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Jesus, Our Perfect Advocate

Two weeks ago we had started the series on the book of Mark. We were able to understand the explosive writing style of Mark as he moves from one event to another in Jesus’s life; as he pens it down for the gentiles in Rome; and we know it was the first gospel penned down and that he got most, if not all of his information from Peter. We were able to walk with Mark as he opens his gospel with the forerunner of the Son of God. How, though, the forerunner was a messenger, a baptizer, a famous man of God, he was a nobody in comparison to Jesus Christ, the Son of God who was to come. One who was not worthy to even stoop down to untie the straps of HIS sandals.

Today, we will be moving to the next few verses, verses 9 -13 - It is in these verses that Jesus makes his appearance in Mark’s discourse. Here, Mark tells us about two very significant incidents in the life of Jesus Christ which, though, are very important have really puzzled people over the years. It is here that we see Jesus being painted as the perfect advocate. So let us pray that as we go into the Word of God, we can unravel some of the mystery behind these incidents and that they will be made clear to us today:

Mark 1:9-13 (ESV)
9In 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.

It is in these verses that we read Mark revealing to us the identity of Jesus with more clarity so that in the passages to come we may appreciate all the events which are misunderstood by most of the people during the life of Christ.
So Mark wants to help us understand who Jesus really is so that we can really understand the Good News. And last week we saw that! - Mark’s discourse even begins with the declaration that this is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Then we see that in the verses that follow, Mark uncovers to us the prophecies that reveal who Jesus is. Both the prophecies from Malachi and Isaiah point to the Lord and the coming of the messenger of the Lord. And Mark reveals to us that this messenger is John the Baptist and that the Lord to come is Jesus!

This is the reason why, when we look at the verses that we read today, we see Jesus being verified as the Son of God. We see the Spirit of the Lord descending on Him; we see that the Father declares ‘ This is My beloved Son’; and that the adversary of God, the Devil comes to tempt Him in the wilderness. But there is more than that that Mark is trying to reveal to us about Jesus and we will come to that in a bit.

Now, out of all of this, I believe the most dramatic event is where the heavens are torn apart and the Holy Spirit of God descends and the Father says “You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.” We see this mentioned in Isaiah 64:1

“Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence”

The words used here - ‘rending’ and ‘opening’ of the heavens are significant and we see it being used in situations like the parting of the Red Sea, the cleaving of the rock by Moses, the splitting of the Mount of Olives on the day of the Lord and the next time that Mark uses this phrase “torn open” is when we hear the centurion confess at the crucifixion that Jesus is God’s Son, at which we see the temple curtain torn in two from the very top to the very bottom. These two supernatural events, one at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry and the one at the end of his ministry display to us the revelation of Jesus as the Son of God. This is what Mark is trying to reinforce in the initial passages - that here we have Jesus, the Son of God.

Now in connection with the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus is another point we must observe. The Jews commonly believed that with the non existence of the Old Testament Prophets, it showed that the Holy Spirit had ceased to speak to God’s people directly. The absence of the Spirit had quenched prophecy. Now when we see the heavens being torn apart at the baptism of Jesus, we see that it officially inaugurates the return of God’s Spirit. We have a period of Grace that begins in Jesus, through whom God has revealed Himself to the world in a manner like never before.

We had seen previously how God had declared through His prophets and through John the coming of Jesus, but now over here, we see that God Himself announces and proclaims this glorious truth - “Here is My beloved Son”. God proclaimed who Jesus is. He did not bring up the purpose of Jesus’s ministry on the earth. He didn’t say that ‘Here, before you all is the Messiah’. He made a proclamation of who He is - “You are My beloved Son.”

Now we can see the other revelation apart from Jesus being the Son of God in the passages we are reading today in Mark. This is what I want to focus on today. That Jesus is the perfect Advocate. It is in these two stories - the baptism and the temptation that Mark reveals to us this truth. He shows us that Jesus is the same as us yet different. Have you ever wondered why Jesus had to be baptized? When you first look at it, it would seem that Jesus’s baptism had no purpose because John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance, and Jesus Himself had no sin and therefore would have no reason for repentance. So what was the purpose of the baptism?

People would have a lot of different explanations as to why Jesus was baptized. Some would say that Jesus was baptized in approval of John’s ministry. To give His endorsement to the ministry that John was carrying out. Some would say that it was for Jesus sake, not John sake. It would be for Jesus, to have His identity revealed.

Others would say the reason was so that He would be specially anointed by the Holy Spirit for the task of being the Messiah. You see that Peter had stated in Acts 10 “God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power”. So Jesus’ baptism was the occasion of His anointing and that is all there is to it.

But apart from all this, it still isn’t complete as an explanation because John’s baptism was the baptism of repentance, and Jesus was sinless and had no need of repentance. We know that even John the baptist was taken by surprise that Jesus was coming to him to be baptized. John was able to see his own sin and was aware that he had fallen short and that he needed to be baptized by Jesus. We see this in Matthew 3:14, “I need to be baptized by You and You are coming to me?” Jesus replied that it had to be done. In verse 15 we read, “But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.”

This was a baptism for sinners, so why would Jesus the spotless Lamb of God, the Son of God be there? The place He should be would be at the side of John the baptist preaching as well. This is out of the ordinary. Now, this is what I have to say - He is no more out of place being baptized by John than He is being crucified at the cross of Calvary. He is no more out of place in the Jordan than He is in on Golgotha. You see Jesus had begun His ministry, His career with a public and clear identification with sinners - with people who had need to be cleansed. He takes the position of one who needs to be baptized. His entrance to His ministry, from beginning to end was an act of loving communion with us. He was numbered among the transgressors and had made the burden of our sins His very own. This baptism of Jesus at the river Jordan is a foreshadow of the baptism of His death on the cross of Calvary, His burial and His resurrection. The step that the Son of God had taken into the river Jordan was a step towards Calvary. It is at the beginning of His ministry at the river Jordan when He gets baptized that He starts to be identified as one who takes our place.

And what is the reaction of God the Father in seeing this? Here is what He says. He approves, affirms and endorses the action of Jesus as He says “You are My beloved Son, with You I am well pleased”. This is what God the Father says as Jesus identifies Himself with sinners. So, we have to understand that Jesus became like us. To be a perfect advocate he had to be like us.

Now right after His baptism we see in verse 12 that

“The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness..”

It is important for us to note that the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness where He was to be tempted. This is the next significant event in Jesus’s life. It wasn’t a mistake, it was intentional. This was where Jesus was sent to. I am sure the moment we read the fact that God had stated that he was pleased with the Son we are surprised that the very next thing that happens is that Jesus is launched into the wilderness to be tried and tempted. I mean, if this was the first time you were hearing this gospel, you would assume that there would be great celebration or coronation for the King - here before us is the Son of God. AWESOME! But none of that happens, we don’t see that. We see that He is driven into the wilderness by the Spirit, and He was in the wilderness for 40 days, and that He was with the wild animals and the angels were ministering to Him.

This was a divinely ordained act which Jesus was powered and equipped to handle. If Jesus identifies Himself with sinners, He must undergo trials and temptations that all of humanity undergoes. He must be tested and He must succeed in becoming the perfect representative and perfect advocate for the human race. Now Mark doesn’t take the time to deal with the details of the temptations like Luke and Matthew do, but he just states that He had went through it and had come out of it. Now the wilderness throughout the Bible, most of the time, is considered a place of testing and harshness, a dark place. It is in this place that Jesus went through the most intense temptations, where I would say he battled Satan head on and was victorious. It is through the temptation narration that we learn that Jesus identifies Himself once again with us. Let us turn to the gospel of Matthew for more details on the temptation that Jesus encountered.

Matthew 4:1-11, (ESV)
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Here we see the three ways that Jesus was tempted and is victorious, You could make a great case that temptation in its very root comes in these forms - Desires of the flesh, Desires of the Eye and Pride of Life. We see Eve in the garden being tempted in a similar fashion in Gen 3:6

Genesis 3:6 (ESV)
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

We also see it in 1 John 2:16-17 (ESV)

For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

So we have 3 temptations the desire of the flesh, desires of the eyes and pride of life. This is what this fallen world offers us. It will promise you everything and Satan uses the world as the way to entice and tempt us. The world stands directly opposite to God, it says love me not God. Pursue me and all I have to offer and not God. I will make you rich and famous and give you the pleasures of your flesh and satan uses this as bait for the hook. Now at the root of it all is the desire of the flesh, desire of the eyes and pride of life and Jesus faces them all head on. He faces all three of those root sins where every other human being has failed. I believe Jesus would have gone through other temptations in his life, but it is at this moment in time that he undergoes intense temptation with him being weakened and alone and in a dangerous place. That is why in Hebrews we have the famous verse that says .

Hebrews 4:14-15 (ESV)
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Now you might say well how is it that Jesus was tempted in every way? Like the temptations I undergo today? Well, if you were to remove the fluff around all the various sins out there, they stem from the very root of the desires of the flesh, of the eye and of the pride of life. Take every sin you can think of and analyze it and you will come down to these three as being the root. There is no temptation that you and I have face that Jesus at its very root hasn’t faced. Jesus unlike Adam was tempted in the wilderness. Adam and Eve were in paradise. They had all their needs met. They had each other. Jesus on the other hand is in the wilderness. An absolutely dangerous place with wild animals. A barren landscape. Mark tells us that here we have Jesus in isolation in a dangerous barren place with wild animals and he has been fasting 40 days and he is being tempted.

Now you have to understand that it is not a sin to be tempted. James 1: 14-15 explains this progression.

James 1:14-15 (ESV)
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

There is a moment of temptation when it is not yet sin. It is when you nurture it and you think about it and you ponder on it and act upon it that it gives birth to sin. Now for temptation to occur there has to be the possibility of choosing. So here you can see that Jesus had the choices he could make but the thing to keep in mind is the fact of what was his primary desire? If you look at the temptations he was put through. You will notice that in all of his conversation with Satan, if you break it down - He made it clear what his foremost desire was. Let’s look at it via the temptations that Satan brings him.

The first test that satan has:

“If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”

Here we see that the desires of his flesh are put to the test. Is he going to succumb? I don’t need your food in order to be full, in order to be satisfied. God is with me, God will sustain me. Better is one day in his courts than a thousand elsewhere. Here we know that Jesus believed that there was a greater better pleasure and that was God. God can give me more lasting and deeper joy. You see this is how you overcome temptation when you believe and you know that there is greater pleasure than the temptations you are facing. You don’t tell yourself don’t sin, it is bad stuff and hope to overcome temptation. We love to sin. We like to sin. Where we fail is to understand that there is greater long term pleasure and satisfaction in God. There is better stuff. Jesus’s primary desire is God.

Now, we have the second test that satan has:

“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, AND, On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone”

“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test”

Here we see that Satan actually uses scripture and quotes it incorrectly. He uses texts of promise into an opportunity for pride. Satan is trying to manipulate God by asking Jesus to throw himself down and for the angels to rescue him and for Jesus to get the glory when all those in the city see the angels carrying Jesus down. Satan is trying to get Jesus to test God. One of the things I want you to notice is that this shows us that we can still quote from the bible and be unbiblical. It is very possible that we don’t interpret the bible rightly or we do not apply it correctly. Jesus knows that satan is quoting Scripture and knows he isn’t quoting it the right way. He shows us by taking another scripture portion that states otherwise. Whatever your understanding of scripture is, it should be validated throughout the word of God and his character without contradiction. Jesus tells satan that you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. He is not someone you can try to manipulate and to do so is sinful.

Then Satan moves on to the third and final test:

“The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said, ‘All these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’”

“You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”

Here Satan tries to tempt with possessions and a short cut. You can have all the world, all the power that has been given to me. If you fall at my feet and worship me. You don’t have to do any of the things that is set before you to receive possession of all things. Worship me now and you will get all of it. He tempts Jesus with the easy way out. Satan does that to us even today. He will promise us with the same things that God promises us. Our God promises a crown, and Joy, everlasting love and pleasure and satan promises you these things if you do it his way and you will get it faster. The crown without the cross, The pleasure without any pain, The success without sacrifice. But he is a deceiver. He gets us to go after these things the wrong way. The promise of Joy that ends up with sadness. A promise of pleasure that ends up in pain.

And when Jesus hears what he had said - The very thought disgusts HIM and He says, “Be gone, Satan!” You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.

So what was Jesus’s primary desire in all the temptations that were brought to him? What was it? It was God! Nothing else! The primary focus was God. Sure Jesus was hungry and had the desire for food and had the desire to be noticed and for recognition, but what trumped that was his desire to please God. To live by the word that comes forth from God. He was obedient to the father doing everything that the Father had to say. Likewise the pursuit of God and of his kingdom should be the purpose of your existence. He should be the focus point in your life. It is by having him as your primary and overwhelming desire that you can overcome temptation.

Mark throughout these passages, shows for us Jesus, The Son of God who comes down as man and identifies himself with humanity in his baptism that kick starts his ministry that leads him to the cross, and in his temptations in the wilderness where he overcomes Satan where we have all failed. Here we see that his ministry starts off with these two events. He is the perfect mediator, the perfect advocate, the perfect priest for us. Here we have the Son of God as the one who intercedes for us because he is able to sympathize with us in all our infirmities and weaknesses. Through it all, where every human has failed he has succeeded. Where God’s people had sinned, He was Righteous. Where Adam and Eve fell, He was victorious. This is Jesus Christ our Lord, The Son of God that we see Mark talking about. This is the Son of God that came down as a human being to fulfil all righteousness in obedience to his father - To be the new and last Adam who gives us life. This is the good news, where adam and eve and every other human being has failed, The Son of God has been victorious and thus is the perfect representative for human kind. He has identified with us and has dealt with satan and has been victorious. He lived a life that was pleasing to God and now we know that God looks at us and for us that have accepted Jesus as our saviour God sees his son who has pleased him. This is the Son of God, The perfect Advocate.