A new teaching with authority!

Mark 1:1-28 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. ² As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:  “Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, Who will prepare Your way;
³ The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight.’”

⁴ John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵ And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. ⁶ John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey. ⁷ And he was preaching, and saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. ⁸ I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

⁹ In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰ Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; ¹¹ and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

¹² Immediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness. ¹³ And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.

¹⁴ Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching 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.”…

²¹ They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and began to teach. ²² They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. ²³ Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, ²⁴ saying, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” ²⁵ And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” ²⁶ Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. ²⁷ They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” ²⁸ Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.

There must have been something extremely attractive about John. When we see what he wore and what he ate it would seem that it was neither his appearance, nor his lifestyle which attracted the masses. The text says:   John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵ And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins…⁷ And he was preaching, and saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. ⁸ I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”     John came as the fulfillment of what is written in Isaiah:   “Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, Who will prepare Your way;
³ The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight.’”

What was it about John and his message which drew people? What caused them to repent? The church today needs to have its message heard and received as John’s was. One of the things that I find interesting is that John’s ministry was established in the wilderness, the people came to him. While we see in other portions of scripture that John did have disciples, followers, his message pointed to Jesus, the coming One. John wasn’t focused on building a ministry, he was focused on preparing the way for the Lord. Far too much of what the church today calls ministry is really about building the church or building the ministry, not  pointing people toward Jesus and the kingdom. Unfortunately much of the church measures success the same way the world does, in size and numbers.

Look at Paul’s charge to Timothy, his protégé, in 2 Timothy 4:1-5:    I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: ² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. ³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, ⁴ and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. ⁵ But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.      The church today has many who reprove and rebuke and it has many others who preach messages of unsound doctrine, to tickle the ears. There are though not many who reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. We live in a society and culture of instant gratification. We measure our success and failure in the short term. Patience is not a common quality, even in the church.

I am certain that there were some who rejected John and his message and many who did not go out to see and hear him. John though, was focused on his mission and his calling. He didn’t focus on those who did not receive his message, he focused on those who did.   We see in the text then that Jesus message was not that different:    Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching 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.”  There was a difference though in Jesus approach. He no longer stayed in the wilderness. He took His message and His ministry to the people in the towns and cities. The text says:       They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and began to teach. ²² They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Jesus didn’t just preach, He didn’t just rebuke and reprove, He taught and His teaching was with authority. Jesus was the Word of God made flesh. What greater authority to teach the Word of God.   

The text then tells of another aspect of Jesus authority, another authority which come with the teaching of the Word of God.    Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, ²⁴ saying, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” ²⁵ And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” ²⁶ Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. ²⁷ They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”     Notice, the unclean spirit recognized Jesus, saying: “I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”   James 2:19 says:   You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.   Nothing has changed in the spiritual realm, demons still believe and demons still shudder at and obey the authority of Jesus.   Philippians 2:10-11 says: at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.   The demons know who Jesus is. In Matthew 16:16-20, we see Jesus explain what happens when we recognize who Jesus is.

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”     On the rock of the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, He will build His church. Jesus church is not an organization, it’s not a building, it’s not measured in size or numbers. Jesus church, His ecclesia as it’s called in the Greek language, is a body which is called to rule and have authority, Christ’s authority, the authority to bind and loose on earth as in heaven. 

In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus says:  “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”    If we, the church today, Jesus ecclesia, will walk in the authority of Christ, if we will make disciples of Him, if we will teach them, reprove, rebuke and exhort them, with patience, the Jesus will be with us. Just as when He taught there was authority, so too will we have authority. Mark 16:15-18 says:  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. ¹⁶ He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. ¹⁷ These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; ¹⁸ they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.