Mark 10:1 says, “And rising up from there, He comes into the district of Judea and beyond the Jordan; and again crowds came together to Him, and again, as He was accustomed, He taught them.” In this verse “there” refers to Capernaum, which is in Galilee. Up to this point the Slave-Savior’s ministry had been in Galilee. But now, according to this verse, He rises up from the city of Capernaum in Galilee and comes into the district of Judea, the district surrounding Jerusalem. This verse also speaks of the Jordan, the place where the Slave-Savior was initiated. Hence, Jordan reminds us of the beginning of the gospel and the initiation of the Slave-Savior. In our study of the Gospel of Mark, we need to find out why the writer mentions Judea and the Jordan.
The Slave-Savior had been ministering in His gospel service for over three years in the despised region of Galilee, far from the holy temple and the holy city, the place where He had to die for the accomplishment of God’s eternal plan. As the Lamb of God (John 1:29), it was necessary for Him to be offered to God at Mount Moriah, where Abraham offered Isaac and enjoyed God’s provision of a ram as a substitute for his son (Gen. 22:2, 9-14) and where the temple was built in Jerusalem (2 Chron. 3:1). It must be there that He would be delivered, according to the counsel determined by the Trinity of the Godhead (Acts 2:23), to the Jewish leaders (Mark 9:31; 10:33), and there be rejected by them as the builders of God’s building (8:31; Acts 4:11). It should also be there that He would be crucified according to the Roman style of capital punishment (John 18:31-32; 19:6, 14-15) to fulfill the type concerning the kind of death He would die (Num. 21:8-9; John 3:14). Moreover, that very year was the year that Messiah (Christ) would be cut off (killed) according to Daniel’s prophecy (Dan. 9:24-26). Furthermore, as the Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7) He had to be killed in the month of the Passover (Exo. 12:1-11). Hence, He had to go to Jerusalem (Mark 10:33; 11:1, 11, 15, 27; John 12:12) before the Passover (John 12:1; Mark 14:1), so that He might die there on the day of the Passover (14:12-17; John 18:28) at both the place and the time foreordained by God.
The gospel service was initiated by the ministry of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Slave-Savior, in Judea (Mark 1:1-11), the region of honor. But it was continued by the ministry of the Slave-Savior in Galilee, a despised region, for a period of approximately three years (1:14—9:50). Unlike John in his Gospel, Mark does not narrate anything of the Slave-Savior’s ministry in Jerusalem and Judea during this time, until He left Galilee for Jerusalem the last time, to accomplish His redemptive work. Then the gospel service was continued by His ministry on the way to Jerusalem and in Jerusalem and its vicinity (10:1—14:42). It was concluded with His redeeming death, His life-imparting resurrection, His ascension for exaltation, and the continuation of His gospel service by His disciples’ preaching to all the creation (14:43—16:20).
As Christians we know that it was necessary for the Lord Jesus to die for us. In our reading of the Bible, we need to ask at what place and what time the Lord would die. According to the Old Testament, both the place and the time were ordained by God. The Slave-Savior was a slave of God, and as such He had no choice concerning the place and time of His death. Both the place and the time were determined by His Master. Furthermore, it was determined by a counsel of the Trinity of the Godhead that the Slave-Savior would be delivered to the Jewish leaders and be rejected by them (Acts 2:23).
We need to ask ourselves why, after He had been ministering in Galilee for about three years, the Slave-Savior suddenly rose up and went to the south, to the district of Judea and beyond the Jordan. He did this because the time of His death was approaching. He had to die in the year prophesied by Daniel. Furthermore, according to the type of the Passover Lamb, He had to die on the Passover, that is, on the fourteenth day of the first month of the Jewish calendar. Therefore, it is a very significant matter that, according to 10:1, the Lord left Galilee and went to Judea.