Extra Day: 50: Acts 1:1-11
Jesus Taken up into Heaven

The disciples returned to Jerusalem at some time towards the end of the forty days after the resurrection. As always, Jesus had a plan and told them that when they returned to Jerusalem they were not to leave the area but to wait to be given the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We are told by Luke that, eventually, Jesus led them out to the village of Bethany (where Jesus had been based during the week before his trial in Jerusalem) and that He ascended into heaven Luke 24:50. They then returned to Jerusalem to wait for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit.

Now you are on your own ! If being in Mark's Gospel for seven weeks has whetted your appetite to hear God speak to you and you want more then this series has been an answer to my prayers for you. So jump into Acts tomorrow and keep going. Let God Speak! Why not drop a comment or send me an email at hardy.dennis@gmail.com to let me know? 

Day 49: Matthew 28:16-20
Jesus’ Post-Resurrection Teaching

During the time in Galilee Jesus continued to teach them and to prepare them for the great mission of the church (called the Great Commission) to take Jesus’ salvation and teaching into the known and unknown world though Jesus proven method of making disciples (who are described in Mark 8:34-37). The mountain where Jesus had told them to go is possibly the landmark where he had always done his teaching outside Capernaum. 


This is officially the end of 49 days in Mark's Gospel. However there is one extra day tomorrow to help you launch off into your own daily readings. Why not drop in tomorrow if you have difficulty in getting it going ?

Day 48: John 21:1-14
Jesus Appears in Galilee. The Miraculous Catch

This account happened later when the disciples went to Galilee as they were told to (Mark 16:7). Altogether there were forty days between Jesus’ resurrection and his return to heaven (Acts 1:3) and he appeared to more than five hundred people at one time (1 Corinthians 15:5) as well as all the other personal accounts recorded in the gospels. We are not told why he wanted to meet the disciples in Galilee but all the remaining eleven disciples were from Galilee and this account seems to describe a very intimate and necessary time to remind these men of the good times they had experienced with him and a demonstration that he was a real person who could cook and eat fish. It was also a very important time for Peter.

 Day 47: Luke 24:13-49 and John 20:19-23
The Day of the Resurrection

These accounts all happen within the first day of the resurrection discovery. When national disasters happen the first day is often the most shocking as we hear and digest incomplete accounts of the news. One of the men, Cleopas, who first met Jesus on the road to Emmaus, is never mentioned anywhere else in the bible. The fact that they finally recognised Jesus when he ate bread with them either suggests that these two men knew Jesus well and that Jesus had broken bread on many occasions with them during his three year mission with the disciples. They could have been members of a wider group of seventy two men who went out to preach (Luke 10:1).

What is God saying to you today?

Day 46:
Mark 16:1-8 and Matthew 28:11-15
The Resurrection

Marks account of the resurrection becomes dis-jointed after verse 8 and the common view is that verses 9-20 have been added in by someone else later on. It is possible that an original ending written by Mark was lost.  To be honest no-one really knows why Mark's Gospel ends as it does but that does not affect the authenticity of the rest of the book.

Since the point of this guide is to focus on Jesus, and letting God speak, it does not really matter where we take the story of the resurrection from. The next few days take readings from Mark, Matthew, Luke, John and the Acts of the Apostles to try and leave a true historical account of the resurrection in your mind as you finish off this journey through the remarkable life of Jesus.

Try and put yourself in the place of these three women who were the first to discover the empty tomb! How would you have reacted to this unsettling event?

Let God speak to you about this first resurrection encounter and the attempted cover up described by Matthew. What effect has this had on you?

Day 45 Mark 15:1-47
The Trial and Death of Jesus

Mark’s description of the crucifixion is short and factual and can be read all the way though from the trial to the burial in one chapter. The Jewish way of counting hours is from sunrise (6am) to sunset (early evening). The third hour is 9am and so on. Crucifixion was a Roman punishment and was brutally painful and humiliating. It was unusual that Jesus died within 6 hours and that Joseph would be given permission to take away his body.

Read the whole of chapter 15 slowly and reflectively. 

Let God speak to you through it and
ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand why it was all necessary.

What impact has reading the account of the crucifixion of Jesus made on you?

Day 44: Mark 14:66-72 

Peter Disowns Jesus

This situation is all too familiar – the steady realisation that you are either going to have to say something important or remain silent. Since Peter was not the silent type he ended up denying Jesus. The fact is that a Galilean would normally be considered worthless amongst the people of Jerusalem (John 1:46 Nazareth was in Galilee) and Peter was well beyond his limits in this situation. It would not be long before he would stand up in Jerusalem and defend Jesus. (Acts 4:8) But for now he would have to live through his denial.

Think practically about the difference between Peter at this trial and Peter in Acts 4:8. Ask God to teach you lessons through this that you need to know.

Expect that you might face similar soul destroying situations because God allows this to happen.  What encouragement has God given you about this?