The Sovereign God Reigns (Mark 9:2-13)

This is an unusual time. I hope that you miss gathering with the body like I do. That you recognize what we are doing here is a poor substitute for the gathering of the body together. And in these times, it is easy to lose sight of God himself. It is easy to forget that the sovereign God reigns. We see a rogue virus wreaking havoc on the world. And we wonder if God is still in control. We see decision makers (government, business, and church leaders) making decisions that we may not agree with. And we wonder if God has indeed sovereignly placed them over us, and if the command to honor them still stands. It is easy to respond in these times with fear or foolishness. And it seems much harder in these times to see that the Sovereign God reigns. I believe it was the sovereignty of God that had me schedule this text for this Sunday a year ago. For in the text today, we are reminded of the absolute sovereignty of Jesus. Mark reminds us that Jesus is the Sovereign God to whom we should listen. And so, our challenge this morning is to See and listen to Christ.

The disciples finally came to a realization that Jesus is the Christ. But immediately after this, Jesus began to teach them plainly that since He was the Christ it meant that he would suffer, die and rise again. Not throw off Rome and take the throne as they thought. This was unthinkable to the disciples. This went against everything that they believed. So, Peter rebuked Jesus, he attempted to correct this bad decision. Jesus then made an even more disturbing statement. He said that if anyone would follow Him, they needed to take the same path. They needed to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Jesus. 

It would have been easy at this time to lose sight of God. It would have been easy at this time to become disheartened and discouraged. Their world was changing, and the disciples didn’t know what to do. Their leader was making a decision they thought was wrong and completely against the Word. How would they respond. Into this environment, Jesus inserts an event to remind the three leading disciples of who He is. And He reminds them that although He was not throwing off Rome and taking the throne, the sovereign God reigns.