Dr. Bingham’s Lesson for July 1, 2012
“Why Pray?” – Genesis 3:14-19
In light of the fact that God is sovereign and does whatever He wishes, why pray?
Perhaps you have prayed for something for years and have seen no movement from God. Why should you continue to pray?
If things don’t appear to be going the direction of your prayers, why pray?
Genesis 3:14-19
In Genesis 1 and 2 we see God bringing forth everything into existence, topped off with the creation of man. God has brought everything into existence and provided for the proper functioning of everything in existence; but in chapter 3 everything changes. After man has sinned, the serpent who enticed them to sin is cursed, the woman will experience pain and subjugation, the soil will no longer spring forth with good things to eat, but the man will experience heavy toil in producing his food, and they both shall eventually die. Things are no longer the same. The things of Genesis 1 and 2 are gone forever.
Genesis 2:15
Man did not create the garden in which he was to live; God did and placed the man in the garden to take care of it. But now, instead of merely tending the grounds of the garden, man must toil over the ground and the lives of the man and the woman are to be characterized by pain; for the woman, it is in childbirth; for the man, it is in toiling over the ground.
We are in a predicament and because of that we need to pray. We need to remember that we are in this predicament because God has brought it about because of our sin. God has recompensed us by turning things upside down. Man is no longer ruling over the earth, but the earth is ruling over man.
Jonah 1:17
Jonah is in a predicament. He is experiencing the wrath and judgment of God because he has disobeyed. Although the fish was God’s judgment, it was also God’s mercy in providing safety from the sea.
Jonah 2:1
Here we have Jonah praying to God in his distress and receiving an answer from God. Jonah acknowledges that his predicament was all brought upon him by God. The prophet is under judgment; he lives in a Genesis 3 world. Whether Christian or unbeliever, we are all living in a Genesis 3 world. Even though Jonah is under judgment, being washed over by waves and tangled in sea week, he still has the faith in the midst of toil and pain to cry out to God who will even in the midst of judgment reach down and bless him.
Jonah 2:6-10
The prophet understood that, although his pain and toil was a recompense of judgment from God because of his sin, this did not remove God from a relationship with Jonah of mercy, kindness, and deliverance. Jonah, because he believed God to be not only judge but redeemer, cried out to God for mercy.
We are in a fix. But even in the midst of circumstances caused by God’s judgment on us, we can still call upon God who might bring us deliverance and relief in the midst of His judgment because He is not merely judge but also savior.
So the basic reason we pray is because we are in a fix.
Jeremiah 29:4-14
Jeremiah speaks to those exiled in Babylon. Because of Judea’s unfaithfulness to God, God has exiled them. And there false prophets among them who are saying everything is going to be fine; it’s not as bad as you think; you really shouldn’t consider this as God’s judgment. But God sends Jeremiah to tell them that it is God who has sent them into exile and they should settled down where they are and know that they shall remain for seventy years and, while they wait to return, they should find wives for their sons and give their daughters in marriage and increase in number and pray for the city in which they now find themselves because if the city prospers they will also prosper. God tells them that He has plans for them to prosper and have hope and a future.
Not only should we be praying because we are in a fix, but a second reason we ought to pray is because we need a future that is different from our present. What you have now is not God’s ultimate plan for you. Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done.” So even under God’s judgment, we pray for God to be merciful to us in our toil and pain. The apostle Paul tells to pray without ceasing.
Dr. Bingham’s Lesson for June 24, 2012
End of Series in Mark
“The Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ” – Mark 15:46-16:8
Jesus’ crucifixion is being told in Mark with Psalm 22 as background. The first part of the psalm speaks of feelings of abandonment but in verse 22 that all changes from despair to triumph, praise, and rejoicing. We think what happened was that a prophet or a priest came to him and told him that the Lord was going to revive him and bless him or that the actual deliverance arrived in an overwhelming way and David went to the Tabernacle where he began to praise God for it and to call the people to join him in praise. Remember though, that deliverance came only after a long period of despair. David was so much in agony over his dilemma that he was sore all over; he could count all his bones, which felt like they were all out of joint. God brings David deliverance but only after his suffering. It is against this background that the crucifixion and resurrection are told in Mark. Chapter 15 of Mark corresponds to verses 1-21 of Psalm 22 and chapter 16 of Mark corresponds to the remainder of the psalm.
Jesus died as a result of His suffering. He was completely and totally dead; He was not simply asleep but His body was completely lifeless so that they had to take Him down from the cross and wrap Him in linen and place Him in a tomb for the dead. That was how terrific Jesus’ suffering was; it took His life.
Mark 15:46-47
Chapter 15 ends with Mary the mother of Jesus, along with Mary the mother of Joses, observing where they laid Jesus’ dead body. The chapter ends on the saddest note you could ever imagine — a mother experiencing the death of her child. This isn’t supposed to happen; parents are supposed to die before their children.
Chapter 16:1-8
They had no way of embalming bodies at that time, so Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices after the Sabbath was over to anoint Jesus’ body to preserve it. Although these women cared deeply, they are women who do not believe. They are coming to the tomb to anoint someone they believe is still dead.
Very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb and observed that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance to the tomb where Jesus had been laid. The women are told by angels that Jesus had risen and for them to tell the disciples that He would meet them in Galilee just as He had told them.
Mark 8:31; 9:30-31; 10:32-34
Jesus told the disciples plainly on three different occasions that He would be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, be turned over to the gentiles, suffer humiliation, be killed, and after three days rise again.
Mark drives this point home in Chapter 16, when the angel speaks to the women. The crowd around Jesus’ heard Him tell them how it would all happen, but nobody believed it. Jesus will never lie to you and never spin anything to His advantage; it is against His divine nature to do so.
The women left, trembling in fear and bewilderment. Again those who should have been comforted by the faithfulness of Jesus’ word reacted with fear. We see in Mark’s gospel that the majority of the people who witnessed Jesus’ miracles reacted with fear and bewilderment or amusement rather than belief.
The most trustworthy manuscripts of Mark end with verse 8 chapter 16.
Faith is nothing more and nothing less than taking the Lord and his prophets and apostles at their word. It will always be just as Jesus has said.
Dr. Bingham’s Lesson for June 17, 2012
Series in Mark
“The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ” – Mark 15:1-34
Psalm 22:1-2
David assumes God has forsaken him.
Psalm 22:3-5
David reflects on God’s past deliverances of his forefathers, wondering why God doesn’t come to his rescue.
A problem with reading the Old Testament is that you can become frustrated because of reading all the miraculous deliverances by God and wondering why God hasn’t come to your rescue.
Psalm 22:6-11
Again David pleads with God to deliver him, feeling emotionally exhausted.
Psalm 22:12-15
When David says that God has laid him in the dust of death, that is another way of saying, “Why have you forsaken me?”
David must decide if he will turn against God because God has not delivered him or to remain faithful to God even though God seems to be completely disinterested in his situation.
Psalm 22:22-31
God does come to David’s rescue and the rest of the psalm is in praise and worship of God.
David’s rescue came suddenly. That is the way it is. You can be in your tenth year of pleading to God for help, then all of a sudden the needed help comes. One moment, the Red Sea will be there barring your crossing, then in the next moment there will be a Moses standing there with a staff and it will split. You have a decision to make: Will you endure in faithfulness until that day arrives? For some of you, your prayer may not be answered until the day of resurrection. Others may be surprised tomorrow. But the decision is still yours: Will you remain faithful?
This is the background for Mark’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion. He is going to tell the story against the background of David’s experience described in Psalm 22. Jesus is David’s son. All that David spoke in Psalm 22 describes not only what he, himself, experienced and felt but also what Jesus experienced and felt in His crucifixion, even to the point of uttering David’s same words spoken in Psalm 22:1.
Mark 15:1-5
Pilot is amazed that Jesus does not defend Himself, even seeming to be disinterested.
Mark 15:6-11
Barabbas was a man being held for murder and rebellion and the crowd demanded that Pilot follow custom and release one of the prisoners. Pilot offered to release Jesus because he knew it was out of envy that the priests had turned Jesus over to him. But the priests stirred up the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be released instead.
Mark 15:12-15
When Pilot asked the crowd what should be done with Jesus, they shouted, “Crucify Him!” Pilot then chose to satisfy the wishes of the crowd and released Barabbas and handed Jesus over to be crucified. Pilot knew that it was unjust to hand Jesus over to their demands and he knew Barabbas was a murderer and undeserving to be released but Pilot is overwhelmed with the desire to please the crowd. Under the pressure of the crowd, Pilot made the wrong decision. What are you going to do on the day you have continuously prayed for deliverance and the Lord says one more day? What are you going to do about the silence of God? Are you going to do what is right?
Mark 15:33-34
Here Jesus cried out the same words David uttered in Psalm 22:1. Jesus deliberately chose to be crucified; He made no defense of Himself; and He did not call down legions of angels to deliver Him. By uttering these words, Jesus declared that God had chosen not to deliver Him.
Sometimes, being faithful to God feels like being forsaken by God. Choose faithfulness to God; follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, because you are not alone; He was there before you. He knows what it is like to be faithful even when it feels like you’re abandoned. Hang on for one more prayer, for one more day in faithfulness to God and do not give in to the pressure of the crowds. Though Jesus felt abandoned and was put to death, His resurrection was just three days away!
Dr. Bingham’s Lesson for June 10, 2012
Series in Mark
“The Tendency to Deny Jesus” – Mark 14:27-52, 66-72
The Quo Vadis Church in Rome, a short distance south of the old wall on the Appian Way was built to commemorate the legendary story of Peter leaving Rome during the persecutions of Nero and being met by Jesus and asking Him, “Where are you going,” which in Latin it is “Quo Vadis?” Jesus responded that He was going into the city to be crucified a second time. On hearing this, Peter, reportedly, had a change of heart and went back into the city to be crucified. Peter requested to be crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to be crucified in the way Jesus was.
Imitating the Lord Jesus sometimes means accepting suffering.
The tendency to deny Jesus is so prevalent in all of us and Mark zeros in on it in the 14th chapter.
Mark 14:27-52
During the Passover meal, Jesus tells the disciples that they would all fall away from Him. Peter, however, is feeling pretty good about himself, having enjoyed a good meal with plenty of wine and denies emphatically that he would ever deny Jesus. When we find ourselves in comfortable surroundings and things are going well, it is so easy to say, “I’ll never fall away from the Lord.” There should be no room in our lives for a triumphalistic view of ourselves. All of us are just one temptation away, just one persecution away, from falling deep into sin.
When they had finished the Passover meal and had gone to the Garden of Gethsemane between the Mount of Olives and the temple mount, Jesus withdrew from the disciples and prayed in great agony about what He would shortly have to face and returned to find his disciples sleeping. Jesus warned them, Peter in particular, to watch and pray that they would not fall into temptation, reminding them that the spirit is willing but the body is weak.
Mark shows us that these disciples who were minutes before so sure of themselves now can’t even stay awake to pray and the big difficulty hasn’t even arrived yet.
Judas arrives, leading a crowd of armed men, sent by the chief priests, and kisses Jesus to identify Him to them. After Jesus is arrested, all the disciples deserted Him.
Most commentators believe that the young man who fled naked, leaving behind his linen garment, was the gospel writer, Mark. What Joseph did in holiness, to preserve his morality, the disciples did in unholiness and unfaithfulness, beating it out of town as fast as they could.
Mark 14:66-72
While Peter is warming himself by the fire, he denies Jesus three times, finally with an oath. Then the cock crows twice, reminding Peter that Jesus had warned him of this. Pray that you will not fail in times of temptation, trial, and seduction. Pray for God to rid us of the arrogance and pride that believes we are immovably faithful.
Dr. Bingham’s Lesson for June 3, 2012
Series in Mark
“The Christian Meal” – Mark 14:12-25
Earlier, we had the woman pouring the entire contents of an alabaster jar on Jesus.
Mark 14:12-15
Again we have mention of a jar which is symbolic of the departure of Jesus. It was unusual in that period for a male to carry water; it was woman’s work.
The disciples were to follow the man carrying the water to his house and ask him where the guest room is for the Teacher and the man is supposed to show them. When Jesus is involved, the most incredible things will turn out to be super easy.
Mark 14:16-21
The disciples found everything as Jesus told them.
Jesus reveals that one of the 12 would betray Him.
Mark 14:22-25
The Christian Meal — The Lord’s Supper.
Though the table is filled with a variety of food, the meal comes down to only bread and wine.
The bread is His body; the wine is His blood of the new covenant.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
A new covenant written on our hearts. It will become normal for us to obey. It will bring forgiveness. Everybody who receives this covenant will know the Lord.
He will bring healing because of this new covenant. It is a cleansing which is accomplished by blood. And at a future time, all will be free of sin and sorrow.
Eucharist, which is from a Greek word meaning “thanksgiving,” is an acceptable name for the Lord’s Supper since thankfulness for what Jesus did in saving us should be a part of the observance. Jesus will not drink wine again until He can drink it in the new, coming kingdom with His followers. This is in keeping with the prophets who paint a picture of the coming kingdom as a time of feasting with great quantities of wine. Not only is the eucharist a remembrance with thankgiving of Jesus’ sacrifice but a looking to the future feast in the new kingdom. Each time we partake of the meal we notice that someone is missing. Jesus is not here. We look to the future fulfillment of all God’s promises. But our meals remain for the time somewhat empty and sad.
Editor’s note:
Recent archaeology has discovered a gate in the southwestern corner of the old city which Flavius Josephus, in his The History of the Jewish War Against the Romans, book V § 145,1 called the Gate of the Essenes. The section of Jerusalem adjoining the gate was an Essene section. A typical Jewish man would not carry water, which was considered exclusively woman’s work; but, according to the Dead Sea Scrolls, an Essene man would.2
1 Flavius Josephus. The Jewish War. Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press) v. 4
2 Shemaryahu Talmon. James H. Charlesworth, editor. The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls – v. 2, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Qumran Community (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2006)
