Mark (Program #41) – The Death and Resurrection of the Slave-Savior for the Accomplishment of God’s Redemption (3)

On the day of His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross for six hours, from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon.  During the first three hours, He suffered mocking, slander and humiliation at the hands of all manner of men even though He was dying to redeem.

But beginning at twelve noon something remarkable happen and is recorded in Mark chapter 15 verses 33-34, “And when the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is interpreted, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

During the final three hours of His time on the cross, the Lord Jesus was no longer been judged by evil mankind. He had taken upon Himself the sins of mankind to such an extend that God the Father even had to turn away from His beloved Son in righteous judgment, as Christ offered up Himself, an eternal sacrifice for all.

As believers we cherish this story and never tired of hearing it. But beyond this message of redemption and hope, this story also bears consideration for what it says about the inner relationship of the three divine persons in the Godhead.

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Exodus (Program #89) – The Ark of the Testimony (6)

Christ, through His blood solves our problem with God.  The Bible calls this propitiation, a big word.  It may sound daunting, but it’s a most wonderful word when we get into all that it means for us.  Another related word speaks of the place of propitiation.  This is the place where God meets and speaks with man.  This place in the Old Testament was the Ark of the Testimony.  But to find this place today where we can meet with God and hear God’s speaking is the most blessed discovery for His people.   Don’t miss our final program on the Ark of the Testimony on today’s life study of the Bible.

Today’s word is somewhat of an overview or summary.  The Ark was, as we’ve discussed,  a piece of furniture.  Actually, the most important or preeminent item in the tabernacle.  As we’ve seen, basically it was a box.  A box made of a particular kind of wood, acacia wood and this box was overlaid within and without with gold.  We’ve much impressed that these materials hold a great deal of significance as we see the Ark is a type of Christ.  For just as Christ has two natures, human and divine, these materials represents these two natures.

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Mark (Program #40) – The Death and Resurrection of the Slave-Savior for the Accomplishment of God’s Redemption (2)

Each of the four gospels in the New Testament gives us a detail account of the crucifixion of Christ.

The account in Mark chapter 15 gives us a vivid picture of the persecution that He suffered at the hands of the religious leaders as well as the judgment that He endured on our behalf by the righteous hand of God the Father.

Begin reading in Mark chapter 15 : 16-28

“And the soldiers led Him away within the courtyard, that is, the praetorium, and called together the whole ccohort.
And they clothed Him in purple and wove a thorny crown and put it around His head.
And they began to salute Him: Rejoice, King of the Jews!
And they beat His head with a reed and spat at Him. And kneeling down, they bowed before Him.
And when they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the purple and put His garments on Him. And they bled Him out to crucify Him.
And they compelled a certain passerby coming from the country, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to take up His cross.
And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is interpreted, the Place of a Skull.
And they tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He did not take it.
And they crucified Him and divided His garments, casting lots for them to see what each should take.
Now it was the third hour and they crucified Him.
And there was an inscription of the charge against Him inscribed: The King Of The JEWS.
And with Him they crucified two robbers, one on His right and one on His left.
And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, a”And He was counted with the lawless.‘”

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Exodus (Program #88) – The Ark of the Testimony (5)

God has a longing.  This might sound quite strange to our ears, but nonetheless, it’s the case.  His longing is to interact even to fellowship with man.  But how can man, saturated with sins enter into a sweet fellowship with the righteous and holy God?  For this man needs a way and man needs a place.   The way and the place for man to contact God are the focus of today’s life study of the Bible.

In the center of the tabernacle, the Ark of the Testimony resided with the 3 very significant items inside that we’ve covered.  These items are good material for bible school and Sunday school lessons and we’ve seen much rich details related to these 3 items.  To see the cover, the propitiation cover is so tremendous in terms of helping us entering into a deeper and more consistent regular experience of Christ.  Why is this cover such a meaningful item for us to focus on?

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Mark (Program #39) – The Death and Resurrection of the Slave-Savior for the Accomplishment of God’s Redemption (1)

The record in Mark chapters 14 and 15 give a striking account of how the Lord Jesus prepared Himself for His crucifixion. Even manipulating those who would ultimately kill Him to do so according to God’s time table and not man’s.

Often overlook in this portion, however, is that the same chapters also record the experiences of Peter. In a very real sense Peter also was being prepared by the Lord to pass through the process of death and resurrection.

It’s somewhat easy to realize that Peter in these chapters is representative of all the disciples. What’s not so easy to see, but just as significant is that Peter’s experiences of failure upon failure eventually resulting in his been striped of any confidence in his natural strength and ability, represents all of us, the Lord’s believers as well.

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Exodus (Program #87) – The Ark of the Testimony (4)

In the Old Testament, the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the altar to atone for the sins of the people.  This blood was a precursor of the real blood shed for sin, the blood of Christ.  But in the Old Testament, there was another use for the blood.  It needed to be sprinkled on the cover of the Ark of the Testimony in the Holy of Holies, where the crucial items was not sins but the glory of God.  The blood sprinkled on the very spot where God met and spoke with man is our focus on today’s life study of the Bible with Witness Lee.

We are going to look at the tabernacle’s outward configuration…

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Exodus (Program #86) – The Ark of the Testimony (3)

After giving Moses the ten commandments, Jehovah God continued to unveil the details and plan for the tabernacle.  In the center of the tabernacle was the ark, the preeminent piece of all the items in the tabernacle.  Over the place of the ark was placed a cover or a lid.  This very spot was to become the place, the unique place where God would meet and speak with man.  What does this cover represent today?  This holy spot, the propitiation cover is the focus of our life study today.

We are exploring the furniture in the tabernacle that God instructed Moses and the children of Israel to build.  In the center of the tabernacle was this most important of all the items and that was the Ark of the Testimony.  The Ark, simply speaking was a box, made of wood and overlay with gold.  Why are the wood and the gold significant as we look at the Ark?

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Mark (Program #38) – The Preparation of the Slave-Savior for His Redemptive Service (12)

Ephesians chapter 1:7-9 tells us that Christ’s all redeeming death was part of God’s eternal plan and purpose. Yet on occasion after occasion when the Lord Jesus spoke concerning His coming death to His disciples especially Peter, they continually express their natural thought that such a thing should never happen to Him.

Furthermore, on the night before His death they one by one declare to the Lord, that they would never deny Him even at the cost of their own lives. Of course we all know the story, Peter representing all the disciples within a few short hours was repeatedly denying the Lord.

On one hand it seems hard to believe that after the Lord had revealed so much to His disciples, that they can still behave in such a way. In fact Peter and his failure is representative of all our natural strength and fleshly concepts.  Yet by the Lord’s mercy, Peter and eventually even all of us His weak and frail seekers are led through a process of Christ’s death has become much more than just an objective fact. We must become those who like Peter enter into His death so that we can ultimately be ushered into the reality of His resurrection.

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Mark (Program #37) – The Preparation of the Slave-Savior for His Redemptive Service (11)

In Mark chapter 14, the Lord Jesus initiated the Lord’s Supper as we know it today and is very deep in its’ significance.

Mark chapter 14: 22-24  tells us, “And as they were eating, He took bread and blessed it, and He broke it and gave it to them, and said, Take; this is My body.
And He took a cup and gave thanks, and He gave it to them; and they all drank of it.
And He said to them, This is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many.”

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Exodus (Program #85) – The Ark of the Testimony (2)

The book of Exodus, the book that gives us the ten commandments is divided into two distinct sections.  The first section, 24 chapters is full of interesting stories, including the famous scene on Mount Sinai where God gave the commandments to Moses.  Most people stop at this point because the interesting stories seems to stop at this point as well.  But it is the second section, beginning with chapter 25 that holds the mystery of God’s eternal purpose for man.  It’s this section that we bring our attention to today.

Today we come again to look at the Ark of the Testimony as we are exploring the articles of furniture associated with the tabernacle as the Lord revealed to Moses.

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