The Eyes of Christ (Part A)

The voice of one crying in the wilderness. That's John the Baptist. Prepare the way of who? Who was John preparing the way for?

Well, the Hebrew in that verse of Isaiah 40, which is quoted in the New Testament, Mark, picks it up right away. Yahweh. Prepare the way of Yahweh. But I thought it was Jesus coming. Well, Jesus is Yahweh.

That's the point. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of Mark.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, here's Pastor Rick with a brand new study called the Eyes of Christ in Mark chapter 12. If you have your Bibles, please open to the Gospel according to Mark chapter 12 verses 35 through 44. Verse 35. Then Jesus answered and said while He taught in the temple, How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David? For David himself said, By the Holy Spirit, Yahweh said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Therefore, David himself calls him Lord.

How is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly. Then he said to them in his teaching, Beware of the scribes who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feast, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers.

These will receive greater condemnation. Now Jesus sat opposite the Treasury and saw how the people put money into the Treasury, and many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrant. So he called his disciples to himself and said to them, Surely I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the Treasury.

They all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood. The Eyes of Christ, that's this morning's title for this consideration. Decades after these events took place, the Gospels were published, and then Christ showed John history future we would call predictive prophecy. We know it as the book of Revelation. And John tells us that he saw the Lord leading the armies to earth to take control, to rule over the world.

And he also mentions this, and it seems almost in passing, but it is quite intense. He mentions that he saw the look in the eyes of Jesus as he led the saints here to take rule. It's in Revelation 19 verse 12, his eyes like a flame of fire. So here's John getting this revelation, and in the revelation as he's seeing the future ends, there's this one scene where he sees the Lord, and he looks into the eyes of the Lord, and that's what he says he saw. He says his eyes like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except for himself. But just looking at that 12th verse in Revelation 19 from the bottom of the verse up, the name that only he himself knew means that of course there are many things about Christ that are beyond us. They are eternal.

Some will be revealed, and others may never be revealed. But we do know that there are things about him that lead up to us saying he is worthy of our worship. But the crowns, of course, his rule, his authority, his prerogative as creator, his eyes like a flame of fire. Those eyes were sovereign. Those eyes were omniscient. They knew everything.

No one had to tell him anything. They were pure, but also they were purifying, and that's part of the idea. He's coming to earth to purify, to clean up the world. John, again, it stood out for him. And when he walked on earth as the Savior, as he was doing in this section of scripture, he called the religious leaders who were dishonest who were impersonators. He called them out, and he said that they were ignorant.

They were ignorant of their own scripture. He was saying, you're not getting a pass on this. Not in your position. I expect more from you, and you're not delivering, nor do you want to deliver. And he said this without apology. Matthew chapter 15, on a different occasion, his disciples came to him and said, we're told, and they're coming to him, said, Lord, you want to tone it down.

You're offending people. He said, Matthew says, then his disciples came to him and said, do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying? And Christ responds. But he answered and said, every plant which my Heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.

He's plucking up the weeds. He's not apologizing for these truths. They, these Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes who are the lawyers collectively, the leaders, on another occasion, Luke writes, then one of the lawyers, mainly the scribes recall that, answered and said to him, teacher, by saying these things, you reproach us also. And he said, woe to you also, lawyers. You load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

So he comes up, you're offending us. And he throws it on even hotter. The eyes of Christ, they are pure. And he is every bit Lord. And when I say every bit, I mean he is the Yahweh of the Old Testament. He is the Lord in the New Testament. He is both Master and God. And he's going to bring that up himself.

And that's why I'm taking the time to introduce this section. And Christ saw enough of their dirt to not care if they were offended. And he didn't care about the consequences either.

He was doing what he was supposed to do and leaving us as an example in the process. Now we look at verse 35 and we try to color this all in. And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, how is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? So here he's connecting himself with David and the Psalm, Psalm 110 this time he's using. Throughout his exchanges with these religious leaders, he's been using scripture and he continues to use scripture.

And there is great significance in that surrounding relationship between Jesus Christ and the characters in Psalm 110. Matthew says this, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question that we have here in Mark. So not only were the scribes there, the Pharisees were there. And where the Pharisees were, likely those Sadducees were there, all of them were there.

None of this is wasted. The common people were there also. He's still on the temple mount. He's still in the precincts of the temple and he's teaching and he's irritating them because he's such a threat the same way today. Christ irritates people. He irritates the guilty.

He irritates his opponents. They have no problem using his name in vain as though it were vain. The day of disappointment will come if they do not snap out of it and hopefully will be part of that process. Remember, the world is not our enemy directly. They are our opportunity to serve the Lord. We're looking to seek and to save as he did. But where it says here, then Jesus answered and said, verse 35, while he taught in the temple. So he's teaching, we're not told what he's teaching on. But what emerges out of this teaching is he's got to address these scribes. Maybe he was teaching on humility or integrity because they lack both.

But whatever it is that he was teaching, out comes this address to those in his audience that need to be addressed. How is it that the scribes say that Christ is the son of David? So this was a common teaching because it is found in the Old Testament.

One of the first places it's found is in 2 Samuel 7 when Nathan the prophet was asked by David. David said, I live in a palace. I want to build God a house. And Nathan said, go do it all that you want. And then God said to Nathan, no, that's not right. I need you to go back to David and tell him he can't build me a house.

But I want you to tell him I'm going to build him a house. And Nathan goes back and of course within that is God saying your throne is going to be forever, David. I'm going to connect to you, the Messiah, my son. And then he spends the rest of the time, the Holy Spirit does, educating us and filling in answers that we otherwise would not have even the knowledge to ask, but greatly benefit from. And we call it the New Testament.

Emmanuel, God with us, in his name shall be called Jesus. So how is it that the scribes say that Christ is the son of David? They understood, they accepted that Messiah would be connected to David. They had no dispute with that. But did they connect it to the genealogical records at the temple with Jesus Christ? That's all they had to do, go around to the temple and say let's look this man up and let's see if he's related to David because he is doing some incredible things. He is making some bodacious claims.

We need to verify this. But they did not do that. Why not? They didn't want the truth. It was offensive to them.

So there was another side to their answer and it wasn't a good one. Verse 36, Christ continues, For David said by the Holy Spirit, Yahweh said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. So here he's quoting Psalm 110 verse 1. But before we move into this we can't ignore this very profound statement that God the Son makes about God the Holy Spirit. He says, David himself said, by the Holy Spirit God speaks to people.

He spoke to David. Not just on this occasion. We cannot overvalue the strength of that teaching that he said by the Holy Spirit. You know you'll come across Christians quench not the Holy Spirit when they're doing things that are disruptive. That's not the Holy Spirit. That's the human spirit and they're trying to blame it on the Holy Spirit. And when it pop upside the head usually jars them out of it.

No we can't do that but I do dream about it from time to time. Mostly at stoplights. No I don't. That's being silly but that's my break. The intensity sometimes gets so.

Let's get back to this. So again using the scripture to deal with these fellows and sections that they dared to try to use against them he corrected in front of them and everybody else. But this time quoting Psalm 110 which I already mentioned the Jews had acknowledged this was a messianic Psalm. And it says Yahweh said to Adonai.

Yahweh that covenant name of God. Adonai meaning the master the Lord. Then if you look at Psalm 110 you'll find out that the Adonai in that Psalm then begins to judge as king as ruler. Which means the Adonai in Psalm 110 is equal with Yahweh in Psalm 110. Getting a look at the Trinity in the Old Testament. Well two parts of the Trinity in the Old Testament.

He is divine. Again the Jews today denied Messiah is not going to be divine. Well they concocted that after Christ came but before that they were saying Christ the Messiah is going to be divine. They just weren't ready to accept it when Jesus showed up as the Messiah and all of his divinity with him and they begin to backpedal and have done so sadly ever since.

In fact I'll get to a Proverbs 30 in a moment. A Psalm which they tried to spin to the nation of Israel and take it away from Messiah but they cannot do that intellectually with any degree of honesty. Well in Psalm 110 David hears Yahweh speak to Adonai the Lord inviting Adonai to sit next to him. In other words putting him on the same level next to his throne. Such a one could only be equal with God.

No one else could share this honor. None of the angels were invited to sit next to the Father on the throne. Only the Christ and Isaiah 6 I saw Adonai sitting on the throne high and lifted up.

It is proper. It is right in Psalm 110. All of the figures are divine in that conversation what David heard. David understood that Yahweh was speaking to Adonai and they were equal in their authority even if he did not understand at all. Christ is saying that the Messiah is going to be the son of David. He's going to be that Lord that Adonai and David's been dead a thousand years at the time these events are taking place. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness. That's John the Baptist. Prepare the way of who? Who is John preparing the way for? Well the Hebrew in that verse of Isaiah 40 which is quoted in the New Testament.

Mark picks it up right away. Yahweh. Prepare the way of Yahweh. But I thought it was Jesus coming. Well Jesus is Yahweh. That's the point.

Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Now you can spend your time trying to hem and haw. Well it really doesn't mean that. It means no it means that. Proverbs chapter 30. Here he personifies, speaking of God he says, who has ascended into heaven or descended?

Question mark. Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in his garment?

Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name? Well any Jew would say that's Yahweh, it's Jehovah. Then the question is asked by what is his name and what is his son's name?

If you know. Is that not profound? He's playing it right out. God has a son that is on his level. And that is the verse that modern Jews will say well he's talking about the nation of Israel because we're sons of God and that's not the point.

The definite articles here don't allow that. You're being dishonest because you do not want to cave in against your false notions and admit that Jesus is the only one that could fulfill. How can Messiah come now and be linked to Bethlehem when the records are lost?

The window has closed. That's really an easy conversation demonstrating that Jesus is the Messiah of the Old Testament and that he is equal with God in the Old Testament. It's really a precedence for him showing up as the angel of the Lord. It's precedence for him coming in human form. This has happened before. There really is no excuse for these things but you should hear them out anyway because some of you may question well how do the Jews explain these verses and they explain them away. Verse 37 therefore now he's saying because of what I just said about this we'll go back up to verse 36 for David himself said by the Holy Spirit the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool therefore Christ is now giving the exposition David himself calls him Lord how is he then his son and the common people heard him gladly so the people didn't have these hang-ups they were sitting on the edge of their seats teach us the Pharisees and the Sadducees they weren't common in their own eyes they were above these people and they did not hear him gladly but he's got everybody's attention that's for sure at this moment he himself David's son in Israel's Messiah recently he had just entered the city proclaiming this by the shouts of Hosanna save us now O Lord the temple records as I mentioned his teachings his miracles all of it unprecedented all wrapped up in one person all the verses pointing to him God showed David through the Holy Spirit that his descendant would be master would be Lord would be related to him according to the humanity of Christ in those days when David wrote and when they read here in the days of Christ being a son or a descendant of someone indicated a hierarchy the son was subordinate to the father Christ asked then if the Lord is David's son how can David be subordinate to the son unless there's something about this son that is different from all the rest that's the point of Psalm 110 that is the point of what the Lord is saying this is different and again someone 10 he just used the first verse you take the whole song together just amplifies he says he coming has been killed to death he's not only going to be royal he's going to be priestly you can't make these things up you can't write this down like a book and have these kind of connections he is the exception because from David's line came Messiah Messiah is divine they did not want to hear it coming from the mouth of Jesus and to this day the Jews point at Jesus and said if he was Messiah he would have taken over the world they leave out the part about he was first taking our sins from us bruised for our transgressions chest Heisman for our peace upon him and this is blindness this is what Paul said my people are blind they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge he writes that in Romans they want God but they want God to conform to their theology instead of having their theology submit to God and be received from God how could Messiah be both inferior to David as a son and superior to David as Lord they didn't want to answer unless he was the son and he is divine and he is Messiah so Jesus concludes that he is the second figure he is the second Lord in our English the Yahweh he is the Adonai superior at the right hand of Yahweh superior to David an exclusive son incidentally and so he says let them answer the question was David mistaken is the scripture false was the Holy Spirit not on David because if you say that then you've got no more Bible they could not say that he won't even wait for their answer because he knows it's not going to be honest the son of David was merely a human descendant the son of man and we accept that and Jesus spoke of himself as the son of man speaking of his lineage to David and his humanity making himself a servant for us Paul talks about it in Philippians chapter 2 they were supposed to figure this out this was not calculus this was not something deep you know I can't get this Nathaniel figured it out when he first met Jesus John chapter 1 verse 49 you are the son of God you are the king of Israel you can't say he couldn't say this about David in this with the same meaning you could say David was a son of God David was a king of Israel but Nathaniel is using the definite articles he says rabbi you are the son of God you are the king of Israel Peter said you are the Christ the son of the living God these are not casual statements this is not something you could say about anybody else they are exclusive they didn't figure it out mark 210 mark rice Jesus speaking but that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins and don't we love it we come here and we sing about him for giving us for our sins because our sins are many and his mercy and forgiveness is profound what if God would display our sins up on the screen oh man I've come to see yours try to stop you from seeing mine the thoughts that we may have about others you know that this is to sin the crossing of the line the trespasses and the mercy just wipes it all away the common people heard him gladly and they still do but the self-impressed and the self-righteous they struggle with this regardless of what they call themselves they can call themselves Christians if they want but they're not subject to his lordship there's a very serious concern verse 38 then he said to them in his teaching beware of the scribes who desire to go around in long robes love greetings in the marketplace so the eyes of Christ is teaching he picks up on the scribes and he singles them out how come the scribes say and then he lays it all out they're speechless and then he continues with his teaching then he said to them in his teaching beware of the scribes because he saw their dirt who desire to go around in long robes he's singling them out in contrast to the common people of verse 37 beware of the scribes who craves celebrity status beware of pastors who crave celebrity status beware of musicians especially those who use Jesus name for celebrity status thanks for tuning in to cross reference radio for this study in the book of mark cross reference radio is the teaching ministry of pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel mechanicsville in Virginia to learn more information about this ministry visit our website cross reference radio.com once you're there you'll find additional teachings from pastor Rick we encourage you to subscribe to our podcast when you subscribe you'll be 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