Introducing Jesus Christ Part 2
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Last week we covered significant background information to the book of Mark, and then we covered that first verse.
The good news about Jesus the Christ the Son of God.
Last week we noted how audacious of the claim that this is. As C.S. Lewis famously once said,
He is either a liar, a lunatic, or he is Lord.
Mark intends to show you exactly who this man is. And the presentation demands a response.
Mark wants to get us into the meat of the story quickly. He wants to show you who Jesus Christ his, the authority that he has, and what it looks like to follow him.
Even in this introductory section, the way of the Messiah is set up with how God prepared Christ for His ministry.
Today we see two initial aspects of the Way of the Messiah. We will see how the way of prepared, and how the way was proclaimed.
Let’s begin with the preparation of the way of the Messiah.
2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’ ”
We see that there is a forerunner to Christ who was to come, whose purpose was to prepare the Way for Christ.
1. Christ’s Way was Prepared
--John was Prophesied
--John Proclaimed the Coming
--Christ was Presented
--Christ was Preserved through testing
This passage is from two OT texts: Isaiah and Malachi.
3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
These prophecies were fulfilled by the one who is known as John the Baptist.
The Malachi quotation is of particular interest. Later in the book of Malachi, it was noted that this forerunner, this messenger, was to be Elijah.
There was a day of Judgement coming, and Elijah was going to come and turn the people back to the Lord.
John the Baptist bursts onto the scene in the Spirit and Power of Elijah and he is the voice of one crying in the wilderness, he is the fulfillment of this prophecy.
This should bring us great comfort. When God says he will do something, He does it! He said he would send a messenger ahead of the Messiah, and He does it!
John was prophesied.
Let’s look at the ministry of John and how He proclaimed the coming of the Messiah. John’s role was to prepare the people for her Messiah. How did he do that?
4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
John appeared. The one who was prophesied who would prepare the hearts of the people has come. As much as the ministry of John was anticipated, his role was to point to the people to someone else.
John came baptizing. We typically think of baptism as a distinctly Christian thing. There were baptisms in those days, even before John, but they looked different and served a different purpose than what we think about.
Jews were seldom baptized. Baptism was for gentiles who converted to Judaism and needed to go through special ritual cleansing to be considered a part of the covenant community.
So for John to come along and command the Jews to repent and be baptized would have sounded very strange. Especially considering that this was a time where the leaders of the Jews actually seemed like people who wanted to follow the Law of the Lord. The Jews had been disciplined for hundreds of years for their idolatry and they finally seem to get it: Worship God alone. Follow his commands. And now John comes out here and says repent! YOU Be baptized! You need to be cleansed!
It’s important to note that John’s message was fundamentally one of repentance. We understand baptism to be an outward sign of an inward reality, and that is no less true here. We could translate this baptism because of repentance, or a baptism that results from repentance. Baptism is symbolized or representative of genuine repentance in the hearts of the people.
We must ask the question. What is repentance?
Repentance has sadly become a source of controversy within Christianity. Some claim that repentance is not necessary for salvation. Other insist that repentance is a necessary work that we must do in order to come to God.
The word in isolation means to change ones mind. You were thinking one way, but then you changed your mind and came to think another way.
The word for repentance is often used in context where the listeners are encouraged to turn from one way of thinking to another. So the idea of turning or changing directions is connected to the concept of repentance.
Some have wondered about the connection of repentance and faith. It’s best to view them as two sides of the same coin. Repentance is a turning away from a false belief system and faith is turning to the one true God. Both are necessary, and neither are a work.
Though repentance is not a work itself, it does result in a change of behavior in some way.
Allow me to illustrate. If I leave here and drive to 10th street and take a right, believing that will take me to 265, I have a wrong belief and it’s taking in bad direction.
If someone tells me, hey, your’re going the wrong way, 265 is the other way. Repentance is changing my mind about direction I’m going. It’s acknowledging that I am going the wrong way. Faith is trusting the words of the person who informed me, and my change of mind is going to result in my turning the car around and driving the other way. If stay the course, it may legitimately be asked if I believed the other person or if I changed my mind in any way at all.
Here, in John’s ministry, he was calling people to repentance, and that repentance was to be demonstrated in a public profession of a need for God’s cleansing. So they were baptized.
John was helping the people understand their need for cleansing, thus preparing their hearts for the one who could ultimately cleanse them: Jesus Christ.
And look who was going to him:
VS 5-6
All the country of Judea and all Jerusalem!
I cannot help but ask why the interest?
Why was everyone coming to see this man who wore camel hair and ate bugs?
Let’s think about the context of the people.
The OT ends with the book of Malachi. This was the last of the OT books to be written. It comes after the Jews had returned from exile to the Babylonians and had lived back in their homes for a number of years.
Nehemiah had come and rebuilt the walls of the city, the temple had been rebuilt, and the people of God were following the Lord alone and not falling into idolatry and immorality, etc. right?
WRONG. Despite all that the Lord had done for these people, they continued in sin and failed to honor the Lord and Malachi was written as a warning.
God says “I’m not pleased! You are not living as you ought!” He calls the nation to repentance and promises judgment on those who continue in their sin. God promises to visit his people but warns that if they do not repent His coming will be in judgment. God says he will send Elijah to come and prepare the way for His coming. And then that’s it.
That is the last prophetic word that is spoken for over 400 years.
400 years!
If you read through the OT it seems that God always had His prophets in place, throughout all the good and bad times.
And all the sudden, no prophet. No Word from the Lord. Nothing.
Not for 5 years, ten years, 50 years. 400 years.
And they weren’t peaceful years. There was incredible persecution.
After the Persians were overthrown by Alexander the Great, one of His generals desecrated the temple by sacrificing a pig on it, which was an abomination to the Jews. This led to revolt and many Jews died. They gained some freedom, only to have Rome swoop in and establish their rule.
Through it all, the Jews had some times of relative freedom, but they were always subject to some foreign Kingdom and were frequently severely treated. All this time, the people wondered:
Where is the Messiah?? Where is a Word from the Lord? Why is He silent? Where is the prophet? Where is Elijah?
And then finally, after all this time, there is a prophet in Israel. John is preaching in the wilderness. But is he the prophet?
We are familiar with the saying “if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, its probably a duck”
Well, John... he looks like a prophet. Camel hair and leather belt. these details are intended make us think of Elijah, who was described in the same way. He’s out in the wilderness, so he probably smelled like a prophet.
But, most importantly, he talks like a prophet. Here is one sent to prepare the way for the Lord. His message? The same message the was proclaimed by Malachi: Repent!
And so the people, longing for a genuine Word from the Lord, hungry for the coming of the Messiah, flocked to hear John and many obeyed this prophet and repented of their sins and were baptized as an outward profession of what had taken place internally.
But John’s message was not about himself. He was not a self-serving prophet. Those who claim to be prophets today, if you listen to them long enough, they are self-serving prophets. They line their own pockets with the money of their followers.
Biblical prophets did not do that. John’s message was very focused on someone else.
John’s Message VS 7-8.
John’s message could be summarized by two statements.
It’s not about me.
His baptism is better.
John says it’s not about me. I’m not even worthy to untie his sandals!
This is good for us to remember. When we are telling others about Jesus, or are serving people for the sake of Christ, we must remember that it isn’t about us. It’s not about you.
If you are serving for sake of getting the attention of man, you are pointing people to the wrong person!
John pointed people forward to the Work of Christ. We get to point people backward, but to the exact same thing. The work of Christ.
John says “I baptize you with water that symbolizes your repentance, there is a better baptism coming.”
One of the most significant promised found in the OT concerning the coming Messiah was about a New Covenant.
As part of this NC, God promised to give new hearts to the people. They have hearts of stone, but God will give hearts of flesh. He will put a New Spirit within them.
That promised was to be fulfilled through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Ministry of the Holy Spirit worked powerfully throughout Jesus’ ministry and the defining mark of all who follow him now is the presence of the Holy Spirit indwelling the believer.
Jesus’ ministry will be marked by the mighty empowerment of the Spirit and ultimately the ongoing ministry of Christ through his followers is carried out in the power of the Holy Spirit.
John says, that’s the one you need to watch for.
John prepares the people by showing them their own need for cleansing, and then pointing them to Jesus Christ, the only who can actually cleanses them and give them the Holy Spirit.
John proclaimed the coming of the Messiah.
Mark establishes the prophecy and preparatory work of John the Baptist.
It’s time for the real hero to enter the scene.
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately 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.”
Christ is presented here, not as just another prophet, not as just a wise teacher, not as just someone to look up to.
Here we have the testimony, not of John the baptist, but of God himself. You are my beloved Son. Can you imagine what that must have sounded like? Can you imagine the awe of the people who would have been there?
Jesus’ baptism often raises questions. John’s baptism was one of repentance. Jesus was God in human flesh. He was perfect. He didn’t need to repent. He didn’t need to be cleansed. What is he doing being baptized?
He is identifying himself with John’s message. Later Jesus is going to call people to the same thing that John did: repentance.
He is identifying himself with the sinful humanity he came to save. Though He needed no cleansing, he would one day take the place of sinful humanity.
Finally, it is through this act that serves as an authentication of Christ as the Messiah. It was here that God makes the powerful assertion of who Jesus Christ is. It is here that Christ is initially presented as THE Christ. He is the Messiah.
Well, in typical Markan fashion, he doesn’t linger long here. Immediately Christ is driven into the wilderness.
12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.
Here we see God’s preservation of Christ in the midst of His temptation. This whole section is about the preparation of Christ.
The wilderness represents of the place of God’s preparation. God preserved and prepared Moses for 40 years in the wilderness. God preserved and prepared Israel for the promised land for 40 years in the wilderness. God preserved and prepared Elijah in wilderness.
Here is Jesus the Christ. He is preserved and prepared for His public ministry for 40 days in the wilderness.
The wild animals show the isolation and danger. But God’s servants the angels minister to Him there.
So often God prepares His people through wilderness experiences. Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of that. He is the ultimate Israelite. The ultimate Moses. The ultimately prophet. The ultimate man.
The way of Christ. It has been prepared. John prepared the way. God presented Jesus as the Christ. He preserves Him through testing in the wilderness.
It’s time.
Nothing more needs to be accomplished. Jesus must begin His public ministry.
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
2.Christ’s Way was Proclaimed by the Messiah
--The Right Time
--The Right Kingdom
--The Right Response
We see that Christ comes at the right time. The time is fulfilled. No more waiting. The Messiah has come!
It’s the right time. It’s the right Kingdom.
The Kingdom of God is at hand. This phrase “is at hand” can also be translated “has come near”
The grammar of the verb indicates that the focus is on the present reality of the action. The Kingdom is near. This is the beginning of the arrival of the Kingdom of God!
The coming of the Kingdom implies several things. Alva McClain wrote a book called “the greatness of the Kingdom” where he argues that the Kingdom of God is one of the central themes of Scripture.
In there he writes about how a Kingdom must have three elements. There must be a King with adequate power and authority. There must be subjects of the King. And there must be the actual rulership of the King over His people.
Here Christ announces the arrival of the Kingdom. Here and other places, Jesus speaks of the Kingdom as a reality that has begun. The Kingdom of God is at hand, its right there.
The way Jesus speaks of the Kingdom is worth noting. On one hand, he talks about it as though it has come right there to them in their midst. In one text Jesus says “If I cast out demons by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20). This Kingdom is not something that built by human hands, but it is something that God establishes.
But on the other hand, there are times when He speaks of the Kingdom as a future reality. He speaks of the Kingdom as a time when there will be a physical expression of if on the earth.
This understanding of the Kingdom, that there are aspects that are with us already, band yet there are things that are not yet but are still to come, is consistent with how the apostles speak of the Kingdom in Acts, and how Paul speaks of the Kingdom in other places. On one hand, those who trust in Christ are in the Kingdom now as Col 1:13 says “13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,”
And yet, there are aspects that still future, when Christ shall establish His rule physically over all the earth.
Misunderstanding this dynamic of the Kingdom has led to some awful abuses. People throughout history has sought to establish the physical aspect of the Kingdom through human means. Even today there are those who believe that we as believers are to usher in the Kingdom by converting enough people to Christianity and setting up a Christian government.
What they miss is that God is one who establishes and builds His Kingdom. We cannot. We get to proclaim the Kingdom. We get the blessing of engaging in Kingdom works. But we cannot build it. God builds it.
But he doesn’t build it with swords. It doesn’t come with guns. It doesn’t come with political maneuverings.
It comes with the King. It comes with an offer to enter into it. Not through paperwork. No by asking for asylum.
We enter the right Kingdom through the right response:
Jesus declares “Repent and believe the good news.”
John preached repentance. He pointed forward to Christ.
Jesus preached repentance. He called for faith in himself.
The apostles would later preach repentance. They pointed back to Christ.
We today must preach repentance as well, pointing people to Jesus Christ.
One commentator wrote
“The call to repentance will never become obsolete until human sin has been completely vanquished.”
This is message that was central to Jesus’ ministry. He was prepared for this task. He was prepared for this message. This verse serves as a summary of Jesus’ entire ministry. Everything we read moving forward is going to connected to this summary theme.
And all of us must come to grips with what it means to repent and trust in Christ. What does it mean to follow Him?
Jesus isn’t interested in half-hearted followers. Are you in the Kingdom or out?
As the book unfolds we will find a picture what it means to follow Jesus. His way is the way of service. It’s the way of self-sacrifice. This is going to find it’s ultimate expression in His death on the cross. It is only through trusting in him that we enter the Kingdom.
Will you repent and trust in this servant king?
This is a question not only to unbelievers but for believers. We all have sin in our lives. If you know Christ and are already part of His Kingdom, we don’t get a free pass to live however we want. We ought to desire to live as citizens of His Kingdom. Trusting in Christ means we trust as His ways are better than our own and that when he calls us to holiness he does so with our interest at heart.
Will you repent and trust in this servant King?