February 5, 2024

Mark 9:9-13 (HCSB)
9 As they were coming down from the mountain, He ordered them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.  10 They kept this word to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant. 11 Then they began to question Him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 12 “Elijah does come first and restores  everything,”  He replied. “How then is it written  about the Son of Man that He must suffer  many things and be treated with contempt?  13 But I tell you that Elijah really has come, and they did whatever they pleased to him, just as it is written  about him.”

Pastor HD Jones
It always makes me smile when the disciples seem to have a hard time following Jesus’ teaching.  Maybe we aren’t so inept after all?  If the disciples are walking with Jesus and yet still have difficulties understanding the Kingdom agenda, then I guess it’s ok that we struggle sometimes as well. Elijah’s type of ministry had come through John the Baptist.  Please don’t misread scripture and think that Elijah has reincarnated into John or that somehow Elijah’s soul was put into John.  What the prophets foretold and what the disciples saw was that John’s ministry and even his methods were like Elijah.  Do you remember Elijah, back in the book of Kings, as he called the nation to repent from idolatry?  He marched into King Ahab and said it will not rain until I say it can.  Elijah then spent a majority of his ministry out in the wilderness.  Fast forward almost 1,000 years and here is John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, out in the wilderness calling Israel to repent.  God is in the business of forgiving sins and He has been so patient with each generation.  What things do you need to repent of today?