1:9 In Those Days Jesus Came From Nazareth Of

1:9

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 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. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” – Mark 1:9-15 Opening remarks The words “kingdom of heaven” is often a mystery to us when we read Scripture. We read it over one-hundred times in the New Testament, but often we just skim over the words. Often we just assume that this is speech of heaven or of God himself, but rarely, rarely do we venture out to investigate to ourselves what it truly means. This morning we try to wrestle with this phrase simply to walk away with a defined meaning for ourselves, so that we can journey through the rest of this month preparing ourselves to be the kind of person that is able to reach our hand out and grasp the kingdom of heaven ourselves. Let’s re-read our verses this morning, 1:9

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 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. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Gaining some history We must first understand that this phrase “kingdom of heaven” is a phrase that is purely from Jewish origins, not Christian. It is a way that Jesus and John here are communicating the good news of Christ to the community in which they live, the Jewish people. (ill. The “inter-testamental period)There is a time period that John the Baptist first, and then Jesus Christ, are emerging from. The four-hundred years prior to the emergence of these two men was a time of silence from God. There were no major prophets, no major Word of God to his people, and no immediate sense of the presence of God. This is the time which scholars call the “inter-testamental” period,

and like the page in your Bible that may divide your testaments between old and new, like mine it, was blank. Nothing was being spoken as a good, valid prophetic Word of God during the time when Israel needed it the most. This was a time in which the people were invaded, the lands laid to waste, the people scattered and the true city of Jerusalem turning from a free state to being under the rule of Rome. It was to these people that the fullness of time comes, God’s timing was made perfect, and Jesus appears. These people were alone, but during this time of being alone some great things, some beautiful things, happened in the history of Israel. God was not moving in a leadership way, a major prophetic way, but rather through his people. It was in this time that the congregational elements begin to be formed between the people. One of the major elements to develop during this time was the local synagogue. The temple was of national importance for the historical worship and identity of the people. But during this time the local development of a place to come, to be in prayer and praise, to hear the Word of God, and to fellowship emerged. (ill. The synagogue) The synagogue was comparable and close to our local Christian congregation now and more so in that out of it grew family and local traditions and beliefs. During a time when the government and history of a people was disappearing, these simple and outlying people were joining together to find God within their lives. This was the time and place to which Jesus comes. He comes to simple people, small villages, and people in search of what God is calling them to within their lives. He comes to be found, and that is what this proclamation of “kingdom of heaven” calls out to. The kingdom of heaven brings to them that kingdom that was taken by them force and oppression, the kingdom that they were absent with as they were scattered throughout the Middle Eastern world. It is within this dissolving of all that they knew, and the loss of the presence of God in their lives nationally, that they went seeking God, and found him in what they called the God of heaven: God who was not defined by a meeting place, but by a renewed outlook at his place within his people’s lives. This is the language that emerges at the same time as John the Baptist and Jesus’ message of good news to the people, the language of verses 14 and 15, 14

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” From history to “at hand”

It is this message of God who is there, active, and alive that was to be communicated to the people. A God who comes into the presence of his people, made possible through his sacrifice and Son, and is awakening them to return to him. The message is precise in this declaration, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand…”, that is that God who’s kingdom of heaven is all around us, is here for the grasping. And this is exactly what we mean when we use “heaven” language. (ill. Lord’s prayer) Just like when we pray the Lord’s Prayer we utter the simple phrases first, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9b-10) When we say this prayer we are not speaking to a God that is away from us, are we? No, we are reminding ourselves that he is near, that heaven is all around us, that a kingdom is reigning now about us, and that we desire this to be revealed to us, for us to see and know of his presence. We are longing for the very presence and revealing of God to be made aware to us, we are praying for it, in fact, and that is why the way that it is told to us that it is “at hand” is beautiful to the believer. Here is God telling us that no matter what is happening in our culture, no matter what is happening in history, no matter what is happening in economics, he can be found there, if we could only reach out our hand and grasp his. Seeing the grasping of the “kingdom of heaven” in the baptism of Christ That is why I really like the way that Mark matched up this statement of Jesus’ ministry with the testimony of his baptism. Just a few verses earlier, in verses 9-11, we have the most beautiful image of Jesus’ baptism. Look at Mark 1:9-11 again with me. 1:9

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 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. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Here is Jesus coming to John for baptism, a very defining step in the ministry of Jesus. He comes to John of his own accord which John sees as troubling to himself. Matthew records that John upon Jesus coming for baptism tries to prevent Jesus from doing so, and says,

“I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then [John] consented. (Matthew 3:14-15) There is a need for Jesus to be baptized, a desire to send a message much like each individual baptism does, the message that life is offered to those who grasp it as cleansed, revived, and alive to the life of God. It is a fitting beginning of the public ministry for Jesus, and the public display has a glorious revealing of that message, doesn’t it? We hear that once Jesus emerged from the water, 10b

…Immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (ill. Seeing “the heavens” in the baptism account) Now, did you notice the part about “the heavens”? We can either remove from this meaning all that we have learned about the Jewish thought at the time of God that was near and around. Cast this off as a visual picture only of the sky ripping apart. Or, we can allow that meaning to impress upon us what this passage is truly telling us, that Jesus emerged from the waters and the “kingdom of heaven” was revealed unto him, the very Spirit of God descending upon his life in a defining way, a way in which we see a Trinitarian unity between God, the Holy Spirit, and his Son upon earth. And notice that the heavens never close. Never is this revealing, this intimacy, this joy, and this presence closed again. Rather, it is alive in and with Jesus Christ. Even as he leaves for solitude in the wilderness, that openness to the God of heaven is with him. It is a part of him, and it is something that he later proclaims to us and desires us to join with him in. That is the true definition of “kingdom of heaven”, not that you will have eternal life in a mansion in the sky, not that you will have a peaceful rest in the by-and-by, not that the milk and honey will flow like a river, but that the greatest of things has happened to us: God has opened to us. All around us we can discover the peeling back of the skies of darkness that cloud our lives and hear the voice of God. This is the amazing joy that is revealed in the words that we often overlook, “kingdom of heaven”, the fact that God is with us, we have just to reach out our hands and embrace new live that is there for the living, always to be opened and never to be closed. Closing remarks Isn’t it interesting those words “kingdom of heaven” a hope and discover of the God who is with us now? And that should be the test for us. Not whether we have done the Christian thing and “been saved”, not that we have ministered for God, and not that we have seen miracles before our eyes, but that we have and do see God

ourselves in our lives, that we have a unified relationship and are enjoying being in the presence of the Trinitarian God, Father, Son, and Spirit. (ill. “I never knew you”) I know that most of us have all heard the story from Matthew 7. The parable in which Jesus says, 7:21

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ “ All these men had done wonderful, exciting, evangelistic things for God, but on that day when the threshold of death brings to life the reality of God before us he will not be looking for these works. Rather, he will be looking for those that have already been sharing in his life, he will be looking for those that took hold of the kingdom of heaven with their hands, ears, and eyes and were enjoying knowing, truly knowing God. This morning God asks you, do you know him? Have the skies torn apart, the dove descended, and the life of God now become your new life which you have been raised to walk in? Do you know him? This is what he asks of us, and this is what we were created for to know God. When death comes will you walk up to God and he run to you, tears in his eyes, saying “There he is, there is the one I have been talking to, living with, and waiting for him to join me forever.”