Welcome to Truth for Life. Today, Alastair Begg considers the baptism and temptation of Jesus. What makes these events so significant, and what can we learn from them? We'll be looking at the answers found in chapter 1 of Mark's Gospel. We begin today with verse 9.
Now, John, we learned last time, was the most successful preacher of his day. He was clear. He was direct. He was urgent. He was marked by integrity.
He was humble. and his chosen form of dress and his diet were in themselves noteworthy.
Now he knew that his role was to fade into the background just as quickly as he might. He was the hors d'oeuvre, he was not the main course. Jesus was the one who was to come to the fore, he was the one who was to slip out. In fact, he says on one occasion, John records it, Christ must become greater. And I must become Less.
And in that, he is an example to all who would ever take to the Opportunity of proclaiming Jesus in any capacity at all. There are many things he might have addressed, but he addresses the central, the core issue. Men and women are dislocated from God as a result of sin. God, who is a covenant establishing and keeping God, still comes and pursues those who have turned their backs on Him, and speaking to such a crowd, He sounds the note which is a necessary note then and now, namely the note of forgiveness of sins. which lies at the very heart of Christianity.
Now, as we said again last time, Mark writes according to his own purpose and in relationship to his own personality. He's obviously not particularly verbose. His brevity forces the reader's attention to consider that which we might say is main and plain. And in this little paragraph, he gives to us two scenes. And we'll deal with them in turn.
First of all, Jesus in the water. And then secondly, Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus first then in the water.
Now the question is what is he doing in the water?
Well, first of all, we find that he is identifying with those He came to save. Mark leaves out what Matthew tells us concerning John the Baptist's reticence. From your own study, you may recall that when Jesus appeared to be baptized by John, John had said to him, haven't we got this upside down? Should I not be the one who is baptized by you rather than me baptizing you? And on that occasion Jesus had said, let's just go with it this way, thus it is fitting now to fulfill all righteousness.
I'm here to do what is right before God. I am here to fulfill what God designed for Israel in its perfection. I am here to determine by my life that which is pleasing to the Father. and therefore it is right for me to be baptized.
Now it would be immediately wrong for us to infer from that that Jesus was saying either by word or by action. that he himself required a baptism of repentance. Because obviously he didn't. Mark knew that he didn't. Mark knew that he was the Lamb of God, that he was the sinless Lamb of God, the one who would take away the sin of the world.
Well then if that is the case Why is he being baptized? What is happening?
Well, what Jesus is doing is he's making a statement, or we might say he's making a number of statements, by taking his place in the river. He is identifying with those who in their baptism have acknowledged their need of repentance and have confessed their sins and have looked to God for forgiveness. Remember in 2 Corinthians 5, in an immense statement, Paul says, God made him. who knew no sin. to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
And he who is the bearer of sin, identifies with sinners in their need. at every point, if you like, along the path. And so as he comes to be baptized by John, His baptism is actually pointing forward to his death. Because you will recall from the Gospel of Luke that as he comes closer to the time of his death, Jesus says in Luke chapter 12, now I have a baptism to undergo. And what he is referring to there is the fact that he is about to be plunged, if you like, into death.
and in the shedding of his blood in death, There will be forgiveness for the sins of all who trust in Him. And here he is in his baptism. foreshadowing, if you like, what will happen in his death. Here we find him standing, if you like, as the priest who will bring forgiveness. by the sacrifice of himself.
So here in the Baptism of John, there is all this symbolism. That which is pictured in the water is not performed in the water. Jesus goes down into the same water which is tainted by all the symbolic sins of those who have been baptized. And then John takes that same tainted water. and pours it over Christ in his baptism.
As a graphic symbol. of what will happen in the pouring out of the blood of Christ. On those who are repentant sinners.
So that's the first thing we need to recognize: that there in the water, there is an identification with. sinners in their need. Secondly, in the water, we discover that he is identified not only with, but he is identified as. And he is identified as The father's son whom the Father loves. Verse 11.
Now you'll notice here we have each member of the Trinity. The word Trinity does not appear in the Bible, but it describes in theological terms the nature of God as he makes himself known. When you read the Bible, you discover very, very quickly that there are indications of God's being that point us in different directions. The Spirit of God. is identified as a real person.
God as Father. As a person. And God the Son. As a person. And as we read our Bibles, we discover that in every instance, each of these individuals is equal with one another.
In terms of their eternity? And in terms of their power. and in terms of their divinity.
Now I want you to notice that here is one of the places in the New Testament where, without announcement, you find each member of the Trinity. You have God, the sun in the water. You have God the Father speaking from heaven. And you have God the Spirit descending upon the Son like a dove. And the Father and the Spirit are bearing witness to the identity of Jesus.
Later on, Jesus is going to ask his disciples, what's the word on the street? Who do people say that I am? And on that occasion, his followers will tell him there are all kinds of things being said about you. And here we are today in the 21st century. And if we were to go out this afternoon and go into the streets of Greater Cleveland and simply ask the question, who do you think that Jesus of Nazareth is?
We would receive all kinds of answers.
Some saying, well, he's a great man, a wonderful teacher, whatever it might be. But here we have the authentic statement of the Father himself concerning the Son. And this in the most dramatic of fashions. Because, as verse 10 tells us, as Jesus was coming up out of the water, There is a visible and a verbal dimension to this authenticating voice. First of all, we're told he saw heaven being torn open.
reminding us that this is a supernatural event. And then the Spirit is described as descending. And you will notice the Spirit is capitalized there in the NIV, reminding us that this is a reference to the third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit.
Now, when the people of God were anticipating the coming of the Messiah, They anticipated that when the Messiah came, And he stepped out, if you like, into the formalized role of his kingly rule to subdue the rebellion of men, in the formalized role of his prophetic work to deal with the ignorance of men and women, in his priestly role to bear our alienation and so on, that messianic inauguration. would surely not happen absent that which had taken place when, if you like, inferior priests and judges and kings had been set to their task.
So when heaven is torn open, And the Spirit of God descends like a dove, people would not immediately have said, Oh my, my, I wonder what this is all about. They would have said, Oh.
Now, isn't this just the kind of thing that our forebearers told us had happened for the kings of Israel and so on? and they would have recognized something of the significance in it. And the descending spirit is said to come on the one who who will in turn baptize with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is going to finally go to heaven. And he is going to send the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit will come and baptize and fill the followers of Jesus and equip them with an understanding of the truth and with power to take this wonderful good news to the very ends of the earth. And so you have heaven being torn. You have the spirit descending. And then you have this voice from heaven in verse 11. declaring, you're my son, whom I love.
With you I am well pleased. This is the echo of the word of prophecy in Isaiah 42, which leads us eventually to 53. Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I will put my spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations.
So you see where a knowledge of the Bible matters. Because suddenly, we're looking, even just with two or three verses, we begin to get a far more panoramic view of what's going on. Otherwise, we simply come to this as the baptism of Jesus, and I guess Jesus got baptized, and wasn't that jolly good when we learned about the baptism of Jesus.
Now we realize that what is happening here, when God speaks, the declaration of the Father is an echo of the prospect And the Anticipation. of all that is now fulfilled. In The water. Jesus is in the water according to the eternal counsels of God. Jesus is in the water to do that which is fitting to fulfill all righteousness.
Jesus is in the water as the one who identifies with sinners in their need, preparing the way for the forgiveness that will be provided by his death. Jesus is in the water as the only beloved Son of the Father, recognizing as surely as the water descends upon him and as the Baptist ministers to him that one day he will be plunged down beneath a flood which will be a cleansing flood for men and women, a cleansing that is provided in his blood that is pictured in the baptism that they have gone through.
Well, that's enough on Jesus in the water. Jesus in the wilderness. Verse 12 at once, the Holy Spirit. who has descended in gentleness now moves him out in power. The Spirit sent him into the desert or into the wilderness, and he was in the desert for 40 days.
The children of Israel were there for 40 years. And there seems to be some symmetry between these two events. And what was happening there? He was being tempted by Satan. He who had received the unequivocal endorsement of his father is now faced by the implacable hostility of the evil one.
You will notice that it is a scene of conflict. Spirit and angels. versus Satan. and the wild animals. If the angels come, as the psalmist says, to minister to the chosen of God, then we should not be surprised that the angels would come and minister to Christ, the beloved Son of God.
Now what is happening here is simple. Mark is pointing out What he is going to clarify throughout the whole of the rest of his gospel. Namely, that in the incidents that he will describe as taking place, and they will come upon us very quickly, the driving out of an evil spirit is as good an illustration as any, the healing of many, the man with leprosy, the raising of the paralytic, and so on. What is happening here is that Mark is pointing out the fact that behind all the earthly scenes in Galilee and beyond, all the things that he's going to describe as he gives to us the record of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, all of these things are ultimately represented by a supernatural conflict which underlies them. That behind all of the animosity towards Jesus, all of the rebellion of men concerning Jesus, all of their unbelief about Jesus.
That all lies in the fact of an un ending supernatural conflict unending to this point.
Now again, you need to know your Bible. I'm going to turn you to Genesis 3. If you want to turn to it, good. And if you don't, then I hope you'll turn to it later. But in Genesis chapter 3 and in verse 15, After Adam and Eve have disobeyed God, have turned their backs on him, have done what he told them not to do.
The Lord comes to the serpent. Who has been the deceiver? And says to the serpent, Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all livestock and all the wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
Now here is the conflict, verse 15. And I will put enmity between you and the woman. and between your offspring and hers, and he will crush your head. and you will strike his heel.
Now there is a sense in which the entire Old Testament Is the outworking of what we discover there in Genesis 3.15. that the conflict between the seed of woman and the serpent explains all of the antagonism towards the work of God in each generation. And that runs all the way through the intertestamental period and all the way into the New Testament in the conflicts that Jesus will engage in as Mark and the other gospel writers describe them. And it runs all the way out through the back end of the Bible, if you like, into the centuries of man since, and into the 21st century. And while sociologists would laugh at such an assertion, and historians would regard it as the apex of total foolishness, When men and women take their newspapers in the morning and say, what in the world is going on with the world?
The answer is in Genesis 3.15. That there is a supernatural conflict which underlies All conflict. And it is this. Which is addressed in Christ's encounter with Satan in the wilderness. You can read it for yourself later on.
Adam in Genesis 1 is set within the beauty of the garden, lovely place, lovely wife, lovely animals, lovely flowers, lovely. He has dominion over it all. You can have all of this, you can enjoy all of this, enter into the pleasure of all of this. He's in a garden with the enjoyment of it all. Christ is in a wilderness.
With the antagonism of it all. What is happening?
You must read your Bible again. 1 Corinthians 15, we discover that God has in Jesus the second Adam. that the first Adam goes up against the evil one and fails. The garden becomes a wilderness. We must now await the arrival of a second Adam who will go up against the evil one and triumph.
so that one day we will live with him in the garden. And I'm sure there is something in it, some funny little bit in it, that when you read in the resurrection appearances, and it says that Mary took him to be the gardener. There is a sense in which he was the gardener. He was the one who by his atoning death and resurrection turns the wilderness bank into a garden. turns the wilderness of human rebellion into reconciliation.
And transforms it all as a result of him going head to head with all that hell can throw against him and coming out absolutely triumphant. This is the story of good news. Jesus has entered into our world. into a world not as Adam found it, but into a world as Adam left it.
Now we must stop here. But this is just setting the scene for the drama of the good news about Jesus, the Son of God, which begins here, says Mark. The story of Christianity is the story of a God who does not shout from afar. who is not reached as a result of our great endeavours and internal searches. but it is the story of a God who comes to us in the person of Jesus.
entering into our wilderness world, a world that is fallen, that is broken, that is sinful, and that is disintegrating. And he comes into this world. In order that he might restore those broken relationships. that he might come to our alienation. and our alienations.
And grant The fix. That he may come to our fears of the future and grant to us a joyful anticipation.
So Tomorrow morning we will read again about the financial crisis. The crisis is not financial. The crisis is personal. The crisis. is a crisis of broken relationships.
First, a relationship broken with God. Expressed in a covetous heart. Then, in relationships broken with one another. I demand more. I require more.
I deserve more. I want more. I will have more. at any cost to anyone. The brokenness in your marriage.
If it's broken. is first of all broken. on the vertical axis. Not the horizontal. The brokenness in human relationships.
has to do with our brokenness. There's a V God. And the good news as told by Mark is this. You cannot fix it yourself. But the one who stood in that water identifying with you in all of your brokenness and alienation.
Is the one who stood for you in that wilderness. Taking on all of the threats and intimidation and temptation of the evil one and emerging victorious.
so that he might undergo a baptism. that would yield the benefit of the very forgiveness. That was pictured. in this Jordan River. And that benefit That is conveyed in the gospel.
is discovered by those. who will come to God and say, The reason this world is broken is because I'm broken. The reason things are disrupted is because I am disrupted. Lord Jesus Christ. Come and forgive me.
And change me. And through me Change my Little world. Mm. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. As Alastair mentioned in today's message, it's important for us to read our Bibles if we want to grow in faith.
So how can you tell if you're growing spiritually? In his brand new book We Will Be Changed, Alastair unpacks the traits of a genuine believer and explains how these characteristics are cultivated. His teaching is drawn from the Apostle Paul's letter to the Galatians.
So how do we mature in our faith? Do we do it through our own effort or by some other means? Alastair addresses these questions and invites you to reflect on the evidence of God's transforming work in your life. Tomorrow is the last day we'll be recommending Alistair's book, We Will Be Changed, so be sure to request your copy today. It's yours for a donation to Truth for Life.
You can give online at truthforlife.org slash donate or call us at 888-588-7884. I'm Bob Lepine. Thanks for listening. Are you a Jesus takes the wheel kind of person, or do you lean more toward the I've got this attitude? Tomorrow we'll learn how Christ's reign affects our lives.
The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. where the Learning is for Living.
