Mark 1:1-8

(Mark 1:1-8)

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And there went out unto him all the land of Judæa, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

 

The Gospel of Mark is the first written Gospel. Mark is not one of Jesus' twelve disciples. Mark was Barnabas' nephew. Mary, who appears in Mark's attic, was Mark's mother. In Acts 13:5, ``And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister. In other words, when Paul and Barnabas went on a missionary trip, Mark went to attend. The person John is the word for Mark. Another name for Mark was John.

In Acts 13:13, 『Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. 』Marka was getting off at Berga. Berga is a region ahead of the mountainous terrain. The reason for dropping off is not exactly expressed, but this gives Paul a bad preoccupation with the missionary work of Mark. Perhaps because of the difficult missionary trip.

In Acts 15:36-41, 『And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the LORD, and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus; And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. 』

Paul becomes imprisoned on a mission trip. However, in this situation, Mark appears. In 2 Timothy 4:9-11, “Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me: For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry. Paul remembered that he separated from Barnabas because of Mark in the mission field. By the way, why does Paul want to bring Mark? Paul said, "he is profitable to me for the ministry."

In 1 Peter 5:12, 『By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand. The expression Babylon means Rome. Peter says Mark is the son. Mark was Barnabas' physical nephew, but is spiritually referred to as Peter's son. It must have been that Mark became a religiously matured man through Peter. Perhaps Paul knew this information. We can see what we thought, not Mark, who dropped off from Berga in the past.

Mark was greatly influenced by Peter. "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." This sentence of Mark is similar to that used by Peter. We need to understand how Mark was writing the Gospel. A.D. In the 64th, there was a big fire in Rome. When rumors spread that Nero was an arsonist, Roman politicians began to make Christians a victim. In the amphitheater, Christians were confined to serve as the food of the predators. In this pain and despair, a small booklet was handed down from person to person. That is the Gospel of Mark. The Gospel of Mark is A.D. It was written in 65-70. The Gospel of Mark, delivered in suffering and despair, became the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Mark first tells the story of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was born six months earlier in the world as the spirit of Elijah to introduce Jesus. John the Baptist is said to be the largest woman born, and was born six months before Jesus Christ. He knew what his calling was. "Behold, in the writing of the prophet Isaiah, I send my messenger before you, and he will prepare your way. There is a voice of one crying in the wilderness, saying,'You prepare the way of the Lord.'

The calling is to prepare the way for the Lord. Preparing the way of the Lord is "repent". Israel is the one who left God. John said first, "If they do not repent, the one who comes after me will judge." So John baptized the water.The baptism of water given by John the Baptist indicates the forgiveness of sins."All the people of Judea and Jerusalem went forth and confessed their sins and were baptized by him in the Jordan River."

However, Jesus, born to the world after John, said that he would baptize with the Holy Spirit.
How is baptism different from water baptism? Water deals with the problem of sin, but baptism in the Holy Spirit represents the death of the old man (evil). Jesus allows sinners to be born again. Those who have left God are evil against God. If John John the Baptist mentioned that the problem of sin, that is, the confession of the sins of the world and the washing of sins, was recognized by all people as beings who left God, then Jesus would remove the cause of God's departure. It is called minutes. So, everyone is to be born again.

Why did all humans become God-existent? The people of the Church say that Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, and that they had become God's left because of their original sin. However, we must realize that original sin has spiritual original sin before physical sin. In the kingdom of God, the spirits wanted to be like God in the delusion of Satan, so by enticing Satan, God confined them. It is said in Jude 1:6 and 2 Peter 2:4. The place where spirits are confined refers to this world, the material world. Because the spirit was trapped in the soil, the relationship with God was cut off.

『And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.』 It means that the spirit is dead, the soul. So, God created the Garden of Eden and brought Adam to the Garden of Eden to eat the fruit of the tree of life and to communicate with God. The Garden of Eden symbolizes the kingdom of God. What happened in the Garden of Eden is an event in this world, but through this event, you must realize what happened in the kingdom of God. In the parable of Jesus' seed, he told the secret of the creation. Reading the Bible, meditating is to realize this.

Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree, knowing the good and bad that God told them not to eat. The reason she ate was because the snake (Satan) was deceived. “On the day you eat it, your eyes are brightened and become like God, and you know that God will know good and evil.” Eve ate with her greed that she could become like God. This is the same story that happened in the kingdom of God. So, because this evil (greedy) lies in the human mind, it is that human beings are evil. It is said that the evil of greed has caused human beings to sin.

Jesus will remove this evil. John the Baptist deals with the problem of sin, but Jesus deals with the problem of evil that causes sin. John's water baptism is to wash away sin, but Jesus' fire baptism is to kill evil. So in Romans 6:4-6 『Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 』

In Jesus' baptism, water means death. If they lived in Noah's day, they would have died in the water. In 1 Peter 3:20-21, 『Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 』