Open the Bible UK Daily

[Jesus] asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for… they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. Mark 9:33-34 When Jesus asks the disciples about their argument, they are embarrassed. Trying to impress others with how great we are really is foolish. The timing of this argument is significant. Jesus has just taken Peter, James, and John up the mount...

“Rabbi, it is good that we are here.” Mark 9:5 Jesus shows us two reasons for taking up our cross and following Him. The first reason is that we see Christ's glory. Here is the second reason: We share Christ’s work “Rabbi, it is good that we are here” (9:5). Peter’s instinct is to try and hold onto the moment of the transfiguration. He doesn't want this glimpse of Christ's glory to end. That’s our...

Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain... And he was transfigured before them. Mark 9:2 Jesus has announced His journey to Jerusalem, and suddenly all the talk is about dying and a cross. Peter has already objected (8:32). He likes being a disciple, but he’s not sure that he is up for this! Likewise, you may be asking, “Why would I deny myself and take up my...

“Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” Mark 8:35 You go to church, and you think, Should I really commit myself? Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. Perhaps you have been on the fence about following Jesus for a long time. What is at stake in this decision? 1. Your life is at stake. “Whoever would save his life will lose it” (8:35...

He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. Mark 8:31 Here Jesus speaks clearly about His own suffering and death for the first time. From this point on, everything is about the cross. The death of Jesus is central to the gospel. This is why He came into the wo...

[Jesus called] the crowd to him with his disciples… Mark 8:34 In earlier verses, Jesus was speaking privately to all the disciples. In chapter 9 we will see Jesus teaching the inner circle—Peter, James, and John. But here, Jesus is speaking to the crowd: the wider pool of people who might become His followers. Look at what He says to them: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and t...

“Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels… Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” Mark 8:38; 9:1 Jesus is referring to the transfiguration. When Peter,...

[Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must… be killed, and after three days rise again… Peter… began to rebuke him… [Jesus] rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Mark 8:31-33 You read Peter’s wonderful confession—“You are the Christ”—and you are tempted to say, surely the disciples are seeing clea...

[Jesus] cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” Mark 8:15 The disciples are in the boat with Jesus crossing the lake. Nobody had thought about what they were going to do for lunch (8:14). Jesus uses the boat trip to teach the disciples about the power of evil in the world. He warns them, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leav...

[Jesus] asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Mark 8:23-24 We have seen what Jesus does for His people. He overcomes resistance in His people. He cleanses the hearts of His people. Now we will see how Jesus Christ gives sight—the ability to discern spiritual things—to His people. Here we see a healing begun but not yet compl...

“This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” Mark 7:6 Look at these devastating words of Jesus. He is saying to the Pharisees, “That’s you! You do religious things, but your heart is far from me. Your life is about yourself and your money. You do not really care about people in desperate need, and you don’t really love God either.” Religion cannot change your heart. Bu...

“There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him." Mark 7:15 We live in a filthy world and some of us have seen and experienced terrible things. We wonder what it will do to our own souls. These words of Jesus are full of hope. The things you see or experience may cause great trauma or great struggles, but they d...

“You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” Mark 7:8 The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were scrupulous about ceremonial washing (7:3-4). They felt that these rituals would preserve purity before God. But Jesus says, “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men” (7:8). He gives an example: “Moses said, ‘Honour your father and your mother’… But you sa...

Strive for… the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14 The Bible speaks about both forgiveness and cleansing. We need to be forgiven so that we can be at peace with God. We need to be cleansed so that we can live in the presence of God. Forgiveness belongs to the realm of justification: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). Cleansing b...

[Jesus] said to them… “Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?” Mark 8:17-18 How does Jesus overcome hardened hearts and resistance in His people? Here are three ways. 1. Jesus is patient with you. “Do you not yet perceive or understand?... And don’t you remember?” (8:17-18). There was no...

“They did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” Mark 6:52 Some struggles in the Christian life come further down the track. You experience things that you cannot understand, and you find resentment toward Jesus growing. Here are four circumstances that can lead to hidden resentment: 1. When you are grieving. “Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater tha...

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. Hebrews 3:12 A second way our hearts can be hardened is through habitual sin. Herod knew that John was a righteous, holy man. Herod was drawn to the truth (Mark 6:20), but he followed the flesh. Herod's palace was a den of indulgence. We get the flavour of it from the story of...

“A prophet is not without honour, except in his hometown.” Mark 6:4 Have you ever wondered, “Why don’t I love God more? Why don’t I have greater joy in Christ? Why is my heart so cold in worship?” There are three ways hardness grows in a person’s heart. First, we see that hometown unbelief can harden our hearts. When Jesus returned to His hometown, He followed His normal pattern of teaching, and t...

“Let us go across to the other side.” Mark 4:35 Jesus’ words lead to four miracles in Mark’s Gospel that give us a taste of the blessings of life under the rule of God. No storms (4:35-41) Imagine a world where there are no tsunamis or hurricanes, and no earthquakes or tornadoes. In the book of Revelation when John was given a glimpse of heaven, the sea was like glass—no storms. And when Jesus cal...

“Those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” Mark 4:20 The whole point of Jesus’ parable is that where the seed is sown, there will be a great harvest. Perhaps you shared the Word of God with someone, and it fell on hard ground. That may not be the end of the story, because we don’t know where God w...

When they hear the word... Mark 4:16 Here is Jesus’ report on what is actually going on inside people who hear the Word: Some people are hard: “These are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word.” (4:15) The seed never penetrates this soil. Why? Because it’s been walked all over. Maybe you’ve developed a crust to protect yours...

“The sower sows the word.” Mark 4:14 The sower’s work is unimpressive. Picture a farmer scattering the seed by hand, walking 20 miles a day, up and down the same field. He looks out over the field at night and it strikes him that after all his work, the field looks exactly the same as it did that morning. Nothing has changed. He has worked all day, and what does he have to show for it? His efforts...

“Do you not understand this parable? …The sower sows the word.” Mark 4:13, 14 Jesus reveals the secret of the kingdom in a simple story: A sower goes out sowing seed. The seed falls on different kinds of ground. The seed on bad ground produces nothing of lasting value. The seed on good ground produces a marvellous harvest. The seed sown in this story is God’s Word. This living seed has the power t...

“The kingdom of God is at hand.” Mark 1:15 "The kingdom" is simply the rule or reign of God. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to ask that God’s kingdom would come, and that His will would be done, on earth as it is in heaven. God is sovereign. That means He reigns everywhere. He reigns in heaven, on earth, and even over hell. But in heaven, God’s rule is recognised. That’s why heaven is fille...

Then he [Jesus] went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.” Mark 3:20-21 Some Christians seem to have the idea that Jesus lived a balanced life. But the demands on Jesus were so great that He did not even have time to eat. Missing meals and losing sleep were common...