The Gospel of Mark 1:9-13

 Brian Hirvela
11/14/2023

Mark 1:9-13

9 Now it happened that in those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

10 And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him;

11 and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

12 And immediately the Spirit drove Him to go out into the wilderness.

13 And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.

In the days of John, the Baptist, he was preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus came to John to be baptized. Jesus did not come to be baptized because He needed to repent or be forgiven, He came so that righteousness may be fulfilled.

This was Jesus’ first public appearance and the beginning of His ministry to His people proclaiming repentance for the Kingdom was at hand. Because He is perfect, He simulates that act of sinful man to enact the righteousness of repentance and be washed as though He had been polluted for our sakes, He sanctified Himself, that we may be sanctified, and be baptized with Him.

Remember John 17:19 when Jesus prayed to the Father, “For their sake, I sanctify Myself, that they, themselves, also may be sanctified in truth.” So, we see at this moment in time Jesus began all righteousness by setting Himself apart, sanctifying Himself so that those whom the Father calls to Him will be set apart and sanctified through Him.

You must understand that all Mankind is caught up in sin. Because Adam transgressed God’s law all who are born of the flesh, of Adam, have inherited that sin and are born sinners. Only Jesus, God incarnated as Man, the Son of God and the Son of Man was perfect, and His obedience to the Father, His righteousness, changes the state of those who believe in Jesus from a state of unrighteousness to a state of righteousness. This is the act of being Born Again.

And this righteousness starts here in the Jordan River. The God-Man Jesus came from Nazareth to John to be baptized and when Jesus came up from the water the Heavens opened, and the Spirit of God descended like a dove upon Jesus and a voice came out of the heavens saying, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

The Father, the Son, and the Spirit all have the same essence, yet three persons all appear in the same place. The Son is Jesus for He is the one to whom the Voice from heaven calls His Son in which the Voice is well pleased. The Spirit descended like a dove upon Jesus, much like the tongues of fire that descended upon the Apostles in Acts. Jesus is baptized by the Holy Spirit.

It wasn’t Jesus as God that was filled with Spirit, but as Man, so that He would represent those who are born again and being baptized by the Holy Spirit. Every believer who believes and repents from their sin is baptized by the Spirit immediately. Here, Jesus is again representing us for our sake. Those who are born of God will have the Spirit of God poured into their hearts.

Jesus' obedience to His Father from his youth when He, “had to be in My Father’s house.” to the present fulfillment of all righteousness, to His ministry, and eventual death and resurrection, pleased His Father. We cannot do it apart from Christ.

And the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for forty days being tempted by Satan. Mark doesn’t go into detail in his Gospel, but I can assure you that this temptation consisted of three trials. 

1. The desires of the Flesh, that which would please the body and be good, but Jesus denied him, for the word of God is sufficient

 2. Of the Desire of the eyes in which Satan showed Jesus all that he could have if Jesus worshipped him, and Jesus denied him again for He only worships God and Him alone. and

3. The desire of Pride which Satan tempted Jesus to exalt himself, but Jesus denied him and rebuked him for none shall put Yahweh, God to the test.

The angels ministered to Jesus while he was in the wilderness and tended to His needs. For Jesus put His trust in the one He knew would sustain Him through these trials and that was His God and Father, the same God and Father who sustains every believer in Christ Jesus.

There is great joy in Jesus who brings life to all who believe. Jesus the Messiah has risen from the dead, conquering it, and lives. He is in your midst with us, but you cannot see. You are blind and your heart is darkened thus we bring the light that we proclaim.  

Death will soon take you and when you die you will face judgment for your sins. God is just and cannot by His nature abide by sin nor dismiss it. Every act of rebellion and transgression against God is wrapped up in sin, yet you have foolishly chosen to do it because you love your sin, rather than follow Christ and His righteousness that would truly enrich you.

From the Ten Commandments, we have false worship, idolatry, misusing God’s name and living vain lives, violating the Sabbath, dishonoring parents, murder, adultery, stealing, lying/false witness, and coveting.

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), Jesus took some of these same sins to a new level. Regarding murder, Jesus said, “Anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.... But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell” (Matthew 5:22).

Regarding adultery, Jesus said, “Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). This includes men lusting other men and women lusting other women.

In Galatians 5:19-21, we are told, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

 In addition to the various lists that can be found in Scripture, we are told in 1 John 5:17 that “all wrongdoing is sin.” Not only does the Bible tell us the things not to do, but in James 4:17, we are informed that anyone “who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”

God is just and He must bring recompense to every sinner.

You are that sinner, and you cannot comprehend your sins to root them all out and make yourself right with God. Not by obeying the Law, nor by deciding that you are right with God. Only God can make you right with Him and He sent His son Jesus to live that perfect life without sin, die, and rise on the third day alive.

Jesus bore all our sins; He bore all the sins of all who believe in Him.  He suffered the totality of God’s Wrath upon Himself that every sinner deserves, willingly, so that those who believe in Jesus may have peace with God.

As it is written, “God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved—and raised us with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;9 not of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:5-8

Turn away from your unrighteous sinful ways which lead to death and turn toward and follow Jesus which leads to life.