Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 4 Study # 1
November 27, 2018
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(032)
1901 ASV
12 And straightway the Spirit driveth him forth into the wilderness.
13 And he was in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.
- I. The Uniquenesses of Mark's Record.
- A. His record consists of two verses (30 words) unlike Matthew's eleven verses (184 words) and Luke's thirteen verses (203 words) [the word counts are from the Nestle/Aland 26 Greek text].
- B. He uses "driveth" rather than Matthew's and Luke's "led".
- C. He refers to the "tempter" as "Satan" rather than Matthew's and Luke's "devil" (though both Matthew and Luke use the word "Satan" in Jesus' rejection of the temptation to worship "the devil".
- D. He mentions "the wild beasts" but neither Matthew nor Luke does.
- E. He refers to angelic ministrations as does Matthew, but Luke does not (thus, this is not a complete uniqueness).
- II. Mark's "Picture".
- A. Jesus was identified by the voice of God as the "well-pleasing, beloved Son" immediately prior to Mark's record of the "temptation".
- 1. This indicates that the record is not a record of divine displeasure. Many think that any grave difficulty that comes is an indication of divine displeasure for some "infraction" of the rules that are designed to impart a life that is free of difficulties.
- 2. This also indicates that the record is a record validating the impact of Jesus' "faith" in the Father's declarations: it is because He "believed" Himself to be the beloved, well-pleasing, Son that He endured the opposition of the Adversary without failure.
- 3. That Mark chose to record the divine testimony that Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee is "My beloved Son" indicates that his interest is in presenting Jesus as far more than the "human" being that is presented in Matthew and Luke [Jesus is "Son of God" and "Son of Man" in all four Gospels, but each has its own emphasis: two focus upon His identity as "Son of God" (Mark and John) and two focus upon His identity as "Son of Man" (Matthew and Luke).
- 4. Thus, Mark's "picture" is of the Son of God being subjected to adversarial activities. This is because Mark has to reveal that Jesus is, in fact, qualified to be identified as the Son of God. He reveals this "qualification" by His triumph over the primary adversary of God in all of His creation.
- B. Mark's use of "driveth" (the first use of 18 in this record) is the same word used in 1:34 regarding Jesus' "casting demons out of" people of whom they were in possession.
- 1. This is a word that indicates a "resistless" use of compulsion. It can be rather mild, as in 1:43 and 5:40, or it can be exceedingly forceful as in 9:25-26 where it is obvious the "demon" did not wish to relinquish his 'victim'.
- 2. Mark's "point" is that the Spirit didn't give Jesus any choice whatsoever about what He was going to do next. This is a strong argument that Mark's "picture" of Jesus is that He was completely subservient to the Spirit, a thesis that puts a counter-point to Mark's argument that "Jesus" is deity in the flesh. It is a kind of "Jesus is God, the Servant of God" picture and suits the radical-to-humans "notion" that the King of the Kingdom of God (God, the King) is of an essentially "servant" mentality (He finds no difficulty in being subservient to the Father or the Spirit, as His "servant mentality" is most fundamental). Jesus, Himself, said that the "greatest in the Kingdom was servant to all".
- 3. Additionally, the "picture" Mark presents goes hand-in-glove with the ancient alignment of the Gospels with the "living creatures' faces" in Ezekiel 1 and 10 and Revelation 4 as well as the ancient traditions of using "creatures" to highlight certain of the divine attributes (such as John's phrase, "the Lamb of God" and another of his phrases, "the Lion of the Tribe of Judah"). In Mark's case, the "animal/creature" is that of the "bullock/calf" which is both a powerful laborer and a primary animal of sacrifice.
- C. The reference to "the Spirit".
- 1. This is the third reference so far (Jesus was to be The Mighty One Who would baptize with the Spirit in 1:8, and it was this Spirit Who descended upon Jesus as He was coming up out of the Jordan in 1:10) to this "Spirit".
- 2. This reference makes "the Spirit" the "Overlord" in regard to Jesus' activities: He "is driving" (present tense indicative creating a picture of Jesus being herded into the wilderness) Jesus into the "wilderness". This is also the third reference to the wilderness so far. In the earlier references, the "wilderness" is the pictorial indicator of the enormous complexity of man in his sins, resisting the presence of a "level and straight highway". The mountains and the valleys and the crooked paths (taken because they present the least opposition) are all militant against a "level and straight" highway.
- 3. This reference also enhances the thesis that Jesus is to be "The Mighty One", capable of addressing every issue involved in a "blanket" forgiveness of innumerable "sins" based upon "repentance" alone.
- D. Jesus was to be in that "wilderness" setting for 40 days.
- 1. Mark does not tell us what "happened" in those 40 days except to say that it was the length of time that Jesus endured a daily, deeply stressing, exposure to "The Satan".
- 2. Mark's deliberate omission of the details of those days indicates that the details do not add to his "picture of Jesus".
- 3. That it was 40 days does dove-tail into a host of biblical references to "forty" as a highly significant number and, interestingly, the complaint of God in Hebrews 3:9 is that He was subjected to this same kind of opposition in the wilderness for 40 years. In order to bring about the Kingdom, the Savior-Redeemer must tolerate heavy opposition for 40 somethings.
- E. The opposition was from "The Satan" (as distinct from "the devil" as in Matthew and Luke).
- 1. "Satan" is the adversary to all of the good will of God.
- 2. For Jesus to take the position of God's "Lord and Christ" in the future plans of God, He must be victorious over all of the opposition's tactics and subtleties.
- F. Jesus was to have companions in that wilderness: the wild beasts.
- 1. This term is one used when a "creature of God" is viewed in relation to the "success" of the adversary in bringing "The Sin" into the world.
- 2. This term is the "classic" term identifying God's eschatalogical "human" opponent (The Beast of Revelation) and simply indicates the degree of intensity to which "the Satan" committed himself in order to attempt to thwart "The Mighty One".
- G. But there were "angels" also as companions, identified as "ministering spirits". What they did, and did not, do goes without comment by Mark. "The Spirit" and lesser "spirits" were involved with Jesus as He demonstrated His qualification to be God's "Lord and Christ".
