Christ declared Himself as Lord of the Sabbath, not the substitute for it. He made us a kingdom of priests (Exo 19:6, Rev 1:6, 1Pet 2:9). It is the duty of his church to protect, guard (‘shamar’) the holiness of the Lord’s Day against profanation (Dt 5:11). We need to pay attention to the fact (‘zakar’) that God made it a special day (Ex 20:8).

Mark introduces a thematic connection between the first Adam and the Second Adam. The ministry of Jesus Christ is presented as a reversal of the catastrophic ministry of the first Adam.
Adam, Paradise, and Blessing
Before sin, paradise was a sanctuary, a temple-garden.
As king, Adam guarded (shamar) the garden. In the Pentateuch, his term describes the guarding of the holiness of God’s sanctuary against profanation.
Adam served the Lord as priest by his ‘work’ and his ‘care’ (Gen 2:15). In the Books of Moses, this word pair always points to the framework of the Levitical priesthood.
As prophet Adam, proclaimed the Lordship of God over all creation.
Adam’s world would move forward to consummation when time and space of this dispensation would become eternity. In Meredith Kiline’s word: “During this preconsummation (sic) earthly history the weekly Sabbath sign would point the way … and man would enter with joy into the eternal seventh day of the Creator’s Sabbath.” The institution of the Sabbath rest in paradise pointed forward to the eternal rest of the consummation. If Adam fulfilled the demands of the covenant of works, there was the promise of life beyond this world.
There was the threat of death if Adam did not fulfil his obligations under the covenant of works. To cite Louis Berkhof: “For Adam, under the covenant of works (before he fell in sin), heaven was a place he had to earn.”
At the tree of knowledge, Adam had to exercise prophetic and royal discernment between right and wrong in the light of God’s covenant.
He failed in his mission, and forfeited his position as king, priest, and prophet.
This tragic background takes us to the introduction of Mark’s Gospel.
Christ, the Second Adam
The Gospel of Mark introduces Jesus as “Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mk 1:1). ‘Jesus’ is his name—Saviour (Mt 1:21), ‘Christ’ is his title and office—the Messiah, and ‘Son of God’ describes his deity. He is king, prophet and priest.
The second Adam introduced a new creation. Like at the beginning (Gen 2:7), the Holy Spirit was at work; He came upon Mary and she conceived (Lk 2:35) and He announced Christ as the Son of God (Mk 1:11). Mark’s Good News is about the Second Adam!
Christ and the Sabbath
Did Christ as the Second Adam still need to meet the stipulations of the covenant of works? The fulfilment of the probation under the covenant of works would give Adam entitlement to the eternal Sabbath rest.
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Pray that the Church Would Live up to Its Spiritual Status as Victors in Christ Over Sin
Jeremiah refers to the Lord’s people’s “crown” (Lamentations 5:16). The crown was their exclusive privileges in church and state, which they had beyond other people on the earth. God’s people are a royal people beyond all nations. All others are drudges to their own lusts, but God’s people are kings and conquerors, triumphing over principalities and powers, the world, and their own lusts and passions.
Use your spiritual privileges then, and be a crowned king over all that opposes you. Otherwise the royal crown will be taken off your head and you will be made an outcast. “The crown is fallen from our head” (verse 16). Of all men the most contemptible are you whom God would lift up and yet you are determined to make yourself base. Therefore, enjoy your kingship over sin, Satan, the world and your own lusts, in order that one day a crown of perfect gold may be set on your head.
Pray for a True Sense of Sin
The Lord’s people in Jeremiah’s time said, “Woe unto us, for we have sinned” (verse 16). Here they acknowledge that sin was the cause of all their misery and disgrace. Sin is the cause of all the trouble that comes on us. It defaces all our privileges and makes a people the tail and not the head (Deut. 28:44). If it was not for sin, God’s people would not need to lose their blessedness with anything.
The church cries, “Woe to us that we have sinned,” and not, “Woe unto us that we are miserable.” Sin is a greater evil than any misery, if only we were conscious of it, for we may blame ourselves and our sins for all our misery and for the feeling of our misery. Misery should turn all our grief against sin. If you tend to cry, “Woe is me because of my affliction,” learn to say instead, “Woe is me because of my sin.” Be more sorry for sin than for the judgment it has drawn down on you.
Pray for an Appropriate Dread of the Consequences of Our Personal and Collective Sin
“For this our heart is faint,” they say (verse 17). The reason for their grief and faintness of heart is both that God’s temple, which was the place of their comfort, is laid low and desolate and waste, and also that they were the ones who had moved God to cast it down. Now it has become a den for foxes and other wild animals. It shows that people’s sins not only draw wrath on themselves but also on the church and commonwealth of which they are members. So, in order not to bring a plague on church and state, put away sin.
Pray for a Sympathetic Attitude for the Troubled Church
Their grief is “because of Zion” (verse 18). We should be more grieved for the church drawn on by sin than for any other cause. The church’s grief should go nearer our heart than our own. If we lay God’s glory to heart, we will be more grieved for the evils that have come upon the church than anything that can happen to ourselves.
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The United States is a society of abundance, we tend to often be quite indulgent as well. Indeed, we live in a breeding ground for belly-worship. Our society places very few limits on our consumption of stuff, so we are left to our own self-discipline and self-control. Of course, I believe that this freedom is better than the alternative, but such freedom undeniably reveals the truth of humanity’s sinful nature.

their god is their belly
Philippians 3:19 ESV

What does Paul mean by belly here? The stomach or appetite, as some translations read, represents our instinctual and base-level desires, our hungers, cravings, and lusts. For the ancients, the belly was the most animalistic part of all humans, and we tend to agree with them, even is subconsciously. After all, how often do you have a gut-feeling about something? Do you ever question whether or not you should just go with your gut? Have you ever felt the fluttering in your gut while in the throes of infatuation? Our gut is our primal nature, working beyond the confines of logic and reason and, because of sin’s corruption, always longing for things forbidden. For this reason, we must learn the twin arts of self-control and self-discipline, teaching our head how to keep the stomach on a leash. Christians are especially charged to do this.
But not so for these enemies of the cross. Instead of treating the gut’s cravings with a proper amount of skepticism, they elevate it into their god. Does this mean that they hold formal worship services to their own stomachs? Probably not. But worship is not exclusive to churches, temples, synagogues, mosques, and the like. Worship is simply devotion, a life dedicated to one’s deity. To worship a god is to obey it, follow it, yield to it, and serve it. Because we know the one true God, who created all things, and we know that He has love and grace toward us beyond measure, we Christians joyfully offer up our lives as worship toward the God of the Bible. Our Sunday gathering is a piece of our worship, a highly significant piece but a piece, nonetheless.
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