Mark 1:10,11 - You are my beloved Son

1:10

Jesus got baptised like everyone else, but then something unique happened. The heavens being opened or torn apart is associated with revelation from God. And we need to understand the fundamental nature of the gospel and of the Bible as a whole, it is a revelation from God. Note that it says Jesus saw the Spirit descend upon Him like a dove, it is not clear whether anyone else actually saw this.

1:11

Then there was a voice from heaven, which presumably everyone around did hear. “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased”. Jesus is approved by God. More than that, He is not just someone chosen by God, He is God’s Son, and there is a close relationship between the two. John in his gospel repeatedly emphasises the point that Jesus was sent by God. The gospel is God’s gospel, it is in no way a human creation. Men will always try to make their own gospel. The Catholic church does this, we get the same if we have “liberation theology” or a “social gospel” or “black theology”. There is only one true gospel, God’s gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:1).

Malachi 4:5,6 - I will send the prophet Elijah

4:5

We now get the prophecy of Elijah coming before the “great and awesome day of the Lord”. We know from Mark’s gospel that John the Baptist was that prophet, so this should warn us against over literalistic interpretations of passages regarding the last days. We should also note that this part was fulfilled at the first coming of Jesus, so we should appreciate the amazing significance of that first coming.

4:6

The prophet will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise utter destruction will come from the Lord. Why does he say this? Maybe it is a matter of looking where we are going and where we have come from. The only solid foundation for the future is one rooted in God and in His ways. And the future needs to know where it has come from. Israel has no meaning other than that found in God, without the Lord she would not exist. And the same is true for the whole human race.

Mark 1:8,9 - He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit

1:8

“I have baptised you with water, but He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit”. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was associated with the coming of the Messiah in the Old Testament (Joel 2:28,29; Is 32:15, 44:3; Ezek 39:29), and in Acts we read of the “promised Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:33). There is a way in which we also need to understand this. We may preach and teach, but we need to recognise that it is the Holy Spirit who opens a man’s eyes to see the truth, it is the Holy Spirit who can change a man. We have an important role to play, we are meant to live and preach the word of God, but it is only God who can truly change people. If we understand our role aright then we will do our task properly. However, if we start thinking that it is us, our words, that change a man we will quickly fall into error. We may become manipulative as we try to change people with our eloquence or wisdom. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts, not us.

1:9

Nazareth was a village in Galilee, possibly with about five hundred residents. Matthew gives a much longer description of the baptism of Jesus (Matt 3:13-17), Mark simply states that Jesus was baptised by John. Imagine what it would have been like for people hearing this for the first time. They have just heard (v4) that John was “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”. Now Jesus Himself gets baptised by John. If we knew nothing else then the clear implication is that Jesus is a sinner like the rest of us! The following two verses make it clear that this is not the case, and we know from Matthew’s account that John was fully aware of the apparent absurdity of Jesus being baptised. Jesus was fully identifying with the human race.

Malachi 4:3,4 - You will trample on the wicked

4:3

More nastiness for the enemies! So how does this tie in with Jesus’ command to love our enemies? We are indeed to love our enemies, but we come into conflict with our sentimental, wishy-washy notion of what love is, something that is not found anywhere in the Bible. We are to call all people to repentance, to obedience to Christ. We are to give freely to all. Some will respond positively, and some of these will be the most surprising people. But not all will respond positively, and such people will face the judgement of God. We need to know that this will happen,and this will actually help us to love them better, for we will do so without fear, for we know what the final outcome will be.

4:4

The faithful ones are called to remember the law of Moses. These people were favoured by God, but they were not to become proud, instead they were to remember to continue to faithfully obey God.

Mark 1:5-7 - Baptising in the wilderness

1:5

There was an amazing response to John’s preaching, and note that there was nothing seeker-friendly about his message! (Luke 3:7). Many people went out to him confessing their sins and were baptised. Today there is an unfortunate emphasis on not preaching repentance. This is a very unbiblical approach. Revival happens when God ordains it, we cannot manufacture genuine revival by human means, though possibly we might manage to produce a cheap imitation.

1:6

This verse recalls 2 Kings 1:8 speaking of Elijah the prophet. The whole picture is one of him living a very austere life. His lifestyle was actually quite different to that of Jesus. John was very much “one in the wilderness”. When someone speaks to a society calling it back to Godly ways that person will be in some sense separate from society, they will be different.

1:7

John knew full well what his role was. He was pointing towards the Messiah, he had no illusions about his own importance. This did not mean he was unimportant (Luke 7:28), far from it, but he understood the nature of his importance. We should have the same importance. So often a leader will start to think that they are “the man”, they can become so self-centered. We need to remain humble and to appreciate the nature of our importance. Tying someone's sandals was the most menial of tasks.

Malachi 4:1,2 - You will go out and frolic!

4:1

We should always remember that the chapter divisions were not part of the original text, but were added hundreds of years later. Sometimes they mark sensible divisions in the text, at others they give a false impression that we have moved on to a new topic or aspect of the message. Here we should note that the severe judgement spoken of in this verse is part of the salvation promised at the end of chapter 3. And this is not at odds with the New Testament! If we look at the words of Jesus we see that judgement was a significant part of them. In Revelation part of the comfort for the suffering saints is that judgement upon their persecutors will come.

4:2

The prospects for the wicked are dire, those for the faithful are infinitely better. The term “sun of righteousness” is unique to Malachi in the OT. They lived in a day or moral darkness, just as we do in many ways. But a time would come when the righteousness would once again shine over the land. This would come with healing in its wings. When we live in a time of darkness it wounds our souls, when God’s righteousness comes it brings healing to our souls. Instead of being constantly cowed, the faithful would leap with joys and freedom, like calves leaping from the stall.

Mark 1:2-4 - As it is written

1:2,3

“As it is written in the Isaiah the prophet”. The two quotes actually come from Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3. It was common to just name the major prophet, Isaiah in this case. Mark makes relatively few Old Testament quotations, unlike Matthew. These two quotations are introducing John the Baptist. Although John the Baptist had a relatively short ministry, and was nowhere near as significant as Jesus, he did have an enduring effect. In Acts 19:1-7 we read of the Ephesian dozen who had only had John’s Baptism.

The two prophets, Malachi and Isaiah, could be said to cover judgement and mercy. These were two aspects of Jesus’ ministry, and it is so important that we give proper weight to both of them. There is such a tendency to think only of mercy when thinking of Jesus. This is both inconsistent with what Jesus actually did and said, but also means that we never truly appreciate the extent and depth of God’s mercy in Christ.

1:4

Mark makes it clear that John the Baptist was a fulfilment of these passages. He was sent by God to prepare the way for the Lord. So how did he go about preparing the way? Hr preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Baptism signified a change of life, converts to Judaism were baptised. So baptism in itself was not unique, it is the significance that matters. So in John’s case it was repentance and forgiveness, Christian baptism signifies being baptised into Christ’s death and resurrection (Rom 6:1-14).