The Witnesses - Mark 1:1-11

The Witnesses - Mark 1:1-11
By Pastor Lee Hemen
August 9, 2009 AM

Mark’s gospel is as beautiful in its simplicity as it is in its depth of the theology. It is a mystery, in some ways, do to some of the apparent insertions by scribes much later. In fact, its name comes from one such addition. Technically, Mark’s Gospel is anonymous since it does not name its author at all. The title “according to Mark” (Kata Markon) was added later by a scribe some time before a.d. 125. Then there is the ending to Mark that does not belong, but more about that when we finally get there. However, the “unanimous testimony of the early church fathers is that Mark, an associate of the Apostle Peter, was the author. The earliest known statement of this comes from Papias (a.d. 110), who quoted the testimony of John the elder… .” (Bible Knowledge Commentary)

Mark, as the author, does not mean that he made the story up but rather he was the human instrument that God used to testify about what he learned from Peter about Jesus. He was a very early follower. Some think he was the young man who ran away naked (Mark 14:51-52) from the garden when Jesus was betrayed and that it was at his home where the Passover was eaten by Jesus and His disciples. He journeyed with Peter and with Paul and Barnabas. He wrote about what he had learned, but not in chronological order. Is it the first gospel written? Possibly, both Matthew and Luke contain verses taken directly from Mark. Matthew contains about 90 percent of Mark, and Luke over 40 percent — over 600 of Mark’s 661 verses are found in both Matthew and Luke! And, both follow the order of events found in Mark. However, no one knows absolutely for sure. It was written before a.d. 70, when the temple was destroyed. Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of the Jerusalem temple suggests it was also written before Peter’s death and that he was available to help with its writing, possibly between a.d. 57-59. Mark was primarily written for Gentile Roman Christians as a testimony concerning Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Therefore, let’s see how Mark begins the testimony of Jesus’ life by sharing with us about the witnesses from the very beginning.

READ: Mark 1:1-11

Witnesses were important to those that lived during the time of Christ, just as a good bibliography is to us nowadays. Those who wrote about certain events often included well-known people who lived at the time of the event, saw it occur, or could testify to its actuality. We discover Luke doing this often throughout his gospel narrative. The testimony of three witnesses gave credence to the event’s veracity. Three witnesses were also needed to prove testimony in Jewish courts. So at the very beginning of his gospel narrative, Mark verifies his story of Jesus by the testimony of three witnesses. Let’s discover who they are and why they are important for us today. First of all…

I. We have the divine witness of God Himself! (vv. 1, 11)

1. The good news witness of God is Jesus! We discover that this gospel is “about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus literally means “Yahweh is salvation,” and Christ is the Greek for “Messiah” or “anointed one.” Mark immediately addresses the fact of who Jesus is. He is “the Son of God,” humanity’s salvation, and the long awaited Messiah. Therefore, this book, this message of Mark concerns the “good news,” the gospel for all mankind. This is why, when Jesus stood up in the synagogue and proclaimed, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,” (Luke 4:18-19) and told His listeners, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,” (Luke 4:21) the crowd wanted to stone Him to death. They knew exactly that Jesus was testifying about Himself and the implication was clear. Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah who would bring about the kingdom of God which had been promised for so long! But this was God’s “Son” whom He loved and was “well pleased” with! (v. 11) Therefore, Mark immediately establishes for his readers exactly who Jesus is. We have the divine witness of God Himself!

EXAMPLE: We have heard people declare, “As God is my witness!” but in actuality, God is not our “witness.” He does not exist to “witness” what we do, however, He did testify to the fact of Jesus being His Son and the promised Messiah. God’s testimony about Himself is always straightforward and true. Mark knew that the Roman Christians would need to be encouraged by the testimony of God to who Jesus was. Rome was a pagan city full of false beliefs and only God could cut through the darkness found there. Mark wanted his readers to understand that their faith was founded on the very word of God – therefore, we have the divine witness of God Himself!

We would think that God’s testimony about Himself would be enough, but in the culture of the day, which is very much like today’s world, Mark knew that the testimony of others who actually saw Jesus and who had predicted He would come would carry a huge impact on his readers. So, like a good historian of the day, Mark gives us another source that testifies about Jesus. Therefore…

II. We have the human witnesses of Isaiah and John the Baptist! (vv. 2-8)

1. History reminds us of the prophecies concerning Jesus! Mark began by putting his account in its proper scriptural perspective: The testimony of God’s prophets. Aside from Old Testament quotations by Jesus this is the only place Mark referred to the Old Testament. Actually, Mark references two Old Testament Prophets: Malachi and Isaiah. This was common and not out of character for those of Mark’s day to do. The actual passages are: “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me,” (Malachi 3:1) and “A voice of one calling: ‘In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.’” (Isaiah 40:3) It was a promise of God that His Messiah would come and that His herald would come before Him. John the Baptist fulfilled the role of the Messiah’s herald. He was the “voice of one calling in the desert.” John prepared “the way for the Lord” and made “straight paths for him.” He leveled the way for the Messiah. And John knew his place and this is why he related that “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (vv. 7-8) And, John would point to Jesus and declare, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) Mark testified that both the Old Testament prophets and the new prophets of God were in agreement as to who Jesus was. We have the human witnesses of Isaiah and John the Baptist!

EXAMPLE: The Apostle John related “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” (1 John 1:1) This was extremely important for the early church to hear and know. It was eyewitness testimony. But for the Hebrews, they put great credibility in the testimony of their Prophets because, for them, these men spoke the very words God gave them. To be wrong was to risk your life. To say, “Thus saith the Lord,” meant you were speaking for God and that He had given you His words to speak. So, when Mark tells us that Isaiah and John both proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah, it held a huge impact for them. This is why in Mark we have the human witnesses of Isaiah and John the Baptist.

When we as believers tell others about what we believe we become God’s human witnesses, and we are never alone in doing so. Jesus taught, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:16-18) And, Jesus has come to all who receive Him as Savior and Lord. Jesus declared, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” “By this,” John related, “He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive.” (John 7:38-39a) So, we discover in Mark that…

III. We have the inspirational witness of the Holy Spirit! (vv. 9-10)

1. All humanity is dead until they receive the empowerment of God! Mark knew this to be true because he had experienced it for himself. Mark knew that John’s baptism was limited: “I baptize you with water,” in that it helped people to repent and signified their momentary cleansing, but Jesus’ baptism would be eternal from then on: “but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!” The seal of God that can never be revoked or taken away! Paul would write, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22) And, “At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.” The Prophet of God, who testified about the coming Messiah, was now baptizing Him! Mark relates that “As Jesus was coming up out of the water, He saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove.” (Mark 1:10) God had come to deliver His people! Long ago Isaiah would lament: “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down!” (Isaiah 64:1) and then he would ask: “You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember Your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, You were angry. How then can we be saved?” (Isaiah 64:5) Here, right before everyone’s eyes, was Isaiah’s answer and the Holy Spirit of God testified to it! We have the Holy spirit living in us. He is the answer from God in our lives! We have the inspirational witness of the Holy Spirit!

EXAMPLE: Three things set Jesus apart from all others who had been baptized. First, He saw heaven being torn open. Second, He saw the Spirit descending on Him like a dove, which also symbolized the Spirit’s creative activity like when “the LORD said to Moses, ‘See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts… .’” (Exodus 31:1-3) Third, Jesus heard a “voice… from heaven” which approved of and declared who Jesus was. Therefore, the coming of the Spirit on Jesus empowered Him for His messianic mission and the task of baptizing others with the Spirit, as John predicted! John the Baptist related about Jesus, “I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel… I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. I would not have known Him, except that the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:31-34) Mark, therefore, gives us the inspirational witness of the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion:
We have the divine witness of God Himself! We have the human witnesses of Isaiah and John the Baptist! We have the inspirational witness of the Holy Spirit! What about YOUR witness?
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This article is copyrighted © 2009 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission. You now have my permission to use the entire article.

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