Mark 12:10 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Mark 12:10

Comments

In answer to the people’s ‘God forbid’, Christ adds these words from Psalm 118. ‘And have ye not read this scripture?’ Of course they had, but they didn't take any notice of this; they didn't see it as prophecy. ‘The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?’ The stone which the builders rejected – he moves from the vineyard parable to quoting the Old Testament, this picture of a great building, a temple building. They would take huge stones out of quarries, stones that could be 8 to 10 feet long – some up to 25 feet long, 3 feet wide, 3 feet deep, huge pieces of stone, perfectly worked. And if this was the stone, this is what we want as the cornerstone. There is a little uncertainty as to what the cornerstone was. Some people think it was the foundation stone that showed itself visibly above the ground. Other people think, no, it was just the most beautiful, prominent stone on the corner of the building that would dictate the line of the building. It had to be perfect. If this stone was quarried out and there was a great flaw or crack in it, it was not good enough; it would be cast to one side. The illustration is this: You Jewish leaders have seen, Christ implies, the Son, the one who God has sent, God's last messenger to you and to your nation, and you have pronounced him defective. You've rejected him. You will throw him aside; you will execute him and be rid of him. But God will make him the cornerstone, the beautiful, prominent cornerstone, of a new building, a new temple, a new order – the new church of Jesus Christ. You will kill him, but he will be raised up by his own power and by the attesting power of the Father. You derided him; God the Father will proclaim him as the Messiah. You refused him; God will say, this is my Son, equal with me, eternally God and he has entered into human flesh, suffered and died for sinners and he has borne away all the wrath of God which those sinners deserved. Now he is raised and triumphant, the head of a new order and a new church. This is the Lord's scheme from eternity and those godless leaders didn't know it. Before the foundation of the world God planned that a member of the godhead, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, would come and enter into time and assume a human body and personality, and would be a representative for the human race and suffer and die for sinners. Amazing scheme, wonderful scheme. Those who find him say, ‘This is wonderful, this is marvellous in our eyes.’ ‘This was the Lord's doing and it is marvellous’, literally, it is beyond anything natural or anything expected.

Application

It is a great surprise when we first really understand the gospel, that to know God is not a matter of deserving him – we cannot. It is not a matter of earning his favour – we cannot. To know God is to have a substitute, a sin-bearer, God himself, who so loved our souls that he was ready to come and die in our place and take our punishment and secure our forgiveness. This is a marvel. It is beyond human expectation or devising. It is so great in scope: that Christ should come and do something that would benefit billions of people down the centuries. Whoever looks to God and trusts in him for salvation and repents of sin and yields his or her life is saved by what Christ has done. It is the greatest act, the most beneficial act and yet the most available act, beyond human expectation – that the worst sinner in the world can have sin forgiven and be reconciled with God through what Christ has done. He is so available as a Saviour. It is beyond all human achievement. It is the opposite of all worldly notions.

As Christian people we know our sorrows, we have our share of hardships and grief; we have difficulties, and trials, but we look back across life and say, ‘Since the time I came to Jesus Christ I have known a happiness, peace, and proofs beyond number, that I would never have dreamed of before. This is a life of much joy, much happiness, glorious expectation and wonderful experiences with the Lord.

Questions

How do you get rid of death? Every human being must die. The human race is under judgment. Right at the outset of time God warned: ‘If you do this you will die’, and we did it, and we are a fallen human race; and we have got to die. How do you get rid of death? By death! Isn't it a marvellous scheme? By the death of Christ on our behalf, death is vanquished for all who believe in him. That wonderful title of one of John Owen’s works, ‘The death of deaths in the death of Christ.’ By death – the death of the son of God – death is vanquished. That the judge of all the earth, to whom we must give an account at the end of life, Jesus Christ, resurrected Saviour; that the judge of all allowed himself to be judged and convicted by sinful man and go to Calvary to die for us.

[See also additional material in Matthew and Luke.]

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Mark 12:10 Commentary and Bible Study