Gospel of Mark wk 2
Notes
Transcript
The Beginning of Jesus’ Ministry
The Beginning of Jesus’ Ministry
This morning we are at week two of a series looking at the Gospel of Mark
Last week we looked at witnesses of Jesus as the Son of God and we looked at the first eleven verses.
This morning we are going to be looking at the Beginning of Jesus’ Ministry as we look at verse 9-11
Last week we did look at verses 9-11, but this morning we will look at them again, but looking at Jesus’ baptism and what baptism is.
Last week we seen that Mark, John the Baptist, God the Father and the Holy Spirit all gave witness that Jesus is the Son of God.
Mark is brief about his account of the Beginning of Jesus’ Ministry which we will be looking at this morning, but we will also look at other accounts in Scripture of the Beginning of Jesus’ Ministry.
There is actually quite a bit that we can learn from these three verses that we will be looking at this morning.
We are going to look at the baptism of Jesus, and the Announcement from heaven.
Look with me at our text this morning
9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. 10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: 11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Pray
Pray
As we dig through these three verses, we are going to look at the other three Gospel accounts also.
I. The Baptism
I. The Baptism
9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. 10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
It came to pass in those days, we are not given a specific time when the event of Jesus’ baptism took place.
Mark tells us that Jesus came from Nazareth, which we know from the accounts of Matthew and Luke, that Nazareth was considered Jesus’ hometown.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Beth-lehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
39 And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.
23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
Therefore we see that Jesus was considered a Nazarene, which was not a necessarily good thing, as Nazareth was considered outside of the mainstream of Jewish life.
46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
Jesus came to the Jordan River where John was preaching and baptizing people.
Matthew gives us a more in depth account of Jesus’ baptism
13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. 14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
As Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized, John was like I am not worthy to baptize you and I am in need of you to baptize me.
John the Baptist was baptizing people after they repented of their sins, Jesus was sinless and this is one reason John the Baptist makes the statement, that he need to be baptized of Jesus.
Also John’s the Baptist was there preparing the way for Jesus.
Jesus explains to John that it was necessary for him to baptize Jesus, because it was all part of the plan.
In verse 10 we are give an account of the baptism of Jesus.
10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
In verse 9, we seen that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, now here in verse 10 we see that Jesus straightway coming up out of the water.
16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
We must understand that baptism does not save a person, it is a step of obedience in the life of the new believer.
We know it does not save a person, as the thief on the cross was not baptized but Jesus told him He would be with Him in paradise.
39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
The thief was not taken down and baptized and therefore we know that baptism does not save, but is a step of obedience.
Baptism is symbolic of Jesus death and resurrection and as a believer follows Jesus in Baptism we are stating that we are dying to our old way of life and coming out of the water as a new creature.
Paul gives us an explanation of Baptism in the letter to Rome.
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Here we see that baptism is symbolic, as Paul writes that we were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death.
Therefore, baptism is representing the believer being buried or that the believer is dying to their old self, old ways
But just as Jesus was raised from the dead, the believer is raised out of the waters of baptism to represent the resurrection.
As Jesus came out of the grave as the resurrected Messiah, so the believer is to come up out of the water as a new person, in a new life.
As baptism we die to our sinful life, we are to come up out of the water of baptism to walk after Jesus, that is striving to walk a life that is sinless.
Now we will not be perfect until we get to heaven with Jesus, but we are to strive each and every day to walk more and more like Jesus.
We are to strive to be sinless, even though we do make mistakes, Jesus is always ready to forgive us of all our sins.
As we have died to our old self, we are to live unto God in the newness of our life in Christ.
II. The Announcement
II. The Announcement
11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
In verse 10, we see that the dove, which is the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove comes and sits if you will on Jesus.
Now here in verse 11, God the Father announces from Heaven that Jesus is the beloved Son.
Matthew also gives this account, in Matthew 3:17
17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
One thing that we must understand about the four gospels are that each one is writing to a different audience and from a different perspective.
Matthew writes to a Jewish Christian audience who lived near the homeland and followed Jesus and Jewish laws.
Where Mark writes to Gentile believers and Roman believers.
Luke writes his account to his friend Theophilus so that he may have confidence in Jesus and overcome temptations that may come with his wealth and influence.
Luke’s account of this event is found in Luke 3:22
22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
Luke was also a very educated man, he was a physician and possibly a Gentile, he was not one of the original twelve disciples, but is believed to be one of the 70 disciples appointed by Jesus in Luke 10.
Now the apostle John wrote his gospel for a specific audience of Church members who already understood Jesus Christ.
John’s account is found in John 1:32-34
32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. 33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. 34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.
Here the Apostle John is giving account of what John the Baptist witnessed as he wrote and John bare record.
This announcement is affirming Jesus’ unique sonship with the Father.
At His baptism Jesus began His official role as God’s Anointed One.
God the Father states, You are My beloved Son, this can be looked at as either a title or a descriptive adjective.
As a title it stresses the intensity of love between God the Father and the Son without losing its descriptive force.
As an adjective, it can be understood in the Old Testament sense of an “only” Son, equivalent to the Greek adjective monogenes meaning only, or unique.
This more interpretive rendering points to Jesus’ preexistent sonship.
The last part of the announcement, with You I am well pleased, indicates that God is pleased with His Son at all times.
God’s delight never had a beginning and will never end.
Jesus’ baptism did not change His divine status. He did not become the Son of God at His baptism.
Rather, Jesus’ baptism showed the far-reaching significance of His acceptance of His messianic vocation as the suffering Servant of the Lord as well as the Messiah.
And just as Jesus accepted His role as the Messiah if you will at His baptism, we are to accept our role as Children of God, followers of Jesus Christ.
When we do accept our role in the Kingdom of God, we must understand that role, that we are to follow the examples of Jesus Christ, and to be obedient in that role and the first step of obedience is to follow in believer’s baptism if at all possibly.
Because Jesus is the Son of God, the One approved by the Father and empowered by the Spirit, He is the Messiah.
And in the Baptism of Jesus, we see all three Persons of the Trinity.
Baptism happens after a person is saved, not before and as we seen Baptism does not save a person, but is a step of obedience once saved.
Therefore, if you have went through the waters of the baptistry but were not saved, it did not mean anything.
A person must be saved before they can be obedient in Baptism.
Therefore, if you have been saved, and have not been baptized, then I would love to talk to you more about baptism.
If you have not been saved, then I would love to share Scripture with you so that you may believe and receive salvation in Jesus Christ.
