The Strand Study Bible

MARK

MARK

1594

and Mt 23:39). 11:9b This word ( that cometh ) is the Greek word ‘ ο HU x ο µ HQ ος ( ho erchomenos ) and means “who is coming.” James Morison in A Practical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Mark notes:

It is the expression of Psalm cxviii. 26, and beautifully represents the Messiah as on His way ! All along the ages His advent had been imminent, for He was on His way . Time was on tiptoe; people were looking out; the ages were ages of expectancy; for He was on His way ! He would come , and would not tarry ! But now the shout would have a greater emphasis in it than ever. Were not the eyes of the people beholding Him going along the way? Going to that terminus, where it would be proper for Him to withdraw His veil, and let His glory shine forth? 1

To say that those who knew of the promise of a coming Messiah were not expecting that Messiah in an imminent manner is to say that the Scriptures are a lie, for Eve expected Him to come ( Gen 4:1c ), as did Noah (II Pet 2:5), as did Abraham ( Gen 22:8a / Jn 8:56 ), as did Job ( Job 19:25a,b ), as did Moses (Deut 18:15-19), as did Anna and Simeon ( Lk 2: 25- 38 ), etc. In fact, according to I Peter 1:10-12, every OT prophet (from Abel to Malachi) was “searching” for the promised Messiah, and longing to know exactly whom that person would be, and at what period of their history He would arise. They were not searching for salvation; they were searching for who the promised Messiah would be (Mt 13:16-17, Lk 1:67-70, Jn 8:56, Heb 11:13-19,24-26, Acts 3:20-24 & 7:51-52 & 10:42-43), and at what point He would come with salvation. Thus, Mark’s usage of the present tense participle (‘ ο HU x ο µ HQ ος – who is coming; He is on His Way ) is accurate. 11:13 Seeing trees have no moral responsibility, Jesus used the fig tree as an object lesson concerning Israel (Jere 24, Hos 9:10, Joel 1:7 and Lk 13:6-9). Israel had been given much but had borne no spiritual fruit. The sentence, which He now passed on the fig tree, and its immediate fulfillment, were symbols of the sentence and the doom which were about to befall Israel in AD 70 via the Roman Empire, for the Jews, in their show of the “leaves” of outward devotion, in the absence of the “fruits” of righteousness, were as that barren tree –unfruitful despite every advantage. 11:14 Jesusmade a promise to the nation of Israel that her privileged people, who at that timewere responsible for the proclamation of the salvation message, would "never be used again" as a vehicle to proclaim the Kingdom work. From that day forward, because Israel rejected salvation itself when she rejected the person of CHRIST , God would use a different vehicle to proclaim the message of salvation to a lost world. God would now use the Jewish/Gentile Church to bring the Kingdom work message to the world (Mt 21:33-45 and Eph 3:3-6 ). James Morison in A Practical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Mark notes: NOTE - While it is true that the nation of Israel will be restored to her former glory during the 1,000YEAR MILLENNIAL REIGN OF CHRIST , it is also true that she will never be used again to be the instrument God uses to proclaim the Gospel message to a lost world (the meaning behind “ No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever ”). 11:17 Jesus was angry at the “fleecing” (the exorbitant profits that were extorted from the people who needed to purchase sacrifices) by the traders ( den of thieves ) who transacted business in the court of the Gentiles. 11:22 What Jesus meant when He said, “ Have faith in God ” was: “Have faith in G O D who not only keeps His Word, He also possesses limitless resources.” 11:23 Jesus did not mean that it would ever be desirable that the Mount of Olives should be literally torn from its foundation and hurled into the ocean ( Be thou removed ). What He meant was: There would be occasion, within the moral realm of human experience, for changes as great intrinsically, and every way as remarkable and difficult, as the transference of mountains. Our Lord was thinking of the Jews as ‘a peculiar people,’ formed into a peculiar Messianic community, enjoying peculiar privileges, and lying under the obligation of a peculiar vocation. All this peculiarity was to ‘cease and determine.’ The world was no longer to be dependent on Jews, as Jews, for spiritual nourishment and enjoyment. 1

1 Morison, James. A Practical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Mark , London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1889. Print.