The Beginning (1:1-13).
Mark commences his Gospel by referring to the new ‘Beginning', and to the herald who introduced Jesus in accordance with Scripture. This herald was a successful preacher and prophet in his own right. He was named John the Baptiser, and stirred up the whole country to listen to his words. But his main importance, in accordance with his own words, was as the forerunner of the One Who was to come, and as the preparer of the way.
This stress on John as a forerunner emphasises that both John and Jesus Christ have come at God's appointed time and in accordance with His purposes. This was in accordance with Jewish expectations of ‘the Messiah', a powerful kingly figure descended from David (although there were many variations on the idea), who was due to come at the end of the age ‘in the last days' in order to introduce the Kingly Rule of God. This Messiah, says Mark, has now come, heralded by John.
We should note the brevity of Mark's early record. He is concerned at the commencement only to draw attention to the main facts which will illustrate the glory of Christ, namely:
'b7 The coming of the eagerly expected new Elijah (Mark 1:2).
· The vivid testimony and fulfilment of Scripture (Mark 1:2-3).
· The widespread movement that demonstrated that God was at work (Mark 1:4-5).
The promise of the coming of One Who will be ‘mightier than I' Who will drench men in Holy Spirit (Mark 1:6-8).
· The appearance of the Messiah Himself (Mark 1:9-10).
· His anointing in accordance with the Scriptures and His validation by God through reception of the Spirit (Mark 1:11).
· His final preparation before going forward to fulfil God's purpose for Him (Mark 1:12-13).
Here we have the introductory theme, and all this within thirteen verses. But the fact that he felt no need to go into any detail suggests that he knew that that detail was generally well known to his readers.
Analysis of 1:1-13.
a The beginning of the good news of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God (Mark 1:1).
b Even as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, Behold, I send my messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make you ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight' (Mark 1:2-3)
c John came, who baptised in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins. And there went out to him all the country of Judaea, and all they of Jerusalem, and they were baptised of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camel's hair, and had a leather belt about his loins, and he ate locusts and wild honey (Mark 1:4-6).
d And he preached, saying, “There comes after me He Who is mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I baptised you with water, but He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:7-8).
c And it came about in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptised of John in the Jordan (Mark 1:9).
b And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens rent in half, and the Spirit as a dove descending on Him, and a voice came out of the heavens (Mark 1:10-11 a).
a “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased”, and immediately the Spirit drives Him forth into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan, and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered to Him (Mark 1:11-13).
Note how in ‘a' He is declared to be the Son of God, and in the parallel God Himself declares that He is His beloved Son, while the beginning of the good news of Jesus the Anointed One is in parallel with His being driven by the Spirit Who anointed Him into the wilderness to face testing and wild beasts, and to experience the ministry of angels. This is the beginning. His earthly future as the Man anointed of God is already commencing, and is already being mapped out before Him as one of aloneness with God and testing by Satan, in the presence of ‘wild beasts', although always with heavenly assistance. In ‘b' John is as a voice from the wilderness calling on the people to prepare the way of the Lord, and in the parallel the Holy Spirit comes down on Jesus and a voice speaks to Him from Heaven as the One Who is Himself well prepared. In ‘c' John comes, and the people come to him for baptism in the Jordan confessing their sins, and in the parallel Jesus comes, and He too is baptised by John in the Jordan (but noticeably not as confessing sins). In ‘d' John proclaims the coming of the One Who is mightier than he Who will drench His people in the Holy Spirit, just as he drenches them in water.