that mountain, and that is the prophetic word. That is the scriptures he's saying. So after explaining what he had seen and calling them to trust in that as an apostle, he's now going on to say, listen, despite what we've seen, the word of God can be more trusted.

The word of God is something that you can rely on much more than what somebody says they have witnessed, even what you have experienced. The word of God is greater than your experience. This is how some people interpret this passage. And that's a powerful truth. It's a it's a strong case to make concerning the word of God and its reliability, but there's a second interpretation concerning this.

And it's not so much Peter saying, despite our experience, there's something more reliable. What he's saying here is we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed. In other words, what we saw on that holy mountain, what we heard on that mountain confirms what the ancient prophets had said about the truth of the second coming of Jesus Christ. In other words, in those Hebrew writings that pointed to this Messiah coming in glory, and power, and might, What we witnessed confirms that this will indeed come to pass. Because Jesus gave us a glimpse.

Because Jesus trusted us with the experience to only compound and to say for certain it's gonna happen. The Lord Jesus is coming again. And so you can see how both are really good. Which one do I choose? Right?

Which one do I go with? And I'm under the persuasion that whichever interpretation you go with, the point is still the same. Down deep inside, it's true that the word of God can be firmly, unquestionably trusted. It has made specific predictions that have come to pass and it will and it has fulfilled many of those predictions. And it is also filled with eyewitness accounts through and through reliable sources.

Therefore, you can believe God. You can trust God for your tomorrow. What he says about tomorrow despite your experience. Despite what you've seen or heard or touched. Because through and through in the word, we can rehearse and we can believe.

God said it. God fulfilled things already. Therefore, he will not change. We can expect that what's to come will come because he is to be trusted. So Peter's saying here, look.

What we what we saw in Mark chapter nine, this confirms what the word of God says. You you can believe the word of God even more now. You should believe it at least. Now let's come back to Mark chapter nine, shall we? I wanna touch on something that we didn't touch on last time.

Verse nine says, and as they were coming down the mountain who are the they? Three individuals. Peter, James, John. Jesus selected these three to come with him to this mountaintop. But Jesus did not select these three only at this time.

He actually, in the gospels, did it three times. He selected these three out of the 12 for three separate experiences where they were exclusively invited to something that the others were not. There is one experience before the Mount Of Transfiguration, and there's one after it. Most of us know the one after in the Garden Of Gethsemane where Jesus called the three to come to him, and he sought their prayers and he sought their support as he wrestled in that garden. And the one former, the one before this is when Jesus brought these three to witness the resurrection of Jairus's daughter in Mark chapter five.

And people tend to wonder, why did the Lord choose Peter, James, and John? Why did he select these three? Did he love them more? Did he trust them more? And the Bible doesn't say, so we have to be very careful to assume why.

But I was thinking about this because you can't ignore it. Right? He took them there in Mark five. He takes them here in Mark nine. He will take them later at the end of this gospel account.

And it's not so much the why, the why of these selecting. To me, it's the how the Lord, even in selecting these three, handled them separately and individually. This is gonna go somewhere because it should encourage us as individual believers. And I wanted to incur encourage you because oftentimes believers are convinced concerning the Lord's affection for them based on what they see the Lord doing in their lives and what he's not doing in their lives and what he's doing in other people's lives. And you have you have believers who are discouraged thinking that the Lord loves them less, cares for them less than the next person.

But I see Jesus here in choosing these three. He's choosing them to train them, obviously, for something specific. But even in this three, what you have more importantly is the Lord handling the lives and the futures of individuals altogether? Let me prove it to you. So these three, they saw the same thing.

They were invited to the same thing. Who was the first apostle martyr? Not the first Christian martyr, the first martyr as an apostle. It was James. James, the brother of John.

Acts chapter 12. Historically, who was the last one? John, the brother of James. So James, the brother of John is the first apostle to be killed. Historically speaking, many believe that it was John, the brother of James, who was the last one to be killed among the apostles.

And even in Acts chapter 12, you have James and Peter. So now we have James and Peter, the same James and Peter who got to see these things and were invited to these experiences. And they experienced the same persecution, the same trial, by the same power, the evil power of Herod. Okay. So if James and Peter, they saw Jairus' died of rise from the dead, they were invited to see the transfiguration, they were there with Jesus in the garden, and here they are now, they were both in the same chapter arrested by Herod, surely they're gonna have the same outcome.

Surely they're gonna experience the same deliverance. That true? No. The Lord sent an angel for Peter. No angel came for James.

James was killed. Peter was saved. And to the misguided, uninformed, one might think, well, maybe the Lord favors Peter more than James. No. What about what about Peter and John?

In John 21. Jesus tells Peter, follow me. And before that he prophesied to Peter the kind of death he would die in glorifying Christ. And Peter starts to follow and Peter does what most of us do. I mean, this is fascinating to me.

Peter backslides. Jesus restores him. He says, follow me. And right after he says, follow me and Peter does it, you know what he does? He looks at John.

I mean, you just started to follow him again and you already took your eyes off of him. He looks at John and he says, Lord, what about this man? What about this man? So Peter's concerned. Okay.

You told me how I'm going to die. What about him? I wanna know about his future. And Jesus says, hey, listen. If it's up to me that he remains until I come, what's that to you?

Translation, Peter, I love you. Mind your business. You follow me. You follow me. And so even with this inner three, I don't wanna get caught up with the fact that there's this inner three.

I wanna get caught up with the fact that even with this inner three, Jesus is treating them uniquely And Jesus equally loves them. And he has a plan for each of them. He has a future for each of them. He has a call for each of them. Tailor made.

Don't think anything less for your life. He loves you, not just the church, you. Yes, you. Well, I don't have the same opportunities as this guy. I don't see as much fruit as that person, and I'm not as known as that individual, and I don't have the gifts like that person, and and I'm suffering more here than that person.

So no no no no no no. You have to understand, he loves you and he cares for you, and he's leading you perfectly. Perfectly. Don't compare your life to the next person. Just keep your eyes on Jesus Christ and trust his heart for you.

That's what I take out of these three. And so we come now in closing here before we partake at the Lord's table, verse 11 of Mark chapter nine. So the disciples now, they're, wrestling a little bit. They're wrestling because they're trying to get their eschatology straight. Eschatology is a fancy word for the study of the end times, the last things.

K? And so, here are these disciples who have somewhat of a grasp of the scriptures concerning the Messiah who's to come. And now they believe that this Jesus who has come is the Messiah, but there's there seems to be some holes in their understanding. Remember, Peter had trouble believing that Jesus would suffer. He rebukes Jesus, Jesus in turn rebukes him.

And Jesus in wanting to encourage his own, chooses to manifest his glory. Does he not? To show them, yes, I will suffer, you're gonna suffer, but but that's not where the story ends. Check it out. This is what's coming.

And so they're they're trying to understand all of these pieces and they're trying to put it in a straight line here. They're trying to get a timeline right. And so the only obstacle, right, we read in verse 10 that they're still questioning what this rising of the dead might mean. They still don't have a full understanding of Jesus dying and rising from the grave. But that's not the only obstacle.

Because again, these are Jews who were exposed to teachings from the scribes, who heard the scriptures, who knew of some prophecies. And so a question comes now, and this is the question in verse 11. And they asked them, as they're walking down the mountain, why did the scribes say that first Elijah must come? That seems like a random question, doesn't it? Well, it's random if you don't know the Old Testament.

Hey, Lord. We heard that before the Messiah comes, Elijah has to come. And I wonder if the visitation of Elijah prompted that question. Right? They saw Elijah with Moses.

Like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We heard from the scribes.

He's supposed to come. Where'd he go? Why'd he disappear? Oh, Lord. We're trying to understand this whole thing.

Messiah. We believe you're the Messiah. There's no doubt about it. You are the Christ, but where's Elijah? Not the appearance of Elijah.

Where's Elijah who has come to restore all things? You know what Jesus does? Look at verse 12, and he said to them, Elijah does come first to restore all things. In other words, Jesus affirms that their understanding of redemptive timeline in terms of prophecy is right. Jesus confirms, hey.

Listen. What the scribe said about Elijah coming, this is right. You're not wrong in saying this. Because what the scribes said in light of Elijah was according to the word of God, and I want you to see it in Malachi. In the last book of the Old Testament, turn there in Malachi chapter four, and look at this prophecy that the prophet makes concerning Elijah and his relationship with the Messiah.

Malachi chapter four and verse five. Behold, what that means? Hey, pay attention. Hey, look what I'm about to say. Behold, I, the Lord is speaking, will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction. Elijah is gonna come before the great and awesome day of the Lord. And when he comes, he's not just gonna show up with a flash on the Mount of Transfiguration, he's going to accomplish something. What's he gonna accomplish? We're told that he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the children's hearts to their fathers.

You know what that means? That the ministry of Elijah to come is going to cause a repentance at a nuclear level. There's gonna be relationships restored within households, and in turn, they will now turn to the Lord. So we're talking about revival, significant, sweeping, awakening. This is what the Elijah is supposed to do in preparation for the great and awesome day of the Lord.

Now, this is what Jesus says. He says, yeah, you're right. The scribes, they quoted the scriptures correctly. Elijah will come. But then look at verse 13.

This is where things get a little tricky of Mark chapter nine. But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased as it is written of him. Oh, this is getting interesting now. Elijah will come. Okay.

Hey. Check it out. He already did. He already did. Well, it can't be what he did on the mountain top because we're told that he's gonna come and he's gonna bring a revival that will turn people over to the Lord and repentance, and there's gonna be reconciliation among these people.

So it can't be that, what we just saw. When did he come? What do you mean Elijah has come? And Mark omits a commentary that Matthew provides. So in Matthew's parallel account of this very same text, let's get the confirmation of who this individual is in Matthew 17.

Matthew 17. Let's look at verse 12. Matthew 17 verse 12. This is the Lord speaking again. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him.

Interesting. But did to him whatever they pleased. So also the son of man will certainly suffer at their hands. Verse 13, then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. And Jesus didn't correct that.

Elijah will come. Malachi said he's gonna come. Jesus says, he's already come. Matthew tells us, it was John the Baptist. John the Baptist was Elijah reincarnated, Descending from heaven after he was taken up on a chariot of fire?

Remember that? So has he come down? Made you wonder why some of those disciples came, those Pharisees rather to John and John chapter one and say, hey, are you Elijah? You wonder why they asked that. It didn't help that he looked like Elijah.

He wore the same outfit as Elijah. It's like, hey, we heard of your description in Kings. You're wearing the same outfit. We're seeing things very similar. Are you him?

To confirm that John the Baptist fulfilled that prophecy in Malachi chapter four, We have the testimony of Jesus Christ who said, it's him. But we have another testimony of an angel who came to John the Baptist's father and gave him a prophetic word about what his son would accomplish. And tell me if it sounds familiar. There's a lot of scripture. It's okay.

We're in church. Luke chapter one. Luke chapter one. Let's look at this prophecy together in verse sixteen and seventeen. This is about John, the son of this priest, John the Baptist, Matthew excuse me.

Luke one sixteen. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah. There's the clarification. In the spirit and the power of Elijah to do what? To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.

Not Elijah reincarnated, not even Elijah himself coming back from where he left off. This is why when they asked him in John one, hey. Are you Elijah? He goes, nope. Because what they were asking is, are you flesh and blood Elijah?

He's like, no no. That doesn't mean that he denied that he fulfilled Malachi's prophecy. Because we're told that the angel said to the father of John before he entered into the world, that he will be coming in the spirit and power of Elijah. We can close our bibles here. Right?

Okay. John the Baptist was Elijah. You're the Messiah. It makes sense. He fulfilled that prophecy.

And so, great. But when you ask the bible questions, sometimes you're not immediately satisfied. So here's me coming to this text and going, okay, John the Baptist, there's no denying it. He would come in the spirit and power of Elijah. He would look like Elijah.

He would produce the same kind of results and fruit that Elijah's ministry did in his preaching. He fulfilled Malachi four. Or did he? Go back to Malachi four. I will send you Elijah.

Okay. He's gonna turn the hearts of the children to the fathers, but there's a timing when this Elijah is supposed to be coming. Do you remember the timing? Here's what it says. Verse five of Malachi four.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. We're Christians. Right? We think that what Jesus did on the cross was great and awesome, but that's not what the prophet meant. That phrase, great and awesome day of the Lord, is a prophetic utterance concerning not the coming of Christ to save, but the coming of Christ to judge.

Read Joel two. Read Zechariah one. That phrase, the great and awesome day of the Lord, is utilized to describe what will happen when the Lord comes and brings worldwide chastisement and judgment against the wicked. It's a dreadful day. It's a terrifying day.

It's great and awesome, not in the happy happy feeling, in the wow. The Lord is here to clean up all this mess. That's the great and awesome day of the Lord. No question about it. Do you feel the dilemma now?

I will send you Elijah. Okay? John the Baptist according to Jesus says it's according to Jesus, it's John the Baptist. But did Jesus come to judge the world? Elijah will proceed the great and awesome day of the Lord.

Jesus says, Elijah's to come. He's already come. But Jesus didn't come to judge the world. Did he? No.

He didn't. So is John really that Elijah if Malachi said he's supposed to come before the great and awesome people? Do you understand the question? And perhaps this is the difficulty that the disciples had. Okay.

Elijah's to come. Elijah's coming, the great and awesome day of the Lord. How does this all fit? See, they're trying to organize the timeline of prophecy. And this is why people interpret Jesus' words in the following way.

Maybe you hold to this view. John the Baptist is that Elijah like fulfillment, but he's more of a preview. He's more of a partial fulfillment. Why? Because Malachi says, Elijah's gonna come before the great and awesome day of the Lord.

If John the Baptist is Elijah, where's the great and awesome day of the Lord? And so many would say, John partially fulfills it, but there's gonna be the complete fulfillment before the second coming of Christ where Elijah will come and many believe he is one of the two witnesses in Revelation 11. Understood? So I'm trying to chop fine chop this so I don't lose anybody. So many people are content, and it's not it's not necessarily a bad view.

John partially fulfills it. We're still waiting for the complete fulfillment of the actual Elijah to come and he will prepare the great and awesome day of the Lord through his preaching and ministry. But Jesus says he is that Elijah. He is. So how do we make sense of this?

The answer is in Mark nine. Look at verse 11. Let's read this together. And they asked him, why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come? And he said to them, Elijah does come first to restore all things.

Now if you read that and in verse 13, you're still in a dilemma, but there's something sandwiched in between those two statements. Look what he says. Oh, I love the Lord. And how is it written of the son of man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? Right?

What does this mean? So they're asking about prophecy. Lord, it's prophesied that Elijah is supposed to come. Where is he? And Jesus says, yeah.

He's supposed to come. You're missing another prophecy though. You're concerned about Elijah coming, and you're right in, you know, believing that he's to come. But what about the prophecy about the Messiah who's supposed to suffer and die? The trouble with the disciples is that in all the things that they heard about the Messiah coming, they only believed in one coming of the Messiah.

Was this not the trouble? This is the trouble for Jews today. Today. Because they are expecting the Messiah to come and fulfill what we believe will happen when Jesus comes back. Where's his government?

Where's international peace? Where are the the the the swords and the javelins being transformed into farming equipment? Where where is this? Because we see this in the old testament through and through and through. So the disciples believed like Jews today that when the Messiah comes, he's going to do everything at one time.

And what Jesus is saying is, there are two comings of the Messiah. Yes, Elijah is going to come before the great and awesome day of the Lord. That's a prophecy, but there's an interval between those two things. Elijah will come. There will be a great and awesome day of the Lord.

But what about those prophecies where that Messiah that Elijah will prepare for has to die? Oh. So here's what I propose to you. Jesus is saying Elijah will come, but Jesus is also putting in a piece that's missing in their understanding. There's a there's a piece missing and he's filling that now.

Elijah will come. There will be a great and awesome day of the Lord, but in between that, this messiah has to suffer. He has to die. He has to ransom. He has to provide a sacrifice.

And so he is completing the timeline of their understanding of prophecy. Elijah will come. The Messiah will suffer. The great and awesome day the Lord will follow. And that's why he says, how is it written of the son of man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

If we take this to be what Jesus is saying, then we can rest satisfied in knowing, okay, now it makes sense that John the Baptist fulfilled that prophecy about Elijah because he did come before the great and awesome day of the Lord. The problem with the disciples and many of the Jews is that they they're not filling the gap, and the gap is the prophecies of Jesus being nailed on a tree. And in that we have a complete picture. Elijah will come, John the Baptist. Jesus will die on the cross.

He will rise from the grave. And when he returns, it will be the great and awesome day of the Lord. Prophecies fulfilled. Prophecies satisfied. And you and I hopefully are less confused than when we walked in here.

Let me end it here. How true is it that we are like the disciples in many ways that we tend to lose sight of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, that we lose our eyes, our focus, our gaze off of what the Lord has done for us. In this case, it's different. Right? They're trying to make sense of their theology.

But practically speaking for us, as we even in our relationship with the Lord, we can so quickly get caught up in things and lose sight of the centrality of why we are Christians. He came. He died. He bled. He was buried, and he rose from the grave.

This is what we are. This is our this is our belief. This is what makes us different. This is what makes us followers of Jesus Christ. And the Lord knows that we're very forgetful people, so you know what he does?

He provides a table. He provides an ordinance where you and I are forced to remember. It's by his grace. It's what he has done for us. And so at this time, we're gonna prepare our hearts to partake.

And here's my call. Before we sing, hear a brief word, and eat together. If you are a born again Christian, this is God's gift to you. This is for you. He invites you to this table, and he calls you to remember what he's done, his love for you, his redemption, his final sacrifice represented through the bread, his body, the cup, his blood.

It's not about your performance. It's not about your righteousness. You surrender that thought and that lie as you enjoy this feast. But if you're not a Christian, we kindly ask that you refrain from participating, for this is exclusive to followers of Jesus Christ. You're more than welcome to watch.

You're more than welcome to understand what we're doing here. We're so glad that you can visit us. But, again, we have a duty as ministers to protect this table. And so we ask you to consider your own salvation, to consider your standing with God. And I love to say this every time we do this, that as you witness people come to eat of this and to drink of this, you are witnessing people who are declaring emphatically, it's not by my own righteousness.

It's by what the Lord Jesus Christ did two thousand years ago coming into this world to rescue my soul. That's what you're witnessing. You're witnessing a people here who are far from perfect, who have no boast before God concerning their performance to inherit eternal life, but have at one point said, I am a wretched sinner. I need to be saved, and Jesus is that savior. And we pray and hope that there would be a divine jealousy in your heart, that as you see people confidently and corporately enjoying the grace that they have freely received in Christ, that you would say, I wanna be in that number.

I want to be connected to this Christ so I can have that same access and have that same confidence and joy, and we hope that you would respond. Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. He bled. He suffered. He gave himself over so that you could see his great love and respond to it with surrender.

And that you would say, this is what my sin has done, then I forsake it. And if it's all through faith, then I give him my faith. I believe that you are my rescuer and my redeemer and that I am in need of saving. So brothers and sisters, please prepare your hearts as we sing in a moment, and we'll give further instructions. Listen.

Shed everything off, will you? Don't think about anything else now. Don't think about how bad your week was. Look to the cross. Look to the cross.

If you're saved, be reminded that you have a future. You have heaven. Your name is written in the lamb's book of life, and that you will be warmly greeted by him. Not because of your merit, because of what he's done. If the team who helps us sing can come to sing so that we can sing with you.

Lord, we thank you for this time. Prepare our hearts. Be glorified. Manifest your presence in our midst more than you already have. Thank you, father.

In Jesus' name. Amen.