Tuesday: The Messenger
Daily Lesson for Tuesday 2nd of July 2024
Read Mark 1:1-8. Who are the characters in these verses, and what do they say and do?
These verses have three main characters: Jesus Christ, referred to in Mark 1:1; God the Father, implied in the words of Mark 1:2; and John the Baptist, the messenger and preacher who is the main subject of the last section of this passage.
Mark 1:2-3 contains a quotation from the Old Testament that Mark presents to describe what will happen in the story. What Mark quotes is a blending of phrases from three passages: Exodus 23:20, Isaiah 40:3, and Malachi 3:1.
Read Exodus 23:20, Isaiah 40:3, and Malachi 3:1. What do these three passages have in common?
Image © Kim Justinen at Goodsalt.com
Exodus 23:20 refers to an angel that God will send before Israel to bring them to Canaan. Isaiah 40:3 speaks of God appearing in the wilderness with a highway prepared before Him. Malachi 3:1 speaks of a messenger going before the Lord to prepare His way. All three of these passages speak of a journey.
The text in Isaiah has many ties with the ministry of John the Baptist and also focuses on the Way of the Lord. In the Gospel of Mark, the Lord Jesus is on a journey. The fast-moving narrative enhances the sense of this journey, a journey that will lead to the cross and to His sacrificial death for us.
But much must happen before He reaches the cross. The journey is just beginning, and Mark will tell us all about it.
In keeping with the quotation from the Old Testament in Mark 1:2-3, John the Baptist calls for repentance, a turning away from sin, and a turning back to God (Mark 1:4). Clothed like the ancient prophet Elijah (compare with 2 Kings 1:8), he speaks in Mark 1:7-8 about the One coming after him who is mightier than he. His statement that he is not worthy to loosen a strap of the Coming One’s sandals shows the exalted view he has of Jesus.
(19)
The beginning of the "good news"....
Finally! A new chapter in the human story. Where bad news is our daily bread, now the beginning of where good news is what to expect, good news is the daily norm, the thing we can count on and look for. Because we're on "the way" with Jesus (Mark 1:3). Jesus is "the Way" (John 14:6)...which is why early Jewish Christians called themselves The Way. It is the movement of Jesus Christ. He sets our pace and we follow. Adventism is sometimes referred to as "the movement". God is on the move bringing salvation, bringing the final message through Himself through us.
Moving on what. Moving over the roads of our hearts. "Prepare the way!" call the prophets just before Jesus comes - both the first time and the second time. "Our King is coming! Repair the roads that have not been maintained for a while, make travel for him easier for a swift, smooth, direct ride. Heaven's King is coming to your district, to the place where you dwell. Repudiate anything not associated with his kingdom. Turn away from any allegiance and worship given to any other. Unfollow them and then follow Jesus. Repent."
So the good news, the best news ever, begins with understanding that all the stories and prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures that pointed to this rescue from sin and death - beginning as far back as the Garden of Eden and God's promise to Eve - have been answered as promised.
"Jesus", "Yeshua" is a name that was common for New Testament boys and "Joshua" a name for Old Testament boys, a name filled with the hopes and faith of the boys' parents, praying that their son's life mission would bring Jehovah's promised salvation. God's generosity. Joshua was the captain that would bring people into the Promised Land (Josh. 1:1-2; Heb. 2:10). Joshua was the High Priest who officiated as the people returned from Babylonian captivity (Zech. 3:8-9). Jesus/Joshua/Yeshua - a human name for the leader of the restoration. Not a restoration of a nation, but a restoration of humans from sin-pocked hearts and minds and bodies, back into the "image of God" (Matthew 1:21).
And Christ. The Messiah, The Anointed One. The only One who divinely is to blend and join all three roles/persons together - prophet, priest and king. The only divinely-sanctioned blending of church and state. The prophet represents the Father to men. The priest represents men to the Father. The king liberates those who believe in Him, from the power and kingdom of sin to his kingdom of glory. The only begotten Son of God.
Jesus Christ - said together - is a confession of faith in the union of these divine and human natures in one person (Mark 1:1). What a way to begin a gospel story! The servant Jesus, the King Christ - has come and accomplished the specific work He was sent to do for God. For Mark, the good news begins the moment Jesus begins His public earthly ministry. It's not a secret anymore in a dusty carpenter shop, in a out-of-the-way manger. Mark's story begins, bang (or "straightaway" is the word Mark loves to use a lot), with "He's here! He's right on time! He's on the move! Urgent, waste no time to respond decisively to this life-changing news!"
Amen, and amen.
Where am I going? Sometimes, I must stop and consider which way I am pursuing.
Where are you going? Where is this direction taking you?
We must be reconnected to the Father through the Son's journey, which came, showed us the way, died, and left us with the Comforter! He is the way, the truth, and Life.
The 'on the move', busy Messiah that is presented to us in the gospel of Mark helps us to appreciate that sin is an emergency that Heaven responded to with seriousness and alacrity. Time is an intervention of grace. Jesus had no time to waste. The cross was His imminent reality. Today, we are assured that our Messiah is working with the same intentionality at the other aspects of the plan of salvation. We have no time to lose! We must prepare ourselves and others for His soon return.
How many ‘messengers’ do we listen to? How can we discern the voice which speaks the Truth? Mark 1:8 - ”I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
From Noah and Abraham’s faith-journey with God to the arrival of Jesus, the 'Word of God' flowed between God and man through judges, prophets, and all those He chose to carry His Message for the purpose to reveal Himself for the edification of man.
With Jesus Christ’s arrival, though, everyone believing Him to be the Son of God would be enabled and elevated - to be filled with the Holy Spirit to become their teacher and guide - Luke 11:13. John knew the Holy Spirit's power; he acknowledged this by his statement that he would not be ‘worthy to stoop down and loose the strap of Jesus’ sandal.
If John realized the important difference between his calling and the 'work of the one mightier than he’, would it not behove that all who believe Jesus Christ make sure that they are baptized with the Holy Spirit?
Baptized with the Holy Spirit - what does this mean? John preached a ‘baptism of repentance for the remission of sins’ symbolized through the body’s immersion in water. But Jesus Christ came to baptize us - give us - the Holy Spirit to reside within us to guide our heart and mind; the final step toward a living, vibrant, personal relationship with our heavenly Father.
Strong, unwavering Faith in the Word of God, desiring wholeheartedly to follow the 'Path' eluminated by His Light, gives clear, unmistakable, powerful evidence that the Holy Spirit resides in and guides all who love God with all their heart - Isaiah 30:15.
Why was John the Baptist a voice crying in the wilderness?
1. He grew up in the hill country. Oh though his father Zacharias did go down for a week, once a year, to fulfill his duties. Reminds me of the duties of our pastor's at Camp Meeting once a year.
2. Rather than teach him in the Synagogue and schools of the rabbi, God called him into the desert to learn of nature and natures God. It was there that he chose to be, to keep himself from the luxurious life that would distract him from learning of God.
3. He may also have been a voice in the wilderness to better attract a people to God who were wondering in a spiritual wilderness, rather than himself as a high fluent, highly educated priest. Thus, better suiting himself to prepare the people for the Lord.