The ninth chapter of Mark is the last chapter where we see Jesus teaching his disciples in Galilee. After this chapter Jesus is going to head to Jerusalem to accomplish the purpose for which he came to the earth. These are the final teachings for his disciples before he goes to Jerusalem for his death. This is why we saw Jesus in chapter 8 plainly tell his disciples 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). The disciples rejected this idea and Peter vocalized that rejection by rebuking Jesus. But Jesus has to tell these disciples what is going to happen because it is going to happen soon.
Before we can examine our text today we also need to consider the framework of the Gospel of Mark. Remember when we started our study of Mark we saw that the author declared this gospel to be, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet” (Mark 1:1-2). We have seen that this gospel is revealing the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies and Isaiah’s prophecies frequently picture the Christ as the new Moses bringing about a new exodus for the salvation of the people. This is important to keep in mind as we come to Mark 9 where we read a truly amazing scene.
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