The Beginning of the Gospel

Introduction of The Gospel of Mark

The book of Mark is written by a man named Mark, more specifically John Mark. This is the Mark that left the missionary journey with Paul in Acts 13 and caused the division seen in Acts 15. We eventually see that this relationship is restored because Paul tells Timothy this in 2 Timothy 4.11 “Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.” It has been determined that Marks account is the oldest of the gospels and is actually from Peter. Mark was recording what Peter had told him about all that happened. Mark and Peter had a similar relationship to what Timothy and Paul had.

What Mark really wants people to see from his book is that Jesus is the suffering servant savior as foretold by the prophets. There are several major themes throughout the book of Mark but the one that seems to be the most prevalent is the theme of discipleship. Discipleship is where a person that is older in the faith helps guide and instruct you in the faith, Jesus discipled a small group in a more intimate sense and a large group in a more broad sense during his time here on earth. We will see how this is shown throughout the book while also seeing how we should still be doing this today. I feel like we can capture a large essence of the book in a single verse to see what Mark is getting at through the whole book; Mark 10.45

Mark 10:45 ESV

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

This verse shows Jesus as the suffering servant savior and knowing the full book of Mark, I know that discipling is a act of service to the other person.

As we read Mark keep in mind that it is not a continuous narrative flow. It is more of a compilation of scenes that lead on a journey from Galilee to Jerusalem where Jesus would be crucified. In this I split the book into three parts and I will structure this series on these three parts. Part one shows the identity of Jesus and this is Chapters 1-8:26, This is where we will start here in just a bit, this part is also structured mostly in Galilee. Galilee is a mountainous region that is in the northern region of Israel. Part two shows us what it means to be the savior and takes place mostly on the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, this is in chapters 8:27-10. The final part shows us Jesus becoming king and savior and takes place in Jerusalem in chapters 11-16. Jerusalem lies in southern Israel just north of Bethlehem and west of the Dead Sea.

Mark is a well crafted work that shows us Jesus in a different light than the other three gospels. It has more miracles than any other gospel even though it is the shortest. It has also been neglected over history as people often favor the other gospels. In recent history the neglect has been on the decline and the true beauty of the book has been realized. Tonight we will start a journey through this book and just like any journey we will come away with something. Each time I read through and study a book I take away certain things and it changes me in some way, through this study of Mark, I hope you come away changed.

Introduction

Tonight we are going to look at the beginning of the book, the beginning of the gospel. Lets start by reading Mark 1.1-15

Mark 1:1–15 ESV

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ ” John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

This section of scripture is the beginning of the gospel, the start of the good news of salvation. This section that we are focusing on here is the introduction section to the book of Mark. It shows Jesus and his preparation for his ministry. It also shows a man that is very important, that is John the Baptist. He is important because he prepares the peoples hearts for Jesus and he fulfills some of the Old Testament prophecies.

These beginning words lay the foundation and show the overarching message of all of the gospels and of Jesus, the need to repent and believe in the gospel. Jesus is the son of God as seen in this passage and he is also set apart from the world as we also see. All of this will never change. He came to be the suffering servant savior and that begins right here.

John and Jesus have a parallel message here and we see John even calling attention to the fact that it is not him but one that is coming after him that the people must be ready for. Their messages parallel each other because it is the message of the gospel. It is the same message that I want you to hear today.

The focus we will have in this section is the time of preparation and purification, and the call for repentance. My prayer is that through these words from God and my words our lives might be conformed to his and we might draw closer to him.

The Time of Preparation and Purification

In the beginning of Mark we see preparation. We first see John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus, then we see Jesus preparing himself through baptism, fasting, and refining it all through temptation. Preparation is not as prevalent of a thing as it once was, we lean more towards the idea of jumping right into things, we take the shortest preparation route possible. Often times a period of preparation is the best thing that you can do for yourself, if you run a marathon you will want to prepare for months in advance. In the same way Jesus is taking some time to prepare himself for the coming ministry while John works to prepare the people for his coming ministry.

One thing to note through all of the preparation is the setting. It all takes place in the desert otherwise known as the wilderness. This is a place of seclusion from the outside world and a place that holds cultural significance to the people of the day. In the nations history when they were freed from slavery in Egypt they spent 40 years in the wilderness. In this event there were really two sides of the people, some that within the hardships of the wilderness drew closer to God and others that drew farther away from him. Through the entire journey there was purifying and preparing the people. In the same way this is what we will see happening in this part of Mark.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

John the Baptist was a mans man. He lived in the wilderness, wore camels hide clothing, and ate locus and honey. He must have been a sight. The quote here in the beginning is from Isa 40.3 “A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” and it also resembles what we see in Mal 3.1 ““Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”. The differences in the reading most likely occur because like we are reading a English translation, Mark was most likely reading a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. These prophecies tell us that someone is coming out in the wilderness to prepare the way for Jesus. Mark is telling us that this person is John the Baptist. The quotation of Isaiah is significant because he is not only saying this is the man that these prophecies are about but he is also saying that Jesus is the one he is preparing the way for and Jesus is the savior that is promised throughout that section of the book of Isaiah. In chapter 3 of Matthews gospel we get a deeper look at John the Baptist and even see him rebuking the same people that we will later see Jesus rebuke, the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

John is important in the story because he first fulfills the prophecy but also because he begins to work on the hearts of the people. Calling to repentance so that the people could be ready for the savior that they believed was coming. Having a heart of repentance would prepare the people to receive the message that Jesus would offer.

Baptism

Baptism was originally something that was done during the conversion of a Gentile to a Jew. Baptizing a Jew was something that was completely new. Here baptism was acting as a sign of repentance, repentance precedes the baptism. This was an outward expression of the people to show their heart of repenting of their sins.

The question might arise here of “why did Jesus get baptized? wasn’t he without sin?”. The answer to the second question is yes he is without sin, so the question remains them why get baptized? When Jesus got baptized he was not repenting of sin but he was identifying with us and our sin, preparing to begin his ministry where he will confront sin. This moment inaugurates the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. In it we see a significant sight, we see each member of the trinity; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Through this it is obvious that Jesus is fully set apart, he is fully God. This must have been a spectacular sight to witness.

From here Jesus goes further into the place of purification, the wilderness.

Temptation

From his baptism Jesus enters into the wilderness where he is tempted. In the other gospels we also learn that Jesus fasted during this time. 40 days without food. Biblical fasting is meant to be a time where you focus in on God, often throughout the Bible we see that people fast before some specific task to prepare themselves for it. Here Jesus is preparing himself for his ministry.

The main focus in the Gospel of Mark though is that he is tempted by Satan. Mark does not go in depth like some of the other gospels do of this temptation but from it we see one simple thing. Jesus endured temptation. In this moment of preparation and purification Jesus withstood challenges that most if not all of us would fail at. He was facing the challenges of being human. Mark does not reveal a clear end to the time of temptation because it does not really end, just like when we are tempted, Jesus endured temptation for his entire life.

You may not think of temptations being something that can benefit you but they can. It says in James 1.2-3 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” Withstanding temptations brings us closer to Christ, it further purifies us and sets us apart from the world. Jesus’s time of temptation here prepared him to go out into the world and endure more, in the same way when we are tempted we are more prepared to go out into the world and live lives set apart from it. Temptations and trials act just like the wilderness did to the Israelites in the book of Exodus; it can draw you closer to God and to a deeper relationship with him, or you can let it draw you away from him.

Transition

This is the preparation for the coming gospel. John prepares the way, Jesus prepares himself. from here we will look at the bookend of this section, What John begins with and what Jesus will start teaching.

The Message: Repent

There is one thing that bookends this section. That is repentance. In the beginning we see John calling people to repent to prepare the way for Jesus. in the end of this section we see Jesus saying this:

Mark 1:15 ESV

and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

This is the message of Jesus. This is the heart of the gospel. This is the response that we are to have to the gospel. You are not in Christ, you have not been saved unless you have done what Jesus said in this verse. Many people would say that they are Christian because they go to church or read their Bible some. The truth is that unless you have repented of your sins and put your faith in Jesus (believed in other words) then you are not saved, you are not a Christian, you are an enemy of God. People do not want to turn away from their sins, that is the problem of the flesh but that is also exactly what God has called us to do.

The necessity of repenting and believing is the necessity of salvation. You do not need to do anything to go to hell, you must respond to the gospel to go to heaven. The heart of our problem is our sin, without sin we have no need for salvation. It is our sin that brought us to where we are. I pray that you are broken over your sin, that when you sin you are saddened and repent. If you have not put your faith in Jesus then you are hardened to your sin but I hope you are starting to realize the seriousness of it and are realizing your need for a savior.

This is the story of the whole Bible. There was a time where man had no sin in the beginning. God had made everything and it was perfect. The problem began when man broke Gods one command and brought sin into the world. Through that we are all born into a sinful world with a sinful nature ourselves. Through all of this though we see here in Mark what God did for us, he sent his son Jesus. Jesus through his death that we will see in the end of this book makes a way for us to be saved and forgiven by God. This message that he is preaching right here is the key, Repent and believe in the gospel. The gospel is what I just told you, believe that Jesus is the only way for salvation.

Conclusion

Through this introductory section of Mark we see the beginning of the gospel. The start of the ministry of Jesus. We see the Old Testament prophecies begin to be fulfilled and Jesus prepare himself for his ministry. The bookend call in this section, that is the call of the gospel, is to repent and believe. Without this you cannot be forgiven of your sins.

Often times people say that Jesus is just another man, or a great teacher. If you truly believe the words in the Bible though it is obvious from this short section that he is more than that. While being fully human, he was fully God. In his baptism alone we see the call from heaven confirming his sonship and place in the trinity. Jesus was God here on earth and we can learn from everything that he says and everything that he does.

Jesus will often withdraw himself to a desolate place somewhere to pray. In this he battled temptations and took his concerns to God. Jesus is our perfect example and sometimes we need to withdraw ourselves to spend some time alone with him. This may be a time where you deal with some things like repentance, it may also be a time for you to recharge and prepare yourself to go back into the world and live for him.

In a time of personal reflection I want you to think about how you can apply what we have read and studied to your life. That is the thing about the Bible, it is a life altering book. Maybe you think that you have never repented and believed in the gospel and that you need to do that now, maybe you need to go into your own wilderness to be a place of purification and preparation for yourself, or maybe you just need to stand up to temptation and not fall into it’s traps. Whatever it is spend some time thinking about that.

John was bold to prepare the way for Jesus. Jesus teaches a bold message. Have you heeded his call to repent and believe?