Chapter # 9 Paragraph # 2 Study # 2
February 14, 2023
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(380)
1901 ASV
9:9 And as they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, save when the Son of man should have risen again from the dead.
9:10 And they kept the saying, questioning among themselves what the rising again from the dead should mean.
9:11 And they asked him, saying, [How is it] that the scribes say that Elijah must first come?
9:12 And he said unto them, Elijah indeed cometh first, and restoreth all things: and how is it written of the Son of man, that he should suffer many things and be set at nought?
9:13 But I say unto you, that Elijah is come, and they have also done unto him whatsoever they would, even as it is written of him.
- I. The Restriction Imposed By Jesus.
- A. The content of the restriction.
- 1. Mark's "verb": diastello.
- a. Is used five times in four texts: 5:43; 7:36 (twice); 8:15; and this current text).
- b. Is ignored in disobedience in three of them (7:36 (twice); 8:15).
- c. Is an expression of strong desire, but is not backed up with sufficient "power" to enforce it.
- 1) Mark had a reason for indicating Jesus' unenforced wish to have certain activities left in secrecy, but he does not tell us what it is.
- 2) We are left to conjecture that Jesus did not want whatever result would come if His wishes were ignored, but, as with many of our "strong desires", the required obedience was not enforced.
- d. In the case of our current text, there is no indication that the three violated His demand.
- 2. Mark's other "verb": diegeomai.
- a. Is used twice by Mark and six other times in the New Testament.
- b. In Mark's uses the meaning is "to give a detailed explanation", and with this the other six uses agree.
- c. Indicates that Jesus did not want anyone besides Peter, James, and John to have the information that the transfiguration produced.
- d. The likely reason has to do with the relative development of the understanding of others; they may have jumped to significantly wrong conclusions because they were exposed to realities that they had no basis for understanding.
- 3. Had a limited application: once Jesus was raised from the dead, the details could be told.
- B. The disciples' masked their confusion with a question that was not really what they wished to ask.
- II. The Ignorance Of The Three.
- A. The restriction was imposed because...
- 1. The three were yet unaware of the absolute necessity of the Death of Jesus.
- 2. The three wanted to go straight from their present reality into the reality to which they had been exposed, not at all understanding the underpinnings of being restored to harmony with God.
- 3. Their former experience of the truth of John the Baptizer's message was that of "forgiveness on the basis of repentance", but without any serious understanding of the witness of the Law that men are indebted sinners whose sins could not be forgiven if there was not an adequate "shedding of blood" (Hebrews 9:22 compared with Hebrews 10:4).
- B. The restriction was imposed because...
- 1. The three did not even understand the significance of the clear declaration of Malachi 4:5-6.
- 2. The three were questioned by Jesus as to why "The Son of The Man" should suffer many things and be set at nought (completely dismissed as a significant entity whose work was so totally unnecessary).
