Mark 1:1-15 -> The King Arrives on the Scene

Introduction

Welcome to the Anchor!

For those of you who are new here, you might be wondering, “why exactly an Anchor?” Why name our group after an attachment on a boat?

Have any of you had to be on a boat where you’ve used an anchor before? What does an Anchor do?

Yeah it keeps the boat in place so it doesn’t drift away, (kind of surprised there is not an Anchor in Minecraft yet)

And like the ocean or even lakes sometimes - > Our lives can be rapid. Whether it be a lot of changes with family, friends, school, work, or a sports team, there is a lot that goes on in life. Not all of it is easy, in fact most of it is not. In life there is conflict, tension with parents / grandparents, arguments with friends, bullies at school, or maybe even difficult and unpleasant situations / environments we can be in. We are like little wooden boats tossed to and fro down the river during intense storms.

Many times in my own life I’ve wondered if those storms would ever end. We need an Anchor. And that’s what we are about here, knowing the Anchor, someone who can hold us and love us in whatever season of life we may be in, no matter the storm.

The Anchor’s name is Jesus Christ, and He is alive.

So who exactly is this Anchor? Why in the world would He care about me? Where has he been in my life?

All of these are fair questions, questions we will be exploring this upcoming year.

We are going to see what the Bible says about these questions, as it is God breathed, and useful for teaching. God knows all things, and He can answer our questions.

This year, we are going to read through the book of Mark. Has anyone heard of Mark or read it before?

That’s okay, let’s start at the very beginning.

Mark 1:1 ESV

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

I. The beginning of the good news of Jesus (1:1)

Gospel, in this sense right here, means -> the good news of the kingdom. This kingdom, is Jesus’s kingdom, where He is the King.

Draw on the board a king.

What are some characteristics about a king? What are some other kings you can think of?

Let’s continue and see what else Mark says about King Jesus.

Mark 1:2–4 ESV

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.

II. John the Baptist sent to prepare the way for Jesus, proclaiming a baptism of repentance (1:2-8)

A. The prophecy of John the Baptist preparing the way as the voice of one crying in Isaiah (1:2-3)

B. John appears in the wilderness, fulfilling the prophecy, proclaiming a baptism of repentance, and preparing the way (1:4-8)

1. John baptizes in the wilderness and proclaims a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (1:4-5).

-> Isaiah, he wrote a book in the Old Testament, before the time of Jesus, predicts the coming of a messenger, one who arrives before the King.

This messenger is one who is screaming in the wilderness, “prepare the way of the Lord.” Another way we could think of this is one screaming, “make way for the king!”

As we can see in verse 4, Isaiah is writing about a guy named John, a man who would baptize people in the wilderness, he proclaimed repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This is a taste of what the King’s message is, repentance for the forgiveness of sins. What is that? We will come back to that here in a little

Mark 1:5 ESV

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.

People are coming to John from all over southern Israel. And they are being baptized in the river Jordan. They are heeding the message of the messenger. In fact we know two men are here listening, both are going to end up being some of the King’s students.

John 1:35–37 “The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.”

But what was this messenger like?

Mark 1:6 ESV

Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

2. A description of John’s appearance/lifestyle: clothed in camel’s hair and wearing a leather belt, eating locusts and wild honey (1:6).

John is not dressed as one might expect for being a messenger of the King, the one who comes before him. In fact this is the exact opposite of what we expect. This ties close to the King Himself, because He Himself was not what the people of his day (and ours) expected. John is different, and Jesus the King is different. This whole Kingdom is different.

In the Old Testament there was a messenger of God named Elijah, who also wore clothing like this. 2 Kings 1:8 “They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.””

You might remember Elijah as the prophet who asked the Lord to send fire from the sky. John is a lot like Elijah in being a messenger, and wearing similar clothing.

John is different, and all of us here are different, but the King didn’t look at what was on the outside (on someone’s appearance or clothing), He looks at what is on the inside. And what’s on the inside has much to do with the repentance message from earlier.

John shares with the people more about who the King is in these next few verses. He wanted people to know he is not the king, only a messenger.

Mark 1:7–8 ESV

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.”

3. John preached about Jesus showcasing 3 ways for how Jesus the King is greater: 1. Jesus is mightier; 2. John is unworthy to even untie Jesus’s sandals; 3. Whereas John baptizes with water, Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit (1:7-8)

->The King is mighty, He is powerful.

He is so great, John and all of us, are not even worthy to take off his shoes, as one might expect from a king’s servants.

Finally, we see that where John just baptizes people with water, the King baptizes people with the Holy Spirit. Another word for baptism is immersion. Fully covered and washed.

And then, the King arrives on the scene.

Mark 1:9–11 ESV

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.”

III. Jesus arrives and is baptized by John, is descended upon by the Holy Spirit, and proclaimed to be the Son by God the Father (1:9-11)

-> The King is here! He has come, from a really small town called Nazareth? It is pretty much the equivalent of someone coming from Churchhill or River Rock, a not super well known town. Different.

And then the King is baptized? Also interesting. Why exactly would the King need to be baptized. Matthew writes in his book, Jesus saying Matthew 3:15 “But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.”

Jesus, who we know elsewhere in the Bible is perfect 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

identified with the people around him who were sinners. This introduces in Mark how Jesus died for our mistakes by taking our punishment and place on the cross.

We see the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus like a dove, and God the Father declares that Jesus is His beloved Son, with whom He is well pleased.

The King, Jesus, is the Son of God. He is God the Son. And all three persons of the Trinity are displayed in this passage: God the Son, Jesus; God the Holy Spirit, descending like a dove; and God the Father, the voice from Heaven.

The King is God. He is the King.

What happens next?

Mark 1:12–13 ESV

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.

IV. The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days where he is tempted by Satan (1:12-13)

Elsewhere in the Bible we see people in the wilderness for a time that relates with 40, one writer says:

The “forty days” recalls Moses on the mountain (Exod 24:18; 34:28), Elijah’s journey to the sacred mountain (1 Kgs 19:8), Jesus’ instruction of his disciples (Acts 1:3), and perhaps even Israel’s forty years in the wilderness (especially Deut 8:2).11 James A. Brooks, Mark, vol. 23, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1991), 44.

And out here we see a key villain in the story, Satan. The adversary, who tries to get Jesus to sin. But Jesus doesn’t, you can read more about that story in Matthew 4.

Jesus is greater then Evil, and He overcomes the Evil one. 1 John 3:8 “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan.

Jesus is mighty, but what is the message? His message? What is the good news?

Mark 1:14–15 ESV

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.”

V. Jesus starts His ministry in Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God (1:14-15)

Jesus comes into Galilee and begins to share the good news. The Kingdom is close, repent (turn away from evil) believe in the good news. What is the good news?

Well in order for there to be good news there has to be bad news.

The bad news is that every person has done evil: we have broken God’s rules Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

We have put things that make us happy above God, many of us have disrespected parents, have been jealous, or have spoken lies, we’ve been angry at others, hating others, Jesus showcases how hating someone is as bad as murder. Saying the name of Jesus as a curse word or as a filler is wrong as well we see that in Deuteronomy 5:11 ““ ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”

So we have all broken the rules, and even if you just break one, it stains. We learn that the price for our evil and breaking the rules is death Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

But, this is the good news. Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus came, the perfect man, He lived the perfect life, did everything right, and died in our place. He took on the punishment we deserve and died for us. He was buried, but He conquered death and rose again. He is alive, and He was raised to sit in heaven, He is our Lord and He is our King. Anyone who repents (turns away from sin, telling God and asking for forgiveness) and believes, believes that Jesus is King, and that He rose again, will receive never ending life. A life that will never end. This is the good news. You can be saved from the judgement by turning to Jesus, following Him, making Him your King. He invites all of us to this.

Jesus holds open His hand to you, have you turned away from your sin? Have you told Jesus you believe in Him? Have you done this?

If you have never done this, you are not saved. If you have never turned away from your sin and asked for forgiveness, you are not saved. I tell you this because I care for you, I want you to go to Jesus and tell him what you’ve done, asking for forgiveness. I hope you can come to know him as Lord, savior, King, and friend.

Tell about the Holy Spirit

If this is concerning you, please, please talk to someone, you can talk to any of the leaders or myself, I’ll be hanging out here as everyone heads to small group, you have permission to stay and talk to me if you have questions about this or want to know more about what it means to be saved.

Let’s end in prayer