We dispensational evangelicals have a real problem with the Old Testament New Testament  relationship.  We hesitate to let the New complete or provide commentary on the Old.  We don’t know the Old well enough to really understand the New.  And, we certainly don’t use the same Bible study methods the writers of the New Testament did, because they had super powers, I guess.  This is all very unfortunate.  The destructive power of modernism is centered in an incredibly stupid separation from the past.  We then fill in what is missing with our selves.  As people of the Book this is silly. The center of our faith and therefore our lives is a connection with the past found in Scripture.  We think we can do away with all this and make our own way much better.  Well look around, it’s not working out too good for us.  This is not a criticism of computers as technology, which is a product of Christianity, but a criticism of all the worthless content on those computers such as porn or piles of selfish drivel.

Media these days is directed towards we the consumer.  It is all about us, or rather taking money from us.  But this is not the case with literary or historical works created in the past.  The gospels were both literary and historic works of art and they were not written to us.  They were composed in a particular place at a particular time to convey a story to a particular people.  This does not leave them inaccessible to us by any means.  The church has kept these stories alive and current the way almost no other story has ever been kept alive.  But we put an end to that with modernism.

The beginning of Mark would have screamed “conquering messiah” to first century Israel.  Mark begins by quoting a passage directly from Isaiah 40 and using Old Testament typology which is much more subtle to us today.  The fact that the verse is quoted in all four gospels probably indicates that it either was or became a sort of type in and of itself.

Crossing of the Red Sea, Cosimo Rosselli c.1481. Note the incorporation of flood imagery.

The quote isn’t just about John the Baptist, in the same way John the Baptist wasn’t about  John the Baptist.  He was the herald of the King.  The quote links us back to the book of Isaiah as he began his section on the future redemption of Israel.  It is meant to call the whole section to mind. The setting, both when Isaiah wrote and when Mark wrote, was a time when Israel was in exile.  They longed for deliverance from their oppressors Babylon and Rome.  But there were two levels of oppressors, physical and spiritual. There were two levels of longing;  for freedom from Babylon/Rome and for freedom from Satan and his disciples the religious leaders.  Isaiah spoke of a return to the land from exile but it is also a picture of our return to Eden.  Some got both the meanings then as Isaiah wrote and when Mark wrote.  The Old Testament message from the time of the fall predicted a Messiah who would come and conquer the dragon and lead us back to Eden.  It is the story of the chosen people, the circumcised of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, by whom that conquering Messiah would come.  Some could only see the earthly level, they wanted freedom from Rome or Babylon as an issue of national pride.  It is easy to blame political leaders for all the faults of the world, but there are faults in our own heart that need a conquering messiah.  Often we don’t want anyone meddling that close to home.  So they rejected a Messiah who wanted to save their souls when it became obvious that he didn’t share their opinion that biggest problem in the world was Rome.  Mark and Isaiah preached the same gospel.

The Baptism of Christ, Andrea del Verrocchio c. 1472. It is believed that the cherub on the left was painted by Leonardo da Vinci.

The passage is quoted in all four gospels but Mark jumps right to it. It is shortly followed by three short episodes.  He is not simply a precursor to Steinbeck and his terse style.  He is painting a picture for us, a literary picture of types.  And since it was such a well known picture he painted an outline that their minds would fill in.  First was the baptism of Jesus and the Spirit descending on him. Baptism is a passing through water, it would have brought to mind the creation account as the spirit “hovered over the face of the water” Genesis 1:2. Or the second creation, as the dove flew over the flood waters Genesis 8:6-12.  Or the people of Israel passing through the Red Sea waters guided by a wind (Spirit, Cloud).

Second was the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness for forty days.  This would have brought to mind the wanderings of mankind on the earth, exiled east of Eden.  Even after the flood man continued to wander.  It would have brought to mind the promises of God to his people that he would provide them respite from their wanderings.  It would have brought to mind the people of Israel wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.

Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness, James Tissot c. 1886

Joshua Enters the Land

But this would be a lame ending to the story.  And so the crossing of the Red Sea waters and wandering in the wilderness was followed by Joshua coquering the land.  The Old Testament story and the story of mankind were stories with no end, until Jesus the Messiah burst on the scene.   This is Mark’s third episode which is summed up in verse 14 and 15 but continues for the rest of the book.  This is the much longed for end of the story: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”  Just as Israel entered the land at Jericho a started kicking butt, Jesus enters Galilee and starts kicking butt.  He conquered evil spirits, disease, religious leaders and their lies,  and ultimately he conquered death.  Then the king ascended to the right hand of the father to rule.  It’s wasn’t quite how some people thought it would happen.  Some had been lost in the sea of bad teaching or the wilderness of their own sin.  Other rejected it outright.  But some heard the cry, of the real battle and the victory that took place behind the curtain on the spiritual level, the level that really matters.  They became the “people of the way” as the church was called in the first century.

Casting out the Money Changers, Carl Heinrich Bloch

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’” -Mark 1:1-3