Correspondence: 50 Days; MAR 14:3-9; JOH 12:38; LUK 10:38-42; REV 22:3

Narrator: Chris Genthree
Mark 14:3‑9  •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 7
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Question: Please explain how you find fifty days between the resurrection of the Lord, and the coming of the Holy Spirit?
Answer: The word “Pentecost” means fifty, or the fiftieth; the allusion is to Leviticus 23. In that chapter we get two offerings on the morrow after the Sabbath. The wave sheaf is the type of the resurrection of Christ (Verses 10-14). There is no sin offering attached to that; it is the Lord Himself. Then seven Sabbaths were counted, and on the morrow after the seventh Sabbath, that is, the first day of the week, a new meat offering— “two wave loaves baken with leaven” —is offered. A sin offering accompanies it, for it is typical of the redeemed church, which, though redeemed, has sin in each member (Verses 15-21).
In the New Testament we see that the Lord rose on the first day of the week, and was seen of His disciples forty days (Acts 1:33To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: (Acts 1:3)); then came His ascension. The disciples continued in prayer and supplication the rest of the period (not many days), till Pentecost, the fiftieth day was fully come; then the Holy Spirit came down.
Question: In Mark 14:3-93And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. 4And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? 5For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. 6And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. 7For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. 8She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. 9Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. (Mark 14:3‑9), the Lord’s head is said to have been anointed, and in John 12:3838That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? (John 12:38), His feet. Please explain this, and say if Luke 10:38-4238Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 39And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. 40But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. 41And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. (Luke 10:38‑42) refers to the same event.
Answer: No doubt both are true. The propriety of the head being mentioned in Mark, and the feet only in John will be at once seen if we consider that in the former we have Christ as the servant, in the latter as the Son of God. Luke 10 describes a previous scene in which Mary was not rendering any service to Christ, but learning from Him. In John 12 we get Mary giving, in Luke 10 she is getting. And it was doubtless what she got on this and similar occasions that enabled her to show such exquisite feeling when it became her turn to give.
Question: Who are meant by “His servants” in Revelation 22:33And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: (Revelation 22:3)? Does not our service end with our lives on the earth
Answer: Surely not. It means us. Are we not to be kings and reign? Our weariness and toil, our tears, our weakness, our unfaithfulness, will all be over then, but not our service. He ever will still be a servant (Luke 12:3737Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. (Luke 12:37)), and shall not we? This, indeed, will be the bliss of heaven to be permitted to manifest, in a small but thus perfect measure, our love and faithfulness to our beloved Lord.