Mark has told you that his book is the good news about Jesus Christ. After describing briefly the work of John the Baptist preparing the way for him, Jesus himself is introduced in Mark 1:9–11 as he is baptized by John and then has the Spirit descend on him. Mark, who has not given you a birth narrative, considers this crucial to your coming to know Jesus.
Jesus was baptized for you by John. Jesus came into the wilderness to submit to John’s baptism. John had spoken of the coming of the one who is more powerful than he. But when that powerful One makes his appearance, it is Jesus, coming from the insignificant, even despised town of Natareth. Compare the coming of Jesus with the coming of the crowds to John. In common are: come / to John / for baptism / in the wilderness. But there are significant differences. Jesus comes from Nazareth, and he comes as the sinless One with no confession of sin. As we saw last week, John’s baptism was one of repentance, closer to the ceremonial cleansings in the Old Testament, than to baptism into the name of the triune God. Mark’s brevity invites you to reflect on the implied problem that Matthew spells out. Why should the Messiah, the Redeemer need to be baptized like the sinners who came to John?
The Savior identifies with you, a sinner. Of course, Jesus is perfectly sinless. His baptism at the Jordan does mark him as the Redeemer. It does set him apart for his work as the great High Priest. But the primary reason, the one that Mark has been inviting you to reflect on by juxtaposing John baptizing people for repentance with the baptism of the mighty One, is that the Messiah comes identifying with sinners in order to redeem them. He becomes the sin-bearer, not just as he hangs on the cross, but as he starts his public ministry.
“For the Spirit-and-fire baptism, eventually realized at Pentecost, to be one of blessing rather than destruction for the messianic people, the Messiah himself must first become identified with them as their representative sin-bearer (the point of Jesus being baptized by John, from which John recoils; cf. Matt. 3:14) and be endowed with the Spirit, in order to bear away the wrath and condemnation of God their sins deserve.”
Richard B. Gaffin Jr., Perspectives on Pentecost, pp. 15, 16
Jesus was baptized for you by the Spirit. Heaven is torn open as Jesus is set apart for his work. Mark’s terse style is underlined by his use of “immediately,” often not translated in our English versions. As soon as Jesus is baptized, immediately he saw the heavens torn open. The verb is a strong one. Ripped might be a good translation. Mark uses the verb in one other place: Mark 15:38–39. As Jesus dies on the cross, the curtain in the temple, the curtain that separated the most holy place from the rest of the temple, is ripped. The most holy place represented the throne of God among his people, a place so holy that only the high priest could enter once a year and sprinkle blood to atone for the sins of the people. With Christ’s work as the great High Priest completed, the need for the earthly most holy place is ended and the ripping of the curtain symbolizes that. Here at the beginning of Jesus public ministry, as he is about to undertake all that he is going to do as Messiah, heaven is ripped open, showing that the separation between a holy God and sinful creatures is being pierced because of the work that the Messiah is about to do. Isaiah 64:1 is no longer a wish or a prayer . It has become an accomplished reality.
Jesus is equipped with the Spirit so that he can be your Savior. John had said that the coming Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit. In order for Jesus to baptize with the Holy Spirit, he first had to be baptized with the Spirit. We probably underestimate how important the Spirit coming upon Jesus at the beginning of his ministry (and continuing throughout his earthly ministry) was for him. It is easy to slip into thinking, well, he is truly God, so of course he could work his miracles, etc. Remember that Jesus is the God-man, two natures in one mysterious person. He is truly human, and he needs the Spirit to empower and equip him for his work. That will be evident in the very first task he has, the temptation, but remains true throughout his time on earth. And so the Father sends the Spirit in the visible form of a dove to descend upon him. Isaiah 61 is the voice of the coming Messiah speaking through Isaiah (see what Jesus says after reading the passage in his home synagogue, Luke 4:16–21. The Spirit equips Jesus for his earthly work. Paul will emphasize that in the victorious climax of that work, Christ is raised by the Spirit. Just as you look to Jesus as your sin-bearer (you are united with him in his death) symbolized in his being baptized by John, so you are united to Spirit-baptized Jesus as you trust in him and live your daily life. The Father’s approval of the Son in pouring out the Spirit on him assures you that he approves of you as well as you come to him in Christ.
“He [Jesus] could and did receive the Spirit as a pledge of the Father’s approval of His mind and purpose expressed in submitting to the baptism, and of the effect God would give to it, when accomplished.”
Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments, p. 345
Trust the Savior who succeeds for you. Listen to the voice of the Father! The voice from heaven, evidently the voice of the Father, explains what this means. What Israel could never fully be, this Son truly is. The Father himself tells you so. The Father echoes prophetic language. Israel (Exodus 4:22–23) failed to be the proper son. In Psalm 2:7 the Father anticipates the coming Son, see Acts 13:32ff. Isaiah 42:1 anticipates the delight the Father has in his Son. John had said that the mighty One is coming, but the person from Nazareth who showed up to be baptized didn’t appear mighty. He is humble and a servant. But the Father assures you who the Son really is. The words of the Father affirm how Mark has identified Jesus in the title to his Gospel. Christ is beginning his messianic work. His humiliation, his involvement and identification with our sinful humanity (symbolized in his baptism), rather than being reprehensible to the Father, please him. Something truly new has happened. God has become man, and has become the Savior of his people. All three persons of the Trinity are involved in your salvation. Do away with any idea that the Son is persuading a reluctant Father to accept you. The Father satisfies his perfect justice by sending his Son and equipping him with the Spirit to redeem you!
“Much more clearly than in the Old Testament we now discover that the God of the covenant is and has to be a triune God, that there is a threefold principle in operation in the work of salvation. Not merely a few isolated texts but the whole New Testament is trinitarian in that sense. All salvation, every blessing, and blessedness have their threefold cause in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We see these three act immediately at the birth of Jesus (Matt. 1:18ff.; Luke 1:35) and at his baptism (Matt. 3:16–17; Mark 1:10–11; Luke 3:21–22).”
Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2, p. 270
Trust the One whom the Father loves! This tearing of the heavens and the voice were for the benefit of the Son, reassuring him as he began his work of obedience. The subject of “He saw the heavens torn open” is Christ. But they were not only for him. Mark knew that this happened and recorded it in Scripture for you. The reassurance that the Son is beloved and that the Father is pleased with him, applies not only to him, but also to those who are baptized into his name, to those who by faith are united with Christ. Your union with Christ means not only that he bore your sins, but also that your salvation is as sure as the Father’s good pleasure in the work of the Son! That’s why Mark is writing his good news, his Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Not just Mark, but God the Father himself is calling you to trust Jesus Christ, the Son of God!