How long it took Mary to come around

In Luke 1 and 2, Mary is more than willing to be the mother of the Messiah, but in her son’s public ministry she stood among those who thought Jesus Christ was insane and deranged.

When Jesus was out teaching in Mark 3, for example, Mary and His half-brothers were among those who, when they heard Christ’s words, thought He was “beside himself,” meaning mad in the head or off His rocker.

“They don't believe in Him and they're not believing what He's saying, and that’s why He says, ‘Hey, the people who aren’t my kinfolk are the people who believe me,’ ” explains Jordan.

“Mark 3:31:35 says, [31] There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.
[32] And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.
[33] And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?
[34] And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
[35] For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

“Another unmistakable rebuke is in Luke 11:27-28: [27] And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
[28] But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

“Now there's a verse somebody should ask anybody who wants to worship Mary about! This woman sees Christ and says, ‘Man, your momma is a wonderfully blessed lady,’ and Jesus says, ‘No, no, no, really the one who's blessed is the one who believes on me.’ ”

*****

“It’s not until Acts 1:14, when the ‘little flock’ of Believers is gathering in the Upper Room after the ascension of Christ, and before the Holy Spirit comes on the day of Pentecost, that Mary and the brothers come around.

“While Mary was willing to be the mother of the King, she didn't want to be the disciple of this despised Nazarene from Galilee, and she didn't want to stand with Him in that.

“Like I said,  every time Mary appears in the Bible—in her personal life, in her attributes and in the things she does—she represents not just herself individually, but is a picture of the nation Israel. She's a personification of what God is doing with the nation at large.

“They do come around, but it's just fascinating that it takes so long. In Mary’s life and those of ‘his brethren,’ they get this great start, then they fall away, but then they come back and get it in the end.

“Mary's life and the life of Christ’s brothers demonstrate that life of Israel—there's some sorrow coming for the nation, but for those who believe, in the end there's going to be this great glorious fulfillment of God's purpose.”

*****

Among the Book of Proverbs’ fascinating aspects is how both wisdom and folly are personified as women. When wisdom speaks, for instance, it’s in three different formats.

First she speaks in the city; in the streets to the leaders of the nation. Then she withdraws herself and talks in private. She builds herself a house and goes into her own chamber and talks to just the people who are willing to come into her house. And then she sends her emissaries out into the city to invite other people into the house.

“There’s going to come a time in Israel when Wisdom will cry in the streets and do what she does in the latter part of Proverbs 1 (beginning in verse 20), which is to talk to the religious leaders of the nation and say, ‘Come and repent because the wrath of God’s coming, and if you don’t get right and hearken to me, the wrath of Almighty God is going to destroy you,’ ” explains Jordan.

“When they don’t hearken, Wisdom cries again (in Chapter 8). It’s from her house that she cries and invites people, ‘Psst! C’mon over here, I want to talk to you!’ and they go in the house.

*****

“Of course, all of that is exactly what happens in the earthly ministry of Christ. He starts out publicly in the streets calling the nation to repentance. Then, in the middle part of His ministry, about Matthew 11 and 12, He withdraws, and just at the point in Matthew 12 when the Pharisees and Sadducees—the religious leaders—begin to develop a plot to kill Him, He withdraws Himself from them.

“In Matthew 16, Peter says, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus says, ‘You’re right; don’t tell anybody.’ Isn’t that strange?

“He goes up on the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James and John and is transfigured from them, and they see His kingdom glory and majesty and, as they’re coming down from the mountain, He says, ‘Now you guys have seen it, but don’t tell anybody.’

“Wait a minute! Before, they’d been going around saying, ‘Hey, He’s here! He’s here! Trust him!’ Now He’s saying, ‘Psst! Come over here guys. Let’s regroup.’

“When He does go outside to talk to people, He says, ‘From now on I’m only going to talk in parables so you guys can’t understand it. People in my house over here, they can understand it.’

“And He says ‘the kingdom’s going to be taken from you,’ meaning it’s going to be taken from the religious leaders of Israel and given to a nation that brings forth the fruit thereof.

***** 

"He says, ‘Fear not, little flock, it’s your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom,’ and He literally builds within the nation Israel a new nation; within the house of Israel, a new house. A house where wisdom’s going live.

“And then, as in Proverbs 1, He sends His spirit down on them and then He sends His emissaries out of that house in the early Acts period to cry once again and to entreat. And in Proverbs 9, they go out and say, ‘Hey, there’s dinner at home. Come and dine. All is ready.’

"You have parables in Matthew about the feast and the dinner that’s there, and you have them going out on the highways and in the hinterlands.

*****

“David personifies wisdom as a person, and when it speaks in Israel it’s going to follow this pattern so that when you get over to Matthew, and that generation that Proverbs 30 says is going to show up—there is a generation that does these things—when they show up, John the Baptist identifies them and then you see Wisdom cry in the streets, then go into the house, then send out the apostles and the ‘little flock.’

“It’s that prophetic sense that Proverbs 30:1 and 31:1 are talking about; in the day when Wisdom speaks in their midst that this book will come into its own.

“David gives four purposes the proverbs were collected together to accomplish. The first purpose, which is to know wisdom and instruction, is amplified in Chapter 1: 7-9. The second purpose, to perceive the words of understanding, is amplified in Chapter 1:10 to the end of chapter. The third purpose, to receive guidance in judgment and equity, can be found in Chapter 2. The fourth purpose is ‘to give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.’

“Beginning in Chapter 3, all the way down to the end of Chapter 9, or at least to the end of Chapter 7 (chapters 8 and 9 is a monologue where Wisdom speaks again), you have the focus on that fourth purpose.

“David was the most concerned . . . You know when you give your kids instruction, you got some things you want them to know about. You tell them to do this, this and this, and, ‘This one here, man, we need to talk about!’

“The most demanding one of these things—the one that David wanted Solomon to know the most about—is the one that God through David and Solomon wanted the ‘believing remnant’ in the last days to know the most about. The message was, ‘Have subtlety. Have the ability to know and have knowledge and discretion.’

“And that’s the reason that all through Chapters 3-7 . . . that’s where that stuff about that ‘strange woman’ comes up. That strange woman, folks, in Revelation 17, is that religious system.

“Part of the seduction is that thing in Revelation 2:14 and 2:20, where that woman Jezebel seduces the servants of God to commit fornication in the context of religion.

“What the Proverbs were going to do for Israel, and what they will do for the Believers in Israel, is give them the capacity to stay out of Satan’s trap and not step into the snare of the Adversary. That’s what Paul’s epistles do for us.”

(new article tomorrow)