Morning everyone. I just want to continue where I left off last time. Mark, Mark chapter 1. Last time we looked at the first few verses up to verse 8. And I just want to continue a little bit there. Mark chapter 1, verse 1. I'll read from verse 1 again. Mark chapter 1 verse 1, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And we've said that it is the beginning, like in creation, God started and here is the beginning of the gospel. And as we've said, Christ is already in the Old Testament, He's there, He's promised, but now He's here. And he is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, Behold, I sent a messenger before your face, who will prepare your way. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and white honey. And he preached, saying, After me comes he who is mightier than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, he immediately saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven. You are my beloved son. With you, I'm well pleased. And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness 40 days, being tempted by Satan. and he was with the wild animals and the angels were ministering to him." This is God's Word. So, I just want to continue to some thoughts on verse 9 to verse 13. And I can say, Jesus connecting, as my theme, Jesus connecting heaven and earth. He's collecting heaven and earth. Now, if we read the book of Mark, the Gospel of Mark, then we see that Mark is not sharing anything about Jesus' ancestors or his family or his childhood or his youth. Because Mark is concerned about the ministry and the death of our Lord Jesus. It's also striking, if you compare it with the other Gospels, how brief Mark is on these incidents, on the baptism, on the temptation. He's very brief and giving us into very short. I also remind you that last time I've said that you must see two levels in Mark. There is the level of the reader and the level of the characters in the story, I can say. For the reader, Mark is giving a lot of information. He's giving us many things that the characters did not know at that time. They are, as they were going, they were experiencing more and more these truths. But for us, We have the information from the start because Mark is starting to say Jesus is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And also in this matter of the baptism and the voice from heaven, in Mark it almost seems as if no one else heard it or saw it. Where in the other Gospels we read that the others did see it as well. It is as if it is that Mark wants to give us as the reader the information that we can know Jesus because that's Mark's purpose. Mark's purpose is he wants us to know Jesus and he wants us to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. That's what he is calling us to. So here we find John. John again. And we know that John is saying, I'm unworthy to even untie the sandals. Now that was reserved for the lowest servant to untie the sandals of the master. And John is saying, I'm not even worthy of that. It was not just something that he was putting forward as a facade, but Jesus is also saying that no one is greater than John. But John is later also saying, I must decrease and he must increase. He must become greater and I must become smaller. That is the attitude of John. Now it is coming here in verse 9. In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee. So suddenly, here Jesus appeared on the scene. No introduction of anything that was happening before. Here he was. It's almost like Elijah. Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 17. Elijah was suddenly standing before Ahab. And he was speaking to Ahab. And it is only saying that Elijah, that this one, from this world, in Gilead, Similarly here, Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, of Galilee, from Nazareth to Galilee. He's just there, suddenly He's there. He appeared on the scene. He's there, just like Elijah. Now remember here, at this stage, we think that John was baptizing in the lower Jordan area, somewhere there. He was baptising. Many of Jerusalem and Judea were attending, coming there. And here, Jesus from Nazareth, the northern part, he is suddenly there. Now, the people of the south, they have looked down on the people of the north. They thought there is nothing that could come from the north. I mean, you can think of of Nathanael and say, can anything good came from Nazareth? And even Nathanael was a Galilean. We also do not read that the name Nazareth is mentioned by Eusephus, the history writer, or even in the Old Testament, or in the Talmud. Now we know that there is the word play on the Nazarene, that we read about in the Old Testament, someone that committed himself for life or for a specific time to the Lord. So there is that word play that we can find here. And Jesus is suddenly there and he was baptized by John in the Jordan. So the Jordan, it's a small river, it's not a big river. They say that It's about, from when it starts to the Dead Sea, about 320 kilometers, if you're even taking all the meanders into consideration. They say it's about three meters deep and 32 meters wide when it is in flood. So it's not a big river, but Jesus was baptized there. Now, the question that we must ask here, Why was Jesus baptised? Because, I mean, the baptism of John is a baptism of repentance. The people, they were coming and they were repenting of their sin. They were saying, we have sinned and we want to turn from it, please baptise it as a symbol of our turning to God. And we read how many were coming, Soldiers were coming. Many people were coming. And John was preaching to them and saying, listen, but it's not just for a baptism. There must be the fruit, must be also there. Don't just think you can be baptized and then you're alright. There must be the fruit of the repentance, must be clear. But now, here is the sinless Redeemer, the sinless Lord Jesus. He's now coming there. to be baptized, to take the baptism of repentance. But he has no sin to repent of. So we realize that he is there, it is an official representative act in our place. That's why he is baptized. He is baptized as a representative of mankind, of me and you, sinners. We are sinners. But he is taking our position. He is the second Adam. He is the one that suffered although he was innocent. So he is, as I have said, he is connecting heaven and earth. He is connecting God and us in Christ. There is a connection. Christ connects for us God and man. Because Christ is God and man. He is God but he is man. and He connect us. And here we see that He is taking our position, our position of humility. We need baptism. We need to repent. And He is taking that position. He came to live among us. He came to minister to victims of sin, slaves in sin. That's us. He came to minister to us. He was betrayed into the hands of sinners. He was numbered on the cross in his death with transgressors. And he was, in a word, made sin for us, though he knew no sin. So Jesus was baptized as the representative of each one of us, because he wanted to connect God with us. It was also true, he was circumcised as a baby, but there was no sinful nature to put aside. Because that was the symbolism of the circumcision. It is the sinful nature that must be put aside. But here, no sinful nature. But he did it as the representative of mankind. No fault was found in him. He doesn't need purification, no sin to wash away, but he represents us in his baptism, in his death, and in his resurrection. So, in those days, Jesus came to Nazareth. He was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came out of the water immediately, verse 10, He saw heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And the voice came from heaven, you are my beloved son. With you I am well pleased." So here is the baptism. He's in our place. He's baptized, I can say. And then heaven was torn open. Heaven was torn open. It's like the vision. If you read in Ezekiel, Ezekiel, heaven was torn and there was the vision. And he could see what God was showing him. And this word that he's using here for the heavens were torn is the same word that he was using in, that he will use in chapter 15. Verse 38 in Mark. 15 verse 38. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. It's the same word that he's using there. The curtain was torn open. from top to bottom. So here he's using that word. The heavens were torn. And remember what I'm trying to say is that Christ connect God and man. He's connecting them. And now heaven is torn and we see the spirit and the voice. At the end, when he died on the cross, the curtain was torn open and we know The veil, the curtain, was prohibiting anyone from going into the presence of God. But when the curtain was torn from top to bottom, not bottom to top, it shows an action of God, an act of God. He opened the way into His presence through Jesus Christ. And that's what is happening here now. The heavens are torn. Now this is also something that we read, for example, in Isaiah. Isaiah 64 verse 1, where the prayer was there that God must tear the heavens and descend and come down. And here it happened. And that's why Mark starts with saying in the beginning, here it happened now. That what everyone was longing for, it's happening now. Christ came down, the heavens was torn, and Christ is there to connect heaven and man, God and man. And the Spirit was descending on him like a dove. The Spirit was descending on a dove. Now we know that in the Old Testament, we read many times how the person that was used by God as prophet, as priest, or as king, they were anointed. They were anointed for a specific task. And here we see now, the heavens was torn, Jesus is there, the Spirit came down, He's the Messiah. He was anointed for this special task, to be the Savior, to be the one between God and man. The dove came down. Now, why a dove? It makes us to think back on creation again. If you remember in Genesis 1 verse 2, it's also saying that the Spirit of God was hovering over the water. The Spirit was empowering everything that God could speak a word and everything happened. And it's here now, again, the beginning. The Spirit came down to empower Christ for the task of being the Saviour, of being the one between God and man. Why a dove? Why not another bird? I don't know. I could not find anything. Perhaps because it is just a common bird. that is very common and well known to us. So it is here a permanent equipment for the task of the Messiah, that the Spirit came upon him. It is also, then we read, and the voice came from heaven. Now we know that the Jews, they They don't want to pronounce God's name. So they would replace it with things like heaven. So it's actually a voice came from God. A voice came from God. God himself spoke in that instant. Here we also find the Trinity, Christ, the Spirit and God. The three in one. And God is now speaking from heaven and He is saying, You are my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. That reminds us of Psalm 2 verse 7. In Psalm 2 verse 7, it is saying, I will tell of the decree, and the Lord said to me, you are my Son, today I have begotten you. God spoke out of him. It also reminds us of the beloved son of Isaac. Isaac was also the beloved son and God said, take your beloved son and sacrifice him. And we know that Abram was obedient, but God stopped him. God stopped him not to take the life of his beloved son. But here is the real Beloved Son, where God will not stop, where He will be killed for our sake. There was a lamb that took the place of Isaac, but here will be no lamb. He will be the lamb. And God is saying, you are my Beloved Son with whom I'm well pleased. You are the one that's connecting You are the one. Therefore, there's no hope for us outside of Jesus. Therefore, it's sometimes good to repent of your good deeds as well. Because sometimes we all fall in the trap of thinking that our good deeds will do something for us. But our good deeds will not do anything for us. It's only Christ that will save us. Yes, there must be good deeds, As the result of what Christ did in us, it must be there, but it will do nothing for us. It's only Christ. This is the one I'm well pleased in. I'm not well pleased in your few good things. Because even our good things are defiled by sin. But here is the one, Christ. He is the one in whom I'm well pleased. Because he will do everything perfectly. He will do everything right for me. But then we see that in verse 12, the Spirit immediately drove him out of the wilderness. That is, the same Spirit that came down like a dove is now suddenly like a lion, I can say, driving him out to the desert to be tempted. No, it's not that Jesus was not willing to go. But he was now pushed by the Spirit. He was anointed. He is the anointed one because he is the one that will connect heaven and man, God and man. But there's an enemy that must be faced. The enemy must be faced now. And that's why the Spirit drove him out to the desert. And then we realize that he is tempted in the desert. And he was in the wilderness 40 days, tempted by Satan. 40 days. The 40 days remind us of the 40 days of Moses on the mountain, or Elijah's journey to Mount Sinai, or the 40 years in the desert. It reminds us of the time that God saw it fit to have his people in the desert. It's the time God wants the Redeemer to be in the desert in battle with the tempter. Now Satan is the English form of the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word meaning adversary. Adversary. So he is the enemy. So Jesus is the one, now he meets with the enemy. And it reminds us of what happened in the Garden of Eden between Adam and Eve and the snake, the tempter. And here again, the second Adam and the snake, the tempter. What will happen? What will be the outcome? It is only Mark that is also saying that he was with the wild animals. Now commentators differ on whether it's positive or negative. He's the positive image of the Garden of Eden where everything or heaven where everything will be in peace again and Jesus is with the wild animals. Or is it that it is also a symbol of all these attacks of the demons and Satan? It was worth the wild animals. So there's difference of opinion. According to the inter-testamental period, the Jews saw the desert as the place haunted by demons and where the battles are on. So perhaps it wants to connect there and it wants to say to us it was a struggle with the tempter, it was a struggle with demons, it was a struggle with wild animals. But also the angels were ministering to him. God was also there. Interesting, Mark is not telling us whether he was victorious in the temptation. Now we know he was, because he conquered the devil. But I think Mark wants to put our attention to it's not just this time when Jesus was tempted. It's his whole life that he was tempted, till the cross. Till at the last moment, the devil wanted to prohibit Jesus from going to the cross. And Mark wants to put our attention there. to say this is a continuous battle. But you know, it's also for us that we must realize Jesus connect God and us. He connects us. He makes the way for us. But he's also the one that conquered the temptations. So that if we are tempted, and we are tempted daily, we have Christ. that conquered, and therefore we can stand. And we know that the temptations are different. Sometimes it's open, but sometimes it's an angel of light. Sometimes he's attacking as if it is not an attack. And it's only if we hold to Jesus that we can conquer that temptation. We are tempted not at our strongest point, but at our weakest point. Not at our strongest moments, but at our weakest moments. There where we have no patience anymore. There we are tempted. Jesus was tempted after 40 days, or during 40 days. Hungry. under this attack. And we are also attacked like that. And we must learn to hold to the Messiah, Christ, that connect for us God and man. He connected. And we can conquer through Him alone. So let us be wide awake when we are tempted that we remember Our Saviour knows exactly what we are going through and we can just hold to Him. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, we thank You for Your Word and we thank You that You are the One that's bringing God and man together, that You are the One, the Messiah, the one that died for us, the one that conquered for us, the sinless one that took our sin upon you, the one that knows about our temptations, the one that conquered everything so that we can conquer in you. I pray, Lord, that you will be with us. I pray that you will work in us, that more and more we will stand in you. Take our stand. and not move to our own ground and our own strengths, but only in you. Be with us, Lord. We need you. In Jesus' name, Amen.