{"id":10200,"date":"2023-03-03T00:00:35","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T14:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/?p=10200"},"modified":"2023-03-05T09:26:46","modified_gmt":"2023-03-04T23:26:46","slug":"preparing-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/2023\/03\/03\/preparing-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing the Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark 1:2-5\u00a02<\/sup>Just as it has been written in Isaiah the prophet, \u201cBehold, I am sending my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, 3<\/sup>a voice crying in the wilderness:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u2018Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

There is no story of the births of John or Jesus in Mark, like in Luke and Matthew. Mark starts off with the ministry of John as the forerunner of Jesus Messiah. John is not the focus and only prepares the way (verses 7-8). The good news of Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament. The story was not new but was God’s eternal plan for the salvation of the world. God gave a promise to the prophet Isaiah that was fulfilled in the ministry of John.<\/p>\n

People were looking for a revival in Judaism during that time. \u00a0Sincere seekers of God were attrached to John\u2019s ministry.\u00a0John had disciples who followed him (Mark 2:18; Luke 3:15; 11:1; John 1:6-8, 15, 20; Josephus, Antiquities<\/em> 8, 5, 2).\u00a0John shared many of the same characteristics of the Essenes, the Jewish sect that lived in Qumran and wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Essenes were a breakaway renewal movement in Judaism that emphasized holy living. They were characterized by monastic living dedicated to priestly ideals, ritual purity and exclusive holiness, some did not marry, strict with regulations, keeping the Sabbath meticulously, sharing in common meals of a strict diet, known for maintaining self-control and respect for the law, abstaining from oaths except when joining the community, and not sacrificing at the temple because of its impurity but offering their own sacrifices.<\/p>\n

Although Mark claims the quotation comes from Isaiah, it is a combination of several Old Testament texts:\u00a01:2b from the Septuagint of Exodus 23:20,\u00a01:2c from the Hebrew of Malachi 3:1, and\u00a01:3 from the Septuagint of Isaiah 40:3. This quote may have come from a\u00a0collection of testimonia<\/em>.\u00a0 A testimonium<\/em> was a collection of Old Testament verses that were used together to show how Jesus fulfilled prophecy. Mark at this point may see the whole sequence as a fulfillment of Isaiah:<\/p>\n

The passage attributed to Isaiah describes several characteristics that John fulfilled that Mark will mention in the following verses.\u00a0First, his mission was to be a messenger<\/em>; his message is given in verse 4. Second, the goal of his message would be to prepare for\u00a0your way<\/em>, referring to the coming Messiah. Third, his ministry would be located in the\u00a0wilderness<\/em>. The wilderness in the Old Testament\u00a0was a place of preparation and discipline, and the place where God acts to save his people. Fourth, the outcome of his ministry was to make the path straight so people could walk straight to the Messiah. John would put things in order, especially in the hearts of the people. He would build a sense of expectation and excitement that God was about to do something significant.<\/p>\n

For older posts, click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark 1:2-5\u00a02Just as it has been written in Isaiah the prophet, \u201cBehold, I am sending my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, 3a voice crying in the wilderness:\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.\u2019\u201d There is no story of the births of John or Jesus in Mark, like in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotions","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10200"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10219,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10200\/revisions\/10219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}