I. John's dispensation was thus shown to be of Divine appointment. Notice the beauty of John's work in relation both to the past and to the future. It was a baptism unto repentance a baptism, and so connected with the ceremonial past; a baptism unto repentance,and so introductory to a new and more intensely spiritual state of things.
II. But why should Jesus Christ identify Himself with a baptism which was unto repentance? His identification with that baptism was not for the purpose of personal confession, but for the purpose of official absorption; He took up the dispensation, and ended it by the introduction of a better. So, when He took upon Himself the nature of mankind, He did not degrade and enfeeble God, He elevated and glorified man.
III. Vers. 13, 14. (1) Sonship does not exempt from redemption. (2) Temptation does not invalidate sonship. (3) Temptation, rightly answered, makes sonship a life and power.
IV. Vers. 14, 15. (1) The imprisonment of the servant does not hinder the progress of the master. (2) Ill treatment of the messenger may actually help to prove the divinity of the message. (a) It tests sincerity. (b) It tests the sustaining power of the doctrine that is preached. The fifteenth verse shows Jesus Christ in three aspects: (1) As the Interpreter of time; (2) As the Revealer of the Divine kingdom; (3) As a spiritual Regenerator. Under these heads note Time:The preparative process the development of opportunity the moral import of certain times. Kingdom:Not a transient erection; not a subordinate arrangement; not a human ambition the Kingdom of God. Regeneration:Vital, progressive, spiritual. It is to be specially noted that Jesus Christ preached the kingdom of God as a Gospel;rightly understood it is not a despotism, it is not a terror; it is the supremacy of light, of truth, of love.
Parker, City Temple,1871, p. 11.
References: Mark 1:9-11. W. Hanna, Our Lord's Life on Earth,p. 50; Preacher's Monthly,vol. iii., p. 42; Homiletic Magazine,vol. x., p. 294.Mark 1:9-13. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. v., p. 152.Mark 1:11-13. J. Martineau, Hours of Thought,vol. ii., p. 33.Mark 1:12-13. A. C. Tait, Church of England Pulpit,vol. i., p. 145; Expositor,1st series, vol. iii., No. 321; Preacher's Monthly,vol. iii., pp. 44, 161; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines,p. 76; H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man,p. 15; W. Hanna, Our Lord's Life on Earth,p. 58; Homiletic Quarterly,vol. i., p. 355; vol. vi., p. 148. Mark 1:13. Ibid.,vol. v., p. 149; J. Vaughan, Sermons,15th series, p. 93; Outline Sermons to Children,p. 133.