The Beginning of the Gospel

Mark 1:1-13 “The Beginning of the Gospel”

In November, there will be a book released called the Thing Explainer. In it the author attempts to explain interesting things using the 1,000 most-common English words. From food-heating radio boxes (microwaves) to the big flat rocks we live on (tectonic plates) to boxes that make clothes smell better (washers and dryers). Using simple words to describe interesting things does not make them less interesting, but perhaps even more interesting.

As we begin the gospel of Mark this morning, the author uses only 1,270 different Greek words in his entire book. But that does not make his subject less interesting. Mark is on a mission to present Jesus to us. And while he uses few words and sometimes short accounts, his subject is absolutely fascinating.

Even though Mark uses a small vocabulary, he is a fantastic story teller. But he is not telling fairy tales, he is telling us true stories about Jesus and his disciples. The gospel of Mark is not a letter or an epistle like we might find in other parts of the NT. Nor is it a book of prophecy or poetry like we might find in the OT. Mark is narrative. A story. Mark uses pages to make his point. In other words, the meaning is found in large chunks of text, not in small chunks. Don’t find it strange, then, when we cover lots of ground.

Mark was meant to be read aloud to people in one sitting. From what we learn from church history, Mark has recorded the Apostle Peter’s eyewitness accounts of Jesus. Perhaps Mark collected the information in this gospel from the preaching of Peter. We believe this book is historically accurate and inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is God’s Word and it is true.

Even as we say that this is historically accurate, we also have to say that this is not merely a history about Jesus. A secular historian can write a factual history about Jesus. But Mark is much more than that. This book is divinely-inspired account of what happened in history. Mark writes history in such a way to point out specific truths about Jesus. Contrary to some people’s opinions, you can write accurate history and theology at the same time. These are not bare historical facts. This is an historical-accurate message about Jesus given to us by God. If you trust this message about Jesus, you will have more than information about an important historical figure. You will have eternal life.

Mark is the shortest of the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Often when preachers go through a gospel, they will compare it with the other gospels. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. But we must remember that Mark has arranged his material is such a way to prove specific points about Jesus. Mark has a message about Jesus distinct from the other gospels, but not opposed to them. You can compare and contrast the gospels to get a full-orbed history about Jesus. And that’s what you will get: history. But reading the historical account of Jesus inspired by the Holy Spirit will allow you to see Jesus for who he is. An historical figure, yes, but more than that, the Son of God. And to that we now turn.

When I was in my college fine arts class, we had to take a trip to New York City to attend an opera. My two friends and I first enjoyed most of the day touring the city, riding the subway, and drinking lots of Starbucks coffee. In the evening we joined up with the rest of the group and filed into the nosebleed section of the opera house. Our teacher told us to bring binoculars to see what was going on, because we are way up high and far away. I brought my brother’s birding binoculars, so I could actually read the music on the conductor’s stand. The opera was in Italian, but thankfully we were provided with an information sheet that gave us an overview of the opera. On the back of the seat in front of us, we had a small display that gave a running translation of what was being sung.

This is kind of what is happening in Mark. The first 13 verses view Jesus from a divine perspective. Starting at verse 14, Jesus is viewed from an earthly perspective, through the eyes of the disciples, the crowds, and the religious leaders. These first 13 verses give us a glimpse into who Jesus is. Mark comes out onto the stage before the play begins and tells us what the main point is. Once the curtain raises for the first act, confusion reigns among the actors to who the main character really is.

What, then, is the main point of Mark? Different people have offered different answers to this question. We don’t have to go far in the text of Mark to find out. The message of Mark is the gospel—the good news about Jesus Christ. As we go through the chapters, we find a theme emerging. And that theme is that Jesus is the Son of God. He is really, truly God. But he is fully revealed as the Son of God through his suffering. His suffering is not in vain, but it is suffering that wins us salvation from our sins. In the same way, as we read this book, we are called to follow Jesus, the Son of God. And we are to follow him in suffering, just as he did.

We are at the beginning of this grand story about Jesus Christ. One translation puts verse 1 like this: “This is the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It began as the prophet Isaiah had written…” A long, long time ago, in a country far, far away, we have the beginning of the most amazing story ever.

The beginning of the gospel looks like this:

1. The Old Testament fulfilled (2-8)
The Jewish people were waiting. They had waited a long time. They had waited longer than waiting at a checkout line at Walmart on Saturday afternoon. They had waited longer than waiting for a package to come from Amazon. They had waited years, actually hundreds of years. They were waiting for God to keep his promises. They were waiting for a prophet. Prophecy had ceased for 400 years. But the silence was about to be broken in a major way. The quotation from Isaiah the prophet, is actually a quote from Exodus, Malachi, and Isaiah. Isaiah is the major prophet of the bunch, so he is mentioned. But Malachi and Isaiah are pointing to the same person: a messenger who will prepare the way of the Lord.

A. A messenger like Elijah
The Jewish people were expecting a prophet like Elijah who would come before the day of the Lord. Malachi 4:5- “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. John the Baptist came looking all weird and preaching a strange but potent message. John also dressed strange. He was actually dressed like the prophet Elijah in the OT. And he ate strange food. Even though people flocked to him, he was getting them ready for someone else, someone greater than he was. This person was so great, that John didn’t even feel worthy to be his servant. Even though John was preaching a baptism that showed repentance, he pointed to one who would give his people the Holy Spirit.

B. The message of repentance
People were to give up their sin and begin living different lives. To show that they wanted to repent and have their sins forgiven, they got baptized by John in the Jordan River. John’s baptism was something new and different. It wasn’t like the ritual baptisms or washings of that day. This baptism didn’t make you clean, it showed that you were spiritually dirty and needed to be cleaned up. It showed that you were a sinner, and needed forgiveness. This baptism didn’t give forgiveness, just like Christian baptism does not give us forgiveness. John’s baptism paved the way for people to received Jesus, who would save his people from their sins.

C. The wilderness
That John lived in the wilderness and proclaimed his message there is very significant. In the OT, the wilderness was a place of new beginnings, where God would meet his people. That’s where God first formed the nation of Israel, in the wilderness after he led them out of Egypt. The OT pointed the Jewish people that when God would work, it would begin in the wilderness. Out in this barren land, where all there was to eat was locust and wild honey, God began to speak. Not in Jerusalem, the center of Jewish religious life, not through the religious leaders of that day, but in the wilderness through locust-eating, repentance-preaching prophet.

2. Jesus identified (9-11)
In the midst of the crowds hearing John, steps Jesus. All that is known about him, humanly speaking, is that he is from Nazareth in Galilee. And we know, that nothing really good came out of those back woods towns in Galilee away from the prim and proper religious folks who lived in Judea around Jerusalem.

And Jesus gets baptized by John. Strange. Mark does not say why Jesus gets baptized, but perhaps it is to say- I am the one who John has been speaking about. But what is most important about the baptism of Jesus, is what is revealed about him. Note carefully, that it is Jesus who sees and hears what happens after his baptism.

A. The Christ
The name Jesus was common name around those parts. Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua. It means Yahweh saves. But he is also called “Christ” in verse one. Jesus is the deliverer promised in the OT. He is the one who will save his people from their sins.
In Jewish writings of that time, the Messiah was to have the heavens open above him, like what happened to Jesus after his baptism. There are many clues pointing us to this fact: Jesus is the promised deliver.

B. The Son of God
Verse one calls Jesus the Son of God, but also in verse 11, God the Father calls Jesus his beloved Son. This is in accordance with several OT passages. Isaiah 42:1 is one of them.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.

C. Empowered by the Holy Spirit
Isaiah 42 also shows that the promised deliverer would be given the Holy Spirit. Jesus sees a physical manifestation, like a dove, as the Holy Spirit rests on him. We could spend hours unpacking the OT passages that point to the events that happen to Jesus is these few verses. We are given an insider view to who Jesus really is. He is loved by the Father, empowered by the Spirit, as the OT has said. In midst of God’s silence and the waiting of the Jewish people, we have one that the whole OT has been pointing to. He is here.

3. The supernatural unveiled (12-13)
It would be tempting to compare Jesus’ time in the wilderness with the full-fledged accounts in Matthew and Luke, where Jesus clearly defeats the temptations of the devil. But these two verses are not focused Jesus’ temptation. They are about Jesus in the wilderness. He was propelled in to the wilderness by the Holy Spirit for a time of preparation.

No other people are there. We are given a view to who the main actors really are in this story. Yes, we will see the disciples, the crowds, the religious leaders, and others, but behind all the conflicts in this book are supernatural forces. Jesus and the angels, and Satan and his forces. The wild animals are a danger to Jesus. He did not carry his 12 gauge into the wilderness to fend off the wild animals. He was protected from physical danger supernaturally by the angels.

When the curtain opens in verse 14, people are wondering who in the world this Jesus is. But we know. He is a supernatural man, the Son of God, in a supernatural battle with Satan and his forces.

Conclusion: Figuring out Jesus
We are very fortunate to be reading Mark’s gospel and know who Jesus is. The people during the life of Jesus had a very hard time figuring out who he was, even his disciples. My hope for our study in Mark is that we will figure out who Jesus is. Perhaps some of you have heard some stories about Jesus, or heard second-hand information about him. You have the opportunity to read God’s view of who Jesus is in the book of Mark. As I said at the beginning of this message, the amazing thing about this book, about any book in the Bible, is that it does not just convey information.
Yes, we must know the information in this Bible. But to trust that these words are true will give you more the information, it will give you life. Trusting what God says about Jesus will give you forgiveness of sins.

Many of us have heard the message about Jesus and believed that he is the only God and the Savior of our sins. The great news for us is the journey of figuring out who Jesus is will never end. We will work at in all our life, and then for all eternity peering in the magnificent depths of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.