Jesus’ Baptism & The Eyes Of Faith - Mark 1:7-9 Series

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Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 It is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”— 3 “a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ” 4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and p All of you when you stop listening toreaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” 9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” 12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13 and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

Introduction

Two Angles

I told you that Mark writes with a paintbrush instead of a pen – he teaches principles by arranging the accounts of what Jesus did and said in a way that gives us a vivid understanding. And I mentioned last week that the portrait he paints of Jesus is like that picture I handed out last week where, if you look at it from one perspective, you see a beautiful young girl, and if you look at the same picture from another perspective you see a haggard old lady. Mark gives us a very similar portrait of Jesus. From one angle you see the awesome, authoritative, spectacular Son of God. From another angle you see a strange, confusing, disappointing man. The angle that shows you the glorious Son of God Is the angle of God’s Word. The angle that shows you the strange, disappointing man is the angle of natural, human observation.

And this particular text is gripping because Mark alternates between those 2 perspectives. He’s going to show us a prophecy and the fulfillment, then he’ll show us an announcement and its fulfillment. The prophecy and the announcement are both from the angle of God’s Word, and the fulfillments are both from the angle of human observation. So you have a huge, amazing prophecy, followed by a strange, surprising fulfillment. Then you have a spectacular, awesome announcement, followed by a strange, surprising fulfillment. I believe this is very purposeful, because Mark is teaching us that the only way to see the glory of Christ is through the eyes of faith. And those who look through natural eyes only become more and more confused. So let’s begin with the awesome prophecy. It’s John’s prophecy about the coming of the Messiah.

The Awesome Prophecy

Jesus is Mightier

7 And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

There are 3 parts to that. First, he says “After me will come one more powerful than I…” The phrase, after me was a way of referring to a disciple. Like when Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, he must take up his cross…” – that means “If anyone would be my disciple he must take up his cross…” So John is making a paradoxical statement: One of my disciples will be more powerful than I.

I made the point last week that for that to mean anything, John had to be extremely powerful. Because if anyone else makes that statement, it’s pretty much meaningless. If I said somebody is coming who is more powerful than I am, it could refer to any one of millions of people. Everyone knew that no one was more powerful than John the Baptist, so for him to make that statement was an awesome prophecy. Jesus performed mightier miracles (and more miracles) than John or anyone in history. And so this coming one will be greater than John, and not just a little bit greater.