Download: The Beginning – John & Jesus

Mark 1:2-13 (REV)

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Look! I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare the road for you. 3A voice of one calling out in the desert, ‘Make the road ready for the Lord! Make the paths straight for him!’”

4John came baptizing in the desert and preaching a baptism that was a sign of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And the whole region of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, openly confessing their sins.

6John was clothed with camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7And he was preaching, saying, “After me there is one coming who is mightier than I am—I am not even worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals! 8I baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with holy spirit.”

The Baptism of Jesus

9And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10And immediately as he was stepping up out of the water, he saw the heavens being split open and the spirit descending upon him like a dove, 11and a voice came out of the heavens, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.”

The Temptation in the Desert

12And immediately the spirit drove him out into the desert. 13And he was in the desert 40 days being tempted by the Adversary. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

Mark 1:2-13 presents Jesus as the fulfillment of OT prophecy, the Son of God infused with the power of holy spirit, able to resist the temptations of Satan, and worthy to be served by angels.

Malachi 3:1

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.”

Malachi 4:5–6

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of Yahweh comes. 5And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers…”

Isaiah 40:3

“A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’”

The spirit descending upon Jesus alludes to the anointing of kings and prophets in the Old Testament, marking Jesus out as God’s chosen one—Messiah.

The “voice from heaven” echoes Psalm 2:7 (“You are my Son”) and Isaiah 42:1 (“my chosen one in whom my soul delights”), tying the beginning of Jesus’ ministry to royal and servant motifs in the Old Testament.

God’s spirit presses Jesus to depart into the wilderness for 40 days, echoing the journey of Israel in the wilderness for 40 years.

Jesus encounters his first antagonist and conflict—temptations by Satan

To help clarify, Lane comments,

“But as soon as it is recognized that the dominant motif of the prologue is the wilderness, Mark’s distinctive reference to the wild beasts becomes intelligible. In the OT blessing is associated with inhabited and cultivated land; the wilderness is the place of the curse. So in the wilderness there is neither seed nor fruit, water nor growth. Man cannot live there. Only frightening and unwanted kinds of animals dwell there. Significantly, when the wilderness is transformed into a paradise no ravenous beast will be in it (Isa. 35:9; Ezek. 34:23-28). Mark’s reference to the wild beasts in Ch. 1:13 serves to stress the character of the wilderness. Jesus confronts the horror, the loneliness and the danger with which the wilderness is fraught when he meets the wild beasts Their affinity in this context is not with paradise, but with the realm of Satan.”1

1. William L. Lane, The Gospel According to Mark, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 61.