PREPARING - "SON OF GOD" (MARK).

TRADITIONALLY, THE TERM "SON OF GOD" IS INTERPRETED TO MEAN THAT JESUS IS TRUE GOD, HE WAS AND IS THAT. IN HIM THE FULLNESS OF DEITY  TOOK INTO HIMSELF THE FULLNESS OF A HUMAN NATURE, SO THAT IN ONE PERSON, JESUS CHRIST, A UNION OF TWO NATURES TOOK PLACE. THAT WHICH IS FULLY GOD UNITED ITSELF WITH THAT THAT WHICH IS FULLY. HUMAN.. POSSIBLY THE TERM SAYS MORE THAN THAT IN 1:1. IN THE OLD  TESTAMENT, WAS CALLED THE SON OF GOD (EXODUS 4: 21-23: HOSEA 2:1. THEREFORE TO CALL JESUS "SON OF GOD." WITH THE PASSING OF THE YEARS WAS TO DECLARE THAT THE TRADITIONAL "SON OF GOD" (ISRAEL) HAD BEEN SUPERSEDED BY A NEW "SON OF GOD." WITH THE PASSING OF THE YEARS, THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL HAD COME TO THIS, THAT THE "REMNANT"
OF THE TRUE PEOPLE OF GOD NOW NUMBERED ONE, "JESUS CHRIST. THIS NEW NUMBERED "SON OF GOD." WAS NOT SOME UPSTART OR USURPER. HE DESCENDED FROM SOME JEWISH "GREATS" AS " ABRAHAM AND DAVID". THROUGH HIM GOD WAS NOT MERELY CONTINUING THE HISTORY OF HIS PEOPLE. HE WAS MAKING A NEW BEGINNING TO HIS PEOPLE.  THE WORDS OF ISAIAH 4O:3 (MARK 1:3). ARE FOUND IN ALL FOUR GOSPELS, AND DEFINE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JESUS APPROACHING MINISTRY. ISAIAH  FIRST SPOKE THESE WORDS TO THE EXILES IN BABYLON. HE ASSURED THEM GOD WAS ABOUT TO RESCUE THEM FROM CAPTIVITY AND LEAD THEM BACK TO THEIR HOMELAND!  THEIR MESSAGE IN THE GOSPELS IS:  GOD IS ABOUT TO CARRY OUT THE GREAT AND FINAL RESCUE OF HIS PEOPLE. THEY ARE BEING HELD CAPTIVE, NOT EGYPT, ASSYRIA, OR BABYLON,  TO THE POWER OF SIN,  SATAN AND DEATH.  THEY ARE CAPTIVE TO THEIR TRADITIONS AND RITUALS, AND TO THEIR OBSESSION WITH THE DESCENT FROM ABRAHAM AND FAMILY GENEALOGIES. JESUS IS COMING TO FREE THEM FROM THESE BONDS, AND LEAD THEM INTO THE LIBERTY OF TRUE SONSHIP WITH GOD. AS MALACHI OF OLD HAD PREDICTED (3:1, 4:5), ONE HAD BEEN SENT TO PREPARE THE WAY FOR THE MESSIAH.
 JOHN THE BAPTIST HAD CARRIED OUT HIS MISSION IN THE WILDERNESS, THE PLACE OF EXPECTATIONS, NEW BEGINNINGS, THE PLACE GOD TOOK HIS PEOPLE TO RENEW THEM AND DRAW THEM CLOSER TO HIMSELF.  APPARENTLY, CONSIDERABLE NUMBERS WENT OUT INTO THE WILDERNESS TO HEAR JOHN AND BE BAPTIZED BY HIM.  THAT JEWS SHOULD HAVE SUBMITTED TO HIS BAPTISM IS REMARKABLE, FOR TRADITIONALLY ONLY GENTILES WERE  BAPTIZED WHEN THEY CONVERTED TO JUDAISM. JOHN ONLY PREPARED THE WAY FOR JESUS. HE WHO WOULD FOLLOW WOULD BE MUCH GREATER THAN HE WAS. JOHN DID NOT DESERVE EVEN TO BE HIS SLAVE, TO PERFORM THE MOST MENIAL OF DUTIES FOR HIM. JOHN COULD BAPTIZE WITH WATER, TRUE!  ONE TO WHOM HE POINTED, WOULD BAPTIZE WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT! IMAGINE! HE WOULD BESTOW THE "HOLY SPIRIT", NOT JUST ON A FEW SELECT ONES IN THE NATION SUCH AS JUDGES AND KINGS, BUT ON ALL WHO CAME TO HIM TO RECEIVE WHAT HE HAD TO GIVE; SEE JOEL 2:28,29.
JESUS WAS LIVING IN THE NORTHERN REGION OF GALILEE WHEN JOHN BEGAN HIS WORK OF "PREPARATION."  JESUS HEADED SOUTH TO WHERE JOHN WAS WORKING, THAT JOHN MIGHT BAPTIZE HIM ALSO. JESUS DID NOT NEED BAPTISM FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF ANY SINS HE DID NOTHING FOR FORGIVENESS. HE WAS THE "SINLESS ONE"   HOWEVER, JESUS SOUGHT BAPTISM FROM JOHN TO IDENTIFY HIMSELF WITH THE NEW AGE HIS FATHER WAS ABOUT TO BEGIN IN AND THROUGH HIM. AFTER ALL HE WAS, THE NEW "SON OF GOD."  AS THE OLD SON OF GOD PASSED  THROUGH THE WATERS OF THE RED SEA AND THE JORDAN, SO THE NEW SON OF GOD MUST PASS THROUGH WATER, THE WATER OF JOHN'S BAPTISM. HE WOULD LEAD HIS PEOPLE INTO THE INHERITANCE OF ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER. WHEN JESUS WAS COMING OUT OF THE WATER AFTER HIS BAPTISM, " HE SAW THE HEAVENS OPENED AND THE SPIRIT DESCENDING UPON HIM LIKE A DOVE,
1:1O. CENTURIES BEFORE THE PROPHET HAD CRIED OUT, "O THAT THOU WOULDST REND THE HEAVENS ASUNDER AND COME DOWN ( ISAIAH 64:1) IN A FORM THAT RESEMBLED A DOVE. AT JESUS BAPTISM THE HEAVENS WERE INDEED RENT, AND THE SPIRIT HIMSELF CAME DOWN IN A FORM THAT RESEMBLED A DOVE AND HOVERED  OVER THE HEAD OF JESUS.  THE RABBIS (TEACHERS) SPOKE OF THE DOVE AS THE SYMBOL OF THE NATION OF ISRAEL. AT JESUS BAPTISM, THE SPIRIT IN THE FORM OF A DOVE HOVERED OVER THE HEAD OF THE "NEW SON OF GOD," THE TRUE ISRAEL. HE WAS TO LEAD A LIFE, LEAD  BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. AT HIS BAPTISM JESUS WAS ANOINTED INTO THE OFFICE DEFINED BY THE VOICE FROM HEAVEN : " THOU ARE MY BELOVED SON: WITH THEE I AM WELL PLEASED : THIS STATEMENT SPEAKS VOLUMES  " THOU ARE MY BELOVED SON,"  REFLECTS PSALM 2:7. THIS PSALM WAS USED IN ANCIENT ISRAEL AT THE CORONATION OF A KING FROM THE LINE OF DAVID. THE VOICE OF JESUS BAPTISM DECLARED THAT GOD HAD KEPT HIS PROMISE AND HAD NOT PERMITTED THE LINE OF DAVID TO DIE OUT. JESUS WAS, INDEED THE LONG AWAITED DESCENDANT OF DAVID, THE LONG-EXPECTED  MESSIANIC  KING WHO HAD COME TO RULE GOD'S PEOPLE THAT THEY MIGHT FIND THE ULTIMATE  BLESSED-NESS WHICH HAD BEEN THE FOCUS OF ALL THEIR HOPES. THE DIRECTION THE LIFE OF THE MESSIANIC  KING WOULD TAKE WOULD BE DIFFERENT FROM WHAT MANY WOULD BE EXPECTING. " WITH THEE I AM WELL PLEASED" 1:11 IS A QUOTATION FROM ONE OF ISAIAH'S SERVANT SONGS (42: 1-4; NOTE V.1). AS MESSIANIC KING, JESUS WOULD BE THE SERVANT. HE WOULD BE DESPISED,  REJECTED, AND HIS PEOPLE WOULD DO THEIR  VERY WORST TO HIM.  THEY WOULD CRUCIFY HIM!  HOWEVER THROUGH HIS DEATH HE WOULD LAVISH ON THEM THE OFFER OF A COMPLETE, PERFECT PARDON, AND DRAW THEM INTO A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIMSELF IN WHICH THEY WOULD HAVE LIFE, NOW AND FOREVER. AFTER JESUS WAS ANOINTED INTO OFFICE AS THE LONG-AWAITED KING, AND THE NATURE OF HIS LONG AWAITED KINGSHIP DEFINED.  HE WAS LED BY THE SPIRIT INTO THE WILDERNESS. OLD ISRAEL HAD BEEN TAKEN INTO A WILDERNESS AFTER PASSING THROUGH WATER. SHE HAD BEEN TAKEN THERE TO BE TESTED AND TRIED, AND HAD DONE LITTLE ELSE BUT SIN. THE RECORD OF HER "FORTY- YEARS" IN THE WILDERNESS IS A MISERABLE ONE. THE NEW ISRAEL, THE NEW SON OF GOD, WAS LED BY THE SPIRIT INTO THE WILDERNESS TOBE TESTED AND TRIED BY SATAN FOR FORTY-DAYS. THERE JESUS PUT AN END TO SATAN'S RUN OF SUCCESSES WITH THE HUMAN RACE--HE DID NOT YIELD TO HIM. IN CHRIST, SATAN DID NOT MEET HIS MATCH--- HE MET HIS CONQUEROR!  MARK STATES IN 1: 13b, " JESUS WAS WITH WILD BEASTS, AND THE ANGELS MINISTERED TO HIM."  SOME SEE IN THIS VERSE A REFERENCE TO THE "NEW ADAM"  REGAINING CONTROL OVER THE REALM OF NATURE ON A COSMIC SCALE. OTHER'S SEE IN THIS VERSE A SUBTLE SUGGESTION THAT JESUS REMAINED  " IN THE WILDERNESS OF TEMPTATION," LOCKED IN COMBAT WITH SATAN THROUGHOUT HIS MINISTRY.  MATT 4:11  AND LUKE  4;13 SAY SATAN LEFT JESUS AFTER THE TEMPTATION. THAT COMMENT IS NOT MADE IN MARK,
 WHERE THE CONFLICT BETWEEN JESUS AND SATAN CONTINUES TO THE CROSS WHERE THE APPARENT CONQUEROR (SATAN) IS CONQUERED. (NOTE THAT THE FIRST MIRACLE JESUS PERFORMS IN MARK AFTER HIS TEMPTATION INVOLVES A STRUGGLE WITH A DEMONIAC.