Trouble Will Soon Be Over

Oh, trouble’ll soon be over, sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble’ll soon be over, sorrow will have an end

Well, Christ is my foot and fellow, He’s my only friend
Till the end of my sorrow and tells me to lean on Him

Blind Willie Johnson

The Gospel of Mark

Chapter 1 verses 1-13

A commentary

v. 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ...

The beginning of the good news was not necessarily the virgin birth. Mark begins with John the Baptist preparing the way as does the Gospel of John. The most important news of the coming of the Messiah is not the birth of Christ but the start of his ministry as prophesied by the Old Testament prophets and the aforementioned John the Baptist.

v. 1 ...the Son of God.

Mark opens his gospel not only claiming that Jesus was the promised Christ but also the Son of God. Because he refers him as the Son of God, he deviates from the Gospel of Matthew, who referred to Jesus as the Son of David and Abraham, showing the kingship of Christ as heir to the Davidic throne. Mark writes his gospel to a primarily gentile audience which is probably why he left out the the heirship of the Davidic throne, which would be appealing to a Jewish audience, as Matthew's Gospel was written to.

v. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,

Matthew quotes not only Isaiah 40:3 but also Malachi 3:1, using passages from the Septuagint, to not only exalt John as a prophet but to exalt the one that John preaches about as the promised Savior. The Old Testament is the Gospel's beginning and source and Jesus is the final inspired interpretation.

v. 4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness...

The ministry of John in the wilderness to remind Israel of her covenant with God. It is through the wilderness that He led them to the promised land and through the wilderness, John will lead the people of God to Christ, the promised Messiah.

and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

This baptism was a symbolic ritual cleaning and a proclamation to repent and seek God. This baptism did not forgive sins but was a sign of a new covenant that was to come.

v. 5 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.

Clearly, not every Israelite came to him, but many did. Enough to attract Herod's attention. This renewal, that occurred throughout the region, was the preparation of hearts and minds to receive the Messiah. God was drawing his covenant people to Himself to give them His son.

v. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

Why was it important for Mark to tell us what John wore and what he ate? 2 Kings 1:8 describes what the prophet Elijah wore. Mark wanted to draw a connection between Elijah and John. John is the new Elijah, preparing the way for the Lord. The rise of the prophets in Jewish history started with Elijah. The last great prophet to come was John, nearly 400 years after the last book of the Old testament was written.

v. 7 And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

John recognized his role as an emerging prophet whose role was to prepare the way for the Messiah. v. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Jesus is coming not to wash the outside, but to purify the hearts and mind of God's people. This new covenant will renew the people through Himself and through the Spirit.

v.9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee...

Galilee was not a place held in high regard. It was a place of mixed race and the law was not zealously observed. Nazareth was a small village. No mention of Nazareth exists in the Old Testament. It is befitting of the Savior to come from a place of insignificance that the Pharisees would have disdain for. See John 7:52.

and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

Matthew 3:15 says that Jesus was baptized to "fulfill all righteousness." Jesus' baptism was part of His process of bearing the sins of the world. For the christian, we are baptized into His death and resurrection. The baptism instituted by Christ is more than just a symbolic representation. It is a powerful command from Christ that identifies one as part of the new covenant.

v. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

Just as in christian baptism, all three persons of the trinity are involved. The initiative of the Father, the work of the Son, and the enabling power of the Spirit are present. In Jesus' baptism, the Spirit descends as a sign that the Christ is indeed the Messiah and that the preaching of John was validated, thus validating the Old Testament prophecies concerning John.

v. 11 And a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."

The Father validates the coming ministry of Jesus. Because in Jesus, all things were created, the Father knows Jesus on a personal level and has sent Jesus to fulfill His initiative of a new covenant.

v. 12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

The importance of the wilderness in the Old Testament cannot be understated. It was in the wilderness that Elijah fled from Jezebel and hid. It was in the wilderness that Israelites wandered for forty years. While those instances occurred, God used the wilderness to refine and purify and make Himself known. Christ, the embodiment of all perfection, did not need to be refined. It was in the wilderness where God made a covenant with the Israelites and where Christ reminds them of where they came from and how He will intercede to the Father for their sake.

v. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days,

The number 40 in the scriptures is a symbol for new beginnings. 40 years in the wilderness, 40 days of rain, and Christ, fasting and being tempted for 40 days. God was going to start a new covenant with His people.

being tempted by Satan.

God does not tempt us, James 1:13 says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God; for God cannot be tempted by evil and He, Himself does not tempt anyone. Though Jesus was God incarnate, he was still fully man. This temptation was a temptation of his humanity. In Luke's Gospel, Satan uses Jesus' hunger to tempt him to turn stones into bread. Jesus' responses to Satan's temptations were quotations from scripture. If this is how our Lord would respond to temptation, how much more should we?

And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

In comparison to the Exodus, we see God providing for the Israelites during the journey. Just as manna fell from heaven to feed starving bellies and angels ministered to our Lord, we can be confident that God will provide for us when we are tempted and tested. This is why James extols us to consider our trials pure joy. For in the midst of trials we can see God's hand at work.