Latest / Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago / Making Sense of the Ending of Mark | Mark 16:9-20 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series)

Transcript

Making Sense of the Ending of Mark | Mark 16:9-20 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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I welcome you today to the final installment in our study of the
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Gospel of Mark. It's been a wonderful two years
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journey through this book together.
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And so now I call you and I invite you to come with me to
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Mark chapter 16, beginning in verse 9.
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Mark 16, beginning in verse 9. Today's message is going to be
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quite different than other sermons that we have heard from
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this series in Mark. And I hope you're convinced of
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this already, that this ministry is committed to preaching the
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whole counsel of God. And that pursuit looks like us
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looking at every verse in the Scriptures and seeking to
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explain and expound on what it has to convey.
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But this afternoon, we're not going to so much expound on the
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final verses of the gospel Mark, as much as we are going to
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discuss a commentary about these verses.
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And the reason for this is because there is a marginal note
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that is found in most English translations of the New
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Testament, usually located immediately after verse 8.
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And I want you to see it with me because there's a disclaimer
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similar to what we find in the ESV, and we can turn there now
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to read it together. You see it in brackets there in
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your Bibles. Some of the earliest manuscripts
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do not include 16 verses, 9 to 20.
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Now, it's very likely that you have encountered this in your
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personal reading, and it's equally likely that it troubled
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you when you did. And my desire is to help ease
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any troubles through this sermon.
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And I'm also aware that this message, though that is the
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goal, can be a little bit overwhelming.
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It might be overwhelming to hear some of these names and the
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research and the history and the quotations, but there's so many
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things I can say about a sermon like this.
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One of them is it's necessary, right?
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Could have easily come to this point in our gospel study of
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Mark and skipped over it to avoid dealing with the scholarly
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aspect of the Bible. And it's necessarily,
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necessarily also because when it comes to attack on your faith,
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it boils down to the Bible. Because this is where we get
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everything from. This is where we understand our
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salvation, where we understand our practice, where we
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understand the nature of God and Our Calling and our mission as
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the church. And so we have to, we have to be
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serious students of the Bible and be willing to explore
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certain elements of the behind the scenes aspect of our Bibles.
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And that's what we're going to do today.
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We're going to do an overview of it.
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And my desire in planning and praying for this was to make it
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as simple as possible so that you don't feel overwhelmed in
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the process, but at the same time to not make it so simple
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where it lacks genuine substance.
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I wanted to be true substance so that you can arrive to clear and
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concrete conclusions about the veracity of the Bible, about the
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reliability of the Bible. And so understand that this is
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probably going to be less than an hour unless the Holy Spirit
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desires to do something else. And beyond that.
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But know that in preparation for this, there have been hours upon
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hours upon hours of comparison examination, fact checking to
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bring it to this point, to make it digestible.
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And so this is more than just a message for one particular
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Sunday. My desire and my plan really was
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that because of the technology that we have in our age that
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this would be recorded, which I pray that it would be in
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preserved and that you can revisit this whenever you need
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to see. You might be sitting here now
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hearing what I'm about this to teach and think, OK, that might
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be nice, but I don't know how this is helpful to me.
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But if you engage with people who are skeptics or who might
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challenge your faith, I assure you that what you're going to
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hear today is going to be extremely helpful, extremely
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beneficial. And so the real goal of this is
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that you would be emboldened in your faith and that you would be
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more confident that what you're holding in your hands is in fact
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God's infallible inherent word, that this is his revelation from
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heaven for you and I and for all creation.
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But before we try to make sense of this alarming insertion, I
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want to begin by laying the groundwork for the truthfulness
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of the Bible. As I said, the Bible that you
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and I have, your copy of God's Word, as long as it's a faithful
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translation, is in fact God's Word.
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And we have both internal and external evidence that make that
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emphatically clear that how these ancient writings were
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passed down throughout the centuries, and they in fact are
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God's truth. And the transmission of these
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truths have been gloriously preserved.
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And they were penned, yes, by human authors, but human authors
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who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to communicate these
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things as a permanent witness for all generations.
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And the safeguarding of God's truth throughout time is a
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testimony and is a declaration that God himself makes in His
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word. So I know I told you to turn to
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Mark 69. It's because I want you to see
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that disclaimer. But now I ask you to turn to
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Psalm chapter 12, beginning in verse 6.
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The psalmist says by the Holy Spirit, the words of the Lord
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are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the
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ground, purified 7 times. You, O Lord, will keep them.
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You will guard us from this generation forever.
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You see what the Holy Spirit is saying through David.
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David is not only acknowledging that God's word is reliable, you
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have that #7 there, right? The number of perfection.
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God's word has been purified. In other words, it is undeniably
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reliable. He also, though at the same time
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celebrates God's ability to preserve that purified word.
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Isn't that what He says here at the end?
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He says, yes, it's purified 7 times.
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But in verse 7, you, O Lord, will keep them.
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You will keep them. So not only have you granted
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revelation to mankind that can be relied on, but You've also
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kept them for mankind for every age and every generation.
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So we have the purity of God's Word, but also the preservation
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of God's Word. And history testifies of God's
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providential hand that has indeed preserved his word until
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2024, and it will be preserved until the return of Jesus
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Christ. Despite unfavorable
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circumstances and natural conditions, despite fierce
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persecution, literary criticism, archaeological discoveries,
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philosophical assaults, and scientific claims, the Bible has
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endured and risen above all scrutiny, all scrutiny.
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And I would like to offer a few points on the history of how
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your Bible came about, how my Bible came about in a very short
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frame of time. This subject deserves weeks and
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weeks of study, but I'm going to try to cram it in and and one
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Sunday service for you to at least leave satisfied and
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curious enough to explore this further, only to make your
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confidence that much more concrete.
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The Bible didn't start with the You Version app on your phone,
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and you know that. I hope.
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I hope we all know that. No, it was originally written on
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papyri and parchment, scrolls and codices.
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Codices. Another word for books.
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So when you hear me reference in this next 45 minutes the word
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codex, all that means is book. So papyrus, parchment, scrolls,
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codexes, codices, and they were all manually, manually copied by
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scribes. So when you hear the word
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manuscript, all that means is something that has been written
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down by hand, man. That's all it means, manuscript,
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something that's been penned down by hand, specifically by a
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scribe. And so we have that
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understanding of the origination of the Bible.
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The New Testament was primarily written in Greek, though some of
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it is Aramaic, and we've studied those Aramaic verses in the
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Gospel, Mark itself. And the Old Testament is
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primarily in Hebrew, though there are some parts of the book
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of Daniel and the book of Ezra that are Aramaic as well.
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Now the original manuscripts, the autographs, meaning the
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things that these actual authors wrote down, we don't have any of
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it. That being said, and there's
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there's reasons why we don't have them, good reasons to, but
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I can't get into that at this moment.
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What we do have though, are very early manuscript copies of the
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originals. And when you look into that, you
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realize that the biblical evidence with manuscripts is
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unparalleled, unparalleled in comparison to any other ancient
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document, both in terms of the number of manuscripts that we
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have and also the time gap between the original writings
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and those copies of the original writings.
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And so I want to consider some of the highlights by way of
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comparison of how the Bible stands out.
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It's this race of evidence and reliability in terms of
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historical documents. The Bible is in first place,
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always has been, always will be, and everybody else is far
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behind. So I want you to 1st consider
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the number of manuscripts that we have concerning the Bible,
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namely the New Testament. So in the New Testament we have
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in the Greek language alone around 5800 manuscripts.
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Now when you consider the Latin, the Syriac, the Coptic, the
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Ethiopic, and the Armenian manuscripts, it brings the total
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of New Testament manuscripts to around 25,000.
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Now this makes a New Testament the most attested ancient
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document in terms of manuscript evidence available the most.
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And that is again confirmed when you compare with other
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historical pieces that you've probably studied in high school
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and college that nobody seems to debate about that nobody seems
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to push up against. These things that I'm about to
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bring up as way of example pale in comparison to the mountain of
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evidence that we have in the Bible.
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Have you read Homer's Iliad, one of the most well preserved works
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of ancient literature? It's an epic Greek poem.
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We have around 1800 surviving manuscripts of Homer's Iliad,
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which is impressive, but when you compare it to 25,800
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manuscripts, what about Caesar's Gallic Wars?
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Manuscript evidence for Caesar's work is much more limited, with
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only about 10 surviving manuscripts.
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There are recent discoveries that might add to that number,
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but for the longest time, 10 surviving manuscripts.
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The earliest manuscript dating to around 900 years after its
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original composition. Pastor this is Histories and
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Annals. It's considered some of the most
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reliable sources to Roman history, and we have only two
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manuscripts, one from the 9th century, one from the 11th
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century. And that we can go on and on and
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on about these things that people study, that scholars
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praise. But what we can conclude based
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on the Bible in comparison, the fact that it was so widespread
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in terms of the languages in the regions means that the early
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Christian community really believed in their message and
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they really wanted the world to know about it.
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And when you compare these manuscripts, there are numerous
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variations, none of them discrediting the doctrines of
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our faith. And if you read any of those
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main scripts, if you if you compiled the Bible based on any
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of those, you're going to come to the same core messages that
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you have in your Bible today. And so that says something about
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not just the attitude of the church concerning the Bible, but
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also God's miraculous preservation of protection of
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those manuscripts. It speaks about it.
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You can't deny it. But that's just the amount.
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Consider the dating of these New Testament manuscripts.
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The earliest fragment, I say fragment piece of a New
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Testament manuscript is the John Ryland's Papyrus, otherwise
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known as P52, and this fragment dates to 125 AD.
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Listen only 30 to 40 years after the original Gospel of John was
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penned. And what you find there in P52
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is that on the front you have some verses of John 18, and on
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the back you have verses of John 18.
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In the latter part, verses 37 to 38, whereas the front is 31 to
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33. Now, when it comes to the
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complete New Testament, talking about the whole library of the
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New Testament, you have two manuscripts.
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There are codexes. The first is called Codex
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Sinocatis and the other is Codex Vaticanus, and they are dated to
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the 4th century, meaning around 300 to 350 AD, just a few
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centuries after the New Testament was originally
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written. You have entire complete
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libraries of it. That's fascinating, and we're
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going to come back to those two specific manuscripts shortly.
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When it comes to Mark 16, trying to understand it, let's compare
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it to other historical documents.
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I reference Homer's Iliad, right?
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The surviving manuscripts date from 9:00 to 10th century AD,
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and they're from the Byzantine family, and they represent a
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significant gap. You know what the gap is for
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Homer's Iliad? 1200 years from its original
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writing. 1200 years. The earliest manuscript of
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Plato's Timius dates around 900 AD, about again, 1200 years
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after he wrote it, which was in the 4th century BC.
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You've heard of Plato. I'm sure you've heard of
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Aristotle's works. Like Plato.
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The discoveries of his manuscripts were around the 9th
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century AD, but his original writings were in the 4th century
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BC. So you're talking about leaps of
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centuries over 1000 years. And yet we honor these things,
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we praise these things being preserved.
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Yet the Bible gets more criticism than anything else.
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But any honest scholar or student can see that this is
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staggering. This is overwhelming.
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So we talked briefly about the amount of manuscripts.
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We talked briefly about the dating.
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But let's talk about the accuracy of these manuscripts.
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Now, I touched a lot about the New Testament manuscript.
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Let me make a brief comment about the Old Testament.
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One of the most significant discoveries of our Old Testament
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were the dead ski scrolls discovered in 1947 in The Cave
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some caves of Qumran near the Dead Sea.
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What you have with these Dead Sea Scrolls is marvelous.
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You have almost every book of the Old Testament that date from
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2:50 BC to 100 AD, and what they showed is the remarkable, almost
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fanatical work of the scribes who wrote down these copies.
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You've probably heard this before, that there were some
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scribes who are believed to have so treated the transmission of
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Old Testament Hebrew scriptures with a sacredness that they
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would write one letter in the Hebrew and then we go take a
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bath, come back and write the next letter.
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They would go back and take a bath, write the next letter.
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That's how much some of these crimes scribes esteem the
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writings of these Old Testament books.
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And the pristine work is seen in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
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One of the most significant discoveries is what is known as
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the Isaiah scroll. The code for that is one QISA or
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ESA, short for Isaiah. And with these codes like P52,
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1QA, like what's that all about? Usually those codes, all they're
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doing is they're giving an abbreviation of maybe where it
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was found or the the timing of it.
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And SO1Q speaks of one of the caves in Qumran, and it
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contained the Isaiah Scrolls, the book of Isaiah, and it's
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captivated scholars and serious students of the Bible.
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Why? Because it is a nearly complete
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manuscript of the book of Isaiah that you have in your Bible
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today. Can you imagine that?
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So something that is dated centuries before the time of
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Christ has been discovered. And when they compared it to
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modern English translations, it's almost word for word.
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This is an incredibly important discovery because it closely
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lines what we have, and it demonstrates the accuracy with
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which the Hebrew Bible was copied over the centuries.
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So let me summarize this briefly.
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We possess 10s of thousands of manuscript copies of the Bible,
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ranging from the 1st to the 15th century AD for the New Testament
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and from the 4th century BC to the 15th century AD for the Old
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Testament. So for New Testament, we have
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manuscripts from the 1st century to the 15th century Old
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Testament. We have manuscripts from the 4th
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century BC to the 15th century AD.
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And these manuscripts, yes, if we're honest, they do contain
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some variations, but they're all minor.
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They don't compromise the validity, the the accuracy, the
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essence of the Christian message.
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It's untouched. And if you didn't know, there is
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an entire academic field dedicated to discovering these
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things and to assessing the most accurate version of the original
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text. This academic discipline is
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called textual criticism. Textual criticism is a science,
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and as a science that seeks to establish the correct text of an
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ancient document and listen, it's a it's applied both to
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secular works and to sacred works.
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So the same rules and the same methodologies apply.
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And generally what happens with a textual critic, those who are
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a part of that kind of discipline, is that they they
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study the transmission of these copies and they compare them and
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examine them in their variations.
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And there are different methodologies, different schools
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of thought that try to assess which one is most reliable,
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which one can be rejected or questioned, and what other ones
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can be more trusted. And it's important to
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acknowledge that there are different methods.
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I can't get into the different methods now, although we could.
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But I want to bring it up to you because it helps us when we come
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to our Bibles. Just knowing that there are
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different methods helps us come to our Bibles and understand why
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there are certain passages that are handled differently by
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certain scholars. And that's where we are now led
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to when it comes to Mark 16, verse 9, when you read in
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brackets that some of the earliest manuscripts do not
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contain chapter 16, verses 9 to 20.
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And that's why I want to explain to you how the longer ending of
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Mark is put into question by some of these scholars.
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And, and this again, is a subject that requires hours upon
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hours to just really scratch the surface.
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My goal again today. It's not to make you drink out
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of a fire hose. It's to have enough for you to
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understand the general grasp of this conversation, for you to
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feel satisfied, but also for you to be encouraged to potentially
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consider it further for yourself.
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So when it comes to those questioning the latter portion
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of the Gospel of Mark, there are two main arguments that people
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make that scholars make. And the first one is is obvious
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because it's in the Bible that some of the earliest manuscripts
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don't contain it. Now remember how I referenced
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you to complete New Testament manuscripts that are highly
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prized and praised? That is what these scholars are
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referring to when it comes to this disclaimer at the end here
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of Mark chapter 16. The argument is simple.
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Those are some of the earliest there.
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In fact, they are the earliest manuscripts that we have to the
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New Testament. And both of those omit verses 9
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to verses 20. And there is another smaller
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manuscript that also doesn't contain the longer ending a
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mark, but it's not as significant as the other two.
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Nevertheless, we will include that in the count of manuscripts
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that don't include those final verses.
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So that that's really the argument is, well, look, if we
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have these manuscripts and they date the closest to the original
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time when they were written, then we have every reason to
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question it. And that's where you have one
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school of thought among scholars that's saying the older the
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better, the older, the more confident we can be about what
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was there and then in the original time in the original
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writings. But here's what's so interesting
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of all our Greek manuscripts, You have to listen very
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carefully to this. We have close to 1650 that do
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contain what I will call the longer ending of Mark.
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So you have just over 1500 Greek manuscripts that do have verses
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9 to 20, whereas in comparison you have three that omit it.
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So what do we do with that? Well, if you do it in terms of
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percentage, it means that 99.8% of the existing Greek
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manuscripts that we have contain the longer ending of Mark.
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Now, for some scholars, that doesn't matter because remember,
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they have that kind of conviction, the older the
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better. It's not about about the
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majority of the text. It's more about the age of the
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text. But at the same time, those
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scholars who advocate the earlier manuscripts, you can
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tell that they're reluctant. They're reluctant to completely
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exclude the longer ending of Mark.
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Do you know how I know they are reluctant?
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Because they include as a footnote in your Bible.
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So they're hesitant because you can't deny the fact that there
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is so much in terms of historicity and copies of
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manuscript that do contain it. What are you going to do with
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that? So there's a struggling there.
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There's a wrestling there. Now there are some who are bold
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enough to say it's not inspired Scripture, like you should not
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treat it as you would mark 16, one to seven or any other part
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of the Bible. You should treat it as maybe
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like an apocryphal book or some kind of history book that might
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shed some light on the Bible. But you shouldn't treat verses 9
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to 20 as Scripture. Others more hesitant and they'll
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say, OK, look, it's undeniable. It's there.
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It's there in terms of the majority manuscript.
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So let's let's put it in in our English transition.
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Let people know that it's not part of the earliest ones
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though, and they're satisfied in that.
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And that's why if you have like a new King James Version, if
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you're a person who reads the new King James and you come to
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that same place in Mark 16 verse 9, they're a little bit more
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transparent and a little bit more accurate in their
24:12
disclaimer of those verses. Let me quote it to you from the
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New King James marginal note, verses 9 to 20 are bracketed in
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NU as not in the original text. And this is what the new King
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James says they are lacking in Codex Sinochatis and Codis
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Vaticanus, although nearly all other manuscripts of Mark
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contain them. So they're being a little bit
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more transparent, the new King James, whereas other ones,
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including the ESC will say some of the earliest manuscripts
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don't include them. And people kind of they get
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intimidated by that or even concerned.
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So then for those scholars who who don't think that the longer
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ending in Mark belongs there or it's not autographed by Mark or
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is not part of the original text, what's their theory about
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the longer ending then? Because again, you can't deny
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all the manuscripts that do have them.
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Those manuscripts, the 1650 that do have them, they date later
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than the CODIS Vaticanus and CODIS Sinaticus, right?
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So here's the theory of those who think that that's not those
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verses are not part of the original.
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They were added by scribes. They were added by scribes.
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And why would scribes add verses 90, verse 20?
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Because if you don't add them, the gospel mark ends in Mark 16,
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verse 8. So let's read verse 8.
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Let's read it from verse 6 to get context.
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And he said to them, do not be alarmed, you seek Jesus of
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Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen, He is not here.
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See the place where they laid him.
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But go tell his disciples and Peter that He is going before
25:48
you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as
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he told you. And they went out and fled from
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the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them.
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And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
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The book closes. So the theory is this, the
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Gospel can't end this way. There's no way that the last
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thought that Mark wants to convey in his Gospel account is
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that the women were terrified. And so the idea is scribe saw
26:19
this and they go, I think we need to add to this.
26:23
And they borrowed from Luke and they borrowed from Matthew and
26:26
they borrowed from John. And so some claim that the
26:30
addition here, the insertion, are just a kind of a compilation
26:33
of concluding thoughts from the other Gospel accounts.
26:37
So that's the theory for those who believe that those verses
26:40
are omitted. But external manuscript evidence
26:44
is not the only argument proponents of the shorter ending
26:47
make. There's a second major one.
26:49
It's internal saying. What do you mean?
26:53
Well, again, when you go back to Mark 16/9 to 20, what you'll
26:58
discover here, not so much in the English as much as in the
27:00
Greek, is that this is the claim.
27:04
It reads differently than Mark's previous writings in the
27:09
previous chapters and verses. So they'll make arguments like
27:13
there are words in verses 9 to 20 that Mark never uses in the
27:18
Gospel account. And and you can imagine how this
27:22
is highly debated and contested among scholars.
27:25
And the reason why is because there are other long portions of
27:28
Mark where Mark uses Greek words for the first time too.
27:30
But we don't discount them either, do we?
27:33
So there's back and forth here, but the main points is this from
27:36
verse 8 to verse 9, it's kind of a clunky transition.
27:40
So this is what they'll say, right?
27:41
So look at verse 8 again, they were afraid and they look at
27:44
verse 9. Now when he arose early on the
27:46
first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary
27:48
Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.
27:51
So they say that's kind of an awkward transition.
27:53
You're almost like reintroducing the resurrection and you're
27:56
reintroducing Mary Magdalene, though she's already been
27:59
introduced to us. So this is the claims of people
28:01
are I'm just, I'm just relaying it.
28:04
And so though, again, nitpick on certain things and bring out
28:07
certain words and ideas and flow of thought, and the argument is
28:13
it seems to be different. It seems to be added.
28:15
It seems to be maybe somebody who worked in it and try to
28:20
complete it. Now, I don't want to get into
28:24
every single debate about why some believe this and why some
28:29
believe that. I just want to give you the two
28:31
main arguments. Like if you talk to scholars,
28:32
they're going to tell you those are the two main arguments.
28:34
There's an external point terms of the early manuscripts not
28:37
having it and internal that you know.
28:39
Let me show you here how I think Mark's words at the end don't
28:42
match his his consistent tone of voice throughout.
28:45
You might be wondering where I stand on this issue, and that's
28:50
why I want to provide an overview of why I personally
28:52
believe that the longer ending of Mark should be included,
28:57
should be included in our Bibles and recognized as authentic.
29:00
I have three points, Three points to why I believe verses 9
29:09
to 20 is something that we should honor and recognize as
29:12
Holy Scripture. The first one is the manuscript
29:16
evidence. Now, I already told you about
29:18
how the majority, 99.8% of Greek manuscripts contain it, but I'm
29:23
not going to make that simple argument that there's more.
29:25
So it's better scholars, some scholars who also believe in the
29:30
longer ending have done a wonderful job examining CODIS
29:33
Vaticanus and CODIS Sign Atticus, and they've made pretty
29:37
convincing cases that those who penned those manuscripts were
29:43
aware of the longer ending, but they didn't include it for
29:46
speculative reasons. So I mean, this isn't, this is a
29:51
sermon, this isn't a presentation, this isn't a
29:52
class. But if you, if you want to go
29:55
home, Google Codex Vaticanus specifically, and what you'll
29:58
discover is at the ending of Mark in that parchment, that
30:02
page of his book, they're empty columns.
30:06
Now, what's unique about those empty columns is they're foreign
30:09
to every other book in the New Testament.
30:12
So the argument is, why does CODIS Vaticanus leave empty
30:16
columns right after verse 8? And some scholars believe, look,
30:23
you can actually fit if you if you pen Mark's writings based on
30:27
that copy of the manuscript, the same way you can fit Mark 16/9
30:31
to 20 perfectly in those empty columns.
30:34
So we don't really know why some, again, speculate, but
30:40
there is sufficient evidence that's just one argument to make
30:42
that even within those early manuscripts there, they were at
30:46
least aware that there was a longer version out there.
30:50
And so I would say manuscript evidence beyond that point #2
30:56
and this to me is one of the most convincing points, is that
31:01
it was widely referenced, recognized, and circulated in
31:05
the early church. I'm talking about the last part,
31:08
verses 9 to 20 and Mark 16. So the oldest manuscripts date
31:13
from the what, 4th century Codis, Vaticanus, the Codican
31:16
Atticus? I don't know how many times I'd
31:17
be able to say that without tripping over my words, so bear
31:20
with me. So the the earliest Newton
31:23
complete New Testament mainstream, those two, which are
31:26
fascinating discoveries, they omit them, but they are not the
31:30
oldest historical pieces of evidence that reference the
31:36
ending of Mark. So you have what is called
31:39
patristic evidence, Patristic fathers, Church fathers.
31:44
Those church fathers are recognized as the disciples of
31:48
the disciples that we read of in the New Testament, right?
31:51
And their disciples. When you read some of these
31:55
church fathers, what you will discover is that they reference
31:59
Mark 16/9 to 20. You're talking about 2nd
32:05
century, so at least a century before those two codexes.
32:10
You have church fathers that reference and make allusions to
32:15
the longer ending of Mark. One of them is Iranians.
32:21
Let me quote them to you, who wrote in his third book called
32:25
Against Heresies between year one 74189, at least a century
32:32
before Vaticanus was produced. And he wrote this quote also
32:37
towards the conclusion of his gospel.
32:38
Mark says so then after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was
32:43
received up into heaven and sits on the right hand of God.
32:48
This is an illusion and a reference to Mark 6920,
32:52
specifically Mark 16 verse 19. We're told that he ascended and
32:56
he was seated at the right hand of God.
32:59
You have another 2nd century writer by the name of Justin
33:02
Martyr who wrote in his writings called the First Apology using
33:07
Mark 1620. You have Tation, another 2nd
33:11
century writer who was a pupil a student of Justin Martyr who
33:15
includes the longer ending a Mark in his work Dietassaron.
33:20
Dietassaron was an ancient writing where Tation sought to
33:23
bring all four gospel accounts and merge them into a
33:26
chronological text, and when he brought that together, he
33:29
actually included Mark 16/9 to 20.
33:34
Another known text, and excuse me if I butchered these, is
33:37
called Apustula Apostolorum, which was written before the
33:41
year 150, providing yet another a fourth witness by making an
33:45
allusion to the longer ending of Mark.
33:46
So right there I'm providing you 4 witnesses to the longer ending
33:51
of Mark in the 2nd century. This is important because that
33:57
means that the longer ending of Mark was being circulated in the
33:59
church and recognized as authoritative.
34:02
OK, it's not found in the earliest complete New Testament
34:04
manuscripts, but it's found among these early Christians.
34:10
And I can go on and on to mention the support of patristic
34:14
works in the two hundreds and three hundreds and four
34:17
hundreds. But one of the most interesting
34:19
ones that I want to bring up to you is actually from a non
34:21
Christian. You actually had a Roman
34:26
philosopher by the name of hierarchies who quoted the
34:31
longer ending of Mark chapter 16, verses 9 to 20 as a part of
34:36
his critique of Christianity in the early 4th century.
34:41
And the conclusion there is that he actually made a comment about
34:45
where we're going to read in a moment how Christians can drink
34:47
poison and nothing will happen. And the case that he makes in
34:51
his critique as well, then OK, let's have Christians drink
34:53
their let's have their leaders drink poison and see if what
34:55
their Bible says is true. You know what's funny is that
34:59
even in modern day debate among Muslims, Muslims make that same
35:02
argument. Oh, if your Bible is true, your
35:05
Bible says that on the Mark 16 to drink poison and you'll
35:08
survive. So here's some poison, drink it.
35:10
That's nothing new. That came back from the 4th
35:13
century. So you have a listen.
35:15
There's the point I'm trying to make though.
35:16
You have a non Christian who critiqued Christianity who made
35:20
a reference to the ending of Mark that scholars today believe
35:23
should be omitted, but in fact was recognized apparently by the
35:27
early church for him to make that reference.
35:28
Does that make sense? I hope so.
35:32
Now if you want more of this, if you want more meat, if you want
35:34
to sink your teeth even deeper, you come see me after the
35:37
service and I could provide some resources.
35:40
But here's my final reason, brief reason.
35:42
Again, this is just overview. This is just overview I'm giving
35:45
you. I talked to you about manuscript
35:46
evidence, not just the amount, but even within the earliest
35:49
ones that omit it, you can make a case that they were at least
35:51
aware of the ending of Mark. We have early Church Falk even
35:56
before those earliest complete New Testament manuscripts.
35:59
And lastly, this is this is a pretty practical, it's
36:02
theological, but it's practical. The final reason why I believe
36:05
it should be included is because what it teaches is completely
36:07
consistent with the New Testament.
36:11
There's nothing out of place there.
36:13
There's nothing that shatters our faith.
36:15
There's nothing there that contradicts the tenants of our
36:17
belief system. So why don't we read it?
36:22
Let's begin in verse 9 down to verse 20.
36:31
Mark 16/9 went. Now when he rose early on the
36:34
first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary
36:36
Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.
36:40
She went and told those who had been with him as they mourn and
36:44
wept. But when they heard that he was
36:45
alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
36:49
After these things he appeared in another form to two of them
36:53
as they were walking into the country, and they went back and
36:55
told the rest, but they did not believe them.
36:58
Afterward he appeared to the 11 themselves as they were
37:00
reclining a table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief
37:04
and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who
37:08
saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, Go into all
37:12
the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
37:15
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does
37:18
not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany
37:21
those who believe in my name. They will cast out demons, they
37:24
will speak in new tongues, they will pick up serpents with their
37:27
hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt
37:30
them. They will lay their hands on the
37:32
sick, and they will recover. So then the Lord Jesus, after he
37:35
had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the
37:38
right hand of God. And they went out and preached
37:41
everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed
37:44
the message by accompanying science.
37:49
Now, if you've read the Gospels before the entirety of the
37:53
Gospel accounts, then a lot of what Mark says in those verses
37:57
echoes, right? I mean, if you review it, then
38:00
you'll know that, for example, when you come here to verse 10,
38:04
she went and told those who had been with him as they mourn and
38:06
wept. You'll find that in Matthew and
38:08
John, right? And we also see the skepticism
38:11
in verse 11 of the disciples. They would not believe it.
38:14
Look at verse 12. And after these things, he
38:16
appeared in another form to two of them, and they were walking
38:18
into the country. Where's that?
38:19
Found the end of Luke with those two who are walking to Emmaus.
38:25
And at first when the disciples heard their report, they also
38:29
were skeptical. We read here that the Lord
38:32
appeared to the 11 themselves and He rebuked them for the
38:35
unbelief and hardness of heart. We see Him do that in other
38:37
gospels as well, where He gently rebukes them, verse 15, where He
38:42
tells to go unto all the world. Do we not see that in Matthew?
38:46
Now where things get interesting is about these signs, these
38:50
signs, and what Jesus says immediately preceding these
38:53
signs. So that's where I wanted to
38:55
spend some time. Look at verse 16.
38:58
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does
39:01
not believe will be condemned. So how do we make sense of this?
39:08
Because it's a verse like this and a verse 1718 where we read
39:12
these signs that has caused some people to be skeptical even
39:16
before these manuscript debates. In other words, some people that
39:23
believe these verses shall be omitted, they don't say it
39:27
outright, but when you read their arguments, they show that
39:31
they actually have a preconceived bias already.
39:35
They already have this difficulty grasping and applying
39:41
these truths. And so when it came to this
39:43
debate, it just made a way for them to put into question.
39:47
It was almost like, OK, I'm more willing to question these verses
39:53
because I already think that this is problematic and this is
39:57
strange for Christian Christianity to begin with.
40:04
But what seems to be problematic and uncomfortable is in fact
40:08
consistent. It's a very dangerous practice
40:12
to look at parts of the Bible that may disturb you, make you
40:15
uncomfortable and put into question because of your bias.
40:18
Very dangerous, right? It doesn't matter if you're if
40:20
you're a scholar and if you have the whole alphabet beside your
40:23
name, that doesn't matter. But it's amazing how some of
40:26
these guys reveal themselves. But I want to make the case
40:30
again that this is something that we see in our bibles #1
40:34
whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does
40:36
not believe will be condemned. So you have some people who
40:38
advocate that this promotes baptismal regeneration.
40:41
In other words, if you're going to be saved, you need to get
40:44
baptized. Why?
40:46
Because he says here, whoever believes and is baptized will be
40:49
saved. But here's what's interesting.
40:53
And remember this whenever you study the Bible, when you and I
40:58
ever come to a verse that seems to vary or challenge a biblical
41:02
doctrine that is consistent throughout the Bible, you never
41:05
make a doctrine from an isolated text.
41:08
Never. And this is not just something
41:11
that we see in Mark 16, is it not?
41:12
There are other places in the Bible where when you read it
41:14
alone, it seems to is that saying what I think it says.
41:20
So what's our discipline? That you take a verse and you
41:24
compare it to the rest of Scripture that you you bring
41:27
into account the entirety of the Bible to bring you to a
41:30
conclusion, not from one verse or two verses, but the whole
41:32
library of divine revelation before you come to a conclusion.
41:36
What holds more weight? This is lined up with other very
41:42
clear passages. Does does this verse support
41:45
baptismal regeneration based on what others have to say about it
41:48
in the Bible? So we we can't just take one
41:51
verse and make a whole theological dogma out of it.
41:55
You have to make the practice of looking at the entirety of the
41:57
Bible. That's not just true for Mark
41:59
1616, that's true for any verse in the Bible.
42:03
So that's the first thing, right?
42:05
And let me mention even some clues within Mark 1616.
42:08
Notice it says whoever believes that is baptized will be saved,
42:11
but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
42:13
So in the positive believe and be baptized, you will be saved.
42:16
But in the negative, if you don't believe, you will not be
42:20
saved. Why didn't you say if you don't
42:21
believe and don't get baptized? So all this really takes is
42:25
context and careful reading of our Bibles.
42:28
So this is that's just one internal clue.
42:30
We haven't even explored the neighboring text.
42:33
So First things first, whenever you see something that seems to
42:36
be challenging, it seems to even be contradictory or paradoxal,
42:39
always take into account the entirety of the Bible before you
42:42
come to any conclusions. And that's certainly the case
42:44
here from Mark 1616. But it's the next verse, the
42:52
exciting, juicy stuff that people really want to talk
42:55
about. And these signs will accompany
42:58
those who believe in my name. They will cast out demons.
43:02
They will speak in new tongues, they will pick up serpents with
43:04
their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not
43:07
hurt them. They will lay their hands on the
43:09
sick and they will recover. Can I ask you a simple question?
43:13
Do you see these signs following the disciples after Jesus
43:18
ascended to heaven? Simple question.
43:20
You don't have to be a scholar. Yes, we do see them casting out
43:24
demons. Do we speak see them speaking in
43:26
new tongues? Yes, you do see them speaking in
43:28
new tongues. Do you even see them interacting
43:32
with snakes? Not like the crazy people on
43:34
YouTube, the snake handling services, I'm not talking about
43:37
that. But there is one account in Acts
43:40
28 when Paul was in the island called Malta, and as he was
43:44
feeding the fire with dry sticks, a snake came out and bit
43:46
his hand. And what happened?
43:48
Did he collapse? No, he survived and it opened a
43:50
way for the people in Malta to hear the gospel.
43:53
It was a sign. Now the thing that stands out of
43:56
all these signs is what? The drinking of any deadly
43:59
poison, right? We don't see that necessarily
44:02
and a specific account or narrative in the New Testament.
44:08
But here's the point that I want to make primarily is that this
44:11
is this is a overall message that the Lord is trying to
44:15
convey. Yes, he's being specific.
44:16
You can't deny that, but there's a context that we have to honor
44:19
here. So let me give you a personal
44:22
experience. Many, many, many, many years
44:24
ago, right? I mentioned the debates with
44:28
Muslims and how they bring up this particular versus a
44:30
challenge to Christians. I remember the first time I came
44:33
across a debate on this issue. It was just a general debate
44:36
about the reliability of the Bible, the historicity of the
44:39
Bible. Again, it was just something
44:41
that was in passing. I didn't even watch the whole
44:43
thing. I just came to the end in the
44:44
closing remarks, and I remember seeing one of these Muslim
44:47
imams. And the crowd was filled with
44:50
other Muslims looking at this kind of sheepish, I believe,
44:53
scholarly man who was a Christian.
44:55
And he literally pulled out a bottle of poison.
44:59
And he looked at this man and he says, your Bible says this.
45:01
And he quoted Mark 1617 to 18. So why don't you prove to us
45:04
right here, right now that your Bible is true and drink this
45:07
poison. And the crowd began to cheer.
45:10
And this man just gently received the bottle.
45:12
And he stood up quietly. And you know what he did?
45:15
I remember so vividly. He began to explain the case of
45:19
how verses 9 to 20 are omitted from the earliest manuscripts
45:23
and it was just really being drowned out by the crowd.
45:29
You, you don't have to make that argument if you just properly
45:33
interpret what Mark is saying here.
45:36
So I remember I freshly saved, didn't know a thing about what I
45:40
just presented to you in the past half an hour, 45 minutes,
45:43
didn't know one thing. I just came back to my Bible,
45:47
maybe look at different versions.
45:49
And here's what I read. And this is, this is even more
45:51
clear if you have the new King James and the King James.
45:54
Look again at verse 17 and these signs and I'll quoted to you in
45:56
the new King James and King James.
45:57
And these signs will follow those who believe.
46:01
And remember this, this specific thought raced through my mind.
46:06
It says that these signs will follow those who believe, not
46:08
that these believers will follow such signs.
46:12
Right there, there, just right there.
46:16
And then it dawned on me to challenge a promise of God.
46:23
It's called testing God. And that same kind of logic and
46:27
argumentation and challenge is no different than Satan himself
46:31
who told Jesus what in the wilderness.
46:33
He quoted Psalm 91 concerning angelic protection.
46:37
He says, why don't you jump off the temple and see if this is
46:39
true? Do not test the Lord your God.
46:44
So to take a verse like this and to entertain the idea that we
46:49
should try to see if God will come through in a miraculous way
46:52
because the Bible presents the possibility of his promise of
46:56
coming through for us is Antichrist. 1-2 Look at the
47:02
context. Is the context here for us in a
47:06
service to come together and pull out snakes out of a box and
47:09
share some Kool-aid and see if we're all going to be OK?
47:14
No. The context is world
47:15
evangelization. The context is world missions.
47:19
The context is you disciples who invade foreign areas that have
47:23
never heard the truth, never seen the light.
47:25
When you go, you can know that I will empower you in a special
47:29
way and I will protect you in a special way.
47:32
That's exactly what Mark is saying here.
47:36
I'm with you and I'm going to tell you some of the ways I'm
47:38
going to be with you, that I'm going to see you working for my
47:42
namesake and I will work with you.
47:44
Look at verse 20. And they went out and preached
47:47
everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the
47:52
message by accompanying science. So this is not about us chasing
47:57
snakes and chasing poison and going to debates or coming to
48:01
services and saying the Lord said we can do this, let's do
48:03
this. This is about a group of people
48:04
who are going into very dangerous and hostile territory.
48:08
And as they go preaching the message, the Lord promised, I'm
48:10
going to be with you, I'm going to empower you, and I'm going to
48:14
protect you. And now that doesn't mean that
48:16
this is going to be signs that can be performed on demand or
48:19
going to be consistent without any other option because these
48:22
same disciples would be martyred and they would be subject to the
48:28
elements. This is something that we teach
48:31
in this church, that as long as you are walking in the will of
48:34
God and as long as you are living for His name's sake, you
48:38
are in essence immortal until he calls you home.
48:42
As long as you're not foolish and as long as you're not living
48:44
in sin, as long as you're abiding by the truth, the Lord
48:47
will empower you and the Lord will protect you until the end.
48:52
That's the essence of what Mark is saying here at the end.
48:54
And so I remember realizing that early in my walk.
48:58
This is say that we will follow these signs says that they will
49:02
follow us. And I don't determine when they
49:04
follow me. My job is simply to do what
49:06
these disciples were called to do and let's preach the word.
49:09
And if God wants to empower me in a special way so that he can
49:12
confirm that message, so be it. And if unknown to me, I'm in a
49:16
dangerous place and I'm serving the Lord and there's an attack,
49:19
whether through natural elements or through my persecutors, I'm
49:22
going to trust that God's going to protect me.
49:24
And if he doesn't protect, it means my mission is done on a
49:26
going home. So when you properly interpret
49:30
it, you see that there's a different understanding here.
49:36
Now this is not my habit to quote church fathers and talk
49:41
about manuscripts. It's it's my joy to preach what
49:45
the Bible has to say. But we have to continue with the
49:49
service. So let me just bring to you one
49:52
thought that blessed me from the ending of Mark, because I'm
49:55
going to share it to you because I believe it is God's
49:57
authoritative word. Notice verse 20.
50:02
And they went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked
50:05
with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.
50:07
You've been with us since the beginning of Mark.
50:10
And you heard throughout the Gospel of Mark that Mark seeks
50:13
to portray the Lord Jesus Christ in a certain way in comparison
50:17
to the other gospel accounts. Mark seeks to portray Jesus
50:21
Christ of Nazareth as the perfect servant of God.
50:23
Remember. And what I find so fitting and
50:27
so appropriate is that when you come to the last verse of the
50:31
Gospel of Mark, what do you find the Lord Jesus Christ doing?
50:36
Working. He's working, He's still
50:42
serving, but this time he's serving with the servants of God
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to advance his Kingdom. So if you want to talk about
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thematic consistency, if you want to talk about whether this
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last part coincides and works with the rest of it, I argue
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that's just one example of how it does.
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Because throughout Mark, we're seeing Jesus working, serving,
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using his hands, less parables, more miracles.
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And now when you come to the final thought, the last snapshot
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of Christ that we get even in his resurrection as a in his
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ascension, he's doing what working, working with his
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servants to advance his message. A message that is believed on
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today, a message that still saves, a message that is true
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and will always be true. Do you believe the gospel of
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Jesus Christ? Because what we're about to
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partake in together is for those who have put their trust in this
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message, it is reliable. It's undeniable.
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Yes, there's historical proof behind it.
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Yes, it eclipses any other history, historical document,
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historical asserts, and historical event.
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And God has done that in His Providence.
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But not just Providence. This gospel has power.
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It has power. It has power to save you from
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the power of sin. It has the power to eliminate
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the penalty of sin. And the way in which you
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experience what is yes, historically recognized and and
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found in documents, especially in our Bibles, is when you
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believe it by faith. You see, no matter how much
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evidence you're given, you're going to come to a place where
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you have to take a leap of faith.
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And if you think that's foreign or that's a cop out, you do it
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with almost everything in life. When it comes to looking back at
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the past, history, the books you love, the documentaries that you
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watch, the with all those things, you were giving an
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element of faith. You're taking a leap of trust.
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I'm trusting those who have put this together to say this is
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what happened before my lifetime.
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But more than manuscripts, more than church fathers, anything
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else, though, those are a poor man.
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Those are paramount. We don't have blind faith.
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The testimonies of lies that have been transformed by this
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message, it's incredible. And I want you to have that
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testimony. And again, the way you have that
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testimony is when you repent and believe or you realize that
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there is a man who whose name Jesus Christ, He was from
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Nazareth, but he was unlike any other man.
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He was perfect. You couldn't document his a sin
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and his word and his action, his deeds and his reactions.
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The Bible testifies that he was internally pure, incorruptible.
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Even his accusers at his trial were fumbling and stumbling,
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trying to find something to bring against him.
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But he was not a martyr. He was not a victim at the hands
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of cruel people. He voluntarily laid down his
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life. He laid down his life because
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understanding our humanity, our sinfulness, and our bankruptcy
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before God, it would require a sacrifice.
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A sacrifice that would please God and His justice, and that
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would be able to be applicable to all men of all time.
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And the only way that one person could cover the sins of all
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humanity from past, present and future, if that person was
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eternal, if he suspended and superseded time, if he was above
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all of those things and yet became a man so that he can
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mediate on behalf of humanity. This is the uniqueness of the
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person of Jesus Christ. There is none like Him and what
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the Bible demands is that you realize that He is unique, that
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He is fully God, fully man, truly God, truly man.
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But it wasn't just a stunt. It wasn't just a three-year
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visit in the earth. It was a mission.
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A mission to bring you out of the muck and mire and pull you
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out of the place where you will receive the wrath of God, apart
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from Christ. So let me just let me just speak
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plain and clear. Have you at any point made a
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conscious decision that you understood what Jesus Christ of
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Nazareth did for you and that you accepted as a free gift?
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Have you ever done that? If you've never done that, I say
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this in love. You stand condemned before God.
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You do. Every sin that you've ever
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committed will be brought up on that final day, and you'll have
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to pay with eternal punishment. But at the same time, if you
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realize that God and His love for you, he will never
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compromise His justice. He'll never, ever, ever diminish
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His Holiness, but at the same time, His love is just as
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fierce. And if you recognize, yes, His
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Holiness, but also His love that he wants to rescue from his
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wrath, rescue from eternal punishment, and he drank the
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wrath of God himself, why would you deny it?
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And why wouldn't you accept the forgiveness that Christ offers
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you? And everything that you've ever
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done, everything that you've ever committed, will be washed
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clean, and you will not stand wondering if you will have
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eternal life. You can stand confident that you
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have been forgiven for all your sins and that God will keep you
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and He will preserve you, and He will walk with you in this life
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until He brings you home into His presence forever.
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That is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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And why we do this is because we're about to line up now and
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take these emblems, a piece of bread and a cup with the fruit
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of the vine to remember. It's not because of what I've
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done. It's not because what I perform,
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It's not because of my righteousness that I'm safe.
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It's because of what He's done in His body.
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It's because he shed His blood that I am forgiven.
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I have eternal life because of what He's done in his flesh and
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what He's done in His sacrifice. We have come to celebrate our
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redemption in Jesus Christ. But this table is reserved only
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for those who believe in that message that I just preached.
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And so if you're a person here visiting, we're so glad that
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you're here. But I respectfully ask that you
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observe and don't don't participate.
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This is an ordinance that's only been given to the church and
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believer. If you do believe in this
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message, but your walk is not consistent with that message,
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consciously you're living in a way where you're justifying sin.
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You would please your master more if you pause today and you
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reflected and repented than if you partook of this.
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And so I'm going to ask us to just pause now.
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And we're going to do this in a moment that praising can come
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up. But when it comes to this table,
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we're called to look in different places.
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One, we're supposed to look at Christ, Remember what he's done.
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Two, we're supposed to look at one another and remember that we
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are one body like this bread symbolizes.
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So if there's any friction, any unresolved issues, you please
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more, you please God more by reconciling than of eating or at
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least reconciling before you eat.
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And lastly, you look within, possibly examine yourself,
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right? And so look to the Lord, look to
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one another. Now look within and take this
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time to say, Lord, is my practice matching my profession.
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Lord, help me live for you. Help me live the way you called
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me to live and help me rest in your truth.
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Help me please You also, knowing that you've finished this for me
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and that I walk from grace, not for grace.
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So just in silence. I encourage you to, if you need
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to bow your head, examine your heart.
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We're going to sing and then we're going to eat.