Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Did Dying Accomplish? | Mark | Mark 10.45

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. And I'm Patrick Miller. If this podcast has been helping you in your walk with God, would you take five seconds to help us? Hop onto Twitter and follow our new Twitter account at TMBT Podcast. If you go there, you can see our latest episodes. You can also follow Keith and I and send us messages. We'd love to follow you back and see what's happening in your life.

Starting point is 00:00:34 right now we are asking who is jesus we see crosses all the time on necklaces tattoos artwork they're all over the place and the crucifixion of jesus has become so commonplace today that we rarely slow down to ask a simple question what did it really mean and what did it really accomplish i mean why did jesus have to die on the one hand there's a beautiful simplicity in this true statement jesus had to die because he died for me. And yet, on the other hand, I think it begs a question. In what way does someone's death 2,000 years ago, in what way is it, quote unquote, for me? What exactly did his death save me from? How did his death do that? Why was his death necessary at all? Does his death do anything beyond just saving individuals like me? These questions were invisible to me

Starting point is 00:01:31 for a long time, at least until I had a conversation with a friend. He suggested that Jesus's death at the hands of God was something akin to divine child abuse. He said, look, God is punishing his own son for things that his son didn't do. Isn't that abusive? And now I find this view deeply misled. Jesus voluntarily died for others. There's nothing abusive about it. And yet, it made me go back to the scripture to honestly ask the question, why did Jesus die? The New Testament gives many answers, but I want to briefly offer four different reasons. Number one, Jesus died as the climax to God's big story. All of history is a story being told by God, and the Bible claims to tell the central, most important story. God created a good world. Humanity rebelled against him,

Starting point is 00:02:26 but he refused to give up. He said, I'm going to rescue this creation. And so he calls the nation of Israel to be his tool in this rescue mission. But in the end, they end up failing. Their prophets foretold a day when God himself would return to finish Israel's own mission, to reestablish God's rule on earth is in heaven, not just by rescuing people, but by rescuing all of creation itself. This is why Mark begins and he ends his gospel with the idea of fulfillment. He's saying the hopes of Israel are being fulfilled. Their longing that God would return to be king. That's being fulfilled. Likewise, the story begins with the heavens being torn apart. This is how the gospel of Mark begins. The heavens are ripped open at Jesus's baptism. And that signifies that God is returning

Starting point is 00:03:17 in Jesus to rule. And the story ends with the temple, him being torn, signifying that God's presence is now breaking out of the temple into all creation. Okay, so the first reason Jesus died was he died as the climax, as the fulfillment of this story, which is, of course, the story of the entire universe. Number two, Jesus died as a ransom for many. In Mark 1045, Jesus offers his own interpretation of his death. He said he was dying to give his life as a ransom for many. Now, let's talk about Old Testament law. I know that sounds weird, but track with me here.

Starting point is 00:03:55 If someone accidentally killed someone else, the person who did the accidental killing, that person incurred the guilt. The accidental killer could be put to death or pay a ransom for the life that he accidentally took. In a similar fashion, Israel could only be purified from their collective guilt, but they'd incurred because they'd rebelled against God. They could only be purified from that guilt by giving the life of an unblemished lamb in their own place.

Starting point is 00:04:27 The lamb ransomed them from their guilt. It ransomed them from their sin. How? By dying in their place. And by dying in their place, it actually purified them from their sin. By calling himself a ransom, Jesus suggested that all of Israel, in fact, all of humanity, for that matter, had incurred guilt before God. God. But rather than paying for their own guilt with their own lives, Jesus offered his life,

Starting point is 00:04:53 a life without blemish, as their ransom. Jesus died to take the penalty of sin on himself so that we can be ransomed, so that we can be purified from our own sin, and so that we can be definitively forgiven. Okay, number three, Jesus died to create new people. In Mark 14, Jesus eats his Passover meal with his disciples. And as he's pouring, out the wine, he says this. He says this, the wine, this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Okay, so what is a covenant? Because these days when I hear covenant, for some reason, I always think of houses, you know, like my housing covenant in my neighborhood. Well, back then, a covenant was a promise, which was more intimate and loving than a mere contract. And yet it was

Starting point is 00:05:40 also more permanent and binding than a mere relationship. Two places in the Old Testament speak of blood of the covenant. One foretells a day when, quote, the blood of my covenant is going to set people free. This is what God says. The blood of his covenant is going to set people free. It recalls the exodus when God rescued Israel from slavery. And it suggests that Jesus' death is rescuing a new people and a brand new exodus from their enslavement to sin death and the devil. The second use of the blood of my covenant, it actually comes from the story of Exodus. after the people hear God's law and they agree to live by it, God makes a covenant to be their God and to make them his people. And this covenant is ratified by, you guessed it, blood. And so while it's true

Starting point is 00:06:29 that Jesus died to save individual sinners, I think it's actually more true to say that Jesus died to rescue an entire people so that they might become God's people. Okay, number four, Jesus died to conquer evil and to become king over all the nations. Jesus' trial and crucifixion are loaded with irony. He's called the King of Kings by Pilate, and he's mockingly dressed up as a king by the Roman soldiers. In traditional crucifixion, a criminal's offense was nailed above his head. So what was Jesus' offense? He was the king of the Jews.

Starting point is 00:07:08 Even his own countrymen, who should have heralded him, they reject him. They mock him by mockingly calling him the king of Israel. After he dies, the Roman centurion who pierces his side says this. He truly was the son of God. And that was a name both for Jewish kings and Roman kings. Jesus' last word are taken from one of King David's own songs. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And this quotation is actually the beginning of Psalm 22.

Starting point is 00:07:42 and it's supposed to bring Psalm 22 to mind because it's a song where a king is suffering unjustly and he's pleading to God. This suggests that God's definition of kingship, power, and leadership are really the opposite of the worlds. By suffering an unfair, powerless death, Jesus ultimately ends up triumphing over violence, over self-promotion, over the force of the Romans, over the lies of the Jewish authorities. By dying, Jesus defeats Satan in sin. This is the opposite of how everybody thinks that you win. This is the opposite of how everybody thinks that you take a throne.

Starting point is 00:08:26 Sacrificial love is how God's kingdom begins. Indeed, Psalm 22, it ends with God rescuing his suffering king and then establishing his kingdom. God causes the rulers and people from every single. single nation to come before this king and to bow before him. And as a result of this future king's just and good rule, there's going to be life and prosperity on earth. Love and goodness and grace, they get the final word in this story. Often when we talk about Jesus's death, we limit the focus to ourselves. Jesus died for me. Jesus died for my sin. That's true. It's a wonderful truth. But Mark focuses on

Starting point is 00:09:10 a far larger picture. Jesus died to rescue the world, to become king over everything, to create a new people, a new Israel who are walking in his ways. Now, I hope that this is actually encouraging to you. You and I are not at the center of the universe. God loves each of us deeply. He loves each of us deeply enough to send his own son for us. And yet the truth is that he didn't come just for you or just for me. He came for all of us. He came for all of creation because he loves all of creation. This means that you, you have been rescued, not by yourself, but you have been rescued into a new people called the church. It means that you are saved with a purpose to proclaim and enact your king's rule of love, self-sacrifice, goodness, and justice. It means that God's mission

Starting point is 00:10:03 isn't directed merely towards individual souls, but towards all creation. And you get to be a part of that all-creation mission, making all things new. That means that what you do here really matters because Jesus died for what you do here in this life. Today, I want you to pray and ask Jesus to fill your heart with joy and thankfulness in response to his deep, deep, deep love for you. A love so deep that he died for you. But beyond that, that he died to rescue you and all of creation. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps other people find this podcast more easily. Also, ask yourself, who could you share this podcast with? Texting an episode to a friend or a family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Did Dying Accomplish? | Mark | Mark 10.45

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