MARK LESSON 2

     We will begin this lesson in Mark chapter 1 verse 9.

     Mark 1:9 "And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from
Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan."

     To some people this would seem so unusual that the Saviour of the
world would come to be baptized. Of course, Jesus had no sins to repent
of. He was without sin. In everything, Jesus is the ultimate example.
I believe this act of humbly coming to be baptized was simply an
example for us to follow. 

     There had been very little heard of Jesus,
since His trip with Mary and Joseph to Jerusalem when He was twelve
years old. We know that He lived with His mother, Mary, and Joseph,
the man that the world thought was His father. Joseph was a carpenter,
and Jesus had worked with Joseph in the carpenter's shop. I believe a
great deal went on that we are not told about in the Scriptures in
this interval, since He had been in the temple at twelve. The statement:
"wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" found in St.
Luke 2:49, tells us that Jesus had begun His heavenly Father's
business.  The fact that Mary knew that Jesus could turn water into
wine at the wedding indicates to me that this was the first RECORDED
miracle, not the first one. Jesus from the time He was twelve until
the wine incident was possibly ministering, but not formally for
recorded history. The Hebrew young men called to the ministry began at
age thirty.

    John the Baptist was a close relative of Jesus' mother, Mary. It
seems that John's message had traveled far, and Nazareth was not far
from the Jordan River. Jesus, in prophecy, would be known as a
Nazarene and a Galilaean. It is so simply stated here that Jesus was
baptized of John.  The baptizer is not the important thing, the
baptism is.

     Mark 1:10 "And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the
heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:"  Mark
1:11 "And there came a voice from heaven, [saying], Thou art my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

     The thing that stands out in these two verses more than anything
else is the fullness of the God head here. We see Jesus (the second
person) coming out of the water, we see the Father in the voice from
heaven, and we see the Holy Spirit in the form of a Dove which
descended from heaven. We, in fact, see Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
here at the baptism. The heavens opened lets us know that these truly
were from the throne of God in heaven. Remember, Jesus was from heaven
Himself. His Spirit, which is His Life, is of God. His flesh was
provided by Mary.

    In verse V-10, it appears that all three personalities of God were
cooperating in the ministry of Jesus here on the earth. Jesus' body,
here, was touched by the Holy Spirit of God, as if anointing Jesus to
carry out the work. Jesus' Spirit needed no renewal. His Spirit is the
God Spirit, without flaw. The Spirit of God chose to come to earth and
take on the form of man, so that He might save mortal man. The
"heavens opened" shows, also, the involvement of all of heaven in this
earthly ministry of Jesus which officially began with this baptism.
The Elohim God was present here, the very one present at creation. {To
see more on this, read the Bible study on Genesis}.

    These three, also, give us a three-fold view of approval of the
baptism.  First of all, the Lord Jesus was the one baptized.  The
voice from heaven caused us to hear God's approval; and thirdly, the
descension of the Dove gave physical evidence of God's approval.  Many
people wear little dove pins proclaiming that they have been baptized
in the Holy Spirit.  This voice leaves no doubt who Jesus is.  He is
the Son of God. Not only is He the Son of God, but God is very pleased
with His Son. Just this voice alone should have left no doubt in
anyone's mind just who Jesus really is.

     Mark 1:12 "And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the
wilderness." Mark 1:13 "And he was there in the wilderness forty days,
tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels
ministered unto him."

     In Mark, here, we see a very short statement. This, however, is
covered in detail in Matthew chapter 4 verses 1 through 11, and again,
in Luke chapter 4 verses 1 through 13. I would suggest that you read
both of those accounts several times along with this to get the full
message. I will touch on just one or two items here.

    "The Spirit driveth him into the wilderness" is a shortened
statement.  The true meaning, I believe, is found in Luke 4:1 "And
Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led
by the Spirit into the wilderness," We see a similar statement in
Matthew 4:1 "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted of the devil." We see, here, a perfect example of cross
references of Scriptures which interpret themselves.  We see from this,
that Jesus was so full of the Holy Ghost and It's power, that He was
led by the Spirit. It is one thing, I have said before, to be saved;
but it is an entirely different thing to have Jesus as your Lord.
Jesus, in this case, had totally submitted His will to the Spirit. He
gladly went to be tempted of the devil. God is not a tempter. The
devil tempts through the lust of the flesh. When we are tempted, it is
the lust of the flesh that causes the temptation.  In Jesus' case, He
had no lust.  The devil tried to cause Jesus to lust for the things of
this world and failed.

    Another point we must make, here, is that the angels of God did not
minister unto Jesus, until He had been tempted and overcame the
temptation. Then they ministered to Jesus. Forty, throughout the Bible,
is symbolic of trials and testings. This forty days was no exception,
here. We will find in our Christian walk that we, too, have times of
testing. We, too, must withstand the devil with the Word of God and in
the name of Jesus. In James 4:7 we read "Submit yourselves therefore
to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Jesus was
tempted in all ways as we are.  He was first tempted in food, because
He was hungry after forty days.  He was tempted to tempt God and see
if God would protect Him, and He was tempted to attain earthly fame.
To read more in detail about this, you may read in the lessons on
Matthew and Luke which deal with this same subject in chapter 4 of
both books.

     Mark 1:14 "Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into
Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,"  Mark 1:15 "And
saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand:
repent ye, and believe the gospel."

     There was a gap of time here between the temptation and the time
Jesus came into Galilee. This John, spoken of here, is John the Baptist.
He was imprisoned because he spoke out against Herod marrying his
sister-in-law, Herodias. This is found in Mark 6:18-19.

    When Jesus came into any area, it was for a purpose. Here, we see
Him coming into Galilee to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God.
The purpose of preaching is to change people, to cause them to begin
again in Jesus.  The "gospel", as we have said before, is good news.
Believers are not like the world who have no hope.  We have hope of an
everlasting kingdom, if we believe in Jesus. The kingdom of God is
actually everything that exists. The whole universe is His kingdom. A
really good way to say this would be that Jesus was preaching the good
news that God is King of everything, and we are part of that kingdom,
if we repent of our sins and make Jesus Christ Saviour and Lord of our
lives.

    In V-15,"the time is fulfilled" just means that the fulfillment of
the Old Testament prophecies that Messiah will come, had happened.
Jesus fulfilled these prophecies. Christians should not dread death of
the body, we should look forward to the everlasting life of the
Spirit. In Romans 10:9, it tells us what this good news really is,
Romans 10:9 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved.

     Mark 1:16 "Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon
and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were
fishers." Mark 1:17 "And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I
will make you to become fishers of men."  Mark 1:18 "And straightway
they forsook their nets, and followed him."

     This, again, is a very short and precise statement about the call
of Simon (Peter) and Andrew to go with Jesus and be His apostles. We
find this statement almost exactly like this in Matthew 4:18-22. The
most vivid description of what happened, however, is found in Luke 5:1
"And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the
word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret," Luke 5:2 "And saw
two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of
them, and were washing [their] nets." Luke 5:3 "And he entered into
one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would
thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the
people out of the ship." Luke 5:4 "Now when he had left speaking, he
said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for
a draught."
     Luke 5:5 "And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have
toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word
I will let down the net." Luke 5:6 "And when they had this done, they
inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake." Luke 5:7
"And they beckoned unto [their] partners, which were in the other
ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled
both the ships, so that they began to sink." Luke 5:8 "When Simon
Peter saw [it], he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me;
for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Luke 5:9 "For he was astonished, and
all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had
taken:"  Luke 5:10 "And so [was] also James, and John, the sons of
Zebedee, which were partners with Simon.  And Jesus said unto Simon,
Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men."  Luke 5:11 "And when
they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed
him."

     Not that we need any reason for them "forsaking all, and following"
Jesus, but they had just seen an overwhelming miracle, plus they had just 
heard Jesus preach. There would be no way that they would not follow Him.
You see, the very best way to explain a Scripture is to find a more detailed Scripture on the very same incident and let it explain it for you. Notice, 
that the Sea of Galilee and Lake of Gennesaret are one and the same. Peter was called by Simon, also, and in one place called by both names at once, Simon Peter. There is no further explanation necessary why they left their nets and followed Jesus. It was just because He told them to. They believed nothing was impossible to Him after seeing this miracle.      


     This was covered in the explanation above from Luke.

                                 Notes
































                           Mark 2 Questions

1.  Where did Jesus come from before He was baptized?
2.  Who baptized Jesus?
3.  Where was He baptized?
4.  Why was Jesus baptized?
5.  What occupation had Joseph practiced?
6.  Who did the world believe was Jesus' father?
7.  What age did Hebrew men begin to minister?
8.  In prophecy, what two things were spoken of Jesus that indicated
    where He would be from?
9.  When Jesus came out of the baptismal water, what descended upon
    Him?
10. What did it symbolize?
11. What did the voice from heaven say?
12. What does the author think stands out the most in Verses 10 and
    11?
13. Tell how we saw Father, Son, and Holy Ghost at the baptism.
14. When did Jesus' ministry officially begin?
15. What one thing at Jesus' baptism should have left no doubt who He
    is?
16. What drove Jesus into the wilderness?
17. Why was He drawn to the wilderness?
18. How long was Jesus in the wilderness to be tempted?
19. What Scriptures in Matthew and Luke tell of this same incident?
20. What does the Scripture the spirit driveth him into the wilderness
    mean?
21. Who and what tempts a person to sin?
22. When we sin, what causes it?
23. The devil tried to tempt Jesus in His flesh, what happened?
24. When did the angels minister to Jesus?
25. How long did Jesus fast?
26. What number is symbolic of trials and tribulations?
27. What does James 4:7 teach us about the devil?
28. When did Jesus come into Galilee to preach?
29. What did He preach there?
30. Why had John been put in prison?
31. What is the gospel?
32. Christians should not dread death, but should __________________.-
33. Who was Simon's brother?
34. What was Simon's other name?
35. What was Simon's and his brother's occupation?
36. What did Jesus call them to do?
37. In what book do we find a more detailed account of this same
    thing?
38. What great miracle did Jesus perform for them before He called
    them to the ministry?
39. Who were Simon's partners, besides his brothers?
40. Why did Simon tell Jesus to depart from him?
41. How did they, Simon and his brother, answer Jesus' call?