Bible Text: Mark 1:9-20, Isaiah 63:7-64:12 | Preacher: Ryan Legg | Series: The Gospel of Mark | ***Our apologies, we had a technical issue and the recording failed. The following are notes from Ryan***

The prophet Isaiah serves as a backdrop to the gospel of Mark.
Isaiah 64:1 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence
Isaiah 64:10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
Zion and her people are the wilderness, Jerusalem is a desolation. And where is the God they’d heard so many stories about? This is the opening context of Mark 1. The prayer is for the heavens to be rent, and for God himself to come down. This is exactly what happens with Jesus:
Mark 1:10-11 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
The Father’s love for the Son is astounding. He is well pleased with him before he has preached a sermon or cast out a demon. Jesus shows us what God the Father is truly like, and what it means to be shaped/conformed to Jesus’ image as a son of God. And yet, in the very next verse we read:
Mark 1:12 The Spirit immediately drove him (lit. threw him) out into the wilderness.
What does this tell us about the pledge of the Father’s love, suffering in the Spirit, following the Son?

This topic is important because if you don’t understand the truth in this passage you’ll misunderstand the relationship between God and your suffering and the huge joy and wonder of the adventure you’ve been brought into as a Christian: having God as your Father, having the Holy Spirit, and participating with Jesus in the renewal of creation.

But if you do understand the truth in this passage, you’ll have more joy in the middle of the craziest circumstances your eyes will be wide open to the love of God and the amazing things he is doing in your suffering and the lives of people he is drawing to Jesus.

The connection between Jesus’ sonship and ours is the indwelling/baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given for a specific mission, which involves suffering, but gives us a specific and irrevocable identity—God’s children. It means that in the receiving of God’s Spirit we become sons of God in a way that Isaiah hadn’t dreamt of. There is no condemnation for us, there is victory and strength for us, there is a new mission for us.