Mark 9:9-13 Elijah has come
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: February 23 & 24, 2018, Mark 9:9-13
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”
(Understanding the Text) Peter would later speak of the transfiguration in his letter. “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain” (2 Peter 1:16-18). Peter says that he had seen Jesus come in His glory and power on the mountain and connects that experience to Jesus’ second coming. Peter calls what he experienced with Jesus “Majesty”, but he calls what he experienced with the Father “Majestic Glory”. Peter says that God not only said that Jesus was His beloved Son but also that Jesus pleased the Father a lot.
John does not refer as clearly to this experience. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (Joh 1:14). This may or may not refer to the experience. On the other hand, John constantly downplays his own accomplishments and acts like others were more important in the experience, so he may not have wanted to talk about it. I am not sure why though. Maybe there were simply no words to explain what he saw and felt on that mountain. Maybe, that was why they did not bring it to mind when Jesus’ death and resurrection happened. Maybe, it was so far outside of their experience and earthly context that John simply had no words.
Jesus told them not to tell anyone what they had seen yet. I wonder if that squashed them a little because they would have been eager to tell the others of an experience they had received that was not only exclusive from the others but also extraordinary. Or maybe they were relieved thinking that no one would believe them anyway. Or maybe they were so confused by Jesus’ referral to a resurrection that they did not think much about the injunction of secrecy. Evidently, they followed the instructions.
They did think about what He meant when He said “rising from the dead” but they were confused. I think they thought that this was something that might happen far into the future. They evidently did not remember these words or the transfiguration experience when Jesus died.
The disciples had just seen the first Elijah, the one who had been taken up in a fiery chariot to heaven, and it got them to thinking about something that they had heard before. The scribes said that Elijah would come again before the Messiah would come. They may have questioned this prediction since the scribes said many things that were questionable. This is illustrated by the confusion that the people displayed about the prophesies of the Messiah. For example, when Jesus asks the disciples who people said that He was, they answered “And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” (Mar 8:28). There was a lot of confusion so that people were not sure what to make of Jesus’ clear fulfillment of the Messianic prophesies. Jesus assures them that this is not only a true prophecy but also that it had already been fulfilled.
In another place, Jesus identifies John the Baptist as Elijah “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come” (Mat 11:12-14). At John the Baptist’s birth the angel also identified him as Elijah. “But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luk 1:13-17).
(Revelation of God) I used to be confused by this since I did not understand the Biblical use of names in prophecy. It seemed like Jesus was stretching prophecy that said that the real Elijah would come again in order to make John the Baptist fit the meaning. However, as I have studied more and more scriptures in the Old Testament, I have found that it was typical to use an old name and apply it to a new situation. For example, the King of the South was Egypt, but in prophecy it means a power that is similar to Egypt. Babylon in prophecy does not refer to the literal kingdom of Babylon but to a power that is similar to that literal kingdom. Isaiah was told to name his children symbolic names. It was predicted that Jesus would be called Immanuel which used to confuse me because it was not His name. This happens again and again in the Bible so it is not surprising to me now when they said that Elijah would come before the Messiah came. The actual prophesy is in Malachi. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Mal 4:5-6). Even reading the passage now, I would be confused about the order of events from the context which seems to be the second coming rather than the first coming. In Malachi’s prophesy, he talks about the next specific prophetic step and then skips over a lot of in-between events to see the very end. Maybe, God had to keep it simple for the people. They needed to hear judgment and reward which happens at the very end, but they also needed to hear the next sign to look for, which was Elijah.
(Application) This is why I think that a lot of students of prophesy will be shocked by how events actually take place. It’s not that they are not interpreting the prophesies correctly, but they have thrown in extra expectations based on their own experiences and biases. They are limited by the way things have always been, but God has shown in the past that His ways are not predictable. Who would have predicted the walls of Jericho falling for a trumpet blast, or Babylon falling without any fighting, or Samson defeating an army with the jawbone of an ass or Saul of Tarsus becoming Paul the evangelist? God is creative and sees the end from the beginning. We have limited ability to imagine new and different events, so even well-read, wise students of prophecy will be unable not only to reliably tell us the ways that we will see these prophecies carried out in real life but will also be unreliable in tracing the origins and paths by which these prophecies will come to pass. That is the situation without the obfuscations thrown in by Satan. When those are added-the misinterpretations, cultural assumptions, and unnoticed falsehoods underlying cherished ideas, we need to be very careful not to be overconfident in looking at the signs around us and saying that they are fulfillments of prophecy.
How can I be confident in proclaiming the truths of the Bible? First of all, I must always put Jesus higher than the world, myself, my situation, or anything else including my own denomination and local church. Second, I must constantly study the Bible with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Third, I must constantly pray to God. Fourth, I must serve others. If I am doing those four things with God’s love abiding in me, even if I am deceived about a world event, I will still be the witness that God wants me to be. Finally, I need to trust God in all the events that occur in my life. Trust is the key that will overcome the difficulties of this world.
(Prayer) God, please give me faith and love to serve You by serving others, learn about You through prayer and Bible study, and to always place You higher than anything or anyone else in my life.