Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 3 Study # 1
November 13, 2018
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(028)
1901 ASV
9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John
in the Jordan.
10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens rent asunder, and the Spirit as a dove descending upon him:
11 and a voice came out of the heavens, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased.
- I. Mark's Introduction of Jesus.
- A. Mark's second use of " egeneto ".
- 1. First, John "came on the scene"; his coming being prophesied by Isaiah and Malachi.
- 2. Then, Jesus "came on the scene"; His coming being prophesied by John with the words of 1:7-8.
- a. It is crucial to understand that Mark's purpose is to move "from prophet to prophet".
- 1) According to Mark's own words, John is the fulfillment of the "first" prophet(s).
- 2) As such, John is "the prophet prophesied" who, then, utters his own "prophecy" for God.
- a) Luke 1:76 pointedly declares that John was "to be called 'the prophet of the Highest'" because he was to "go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways".
- b) This makes John a bona fide "prophet" so that his messages to the people were words of God.
- c) The particular "message" in our text/context is the announcement of The Coming Mighty One.
- 3. The focus being upon "God's words fulfilled in man's experience in history".
- B. Mark's words, awkward in English, are "in those the days".
- 1. This is deliberate, following John's on-going "preaching" regarding The Coming Mighty One.
- 2. While John was proclaiming this "coming", The Coming was made obvious.
- 3. Maintaining his major thesis, Mark recorded God's second major action in human history and experience.
- a. Mark's "major thesis" is that omniscience-produced prophecy, followed by historical fulfillment attested by detailed accuracy, is the "ultimate" evidence that Yahweh is The God and it leaves all men completely without excuse for their intentional rejection of persuasion and typically argumentative arrogance.
- b. Thus, God's second major action only heaps "Truth" upon the heads of the recalcitrant so that "their condemnation is [seen as] just".
- 1) The temporary appearances of "success" by the opposition of the wicked are just that: crucifixions, followed by wicked exuberance, followed by absolute and totally crushing defeat by resurrections from the dead.
- 2) The casting of the wicked into the Lake of Fire will have no oppositional outcry: every tongue shall confess the wickedness of the wicked (even those of the wicked) in regard to the identity of Jesus as God's Lord and Christ (Philippians 2:11) and every oppositional tongue shall be silenced (Romans 3:19).
- C. Jesus came: the verb is the same as in the prophecy of 1:7 (The Stronger One is coming...).
- 1. He came from Nazareth (Mark's sole reference to the town by its name).
- a. This "Nazareth" is "of the Galilee".
- b. References to "Galilee" are found by name in 12 texts of Mark.
- 1) There are three such references in Mark's extended "introduction" of the main "players" (1:9, 14, and 16).
- 2) Then there are two more in Mark's record of Jesus' initial activities (1:28, and 39).
- 3) The remaining seven are scattered throughout the rest of Mark's record, the last of which is in 16:7 (a possible conclusion to a very large, "inclusio" -- Jesus began, and ended, His actions and words with regard to Mark's record in Galilee). If "Nazareth" is a reference to a well-known "attitude" held by "Jews" (note John 1:46), this possible "inclusio" indicates the sense Mark had in mind for his "the beginning of the Gospel": this "beginning" is all about Jesus' attitude toward men who value "glory" from men. It is possible that not only was this "Jewish attitude" in view, but also the fact that "Nazareth" is of the exact tri-radical form of the Hebrew word for "branch" as an outgrowth of a "root" (Isaiah 11:1 compared with Daniel 11:7).
- a) In the context of Isaiah 11:1 there is a direct link between the "Branch" (NZR) and the prophetic utterance that "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him..." (Isaiah 11:2) which is visually fulfilled immediately as Jesus ascends out of the baptismal waters as Mark 1:10 records.
- b) The significance of this would reinforce the connection between Jesus' rejection of "glory" from men (which is withheld by reason of their arrogant disdain for Nazareth) and His insistence that His disciples adopt the same, with intention.
- i. The arrogance that holds disdain for Nazareth simultaneously generates disdain for the "Branch" that comes out of Nazareth.
- ii. If men are so stupid as to hold unwarranted disdain for God's "Branch" and His ministry's origins "out of Nazareth", what is the reason for the disciples of the Branch being seduced by their offers of "glory"? How much glory can a termite that is so stupid as to be chewing on concrete actually offer to anyone with any sense?
- 2. He was baptized.
- a. He was baptized into the Jordan. There are nine references to "baptize" in Mark, four of which are found in his "introduction". The reference to the Jordan river is, again, a pictorial of the issue involved (the "beginning" of the Gospel as a focus upon the most important issue, the preparation of heirs for the Kingdom of God). The Jordan was the prohibitive boundary that stood between the heirs of the kingdom and the territory of that kingdom as it was at flood stage when they approached. This "prohibitive boundary" is, in the form of the symbolism of the "wilderness", the massive magnitude of human sins as the prohibitive boundaries keeping men out of God's favor and kingdom. But, in the wisdom of God, it is the Jordan that affords the access as it is the place where men "buy into" John's grace doctrine of "repentance unto forgiveness". Jesus was not "baptized" because He had "sins" that needed "forgiveness" through "repentance"; He was "baptized" because He fully endorsed that message of extraordinary hope.
- b. He was baptized by John. In the other Gospels, there are more words, some of which record some resistance by John. Mark ignores them. Jesus is baptized by him as a record of the unity of Jesus with John in both "prophecy" and "message".
