1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, 2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”— 3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him.
Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
7 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
In the very first verse, Mark announced that he would write about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
It is surprising, therefore, that he did not start out by telling about Jesus Himself; instead, he described the work of John the Baptist.
This was because John was to prepare the way for Jesus. John fulfilled this mission by preaching to get people ready for the coming of the Lord. John's message focused on two themes that will help us get ready to receive Christ.
First, he preached about repentance.
To repent means to decide to change. John was telling his hearers that they had to reverse their life's direction to get ready for Christ; those unwilling to change could not come to Him.
Second, John declared the greatness of Jesus.
He said Jesus was so great that he himself was not even worthy to stoop down and untie His shoes.
This was an amazing declaration because one does not have to have much worth to untie somebody's shoes. In fact, in John's day, untying shoes was considered to be a slave's lowest duty -‐ John wasn't worthy to be Jesus' humblest slave!
So, for us to be ready to receive Jesus, we must repent (change our lives) and recognize His awesome greatness.
Keep thinking about it • John the Baptist was a fulfillment of prophecy made years earlier by Isaiah. What does the fulfillment of prophecy show you about God?
• John was preaching about repentance to the people.
If John talked to you today, what might he ask you to repent of?
Bible Study - Mark 1: 1-8
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