Young People’s Blog

“Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My words shall not pass away” (Mark 13:31).

This verse is so important that the Spirit of God records it three times in the Bible: once here in Mark, once in Matthew, and once again in Luke’s gospel. We cannot emphasize too strongly the importance of the Word of God.

In a coming day, at the end of the millennium, God is going to burn up this world, and create new heavens and a new earth. You can read about this in 2 Peter 3:10-13. This world was created a long time ago, but it has been spoiled by sin, and when God is finished with it, He will burn it up, and replace it with new heavens and a new earth.

But notice our verse for today. There is one thing that will never have to be replaced. When God speaks, His Word endures forever. When man speaks, he can speak only in a limited way, for we do not know everything, as God does. What people said 100 years ago may be proven to be wrong, because we have discovered new things since then. But what God speaks never needs to be corrected or changed. When we read the Word of God, we can depend on it, for it is always completely up to date.

“The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands” (Acts 7:48).

We saw yesterday how that the beautiful temple built by Herod in Jerusalem was eventually completely destroyed. Actually, Titus had given orders that it was not to be destroyed, but in the battle, some of the Jews took refuge in the temple. A soldier threw a firebrand into it, and the whole building went up in flames. All the gold melted and ran down into the cracks between the stones of the temple. After the fire was out, in order to get the gold, the soldiers overturned every stone, so that the Lord’s words came to pass exactly; not one stone was left upon another.

Today some Christians tend to build beautiful buildings in which to worship, and many so-called churches or cathedrals are huge and very costly. Some think that all this is to the glory of God, but today God is not appealing to man by beautiful buildings, stained glass windows, instrumental music, and other natural things. No, we read in John 4:24 that “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.” Appeals to man’s natural senses never brought him nearer to God. Only the precious blood of Christ can do that.

“And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, He [the Lord Jesus] said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Luke 21:5-6).

The temple built by Herod the Great was very beautiful and had taken forty-six years to construct. During His time on this earth, the Lord Jesus honored it as the house of God, but told the disciples that eventually it would be totally demolished. This happened when the Roman general Titus attacked Jerusalem about 70 A.D. Why did God allow this to happen?

It was because a beautiful building could not make up for a lack of reality by those who went there. Sadly, the Jews did not recognize the Lord Jesus as their Messiah, and insisted that He be crucified. Then those same Jews resisted the preaching of the gospel by the apostles and others, and persecuted them. Finally, the Lord allowed their temple to be destroyed, and then later the whole city of Jerusalem was destroyed about 135 A.D. God wants inward reality in our hearts, not beautiful buildings.

“And He [the Lord Jesus] saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither [into the treasury] two mites. And He said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all” (Luke 21:2-3).

The Lord Jesus saw rich people who put large amounts into the treasury, but He noticed that this poor widow gave only a small amount. However, He knew that it was all that she had, yet she was willing to give it to the Lord. He commended her, for in God’s eyes she had given more than the rich people.

The rich had given out of their wealth, but God does not measure our giving by the actual amount of it. Rather, He values it according to how much we have. The poor widow had very little, yet she gave it all to the Lord. In this way she gave more than the rich, who gave more than she did, but who still had plenty left over.

Perhaps you do not feel that you have much to give the Lord, but He appreciates the thought in your heart, and values even a small amount if it is given out of real love for Him. It may well be of more value in His eyes than larger amounts given by those who have more. The Lord does not need anything we have, but appreciates the devotedness and love in our hearts that make us want to give something back to Him, because of all He has done for us.

“And for this cause He [the Lord Jesus] is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death…they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:15).

This is a different verse from the one we had yesterday, but it helps us to understand who the “great” and the “strong” are, in Isaiah 53:12. Eventually, when the Lord Jesus is given His rightful place as “King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15), He will take as His inheritance all created things. This inheritance will be for all eternity, for God will never take it away from Him.

But then He shares all this inheritance with us; what a wonderful thing! In this way you and I are the “great” and the “strong” who share it with Him. But how are we great and strong? We are certainly not like this in ourselves. No, the Word of God says that before we were saved, we were “without strength” (Romans 5:6), and since we have been saved, we are strong only when we realize our own weakness (see 2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

However, when we are associated with Christ, we find that He says, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). We are strong in Him, and great in Him, but all because of what He is, not because of what we are. It is more than we can really understand.

“Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death” (Isaiah 53:12).

As we have seen before (March 24) in our meditation about the poverty of the Lord Jesus, He suffered much in order to take away our sins, and to satisfy God about the whole matter of sin. He was humiliated in every possible way, and suffered the kind of death reserved for wicked men. However, God the Father is going to honor Him above everyone else in a coming day, and today’s verse refers to this. Because He suffered so much, and was “numbered with the transgressors,” God is going to “divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong. But what is the “spoil?” And who are “the great” and “the strong?”

Spoil is a word often used in the Old Testament, and it means the things that are taken from others in warfare. Quite often the Israelites acquired a great deal of “spoil” when they defeated their enemies, and took all their cattle, silver, gold, clothing, etc. for themselves. When the Lord Jesus defeats all His enemies, He is going to take this world, and indeed this whole universe, for Himself. It really belongs to Him, for He made it, but man has taken it over and used it for himself. In a coming day the Lord Jesus will reclaim this “spoil” for Himself. All this will be God’s answer to the shame and suffering the Lord Jesus went through. Tomorrow we will see who the “great” and the “strong” are!

“And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17).

The Pharisees and the Herodians had asked the Lord Jesus what seemed like an impossible question: you may read it in Mark 12:13-17. No matter what He answered, they would be able to accuse Him. But as always, the Lord Jesus gave a wise answer, and one which also reached their consciences. They had asked whether they should pay tribute (taxes) to Caesar or not. If Jesus said yes, then they could ask Him how He could be the Messiah, and yet tell them to pay taxes to a foreign power. If He said no, then they could accuse Him of undermining the legitimate government of the land.

But the Lord Jesus told them to pay Caesar what was due to Him, and also reminded them to give God what was due to Him. Why were the Jews under Roman rule? It was because they had not given God what was due to Him. They had continually worshiped idols in the past, and God had allowed them to be carried into captivity for this reason. We too should give the government what is due to them, but remember to give God what is due to Him too.

“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O most High: to show forth Thy lovingkindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness every night” (Psalm 92:1-2).

Where I live, today is a bright sunny day, and one that encourages us to give thanks and praise the Lord. Of course, we should give thanks and praise Him even if the weather is not nice, but we can specially thank Him for a nice day. It is still cold up here in Canada (about 18 deg. F., or minus 8 deg. C.), but it is nice to see the sun. In our area the maple sap is running well, and that means that spring is on the way!

Also, we experience the Lord’s lovingkindness, and this is a wonderful word in Hebrew. I am not a Hebrew scholar, but anyone can look this up. The Hebrew word here in chesed, which means a lot of good things together, such as mercy, lovingkindness, goodness, love, favor, beauty, etc. The Lord shows us all these things, and does it from morning until night. In this way we see His faithfulness, for He shows all these things to us continuously. We can thank Him every night for His faithfulness before we go to bed. Let us not forget to do this. We thank the Lord for His great salvation, but it is good to thank Him for the mercies we enjoy every day.

“For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband” (John 4:18).

If you read the whole story about this woman in John 4, you will find that she came to a well to get water. She found the Lord Jesus sitting on the well, and they got into conversation. When the Lord Jesus asked her to call her husband, she said, “I have no husband.” As our verse says, she had had five husbands, and at that time she was living with a man to whom she was not married. That makes a total of six men in her life, and none of them had made her happy.

But now she meets the Lord Jesus; He was the seventh man, and of course He was not going to marry her, but He brought her what she really needed. She was trying to find happiness in a human relationship, but what she needed was peace with God about her sins. The Lord Jesus plainly exposed her sinful life, but at the same time she realized that He loved her in spite of her sins. She had a desire for something that no one in this world could satisfy but the Lord Jesus.

Seven is God’s perfect number in the Bible, and the seventh man to come into this woman’s life was the Lord Jesus. He can satisfy our hearts too!

“There came one running…and asked Him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17).

“And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but one, that is, God” (Mark 10:18).

It seems that this wealthy young man really wanted to please God, and was trying to keep the law. When he saw the perfection in the Lord Jesus, he probably thought, “This man has the secret; I will ask Him how to do it.” But the Lord Jesus had to make him realize that no one could be a “good man” in his natural state before God. As we saw yesterday, we all have sinful natures; we have all “gone astray.” We cannot please God unless we have a new life.

This ruler had to realize that he was not speaking to another ordinary man; he was speaking to God Himself in the person of His Son. Then Jesus put him to the test. Could he give up his many possessions and follow the Lord Jesus? No, he valued those things too much.

No man in his natural state will give up the pleasures in this world in order to have treasure in heaven. But when we have Christ, we can willingly sacrifice the things of this world for the One who died for us. Then the Lord promises we will have treasure in heaven.