Mark 1:10–11

The Servant appears to begin His service. He came out from Nazareth in Galilee. There too, during the hidden years, He had served. The Servant was completely sinless, and yet He was baptized in the Jordan. He showed His perfect willingness to take the sinner's place in death, in obedience to the Father's will. Verse 10 has the word "straightway" for the first time in Mark. It is the word that marks this Gospel, describing how prompt His service was. The anointing by the reception of the Spirit follows.

Now notice the expression used: "he saw the heavens being torn open" — that is what the word "opened" means, they were torn apart. It was as if God hurried to proclaim what His heart had found in His own Son; He tears the heavens open... the heavens are torn apart to let the whole mind of heaven out in its indescribable delight in Jesus Christ.

The heavens were not opened to disclose an object there, as in the case of Stephen. On the contrary, heaven had found an object upon earth — the sinless and obedient Jesus. To Him came the voice, not of an angelic choir as to the shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem, but of the Father Himself... In this way, as Man, He was assured that God delighted in Him. So He began His ministry as the Servant of Jehovah, fully aware in Himself that He was the Son.

And then you have the seal, the Holy Spirit descends on Him. Notice the words, "the Spirit like a dove descending upon him" — that is the form the descending Spirit took, no doubt expressing what He was in His own Person. The dove, as you know, was the bird of sorrow and the bird of love. So it was a fitting picture of what our Lord Jesus Christ was in His own holy, precious, glorious Person.

When the dove was sent out for the third time she did not return, but it is not added that she found rest for the sole of her foot. Clearly she found somewhere to perch. We believe those words are left out because there is a picture here, one that comes to light when we reach Matthew 3:16. When the Lord Jesus came, there was at last found One on whom the Spirit of God could permanently rest, and not before.

And all this came about. God "anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power" (Acts 10:38). This anointing gave Him credentials no one could question. The Lord pointed to them at Nazareth, when He announced that another prophecy about Himself was fulfilled: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor," and so on (Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:18). Only this Gospel says that Jesus Himself saw the Spirit given. John the Baptist saw it too, though we know of no one else, as John 1:32, 34 and Matthew 3:16 show; Luke 3:22 names no witness.

And now where is He, the Servant, He who humbled Himself, who has His place with His poor people, the poorest of His flock? Heaven is open, the Holy Spirit descends on Him, the Father owns Him as His Son. He is the model of the position He has taken for us by redemption... For us too the veil is torn, and heaven is open. We have been anointed and sealed with the Holy Spirit as Jesus was... Jesus was such in His own proper and full right, worthy of being so in Himself; we are brought in by grace and redemption.

"I have found my delight." That is, delight in the self-humbling of Jesus, seen in His submission to the baptism. This does not leave out the Lord's earlier life on earth, nor His condition before He became man… Here we have the outward attestation of the sonship, given for the Lord's own enjoyment. So in Luke 3:22. In Matthew 3:17 the Spirit records the voice as spoken to the Baptist.

How did John the Baptist learn that He was the Son of God? For revelation alone teaches that. Had he not heard the Father's voice speaking to His Son at His baptism in the Jordan?… The Father directed that word from heaven to the Son, but surely John heard it. Special revelation had taught John that this One would baptize with the Holy Spirit, and he could declare it with certainty. With equal certainty he could proclaim the Sonship, having heard the Father's own words to His Son.

"Beloved Son." Compare Mark 1:11 and 2 Peter 1:17; so also in Matthew 17:5. In Luke 9:35 the best-attested reading is "chosen," which in Semitic languages is very much the equivalent of agapētos, "beloved." In Hellenistic Greek that word was a synonym of monogenēs — only-begotten.

The curtain drops at that moment on His life at Nazareth, and we see no more of Him until He reaches His thirtieth birthday. Then we learn what kind of life He had lived behind that veil. As He came out into public ministry, the heavens opened and a voice from the excellent glory declared, "This is My beloved Son, in whom is all My delight." So for thirty years God had been able to look down on Him, and in His every thought and word and deed He had found fullest delight.

It is clear that Jesus was the delight of God as man. This was not merely because of a work that was going to be done. God owned the Person Himself… They must not mistake or misinterpret His baptism. For them it was the baptism of repentance, but for Him it was wholly in grace. He had nothing to own… "With you I am well pleased" — not only "I am," but "I have been." It looks back, and is not about the present moment only.

Mark in his gospel tells us that Jesus "saw the heavens being torn open." This gospel presents the Lord Jesus as the Servant. His was a service of infinite grace and love, and it meant giving His life (10:45). Yet men did not value that service. The Father's voice said, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." Would not that sound be the comfort and support of this blessed Man, as He walked a path of devotion to God and love to man?

Never had heaven so opened before; never had there been on earth an object which He could own as making His good pleasure. Now there was. For us too the veil is torn, and heaven is open. We have been anointed and sealed with the Holy Spirit as Jesus was; the Father has owned us to be His beloved sons already in this world. Jesus was such in His own proper and full right, worthy of being so in Himself; we are brought in by grace and redemption.