Mark 9

==mark 9:1:

And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.”

==mark 9:2:

After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them.

We have all had times on the mount, when we have seen things from God's standpoint and have wanted to stay there; but God will never allow us to stay there. The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong. It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up. We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all. We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle. Spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mount.
-Oswald Chambers; My Utmost for His Highest

==mark 9:3:

His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.

==mark 9:9:

Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Why Does Jesus Silence People Who Say Who He Is? (Mark 1)
Generally speaking, Jesus had to defer the full disclosure of his identity (cf. Mark 7:24, Mark 8:30, Mark 9:9, 30) because God’s Messiah was to die and be raised from death in order to be enthroned as the eternal Messiah-ruler (Acts 2:36; contrast with John 6:15). During the time of Jesus’s public life, there was, therefore, an anticipation of the ultimate disclosure of his unusual messianic identity (Mark 9:9) Historically speaking, popular Judaism at the time of Jesus expected a Davidic, political messianic king who would arise to liberate the Jewish people from Roman oppression and impurity. Various other forms of messianic expectation of Jews at the time of Jesus have also been noted,2 but these were not general or prevalent views. The heightened hope for a political messiah among Jewish people (esp. among the Pharisees; e.g., Acts 5:36–37) in the first half of the first century AD went hand in hand with a narrowing of OT messianic expectations (cf. the narrow focus on 2 Sam. 7:12–14, 16 in Second Temple Judaism; cf. 4QFlor [Dead Sea Scrolls] I, 11–13).
(Crossway; 2.1.26) READMORE>>>>>

Mark 9:35:
And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.

The emphasis is on desire. For seeking honor or place, the putting of self before the good of men and the glory of God, is the exact opposite of the spirit which is the law of Christ's kingdom, the spirit of love, of self-denial, of helpfulness of others, of humility. Therefore the more any one has of the desire to be first, the less he has of Christ's kingdom. So that the very desire to be first makes him last by the very nature of things. The self-seeking spirit belongs to Satan's kingdom, not to Christ's. It is the spirit of hell, not of heaven. It begets evils innumerable, and unspeakable sorrows. Ant Cesar aut nullus, ("either a Caesar or a nobody"), leads to crimes and wars. It was Milton's Satan who said, "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven." Ruskin's (1️⃣) last words with which he closes his volumes on Modern Painters are a noble commentary on this warning of Jesus: "I leave you to judge, and to choose between,...this wages and the gift of the morning star; this obedience, and the doing of the will which shall enable you to claim another kindred than of earth, and to hear another voice than that of the grave, saying, "My brother, and sister, and mothers."

1️⃣: Ruskin's (John Ruskin February 8, 1819–January 20, 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. Modern Painters (1843–1860) is a five-volume work by Ruskin)

This was written by Carley Evans from Grace Partners:
Jesus says that as we receive, accept, help, love a child in His Name, we simultaneously receive, accept, help and love Him. What we do for the least in God’s world we do for Him.
As we become “last of all and servant of all,” we come to reflect Jesus. Reflecting Jesus to others makes us first in the world.
Jesus tells His disciples that they have power over spirits, but He tells them not to rejoice in this power, but to be glad and grateful that their “names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10: 16)
He reminds them that though John the baptist is the greatest man ever born of woman, the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater.
Satan fell from heaven, and in the eyes of the world is the greatest ‘being’ here, ruling it firmly. Yet, the least in the kingdom of God is greater.

==mark 9:49:

For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.

==mark 9:50:

Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.”

If salt loses its saltness, while it may still look like salt, it certainly doesn’t taste like it, and what good is that? If you had such a salt in your kitchen, you’d probably throw it out, and you’d certainly never use it. So as Christians, if we stray from our faith, if we stop serving the Lord and start serving our own self-interest, we may still appear to be Christians, but we become useless.

God is not interested in using the Christian who is not living for Him. God doesn’t want us to be mere spectators in this world; He wants us to be part of His story. The Christian who does not stand up for Biblical truth and have a backbone is not capable of Kingdom work. “Have salt in yourselves,” Jesus said (Mark 9:50), “and have peace one with another.”
As Old Testament sacrifices were seasoned with salt, so should we be in our lives and relationships. If we’re living lives that are seasoned with salt, it should be obvious. Christians should stand out and stand up. -Hope Reflected

MARK 9