Mark 1:9 says, “And it came about in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John.” Galilee was called “Galilee of the Gentiles,” a region without honor; hence, a despised region (John 7:52). Nazareth was a despised city of this despised region (John 1:46). The lowly Slave of God came from this source and grew up in it.
As a Slave of God, the Slave-Savior was baptized. His baptism signifies that He was willing to serve God, and that He would not serve in a natural way, but would serve through death and resurrection. Such a baptism was the initiation of His service.
The Lord was baptized in order to allow Himself to be put into death and resurrection so that He might minister not in the natural way, but in the way of resurrection. By being baptized He lived and ministered in resurrection even before His actual death and resurrection three and a half years later.
Since the baptism of John was the baptism of repentance, some may wonder why it was necessary for the Lord Jesus to be baptized by him. They may say, “This is a baptism of repentance. Does the Slave-Savior need to repent? Certainly He does not need to repent.” If we have such a concept, we may not see the real significance of repentance. Repentance is the termination of our thought, concept, philosophy, and way of doing things. Hence, to repent is not merely to regret wrongdoing. That understanding of repentance is too shallow. Even if someone is not wrong, he would still need to repent, to change his mind and no longer do things by himself or be someone in himself. To repent means that we turn from living, working, and having our being in ourselves and for ourselves. If we realize this, we shall see that the Lord’s coming to be baptized indicates that He did not want to live, act, speak, or work by Himself. The Lord wanted to put Himself to an end and be buried. Therefore, the Lord’s baptism indicates that He would not live, speak, or do anything by Himself, but would live by God, walk by God, and minister by God. He would be a Slave to God and by God. This was the reason He was baptized. The Lord’s baptism was the first step of His initiation into His gospel service, which is the ministry of the gospel.
In 1:10 and 11 it is written concerning the Lord Jesus, “And immediately, coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens being parted, and the Spirit as a dove coming down to Him. And a voice came out of the heavens: You are My beloved Son; in You I delight.” Mark’s record of a Slave does not reflect the splendor of the status of this Slave’s Person, but reflects the diligence of His service. The word “immediately” is used in his record forty-one times and two more times in alternate manuscripts.
The heavens being opened to the Slave-Savior signifies that His willing offering of Himself as a Slave to God was fully accepted by God, and the Spirit as a dove coming down to Him signifies that God anointed Him with the Spirit for His service to Him (Luke 4:18-19). A dove is gentle, and its eyes can see only one thing at a time. Hence, a dove signifies gentleness and singleness in sight and purpose. By the Spirit of God descending upon Him as a dove, the Lord Jesus ministered in gentleness and singleness, focusing solely on the will of God.
In verses 10 and 11 we have the Triune God. While the descending of the Spirit is the anointing of Christ, the speaking of the Father is a testimony of Him as the beloved Son. Here is a picture of the divine Trinity: the Son went up from the water, the Spirit descended upon the Son, and the Father spoke concerning the Son. This proves that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit exist simultaneously. This is for the accomplishment of God’s economy.
We have seen that the first step of the initiation of the Lord into His ministry was baptism. Now we must go on to see that the second step was His being tested. After the Lord was baptized, He needed to be tested in order that His integrity might be proved.
Concerning this, verse 12 says, “And immediately the Spirit thrusts Him out into the wilderness.” After God’s acceptance and anointing, the first thing the Spirit did with this Slave of God was to thrust Him into a test to prove His integrity. The word “thrust” is a strong word. This word indicates that after His baptism the Lord was altogether under God’s hand. Because He did not live and move by Himself, the Spirit of God could thrust Him out into the wilderness. The Lord was submissive in being thrust out into the wilderness. If He had a strong will to resist this thrusting out, He could not have been thrust out by the Spirit. But because He was so submissive, the Holy Spirit could thrust the baptized Jesus out into the wilderness. His submission to the Spirit proves that He was completely faithful to His baptism. With the Lord, it was no longer “I” but God.
Verse 13 says, “And He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered to Him.” The number forty signifies a time of testing and suffering (Deut. 9:9, 18; 1 Kings 19:8). Satan, the enemy of God, was used for the testing and proving of God’s Slave. The beasts of the earth, in a negative sense, and the angels from heaven, in a positive sense, were also used for this test. Praise the Lord that He passed the test in the wilderness!
Through the two steps of His initiation—baptism and being tested—the Lord was ushered into His service. After He had been tested and it had been proved that He was the right person to carry out this service, He could now enter into His service for God.