The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

Sermon: The Exorcist (Mark 1:21-34)

The ExorcistSunday, April 30th, 2023Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Mark 1:21-34
21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. 22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. 26 And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. 28 And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.
29 And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 But Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her. 31 And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. 32 And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. 33 And all the city was gathered together at the door. 34 And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for giving Jesus all authority in heaven and on earth, and we ask that as we behold His doctrine and His power in Your Word, that You would give us understanding and love for You. We ask for your Holy Spirit, in Jesus name, Amen.
Introduction
Well last week we saw that Jesus has just begun his public ministry. As a boy he was learned in the things of God (he knew the Holy Scriptures), as a young man thru his twenties he worked with his hands as a carpenter, and now at age 30, Jesus is baptized and ordained to ministry.
Thirty is the age at which a priest began service in the tabernacle (Num. 4:3), thirty is the age at which David began to reign as king (2 Sam. 5:4), and thirty is the age at which Ezekiel, the original “Son of Man” was called to prophesy (Ezek. 1:1).
And so Jesus, this new priest, king, and prophet, enters the third decade of his life, and He begins to do battle against the forces of darkness. This warfare began in the wilderness, where he was tempted by Satan and was amongst the wild beasts. And then having overcome that trial, he enters the lake towns of Galilee and there he announces, “the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
We saw also last week that Jesus calls to himself the first four disciples.
Two sets of brothers, Simon and Andrew, James and John, all of them fishermen. And these four fishermen are going to become the equivalent of David’s mighty men.
Jesus is amassing an army of disciples. He has reconstituted God’s heavenly hosts and is preparing to take the promised land.
But as we will see in the chapters ahead, this conquest is going to come in a surprising way. The kingdom will not arrive with horse and chariot and the weapons of this world. But rather the kingdom comes by the proclamation of the gospel, by the sharp and two-edged sword of God’s Word.
So that is the context for our passage this morning, and if we look at our text we will see that it neatly divides in two: there are two different houses that Jesus visits, one a public house and then a private house. These are the first two places Jesus “invades.”
In verses 21-28 Jesus enters a house of worship, a synagogue.
In verses 29-34 Jesus enters the house of his disciple, Simon-Peter’s house.
And in both of these instances, Jesus is going to enter that house and cleanse it. He is going to bring life and healing where there is death and darkness, that is what the conquest of the gospel looks like.
As we saw last week, Jesus is the continuation of those cleansing waters that flowed from Ezekiel’s temple. He is the very presence and holiness of God who brings newness of life wherever He goes.
And so with that, let us turn to our text and see Jesus the true exorcist at work.
Verse 21
21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.
Capernaum (literally “village of Nahum”) is a little lake town on the Northwest coast of Galilee; so, this is right on the waterfront. And after the wilderness, this is the first public place Jesus ministers to (in Mark’s gospel at least).
We are told it is the sabbath day, the day of worship, and Jesus enters the synagogue to teach.
You can think of this is as roughly equivalent to us going to church on Sunday. The Jews from ancient times (Acts 15:21) would gather in these synagogues and there would be readings from the Law and Prophets, there would be a time of preaching and explanation of the Scriptures, and also a time of prayer and probably psalm singing. So this was not all that different from what we do today.
So Jesus has already been preaching outside in the open air, and he comes as a guest speaker to the church at Capernaum.
Verse 22
22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.
In the Old Testament, when a man came preaching, he would usually say something like, “Thus saith the Lord,” or ‘The word of the Lord came to me saying thus and such…” In doing so, He would be distinguishing what God says, which is authoritative and inspired, from what man says which is of a lesser authority.
But when Jesus comes and preaches, he doesn’t say “thus saith the Lord.” What does Jesus say? “Truly, truly, I say to you.” No one else ever spoke like this man. This is teaching with absolute authority, and it rightfully astonishes them.
Jesus of course is the very Word of the Lord. He is what proceeds from the mind and mouth of the Father, and what Jesus says God says. He is that authority to which all of the prophets appealed to. And here He is, God in the flesh, sitting in a synagogue, teaching the common people of Capernaum.
There is something strange and beautiful about the ways of God, who veils infinite and eternal glory in fragile jars of clay. Who places precious jewels into the hands of fishermen and makes them stewards of the mysteries of the kingdom.
This is what Jesus begins to do and teach, and Mark says, “they were astonished as his doctrine.”
Verses 23-24
23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
We have already seen Jesus battle Satan in the wilderness, and you might think, now that we’re in a church/synagogue, we are in a safe place, this is a sanctuary right?
Well we should have learned from Genesis 3 that when you are in a garden sanctuary, expect a serpent. Yes, these synagogues are supposed to be places of holiness (places of worship) that are safe from the devil, but as we will see in this gospel and the rest of the New Testament, many of these synagogues have gone apostate. They might claim to be worship YHWH but they actually worship idols. And by worshipping idols, they have become what Revelation 2 calls, “synagogues of Satan.”
So yes, the church is a place of holiness, it is where the saints gather. Which is what makes it a target for demonic activity. And when there is false teaching and immorality amongst God’s people, you can be sure that impurity and unclean spirits are nigh. Immorality opens people up to demonic influence, and in this case demonic possession.
In the Old Testament, there is a direct link between unclean spirits and false prophets.
We see in 1 Kings 22, that a spiritual being offers to be a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab’s prophets.
In Zechariah 13:2 speaking of the days of the Messiah, it says, “And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, That I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, And they shall no more be remembered: And also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.”
So Jesus comes into this synagogue, and he teaches true doctrine, pure gospel. And the response is for a man with an unclean spirit to feel threatened. The truth provokes falsehood to reveal itself.
Notice what the unclean spirit says to Jesus, “Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us?”
This one unclean spirit is part of a larger network of demons. A network that has congregated in this region and has infiltrated the synagogues.
And this really is Spiritual Warfare 101. Satan attacks the places of power and influence in a culture. He targets kings and governments, churches and schools. As the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11, there are “false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.”
Where are you going to find unclean spirits and demons in this world?
In the halls of government. In state capital buildings. In Washington D.C.
In major network studios, in board rooms and c-suites of large businesses. Wherever power and influence congregate, the forces of darkness try to infiltrate.
And if you are an unbeliever, if you are unbaptized, you are especially vulnerable to demonic influence. There is no guardian angel watching over you.
But where there are true Christians, where there are sons and children of light, Jesus says in Matthew 18:10, “for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” Meaning, every elect saint has at least one angel assigned to them.
Psalm 91:11 says, “For he shall give his angels charge over thee,
To keep thee in all thy ways.”
It says in Hebrews 1:14 that angels are “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.”
So it is a big deal when a child is baptized. When a saint renounces the devil and all his works. Because in baptism we receive the Holy Spirit. And we come under the protection of Jesus, who makes unclean spirits to tremble at His Word.
The unclean spirit says, “I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.”
Verse 25
25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him.
We might wonder why Jesus tells the demon to be silent. Why does he try to hide his identity?
Well for one, because it is unfitting for the truth to be proclaimed by demons. For as soon as demons are believed, they mingle falsehood with truth. This was Satan in the garden, “hath God really said?”
Moreover, Jesus did not want or need the witness of demons to confirm his identity. That is an honor and role he reserves for himself and his disciples.
So Jesus rebukes this unclean spirit, and commands him to come out of the man.
Verses 26-28
26 And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. 28 And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.
Now up until this point in history, there was only a handful of people known to cast out demons. There were Jewish myths about Solomon and his supernatural powers to bind and cast out demons. But in the Old Testament Scriptures, there is really only one exorcist, and that is David.
David is the lone exorcist of the Old Testament. He would play the harp and the evil spirit would depart from King Saul.
And so for Jesus to come and cast out demons with a word is a sign of at least two things:
1. Jesus is the promised Son of David. He is the Messianic king. If David could cast out demons, then of course the Messiah will be able to as well.
2. If Jesus is David the more powerful exorcist, then who is King Saul in this scenario? Who is afflicted by demonic powers?The synagogues. The temple. The religious establishment.
Who is going to try kill to Jesus with great frequency? The synagogues.
What will Jesus warn his disciples about when they go preaching the gospel? The synagogues.
Jesus says in Mark 13:9, “But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten.”
So by portraying Jesus as David the exorcist, Mark shows us the demonic influence that has a stronghold in the promised land. The synagogues have become King Saul, and like Saul they will persecute and try to kill God’s anointed one.
Now we need to remember here what exactly a synagogue is. A synagogue is a miniature temple, a house of worship, and who is supposed live in that house? God.
So when Jesus enters a synagogue or the Temple, He is going into a house that has his name on the doorpost. This is his earthly address, this is God’s house.
And yet when God himself walks into the door of his earthly home, what does he find? Who is sitting on the couch with their feet up on the coffee table acting like they own place? Demons. Jesus finds unclean spirits. He finds dead hearts and unbelief. As we will see in future weeks, they are going to kick him out of his own house and crucify him.
That is the homecoming the human race offers God. When the Creator visits His creation, when God visits the House built for His Name, we do not recognize Him when he comes.
But notice here the patience and restraint and mercy of God. Although He is angered by unbelief and the wickedness he finds, He cleans his own house. He exorcises the unclean spirits and sends them packing.
As Jesus says in Luke 9:56, “the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” This is what Jesus the exorcist comes to do.
After this exorcism, his fame spreads abroad. And we see in verses 29-34, he enters a different house.
Verses 29-30
29 And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 But Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her.
From this we gather that the Apostle Peter was a married man. And whatever the size of their house, their living situation was such that Simon could live there with his wife, his mother-in-law, and his brother Andrew. This is a close-knit family.
And yet there is a sign of death here. Peter’s mother-in-law is laying sick with a fever. We are not told her exact condition, only that she is sick and burning.
Verse 31
31 And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.
So Jesus comes to this middle-aged woman, lying in the heat of fever, and he doesn’t even say anything, he just takes her by the hand and lifts her up.
The language Mark uses here to describe Jesus’ healing, is the language of resurrection, “he raised her up.” This is the power of God to bring life and vitality to houses with infirmity.
When you read the covenant blessings and curses of Deuteronomy 28 or Leviticus 26, it is very clear that if the nation keeps covenant with God, then they will be healthy, they won’t be sick. But when a nation disobeys God, it says in Deut. 28:22, “The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning…”
In other words, the fact that this woman is burning with a fever is another sign that the nation has broken covenant with God and is under the curse.
And at the very least this should cause us to look around at the state of our own nation, that has been visited with all kinds of viruses and cancers and disease, and plagues of our own.
And while we might be individually faithful, as citizens of an apostate nation, we all suffer the consequences of national idolatry.
We all suffer the consequences of living in a land where our neighbor can legally murder their baby in the womb. Where children can be mutilated and have their private parts surgically removed.
Every time we get sick, it should remind us that our land is under judgment. God is displeased, and if we do not repent, the suffering will only increase.
Covid was a mercy compared to what we deserve. And yet still, many have not learned the lesson. Instead, we have hardened our hearts against the Lord.
So the fact that Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law, should both sober us and give us hope.
Yes, we are under judgment, but God still has the power to heal and does so all the time. He delights to mitigate and remove the curse from those who call out to Him. That is why we pray when we get sick, because Jesus is our healer.
Finally, our text ends with the sun setting on the Sabbath.
Verses 32-34
32 And at evening, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. 33 And all the city was gathered together at the door. 34 And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him.
So Jesus casts out devils in the synagogue, He heals the woman from her fever, And now Jesus heals the whole city. It turns out there are many devils that need to be cast out, and many that were sick with divers diseases.
And here in Capernaum we see a visible manifestation of Romans 5:20 which says, “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Conclusion
There are still many wicked and unclean spirits in our world. There’s a false prophet on every TV screen. There are still demonic forces that oppress the vulnerable and persecute the righteous. But where sin and evil abound, the grace of God can abound much more. And how does that happen?
By the preaching of the gospel. By the announcement of the kingdom of God and by us calling the world to repentance and faith in Jesus.
America may be demon possessed but Jesus is an able exorcist.
Our nation may be lying sick with burning fever, but Jesus can raise her to life, and make her serve Him again.
There is nothing that God cannot resurrect, and if we will turn to Him, if we will seek Him earnestly, He promises that He will be found. So if you are in need of deliverance, of healing, of cleansing from whatever, come to Jesus. Cast yourself upon His mercy, and He will by no means cast you out.
He delights to make His home with you.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon: Fishers Of Men (Mark 1:14-20)

Fishers Of MenSunday, April 23rd, 2023Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Mark 1:14-20
14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 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. 17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. 18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him. 19 And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. 20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.
Prayer
Father as we consider the calling of the first disciples, we ask that you would teach us to follow Your Son the Lord Jesus, more faithfully, more immediately, and more joyfully, whatever the cost. We ask for your Holy Spirit, in Jesus name, Amen.
Introduction
When Jesus calls people to follow Him, He often does so at very inconvenient times. God has a timing of His own and sometimes it surprises us, it interrupts our routines, it messes with our schedules. And if that has been your experience of the Christian life you are in good company, because that was the experience of the first four disciples.
Simon, Andrew, James and John, are all called to follow Jesus in the middle of their workday. They are simply told to drop everything and follow Him.
And so the force of our text this morning is to make us wrestle with the question: Are we willing to do the same? If Christ were to come and interrupt us, in the middle of all the things we have going on, are we willing to drop everything, and do what He says, go where goes, follow where He leads?
That is the question before us this morning.
Looking at our text, there are three basic movements to these seven verses:
1. The arrival of Jesus to Galilee (verses 14-15)
2. The calling of Simon and Andrew (verses 16-18)
3. The calling of James and John (verses 19-20)
And together these three movements constitute the beginning of Christ’s public ministry. This is that moment in every great story where the protagonist sets off on his journey and is going to meet people along the way. He has already done battle against Satan, He was in the wilderness with wild beasts, and now it is time to find friends for the journey.
In the language of middle-earth, we have left the Shire and are off on an adventure! So let us to our text.
Verse 14
14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God…
Here we have the passing of the baton from John to Jesus. John was a man who stood at the intersection of two ages, between the time of the Law and its Prophets of which He was the last, and the time of the Gospel and the Kingdom, of which Christ is the first.
So John, with one foot in the old age, and another foot in the new, is cast into prison, He is silenced. And unlike Elijah who was miraculously caught up into heaven, John who comes in the Spirit of Elijah is locked up and eventually beheaded.
Jesus says of John in Matthew 11:11, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.”
John was greater than Moses, greater than David, greater than Elijah. And then Jesus says, “notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
So as great as John and the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Law were, the least in Christ’s kingdom surpasses them. This is how momentous the coming of Christ’s kingdom is.
And so with John’s imprisonment, the sun sets on the time of the Law. And with Christ’s arrival, the dawn of a new era begins. As it says in Isaiah 9:2, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light…on them the light has shone.”
So after John (and the era he represents) is imprisoned, Jesus, the light of the world, comes into Galilee,a region bustling with commerce (he is no longer in the wilderness), and it is here that he announces the gospel: God’s kingdom has come. In verse 15 we hear the contents of this announcement.
Verse 15
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Here in this single sentenced is the essence of the Christian religion. There are two declarations followedby two imperatives. Two statements of fact, of truth, of reality, of what is, from which necessarily flow two commands. The first declaration Jesus makes is that:
1. “The time is fulfilled.” What time is Jesus talking about?
He is talking about the time that was prophesied in the Garden of Eden 4,000 years prior. The time in which a son would be born to crush the serpent’s head. The time in which a bridegroom would come to rescue His bride, and the two would become one flesh.
Jesus is talking about the time of which Nebuchadnezzar dreamt and Daniel interpreted. As it says in Daniel 2:44, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” This is the Kingdom Jesus comes to bring and the time is here for its arrival.
What the prophets called “the last days (or latter days)” is what Jesus is referring to when He says, “the time is fulfilled.”In Jesus, the last days of the old creation have come. As Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:17, “If any man be in Christ, new creation! old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
This is the time that Jesus announces as fulfilled. And with it all the prophesies about the latter days start to come to fruition.
The second declaration Jesus makes is that…
2. “The kingdom of God is at hand.” And perhaps the best way for us to understand this statement, is to imagine a great messenger going into all the state capitals, and all the central business districts, all the places where public life happens, and he announces to all who can hear that, “The Kingdom of Russia has arrived, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of Vladimir Putin is at hand.” Imagine that was the headline on every major news network.
How would you receive that news?
Well, it would really depend on what you thought about Russia and Vladimir Putin. Are your values and lifestyle aligned with the ways of Russia? Do you welcome their arrival or resent it? Maybe you think anything could be better than President Biden and the Democrats, bring on the Russians. You might think, do I stand to benefit and profit from the kingdom of Russia, or will it be detrimental to my personal interests. You can imagine there are all sorts of potential reactions someone might have to this announcement. And so it is when Jesus announces “the Kingdom of God is at hand.”
For those who love God and are aligned with the values and morals of the kingdom, this is the best news in the world. But for those who do not love God, or for those who worship other gods, whose values and interests are at home with the kingdoms of this world, to them the gospel is a threat! It is a challenge to the present regime. And in this sense, Jesus’ preaching is spiritual warfare. It is David taunting Goliath before severing head from body. Jesus’ preaching is a king offering terms of peace before invasion. That is what the gospel is. It is an offense to those who do not love God, and salvation to those who do.
So if it is indeed true that this kingdom of God has come then the commands that follow should be obvious, Jesus says, “You must repent and believe the gospel.”
What is repentance?
To repent means to have a change of mind. To turn away from your vomit, from the corrupt and despicable things that come out of you, and to look upon all that is good and true and beautiful in Jesus.
Repentance is renouncing the devil and his works, forsaking sin, and loving and embracing righteousness. That is the repentance Jesus demands because with the arrival of the kingdom comes justice and judgment, and you want to be on the right side of that.
What is it to believe the gospel?
To believe the gospel is to live by faith, it is to believe what Jesus says. As it says in Habakkuk 2:4, “the soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: But the just shall live by his faith.”
The opposite of faith is pride and self-reliance. Faith in self instead of faith in God. And Scripture says, the soul that is proud, that person that exalts himself, is the one who will be laid low; but the just man is the one who forsakes himself and lives by faith.
This is what Jesus commands if you want to survive the arrival of His kingdom. You must repent and believe the gospel. You must live by faith in the Son of God. That is the essence of the Christian religion.
This is what Jesus comes preaching in Galilee. It is what John the Forerunner prepared and announced, and although he is in chains locked up in prison, “the word of God is not bound” (2 Tim. 2:9). Jesus, the word made flesh, is going about preaching the kingdom. This brings us to our second movement in the text, which is the call of Simon and Andrew.
Verses 16-18
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. 17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. 18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.
We know from the Gospel of John, that Simon and Andrew were formerly disciples of John the Baptist. So there was already some familiarity between them and Jesus prior to this call to follow him.
Nevertheless, this call to discipleship comes at a curious time and place. Mark seems to go out of his way to inform us that these events took place near to what he calls the Sea of Galilee.
In our minds, when we think of the sea, we think of the ocean or some vast body of water like the Mediterranean. But the Sea of Galilee is tiny compared to the Mediterranean and is really what we would call a lake. In Luke’s gospel, he calls it the Lake of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1). And to give you a reference for comparison, the Sea of Galilee (64 square miles) is about twice the size of Lake Washington. So it’s a decent sized lake, but hardly something we call a sea.
But calling this lake the Sea of Galilee is intentional in that it should call to mind all the Old Testament associations we should have with the Sea.
The sea of course is where fish and other creatures live. It is especially where Leviathan, the great dragon lives.
In Leviticus 11, God gives instructions about what kinds of fish are permissible to eat (the ones with fins and scales), while those that do not have fins and scales “shall be an abomination to you.”
And just as we saw last week that in Scripture, wild beasts, represent the foreign nations, so also sea creatures symbolize various foreign powers.
The book of Jonah is perhaps the most famous example, where there the great fish that swallows Jonah is an image of Babylon. Babylon is going to swallow up Israel for a time, take them away from the land (into the sea) and yet in Babylon (inside the fish) God is going to preserve them. And when that three days of death and exile is over, they will be spit out back onto the land (return from exile).
So in Scripture, the sea (like the wilderness) is a dangerous place. In Revelation it is where the great beast arises from (Rev. 13:1), and in the new heaven and new earth that John is shown, he says, “there was no more sea.” That is there are no more foreign nations worshipping foreign gods because they have all been turned into land: the New Jerusalem. When the kingdom comes, when the New Creation arrives, just as it was with the first creation, the sea gives way to land.
So Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee, and he sees Simon and Andrew casting a net into the sea, and he tells them, “Come and follow me, I will make you into fishers of men.”
Why does Jesus choose four fishermen to be his first disciples? Why not shepherds like Moses and David and all the patriarchs were? You read the Old Testament and everyone has sheep and cows and goats, and the setting is always the land. But then you come to the New Testament, and people are fishing, we’re on boats and there are storms and waves, and shipwrecks, in Acts we have Paul traveling like Odysseus to bring the gospel to the Islands.
Well this is all part of the promise that when the Messiah comes, He would bring judgment to the gentiles, to the isles, to the farthest reaches of the earth. And so it is fitting that Jesus chooses four fishermen to be his disciples, to be the ones who will eventually cross the Mediterranean Sea and bring the gospel of the kingdom to the whole world.
Little do they know sitting in their boat, where following Jesus is going to take them. At present they are fishing in lake, but Jesus is going to send them to fish at the ends of the earth.
When you read the Old Testament, fishing doesn’t come up very often, and the few times that it does, it is usually in the context of judgment.
For example, we heard in Jeremiah 16 that God says, “Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. 17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.”
Or Amos 4:1-2 which says, “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, Which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, Which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink. The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, That, lo, the days shall come upon you, That he will take you away with hooks, And your posterity with fishhooks.”
So in the Old Testament, being a fish, or being inside a fish, or being a fish caught in a net is a typically a sign of judgment. It is a sign of being distant from the promised land.
But there is one text that is an exception, and that is the prophecy of Ezekiel 47 which describes the time between the testaments.
In Ezekiel 40-48, God shows Ezekiel the spiritual reality of the second temple period. When God’s people returned from exile under Ezra and Nehemiah, they rebuild Jerusalem, they rebuild the temple, and although the physical building was not that impressive, God shows Ezekiel that during this era the presence of God is going to extend to places formerly unreached. The presence that was hidden in the most holy place of the tabernacle and temple, would be expanded to encompass the whole city.
Zechariah 14 says that one day, the bells of the horses, and every pot in Jerusalem shall be “holiness unto the Lord.” What was formerly written upon the head of the high priest as a sign of his holiness, would be extend to the common pots and bowls and the bells of horses.
And the image God gives Ezekiel of this expansion of holiness is that of a stream that starts from under the temple in Jerusalem and then flows out of the city, becoming deeper and wider until it cannot be crossed.
So Ezekiel 47:8-10 says, “This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the desert, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes. It shall be that fishermen will stand by it from En Gedi to En Eglaim; they will be places for spreading their nets. Their fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceedingly many.”
So the fact that Simon and Andrew, James and John, are all fishermen, is a sign that God has made good on this promise in Ezekiel. So that when we get to the New Testament we see that there are synagogues (mini-temples) across the world. There are Gentile believers, Gentiles God-fearers, who know and love the God of Israel.
And so when Jesus says, “I will make you into fishers of men,” he is in effect saying, I am the continuation of Ezekiel’s river, and in Jesus, God’s presence is going to extend even further than before. Jesus is the very holiness of God.
And what used to be a sign of judgment under the Old Testament, being caught in a net, will now become a sign of salvation. Of men being born of water and the Spirit and gathered into the church. As Ezekiel prophesied, “every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live.”
These fishermen will soon preach the gospel, cast the net, and gather in souls for Christ’s kingdom.
Finally, we see in this third movement, the call of James and John.
Verses 19-20
19 And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. 20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.
Mark wants us to know what these disciples left behind. He wants us to know the cost of discipleship, and the sacrifices it may entail.
For Simon and Andrew, it meant leaving behind their livelihood, their vocation, to follow a man that claims to be the Messiah. That is a leap of faith and they take it.
For James and John, it meant leaving behind their father and the family business. And the fact that Zebedee has hired servants suggests that these were not poor fishermen, but had a rather successful business going.
In other words, these are not four men who had nothing else going on and could afford to spend a few years traveling. They weren’t taking a gap year to find themselves. These were hard-working blue-collar men, who worked with their hands, who did honest labor and made a living, and yet when Jesus calls them to follow Him, Mark says, “straightway they forsook their nets…straightway they left their father in the ship…and went after him.”
No questions, no objections, immediate obedience. That is what being a disciple of Jesus should look like.
And so we return to the question we began with, Are we willing to do the same?
What is it that you must forsake and leave behind if you will follow Jesus? What is that you are holding onto that Christ is asking you to let go of?
The answer we all must give is that in principle we are willing to give up anything and everything. Whatever He asks, we give Him. Wherever He calls, we go. We must surrender it all to Him if we would be called Christians, disciples of Jesus.
Conclusion
There are many people who like the idea of following Jesus, but not the reality of it. Maybe they go to church, they might even read their Bible or pray, but when it comes down to it, when God asks them to give up that thing they refuse to obey Him. And that resistance is what must die in all of us. That hesitance to heed his voice, that slowness to obey, the slowness to follow, is what we must repent of. And so I leave you with the words of Luke 9:57-62
57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Jesus, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”
58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”
But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Sermon: And Was With The Wild Beasts (Mark 1:9-13)

And Was With The Wild BeastsSunday, April 16th, 2023Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Mark 1:9-139 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. 10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: 11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 12 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 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.
Prayer
Father Your Word says that You oppose the proud, but give grace to the humble, and so we ask for a Spirit of true humility, of true understanding and insight and counsel, as we consider Holy Scripture, for we ask for all of this in Jesus name, Amen.
Introduction
Last Sunday we saw that in these opening verses of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is presented to us as the fulfillment and transformation of the entire Old Testament (The Law, The Psalms, The Prophets, all of these find their fulfillment in Him).
In these opening verses Mark weaves together Old Testament quotations, references, words, hints, images, that are meant to open our eyes to who Jesus really is. Who is this Jesus of Nazareth? Mark wants us to say by the end of the book, “Truly He is the Son of God.”
So far, we have seen that Mark portrays Jesus as a new Joshua, He is the one who divides the Jordan River, who tears heaven open, and brings His people into the promised land of Paradise.
We have seen also that Jesus is Himself that Paradise, that new holy land. He is the place where God dwells, as it says in Col. 2:9, “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Jesus is the new temple, the new tabernacle, the new place of rest for those who are weary and heavy laden. In Jesus the people of God find eternal sabbath.
We have also seen that Jesus is portrayed as a new Elisha, a mighty prophet who comes with a double portion of the Spirit. Who will work signs and wonders and even raise the dead.
So when the Spirit descends as a dove upon Christ at his baptism, we are all meant to conclude that the prophecies of Isaiah are starting to come true. Especially Isaiah 61, which Jesus himself will later read in the synagogue before the Jews, which says:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me;
Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord…
In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus reads these words, sits down and says, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
And in Mark’s Gospel, as we will see next week, the very first thing that comes out of Jesus’ mouth are these words: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
So that’s what we’ve covered so far, and this morning I want to look more closely at the meaning of Christ’s baptism, and then look at verses 12-13 where He is tempted in the wilderness.
What is the significance of Jesus’ baptism?
As we saw last week, Christ’s baptism is His anointing for ministry. Jesus is being ordained as a priest, as a prophet, and as King.
And this is what the gospel is: It is the joyful announcements that God is King, that the kingdom of God has come, and the year of Jubilee is upon us.
The Year of Jubilee was supposed to take place every 50 years under the Mosaic Law, and that was when debts were cancelled, slaves were released, and the land reverted to its original owners.
But this year of Jubilee had not happened for hundreds of years. It had been long delayed and interrupted because of exile and foreign occupation. First they were ruled by Babylon, then it was Persia, then it was Greece, and now in the time of Jesus it is Rome. And because of the unique political situation they were in, it was a debated question whether the exile was really over.
Sure they had a temple, but King Herod was not really a Jew (he was an Edomite), and he was certainly no son of David. And although there were some laws and customs they could observe, they couldn’t enforce the laws in the Torah, that’s why they needed Rome to crucify Jesus.
And so for the Spirit to descend upon Jesus at his baptism, and for the Father to declare that “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” is to announce to the world that this man Jesus of Nazareth is King, and with Him comes the kingdom, and with the kingdom comes justice, and with justice Jubilee, and with Jubilee a return to possession of the land, the end of exile.
This was the hope and longing of God’s people.
In the Hebrew calendar, the year of Jubilee started when the king was coronated. There was an Ecclesiastical/Priestly year that began in the Spring with Passover, and a Civil/Kingly Year that began in the fall. And this Kingly new year was marked by the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement.
So Leviticus 25 says, “Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. 10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.”
And so with the coronation of Christ at his baptism, we should hear the sound of trumpets blasting, of a great festival and new beginnings, a solemn celebration that past sins have been atoned for and the acceptable year of the Lord has come. The baptism of Christ inaugurates the Jubilee. And as Jesus will say later, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36)
Now at Christ’s baptism there are no literal trumpets blasting or the sound of great festivity, but there is a sound more beautiful, more lovely than that. And that is a single sentence from God the Father, “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,”
In this single sentence, the Father brings together at least three different Old Testament references, and together they help us see the significance of this moment.
So let me read these three references and see if you can hear in them the Father’s voice, “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The first is Psalm 2, where God says, “Yet have I set my king Upon my holy hill of Zion. 7 I will declare the decree: The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee.” (Ps. 2:6-7).
The second is Isaiah 42:1, which says, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.”
And third, is Genesis 22:2, where God says ominously to Abraham, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering.”
So in this declaration of the Father’s love and delight in Jesus, is a revelation of His identity and destiny. Who is Jesus?
He is the Davidic King of Psalm 2, who sits in the heavens and laughs. As Jesus will say in John 3:13, “no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”
Jesus is a man walking around on earth, while at the same time by His divine nature, He is the Son of man which is in heaven. “Thou art my Son.”
He is the Royal Servant of Isaiah, who will bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.You can read the four servant songs in Isaiah 42, 49, 50, 52-53, and there you will see a detailed portrait of Jesus, written 700 years before his arrival.
The Father says, “thou art my son, in whom my soul delighteth.”
He is an obedient son, the true Isaac, the true seed of Abraham, the ram caught in a thicket upon Mount Moriah, who with thorns upon his head, will be sacrificed for sin.
To be a one and only beloved son of Abraham, means a sacrifice is coming. This is what the Father’s voice foretells.
So what is Jesus baptism?
It is an ordination service. It is anointing for holy war. It is consecration for sacrifice.And as we see in the next two verses of our text, when the Spirit falls upon the beloved, He drives us into battle. So let us look at verses 12 and 13 together.
Verses 12-13
12 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 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.
So Jesus was already in the wilderness, he had gone out to John to be baptized in Jordan, and immediately after He is baptized, the Spirit drives Him even further into the wilderness.
As we said in the first sermon, the wilderness can come to us in many forms.
There is the wilderness where many people gather and are made into a new society, a tabernacle, like we see in Exodus. This is the wilderness of John’s baptism.
And then there is the wilderness of solitude, which is what the Spirit drives Jesus into. He is away from the multitudes, He is Moses on the mountain top while the people are down below, and he is in that wilderness for 40 days.
The number 40 is often used in Scripture to describe a time of testing. Moses was upon Sinai for 40 days, Israel was in the wilderness for 40 years, Elijah traveled through the wilderness for 40 days and nights, and now Jesus following this pattern, goes into the wilderness for 40 days to provoke Satan to battle.
Now unlike Matthew and Luke, Mark does not give us any dialog between Jesus and Satan. All he says is that “he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan…” but then he gives us this little detail that neither Matthew nor Luke record, which is, “and he was with the wild beasts.”
Of all the things that Mark could have said about Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, this being with the wild beasts is what he wants us to know. Why is this?
Well the first thing we should ask ourselves when we come to these kind of details is to ask, What is the significance of this thing in other places in the Bible? When and where do wild beasts show up?
The first place wild beasts appear is in the creation account. In Genesis 2, Adam names all the animals, among which would have been wild animals like lions, bears, wolves, t-rex’s, dragons, etc. And so in the Garden of Eden, is a man with wild beasts, and he is unharmed by them. He has dominion over them.
Later we see in Numbers 21, that Israel is attacked by fiery serpents in the wilderness.They were complaining about the miracle bread from heaven, and so God sends burning seraphim to harass them. The people tested God, and so God disciplines them with flaming serpents.
In Leviticus 26, God threatens Israel saying, “If ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. 22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.”
So in Scripture, wild beasts are a sign of the wilderness, they are a constant reminder that we are not in Eden anymore. Now wild beasts are dangerous, they can kill us, and we must reclaim dominion over them.
So that is part of the background Mark wants to evoke by this mention of the wild beasts. But I think the more obvious connection he wants us to make is with King David.
So King David was anointed in 1 Samuel 16:13, and it say, “Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him [David] in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.”
So here you have a baptism, an anointing, and the Spirit is poured out, and what is the very next thing that happens to Him?David is brought before King Saul to fight evil spirits. He would play the harp before the king and it says the evil spirits would depart from him. So David after his anointing is given this power of exorcism. Spiritual healing is in his hands.
And then in the next chapter, 1 Samuel 17 is David slaying Goliath. And do you remember what David says to Saul, to justify his ability to win against the giant?
“Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God…moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine” (1 Sam. 17:36-37).
So who is Jesus, in the wilderness with the wild beasts?
He is the Son of David, the exorcist, who after his anointing will fight Satan and his demons, and tread upon the lion and the cobra, He will conquer all of these enemies and cut of Goliath’s head.
Who is Jesus with the wild beasts?
He is the last Adam, who comes to reclaim and exercise dominion over his creation. Who comes to turn the wilderness into a garden city, who tames the wild beasts so that it can be habitable again.
One of the prophesies of the Messiah is that in His reign, He would domesticate the wild animals, and in Scripture animals signify foreign nations. When God shows Daniel in a vision the powers of the four kingdoms, they are described as various wild beasts.
And so Jesus comes to fulfill the promise of Isaiah 11, which says:
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and might,
The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord…
6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
7 And the cow and the bear shall feed;
Their young ones shall lie down together:
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Why was Jesus with the wild beasts? Because He is the rod from the stem of Jesse. He is the shepherd-king who comes to bring peace and justice to the nations. To make lion and lamb lay down together.
Is that the Jesus you know and love and worship? Because that’s the only Jesus there is. And he has come and of the increase of his government there shall be no end. He will reign until he has put all his enemies beneath his feet, including our nation (with its eagle and stars and stripes).
So that’s our text, Jesus in the wilderness with the wild beasts. And I want to conclude with one practical application for us from these opening 13 verses.
You might have noticed that Mark’s gospel is fast-paced, which is why these sermons have been so dense with Old Testament references. Mark covers in 13 verses, what Matthew and Luke take four chapters to cover. So if it feels like drinking from at fire-hose, it’s because we are.
So I want to slow down for a moment close with a single exhortation for all of us, and that:
Learn to love the wilderness.
When God wants to change you, He has to kill you first. That’s what baptism is, it’s union with Christ’s death. And after God kills you in baptism, the next thing he does is separate you from your old life.
Israel was baptized in the Red Sea, they got out of Egypt, but then God had to spend 40 years getting Egypt out of them. And where does He purge us of our old life and habits? In the wilderness.
The wilderness is the place of testing, and if you follow Jesus, and receive the same Spirit that Jesus received, the Spirit will drive you into the wilderness, so learn to love it.
By the wilderness could mean any kind of trial.
It might be depression, it might be sickness, it might be unwanted singleness, it might be nine-months of hard pregnancy, the loss of a job, the loss of loved ones, or anything in between.
The wilderness is the place that feels uncomfortable. And when in God’s providence, the Spirit drives us there, we must not grumble, we must not resist the Spirit. But rather, embrace and love the test that God has given us, because it is in the wilderness, he rids us of ourselves to make us strong in Him.
As Paul says in 2 Cor. 1:9, “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.”
So learn to love the wilderness, love the places where God rids you of self-reliance. And if you go there, that is where you will find Moses, and Elijah, and John and Joshua and David, and the Lord Jesus Himself.
Count it all joy when you are driven into the wilderness.

Sermon: Heaven Torn Open (Mark 1:4-11)

Heaven Torn OpenSunday, April 9th, 2023Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Mark 1:4-11
4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; 7 And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. 8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. 9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. 10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: 11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for giving us this gospel, this written testimony of Your truth. We ask that you would quicken these words to our hearts, that You might inhabit the praises of Your people, for we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
Introduction
Last Sunday we saw that Mark’s gospel begins in the wilderness. And the wilderness is the place where God prepares His people for conquest. It was where Moses was trained before leading the Exodus, it was where Joshua was trained before conquering Canaan, it was where David was trained before he became king.
And Mark is giving us all these different Old Testament associations to tell us who Jesus is and what Jesus has come to do.
We also saw in the opening verses of Mark’s gospel that he weaves together three different Old Testament quotations to demonstrate that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the promised Messiah, He is the servant of the Lord that was prophesied by Isaiah, He is the divine messenger of Malachi, who comes to purify Israel. Jesus is all of these things and much more.
Here in our text, verses 4-11, we move from that prologue and introduction into historical reality. We have been given the thesis and final cause for this book: that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and now Mark carries us into the wilderness, to behold the fulfillment of these prophesies.
So let us walk through our text together, and I am going to start from the very beginning of the book so we have the context in mind.
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; 2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Verse 4
4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
So Mark identifies John as the voice in the wilderness. John is the messenger that Isaiah and Malachi foretold, and he comes to prepare the way for God.
But how is the way of the Lord prepared?
The first way is by preaching. John is preaching that God is coming, judgment is coming, and the axe is already laid at the root of the tree. Therefore, those who do not bear good fruits keeping with repentance, are going to be cut down and thrown into the fire.
This is the contents of John’s preaching that is set forth in other gospels and in verse 5 we are given a picture of the response.
Verse 5
5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
This is a mass migration of Jews into the wilderness. This is what you would call the baptizing of a nation or a national conversion.
Like Jonah going to Nineveh, John announces that judgment is on the horizon burning like an oven, and these are the people who want to survive that judgment. Who rather than being burned up and destroyed by fire, shall instead be refined and made more glorious. Judgment is coming whether you like it or not, and the choice is yours whether that day will be glorious or your destruction.
That is the choice John sets before them, and that is the same choice before our nation today. Either we repent of our sins and change our ways, or God will burn us up.
In John’s day, the day of judgment was drawing near. And it would be another 40 years until the fire came in full and burned Jerusalem to the ground.
In our day, we don’t know how long God’s patience will wait, but we know from Scripture that it is never wise to presume upon His delay.
As it says in Romans 2, “Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”
We don’t know when national judgment will come in full. But if God were to send down fire and brimstone upon every capital and every city, He would be just in doing so. For we have rebelled against far more light, against for more truth and far more gospel than Sodom & Gomorrah ever had. We have consciously rebelled against Christ. It is the religion of Christianity that has characterized the West and the founding of our nation, and it is the religion of Christianity that we are now consciously seeking to throw off.
Make no mistake, God is not mocked, a nation will reap what it sows, and we have sown the wind.
So John comes on the scene, he calls Israel to repentance, and all of Judaea and Jerusalem go out to him. They are baptized in the Jordan and confess their sins. This is how the way of the Lord is made straight, this is how a highway is prepared for God.
In verse 6 we get a description of John’s appearance.
Verse 6
6 And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey…”
This description of John is intended to connect him with the prophet Elijah.
2 Kings 1:8 says of Elijah, “He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins.”
This eating of locusts and wild honey is connected to the blessings and curses of the covenant.
If Israel disobeyed, Deuteronomy 28 says, “Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it…All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.”
So for John to come on the scene, eating locusts and wild honey is to say two things at once: 1) That Israel has broken God’s covenant, thus wilderness and locusts. And 2) That John has come to devour the devourer. He has come to prepare the way for the One who will eat the curse into Himself, destroy it, and bring God’s people into a land flowing with milk and honey.
Mark wants us to see in John a second coming of Elijah and a second coming of Moses. Elijah like Moses was a man of the wilderness, he confronted evil kings, he called down plagues upon the land, he performed signs and wonders, he called down fire from heaven. And if John is Elijah and John is Moses, then who does that makes Jesus? Who is the one comes after these men?
Verses 7-8
7 And [John] preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. 8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
For however impressive and powerful John’s ministry was (leading a national revival), He wants there to be no doubt that he is just the forerunner, “There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.”
What is the significance of this reference to the shoes of the one who comes after?
In the Old Testament, who was told to take off their shoes?
Moses. God says to Him from the burning bush, “Do not draw near to this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground” (Ex. 3:5).
Likewise, the priests, when they serve in the tabernacle or temple, are required to take off their shoes and wash their feet. They are barefoot when they go into the holy place.
Exodus 30 says, “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 18 “You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it, 19 for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it. 20 When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the Lord, they shall wash with water, lest they die. 21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them—to him and his descendants throughout their generations.”
So when John says that he is unworthy to take off Jesus’ shoes, He is making an enormous claim. He is saying that Jesus is not only the Elisha who comes after in the fullness of the Spirit, who like Elisha performs miracles and raises dead people to life, He is also Himself holy ground. Jesus is the God who told Moses to take his shoes off. Jesus is the God who makes the tabernacle and temple holy ground. And thus wherever Jesus walks is holy. Jesus has come to cleanse the land of impurity.
There is also a connection here with feet and the Jordan river.
After Moses died, God said to Joshua, “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses” (Joshua 1:3). And then a couple chapters later, in Joshua 3, the priests carry the ark of the covenant into the Jordan river, so that the nation can cross over into the promised land.
Joshua 3:13 says, “And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.”
So this is the imagery Mark wants us to have when we see John (who was of priestly lineage) baptizing in the Jordan, and then he mentions the removal of shoes from the feet, and then Jesus walks up and stands in the river.
This is the crossing of the Jordan all over again. Mark is saying:
Jesus is a new Joshua who leads us into the promised land.
Jesus is a new Elisha who takes up the mantle and separates the waters. Where is the God of Elijah? Jesus is that God.
Jesus is the one sits upon the ark of the covenant that the priests carry, whose throne is in heaven, but has come down for us.
Mark is telling us so much about Jesus, if we know our Old Testament and pay attention to the details.
In verses 9-11 we have the climax of this scene as Jesus enters the Jordan. So with all of those associations running, let us see what happens.
Verse 9-11
9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. 10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: 11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
So Jesus is baptized, the water is poured upon him, and verse 10 says, “And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened. and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:”
There are at least two Old Testament scenes that should come to our mind here:
1. The first is Genesis 1 and the creation of the world.
Genesis 1:2 says, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God hovered upon the face of the waters.”
And then on Day 2 God says, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven.”
So in the biblical cosmology, what separates us down here, from where God is up there, is this heavenly ocean called the firmament. And when Jesus is baptized, Mark says that those heavenly waters, that heavenly firmament is torn open. And this is the same verb (σχίζω, to tear apart, schism) that appears at the end of Mark’s gospel when Jesus dies on the cross.
Mark 15 says, “And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last. 38 Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!”
The veil in the temple was a symbolic firmament. It was what separated the holy place from the rest of the world. And when Jesus is baptized heaven is split apart, signifying that by his future death, access to God, access to heaven, access to the holy place, would be made available to all who are baptized in Him.
Jesus is the firmament through which we ascend to God. This is what baptism signifies.
2. The second image that should come to mind at Jesus baptism comes a few chapters later in Genesis 8 with the story of Noah and the ark, and here we also have the first mention of a dove.
So the waters of the flood cleanse the Old World, and the only dry land, the only safe place is the Ark. And when the rain stops falling the ark comes up out of the waters, and rests upon Mount Ararat, and from there Noah sends forth a dove.
The first time the dove returns, having found “no rest for the sole of her foot” (Gen. 8:9). The second time she returns with an olive leaf. And then the third time Noah sends her out, and she does not return.
Well here at Jesus baptism, the dove returns. The Spirit who brooded over those primeval waters, now descends in the form of a dove upon Christ.Mark is saying again that Jesus is the new creation, the new land, He is where the olive trees grow, He is where the birds of the air come and make their nests in his branches (Matt. 13:32). Jesus is Noah’s ark, who carries us into the new world. Jesus is all of these things and more.
Jesus Reveals The Trinity
This is who Mark is portraying Jesus as in these opening 11 verses, and he is going to develop these themes further throughout the book. In Jesus of Nazareth, the entirety of the Old Testament is transformed.
And with the climax of this revelation is the revelation of the true nature of God. Namely, that God is Trinity. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. At Christ’s baptism, we have this explosion of knowledge that was hidden and concealed in the Old Testament. We come to see that when God said in Genesis 1:26, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our Likeness,” He was not talking to angels, He was not talking to some divine council of cherubim or seraphim, He was talking within Himself, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
And so it is fitting that at the moment of Christ’s baptism, at the dawn of a New Creation, that we see all three persons of the Godhead at once. The Spirit descending like a dove, the Son emerging from the waters, and the Father expressing His Paternal Love, “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Conclusion
For all those who are truly baptized into the Triune name, the baptism of Jesus, is your baptism. This is why Jesus was baptized in the first place, not to be cleansed but to cleanse the waters, not to get to heaven, but to tear heaven open for all who are united to Him.
So if you have not been baptized, what are you waiting for? Christ has torn heaven open for you. Come to Him, repent, and be washed of your sins. For in Christ, the Father’s love flows to you, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Sermon: A Lion In The Wilderness (Mark 1:1-3)

A Lion In The WildernessSunday, April 2nd, 2023Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Mark 1:1-3The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; 2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Sermon: The Duties of Children (Ephesians 6:1-4)

Text: Ephesians 6:1-4Title: The Christian Family Pt. 7: The Duties of ChildrenDate: March 19th, 2023Location: Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, Washington
 
https://localchristendom.com/the-christian-family-part-7-the-duties-of-children/

Sermon: The Blessing of Children (Psalm 127-128)

Text: Psalm 127-128Title: The Christian Family Pt. 6: The Blessing of ChildrenDate: March 12th, 2023Location: Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, Washington
 
https://localchristendom.com/the-christian-family-part-6-the-blessing-of-children-psalm-127-128/

Sermon: How To Fix A Bad Marriage (Matthew 18:21-35)

Text: Matthew 18:21-35Title: The Christian Family Pt. 5: How To Fix A Bad MarriageDate: March 5th, 2023Location: Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, Washington
https://localchristendom.com/the-christian-family-part-5-how-to-fix-a-bad-marriage-matthew-1821-35/