Dr. Barclay's Bible Study - The Gospel of Mark Part 55

 

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Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - FESTIVALS

FESTIVALS

Christianity has a number of days we consider to be Holy Days or festivals. These have been primarily pagan festivals that have been Christianized; thereby making them into Christian religious times. But there is nothing in the Bible which suggests that we should be celebrating such days. There is, however, instruction to follow the festival days that are noted in the Scriptures; and although they are primarily there for the Jewish nation, should we also be giving them more significance than we do? After all, much of Jewish history, and therefore in part our history, can be related to events that took place on these or other similar days.

For example, there is the day in the Jewish month of Av [August] which commemorates the loss of the Jewish Temple that was burned when God withdrew His presence.

 

When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me?

(Zechariah 7:5)

This event of the Temple burning apparently took place on the ninth day of the month of Av. But not just one event in Jewish history took place on that day. Apparently, on this same date, those whom Moses had sent to spy out the land of Canaan returned and told of the giants there and caused the people to turn against Moses and want to return to Egypt. 

There we saw the giants; and we were like grasshoppers…in their sight 

(Numbers 13:33)

Only the counsel of Caleb and Joshua swayed the masses and apparently this was on the ninth of Av, 1490 BC.

On the same date in 587 BC, the army of Babylon broke through the last defence of the Jews and destroyed Solomon’s Temple.

He [The Lord] has abandoned His sanctuary…

They [the enemy] have made a noise in the house of the Lord… 

(Lamentations 2:7)

Similarly, in AD 70 the Roman army reached the edge of the Temple area and began the destruction of the Temple once again. It was the following year, AD 71, on the same date when the Romans plowed the Temple mount.

…they will not leave in you one stone upon another… 

(Luke 19:44)

…Zion shall be plowed like a field,

Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins… 

(Micah 3:12)

In AD 135, a further Jewish revolt developed and was led by a Simon Bar Kochba. This rebellion was put down by the armies of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, and on the ninth of Av of that year over 500,000 were killed according to the Roman historian Dio Cassius

On the ninth of Av in 1290, King Edward 1 ordered the Jews in England to be expelled, and on the same date in 1492, Spain expelled over 800,000 Jews from the country. Again, on he same date in 1914, as Russia prepared for war, a persecution against the Jews began in that country as well.

The odds of all of these events occurring by chance on the same date in history are extremely small and gives evidence that perhaps chance alone was not the reason. Perhaps there is behind all of this a plan of which we may not be aware. In any case, this is an important date in Jewish history and in our history and is another reason why we should become a little more aware of dates mentioned in the bible.

Certainly it gives one something to think about.

Dr. Barclay's Bible Study - The Gospel of Mark Part 54

 

Dr. Barclay's Bible Study - 

The Gospel of Mark Part 54

Click here for video

Dr. Barlay with Something to Think About - THE CHURCH

THE CHURCH*

It is not unusual to hear people say that they are going to church on Sunday; or asking if someone had been to church lately. In essence, both of these statements are incorrect because the church is not a building to which one goes but rather we, being the church itself, are really the church going to a building in which to gather. So the church, being the congregation, in actuality, refers to the people of the congregation and has nothing to do with the physical building where the congregation meets.

Therefore, in reality, the church extends back to the time of the Old Testament and is not something that initially came from Christ. This gathering was originally known as the ekklesia which means “the gathering.” So when in the Bible a congregation is mentioned it is often a translation of ekklesia. For example:

…as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation [ekklesia] of the children of Israel… 

(Exodus 16:10)

Now, the word ekklesia is itself a translation of the Hebrew word “kehilah.” Kehilah refers to the congregation of Israel travelling through wilderness on its journey to the Promised Land. Thus, the church, or the ekklesia, may be considered the spiritual journey through the wilderness to the Promised land.

And as it has been stated, the Jewish people are known as the chosen of God.

For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, 

and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself… 

(Deuteronomy 14:2)

So, if the Israelites are a chosen people who are called the kehilah because of their journey through the wilderness, and since ekkelsia comes from kehilah which refers to a congregation and hence the church; then the church is in essence the new Israel - trekking through the wilderness of this world on the way to the Promised Land.

It’s just interesting to realize the church of God is the new Israel and again God’s chosen people.

Just a little something to think about.

*Adapted from The Book Mysteries by Jonathan Chan p.g. 182

Dr. Spencer Barclay - Aug. 9, 2026

 

Dr. Spencer Barclay - Aug. 9, 2026

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Dr. Barclay's Bible Study - The Gospel of Mark Part 53

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Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - LOT'S WIFE

LOT’S WIFE

Through the pages of the Bible we are told to remember many things; particularly as they relate to God’s love, His mercy, and the way in which He rescued the Hebrews from the land of Egypt. We are also told to remember His ordinances, rules, and commandments so that our lives may be full and pleasant. Christ also said to remember Him at the table of communion when He said:

“Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you;

do this in remembrance of Me.” 

(1 Corinthians 11:24)

But really nowhere else in Scripture does it state that we are to remember anyone else except in one place. In one of the shortest verses in the Bible we are told to:

Remember Lot’s wife. 

(Luke 17:32) 

Lot’s wife was the one who was turned into a pillar of salt after looking back during the flight from Sodom and Gomorrah.

But [Lot’s] wife looked back behind him, 

and she became a pillar of salt. 

(Genesis 19:26)

This event, however, was not the reason we are to remember her, for she did what many of us do each day. She had been told, along with Lot and his family, to flee the city; the culture that was enveloping it along with the punishment that would soon befall it.

Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain.

…lest you be destroyed. 

(Genesis 19:17)

But Abraham, who had not been told to avoid looking back, did so…

…and he saw…the smoke of the land which went up 

like the smoke of a furnace. 

(Genesis 19:28)

So why was Lot and his family given the instruction to avoid looking back?

There is some evidence that Lot and his family were reluctant to leave behind the life they had been leading. 

…the angels urged Lot to hurry…

And while he lingered, the [angels] took hold of his hand, 

his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, 

…and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 

(Genesis 19:15-16)

Lot saying: 

"Please, no, my lords!" 

(Genesis 19:18)

Examining Lot’s wife and her subsequent fate, was it just because she looked back that God punished her or was it because she was reluctant to leave her old life behind? The Hebrews, during their travels in the desert, often bemoaned the fate that had befallen them and stated on many occasions that they wished to be back in their old life in Egypt. Being thus ungrateful to God for what He had done for them, He prevented most of them from going into the Promised Land and they perished in the desert. Like wise with Lot’s wife, it seemed to be her reluctance to leave behind her old life that really was the cause of her demise.

And it seems to be no different with ourselves. When we are saved through grace we are to become…

…a new creation. 

…if anyone is in Christ…old things have passed away; 

behold, all things have become new. 

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

Therefore, one is not supposed to continue to look back with regret at their old life as the Hebrews did, but to constantly remember what God has done for them and look forward to their new existence, both here on earth and in eternity with Christ.

And that, in turn, is certainly something to think about.