Young People’s Blog

“And He called unto Him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two…and commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse” (Mark 6:7-8).

On this occasion, the Lord Jesus sent His disciples out to preach, to cast out devils, and to heal people. As God, He was able to give them this power. They were not to take anything with them for support, but were to go in faith, trusting the Lord to provide what they needed. Later on, we find that they did not lack anything; the Lord saw to it that they were provided for.

Some of you may wonder what a scrip is, as many people do not understand what it was. It was a small pouch or satchel made from the skin of the kid of a goat, and was generally used to carry small amounts of food for a journey. But the disciples were not to take even this, for the Lord would provide for them.

Today you and I are privileged to serve the Lord too, and if He calls us, we can depend on Him to supply what we need in order to serve Him.

“And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent…for the plague thereof was exceeding great” (Revelation 16:21).

In our verse for today, we see another aspect of God’s judgment on sinful man. This time it is not simply a warning; it is direct judgment from God, because man has not repented of His sin. If you are truly saved, you will not be here on the earth when this awful judgment comes.

This time God will use hail, and hail that is large enough to do tremendous damage. The Hebrew talent weighed at least 75 pounds, and some estimate it to have weighed up to 100 pounds. Can you imagine chunks of ice that large coming down as hail? They would easily smash to pieces houses, trees, and many other things, as well as killing anyone who was hit by one.

I remember being in an area of the state of Iowa, U.S.A. a few days after hail the size of small apples had come down, and it did a lot of damage. But that would be nothing compared to hail weighing 75-100 pounds.

Again, if you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you will not be here to fall under this judgment from. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior?

“The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet” (Nahum 1:3).

Yesterday a warning came suddenly on my cell phone, saying that there was a danger of a tornado striking our area. It said that if we heard another warning, we were immediately to take cover. A tornado is a very frightening thing, and man is powerless against it. We do not get them very often in our area, but they can do a lot of damage in a short time.

No tornado came near us, but near the city of Ottawa, Canada, about an hour from where we live, a tornado did damage a few homes. No one was hurt, for which we were very thankful.

In our verse today, we see that God has “His way in the whirlwind,” and a whirlwind is just what a tornado consists of. God allows such events in this world to warn us of coming judgment, for as our verse also says, the Lord will “not at all acquit the wicked.” To acquit someone is to find them not guilty. But man is guilty before God, and God cannot just forget about it, because of His holy nature. You can pray that people will pay attention to these warnings, and that they will realize that God is speaking to them.

“And when He was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed Him that he might be with Him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee” (Mark 5:18-19).

As we noted yesterday, here in this account in Mark’s gospel, only one man is mentioned as being possessed with demons. I believe there were actually two men, as we see in Matthew, but only one of them was really attached to the Lord Jesus. He was very thankful for what the Lord had done for him, and wanted to be with Him. The Lord Jesus wanted to use that kind of a man.

The book of Mark is the record of the Lord Jesus as the perfect servant, and He wants others, like you and me, to serve Him too. But only those who appreciate Him, and want to be with Him, can serve Him properly. It does not say anything in Mark about the other man, but probably he went away, happy to be released from Satan’s power, but not particularly caring about being with the Lord Jesus. The one who wanted to be with Him was told to go and tell others about the Lord Jesus.

What kind of Christian are you? Are you one who enjoys having your sins forgiven, but does not care much about the Lord Jesus, or are you one who wants to be with Him?

“And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes…immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit…He [Jesus] said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit” (Mark 5:1-2,8).

“And when He was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs” (Matthew 8:28).

If you read these two accounts in Mark 5 and Matthew 8, you will see that they are the same incident. In both cases the devils (demons) were cast out, and in both accounts the devils were allowed by the Lord Jesus to go into the pigs (swine). It was a wonderful day for those two men, but the people who lived in that area were not happy that the Lord Jesus did this. In Mark it says that they were afraid, for they did not trust the Lord Jesus, even though He came to release them from Satan’s power. They did not realize that they were all under Satan’s power, even if they were not indwelt with a devil. They asked Him to leave their area.

It is the same today in this world. People would rather be under the power of Satan, or see someone else under His power, than accept the Lord Jesus. As we know, eventually this world crucified the Lord Jesus, for they wanted to get rid of Him.

But some of you may have a question. Perhaps you ask, Why are two men mentioned in Matthew, and only one in Mark? We will look at this question tomorrow.

“And the same day, when the even was come, He [the Lord Jesus] saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side” (Mark 4:35).

It was the Lord Jesus who said to His disciples, “Let us pass over unto the other side.” However, in the next few verses, we find that a terrific storm arose on the lake, and water was washing into the boat. Yet the Lord Jesus was asleep. His disciples woke Him up, asking Him if He did not care that they were perishing. The Lord immediately rebuked the storm, and it stopped.

But was there any real need for the disciples to be upset? The Lord Himself had said that they would go over to the other side. Could the boat sink when the Lord was in it? Of course not! When the Lord said they would go to the other side of the lake, then they would surely get there.

It is often the same in our lives. Difficult circumstances and problems may make us wonder if the Lord really cares about us. But He has said that He is going to bring us safely home to Himself. There may be storms along the way, but our boat will never sink!

“Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? And in Thy name have cast out devils? And in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you” (Matthew 7:22-23).

Here the Lord shows us that in a coming day—the day of judgment, there will be those who will address the Lord Jesus as Lord, and who will remind Him that they have done wonderful works in His name. They will even have used His name to cast out demons. Yet He will have to say to them, “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.”

They may outwardly have done some good things, but to do them without really believing on the Lord Jesus is very serious. God calls those good things “iniquity,” for the word “iniquity” really means having our own way, and wanting our own will. Many people today want to have a relationship with God, but they want it on their own terms. God cannot allow this. To have a proper relationship with God means that we must come to Him as lost sinners, and accept Christ as our Savior.

“And He [the Lord Jesus] ordained twelve…and Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed Him” (Mark 3:14,19).

Because He is God, the Lord Jesus knew very well what kind of a man Judas Iscariot was, and He knew that Judas would eventually betray Him. Why then would Jesus pick a man like that for one of His disciples? If we knew that someone was going to play a very mean trick on us later, would we choose that person as our friend? Not likely! Apparently Judas knew how to say the right things, and do the right things, so that none of the other disciples suspected that he would betray the Lord Jesus.

I believe that the Lord Jesus chose Judas to show how far a person could go in pretending to be a real believer, when there was no real faith in his heart. He probably performed miracles, preached to people, and acted in every way like a true disciple. Yet in the end he went into a lost eternity.

In a coming day, there will be others who will have acted like Judas, and who will expect to be admitted into heaven. But the Lord Jesus will have to say, “I never knew you.” Tomorrow we will see how this will happen.

“And He goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto Him whom He would…and He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils…and Judas Iscariot” (Mark 3:13-15,19).

The Lord Jesus was very careful about whom He chose to accompany Him during His ministry for 3 ½ years in this world. Evidently the Lord Jesus called a number of his followers up into a mountain, and then chose twelve. Notice what the Lord Jesus wanted of them.

First of all, they were to be with Him; this is of real importance. To be with the Lord Jesus, and to enjoy His company, is more important than anything we might actually do for Him. But then, the Lord was going to send them forth to preach. This is the right order for all of us; first of all to be with the Lord, and then to go out and preach to others.

But if the Lord Jesus was careful about whom He picked for His disciples, why did He pick a man like Judas Iscariot? We will talk more about this tomorrow.

“Above it stood the seraphims…and one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts…and the house was filled with smoke” (Isaiah 6:2-4).

In this account in Isaiah, he saw a vision of the Lord on His throne, with angels round Him, crying out, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts.” At the same time the temple of God was filled with smoke. Why was this?

We have a saying in English that “where there is smoke, there is fire,” and this is true. As I write this in June, 2023, my throat is a little irritated, and the air is hazy outside because of the smoke from wildfires that are burning near Ottawa, Ontario, and also in the neighboring province of Quebec. When we smell the smoke we know that somewhere there is a fire burning. But sometimes the wind carries the smoke a long distance.

Smoke is a warning of fire, and the smoke in God’s temple is a warning of His holiness, and the judgment that will fall on those who dare to come into His temple with sin on them. Isaiah recognized this, and confessed his sinfulness before the Lord. But the Lord cleansed him with a coal of fire from the altar. The altar speaks of the cross of Christ, and as a result, Isaiah could come into the Lord’s presence, although he had sinned. In the same way we can now come into God’s presence, because of the work of Christ on the cross.