AP

Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth, 1999

Let’s Study Mark was first published in 1999, but I have only recently been reading it. I know, I’m a bit behind the times but it still may be that you haven’t come across this gem yet. Or maybe, you have the book but have never read it (I know that this happens because I myself am now reading through books I purchased years ago).

The Let’s Study series is published by the Banner of Truth, and this one on Mark is the second one to see the light of day. It divides Mark’s Gospel into 73 sections, and can be used for your daily devotions (as I have done) or for group Bible Study. To help with the latter, there are 13 group Study Guides at the back of the book.

I found the book easy to read, with helpful explanations of the Bible passage under consideration and challenging applications. Let me give you an example of the latter from Mark 14:27-31. I was reading this during the COVID-19 lockdown, and, although Ferguson wrote the comments many years earlier, I found them helpful for these days.

Here, then are 4 principles by which every Christian should live:

1. Submit the whole of your life to Scripture. [See verse 27]

2. Focus on what God is doing in your circumstances. God is working out His perfect purpose in the midst of the chaos around you.

3. Trust your fellow Christians. They are saints not angels. Learn to live within the fellowship of failures knowing that Christ will never fail you. Jesus did not love Peter any less [despite what you read here].

4. Remember that all the enigmas of life will never be resolved until the final resurrection. Look beyond the present darkness to the dawning of that morning when the shadows will flee away.

Wherever you are on the pilgrim road of Christian discipleship, I am sure you will find this book useful to your spiritual growth. I heartily recommend it, along with the companion volume by Douglas J. W. Milne, Let’s Study Luke.

Let’s Study Mark

Sinclair B. Ferguson | The Banner of Truth
Paperback

Available at Reformers Bookshop