THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SAINT MARK
LESSON ONE
This study of the book of Mark will take us through some of the
same territory that we went through in the book of Matthew. You will
quickly see that even though it covers some of the very same events as
Matthew, that the details many times are enlarged upon by
Mark. The author of Mark is, probably, the same Mark as John Mark that
we read about in Acts chapter 12 verse 12, "And when he had considered
the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose
surname was Mark; where many were gathered together." This Mary, who
was the mother of John Mark, lived in Jerusalem. In Colossians 4:10,
we see that Barnabas was a close relative, as well as an uncle. Mark
was, also, a close friend of Peter.
We see in Mark the working Jesus. In Revelation chapter 4 verse 7,
we read about the four beasts. We have said in our teaching on
Revelation that a better interpretation would have been "living
beings" for beasts. Revelation 4:7 "And the first beast [was] like a
lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face
as a man, and the fourth beast [was] like a flying eagle." In my
comments on Revelation, I said that these four are symbolic of the
books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Mark then would be the calf
and show Jesus as the Workman.
As I said before, even though Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John cover
the same events in many cases, they are seen through four different
people's eyes and are actually very different. The main topic of the
book of Mark is: Jesus Christ, the servant of God and man. In this
book, we are not dealing with Jesus from the tribe of Judah; but Jesus
Christ, the healer and servant. We see Jesus as the servant of man.
We see nineteen specific miracles in the book of Mark. Eight of
these miracles deal with His power and authority over disease, five of
these miracles show Jesus as having power over all the world and
everything in it, four over demons and Satan, and two show His power
over death. As we go on through this book, take note that Jesus has
power over all the earth , everything above the earth, everything
under the earth, and everything in the sea. We will see Jesus as
someone who gets the job done quickly. He sees a need and takes care
of it right then.
Actually, ST. John chapter 14 verse 11 tells what Mark is all
about, John 14:11 "Believe me that I [am] in the Father, and the
Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake." If there
is one theme, as I said, more than any other in Mark, it is Believe me
for the very works' sake. We will get into all of this more as we go
along. Now to begin the study of Mark chapter 1 verse 1.
Mark 1:1 "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of
God;"
We see, here, in this first verse, that this is the beginning.
There is no earlier writing by Mark. The gospel, as we said in
Matthew, means good news. This is not just good news from anywhere,
but is, in fact, the good news of Jesus Christ. We dealt with this
name before, but I feel it is important to know what the name Jesus
Christ implies, so bear with me, and we will get into it
again. Jesus means The Saviour, and Christ means the Anointed
One. We discussed in a previous lesson that one of Jesus' names,
before He came to earth, was God the Word. John 1:1 "In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." We
also read in I John 5:7 "For there are three that bear record in
heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are
one." You see, in heaven, the one we call Jesus Christ is known as
the Word. He took the name Jesus Christ for His earthly stay in a
human body so that He, The Anointed One, might become the Saviour of
the world. For His stay on earth, He was, also, known as the Son of God.
Jesus had no earthly Father. His Father was God. We touched on this in
Matthew. The Holy Spirit hovered over Mary, and she became pregnant
by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was the Spirit of God in fleshly form; thus
the Son of God.
Mark 1:2 "As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my
messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee."
We could go through and list the prophecies in the Old
Testament. The prohecies of Jesus Christ began in Genesis chapter 3
verse 15 and went through most of the books in the Old Testament. The
greatest number were in the books of the prophets such as: or Isaiah
9:7 or Micah 5:12 or Isaiah 7:14 or Daniel 9:25 or Jeremiah 31:15
or Deuteronomy 18:15 or Psalms 110:4 or Zechariah 9:9 or Zechariah
11:12. There are many more, too numerous to mention. In fact, that is
a study just in itself. The specific prophet meant above, however, was
Malachi. The Scripture which confirms this is Malachi 3:1 "Behold, I
will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and
the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the
messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come,
saith the LORD of hosts."
In Matthew chapter 17 verse 12, we see that Jesus saids that John
the Baptist was the messenger spoken of. This messenger's job was not
to elevate himself, but to prepare the way for Jesus Christ, the
Saviour of the world.
Mark 1:3 "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye
the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."
John the Baptist was born and lived for one purpose, and that was to proclaim the coming of Christ. He had one message. It was Repent and be baptized for the Lord is coming. God, throughout the Bible, picked out a specific person and called them to do a specific job for Him. This was
what God called John the Baptist to do. He was to use his voice to proclaim
the coming of the Lord. We see many others in the Bible chosen by God for
a specific job such as Moses to lead the children of Israel out of
Egypt to the promised land. He called Noah to build an ark. You see,
God chooses whomever He will. This wilderness was not just physical,
but spiritual, as well. Our cry, like John the Baptist's cry, should
be "The Lord is coming".
Mark 1:4 "John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the
baptism of repentance for the remission of sins."
We have discussed in our lessons on Matthew, that it was the
custom to baptize for the remission of sins long before Jesus'
crucifixion on the cross. Even in the tabernacle in the wilderness,
the washings were symbolic of baptism to wash away sins. This actually
was different to the baptism we Christians do. A Christian being
baptized is actually performing Jesus' burial and resurrection. We are
baptized into a water grave, and we are following Jesus in His
resurrection. We rise again to newness of life in Jesus. The type of
baptism of repentance of sins was usually an annual baptism for past
sins.
Mark 1:5 "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."
There, strangely enough, was no rejection by the people of John
the Baptist. We see, here, that many people went to great trouble to go
into the wilderness and be baptized by John in the River Jordan. In
Matthew chapter 21 verse 26, we see that the people believe John to be
a true prophet, Matthew 21:26 "But if we shall say, Of men; we fear
the people; for all hold John as a prophet." Isn't it strange they
believed he was a prophet and did not believe the message he brought
that Jesus Christ is Messiah? This river Jordan is still a favorite
place for Christians worldwide to be baptized.
Mark 1:6 "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;"
We can see from this that John the Baptist was a simple man with
simple needs. The Bible says those that wear fine clothes live in
palaces. John did not live in a palace, but rather in the wilderness.
In 1979, my husband and I traveled to Israel and found that there is a
nut grown there called a locust. The translation of the word,
locust, here means a nut rather than an insect. It certainly would go
well with wild honey. In a land where there are many camels, it would
not have been expensive to get a camel's hide to make a garment
from. A "girdle", we learned in Exodus, is something similar to a
very wide belt. In all of this, I say again, we see a simple man, with
simple needs, setting out to carry out the job that God had called him
to fulfill.
Mark 1:7 "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."
We see, here, an humble man. John the Baptist knew that he was
nothing compared to Jesus. Our ministers of today could take a lesson
from John. We are nothing but a voice fulfilling the ministry that God
has called us to. The person of the preacher is not the important
thing. The message is the important thing, for by the foolishness of
preaching people are saved. As John the Baptist elevated Jesus
to His rightful position as God manifest in the flesh, so should every
follower of Jesus and especially the ministers of His Word. Get
our minds and messages off of mortal men and onto the mighty God,
Jesus Christ our Lord. At the presence of the Lord, every knee will
bow as John did. Philippians 2:10 "That at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and
[things] under the earth;" Philippians 2:11 "And [that] every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the
Father." We must all remember with John that we are not worthy to
unloose His shoes.
Mark 1:8 "I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost."
You can easily see from this that the baptism of repentance,
which John the Baptist baptized with, was not the same baptism. John's
baptism is of water, and Jesus' baptism is of fire of the Holy
Ghost. Luke 3:16 "John answered, saying unto [them] all, I indeed
baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of
whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire:" We see the explanation of this baptism in
Acts 19:2 "He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye
believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether
there be any Holy Ghost." Acts 19:3 "And he said unto them, Unto what
then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism." Acts 19:4
"Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance,
saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should
come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." Acts 19:5 "When they heard
[this], they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." Acts 19:6
"And when Paul had laid [his] hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on
them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied." There really is
no need for a discussion by me here; we will let the Scriptures speak
for themselves. The only thing I will say is that this second baptism
in Jesus' name is obviously not of water, but of laying on of the
hands.
Notes
Mark 1 Questions
1. Why would we do this Bible study, if it covers many of the same
events as Matthew?
2. Who is the author of Mark?
3. Who was his mother?
4. What was Mark's full name?
5. Give his uncle's name?
6. Who was a close friend to Mark?
7. What does Mark show us about Jesus?
8. Of the four beasts, which symbolizes Mark?
9. The main topic of the book of Mark is what?
10. In Mark, we are not dealing with Jesus from the tribe of Judah,
but Jesus the what?
11. How many major miracles are listed in Mark?
12. How many deal with disease?
13. How many deal with Jesus' power and authority over the world?
14. How many show His power over demons and even Satan?
15. How many show His power over death?
16. How does Jesus get the job done (in one word)?
17. If there is a theme in Mark, it is found in St. John chapter 14
verse 11. What is it?
18. Gospel means what?
19. What does the word Jesus mean?
20. What does the word Christ mean?
21. What was Jesus' name in heaven that we read in St. John chapter 1
and First John 5:7?
22. How was it possible for His (Jesus) Father to be God? Explain.
23. In the Old Testament, where were the most prophecies of
Jesus? Name a few.
24. Covering V-2 in Mark, which one specifically was intended,
perhaps?
25. In Matthew 17:12, what were we told about this messenger?
26. What was the purpose of John the Baptist's life?
27. What was his message?
28. Name two other men in the Bible who were called of God to do a
specific job?
29. What was John's baptism of?
30. Was it practiced before Jesus was crucified?
31. How does this baptism in water differ from the baptism of us,
Christians?
32. What is strange about the ministry of John the Baptist?
33. Where do we find the Scripture that the people believed John to be
a true prophet?
34. How was John clothed?
35. What was he eating?
36. What is a girdle?
37. What was the locust, really?
38. In all of this, we see a_________________ man, with __
______________ needs, setting out do what?
39. How did John the Baptist compare himself to Jesus?
40. The person of the preacher is not the important thing. What is the
important thing?
41. We should get our minds and our messages off of what and onto
what?
42. Philippians 2:10 tells us what?
43. John baptized with water, but Jesus baptizes with what?
44. Where was the word fire added to this?
45. In chapter 19 of Acts, what do we see clearly about the baptism of
the Holy Ghost?
46. What was the only comment the author made about this?
Notes
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