John Baptizes Jesus

Good news. Mark begins, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1). The word gospel means good news. It is not good advice about how to be a better person. It is news about something God has done. Jesus. An angel told Joseph, “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). His name tells us why He came. Christ. Christ is not Jesus' last name. It means the Anointed One, the King God promised long ago. Israel waited hundreds of years for Him. The Son of God. Jesus is more than a good teacher. He is God the Son, who came from heaven and became a man. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). A beginning. Mark starts when Jesus is a grown man, ready to begin His work. The good news began with Jesus, and it is still going today wherever people believe in Him. Believe it. Soon Jesus Himself said, “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (1:15). Good news is something you receive. It is not something you earn. What this means for you. The biggest question in your life is, Who is Jesus? God's Word answers it right here: He is the Christ, the Son of God. When you know who He is, you can trust everything He says and everything He did for you.

Euangelion (1:1). The Greek word for gospel is euangelion (say: yoo-an-GEL-ee-on), good news. In the Roman world the word was used when a herald announced a victory in battle or the birth of a new emperor. Mark 1:1 announces a far greater King and a far greater victory. Jesus Christ. Jesus means the Lord saves (Matthew 1:21). Christ is the Greek form of the Hebrew word Messiah, the Anointed One. In Israel, kings and priests were anointed with oil. Jesus is anointed with the Holy Spirit: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor” (Luke 4:18). The Son of God. This title is not a way of saying Jesus was a very godly man. In Psalm 2 God speaks to His anointed King: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You” (Psalm 2:7). The Messiah and the Son of God are the same Person, and He shares the Father's own nature. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Shown again and again. After 1:1, Mark keeps showing who Jesus is. The Father calls Him His Son at the Jordan (1:11). An unclean spirit cries out, “I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” (1:24). At the cross a Roman officer says that Jesus truly was the Son of God (15:39). News, not advice. Advice tells you what to do. News tells you what has been done. Paul sums up the gospel: “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Why it matters. If Jesus is the Son of God, then His words are true and His death on the cross is enough to save. Your hope rests on who He is, not on how good you are.

Mark begins his book with big, happy news. It is the Good News about Jesus. Good News is a happy message that is true. It is not a list of rules to keep. It is news about what God has done for us. The name Jesus means the Lord saves. Christ means the King God promised to send. God's people waited a long time for that King. Jesus is also the Son of God. That means Jesus is God the Son. He came down from heaven to be with us. Good News is meant to be shared. You can tell a friend about Jesus this week!

Mark's book begins with good news. The good news is about Jesus. Jesus is God's own Son. He came to save us.

Written long before. Mark says, “As it is written in the Prophets” (1:2). Verse 2 comes from Malachi 3:1, and verse 3 comes from Isaiah 40:3. Both were written hundreds of years before John was born. The messenger. God said, “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face” (1:2). John was that messenger. His job was to go first and get people ready. A road for a King. In Bible times, workers filled holes and straightened the road when a king was coming. “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight” (1:3). John was not fixing roads. He was getting hearts ready. Who is coming? Isaiah wrote, “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3). The One coming is the Lord, our God. That One is Jesus. Jesus is God who came to His people. How hearts get ready. John preached “a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (1:4). Repentance means turning from sin to God. Remission means forgiveness. A humble messenger. John wore camel's hair and ate locusts and wild honey (1:6). He did not live for comfort or for fame. He lived for the One who was coming. What this means for you. God keeps every promise, right on time. Your heart can be ready for Jesus too, when you turn to Him and trust Him.

Two prophets (1:2-3). Verse 2 quotes Malachi 3:1, and verse 3 quotes Isaiah 40:3. Both prophets point to the same event: God would send a messenger ahead, and then the Lord Himself would come. “Before Your face.” In Malachi God says, “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me” (Malachi 3:1). In Mark 1:2 the words are “before Your face.” The Father speaks to the Son. The way is prepared for the Lord, and the Lord is Jesus. A highway for our God. Isaiah 40:3 ends, “Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.” When John prepares the way for Jesus, he is preparing the way for “our God.” Jesus is the Lord, Israel's God, come in person. The desert (1:4). God led Israel through the desert after the Exodus, and the people met Him there. Now crowds went out to the desert again, to the Jordan, to get ready for Him. Confessing (1:5). The people came “confessing their sins.” To confess is to agree with God about what we have done. Their baptism was an outward sign of hearts turning back to God. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). Dressed like Elijah (1:6). John's camel's hair and leather belt look like the prophet Elijah, who wore a hair garment and a leather belt (2 Kings 1:8). Malachi promised, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet” (Malachi 4:5). Jesus later said that John was the Elijah who was to come (Matthew 11:14). Why it matters. God planned Jesus' coming in detail, centuries ahead. A God who keeps His word across hundreds of years can be trusted with your life today.

God planned all of this a long time ago. Malachi and Isaiah wrote about it hundreds of years before. God said He would send a messenger ahead. That messenger was John. Long ago, workers fixed the road for a coming king. They filled the holes and made the road straight. John did not fix real roads. He got people's hearts ready for Jesus. Isaiah said the road was for the Lord. So the One coming was God Himself! That One is Jesus. It took a long time, but God kept His word. God always keeps His promises to you too.

God promised to send a messenger. John was that messenger. He got people ready for Jesus. God keeps His promises.

Mightier. John preached, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I” (1:7). John was bold and brave, but Jesus is far greater. The sandal strap. Taking off someone's sandals was a job for the lowest servant. John said he was “not worthy to stoop down and loose” Jesus' sandal strap (1:7). John was glad to be small so that Jesus could be seen. Water and the Spirit. “I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (1:8). Water can wash the outside. Only God can make a heart new. God promised, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:26). Only God gives the Spirit. No prophet could pour out God's Spirit on people. When John said Jesus would do it, he was saying that Jesus is God. Jesus in the river. “Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan” (1:9). The people in that river were confessing their sins. Jesus had none to confess. He was “tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Why He came. Jesus stepped into the water to stand with sinners. One day He would take their place on the cross. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21). What this means for you. Jesus is not ashamed to stand beside people who need forgiveness. Like John, you can point others to Him.

The lowest job (1:7). In a Jewish home a servant might be asked to do many things, but untying a master's sandals was the lowest task of all. John was the best-known prophet of his day, and he said he was not worthy even to stoop down for that. Greatness in God's kingdom looks like John's own words: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Two baptisms (1:8). John's baptism was a sign of turning back to God. Jesus' baptism with the Spirit is what that sign pointed to: God's own Spirit living in His people. Ezekiel promised, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27). On the Day of Pentecost Peter said God's promise was coming true: “I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh” (Acts 2:17). A claim about Jesus. In the Old Testament only God pours out His Spirit. John says the One coming after him will do it. That is a claim that Jesus is God. From Nazareth (1:9). Nazareth was a small village in Galilee that nobody expected much from (compare John 1:46). The mighty One arrived quietly, from a town people looked down on. Why baptize the sinless One? Jesus had nothing to confess. Matthew 3:14-15 tells us that John tried to stop Him, and Jesus answered that it was right for them to do all that God requires. By stepping into the water with sinners, Jesus took His place beside them. Isaiah said of God's Servant, “He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many” (Isaiah 53:12). Toward the cross. Later Jesus spoke of His coming death as a baptism He must go through (Mark 10:38). “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Big crowds came out to hear John. But John did not want people looking at him. He pointed them to Jesus instead. Untying sandals was a job for the lowest servant. John said he was not good enough even for that. Jesus is that much greater than John! John washed people with water on the outside. Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to live on the inside. Only God can give His Spirit. Then Jesus came to the river to be baptized. Jesus never sinned, not even once. He stood in the water with sinners anyway. He came to take our place.

John said Jesus is greater. John was glad to be small. Jesus came to be baptized. He stood with people like us.

Torn open. “And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting” (1:10). For hundreds of years God's people had prayed for Him to come down to them. Now heaven opened over Jesus. The Spirit like a dove. Jesus saw “the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove” (1:10). The Holy Spirit is a Person, not a bird. He came in a gentle way that could be seen. Ready for His work. Jesus later read these words about Himself: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor” (Luke 4:18). Christ means Anointed One. At the Jordan the Christ was anointed for His work. The Father's voice. “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (1:11). Beloved means dearly loved. Before any miracle. Jesus had not yet healed anyone or preached a single sermon. The Father's love for His Son was not earned. It has always been there. One God. The Father speaks, the Son is baptized and the Spirit comes down. There is one God in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Christians call this the Trinity. What this means for you. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). If you trust Jesus, the Father loves you as His child too.

Schizo (1:10). The NKJV says the heavens were “parting.” The Greek word is schizo (say: SKID-zoh), to tear or split. Isaiah had prayed that God would tear open the heavens and come down (Isaiah 64:1). At the Jordan, God answered. The same word is used when Jesus died and the temple veil was torn (Mark 15:38): “the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:51). Heaven opened at the start of His work, and the way into God's presence opened at the end of it. The Spirit rests on Him. Isaiah promised of the coming King, “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him” (Isaiah 11:2). Jesus was always God the Son. At the Jordan the Spirit came upon Him to anoint Him openly for His work as the Christ. Two promises in one sentence (1:11). “You are My Son” recalls Psalm 2:7, where God speaks to His anointed King. “In whom I am well pleased” recalls Isaiah 42:1: “My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him.” The King of Psalm 2 is also the Servant of Isaiah, who would be “wounded for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5). Eudokeo. Well pleased translates eudokeo (say: yoo-doh-KEH-oh), to take delight in. The Father delighted in the Son before He had done any public work. The Trinity. All three Persons are present and distinct: the Father speaks, the Son is baptized, the Spirit descends. Yet God is one: “The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Mark 12:29). Jesus later told His disciples to baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Adopted. Believers share in this love. Romans 8:15 says that every believer has received “the Spirit of adoption.” The Father's delight in His Son becomes the welcome He gives to everyone who is in His Son.

At the Jordan we see the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God the Father spoke from heaven. God the Son stood by the water. God the Holy Spirit came down like a dove. There is only one God. He is three Persons at the same time. Christians call this the Trinity. The Father said to Jesus, “I love you.” He was very pleased with His Son. Jesus had not done one miracle yet. The Father loved Him because He is His Son. When you trust Jesus, you become God's child. God loves His children too!

God the Father spoke from heaven. The Holy Spirit came like a dove. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father loves His Son.