Prepare Ye The Way.

PREPARE YE THE WAY.

Mark 1:1-8.

MARK 1:1. Mark entitles his account: “The gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” The word “gospel” means ‘good news.’

This is the good news concerning the Anointed Saviour of the world. He is no mere man: He is the Son of God. He is God become man in the Person of His own dear Son.

The good news is summarised in the words of the Apostle Paul: ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself’ (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:19).

MARK 1:2. Just before Jesus began His ministry, God sent John the Baptist to the River Jordan.

This was in fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy: ‘Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me’ (cf. Malachi 3:1).

MARK 1:3. The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the LORD;

Make straight in the desert

a highway for our God’

(cf. Isaiah 40:3).

MARK 1:4. John preached the “baptism of repentance.” Baptism is a dipping of the physical body into water. The baptism administered by John signified a turning away from sin and a turning unto God.

Every wicked act, every unguarded word, every wayward thought; every failure in our love towards God, towards His people, and towards our neighbours is SIN, and offends the LORD.

We must be aware how sin separates us from God, and turn away from it to Him, purposing in our hearts to be no more the servants of sin, but of the LORD who has loved us, and who is merciful to those who turn to Him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

MARK 1:5. For a while the people were content to submit themselves to the teaching of John, and crowds from all over Judah came down to the River Jordan to be baptised by him.

MARK 1:6. Clothed with camel’s hair and wearing a leather belt, and living on a diet of locusts and wild honey, John the Baptist came in the spirit of the prophet Elijah.

MARK 1:7. John was a popular preacher. Yet his preaching always pointed away from himself to Jesus. John’s commission was to prepare the way for Jesus, not to seek honour for himself: “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.”

It is good to follow the crowds who listen to the Gospel, but it is better to follow the Jesus whom we preach!

MARK 1:8. John spoke of another kind of baptism which Jesus would administer: the baptism with the Holy Spirit. There is the need to be inwardly ‘born again’ of the Spirit of God (cf. John 3:3-8).

God the Father is God for us: ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’ (cf. Romans 8:31).

God the Son is God with us: ‘They shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, God with us’ (cf. Matthew 1:23).

God the Holy Spirit is God within us. When you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, trust in Him, and repent of all your sins - then the Father and the Son come to dwell in your heart in the Person of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 14:23).