Genesis 1:1-5, Psalm 29:1-11, Acts 19:1-7, Mark 1:4-11
A). THE FIRST DAY.
Genesis 1:1-5.
GENESIS 1:1. “In the beginning” is a temporal expression; it pertains to time. In fact, here it refers to the beginning of time itself; but also to the beginning of Creation. This is the beginning of everything.
“In the beginning God.” Before time was, before the heavens and the earth, there was God. Not one God among many, but God alone. Not a positive force to counter an imaginary negative force, but only one God.
Yet the word translated “God,” (i.e. ‘Elohim’) is a plural word, suggesting a plurality of Persons within the Godhead. The “Spirit” (Genesis 1:2) and the ‘Word’ (Genesis 1:3; cf. John 1:1) will soon appear with “God” (Genesis 1:1), as the narrative unfolds. Later in the chapter we are even permitted to listen in on the holy conversation of the Triune God (cf. Genesis 1:26)!
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” This is a summary statement; but it also signifies “the beginning” of a process. Implicit in this statement is the fact that God created all things of nothing (cf. Colossians 1:16).
God is without beginning and without end, and is totally unrestricted by the bounds of time and space. ‘He was, and is, and is to come’ (cf. Revelation 1:8), and ‘declares the end from the beginning’ (cf. Isaiah 46:10).
GENESIS 1:2. At this stage of the process “the earth” was “without form and void.” It was an empty wasteland, lacking order and shape. It was also “dark” and gloomy, and impenetrably “deep.”
But the empty wasteland and the dark depths are not without the presence of God: “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” The picture is as of the eagle ‘fluttering’ over her young (cf. Deuteronomy 32:11). It is, after all, the Spirit who gives life (cf. Job 33:4).
GENESIS 1:3. We now discover that our God is the speaking God: “And God said.” We next learn what God said: “Let there be light.” Then we see the inevitable fulfilment of His command: “and there was light.”
GENESIS 1:4. Next we see God’s approval of what He has done: “God saw the light, that it was good.” Then we read of the separation of the light from the darkness.
GENESIS 1:5. Next God names what He has made: “and God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.” And the day is rounded off: “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” [Interestingly, it was not until Day 4 that the sun, moon and stars were created (cf. Genesis 1:16).]
GENESIS 1:3-5 serves as a template for the remaining days of Creation.
So we have seen our God as the eternal God, the only God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth (GENESIS 1:1); the Triune God (GENESIS 1:1-3); the present God (GENESIS 1:2); and the speaking God (GENESIS 1:3) who orders all things (GENESIS 1:3-5). And all this in the first five verses of the Bible!
B). THE SONG OF THE THUNDERSTORM.
Psalm 29:1-11.
“The voice of the LORD”.
1. The thunderstorm.
Storm clouds gather over the Mediterranean. The thunder rolls inland over the cedars of Lebanon, and lightning strikes strip the cedars bare. Even the mountains of the North seem to be shaken to their very foundations. The storm turns, travelling the whole length of Israel, and seems to shake the wilderness. The sand cannot remain still, and anything loose is driven like tumbleweed across the plain. The red deer calves early, and all creation stands in awe at the might of the storm.
The claps of thunder are not the sound of the mighty Thor of Norse mythology, who was said to be riding his chariot across the sky. Nor are they the voice of the Canaanites’ storm god Baal, who allegedly dwelt ‘in’ the storm (and if he was not there, he was on vacation - or maybe sleeping - cf. 1 Kings 18:27). Nor is this the beginning of yet another disaster movie, but a metaphor of the awesome might of the LORD, who sits “above” the storms of life (Psalm 29:10).
Repetition drives the momentum of the storm in this song. This is not the ‘repeat, ad lib, and fade’ of popular music, but a powerful push towards peace. Three times the “sons of God” (Hebrew), the ‘mighty ones’ or ‘heavenly beings’ are called to give - or “ascribe” - glory to the LORD (Psalm 29:1-2). Seven times the thunder claps are identified with “the voice of the LORD” (Psalm 29:3-9). “The LORD” is named four times in the closing verses (Psalm 29:10-11), reminding us that the Psalm is not about the storm, but about the LORD who sits above the storm. Nothing is outside His power.
2. Thunder from heaven.
There was thunder at Sinai when the LORD appeared to Moses and the children of Israel (Exodus 20:18). On one occasion the LORD Himself - in rebuking His prophet - described His voice as thunder (Job 40:9). When the Father spoke of His glory in answer to Jesus’ prayer, some of the people said it thundered: others said it was an angel (John 12:27-29). More than once the Apostle John uses the motif of thunder in describing what he heard in heaven (Revelation 6:1; Revelation 14:2; Revelation 19:6).
3. “The voice of the LORD” is not confined to the thunderstorm.
There was an earthquake at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion (Matthew 27:50-51), and the Talmud tells us that in that year the Sanhedrin was “banished” from its favoured site to a less favourable site within the Temple - perhaps, I suggest, on account of earthquake damage. (Yes, God does sometimes speak through temporal judgements!) There was another earthquake also at the resurrection of Jesus, whereby God spoke His final word on the finished work of Christ (Matthew 28:2).
Certainly the LORD sent fire from heaven to consume Elijah’s saturated sacrifice, and then sent an abundance of rain (1 Kings 18:38, 1 Kings 18:45). In the next scene, however, Elijah sought the LORD in the wind, earthquake and fire - but the LORD merely passed by. Only then did the prophet hear “the still small voice” (1 Kings 19:11-12).
Our psalm moves in the same direction: from “Glory to God in the highest” (Psalm 29:1) to “Peace to His people on earth” (Psalm 29:11). When the storm-tossed disciples - experienced seamen though they were - were in fear of their lives in the storm-tossed sea, Jesus arose and said, “Peace be still” (Mark 4:39). The Lord calms the storms of life, and gives us a peace which the world cannot give.
Peter, James and John heard an audible voice in the mountain of transfiguration, telling them to listen to Jesus (Mark 9:7). Paul also heard an audible voice: this time it was that of the risen Lord Jesus (Acts 9:3-7). We hear the voice of the LORD when we read the Bible, the Word of God.
We hear the voice of the Lord also in the whispers of the night. Before the lamp went out in God’s house, young Samuel laid himself down to sleep. Three times the LORD called him, and three times the boy ran to his master. The fourth time he answered according to the old priest’s instruction: “Speak, LORD; for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:3-10).
We hear the voice of the LORD when we worship Him, and offer Him the praise and glory due to His name (Psalm 29:2). This is not horizontal worship, aimed at giving us a ‘buzz’ in His presence - but true worship, aimed at honouring God: offered in the name of Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit. In contrasting the worship of Sinai and that of the heavenly Jerusalem, one writer exhorts us: “See that you refuse not the One who speaks… from heaven” (Hebrews 12:25).
C). AN EPHESIAN PENTECOST.
Acts 19:1-7.
1. APOLLOS.
Apollos was well taught in the Scriptures, and he was “accurately” teaching the things concerning the Lord - but Apollos knew only the baptism of John. When Aquila and Priscilla perceived the deficiency in his teaching in Ephesus, they drew him aside, and expounded to him the way of God “more accurately” (Acts 18:24-26). Having accepted the correction, Apollos then went on to Corinth, and there he built upon the ministry which Paul had begun (1 Corinthians 3:6), showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ (Acts 18:27-28).
2. THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Paul, meantime, made his way to Ephesus. There he found certain disciples who, as Apollos had been, were followers of John the Baptist (Acts 19:1). Paul confronted their deficiency with a pair of questions which have an almost catechetical ring to them:
Question 1: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit, having believed?”
Answer 1: “We did not even hear if the Holy Spirit is” (Acts 19:2).
It would be surprising if these “believers” were unaware of the many references to the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. What they evidently lacked was a working knowledge of the fact that we are now living in the age of the Spirit. Luke’s second volume shows the outworking of this continuation of the things “that Jesus began to do and teach” (Acts 1:1) in terms of the promise: “you shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5).
Question 2: “Into what then were you baptised?”
Answer 2: “Into John’s baptism” (Acts 19:3).
John the Baptist himself had taught that he was the forerunner of a mightier One, who “shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire” (Luke 3:16). So now Paul could clarify the distinction: John’s was a baptism of repentance, pointing to Jesus (Acts 19:4). Now that Jesus is come, those who believe in Jesus should be baptised “into” (in regard to) His name (Acts 19:5).
Like Apollos before them, these twelve believers were open to correction. After they were baptised, Paul laid his hands upon them, and the Holy Spirit came upon them. At that moment Pentecost caught up with them, as manifested by the fact that they were speaking in tongues and prophesying (Acts 19:6-7).
3. PENTECOST.
(1) THE JERUSALEM PENTECOST (Acts 2:1-4).
Jesus told the original Apostles to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them in order to be empowered for their ministry (Acts 1:8). It was “when the Day of Pentecost had fully come” that the three phenomena of a wind-like noise, fire-like tongues and coherent words in strange languages heralded the dawn of the age of the Spirit.
(2) THE SAMARITAN PENTECOST (Acts 8:5-8; Acts 8:14-17).
The evangelist Philip preached in Samaria, and the Apostles sent Peter and John to confirm those who had received the word and been baptised. These two Apostles laid their hands upon them, “and they received the Holy Ghost.”
(3) THE GENTILE PENTECOST (Acts 10:44-48).
When Peter preached to the household of Cornelius, the sovereign Holy Spirit “fell on all them which heard the word” DURING the Sermon, and these people “spoke with tongues, and magnified God.” In this instance, baptism was administered afterwards.
(4) AN EPHESIAN PENTECOST (Acts 19:1-7).
In this passage we see that Paul took it for granted that those who are baptised into the name of the Lord Jesus should have received the Holy Ghost: as it turned out, these “believers” had never received Christian baptism. So Christian baptism was administered first, to correct the deficiency. Then Paul “laid his hands upon them” and the Holy Spirit came upon them AFTERWARDS.
Whilst the Day of Pentecost itself is unique, let us give ourselves to pray for fresh manifestations of the power of the Holy Ghost. Let us fulfil our commission in proclaiming Jesus to be the Christ, and worshipping the name of our great God. Historically, as we see from this incident in Ephesus, Pentecost has a way of catching up with people.
D). THE BAPTISM AND ANOINTING OF JESUS.
Mark 1:4-11.
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).
MARK 1:9-11. Jesus came to John to be baptised in the River Jordan. Jesus did not have any personal sin to repent of, but His washing with water may have signified the ritual washing of a priest when he is first consecrated. Jesus was anointed when the Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove. God the Father accepted the Person of Jesus with a voice from heaven: “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
This event at the River Jordan was the high point of John’s ministry, and the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus. In His baptism, Jesus also associated Himself with the people He came to save, and gave us an example to follow.
