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

But notice, Mark is back to describing it from the point of view of God’s Word. God the Father is speaking. Now we’re looking at Jesus through the lens of God’s Words, and what we see is staggering glory.

That’s the announcement of Jesus’ inauguration as King. Now let’s look at the fulfillment. What happens next? Mark tells us what happens, but goes back to the human, natural point of view.

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

Does Jesus go from that spectacular inauguration and ride into Jerusalem on a white horse and take the throne? No, he gets sent out into the desolation where there is no food, lots of danger, and he is attacked by Satan for a month and a half. Bummer. That’s not very glorious. Now we’re back to seeing the old lady in the picture.

Conclusion: What Do You See?

We’ll see next week that Jesus testing in the desert really is a wonderful thing. But for now, I just want to ask you – which Jesus do you see? Last week I asked, in the drawing of the woman, how many see the beautiful young girl and how many see the haggard old lady? And I’ll ask the same question about Mark’s drawing of Jesus. When you look at his portrait, do you see the amazing Messiah? Or the nobody from Nazareth? Do you see the spectacular Son of God? Or the disappointing let-down from nowhereville? It all depends on whether you look through the lens of God’s Word.

And please understand – the two perspectives Mark gives us of Jesus are both accurate. This is where the analogy with the picture of the woman breaks down. That picture is two different, contradictory images. You can’t be a young girl and an old woman at the same time. But both pictures of Jesus are accurate. We will see Christ’s glory in his lowliness and obedience. Tonight we saw that his baptism was far more than it appeared, and next time we’ll really see that in his 40 days in the desert. (I can’t wait for that. We’re going to see some very important principles – if you can possibly make it next week, please try not to miss that one.) So his glory can be seen in his lowliness, but only if you look through the lens of God’s Word. That’s the only way to see Jesus through the eyes of faith. Otherwise, all the proofs and evidences of his glory will do is confuse you, which is exactly what happens throughout Mark. People are confronted with proof, and they walk away perplexed and confused about who Jesus is.

So much of our confusion in life comes from viewing the events of life through the lens of our natural, human perspective instead of seeing everything around us through the lens of God’s Word.

We struggle with doubt, because we live from the natural perspective. In that drawing of the women, when you see one image and you’re trying to switch over to see the other one, how do you do it? You have to look at certain features and focus your eyes on those with a certain mentality before you can see that perspective. I see the young girl, and after that, the only way I can get back to seeing the old lady is by focusing on the cheek and telling myself, “think of that as a nose.” Then the old lady emerges and the young girl disappears. I can’t see her anymore unless I focus on that same spot and say, “Think of that as the side of her cheek.”