Thank you so much for being there. We are honored to be here and consider it a privilege to look into the Word of God together. Our lesson today is a continuation of what we started last time, and our title is “Preparing the Son of Man.” We are examining three things Jesus had before he began his ministry. Last time, it was approbation, or approval and praise; this time, it is authentication and proclamation.
If you can, turn with us to Mark chapter 1. J Mark will begin by reading verses 9-15, then we will take a closer look at authentication and proclamation.
9 It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
10 And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.
11 Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
12 Immediately, the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.
13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
14 Now, after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
From these verses, we observe the critical PROCESSES involved in preparing the Son of Man. The process we examined the last time was His approbation.
The Next PROCESS (involved in preparing the Son of Man) is,
His Authentication
How do you decide if something is authentic? You test it. Here, God was testing His Son, Jesus. Did God think there was some flaw in Jesus? We know better than that. It was a test of authentication to prove or confirm the fact that Jesus was fully human. I believe this part of Jesus’ preparation for ministry happened for our benefit.
So, Jesus has this glorious experience of the Father and the Holy Spirit affirming and blessing Him. But then, immediately, the Holy Spirit, with an irresistible force, drives Him out into the wilderness. This was near where John was baptizing. After receiving the accolades of heaven, in the presence of the crowds, He now faces the fierce assaults of hell alone! You and I both know that being alone makes us more vulnerable to temptation.
This highlights for us a couple of patterns we’ll see throughout Mark’s Gospel. First, Jesus was obedient. He was entirely under the Spirit’s control. In addition, the most exalted One is also the most humiliated One. He is the King of Kings, but He is also the Suffering Servant. Even in His horrible death, the placard above Him proclaimed Him as “The King of the Jews.”
Imagine what a spiritual and emotional mountaintop experience Jesus’ baptism must have been. It reminds me of Elijah’s ministry on Mount Carmel. He has this glorious manifestation of the power and presence of God, and the next scene shows him running for his life from the wicked Jezebel. He ends up in a cave in a state of depression and self-pity. Maybe you’ve experienced some similar highs and lows in your walk with the Lord.
Why did Jesus need to be tempted? Hebrews 4:14-16 gives us the answer. “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Why is the wilderness a place of temptation? It is a fearful, desolate, lonely, and wild place associated with evil, with unbelief, and with hostility. It is a picture of judgment, of mankind without God, of unbelief, and of Satan’s kingdom.
He was there in the wilderness, enduring this time of temptation for 40 days! Mark adds that Jesus was with the wild beasts. This would’ve included jackals, leopards, and wild boars. However, Mark doesn’t include the detail of Jesus fasting.
What was the point of those temptations? What was Satan trying to do? He attacked Jesus repeatedly on His role as the Suffering Servant. He didn’t tempt Him to give up His deity or His power. Instead, he tempted Jesus to use His power in selfish ways apart from the direction of the Holy Spirit. If Jesus had yielded to Satan, that would’ve undermined God’s saving purposes. The success of Jesus’ earthly ministry depended on His humiliation.
One ray of light shines into this wilderness experience. During this time of extreme testing, angels waited on Jesus and ministered to His needs. I want you to understand that the temptation Jesus experienced wasn’t just a one-time occurrence. He was tempted, again and again. However, the angels continually attended to Him and met His needs. What a precious truth. God doesn’t abandon us in our times of testing, even though we may feel like He has!
While you and I don’t face testing or temptation at the same level, it is the experience of every genuine Believer. Following periods of spiritual highs, there needs to be a time of heightened spiritual vigilance, lest we crash to a spiritual low and succumb to temptation.
The writer of Hebrews equates suffering with proof of our being God’s sons and daughters. In other words, suffering authenticates who we are in Christ. He further states that Jesus, even though He was the Son of God, learned obedience (experientially) through the things He suffered.
Additionally, testing and temptation reveal who we are. Extreme heat and pressure form diamonds—irritating grains of sand lead to the formation of pearls. Gold and silver in usable form must be refined in the fire. Untested faith is weak and may have little value.
As I reflect on my own life, I realize that many of my temptations involve either serving myself or serving others. Satan tells us to use our position and influence to achieve our goals. But Jesus didn’t do that. He put our needs ahead of his own. As His followers, we are called to follow His example. How much of our effectiveness in ministry is damaged by our selfishness?
Are you willing to get alone with God the Father and fast and pray? To what lengths are you willing to go to overcome Satan’s temptations? Are you being overwhelmed by the wild beasts of sinful desire in your spiritual wilderness?
Remember, just like the angels ministered to Jesus in His time of testing and temptation, the Holy Spirit is with you. In this process of preparing the Son of Man, we have His approval and His authentication.
The Final PROCESS (involved in preparing the Son of Man) is,
His Proclamation
Mark jumps immediately into a brief description of the beginning of Jesus’ preaching ministry. He mentions John’s arrest. This was probably about six months after the previous verses. In the interim, the other Gospel writers record Him cleansing the Temple, ministering in Judea, and offering new life to the woman at the well in Samaria.
Mark ignores all of that to focus on Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. This is a biblical principle. Ministry starts at home. The fact that Jesus launched His ministry in Galilee seems to be a rebuke of the apostasy and corruption that existed in the religious system centered in Jerusalem.
So, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming a message with three distinct parts: the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and believe in the Gospel.
The time is fulfilled. This was the pivotal moment in human history. Long centuries had passed since God promised Adam and Eve that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. Through the generations, the prophets revealed more of God’s plan for the coming Redeemer. His birth in Bethlehem, brief sojourn in Egypt, childhood in Nazareth, rejection by the Jewish leaders, and His ultimate death by crucifixion were all foretold by the prophets.
Jesus explained the saying, “The time is fulfilled,” by adding, “The kingdom of God is at hand.” The time was fulfilled because the kingdom of God was at hand. And the kingdom of God was at hand because the King (Jesus) had arrived.
When Jesus came to earth as a man, He came to offer this long-prophesied kingdom of God to the Jews. It seems He would have inaugurated the kingdom of God if they had received Him as their Messiah. But they rejected Him and His kingdom. And so, the kingdom was taken from them for a season until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled.
The final part of Jesus’ announcement of the kingdom was to repent and believe this good news, the Gospel. To repent means changing your way of thinking.
Jesus’ message included repentance, but He also added the requirement of belief or faith in Him. The words “repent and believe” are given as imperatives; they’re a command. In proclaiming the Gospel message, these are not optional; they are mandatory.
The kind of faith Jesus is commanding isn’t some nebulous intellectual assent to a theory. It is a wholehearted embrace of the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is a belief that will change you both inside and out.
Today, you and I are called to proclaim this same message, this same Good News: repent and believe the Gospel. It isn’t popular because it leads to suffering and hardship. It assures us that only by learning how to die to self will we know how to live.
The processes for preparing the Son of Man for His earthly ministry were unique to Him as the Son of God. But they are familiar to everyone who chooses to follow Him. You and I need His approbation, His authentication, and we need to embrace and promote His proclamation.
Have you been prepared to share the Good News?
Thank you, J. Mark, for this teaching. I like how you made it personal for each of us. We are not Jesus, but since we strive to be like Him, there are things we must do as we follow Him. All must “Repent and believe.” Wherever the gospel is preached, this is the message, and anyone preaching this had better have experienced it personally. Let me rephrase that: to preach this, you’d better be experiencing it, walking with Jesus daily.
If you have any questions about today’s lesson or would like to contact us, please don’t hesitate to do so. You can reach us by email or through our website. Our email address is [email protected], and our website is heraldsofhope.org. There, click on the “contact us” which is on the top right of the page, and you can message us directly. Contact us; however, it is easiest for you. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you for joining us for Hope for Today. This was the last lesson in our two-part series, and we look forward to being with you next time. Lord willing, we will examine three steps we can take to follow Jesus.
