Mark 12:12 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Mark 12:12

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The chief priests and the scribes and Pharisees understood this. ‘What is he saying? That we can be cast out? He is talking about us; he is getting at us. He is saying that we can be cast out of this vineyard, out of our land, and our temple, and that others will be given these things. Who else is there? There is only the Gentiles. Is he saying God is going to deal with them instead of us? Don't let this man utter these things anymore, and suggest that we could ever be displaced by those Gentile dogs. This is an outrage.’ They knew he was speaking about them. Very soon they will be underway with further efforts to trap him and bring him down. The Jewish nation fell. To this day, many Jewish people as individuals in different parts of the world believe in Christ, just like non-Jews. We are all the same, as individuals we come to God, we come to Christ, we trust in him and he will save us and bless us. But as a nation Israel have lost their privileges and their special status that they had long ago. Why? Unbelief, pride, idolatry, lack of love for God and for Christ.

Application

A Christian church can fall in exactly the same way as the Jewish nation fell. If there is unbelief, worldliness, a form of idolatry, loss of love for God, for Christ, or pride – an individual Christian can backslide seriously for the same reasons. This kind of thing is a great cause of concern. Among churches there is so much worldliness coming in. Now the Jews of old believed their Scriptures; they believed the history; they believed so much of the teaching, but they didn't believe in a spiritual Messiah. In many churches there is belief in the Scripture, belief in the essential doctrines, but there is no belief in the teaching of the Bible that we are to be separate from the world. Great portions of teaching have gone. And so they think you can be a Christian and a worldling at the same time. You can worship with worldly entertainment; you can merge these things together. For unbelief, Christ warns, churches will lose their lamp-stand. God will warn them and then stop dealing with them. That is the picture we have with this rejection of the Jews so long ago.

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Mark 12:12 Commentary and Bible Study