This is Jesus!

So today's uh scripture reading to begin with is not the text that we're going to be interacting with in Mark, but uh Mark quotes it.

And so it's a really helpful text, I think, for us to get introduced to the text of Mark as we uh start with Mark.

But so we're gonna be reading from Isaiah 40, verses 1 through 5.

Isaiah 40:1–5

Isaiah 40, 1 through 5.

Starting in verse 1.

Comfort, comfort, my people, says your God.

I love those words.

Comfort, comfort, my people, says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and announce to her that her time of hard service is over.

Her iniquity has been pardoned, and she has received from the Lord's hand double for all of her sins.

A voice of one crying out, prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness, make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled, the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rough places a plain, and the glory of the Lord will appear, and all humanity together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

This is the word of the Lord.

So we are starting our new series this morning in the book of Mark or the Gospel of Mark.

And the series is titled, This is Jesus, Savior, Servant, Sufferer, and King.

You know, Mark is considered the earliest of the Gospels that was written, and we have a lot of internal evidence, and there's a lot of debate, scholarly debate.

If you're interested in all of that kind of stuff, uh you can really dig into it.

Uh, but uh Mark is considered the first and earliest book written, as we recognize that 90 up to 93% of Mark is represented directly in Matthew and in Luke.

So what's likely taking place there is Matthew and Luke take Mark's gospel, and Mark's gospel becomes one of their main sources, along with all the other uh sources that would have been available to them uh in that time period.

Um we also understand that the book, as early church history sees it, uh, was written by John Mark.

Uh he uh was a disciple of Peter and the cousin of Barnabas.

And again, we're gonna talk more about John Mark as we make our way through his gospel.

But the book is broken down into three major sections or three major acts.

Uh after the introduction section here in chapter 1, verses 1 through 13, we see act number one take place between chapter 1, verse 14 through to 8, verse 21, where we see this ministry of Jesus or Jesus being presented as the servant.

And this is important because Mark's target audience is to the Gentiles.

It's not necessarily a Jewish target audience.

If it was a Jewish target audience, he may have spent more time trying to explain things like Christ's genealogy, like Matthew does, or other parts of uh of Judaism, but he doesn't.

What he does is he paints the wonderful servant acts of Jesus, the personhood of Jesus.

And he does that in a way that the other gospels, uh the other gospels don't.

But we see this happen in um the first act, major act of the book, up to eight chapter, or chapter eight, verse 21.

And then we see the second act of the book take place.

And this is between chapter 8 and the end of chapter 10, where Mark is presenting Jesus on the way to Jerusalem.

And this is a major turning point in the book.

This is where we see that uh that confession of Peter.

This is where we see Jesus starting to engage with his disciples, like, I'm going to go to the cross.

The Son of Man must die.

And we see their response to that.

And so in that section, in the set in the second act, we see Mark focusing more on Christ getting to the cross.

And then in the third act, chapter 11, through to the end of chapter 16, which is the final week of Christ's life.

So, like a third of the book is focused just on the final week of Christ's life.

We see Jesus make the transition from Jerusalem to the cross, to the grave, but then to the resurrection.

And then the book ends abruptly.

And then sometime later, the ending of chapter 16 is added by some scribes.

So we're going to talk about that.

So we can put a pin in that and come back to that later.

But the book ends abruptly with the women seeing that Jesus had risen from the dead, and then they're running from the tomb.

You see, what's most important though about the book is that Mark's point is to present Jesus as the Savior, servant, sufferer, and king, to present Jesus as who he is.

He is saying throughout the book, this is Jesus.

And like the other gospels, Mark isn't necessarily, it's it's it's not a it's not a biography of Jesus, but it's a proclamation of Jesus Christ.

It's a proclamation of the Savior, the servant, the sufferer, the king that God had promised years ago.

So, with so much confusion, I was just thinking about this, reflecting on this as I was studying the book of Mark, but I mean, with so much confusion and misunderstanding about Jesus today and our society and our culture and even in our churches, Mark's purpose and message is relevant as it helps us to encounter the truth of who Jesus really is.

So this morning we're gonna look at the title of our series being This Is Jesus, and we're gonna see how first he brings a new beginning.

Then we're gonna see how he fills what was long awaited, and then we're gonna see how he pleases the Father.

So this is Jesus, starting with this.

Something happens in your life, you did something, or um you experienced something, and you wish you could go back and change things.

Maybe you're uh that kind of golfer that's always using up your mulligans.

I mean, I'm not a golfer, so use all the mulligans you want.

Um, you know, that kind of golfer that nobody wants to probably golf with.

Or uh maybe there's something that if you if you think about your life, you just wish that you could go back and change it.

Maybe change a conversation you had, the way that you said something, the way that you came across, or maybe a decision that you made that that really had a detrimental impact on your life.

Well, you see, the gospel of Jesus Christ isn't like a mulligan or a regret that needed to be fixed, but the gospel is is is a completely new beginning.

It's a new beginning.

It's not God hitting restart, but the gospel is God's plan.

It's a promised and fulfilled reversal of everything broken and wicked.

Everything in this world that we would say, man, that is nasty.

And that is wrong.

And this is how Mark opens up the book when he says with these words, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Verse 1.

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Yeah, how's this for an opening to the book?

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Mark's saying, hey, this is it.

Israel has waited a long time to hear these words.

The world has waited a long time to hear those words.

You can almost picture Mark's excitement, you know, as he's writing these words.

Perhaps he was with Peter.

Peter's relaying to him all the first-person information, what's happening.

We don't know, but there's some there's some evidence that Peter's likely Mark's number one resource.

And he writes the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

See this word, the beginning, um, reminds us of the same opening words of Genesis, right?

Remember those words?

What is it?

In the beginning.

Where in Genesis we see the first beginning started in the state of perfection and dwelling with God, and then what happens?

It turns tragic.

But Mark's new beginning will reverse the tragedy and secure us back in that perfect dwelling with God, the reason why he created us for.

And he says, this is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

And so he identifies for us.

It's not just any gospel, and gospel means good news.

It's not just any good news.

I mean, we've experienced good news.

Sometimes, you know, hey, good news, uh, I'm getting married, good news, we're having a baby, good news, uh, this is happening in my life, whatever it might be.

But this, oh, this.

This is the news that tops all news.

Because this is the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

And so with this, Mark identifies who Jesus is.

He calls him the Christ.

Um, Christo in Greek, the Son of God, he calls him.

The beginning coupled with the fact that he immediately quotes from the Old Testament after what he says here shows us that Mark wants us to understand these terms in regard to their Old Testament usage.

So if you remember, I think back in our Christmas series, we talked about how Christ or uh Christos uh is uh is an equivalent of the Hebrew term Messiah.

And that term means uh anointed one or someone ceremonially chosen for an office.

And when you look in the Old Testament usage, you see that this term, this this Messiah, this anointed one, is used when it comes to your priests, when it comes to your prophets, when it comes to your kings.

They're the ones that would be anointed by God, set apart for God.

And so here we have Jesus connected with this term and in a deeper understanding of the Old Testament connected with being the prophet, the priest, the king to rule them all.

And so we see Jesus Christ, Christ Messiah.

And then we see Son of God.

Now, it's interesting, not all of the manuscripts that we have available to us of the original have this phrase son of God.

Um, but all of the faithful translations will will uh will have it in their text, um of God.

Um it is believed by evidence that we have that in some of those transcripts that we have, it was just it was an oversight of whoever was copying it down at the time.

So we believe without a shadow of a doubt, that this term son of God belongs here in this verse.

But here's what here's what he means when he's talking about son of God.

Again, we're thinking, coming back to the Old Testament, it's an Old Testament ref uh reference to where the king or the descendant of David is described as God's son.

So this deepens our understanding of Jesus' close relationship with God the Father right from the onset of Mark's gospel.

And these two titles, uh Messiah or Christ and Son of God, are central and important to the book.

As we see Peter confess Jesus as the Messiah, which becomes this pivotal transitional point in the book in chapter 8.

And then the centurion at the cross in chapter 15, what does he declare Jesus to be?

This guy must be the Son of God.

And so, important terms.

Mark opens up with them.

We see them repeating in significant, important ways as we work our way through the book.

And so, as the Messiah and the Son of God, Mark is saying, hey, he's bringing this new beginning, this beginning of this good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The second thing we see that this is Jesus, he fulfills what was long awaited.

And this takes place in verses 2 through uh through to verse 8.

Jesus fulfills what was long awaited.

You see, the world had been waiting a long time for Jesus to arrive, at least thousands of years.

And this section outlines how this waiting had come to an end.

As John the Baptist would prepare the way for Jesus' great arrival.

So starting in verse 2, it says this as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, see, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, he will prepare your way, a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord, make his path straight.

John came baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

And the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him.

And that's interesting.

Mark brings out Jerusalem.

Remember, we were reading in Isaiah 40.

Who is God talking about?

He's talking about Jerusalem.

So Mark brings out that connection here too.

So all the people of Jerusalem are going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

John, and then it gives us this uh little note about who John the Baptist was, but John wore camel hair, wore a camel hair garment with uh a leather belt around his waist.

He ate locust and wild honey.

I would have loved to meet him.

Love to meet him.

And then he proclaims in verse seven, he proclaimed, One who is more powerful than I am coming, uh more powerful than I am, is coming after me.

I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals.

I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

And that's where we see how Jesus fulfills the uh what was long awaited.

Starting in verse 2, we see um the echo of uh of Exodus 23, 20 to 23, and also Malachi chapter 3, verse 1 with these words, see, I am sending my messenger ahead of you.

Malachi 3:1

He will prepare your way.

And in both of those, um, both of those uh those sections of scripture in Exodus and in Malachi, we see God promising to send an angel in Exodus to prepare the way, to instruct the people, and to make sure that the people are following and obeying Yahweh.

And if they do so, they will be blessed, they'll be brought into the land.

And then in Malachi, we see uh the same the same phrases used uh that Mark is referencing here, where he's doing the same thing, and he's and he's talking about this messenger that will come ahead of them, that will be there to prepare the way.

And in Malachi, we get a clearer sense.

This is talking about the Messiah to come in in the book of Malachi.

And so this idea, this messenger would prepare the way for the judgment of the Messiah to come.

And so he quotes these verses and makes connections to the Old Testament this way in verse 2.

And then in verse 3, we have this direct quotation from Isaiah 40, verse 3 that we read earlier.

Isaiah 40:3

And so, by doing all of this, this is what Mark is doing.

He's cementing the plan of God from Exodus to Malachi to Isaiah to John the Baptist's arrival.

You see, with the Exodus story, we're reminded, thinking back to Exodus, right?

We're reminded that the Israelites failed the first time to listen and obey.

And it caused them a delayed entrance into the land.

And then we're reminded to you start to think about that, but their messy history that caused judgment to come on them from God, but now, but now this time things would be different.

See, there's a new beginning.

Jesus will make everything right.

And this uh, these phrases that are used in in these verses, he will prepare your way, prepare the way for the Lord, it says in verse 3.

Uh, you know, it would be common uh in the ancient days, in the uh life of the ancients, is that they would have somebody who would, as a, as an officer of the law or an officer of the court, or an officer of royalty, would go ahead of royalty before royalty would arrive in their destination.

And they would make sure that the road was nice and smooth.

Um, just remember, roads back then, I mean, maybe our roads today are like that, depending on the road you're in.

But roads back then were a little different.

So they would send officers ahead of time to prepare the way to make sure that the that the king or the royalty's arrival was smooth and the transition was good, and that he could get to where he needed to be.

And this is what this phrase is referring to as John the Baptist becomes that person who goes ahead of Jesus, smoothing out the road, to make sure Jesus can get to where he needs to be.

And then in verses four to six, um, this is the message we see John, the message in the ministry of uh John.

And his message is simple in verse 4.

John came baptizing in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

His message was simple.

Proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

And when then what happens in these verses, it tells us, and then people were responding to that message.

He was telling them to repent and and uh and be baptized so their sins would be forgiven.

People are responding, and what's what's taking place here?

I love this.

In the end of verse 5, uh it says this, uh, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

So all these people from Jerusalem, again, we're not too sure how many people this is.

Mark says it's everyone in Jerusalem is coming out to be baptized.

That's amazing.

That's amazing.

There's something stirring in the hearts of the people as John.

Is preaching this message as the as the road is being prepared for Jesus Christ, there's something stirring.

What are they doing?

They're coming out to be baptized and they're confessing their sins.

They're confessing their sins.

And as He has their attention, and you can just picture this in your mind, and you can see this happening, you know, we can imagine it.

And they're all excited, right?

They're confessing their sins.

And they're just in this enjoyment of knowing that their sins are forgiven.

And as they're in this, John proclaims this in verse 7.

And I love what he proclaims here.

He says, one who is more powerful than I is coming after me.

You think this is cool?

Oh, you wait.

You wait for the guy who's more powerful than me, coming after me.

I'm not even worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals.

I baptize you with water, but he's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

You know, one of the things that's absolutely remarkable about this, and what um is what Jesus says in Matthew 11, 11 about John the Baptist.

Remember what Jesus says?

He says this.

He says, Truly I tell you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.

Jesus said that about John the Baptist.

You mean greater than Moses?

Absolutely.

Greater than King David?

Oh yeah.

Greater than Caesar?

Yeah.

Greater than Herod?

Yeah.

You know, when Jesus says this about you, that's saying something.

And yet John says, it's humility.

John says, I'm not worthy to do the lowest job of a servant for their master, for the guy that's coming.

I'm not even worthy to get down on the dirty ground and untie his sandals, his feet that are covered in sweat.

His feet that are gallused from the road.

That are likely smelly.

I'm not even worthy to get to the dirtiest, smelliest part of this man.

And that's the guy that Jesus says is the greatest man that's ever been born of any woman.

If Jesus had said that about me, I think I would be thinking I deserve more than untying his sandals.

Not John.

Does the thought and presence of Jesus humble you?

Does it stir you?

Does it shock you?

It should.

The God would step down, become man.

Live, die, rise from the dead for you and me.

And we go about our life acting sometimes as if as if we're worthy of his grace.

That we're worthy of his love.

We're not.

The definition of grace is that we're not worthy of it.

We don't deserve it.

But he gives it to us.

He draws us in with his great love for us.

I mean, just picture this, right?

John standing there in the water.

He says this to his disciples, to those who are following, those who are baptizing.

And just picture, right?

A crowd of people, sinners, confessing their sin.

Maybe rejoicing in forgiveness, but broken with their sin.

And they're standing there, and John looks up, and what does he see?

He sees Jesus, his creator.

John says, I will baptize with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

And we know in the book of the book of John, so the Apostle John, when he writes, behold, the Lamb of God, when he sees Jesus, takes away the sin of the world.

You see, here when he says, I baptize you with water, he's saying, you know, I just I deal with the outside stuff.

But Jesus is coming.

He's going to deal with the hard stuff, the real stuff.

The wait is about to come to an end.

The new beginning was about to happen.

The spiritually dead would be made eternally alive.

Jesus will give the Holy Spirit, regeneration of the sinner would take place.

The new beginning would begin.

Born again, forgiven, united with God through Christ.

What was long awaited was coming, and the Holy Spirit was coming.

The Messiah, the Son of God, was there, and Jesus gets down into the water.

And what we see here in verses 9 to 11 is that he pleases the Father.

In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John.

And as soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open, the spirit descending on him like a dove, and a voice came from heaven.

You know, one of the remarkable things that happens here, there's many remarkable things happening here, but one of the things his baptism does, and the fact that Jesus would get down into the water.

Now just think about this.

Crowd of sinners being baptized, having to confess their sin.

All these people who are coming to be baptized, people like you and me.

And then Jesus, no sin.

No confession needed.

Jesus, no no no, no, um, no guilt, no shame.

Jesus, he gets down into the water because he's showing that he's gonna take on the sin that's being confessed.

He's gonna take on the weight of the world and the brokenness.

Crowd, full of brokenness, full of sin.

Jesus steps down from heaven into humanity, eternally identifying himself with us, becoming one of us, and here he was with all these wet sinners.

And if Jesus were here today, he and he is here, but if he was here physically today, he would be with all the messy and all the wet sinners.

And just as John baptizes him, and he comes up out of the water, what happens says it had the uh it it uh the sky just tears open, the heavens, heavens are torn open, the spirit descending on him like a dove.

It's just it's amazing.

And then God's saying, You're my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased.

And John baptizes, pictures, John baptizes him, he comes up out of the water, the father looks at this scene, and what is he, does he condemn it?

Jesus with all these wet sinners?

Does he complain about it?

No.

He says, This is good.

This is good.

This is my son in whom I am well pleased.

You know, and to seal the deal, kind of, we see all three of the Godhead here represented.

We see God the Father speaking, God the Son, of course, being baptized, and God the Holy Spirit descending.

I mean, you can't get any better assurance and stamp of approval than that.

The three of them there represented.

But what's also interesting about this is that Jesus is the divine recipient at his baptism.

You know, Mark makes it clear that it happened to him.

Look at how it's worded.

So he said it says here that as soon as he came up out of the water, it says Jesus, he, Jesus, saw the heavens being torn open.

Doesn't say the crowd saw it, doesn't say John the Baptist saw it.

Now, the Apostle John's account would indicate that at least John the Baptist saw and knew what was going on.

We don't get any indication even from the other gospels that the crowd saw what was happening.

This may very well have been a Jesus and God the Father moment.

And so we see this, see this happening.

He saw the heavens being torn open, the spirit descending on him like a dove.

So it's specified, Mark is specifying that this is happening to Jesus.

And then a voice, a voice appears from heaven, and it's not speaking to the crowd, it's not speaking to John the Baptist, it's speaking directly to Jesus.

He says, You are my beloved son.

With you I am well pleased.

See, he wants us to see and emphasize Jesus' witness of these things is of central importance.

And us being able to see this take place as the ones reading the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is of central importance.

God speaks directly to him.

The heavens tear open, the Holy Spirit descends, and God speaks.

Jesus had come to seek and to save those who are lost, to redeem his people by being the one who had ultimately pleased the Father on our behalf.

He was born.

He was with sinners.

He came on the mission that he did as our Savior, as the servant, as the sufferer, as the king to please the Father.

And here is a good question: Aren't you glad that Jesus pleased the Father?

Amen.