Mark: The Right Now Gospel
Pt. 2
“Jesus’s Ministry Begins”
This time we’re going to look at Jesus’s baptism, his time in the wilderness, his ministry in Galilee, his call of the first 4 disciples, and his first encounter with demons.
Now, the three synoptic gospels–Matthew, Mark, and Luke–all record the baptism of Jesus. John does not. And remember, SYNOPTIC comes from the Greek word ‘synoptikos’ and simply means ‘to see together.’
Matthew, Mark, and Luke cover many of the same events in Jesus’ life—most of them from Jesus’ ministry in Galilee—in much the same order. John, on the other hand, contains unique material and a very different style. So the three synoptics all cover the baptism of Jesus while John does not.
Mark’s account of Jesus’s baptism says:
Mark 1: 9-13 “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 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. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 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.”
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In Matthew’s gospel when Jesus comes to the Jordan to be baptized, John the Baptist protests saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”–Matt 3:14
Jesus replied, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”–vs 15
Now, Jesus did not need to repent as John called all his other listeners to do. His words of “fulfilling all righteousness” simply meant that He, as God the Son, would do, as always, the righteous thing. In being baptized he did two things–validated the ministry of John, and validated the ordinance of baptism for his future church.
The two New Testament ordinances instituted by Jesus are baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Water baptism is a physical depiction of a new believer’s old life being buried with the Lord and then raised to walk in newness of life.
Jesus died, was buried, and resurrected, and the believer identifies with Jesus by being fully immersed into the water (symbolizing death) and then being lifted out of the water to live a new life now and, one day, to live in a glorified new body in heaven.
His baptism also provided the opportunity for the Holy Spirit to descend upon Him in full view of John and the crowd of onlookers, who all heard God say, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”–3:17
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Next, Mark uses his first “immediately.”
“Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. 13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.”–vs 12-13
The word translated “drove” sounds a bit harsh. It actually comes from a Greek word meaning “sent Him out.” So the Lord wasn’t like ‘pushed’ or ‘coerced’ into the wilderness, but was SENT by the Holy Spirit.
Mark’s account doesn’t go into the 3 different temptations of Satan described by both Matthew and Luke. But he does add something they don’t. He was “with the wild beasts.”
In Jesus’s day these could have been panthers, the bears, the wolves, hyenas, or possibly lions. The implied thought is partly that their presence added to the terrors of His time in the wilderness, and partly the fact that He was protected from them, likely by angels as Mark adds, “The angels ministered to Him.”
I find it interesting how Luke points out that at His baptism, Jesus was ‘filled’ with the Spirit. Then was ‘led’ by the Spirit into the wilderness. And after His showdown in the desert with the devil, he returned in the ‘power’ of the Spirit.
It is after His return in the power of the Spirit that Jesus’s ministry of signs and wonders explodes!
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We see that on his return the Lord went straight to Galilee where he had grown up, and where roughly 85% of His earthly ministry took place. The time frame is just after John the Baptist has been put in prison by Herod. If you recall, John’s crime was to call out the sinful relationship between Herod and Herodias, Herod’s own brother’s wife. He would later be beheaded in a macabre, ghastly scene where Herodias, the offended adulteress, commands his head to be brought to them on a platter.
It says that Jesus, “…came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
‘The time is fulfilled’ means that God’s perfect timing for the fulfillment of His promise, reaching all the way back to Adam and Eve, and then through the prophets for centuries of time, had finally arrived. Paul the Apostle put it this way:
“But when [in God’s plan] the fulness of time had come, God sent His Son,”–Gal 4:4
The word for ‘fulness’ means “At just the right time.” The exact period had arrived when all things were ready for the arrival of Messiah. Four thousand years had passed since God first promised Adam and Eve in the ancient garden,
“And I will put enmity (open hostility) Between you (Satan) and the woman, and between your seed (offspring) and her Seed; He shall [fatally] bruise your head, and you shall [only] bruise His heel.”–Gen 3:15
Jesus knew that His arrival to earth was in perfect timing with God’s plan of salvation!
And we note that the first word out of his mouth was “repent!” Why? Because “the kingdom of God is at hand.”
The phrases kingdom of heaven, kingdom of Christ, kingdom of God, are found often in the Bible. They all refer to the same thing. It speaks of God’s complete rule over all things. It would best be translated, “the reign of God draws near.”
The time when Messiah would ultimately rule the earth had begun. The plan of salvation and the fulfillment of all the OT prophecies of Christ ruling the world was officially underway.
For instance, Daniel prophesied, “He (Messiah) was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”–7:14
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Mark then records that Jesus began gathering His disciples, beginning with 2 sets of brothers.
1:16-20 “Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee. He saw Simon and his brother Andrew. These two men were fishermen, and they were throwing a net into the lake to catch fish. 17 Jesus said to them, “Come, follow me, and I will make you a different kind of fishermen. You will bring in people, not fish.” 18 So they immediately left their nets and followed Jesus. 19 Jesus continued walking by Lake Galilee. He saw two more brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in their boat, preparing their nets to catch fish. 20 Their father Zebedee and the men who worked for him were in the boat with the brothers. When Jesus saw the brothers, he told them to come. They left their father and followed Jesus.”
So Peter and Andrew, James and John were the first four disciples of the Lord. This James is not to be confused with the half brother of Jesus that also wrote the book of James. Rather, this James is the one spoken of in Acts 12:2,
“He (Herod) ordered James, the brother of John, to be killed with a sword.”
All four of these men ‘immediately’ left hearth and home, parents and friends to follow Jesus, and they never looked back!
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Jesus’s next headed to Capernaum. Capernaum was located in Galilee on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was a fishing village, which also became the home city of Jesus after He was driven from Nazareth.
And in this little village was a synagogue that Jesus, as was his habit, attended on the Sabbath, this time to teach. As was always the case, the attendees were astonished at His teaching, for it was with authority and power.
As he taught, something happened that we find nowhere in the OT, and would become a hallmark of Jesus’s ministry:
1:23-24 “Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
One third of the Lord’s earthly ministry was in confronting and casting out demons, many times in the middle of church! “And he was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons.”–Mark 1:39
And most of his deliverances involved the demons literally talking to him out of the demonized person. They said things like,
“I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”–1:24
And, “Have you come to torment us before the time?”–Matt 8:29
And, “…the demons kept begging Jesus not to order them to go into the Abyss.”‘
The phrases “before the time” and “into the Abyss” refer to that time described by John in the Book of Revelation:
20:10 “Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
So the devil knows his days are numbered, and what his future holds!
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Again, it is worth noting that nowhere in the OT do we see demons openly manifesting, revealing themselves, coming out of the shadows like this. As soon as Jesus emerged from the wilderness in the power of the Spirit, it’s as if He flushed hell out of hiding. We see Satan face to face. And Satan knows this is the one God predicted would come to destroy him way back in Genesis 3:15!
From the time God spoke this to the devil, he tried to stop it from happening by wiping out the descendants of Abraham, who God had chosen to be the conduits of Messiah’s arrival.
Gen 12: 3 “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
–He incited Cain to kill Abel, who was the righteous line. God gave Eve another son, Seth, who replaced Abel as the righteous line.
–He tried to destroy the entire human race by corrupting them as told in Genesis 6, which brought on the judgment of Noah’s flood. Yet God preserved a remnant through Noah.
–He instigated wicked Haman as told in the book of Esther to orchestrate the genocide of the entire Jewish population, but God intervened through Esther.
–He incited Pharaoh to wipe out Israel at the Red Sea, and God drowned the Egyptian army instead.
–He incited Herod to murder all the male children 2 years old and younger in his attempt to kill the baby Jesus, but God warned Joseph to flee to Egypt with Jesus and Mary, and the Lord was spared.
Over and over again the devil tried to stop his worst nightmare.
And now, Jesus is on the scene anointed with power and casting him out of a man he was tormenting, right in the middle of church!
As John writes, “This is why the Son of God came to the world. He came to destroy everything that the Devil has done.”–1 John 3:8
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NEXT TIME: Jesus’s Healing Revival!