The New World – Resurrection

MARK 1^1-45

The purpose and ultimate goal of one’s existence is God’s gift of the new life in a New world, with the new law through Christ’s work on earth by Jesus’ teaching:

1. The New Law of Love – Vs 1-15
2. The new life – Vs 16-31
3. The new kingdom – holiness – the new world – Vs 32-45

The Old Testament prophesy still announces the good news of a Savior who would restore God’s people to their homeland, lift their hearts from misery and hard labor to a new heavenly kingdom which starts with the one law of love.

The Jewish exile in Egypt and the captivity in Babylon were only a small measure of the devil’s captivity and dominance of one power over another, or one nation over another.

This invisible hand of the devil has remained the same, in fact, it has increased its control of the world to this day. Both captors and captives are all still under the power of the devil, who pays each one of us in the coin of death.

This captivity appears in many subtle ways; the economic, social, religious and political human laws which have empowered one nation over another, territorial boundaries, recognitions of differences in the color our skin, differing languages etc. All these have created the scene for division, hatred and wars among the earthly dwellers; finally ending in death.

A specific prophecy in the Old Testament was a dramatic voice in the wilderness – announcing the arrival of a Savior who would set free all captives from the devil’s strong grip.

The Savior would remove all obstacles, prefigured as the wilderness, hills, etc., which separate human souls from God’s love.

John made this announcement as directed by God.

“Repentance” – a change from a seared (dead) conscience, produced by human laws, to one filled with God’s new law of love in the human heart which is the spiritual baptism – the true repentance. The receiving of the New Law of love – Christ.

Sin is the result of flesh and blood (the soul) being in contact with the world with the human laws. Sin therefore consists of all our human thoughts, mind, all bodily senses and inclinations; all of which are products of the territorial laws created by man ever since. Sin is our primitive and modern living in this world. Both of which completely reject God and produce a dead conscience. This means our organs of soul and body can only respond to wealth, comfort, poverty, enmity, pain, bodily desires, etc., and this is the sin or rejection of God.  

Many prophets before John understood this sinful condition of our human heart. They chose to live in the wilderness for spiritual reasons and this dictated their lifestyle such as dressing and dependency on God’s love (providence).

Zechariah 13⁴: The garments of hair was the usual dressing for the prophets.

2 King 1⁸: King Ahaziah recognized Elijah and described him as a hairy man.

In the same wilderness, Elijah made his appearance.

The very appearance of John in the desert, is a stern sermon and a wake-up call to all who make food, drink, housing, raiment, career, etc., their chief concern in life.

Modern or humble living are all wonderful gifts to the earthly life, but John’s life illustrates how little a man’s life really needs while here below.

God’s kingdom (God’s love) is the complete opposite to all our earthly aspirations and expectations.

It was John who introduced God’s baptism of the spirit which arises from God’s gift of love, the teaching of the One Lord Christ.

All other fields of learning are good and wonderful earthly gifts which may greatly ease the human burdens in our earthly sojourn. However, they all have one problem; men pursue and glorify them for their financial rewards and modern life to the neglect of the spiritual baptism.

Spiritual baptism, God’s love in our hearts, sets us free from a dead conscience.

V10: “The Heavens opened…” The Father spoke from heaven, the Holy Spirit descended on God’s Son – and His work, the new teaching had begun.

“Thou art my beloved Son” – filled with God’s love, to save mankind from a dead conscience.

Jesus’ spirituality is revealed below:

– Jesus had no family, never married and had no child

– He rejected all the religious institutional teachings because:-

– they (the world) rejected God’s love

so are the many religious and non-religious institutions of our day

– He rejected the temple worship and its leadership for the same reason.

– He even rejected his own biological relatives

– Matthew 12 ⁴⁹: “Holding his hand over his disciples, he said,

– “Behold my mother, my brethren …”

The gift of the Spirit (God’s love) comprehends the New world with its new life, a new teaching even to this day.

2.        The New Life – Vs 16-31

The world with its human inhabitants is a collection of spirits, ie., people with seared (dead) consciences. Hearts without God’s spirit of love. This is a radical teaching – sounds uncharitable and hypocritical – but it’s the truth.

With a seared conscience, every work done is that of the world or the devil, ie., sin. Even that which appears as most excellent is sin.

That is why the world is a wilderness, the great tempter, the devil which tempted the Lord Christ for 40 days.

Our nature (flesh and blood) is sin because it suffers from hunger, sickness, poverty, deprivation, greed (obsessions), etc., a result of a seared conscience and ignorant of God’s love and providence.

Such a soul abuses God’s love by putting false trust in self, human abilities, riches, securities, education, political systems, etc.

The spiritual heart is always dependent on God’s love and the world in which it lives becomes foreign to him.

When the test (temptation) came to the One filled with God’s spirit, the results are excellent. Nothing in the world attracted him. Jesus even endured the agony of the whole sinful world, and this was Jesus’ passion because of sin, seared consciences, darkness, among its dwellers.

Here then is the light (the new teaching) at last in the land of darkness. The hope of a new life for those sitting in the shadow of death.

But to this day, the world instead prefers darkness, the lies of the world.

So what every child learns from birth is Law, which is work, skills, judgement, self-sufficiency and survival of the fittest, like the animals in the wild.

While God’s love is dependency, mercy, and spiritual love and unity – the New life which we must all embrace.

This light, the New teaching is the call of the Gospel.

The two brothers, Simon and Andrew not only left their professional work (fishing) but also entered upon an intensive course in training by following Jesus. All secular work and education should and must be additional to Christ’s teaching – the New life.

James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, left their father, mother and family; cut off all family ties and business, and followed Jesus.

• so did Matthew – he left his well-paying publican office to follow Jesus.

No other profession has ever offered such radical yet beneficial, cleansing teaching leading to the good conduct as Jesus’ teaching did. Yes, there are many humanities – but they have no divine power, ie., they are mere human efforts – in short, lies.

3.        The new kingdom – Holiness – (cleansed of sin) – Vs 32-45

It is only Jesus’ teaching of God’s love which cleanses man from sinfulness to holiness, because it is the truth as opposed to all worldly teaching of Law which is temporal. No other human teaching however, beneficial, can cleanse the soul of man and form one united body of many souls, except that of Christ.

Holiness is the conduct of God’s love for one another which shone so brightly with overwhelming power in Christ’s ministry.

All human teachings with their related products of healing, discipline and comforts, are referred to as lies because they give only a small spark of life, aimed at increasing human sustainability for only a small period of time and then death occurs without hope of another life.

Here Jesus’ deity or holiness is revealed.

As he was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath, a demon-possessed man rushed into the solemn assembly.

We have all experienced the works of the spirits of this world day by day. Such works include hatred, greed, laziness, murder, anger, divorce, war, poverty, disease, hard labor, trials, and death. All these and more Jesus refers to as spirits.

Here the demon-possessed spirits of men said: “Do leave us alone”

In Matthew 8 ²⁹: “What do you want with us, Son of God”

The same is voiced silently in many peoples’ hearts with a seared conscience.

Here in this world below are the devil’s captives, is the abyss. Christ’s teaching is directly against all these spirits because they deceive all men unto death.

Jesus instantly silenced the evil spirits – “Be silent” and the men were set free – cleansed, the spirits were ejected out.

Strong emotions were aroused, all amazed and claimed:

“A new teaching with authority at last”

Power over sin and death is the divine cleansing power, the Holiness of God.

With Peter’s mother-in-law, no weakness or lassitude was left as is always the case in our modern medical healings and discoveries.

Vs 33: Mark graphically states that the whole city assembled at Peter’s doorstep.

Vs. 34: And Jesus healed them all, expelled many demons; that is, all types of spirits such as sicknesses, diseases, etc. Men were cleansed of their sins – their conduct became holy – God’s love kindled in their hearts. Jesus had opened the doors of their hearts with God’s Word and faith was kindled with its product of love.

The leper is a specific example of cleansing of sin.

The man knew what had caused his leprous condition – sin and death – the natural condition of the world we live in.

This man was full of leprosy, beyond cure by our modern medical skills and systems.

He was counted as one dead – thus unclean.

Flesh that was eaten away, fingers and toes that had dropped off, raw sores that were spreading all over the body – all were instantly restored; the body made sound and whole.

All modern “healing” fades into nothingness besides this omnipotent holy deed of Jesus – God’s holiness, the cleansing of sin and death freely given to humankind.

To the hostile class of many, both educated and non-educated – Jesus sends this message of the leper as an example (testament) of Jesus’ deity and holiness of his conduct. An example of the cleansing power.

May we all learn from this leper so that we are invited to the new kingdom with its cleansing and new life.