Mark 1:9-11

Mark 1:9-11 And it came about in those days that Jesus came
from Nazareth in Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And
immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: "Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well-pleased." NAS

The Mighty One Who will pour out the Spirit is coming
. . .He was despised, and we esteemed him not. . . Isaiah 53:3

In Mark 1:9-11, all the country of Judah and all the people of Jerusalem made the journey to John the Baptizer in the wilderness, to confess their sin and immerse themselves in repentance for the remission of sin. They went to the man who came in the spirit of Elijah 2 Kings 1:8, the man whose mission was to prepare a people for their Messiah.

Who is this King of Glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
The LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, oh you gates;
Lift them up you ancient doors,
That the King of Glory may come in.
Who is He?
This King of Glory?
Psalm24:8-10a

They came, and like Naaman in Elijah's day, they were expecting great and even glorious things for themselves. 2 Kings 5:1-19

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee Mark 1:9

Among the people of Galilee, Nazareth held no esteem. In Judah, Galilee was despised. The people of Judah and Jerusalem came to John because he was telling them that the Mighty One was coming, and would bring with Him a glorious baptism for these new seekers. To this expectation, the Man from Nazareth of Galilee comes to the First Baptist Assembly at the Riverside, in humility, to be baptized by John.

Many have attempted to explain why the Holy One of Israel came for the baptism of repentance of sin when he had not sin to repent of. The best answer I have seen is that the Son of God acknowledged the sin and guilt of the children of Israel and the wrath of God that they deserved because of it. He would be their required Lamb of sacrifice. The Lamb is innocent. The sinner lays his hand on the Lamb in recognition that the innocent would die for his sin. The difference here is that no one but the Lamb seemed to realize that Y'shua/Jesus was the Lamb of God except for those who heard John the Baptizer proclaim it.

The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters Genesis 1:2

Coming up out of the water he saw the heavens rent, and the Spirit like a dove
descending upon Him. Mark 1:10

The outpouring or baptism of the Spirit would not happen for all of Israel until the Lamb was slain and the veil of the temple was rent as the heavens were at Jesus baptism. For now, the spirit came to Jesus alone.

Take now your son, your only son, whom you love Genesis 22:2

God will provide for Himself the Lamb Genesis 22:8

and a voice came out of the heavens: "Thou art My beloved Son."Mark 1:11

The journey to the cross formally begins here. It was promised in the garden. It was planned from the foundation of the world, but it begins here. Jesus the Son of God will go deep into the wilderness, then to Galilee but the journey is to Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, Mt Moriah of Abraham's day, the place where God promised to provide a lamb.

For the next three years Y'shua ha Mashiach (Jesus who is the Christ) will love a people who despise and reject Him. He will carry their sorrows and bear their grief. He will eventually be pierced for their transgressions and crushed for their iniquities. He will be chastened for their well being and scourged for their healing... for my healing, for yours.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me... The late Francis Schafer wrote a book whose title asked, "How Shall We Then Live?" As I sit here thinking about the implications of these three simple verses in the first chapter of Mark, that phrase keeps going through my head, "How then should I live?" God provided His own beloved Son, His only Son, for my sin. "How then should I live?"

Faith A quick word study of faith, the substance of my hope, puts light on how to live. Faith is my victory in overcoming the world. The justification that allows me to have peace with God comes by faith in Jesus Romans 5:1-2. Peter, the inspiration for the Gospel of Mark, took the opportunity to give a short, powerful sermon after a man was made whole and able to walk after a lifetime of lameness. What Peter said about the man who could now walk, he could have said about me.

You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are
witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know
was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has
given this complete healing to him, as you can all see. Acts 3:15-16

Faith in Jesus name has given me complete healing from sin. I came to God and He rewarded me for seeking Him. Faith is my victory.

The rest of the story...

Faith in Jesus name has given me complete healing from sin. I came to God and He rewarded me for seeking Him. Faith is our victory. So how should we live? Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to TRUST in the Lord with all of our heart, (the control center of who we are) and not to lean on our own understanding. We do not have to figure out what is going on in our circumstance. Nor do we need to get a handle on why something is happening. What we do need to do is trust that Jesus has it figured out and that He understands what is going on and why. Our job is to trust Him. Oh! There is one more thing we are to do. Acknowledge Him in everything. When prayer is answered just the way I had hoped, I joyfully acknowledge the Lord. When an unexpected benefit comes to me, I gladly acknowledge the Lord. Those are easy. But, does God really expect me to give Him some kind of acknowledgement when things go completely wrong? When I am misunderstood, when the evil someone else commits impacts my life, when I do not have what I need, Does God want to be acknowledged then?

Humm, what does the Word say?

Trust in the LORD with all of your heart, do not lean on your own understanding,In all your ways acknowledge Him.

If I do not acknowledge my shepherd, my Lord, in everything, then I am back to trying to figure things out for myself. That is a red flag telling me that I do not trust my LORD unless I feel good about my life.

Most of us learned Psalm 23 in Sunday School.

The LORD is my shepherd

My shepherd prepares a feast for me, a table better then Thanksgiving at Grandma's house.He leads me to the feast, my cup runs over with goodness. But where does he lead me, where do we go to get to the table He has prepared for me? We walk right through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. If, while in that scary valley, I try to figure out what I am doing and how I got here, I will stop trusting the shepherd. If that happens then I will stop following Him. If that happens I will not get to the place he wants to take me. I will direct my own way instead of letting Him direct my path.

When things are hard, when life feels like it is crashing and nothing good can happen because of the scary things that have been thrust into your life, when you are thinking, "Why me, what did I do wrong?" just stop. Take a moment to tell Jesus you don't like what you see, but you will trust Him and thank Him for understanding. Then get up and let Him direct your path. He knows where He is taking you... and he loves you.

Orginally blogged on Deb at Shoutlife, August 11, 2008