The Sevenfold Witness Of The Greatness Of The Holy Spirit

December 2016 — Grace & Truth Magazine


The Sevenfold Witness Of The Greatness Of The Perfect Servant

“Yes, He is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend.” – Song of Solomon 5:16 NKJV

Mark’s gospel presents Christ as the Servant of Jehovah. Only 13 verses are written in that book to give the account of the first 30 years of His life – from His lowly birth in a stable to the time when His public service began. Lest anyone should fail to recognize His greatness and His moral glory, the Spirit of God bears a sevenfold witness of the perfect Servant of Jehovah.

1. “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mk. 1:1).
Mark’s gospel begins by declaring that this lowly Servant is none other than the Son of God. His greatness, though of such lowly birth, is further confirmed by the angel Gabriel in Luke’s gospel. When speaking to Mary, he said, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest” (Lk. 1:30-32). And again, “That Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (v.35). In silence – with unshod feet and adoring wonder – we look at that Holy One, that precious baby in a manger, called the Son of God, and we worship!

2. We have the witness of the prophets (Mk. 1:2-3).
In verse 2 we find the words, “It is written in the Prophets.” The passage refers to the prophecy in Malachi 3:1: “Behold I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me.” Similar prophetic words are found in Isaiah 40:3: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the LORD.” Through these prophecies of Isaiah and Malachi, the Lord spoke of preparing the way for this Holy One – this perfect Servant. When Jesus was born He was not recognized as the Messiah that should come. Isaiah says, “He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him” (53:2-3).

The Jews expected their Messiah to come in royal splendor to deliver them from Roman bondage and oppression. But no, Jesus came in this way: “Taking the form of a bondservant ... He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:7-8). According to the eternal purposes of God seen in these prophetic predictions, the way would be prepared for the coming of this perfect Servant – the One who humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even Jesus, our precious Savior.

3. We are given the witness of John the Baptist (Mk. 1:4-8).
We then come to the name of the messenger, John the Baptist, who came as the forerunner to announce the coming of Jesus. He was simply a voice, but he had a powerful message that reached the conscience. The result of this message was that many in Judea and Jerusalem were baptized in the Jordan River, confessing their sins (v.5). John announced that there was One coming who was mightier than he, ever pointing to the Lord Jesus. This forerunner lived in the wilderness, dressed as a prophet, and had gone unnoticed for about 30 years. In fact, the voice of a prophet had not been heard in Israel for approximately 400 years.

John remained in the background, as is becoming, or appropriate, for every servant of the Lord. When the Jews questioned who he was, John gave this beautiful, self-effacing answer: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn. 3:30). May the God-given desire to imitate that spirit be found in each of us.

4. There is the witness of the voice from heaven (Mk. 1:9-11).
At that time when John was expressing humility, Jesus came from Nazareth and was baptized by him in the Jordan River. Immediately after His baptism, the heavens opened and the Spirit, like a dove, descended upon Him, and a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (v.11). We might well pause here and consider the greatness of this One, Jesus, to whom heaven would open and the Spirit of God would descend from there and rest upon Him. Then we have the witness of the voice, the Father’s voice, speaking directly to Jesus in the presence of all the people. This lowly Man is His beloved Son, and in Him the Father finds His pleasure.

The eye of faith looks up and sees Jesus, “Who was made a little lower than angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor” (Heb. 2:9). The unbelieving world still sees Him as despised and rejected, and it says, “We will not have this man to reign over us” (Lk. 19:14). But those of us who know Him as Savior rejoice that He has put away our sins and is now sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

5. Jesus was driven into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan (Mk. 1:12-13).
Before Jesus launched out on His public ministry He had to be “in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). For this reason He, the dependent Man, was led into the wilderness to be tempted of Satan. Jesus knew what lay before Him: the power of Satan and the weakness and sinfulness of man. But for that very reason He had come that He might minister to the needy. He came to serve, not to be served (Mk. 10:45). He had nothing to eat and was hungry – proving that He was a real man, dependent and in need of food. When tempted to make bread of the stones, He declined, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God’” (Lk. 4:4).

By way of contrast, consider the first man, Adam, whom God placed in the garden of Eden – a garden of delights where he and Eve were surrounded with everything for their enjoyment. Satan came to tempt them, and they listened to the tempter’s voice and disobeyed God and the one command He had given: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat” (Gen 2:17). Because of this sin of disobeying God, Scripture says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12).

Realizing the utter failure of mankind, we are struck anew with the surpassing beauty and the moral glories of this Man, the Beloved. Surely we can exclaim with the bride in Song of Solomon 5:16, “Yes, He is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend.”

6. He was in the wilderness with the wild beasts (Mk. 1:13).
In this lowly Man, the wild beasts recognized their Creator. We read the story of Jesus casting out demons at Gadara in Mark 5: “There met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit ... He said to him, ‘Come out of the man, unclean spirit!’” (vv.2,8). The demons then begged Jesus to send them into the herd of swine feeding nearby. Jesus gave them permission to enter the swine, and the herd ran violently into the sea.

There are other examples in Scripture of wild beasts being subject to the control of their Creator, including the experience of Daniel in the lions’ den. After King Darius had spent a sleepless night, he came quickly to the lions’ den and cried out, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” (Dan. 6:20). Then came the astounding answer from this faithful servant, “My God sent His angel, and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me” (v.22). A short time later, when Daniel’s accusers were cast into the den with their families, “the lions overpowered them ... before they ever came to the bottom” (v.24).

It is wonderful to see the sovereignty of God, using even wild beasts to accomplish His purpose for the protection of His faithful servants or in judgment upon the ungodly.

7. Angels served Jesus and ministered unto Him (Mk. 1:13).
The first time we read of this seventh witness is when Jesus was tempted of the devil at the beginning of His public ministry (Mt. 4:1-11). In every temptation He responded by submitting to the revealed will of His God and said, “It is written.” Jesus took His place as the dependent Man, and after His victory over the temptations He accepted the ministry of angels, whom He had created.

We see the angels ministering to Jesus again near the end of His life of faithful service. When He was looking toward His death on the cross, He went into a garden to pray. There, Satan again tempted Him. In the agony of His soul He prayed, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done. Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him” (Lk. 22:42-43). Satan found nothing corruptible in Him.

This perfect Servant has overcome and conquered every foe. He reigns victorious through eternal ages. Blessed be His name!

By Jacob Redekop