Mark 9

  • Witnesses to the Kingdom

    Mark 9:1

    Whatever view we take of the specific event to which Jesus refers in Mark 9:1, we are left without any doubt that the kingdom of God came in power in the first century. The birth of Christianity changed the ...Read More

  • The Mount of Transfiguration

    Mark 9:2–4

    Though God grants us many blessings on this side of glory, nothing created can ever fully satisfy us. We grow bored and tired of even the greatest pleasures. That will not be the case with the beatific vision. We will ...Read More

  • A Glimpse of Glory

    Mark 9:2-8

    Peter was on a mountaintop spiritually, and he wanted to stay there. But his experience was designed to send him into the world to participate in the death and humiliation of Christ. Consider how your spiritual mountaintops—at worship, at ...Read More

  • Peter’s Terror and God’s Response

    Mark 9:5–8

    Most Christians know of “mountaintop experiences,” encounters with God so rich that we want them to last forever. Such experiences are gifts of the Lord’s grace and foretastes of the coming age. But they are not meant to last ...Read More

  • The Coming of Elijah

    Mark 9:9–13

    Christ’s teaching on John’s death and the death of the Son of Man reveals what Martin Luther called the “theology of the cross.” The theology of the cross tells us that there is no path to glory except through ...Read More

  • Jesus Confronts a Faithless Generation

    Mark 9:14–19

    When Christ utters harsh words to His people, He never means to destroy but to call our attention to our sin that we may repent and be restored. Thus, whenever we find Jesus rebuking others in the Gospels, we should ...Read More

  • Help for Unbelief

    Mark 9:20–24

    Dr. R.C. Sproul writes in his commentary Mark, “Staying close to the Word, listening to the promises of our Redeemer, and opening my heart to Him are the things that kill unbelief and build a powerful faith that does ...Read More

  • Dependence on Christ

    Mark 9:25–29

    No Christian would ever say that absolute dependence on Jesus is optional. However, it is nonetheless easy even for believers to go through their day as if they can do so under their own power. Lest we become self-reliant in ...Read More

  • The Son of Man

    Mark 9:30–32

    Though we heed His teaching in the Gospels, we can forget that Jesus is a prophet. In fact, He is the prophet, par excellence. As the Word of God (John 1:1), He speaks, by the Spirit, throughout Scripture. Some ...Read More

  • Teaching in Galilee

    Mark 9:30–32

    Because of the influence of sin on our hearts and minds, we should expect Jesus’ words to sound strange to us at times. When we find His teaching hard to receive, we dare not shape it to fit our preconceived ...Read More

  • Who Is the Greatest?

    Mark 9:33–35

    We live in a culture obsessed with fame, with achieving “greatness” so that it can be lorded over others. But Jesus explains that we will find true greatness only through serving others. In all of our interactions with other people ...Read More

  • Receiving a Child in Jesus’ Name

    Mark 9:36–37

    The kingdom of God has as its citizens people from all backgrounds and all walks of life. It is not a community for only the powerful and those who “have it all together.” In reality, it is a community ...Read More

  • On the Side of Jesus

    Mark 9:38–41

    Expositing Mark 9:38–41, Dr. R.C. Sproul cautions us in his commentary Mark to avoid the error of thinking all differences between Christians divide us in an essential way as well as the error of thinking that no ...Read More

  • Causing Others to Sin

    Mark 9:42

    John Calvin comments on today’s passage that the millstone punishment shows us “how dear and precious those persons [believers] are in the sight of God.” The children of God are immeasurably loved by Him, and He will not take ...Read More

  • The Unquenchable Fire of Hell

    Mark 9:43–50

    Hell is a reality that’s perhaps painful for us to think about, so from one perspective it is understandable that we do not often like to talk about it. However, we must not view things from our perspective but from ...Read More