Every gospel writer has his angle. Matthew wants us to see Jesus as the King of the Jews; Luke wants us to see Him as Son of Man and John as Son of God. Mark, the subject of our Sunday evening services for the next few months wants us to see Him as the Servant of the Lord, as the Messiah, the Messenger of Jehovah promised from Old Testament times.
I like Mark. I like him because he first introduced me to Jesus. When I was a young Christian, my wife gave me a booklet by John Blanchard entitled “Read, Mark, Learn.” And I did just that. Each day I read a portion of Mark and learned something about Jesus. I will always be appreciative of that little book.
I like Mark because he doesn’t beat about the bush. He gets straight to the point. He tells it like it is. He gets to the heart of the matter. So when we open up his gospel he doesn’t take us to Bethlehem. There are no angels, wandering stars, shepherds or wise men. Not because these things are unimportant, but because he wants to get right to the meat, as it where. He wants to start where it all began for him, (or rather Peter, as this is really Peter’s account, which mark recorded – one ancient writer refers to this gospel as the Memoirs of Peter). Mark concerns itself with what Jesus did. This gospel wants us to understand that He came as the Servant of Jehovah, to both serve and sacrifice. And so, its focus begins by bringing us to the banks of Jordan, the place of Christ’s baptism, and the moment where that great eternal service first began, what Mark terms, “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
So how does Mark see the outset of Christ’s coming unfolding?
I. A Prophecy – vss 1-3
A. Two prophecies in fact.
1. In verse 2 we have a quotation from the book of Malachi 3:1.
a. Malachi, of course is the last book of the Old Testament, and between Malachi and Matthew there are 400 years of silence.
b. God has not spoken a Word.
c. But now, out of nowhere a man has been sent from God, a man referred to by Malachi as “my messenger”. That man is John the Baptist. Look up Malachi 3:1.
d. The messenger sent before to prepare the way of the Lord was John the Baptist, who came in the spirit of Elijah heralding the arrival of the Messiah.
e. The “messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in,” is the Lord Jesus Christ.
f. Now it is significant that Malachi portrays the Lord coming to His Temple… but why? Well, hold on to that thought and we will come back to it in a moment.
2. In verse 3 we have the second prophecy cited by Mark – Isaiah 40:3
a. Let us look there.
b. Think about what the prophet is saying, he speaks of the voice of one crying in the wilderness (hold that thought) and his cry is “Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
c. That’s it. You want proof that Christ is God, that he is Jehovah? Well, here it is, the messenger sent before Christ, John the Baptist, goes before him to prepare the way for Jehovah: To prepare a meeting with God.
d. How was this preparation made?
II. A Practice – vss 4-5
A. John was the Baptizer.
1. That is what he was primarily known for. He was a Baptist, not in the denominational sense of that word, but in the practical sense.
2. Baptism is not unheard of in Judaism.
a. In fact before John came Jews then, as now, baptized proselytes, converts to Judaism, by full immersion.
b. Converting Gentiles, under the watchful eye of a Rabbi, submerged themselves in water and in so doing they signified a change in their lives, a change of direction, a change of identity a change in relationships.
c. In that regard baptism, even as it is practiced in the Christian church has changed little in its purpose – it makes the same essential statements.
B. But there was something unique about John’s baptism.
1. John wasn’t baptizing Gentiles, he was baptizing Jews in what is termed a baptism of repentance.
2. Unlike Christian baptism, which looks back at the work of Christ and the moment of conversion – John’s baptism was preparatory to the coming of Christ – it marked an inner change that was necessary before forgiveness could be granted.
3. Mark calls it, “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.”
a. Of course John was in no position to grant the forgiveness of sins – that is God’s doing, but Christ would come granting such forgiveness, and so in anticipation of His soon appearing John called men to prepare ye the way of the Lord, by turning from sin and looking toward the coming of the Saviour.
C. Now notice again the word “wilderness”.
1. Isaiah predicted, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness” and now in fulfillment of that prophecy John arrives on the scene baptizing “in the wilderness”.
2. This is the place appointed for men to first meet with God’s Messiah, and do want to know why?
3. Many years before the presence of God, provoked by the idolatry of men, walked out of the Temple in Jerusalem and headed out into the wilderness.
a. Ezekiel 11:22-23.
1. The glory of God departed from the temple in Jerusalem, moving from the cherub over the ark in the Holy of holies. To the threshold of the house, to the inner court, them to the outer court, then rising up the Mount of Olives and departing into glory.
2. From that day forward God’s glory never returned to the temple in Jerusalem.
b. From that moment to the time that Jesus arrives God’s presence is no longer dwelling with men.
c. Now John baptizes on that same wilderness to the east of Jerusalem, and there Christ picks up the story where Ezekiel left off.
d. There, in the wilderness, all these years the presence of God has been patiently awaiting the time when He would reveal himself manifest in human flesh – God is ready to dwell with men again, and men must make themselves ready to dwell with God.
III. A Person – vss 6-7
A. Before we meet Jesus, Mark, first introduces us proper to John.
1. He describes his dress, his diet and his demeanour.
2. Now these are not mere incidentals – Mark is not writing like a junior hack on a local rag describing the eveningwear of some socialite at a ball.
3. No, the dress of John is important. It tells you something about him, and his role in the plan of god.
B. You see John was of the priestly line, you might recall his birth was pronounced to his father Zacharias whilst he was ministering at the temple.
1. John didn’t come, however, wearing the splendid waistband of Israel’s priests, nor was he dining as priests did of the meat of the sacrifices – no he was dressed in “camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey.”
2. You see he wants to be known as a prophet and not a priest and in so doing he consciously modeled himself on Elijah of old.
a. 2Kings 1:8
b. Like Elijah, John wore rough clothing and lived by what the desert provided.
c. But why? See Mark 9:11-13
d. Had they received Christ, John would have served as the fulfillment of the prophecy predicting Elijah’s appearance before the establishment of Christ’s kingdom – Malachi 4:5-6.
e. Matthew 16:28-17:3 and Rev 11:3-6
C. That the offer of the kingdom might be given in sincerity, John the Baptist took on Elijah’s mantle, and Christ came offering the Jews salvation if they would but have him.
D. Now there is no underestimating John’s place in God’s scheme of things and yet we are told something else about John.
1. Not just about his dress, not just about his diet, but also about his demeanour – he, “preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.”
a. Now when you think about what Jesus said of John this statement is all the more remarkable.
b. You see John is the greatest of the prophets – greater than Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel – Matthew 11:11.
2. John wasn’t filled with pride at the place God appointed him in history, but he was humbled by it, so much so that he thought himself not even worthy to loose the latchet on Christ’s shoe – a duty normally reserved for slaves.
3. You see though John had an honourable place, and as we shall see in a moment there was none like him, John knew his place, and humbled himself in the service of the Lord.
4. I wish we had more of that today.
IV. A Purpose – vs 8
A. John’s purpose is clear; “I indeed have baptized you with water.”
1. That was his role, to prepare the way of the Lord, but there is a greater baptism than the one John offered.
2. Remember what Jesus said of John in Matthew 11?
a. “Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
b. Now how can that be?
c. How can you or I be deemed greater in God’s kingdom that John?
d. Surely there can be no comparison. But there is. And the secret to our greatness lies in the second half of Mark 1:8;
B. “I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.”
1. You see here is the privilege of the New Testament Christian in contrast to the Old Testament saint.
2. The Old Testament saint knew nothing of Spirit baptism – the Holy Spirit came upon Him at certain times for certain tasks and then left again, but for the New Testament saint the Spirit has come to stay – we are baptised with Him, by Him into Christ, and have become so completely indentified with God that He never leaves us – He continues forever within, and that sense you and I, who know the Lord, are greater than John, the greatest of the prophets.
Conclusion: Mark has opened his gospel with a marvelous revelation; that God is waiting to dwell with us. Whereas before He sat outside the Temple dwelling in the wilderness waiting for all who would come, now in Christ He dwells within us. Has made us His Temple. Has become a part of us, and we a part of Him.
Isn’t that amazing?
You see the word “baptize” means to immerse or dunk. The word was used to describe:
a. Sinking ships as they sank and would fill up with water
b. Another usage describes a garment being immersed into dye… the dye penetrates every fibre of the fabric.
So when John the Baptist said, “You will be baptized with the Holy Ghost,” he was saying: When the Messiah comes, not just your outside, but all your insides will be filled with the presence of God! -When you are dipped, immersed, dunked into the presence of God you will have a new spiritual shade that will fill every fibre of your being!
Have you got it? Can you say I am saved and baptized with the Holy Ghost? I am different on the inside and on the outsi
