Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Wednesday Evening Bible Study
Mark 1:1-15
- Mark 1:1-4
- The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. 3 A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight! 4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
- Mark starts the story of Jesus a long way back
- Doesn’t tell the birth of Jesus
- Doesn’t even begin with John in the Wilderness
- It begins with the dreams of the prophets long ago
- It began long, long ago in the mind of God
- In other words, this has been God’s plan all along
- Marcus Aurelius “The things of God are full of foresight. All things flow from heaven.
- It has been said that the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts, and so are the thoughts of God
- God is working His purposes out
- History is not random; it is a process directed by the God who sees the end in the beginning
- We are in that process, and because of that we can either help or hurt it
- We are either working in the will of God to see His outcome, or we are hindering it from getting done
- Make not mistake, it will get done, but we have a responsibility to be a part of the process
- The prophetic quotation that Mark uses is suggestive
- “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way.
- Originally from Malachi 3:1 and in its original context, it is a threat.
- Priests were failing at their duty
- Offerings were blemished
- Service in the Temple was a weariness to them
- The messenger was to cleanse and purify the worship of the Temple before the Messiah emerged
- So then the coming of the Christ was a purification of life
- Wherever Christianity comes in its pure form, it brings purification
- In other words, where Christ is allowed to come, the antiseptic of the Christian faith cleanses the moral poison of society and leave it pure and clean.
- Originally from Malachi 3:1 and in its original context, it is a threat.
- John came announcing a baptism of repentance
- Jews were familiar with ritual washings
- Leviticus 11-15 details them
- “The Jew washes himself every day because every day he is defiled”- Tertullian
- Symbolic washing and purifying was woven into every aspect of Jewish life and ritual
- Gentiles were necessarily unclean for they had never kept any part of the Jewish law
- When Gentiles converted to Judaism, they had to undergo three things
- Circumcision
- The mark of the covenant
- Sacrifice
- Only blood could atone for his sin
- Baptism
- Symbolized cleansing from all the pollution of his past life
- Circumcision
- When Gentiles converted to Judaism, they had to undergo three things
- John’s baptism was asking Jews to submit to that which only a Gentile was supposed to need
- John had realized (or told by God) that to be a Jew in the racial sense was not to be a member of God’s chosen people
- John’s baptism was accompanied by confession
- We must confess to ourselves
- Sometimes it is hardest to admit to ourselves that we have done wrong
- We must confess to those we’ve wronged
- We must confess to God
- The end of pride is the beginning of forgiveness
- We must confess to ourselves
- Jews were familiar with ritual washings
- We are either working in the will of God to see His outcome, or we are hindering it from getting done
- Mark 1:5-8
- 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 6 John wore a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, “One who is more powerful than I am is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
- Why did John have such an impact?
- He was a man who lived his message
- He stayed in the wilderness
- Between the center of Judea and the Dead Sea; and it’s one of the harshest deserts in the world
- In the OT it is referred to as Jeshimmon, or The Devistation
- He wore simple clothing
- Camel hair garment tied with a leather belt
- Reminded of the ancient prophets who lived close to the great simplicities and avoided the soft and comfortable luxuries which kill the soul
- His food was the food of the poor
- Locusts and wild honey
- Each could mean two different things
- Locusts
- Could be insects (the Law permitted them as food; Leviticus 11:22-23)
- Could be a kind of bean or nut, the carob which was the food of the poorest of the poor
- Wild honey
- Honey that the wild bees make
- Sweet sap from certain trees
- He stayed in the wilderness
- His message was effective because he told people what they knew in their hearts and what they were waiting on
- The Jews had a saying that ‘if Israel would only keep the law of God perfectly for one day, the kingdom of God would come’
- John was confronting them with a decision that they knew in their heart they ought to make (repentance)
- Plato said that education did not consist in telling people new things; it consisted in extracting from their memories what they already knew
- The people of Israel were well aware that for 3-400 years the voice of prophecy had been silent
- They were waiting for some authentic word from God
- The Jews had a saying that ‘if Israel would only keep the law of God perfectly for one day, the kingdom of God would come’
- His message was effective because he was humble
- “ I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of His sandal”
- Taking a position lower than the lowest slave
- “ I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of His sandal”
- His message was effective because he pointed people to something bigger and beyond himself
- “I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit”
- John’s one aim was not to occupy the center of the stage himself, but to try to connect men and women with the one who was greater and stronger than he; and they listened to him because he pointed, not to himself, but to the one whom we all need.
- He was a man who lived his message
- Mark 1:9-11
- 9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. 10 As soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.”
- Jesus’ baptism was four things
- It was the moment of decision
- In every life there comes moments of decision which may be accepted or rejected
- Jesus knew when John emerged that the moment of decision had come
- It was the moment of identification
- Jesus didn’t need to repent from sin
- There was a movement of people back to God, and Jesus chose to identify himself with that movement
- It was the moment of approval
- No one lightly leaves home and sets out on an unknown way
- In Mark’s telling of Jesus’ baptism, God’s voice talks directly to Jesus, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased”
- It was the moment of equipment
- He is equipped with the Holy Spirit
- It was the moment of decision
- Mark 1:12-13
- 12 Immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels were serving him.
- As soon as the joy of His baptism takes place, Jesus faces the battle of temptations
- The Spirit leads or drives Jesus to the wilderness to be tested
- In this life it is impossible to escape the assault of temptation; but one thing is sure—temptations are not always sent to make us fall, but to strengthen us
- Satan is the one who tempts Jesus
- Hebrew for Satan simply means adversary
- OT the word is used of ordinary human adversaries and opponents over and over
- I begins to mean one who pleads a case against a person
- The task of Satan was to say everything that could be said against anyone
- The other title for Satan is the devil
- Greek for diabolos
- In the OT, Satan is still an emissary of God and not yet the malignant, supreme enemy of God. He is the adversary of human beings
- In the NT, we find that it is Satan or the devil:
- Behind human disease and suffering (Luke 13:6)
- Seduces Judas (Luke 22:3)
- Whom we must fight (I Peter 5:8-9; James 4:7)
- Power is being broken by the work of Christ (Luke 10:1-19)
- Who is destined for final destruction (Matthew 25:41)
- Satan is the power which is against God
- Here we have the whole essence of the temptation story
- God is saying take His love to mankind, even if it ultimate takes you to the cross and death
- Satan is saying conquer mankind with your power and obliterate your enemies
- God says set up a reign of love
- Satan says set up a dictatorship of force
- Mark’s vividness
- The animals were His companions
- Leopard, bear, wild boar, and jackal would have been common in this area
- “On that day I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the creatures that crawl on the ground…” Hosea 2:18
- Angels attended Him
- When Elisha and his servant were trapped in Dothan, Elisha opened his eyes to the horses and chariots of fire that belonged to God that surrounded their enemies
- Jesus was not left to fight His battle alone—and neither are we
- The animals were His companions
- Mark 1:14-15
- 14 After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God: 15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
- Three great, dominant words of the Christian faith
- Good News
- Truth (Galatians 2:5; Colossians 1:5)
- Hope (Colossians 1:23)
- Peace (Ephesians 6:15)
- Promise (Ephesians 3:6)
- Immortality (II Timothy 1:10)
- Salvation (Ephesians 1:13)
- Repent
- The Greek word metanoia literally means a change of mind
- We are apt to confuse two things—sorrow for the consequences of sin and sorrow for sin
- Real repentance means coming not only to be sorry for the consequences of sin but to hate sin itself
- Repentance means that anyone who was in love with sin comes to hate sin because of its exceeding sinfulness
- Believe
- Jesus calls us to believe the good news that He is preaching
- Good News
Thoughts from a Crosseyed Jesus Freak 