Mark 1 - The authority of Jesus
Introduction:
This morning we are going to begin a study of the book of Mark. For those of you who are not well acquainted with the character of Jesus, then this will be a great opportunity to learn much about him. For many Christians, it seems that the gospel of Mark is frequently skipped over. Many studies are done from Luke and from Matthew, many times never opening the words of God written through Mark. Second, even if you are very well acquainted with this book, then this is an opportunity for you as well. When we were studying our "How to Teach an Unbeliever" series on Sunday night, we talked about taking the opportunity to read the book of Mark with someone. The points we make in the lesson are things that you can discuss when reading the book of Mark with someone else. With these things said, let us make mention of a few things about this book. Why are there four gospels? Do we not only need one? Each of the gospels tells the story and life of Jesus from a different point of view, with the intention to convince different readers about different attributes of Christ. The gospel of John does not have the purpose of telling us about the whole life of Jesus like the other three, but instead presents a court case in an effort to prove that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The other three gospels are called the synoptics, simply meaning they are of "like kind." These gospels are similar in that they are telling the narrative of the life of Christ. The gospel of Matthew was written primarily to Jews to prove to them that Jesus is the prophesied King and the prophesied Messiah. Matthew relies heavily upon Old Testament quotations to make his case to the Jews. The gospel of Luke is primarily written to Gentiles to show that Jesus was just like us. It is in this gospel that we will find Jesus referring to himself as the Son of Man. Thus, Luke will present Jesus as the perfect man. So what is Mark all about? If Matthew is to the Jews and Luke is to the Gentiles, who was Mark written to? The gospel of Mark was primarily written to the Romans. This explains some of the characteristics of this book. It is easy to note that it is the shortest of the gospels and there is a lot of action in the book. Jesus is always doing something in the gospel--from miracles, to healings, to teachings. Mark goes about showing that Jesus Christ is the powerful servant. Miracle after miracle is revealed to show his power, yet one of the key themes of the book is that he came to serve.
The Witnesses to the Servant (1:1-11)
Mark (1:1)
Verse 1 should be rather striking to us if we recall how the other synoptic gospels began. Matthew begins with a long genealogy of Jesus; while Luke begins with the birth of John the Baptist and the birth of Jesus, then presents a lengthy genealogy. Here is Mark's genealogy: The Son of God. We must understand that a lengthy genealogy would not have been valuable to those of the Roman mind. Instead, Mark is trying to quickly get to the point. Now, we need witnesses to prove to us that historical events took place. Why do we accept the history books that there was an Abraham Lincoln during the civil war? How do we know that there was a George Washington who crossed the Delaware? Did any of you see these people for yourselves? No, but because we have witnesses who accounted for what they saw and wrote the information down, we believe these people to have lived and done the works attributed to them. Mark is going to do the same thing for his Roman readers and for us. No one is expected to simply blindly believe that Jesus actually lived and performed the miracles and works that he did. Just as much as we need witnesses for American history, we also need witnesses for the history of Jesus. The first witness of our Servant that we have in this book is unstated yet very much implied. Mark is our first witness. Mark writes that this is the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ. Further, Mark boldly states that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. These are the things he saw to which he picks up the pen and writes.
The prophets (1:2-3)
The prophets testified about these things that would take place. Mark cites two quotations from the Old Testament prophets. In verse 2, Mark quotes Malachi 3:1, and in verse 3 he quotes Isaiah 40:3. Mark tells us that the scriptures prophesied of a person who would come to prepare the way of the Lord. Mark is going to give credibility to the one who would prepare the way of the Lord. Verse 4 is going to tell us who this person is for he is our next witness of the events that occurred.
John the Baptist (1:4-8)
We are now presented with the man John the Baptist. He is baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for remission of sins. As an interesting side point, it is useful to see that John did baptize for the remission of sins. We sometimes say that John's baptism was only toward repentance and a view to the coming Christ, which is true. But we also need to be aware that such an obedient and repentant act would forgive sins until the baptism of Jesus Christ. We see that John witnessed to the coming of Jesus in verse 7, preaching that there was going to be someone who would be greater than himself who would bring with him the Holy Spirit.
The Father and Holy Spirit (1:9-11)
Not only do we have Mark, the prophets, and John the Baptist as witnesses to the life of Jesus, but we also have God himself testifying to the life of Jesus. When John baptizes Jesus, not for the forgiveness of sins but to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15), the heavens parted and the Spirit in the form of a dove descends upon Jesus. Further, the testimony of the Father is given in verse 11. The Father says from heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Therefore, we do not accept Jesus and the account of His life falsely or with blind faith. We have the testimony of witnesses, many of them eyewitnesses, that tell us that Jesus Christ was alive on this earth, performed many works and signs, and is the Son of God.
The Authority of the Servant (1:12-45)
Authority over Satan (1:12-13)
We see the Spirit driving Christ into the wilderness for his first task, the temptation by Satan. We immediately notice that this account is not as full or lengthy as the accounts found in Matthew and Luke. Instead of going into the details of what took place, describing the three temptations, Mark is just simply going to get to the point for his Roman readers. The rest of this chapter is about the authority of the Servant, Jesus Christ. The first thing that we see is that Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days. Now how many of us would be able to survive in the wilderness for forty days? I am not sure I would be able to survive for one or two days, much less for forty days without food. We are immediately shown the power of Jesus Christ in His ability to survive in the wilderness for this length of time.
Next we see that Jesus was tempted by Satan. We understand that Jesus has authority over Satan. I do not know of any man who would be able to have a direct conversation with Satan, who would place temptation after temptation in front of us. In fact, the last time we saw an event like this was in the garden of Eden where Eve and Adam failed. Jesus has power over sin and Satan.
Further, we see that Jesus was with the wild beasts. We probably pass right over this when we read these words. But I would like for us to think about ourselves being in the wilderness with wild beasts. Would we survive for forty days being surrounded by wild beasts? The wilderness in the Palestine area was known for hyenas, jackals, panthers, and even lions. There would be a likelihood of injury or death from wild beasts roaming around us. Jesus shows his authority and power over the animals.
Finally in this verse we see that the angels are serving Jesus. This is another fantastic statement, almost as powerful as the power over Satan. The writer of Hebrews devotes a whole chapter to show how Jesus is greater than the angels. Mark makes the point in one small phrase.
Authority over man's life (1:14-20)
We are now introduced to the message that Jesus was preaching. Jesus came into Galilee preaching "the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand." The days of what the prophets had spoken of had come. All the prophecies of a coming Messiah and of a coming kingdom were now taking place, for it was the fullness of time. Those who would submit to the rule of God through repentance and believing in the good news would be part of the kingdom of God. Thus, Jesus began to call for followers of him. Jesus sees Simon and Andrew casting nets into the sea because they were fishermen. Jesus tells them to follow after him. They immediately left the things that they were doing and followed after Jesus. The same thing takes place with James and John, who stopped what they were doing to follow after Jesus. What we see is that Jesus has authority over the lives of all men and women. I want us to see the reaction of Peter, Andrew, James, and John. This is the same reaction that Jesus is looking for in his disciples today when the good news in preached. There were two things that these men did. First, they stopped what they were doing. Peter and Andrew leave their nets and James and John left their father in the boat. This is the priority of the good news. The second thing these men did is that they immediately followed after Jesus. This was a not a decision to only see Jesus on Sunday and "now let me get back to my fishing job or mending our nets." We must drop everything to follow Jesus.
Authority over unclean spirits (1:21-28)
Verse 22 continues our theme that we have been noticing in this chapter. Jesus taught them as one having authority. Jesus did not teach as simply one knowing the Law. Jesus taught as he did in the sermon on the mount, "You have heard it was said, but I say to you." He preached with the authority no one else had. While Jesus is preaching, a man with an unclean spirit is among them in the synagogue. We see the unclean spirit cry out through this man, "What do You have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who You are, Holy One of God!" This must have been an interesting scene when in the middle of teaching we have an unclean spirit in a man shouting out these words. Remember that we listed all of the witnesses to Jesus Christ in the first 11 verses. Now we have yet another witness, and this witness is an unclean spirit. Notice the confession made by the unclean spirit. First, there is a recognition of who He is. They know he is Jesus. Second, they confess that Jesus has the power to destroy them. Third, there is a confession that Jesus is the Holy One of God. The unclean spirit is a witness to who Jesus is.
Allow me to take a side point here. Was the unclean spirit saved? It seems to me that the confession of this unclean spirit has the same words as the sinners' prayers so often taught by the denominations. We have the recognition of who he is, the power he has, and the confession of Him as the Lord. Of course the unclean spirit was not saved. As James points out in James 2: that even the unclean spirits believe and tremble, but it is not the sum of what Jesus has required for salvation.
With simply a few words, the unclean spirit is cast out of the man. No one else had this ability among them. Thus, in verse 27, we see all the people in the synagogue are amazed at what has happened. Notice what they recognize: a new teacher with authority. Whatever this man would say, the people would have to follow because he exhibited the authority of God.
Authority over illnesses (1:29-31)
Here we see Simon, also called Peter, who has a wife whose mother is sick with fever. Jesus comes in to her and lifts her up by the hand and immediately the fever leaves her. She then rises up and serves them. Not only did Jesus exercise power over the unclean spirits, over the wild animals, over sins, over Satan, and over angels, he also shows his authority over illnesses. This is again something man could not do. No man can simply walk in to someone who is sick and heal them by his own power. Yet Jesus' power is immediate. He did not take three days and the fever went away on its own. Jesus immediately heals Peter's mother-in-law.
Authority over diseases (1:32-45)
In the final section of Mark, we see that Jesus has authority over the diseases that can afflict men. In verse 34, we see all sorts of people with various diseases and with many demons. Notice the extraordinary power to not only cast out diseases and unclean spirits, but to not allow the unclean spirits to even speak. Again, who else has this kind of power but the Lord. We also see Jesus' power over the disease of leprosy. What we notice in this chapter is that Jesus has the authority over all things. Human beings, spiritual beings, animals, diseases, and illnesses are all arenas that Jesus has supreme power. This means that there is nothing that Jesus cannot do for you. There is nothing that can come along in your life that Jesus cannot conquer for you. Jesus is willing to help us if we will only turn to him. Before we leave this section we must notice one other thing. Did you see what Jesus did in verse 35? Long before daylight would come, Jesus went alone to pray. If the Son of God had to spend time alone in prayer while ministering on the earth, how much more do we need to pray?! I think it is clear that this is a necessity for each of us if we are going to be like Jesus. It is time to repent and believe in the good news of Jesus Christ. Peter told us in Acts 2:38 what must be done in belief. It is not just a simple confession like the unclean spirit that we read about in this chapter. It is turning away from sins, giving your life immediately to the Lord who says to drop your nets and follow, and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins.
