Advent 2020: Peace

Mark 1.9-11

Introduction 

Do you hear what I hear? You know the Christmas carol about the nativity. Do you see what I see? Do you hear what I hear? The song is about animals, angels, and people who upon hearing of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus respond with, “do you hear what I hear?” The fulfillment of prophecy sounds (or at least should sound) familiar to the narrator. They can hear the echoes of former promises in the details of the birth of Jesus.

 We hear echoes all of the time. I saw a commercial the other day with the slogan, “ask not what you can do for your bank but what your bank can do for you.” The marketing team knows that you will hear echoes of President John F. Kennedy’s “Ask Not” speech. When a sports commentator describes the speed of a wide receiver as “faster than a speeding bullet,” we hear echoes of Superman. When Emperor Zurg says to Buzz Lightyear, “I am your father,” we all hear the echo.

Scripture does the same thing. Spirit-inspired biblical authors write texts in specific ways so that we might hear the echoes of the old promises. That’s exactly what Mark is doing here with the baptism of Christ. Last week we began the advent season by looking at hope from the gospel of Matthew. This week we will consider peace from the gospel of Mark. And even though Mark does not include the conventional nativity scenes that Matthew and Luke do, this gospel still has a lot to say about the advent of Christ. Mark doesn’t begin his gospel with the birth narrative of Jesus because he’s trying to do something different with his gospel. Mark wants you to hear specific echoes. Let’s walk through this pericope together and see if we hear what Mark hears.

Echoes of the Law

Mark wants us to hear echoes of creation in the baptism of Jesus Christ. Did you notice how overtly Trinitarian this scene is? Jesus the Son is baptized, the Holy Spirit descends, and the Father speaks from heaven. Listen to Genesis 1.1-3:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Do you hear what I hear? The Holy Spirit hovering over the water, the voice of God speaking, Mark wants you to hear the echo of creation. What is he saying? Mark is recapitulating Genesis 1 because the new creation is beginning with the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is inaugurating a new creation. He has come to reverse the curse. When Adam sinned in the garden we lost peace – shalom – with God. Jesus has come to restore the shalom of Eden. When Jesus comes again he will raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new. There will be eternal peace.

Not only do we hear echoes of creation in Jesus’ baptism but we also hear echoes of the flood. Mark tells us that the Spirit descend on the water like a dove. Do you hear what I hear? When Noah was in the ark he knew the waters were subsiding after he sent a dove out that didn’t return. YHWH signified that he made peace with Noah and the ground after the flood by first giving shelter to a dove. The dove was the first creature allowed to live on the post-flood earth. Because of this the dove became a symbol of peace in Israel. 

Peter picks up on this imagery a lot. Read through 1st and 2nd Peter and you will hear him use the flood as a type for baptism. The world was baptized through the flood and the family of Noah (God’s covenant people) was saved. The Spirit appears like a dove at Christ’s baptism because like the ark it is only when we are in Christ that we can have peace with God. We deserve the flood of God’s wrath that the world experienced in Noah’s day. At that time the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen 6.5). That is true of us too. We are sinners and it is only when we are hidden safe in Christ that we are at peace with God.

The third echo we hear from the Law in Jesus’ baptism is the sacrifice of Isaac. The voice that came from heaven says, “You are my beloved Son.” Because we have been preaching through the gospel of Mark we know that the Father will say this again at the transfiguration in Mark 9. When YHWH called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac he said,

“Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (Gen 22.2).

Do you hear what I hear? The LXX has the exact same wording as Mark’s Greek text: υἱός ἀγαπητός beloved son. YHWH demanded that Abraham sacrifice his only beloved son on the third day. Abraham obeyed because he knew that God would keep his covenant promise even if he had to raise Isaac from the dead (Heb 11.19). And as the patriarch was raising his hand to slay his son the angel of the LORD intervened and offered a ram as a substitute.

Jesus has come to stand as a covenant substitute. The beloved Son of God has come to live righteousness, die as a substitute and on the third day resurrect for his covenant people. This is what we call the gospel. A few verses later in Mark 1 Jesus would begin to preach the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1.14-15).

Because of our sin we need an alien righteousness. Because of our sin we need a substitute to die in our place and bear the wrath of God. We need peace with God. This is the peace of advent. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5.1). If you need peace with God you will find it in Jesus Christ alone. He is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14.6). Repent of your sin even now and trust in Christ alone to save you! 

Echoes of the Writings

Along with echoes from the law we also hear echoes from the writings. Specifically Mark wants us to hear the echo of Psalm 2.7:

The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.”

Do you hear what I hear? Psalm 2 is a royal Psalm. It is a song about how YHWH will anoint a king to rule the world. It is initially fulfilled in the rule of David and Solomon but we know now that they were shadows pointing us to the Son. Advent is about the coming of the true and final king, the king who will bring peace to all the nations under his rule.

There are two applications we should bring from this psalteric echo. (1) Poetic: The Psalms remind us that God wants the interaction of our heart. The Law engages our minds but the writings engage our hearts. Not only does God want us to renew our minds but also he wants to captivate our hearts. This is why we sing every week together as a church. Maybe someone of you aren’t in to singing, you think singing together is weird. But Christians have sung together for thousands of years because God knows that music does something to our emotions that reading and preaching can’t. Let your heart engage with Jesus every week as we sing.

This also applies to prayer. As a 2nd temple Jew the Psalms are the prayers Jesus prayed. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that prayer is only genuine if it’s extemporaneous. Believers have prayed Scripture for multiple millennia. When you don’t know what to say pray the Psalms, pray the Lord’s Prayer. But Mark’s point is that the Psalms are the songs of Jesus the King. They are poems, prayers, and songs that enable us to worship God in a Christ-centered way.

(2) Political: This is so timely as we’ve all living through a tumultuous political season. The Father’s declaration of the Son at his baptism from Psalm 2 is one of the most political statements ever made. Jesus is the true and final king. He is seated at the right hand of the Father Almighty. He rules over every king, Caesar, parliament, and president who’s ever lived. Jesus will return and judge all men. Jesus rules now at the right hand of God and he will rule forever in the new world. We do well to make sure that your politics align with him. We must have no greater allegiance than King Jesus and his kingdom.

Echoes of the Prophets

We hear echoes of the Law and the Writings and third we hear echoes from the prophets. Mark evokes Isaiah 42.1 when the Father says with you I am well pleased. Isaiah wrote:

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights

Do you hear what I hear? Mark is telling us that Jesus is the suffering servant. God delights in him because he bears our grief and carries our sorrows. He was smitten and afflicted by God. He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. With his wounds we are healed (Isa 53). Isaiah ends his section on the suffering servant with a vision of the new creation. The restoration of shalom brought about through the life, death and resurrection of the servant king – the king who goes to the cross.

You know as Protestants we can fall into the trap of thinking, “we need no priest.” Roman Catholics think they need a priest but we know we don’t. Al Mohler said, that’s so right it’s wrong. We don’t need a sinful man to intercede between God and us. But we need the sinless great high priest – Jesus Christ.

Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help (Heb 4.14-16).

The only way that we can have peace with God is if Emmanuel (God with us) stands between God and us. Jesus is our true and final priest. Because he is at the right hand of God, because he intercedes on our behalf, we can approach the throne of grace. The only reason we can pray is because is there filtering our sin through his righteousness. If you trust in Christ then you have this great high priest. He died for your sin. He prays for you.

O come, our great High Priest, and intercede
Thy sacrifice, our only plea
The judgment we no longer fear
Thy precious blood has brought us near
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Has banished every fear of hell

Conclusion

None of this is lost on Mark; he wants you to hear these echoes. In fact, he will echo himself later in the gospel. Do you see in verse 10 where he writes that Jesus saw the heavens being torn open? The phrase torn open is the Greek word σχίζω. Mark only uses it one other time in 15.38 when Christ is on the cross:

And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Mark begins his gospel with the heavens being torn open and God declaring that Jesus is his son. The gospel ends with the temple curtain being torn in two and a gentile declaring that he is the Son of God. Peace with God through the death and resurrection of his Son. “Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.” Do you hear what I hear?