Lessons From The Wilderness
02/13/05 AM
Text: Mark 1:1-15
[This lesson is adapted from several sources including The Teacher’s Commentary By Lawrence O. Richards, and The New Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Testament Volume, based on the work of Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown.]
INTRODUCTION
Papias, about A.D. 140, expressed the view of the early church about this, the shortest of all our Gospels. He wrote: “Mark, being the interpreter of Peter, whatsoever he recorded he wrote with great accuracy, but not however in the order in which it was spoken or done by our Lord.”
Like the other Gospel writers, Mark organized his material to achieve a specific purpose. In Mark’s case, this purpose was to introduce Jesus through a simple, vivid narrative, to converts from the Roman world. Writing in the blunt, ordinary language of the common people, Mark focused attention on Jesus’ acts (rather than His teachings). About half of the book is devoted to the last eight days of Jesus’ life.
I. JOHN’S PREACHING AND BAPTISM
A. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God
• This verse (without a verb) is a comprehensive title for Mark’s Gospel; it introduces this Gospel’s theme: the good news about (or, preached by) Jesus Christ, God’s Son.
• It is abrupt, but to the point, and characterizes the writer’s energetic style. As is implicit in this title, Mark was more intent on presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ than the biography of Jesus Christ. And so he quickly moves into the public part of Jesus’ ministry.
1. The beginning
a. The Bible records several significant beginnings.
1) The first verse of our Bible tells of the beginning of God’s creation (Genesis 1:1).
2) John speaks of the beginning before all beginnings, the timeless, eternal beginning, the beginning in which the Word was before all else. (John 1:1).
3) The Gospels of Matthew and Luke commence their accounts with Jesus’ genealogy, birth, and the beginning of his life on earth.
4) Mark, foregoing Christ’s genealogy and early life, immediately focuses the reader’s attention on the beginning of Christ’s message and ministry.
b. Some have thought that Mark did not include Christ’s genealogy because he was interested in presenting Christ as a servant—and a servant does not need a genealogy. His worth is proven by his work, not his pedigree.
c. Others have thought that Mark omitted the genealogy and instead used Christ’s herald (John the Baptist) to introduce his narrative because a herald’s announcement signaled the arrival of an eminent person more effectively and more immediately than a historical pedigree. Mark’s Roman audience, familiar with the function of a herald, would have appreciated the way Mark chose to introduce Jesus Christ.
2. The gospel
a. The Greek word means “good news.” It was only as followers of Christ applied the term to him and his teachings that it took on any special meaning.
b. After Justin Martyr (2nd century) the “good news” came to mean the actual written records of Jesus’ life, including Mark’s account.
c. When Mark wrote, however, it was necessary to qualify whom the “good news” was about. This was the whole story of Jesus, the Messiah: how he lived and died, what he taught, and where he went.
d. “It is in Mark’s Gospel that Jesus identifies ‘gospel’ so closely with his own person that the two are practically one entity”—see 8:35; 10:29 (Franzmann).
3. Jesus Christ
a. His human name is Jesus, and that is the name he went by on earth. It was a common Jewish name that meant “the delivering one.”
b. The historian Josephus mentions about twenty men by the same name, and ten of them lived at the same time as this Jesus. That is why Mark makes sure his readers know which Jesus he is talking about.
c. Messiah, or Christ, meant “the Anointed One” of God. There could be only one “Jesus, the Messiah.”
d. Throughout his short book Mark adequately portrays the human side of Jesus, alongside his uniquely divine character.
4. The Son of God
a. God’s Son. Mark is completely convinced this Jesus is the Son of God and he emphatically identifies him as such in his opening statement. (See also note on 15:39.)
B. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet
1. While Matthew and Luke made their connection with the OT by tracing Christ’s lineage through OT persons to Jesus Christ, Mark makes his connection by immediately citing OT passages that predicted the coming of Christ and his forerunner.
2. In 1:2 he quotes from Malachi 3:1 (and perhaps also from Exod. 23:20, LXX) and in 1:3 he quotes Isaiah 40:1. But he mentions only Isaiah’s name.
3. It may be that he was more familiar with Isaiah, or simply felt that Isaiah’s name was the one which his readers most often associated with prophecies about the Messiah.
4. The Malachi quote speaks of a messenger who will prepare the way for Jesus.
5. Both quotes refer specifically to verses 4-8, but in another sense, they introduce the theme of the entire book: Jesus the Messiah is the culmination of God’s plan for Israel and for the whole world.
C. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight
• The image is a picture of the man whose job it was to go ahead of the king in order to level and smooth out the roadway for the royal party. Spiritually speaking, that is exactly what John did for Jesus.
1. John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness
a. John probably preached in the Jordan valley north of Jerusalem.
2. preaching a baptism of repentance
a. i.e., a baptism accompanied by repentance.
b. That message was repentance, the turning of one’s back on sin.
1) Repentance involves a change in mind, a change in attitude, and an alteration of purpose.
2) Repentance is more than mere regret. It is not just being sorry for sin, but actually being sorrowful about it. The result is a complete change of mind and purpose.
3. for the forgiveness of sins
a. The baptism (accompanied by repentance) led to the forgiveness of sins.
4. v5 all the country of Judaea was going out to him—lit. “kept going out to him.”, and all the people of Jerusalem
b. John’s popularity is confirmed by historians (see Josephus’s Antiquities, 18.118).
5. were being baptized by him. . . confessing their sins
a. The confession of sin (and simultaneous repentance) accompanied their baptism.
6. v7, 8 John’s whole message is packed into this short sample.
a. God never intended him to have the prominent place in his plan to save man.
b. John’s job was to introduce Jesus, and he knew it. He was only a signpost that pointed to the coming Messiah.
c. see Matthew 3:1-12 and Luke 3:1-18, for both have much fuller accounts of his ministry than Mark’s very matter-of-fact sentence statement.
II. The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus
A. The Baptism
1. v9 Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee
a. Even Jesus traveled to the Jordan to be baptized by him.
1) To fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15)
2) To provide for us an example.
2. v10 …Spirit like a dove descending upon Him
a. The simile of “Spirit” and “dove” primarily indicates here that the Spirit of God’s descent was like the descent of a dove; the other meaning (and this is the one made explicit in Luke 3:22) is that the Spirit had a form like a dove’s.
b. This was the sign that confirmed to John that Jesus was the Messiah. “John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. “I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ “I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”” John 1:32-34.
3. v10, 11 …and a voice came out of the heavens: “Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased.”
a. The verb in Greek is a constative aorist; it expresses the Father’s constant delight and pleasure in his Son.
b. This declaration from the Father to the Son echoes the prophetic statement made by God through Isaiah: Isaiah 42:1 “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations”.
B. The Temptation
1. v12 And immediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness.
a. The word “sent” is from a strong verb meaning “drive out, expel, send away.” Mark used it to denote the expulsion of demons.
b. The thought is that of strong moral compulsion by which the Spirit led Jesus to take the offensive against temptation and evil instead of avoiding them.
2. v13 He was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan.
a. “Tempted” is a form of a word which means “put to the test, make trial of” in order to discover the kind of person someone is.
1) It is used either in a good sense (God’s testing, e.g., 1 Corinthians 10:13; Hebrews 11:17) or in a bad sense of enticement to sin by Satan and his cohorts.
2) Both senses are involved here. God put Jesus to the test (the Spirit led Him to it) to show He was qualified for His messianic mission. But also Satan tried to draw Jesus away from His divinely appointed mission.
b. The verb used in “being tempted” implies continuous action; Jesus was tempted constantly during the forty days.
c. The accounts of Luke and Matthew provide a fuller account of the ways in which Jesus was tempted, His defense, and His victory.
d. Jesus’ sinlessness (Hebrews 4:15) does not rule out the fact that He was actually tempted; in fact, it bears witness to His true humanity.
e. The tempter was Satan, the adversary, the one who opposes.
1) Satan and his forces are in constant, intense opposition against God and His purposes, especially Jesus’ mission.
2) Satan tempts people to turn aside from God’s will, accuses them before God when they fall, and seeks their ruin.
f. Because of the vocation Jesus declared in His baptism, He faced a confrontation with Satan and his forces.
1) At the outset Jesus established His personal authority over Satan. His later exorcisms of demons were based on His victory in this encounter.
2) Mark’s Gospel is the record of this great encounter which climaxed at the Cross.
III. Jesus Preaches In Galilee
A. Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God.
1. Jesus began His ministry in Galilee after John the Baptist was arrested by Herod.
2. v15. Jesus’ two declarations and two commands summarize His message.
a. The first declaration, The time is fulfilled, emphasizes the distinctive note that God’s appointed time of preparation and expectation, the Old Testament era, now stood fulfilled.
b. The second declaration, The kingdom of God is at hand, presents a key feature of Jesus’ message.
1) “Kingdom” (basileia) means “kingship” or “royal rule.”
2) Involved in the term is the sovereign authority of a ruler, the activity of ruling, and the realm of rule including its benefits Thus “the kingdom of God” is a dynamic (not static) concept that refers to God’s sovereign activity of ruling over His Creation.
3) This concept was familiar to the Jews of Jesus’ day. In light of Old Testament prophecy they were expecting a future messianic (Davidic) kingdom to be established on earth. So Jesus’ hearers naturally understood His reference to the kingdom of God to be the long-awaited messianic kingdom.
4) Jesus said God’s rule “is at hand” ( “has come near” or “has arrived”). But it was not near in the form the Jews expected. Rather it had arrived in the sense that Jesus, the Agent of God’s rule, was present among them. This was “the good news from God.”
B. The required response to which Jesus summoned His hearers was a double command: Repent and believe in the gospel!
a. To “repent” is to turn away from an existing object of trust (e.g., oneself, the world).
b. To “believe” is to commit oneself wholeheartedly to an object of faith.
c. Thus to believe in the good news meant to believe in Jesus Himself as the Messiah, the Son of God. He is the “content” of the good news.
d. Only by this means can one enter into or receive (as a gift) the kingdom of God.
CONCLUSION
The lessons from the wilderness are summarized in Mark 1:15.
Jesus is the Son of God; the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.
Invitation
