December?1927
808
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person and work of- Christ, is a defective sense of sin (v. 4). At the baptism 6 Fflur Lord, the Trihne God was manifesteatvs'.'9-11). Many ,a ;man has ¡proceeded from the waters of .baptism to the fires of temp tation- (v. 12). God has one Son without sin, but none without temptation (v, 13). —o— . S uggestive Q uestions Where does-.¡the .present dispensation of grace find-its-'beginning? (Mk. 1:1-3; Lk. 16:16,; jn. 1:17:) Did John the Baptist present Jesus to men as a King come to reign ¡on earth ? (Jn. 1:7, 29, 34.)- Have we a Gospel today,' different in its main,,particulars from that preached by'John ¡the Baptist? (Acts 19:4; 10:36- 37.) Was this “Gospel of Jesus'.Christ the Son of God,”vthe same Gospel, (although more fully developed);, later, preached by Paul,?, .'(Mk. 1:1; efeRom. 1:9.; 2.Thes$;: 1:8.) ....... -v.'U. k If Mark reproduced:. PeterJs teaching, what is significant .about,his opening char acterization of Jesus Christ,?- -(1 :1; cf, Mt. 16:1.6.) Does the preaching (^repentance have anything, to do-with our present Gospel? (1:4; cf. Lk. 24:46-47,) Did Gcxl ever say■ of anyone but Jesus: “Thou art my beloved Son” ? (v. 11; cfc Eph. 1:6.) y Dr. Meyers , once used the .illus tration,of a ¡tree found in ttiew-qods, which had two trunks at the base,, and but one at the, top. Two. liitle ■ saplipgs, had grown .up side by .side , pnd, by the 'action of the wind had crossed each ¡other . and, wounded, the bark on each, -'The sticky sub stance ,, that- had pijiied out- even-. tually ..united the twp- twigs, together at th? .PPiflt where’ the rubbing had taken, place,,.. As time went on the stronger of the two' triumphed and dpajh . .carried ..¡atvay the weaker branch .down .to the.-point where, it. had,.crossed the ofher. The result ,\vas .a tree- with two bases united finally, into one life,;“/ live," says , P a y l “nevertheless,,;,not I but Christ’’ Like John, may we join Pnrselvesjjtoi, phrist, - and then let the s.elf life decrease that Jesus may increase'in us and eventually ¡be “all,and in all’’ \ J 1. “The beginning _ of the Gospel of ’ 'Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’’ Mark wrote his record o f ,the life of Christ probably around 60 ,A, D.—thirty odd Golden Text , ,. He must increase but 1 must ' • decrease • (Jno. 3 :30).
ing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The prophets had foretold a- time of universal grace and had described the suffering of the Messiah for the salvation of the world. From th'e'time of the last prophet of the old dispensation to. the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ was a period of silence of approximately 400 years. John broke this, silence, by his wilderness preaching. Historic Christianity began with John and has spread throughout the world; be coming a mighty i force wherever it is properly understood and appreciated,. At the, end of the age, however, there will be a minority of faithful followers (Lk. 18:8). Gospel means good news; Jesus' means Jehovah salvation : Christ means anointed or, Messiah. Christ was,, the Son of God in a;special and unique.sense in which no- one else can,, claim to -be a son. of. God. He was God, born of a virgin,¡according to tfie prediction of,Isa, 9:5, 6, •fjfeVis. 2,, 3. “Even as it. isw ritte n ]in Isaiah the prophet.’’ Notwithstanding the contention..of the radical, critics,-.the preponderance,of evidence is in favor, of the orthodox position, namely, that .Isaiah wrote thq entire .book which is accredited to,him., This reference is .to. Isa..43:3-5, which,.. according-.to, the critics;,;iis,. ac credited to Dcutero-Isaiah. . These-words , “Behold, I send My nies- setigeri befgre^Thy face, who shall pre pare Thy way ” are not taken from Isaiah but from Mai. 3:1. The one who wishes to find fault with the Scripture would say that ¡Mark made a mistake,/.attribut ing ¡to Isaiah that which-.MaJachi actu ally wrote; hence, the objector would argue- Mark. was .not inspired; (Notwith standing the objecti,on of.the critics, the Gospel, of Mark gives every evidence of fpll plenary ,inspiration.) The examination of; Isa. 40 :3-5 makes clear that the prophet Was ; speaking of, a royal herald or mes-: senger who, going before^the face of the king, announces, the approach of his majesty. Though Isaiah did not speak of this herald as a messenger going, be fore the face of the Lord, this thought pervadess.and underlies the passage. The Spirit, of God prompted Malachi to take this germinal thought of Isaiah and exi pand it into his, wonderful prediction found in chapter 3:1. Therefore, Mark was perfectly correct in his .attributing this entire prophecy to ¡Isaiah. The messenger mentioned in both pass ages is none other than Elijah the prophet, who is scheduled (Mai. 4:5-6) to come before the.Day of the Lord., The con text of each passage confirms this inter pretation; for the messenger spoken of is the one who precedes the revelation o.f “the glory of Jehovah” and His coming “suddenly to His tempje.” When the Lord comes in fulfillment .of these pass ages, He will be,,“like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap-, and he will sit as.a re finer and purifier o f,silver, and he wifi purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer, unto Jehovah offerings in righteousness. Then shall the offerings o f, Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant, unto Jehovah, as in the days of old, and. as in ancient years’’. (Mai. 3:2-4). Such an interpreta tion is demanded by the context of each passage and will find its complete and full fulfillment in the coming of Elijah and the glorious appearing of Christ at the end of the age. But Mark applies this passage to John
and l’.is ministry. John preceded the face of the Lord when He came the first time “in the spirit, and power of Elijah” (Lk. 1:17), but he was not Elijah (Jno. 1:21). He was^only an Elijah and was-the in complete fulfillment of the prediction. When this passage is fulfilled, the topog raphy of the Holy Land will be changed, according to: Isa.. 40 and Zech. 14:9-11. This language, however; finds a spiritual application in the work of repentance and confession produced by John’s preaching. (See Lk. 3:4-6.) . , V. 4. John came, who baptized in the wilderness and preached baptism of re pentance unto remission of sins. The expression “baptism of repentance” sig nifies that the baptism was the outward expression of the repentance, in, theljieart, the latter of which, was.-, unto the.¡remis sion. of sins, The mere, outward observ ance of a rite cannot procure; blessings from God. AU service to God must rise from thq depths of sincere' hearts: On the other ¡hand, it is necessary to'be obedi ent to the requirements of-God. (Cf. 1 Sam. i5,:22,.23; Matt.' 3:l5.; Lk. 7:29, 30.) The word translated “repentance” is the strongest word in. the Greek language and means, “to change the thoughts, pur poses and ■ intentions of the mind or heart.” Genuine heart repentance „always expresses., itself in obedience, to the re7 quirements ,.,o,f:God and in,,the reformation p,f life. .. “Unto remission, of sins” me ans the forgiveness, of sins, the blotting out of, sips,. V. 5. In the parallel passages; Matt, 3,:S and Lk,, 3 :3 one learns ¡ that Jeru salem, Judea and' the regions about the Jordan were, influenced by this preaching. John,, howeyer, did n o t: remain in , one place but moved to different places as Lip 3;3 indicates.¡The statement,that “all the country.jof Judqa and all-they of .Jerusay lem” were baptized, is:not to be taken litefr ally, for Lk. 7 :29-30 .shows clearly that the Scribes and Pharisees were an exception to. the general rule as stated in this verse. Therefore, -the ¡expression “dll the country of Judea” means the majority, of people. “Confessing their sins." . It is, necessary not; only to ¡confess sins of which .one has repented but it is obligatory that he for sake them (Prov.. 28:13). Sins known to.- the public should be' confessed pub licly, the confession being, as ¡extensive as the ,sin in order that the evil influence might be counteracted. Sins known only to opeself, of course, must be confessed to ;God, but it is also most, beneficial for sins of a private nature to be, confessed to some true confidential Christian friend in order that both may pray fervently in faith for forgiveness and other blessings. (Cf. Jas. 5 :16.) „V. 6. John lived an abstemious life; similar to the life of his great prototype Elijah. The simpler one lives, the better it is for his physical health. Doubtless John chose this life of self-denial in order, to live close to God and in order to maintain sound physical health. The locusts, which John ate are considered a delicacy in the Orient. V. 7. “ There cometh after me He that is, mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to i toop down and unloose." This language indicates the humility of John, because of which Jesus eulogized him, saying that he was the greatest man born of woman (Matt. 11). He recognized his position in life. (Cf. Jno. 3:27-30,) At the time of John’s speaking this sentence he probably did not-
years after the begin ning of the ministry of Jesus. From this point,, looking back ward to the begin- nics'gi of historical Christianity, he points to the ministry of John the B a p t i s t , which was a fulfill ment of the predic- Malachi, as the begin-
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