The Challenge of Satan - Part One
After Jesus’ baptism, Mark shows us that Jesus’ identification with us immediately involved Him in fierce spiritual battle. “The Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him” (Mark 1:12–13).
 
Jesus, the Flawless Lamb - Part Two
Second, this statement out of heaven expresses to us the solidarity of the Father with the Son in all of the purposes of the incarnation. Jesus Christ did not leave the Father’s house on His own. At the very outset of His work the voice of God spoke and said, “What is happening here on earth I have initiated. What the Saviour is about to do I am doing. He will announce that the Son of Man is come to seek and to save the lost. This pleases Me. He is about to say that the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. This pleases Me. He will go to the cross and offer His life as the surety of the new covenant, the guarantee of man’s acceptance with the Father. This pleases Me.”
 
Jesus, the Flawless Lamb - Part One

When John the Baptist came, he knew that God had called him to identify the Lamb for God’s ultimate Passover sacrifice. He must have looked at many a man the second time—“Could that be he? Is that he?”—only to turn away in disappointment when he saw the mark of sin. But under this urge from the Holy Spirit, John had the eyes of his spirit opened when he saw Jesus Christ. He said, “Behold the Lamb of God,” and thus identified Him as the one who was to come.
The Meaning of Baptism
Why was Christ baptized? John the Baptist was proclaiming the necessity of his baptism for the remission of sin. But Christ had no sin and, therefore, He needed no such baptism. The meaning of Christ’s baptism has been obscured by the current emphasis on baptism as the symbol of the death, burial, and resurrection of the believer with Christ. The spiritual significance of baptism goes beyond any concern with a particular mode of water baptism. Its true meaning is the identification of the believer with Christ.
 
The Gospel of Action

The Gospel of Mark is the gospel of action, and it is action of  a unique of kind. More than any gospel writer, Mark moves rapidly through the events of Jesus’ life. It takes him only twenty short verses in chapter one to describe the ministry of John the Baptist, Jesus’ baptism, His temptation in the wilderness, and the call of the disciples...