The Gospel of Mark begins without any introduction or any explanation. The Spirit of God moved through Mark to write no preliminaries, nothing about the birth of Christ or His early, tender years, no explanation that He is the Son of God. Mark simply starts, The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet (although this verse may have originated with Isaiah, it is recorded in Malachi 3:1), “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way” (then Mark quotes from Isaiah 40:3); “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.’ ”
John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey. And he was preaching, and saying, “After me comes One who is mightier than I, and I am not even fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Mark 1:1–8.
Isaiah 40:3–5 is the prophecy that Mark was alluding to when he spoke of “the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley; then” (then!) “the glory of the Lord will be revealed….”
This same passage in Isaiah 40 is quoted in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but Mark is distinctive in referring to another prophecy in Malachi, which helps tie together an interrelated chain of Scriptures throughout the Old and New Testaments. “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:1.
Mark brings the prophecies of both Malachi and Isaiah to focus upon the one who is to come as the forerunner of Christ. He gives us a synopsis of the story, an overall picture of what the emphasis will be.
If we want to find a summary of Christ’s ministry, we can find it in Mark’s Gospel. Mark was a young man who had been educated and trained under Roman discipline; therefore, his thinking was very Roman and completely different from that of the writers of the other Gospels. He seems to say, “Now I am going to tell you what it is all about.”
As we look back to Malachi, we are amazed to see how accurately Mark pinpoints what was to be an essential key in the gospel. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.” He puts us through the fire. Then in purity of heart we offer up to the Lord a pure offering in righteousness. “Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years.” Malachi 3:2–4. What Malachi wanted to convey was uppermost in Mark’s thinking all the way through his Gospel.
Do not forget that Mark was a close associate of Peter. In fact, Peter’s influence on the young ministry of Mark was so great that we could almost say (though not quite accurately) that the Gospel according to Mark was actually the Gospel of Peter.
If you remember, when Peter was released from prison by the angel, he went to the home of John Mark. It was there that prayer was being made for Peter. He knocked on the door, and when the servant girl came to the door and recognized Peter’s voice, she was so excited that she did not even open the door, but went to tell the disciples, “It is Peter.” They would not believe her, but finally agreed it was his spirit. At last, when they opened the door, they were amazed that Peter had really been delivered out of prison (Acts 12).
As a result of their close association, the thinking of Peter and Mark was very much alike. Mark began his Gospel, “This is the messenger who comes to proclaim the Lord. The Lord is going to refine His people in fire. He will purify them like silver in the smelter. Blessed be the Lord!” Peter wrote about the same thing.
Mark understood that refining fire very well by the time he wrote his Gospel. At one time when he went with Barnabas and Paul on a missionary journey, he turned back home when the going got rough. The next time they were to go on a trip, Barnabas was ready to take him, but Paul said, “No.” So there arose a strong contention, and the ministry of Barnabas and Paul was separated over the fact that John Mark had run away from the fire. However, later he came back to that fire. There is one thing about a furnace: it is always burning. If you back off one time, it will catch you the next time, for the Lord is sitting as a refiner of silver.
Later on Paul was quick to admit that young Mark was ready, for he wrote, “Call for him, because he is very profitable to me for the ministry” (II Timothy 4:11). In spite of all his problems, God still helped Mark and gave him a clear insight into the refining fire of the Holy Spirit. Mark then wrote the Gospel we rejoice in, filling it with many beautiful examples to give us a picture of what the fire is all about.
Peter was probably the one who got hold of Mark and told him, “Look, son, I know you ‘chickened out’ up in Galatia, and there is no way you can get Paul to see it any differently except by opening your heart to the Lord and to this fire.” This is paraphrasing Peter’s words; let us see what Peter wrote to others who were being tried by fire. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. I Peter 1:3–5.
Peter, you are talking about us. You are talking about what the Lord is doing in our lives and about this great salvation that is ready to be revealed for God’s people in the last time. Marvelous! That great salvation will be revealed in the last time, but what about now? Peter never failed to link the present and the future together. In his Epistles, he wrote a great deal about the heavens passing away with a loud noise and the fire coming to consume; yet he also told us how to walk now, in the meantime, so that we will be ready for what is to be revealed at the last time.
Peter continued, In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ…. I Peter 1:6–7. A little hint is given here. We can assume from this passage that when the Lord is revealed, it will be to a people who have that salvation reserved for them; but in the meantime, God has put them through the trial of faith, like fire. They have been made ready for that which is coming. Do not ever get the idea that for no reason at all, hocus-pocus, God picks a person here and there. If anything is going to happen to the people of God in this end time, it will be because they have submitted to the fiery dealings of God that have refined and purified their faith. They will be a people who have gone through the fire. Mark went through it, and his good counselor, the Apostle Peter, went through it. They knew what they were talking about.
Notice also I Peter 4:7–13: The end of all things is at hand (it could be closer than you think); therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all (if there is one thing you have to watch, it is this), keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. Peter knew exactly where to place the emphasis. What will count when the end of all things is at hand? First of all, God’s people will be fervent in their love for one another. They will also be hospitable, because many will perish unless someone is willing to share his food with them.
As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God. That is what we are contending for—to speak under the anointing of the Lord. We want to do more than just preach about things; we want to be anointed to speak what God has to say. Whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you. As you walk with God, you probably often wonder just what strange thing is happening to you. You cannot understand the fiery ordeal that has come upon you. Peter explains it: But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.
You must go through a strange, fiery ordeal. You must partake of the sufferings of Christ. Perhaps you are willing to suffer for Christ, but Peter is talking about the sufferings of Christ. It is a foregone conclusion that you will suffer for the Lord; but when you suffer with Him, you shall also reign with Him. To the degree that you share in the baptism of fire that Christ went through, to that degree you will be able to enter into the authority of ruling and reigning with Him. If you are not willing to submit to that fire and to the sufferings with Christ, then you will not be chosen or allowed to enter into the place of authority and rule.
If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. I Peter 4:14. This refining fire does more than consume the dross in your life; it brings you into the experience of the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God that is to rest upon you and bring you into the place of rule and authority in the age to come. You must partake of the baptism of fire if you are going to partake of the rule and authority and reign that is to come.
Romans 8 is explicit in expounding the manifestation of the sons of God and how they will liberate all creation from the futility to which it has been subjected. It sounds like an attractive doctrine. When people hear sermons on the manifestation of the sons of God, they rejoice, thinking that they are going to walk down the street, healing the sick, ministering deliverance, and doing exploits in the name of the Lord. Unfortunately, many of these people who emphasize the manifestation of the sons of God make no reference to the baptism of fire. They believe to have a beautiful future, but the minute any testing or trial or any serious reproach comes, they say, “Let’s forget about it. We don’t want to be bothered with anything that will give us any trouble. Let’s see what is selling now on the religious market. That’s what we will buy.” Thousands of people all over the world do that.
When God is dealing with you, you feel like a lonely speckled bird. When the fiery trial is testing you, you do not feel as if you fit in anywhere. Do not think it is strange, for it is the Spirit of glory and of God resting upon you that is doing this. Keep on rejoicing, because to the degree that you go through this fire in the sufferings of Christ, at the revelation of His glory you will rejoice with great exultation. There is no other way but the humble path of repentance, the path of the fiery trial. The baptism of fire is absolutely necessary if you are to come into the revelation of His glory.