Two Baptisms January 8
Mark 1:8 “… I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
John the Baptist speaks to the crowds about two different kinds of baptism. This verse sounds as if it is drawn from the message in Ezekiel 36: 24 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 28 Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.
John is no priest in the line of Aaron but is a prophet in the line of Elijah. He and Ezekiel tell of a God who will wash clean and then restore with new life.
Water is more than a cleanser. Water is a blessing, a promise of renewal both outside and inside. Indeed, water is life, and living water is the Spirit. Water and Spirit are meant to be one.
Note that both John the Baptist and Ezekiel have God doing the work here. John and Ezekiel are both messengers. God’s sprinkling in Ezekiel is symbolic of God’s forgiveness, washing us clean of our rebellion against Him, blessing us. The work of changing a heart from stone to flesh is symbolic of God’s work of rebirth, restoring life as it was intended in the beginning.
We see this in John 3:3 when Jesus speaks to Nicodemus. Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born [a]again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Note that the footnote designation [a] offers “from above” instead of “again” as an alternative understanding of the Greek word. This makes clear the action is in God’s hands.
This “born again” concept is about to be made real in the lives of the people.
John the Baptist shows the people the way to forgiveness of sins through the physical submersion of the body in the Jordan River. They rise from the water washed clean, their sins forgiven.
He also tells of One who will come bringing the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and through the Holy Spirit come a new heart and a new life.
The First Baptism January 9
Mark 1:9 It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
We must ask why Jesus, the Son of God, felt the need to be baptized by John. There are several possible explanations, and one or all may be true.
First, Jesus leads by example. In John 3, He speaks of the two baptisms, of water and the Spirit, to Nicodemus. Jesus does not ask of others something that He has not done.
Second, Jesus is symbolically crossing the Jordan. The tribes crossing the Jordan under Joshua had left the physical bondage of Egypt for the freedom of the Promised Land. Jesus is leading those who would follow from the spiritual bondage of the Law to the freedom of relationship with God.
Third, Jesus is confirming John’s message and accepting the role of the long awaited Messiah. John the Baptist’s mission as forerunner is complete. John passes the baton to his successor as Jesus reveals Himself as the long awaited Messiah.
Finally, we are told that He led a perfect life, so why does He require a baptism of repentance? We might think of this from another perspective. At each stage of His life, He was holy in proportion to His abilities.
The rose is perfect as a tender shoot, even though it has no flower. The rose is perfect with its first green leaf, though still flowerless. The plant is perfect as it presents its first bud, though still flowerless. And at last the crown of the plant appears with the first flower.
As a fully mature man, Jesus is ready to accept the crown and scepter. He submits to the baptism of water, rebirth to His new work as He walks the land. He accepts the baptism of the Holy Spirit, rebirth to His intended role with power from above.
Think again of repentance as a turning away from the path a person has followed and a returning to the path that God has intended. Jesus is turning away from the people and acts that have lead Him to this point in life.
He is laying down the roles of son of Mary, brother to her other children, friend of His acquaintances, carpenter, and the other roles associated with His early life. His life can have but one focus at this time.
He is now revealing Himself as the Messiah and is dedicated to His purpose of setting the captives free.
The Second Baptism January 10
Mark 1:10 And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.
The word translated as immediately in the NKJV is Strong’s #2112. Mark uses it 40 times in this Gospel, also translated as straightway and forthwith in the various translations.
There is an urgency throughout the Gospel of Mark, so it is appropriate that we sense this at the beginning of his story of Jesus. This is not Mark’s urgency, but Jesus’ urgency. Everything Jesus does in Mark’s rapidly moving account is to accomplish the end intended, freedom through the cross.
John baptizes Jesus into the reborn body of the Messiah, and immediately the Holy Spirit baptizes Jesus into His reborn spiritual identity as Messiah. In the moment that he has been washed clean of His old physical life, the life of preparation, the Holy Spirit dresses Him in the royal purple robe of righteousness, the garment for the spiritual role of the Son of God.
Seeing the heavens parting is perhaps the best way to describe the opening between the dimensions of spiritual heaven and physical earth. The coexistence of heaven and earth in Eden had been broken into two separate realms. Although God reigned as King in both, much of earth did not recognize His authority.
The word translated as parting is the same Greek word used when the veil of the temple is rent (Mark 15:38). This is a dramatic action word for a dramatic event.
The Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus like a dove. Why a dove? The Holy Spirit is symbolized in different ways at different times.
Luke 3:22 shares the imagery of the Holy Spirit as a dove. Other symbols include water (John 7:37-39), fire (Acts 2:3), wind (John 3:8), a voice (1 Kings 19:11-13), and more. Describing a spiritual being in physical terms may require different terms depending on the circumstances.
The dove was Noah’s symbol of a new beginning above what had become a watery grave for the people of a wicked age. The flood has washed the land clean. Noah sends out a dove to find their new dwelling place.
The Holy Spirit as a dove descending on Jesus after His baptism of water by John is appropriate. A new world awaits.
The world of a new relationship with God awaits each of us.
A Voice January 11
Mark 1:11 Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The Trinity is present in its separateness here. The baptism of Jesus by John is an opportunity for reunion of the three in the earthly realm.
As Three separate entities in one Being, they are at once a mystery and a fact.
The Father is the Genesis, the Creator of the beginning. He spoke the universe into existence.
The Son is the spoken Word that brought this existence into reality.
The Holy Spirit continually inhabits, dwells within, the Creation.
The Holy Spirit has symbolically entered the human body of Jesus. The voice of the Father affirms the Son in verse 11. Jesus rises from the water with the Father above and the Spirit within.
Jesus bursts from beneath the water, appearing as a man. But He is whole as God and Son and Spirit. He is whole as union of the three. He is holy.
If the concept seems difficult, we see such mystical unions of separateness regularly.
We see water as ice or water or steam. We may see two or three of these states separately, as the ice cube changes to water and then evaporates. The potential for all three states resides in whichever state we see.
Similarly, the Trinity is a necessary example for agape love. Love cannot exist in only one being. Two beings provide the opportunity for love or conflict. Three or more beings provide the opportunity not only for love and conflict, but for inclusion or exclusion.
The Trinity is our example of unity in diversity. We will see that what is best for the whole of the trinity is best for the part of the Trinity, even unto death.
God sees His Son and says that He is well pleased. “Well pleased” is a compound Greek word conveying to “think good.”
Mark quotes Jesus later in his book as saying that a house divided against itself cannot stand. The three must be unity.
And each of us was created to be part of that unity.
The Wilderness January 12
Mark 1:12 Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.
The sense of urgency and forcefulness again jumps out to us from this verse.
Immediately (without delay) the Spirit drove (expelled or cast) Him into the wilderness (desolate or solitary place).
The verb, drove, in Mark is much more forceful than Matthew’s led. This is not to imply the Spirit forced Jesus to go to the wilderness. It is more that Jesus, now filled with the Holy Spirit, responds to that inner voice with the urgency that originated with the Father.
Jesus repeatedly states in the Gospels that He is obedient to the Father. Consider this: in mortal form, Jesus no longer has the resources available to the other members of the Trinity. The power of God is available to Him, and the Holy Spirit supports and informs Him. But it is the mortal body of Jesus that must endure the trials and persecution that is to come.
The wilderness is important for the baptism to take root, to become an integral part of the being. The temptations of Satan will follow, into the desert and beyond, but the wilderness experience has another purpose.
If baptism is the born again experience, the rebirth into a new being, then the wilderness is the necessary death of the old being.
The old being has developed habits, ways of being, that are not conducive to living the born again life. Breakfast of certain foods at the same hour; the routine interactions with relatives and friends, buyers and sellers; the comfort of a particular place; the priority of servicing the needs of life.
All of these and more must die to the new life.
And the other people – the relatives, friends, retailers, customers, etc. – all have their expectation of the old self. Their world view does not allow for the other person to change, to no longer meet their expectations.
The old self that was the person must die in their eyes.
Forty days is sufficient for a person to change old habits, and for others to change the habit of the old person, the former you, in their lives.
The time in the wilderness is the incubation period for the Spirit to grow within and to mature, to change the focus from self to God.
The wilderness calls for us to revisit when we need to return to the way.
The Temptation January 13
Mark 1:13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
The wilderness protects us from the influences of our culture that would have us return to the old self. It is an insulation against interference with the transformation that is occurring.
This is not to say the place is safe, only that its dangers are different.
In the quiet of solitude, Satan’s voice is clearly heard, and we know it is his voice. The tempter, the accuser of God and the brethren, makes arguments to the self that must be denied in the isolation of the wilderness.
If Adam and Eve were tempted in the Garden that was abundance, think how much more forceful the temptation in the desert that is scarcity.
Mark does not go into the details of Jesus’ temptations. Matthew and Luke wrote of the temptation of food for a starving man, the temptation to test God, and of the offer of a worldly kingdom now. These were hard tests, and appropriate tests for the person that was Jesus.
We will find the unique temptations that are peculiar to our own self equally challenging.
Satan’s temptations of Jesus will not necessarily be ours. And the point is not the nature of the temptation, but the nature of the refusal.
“It is written” were the words Jesus used as a preface to His refusal of each temptation. Jesus quoted the Scripture available to every person. He did not use anything supernatural. He used what is available to us.
Each of us can know the correct response to the temptation. Each of us can act on this knowledge with the power of the Holy Spirit within us. We dare not rely on secular knowledge or human will alone.
Mark’s reference to wild beasts is curious. Strong’s says this is the diminutive form of the word for a “dangerous animal (venomous, wild).” This brings to mind that serpent of old, the snake of the Garden. That the animals are venomous and/or wild is at odds with Jesus’ restoration of the kingdom of heaven on earth. This puts these wild beasts in Satan’s camp.
Angels do minister to Jesus while on this prolonged stay in the desert.
And we are promised the Holy Spirit when we face temptations. With the Spirit’s help, we will not be given more than we can bear.
Jesus Begins His Ministry January 14
Mark 1:14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God…
Mark omits Jesus’ early Galilean ministry, skipping to the point at which John is arrested by Herod.
The other Gospels record Andrew, John, Simon (Peter), Philip, and Nathanael becoming followers of Jesus. There is the wedding feast at Cana and the miracle of changing water to wine. He cleanses the Temple in Jerusalem, and Nicodemus comes to visit him at night. During His return to Galilee, Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well.
Mark picks up with Jesus in Galilee again. With John the Baptist imprisoned, Jesus calls for repentance because the kingdom of God is at hand.
Replacing traditions of men, not everyone will welcome the kingdom. Amos 5 speaks strongly against those for whom the kingdom of God is an enemy.
7 “You who turn justice to wormwood,
And lay righteousness to rest in the earth!”…. 11 “Therefore, because you tread down the poor
And take grain taxes from him,”…. 21 “I hate, I despise your feast days,
And I do not savor your sacred assemblies.” 18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
For what good is the day of the Lord to you?
It will be darkness, and not light.”….
John was sent to prison for speaking truth to power, for telling Herod that he had sinned by marrying his brother’s wife, a marriage that was the result of two divorces. The message of John, and then of Jesus, of the kingdom of heaven being at hand, was not well received by Herod, or some others.
The Sadducees in controlling the Temple, and the Pharisees with their legalistic requirements of the Temple, both fell under Amos’ curse of those who did not desire the day of the Lord’s coming.
The call to repentance is a call for self-examination. Beliefs lead to thoughts, lead to words, lead to actions, lead to habits, and lead to values that lead to character. Take every thought captive. Examine if it is of the kingdom.
The good news is that the kingdom of God is already within us if we truly desire it and are willing to live under God as king now.
Next day
Mark 1:8 “… I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
John the Baptist speaks to the crowds about two different kinds of baptism. This verse sounds as if it is drawn from the message in Ezekiel 36: 24 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 28 Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.
John is no priest in the line of Aaron but is a prophet in the line of Elijah. He and Ezekiel tell of a God who will wash clean and then restore with new life.
Water is more than a cleanser. Water is a blessing, a promise of renewal both outside and inside. Indeed, water is life, and living water is the Spirit. Water and Spirit are meant to be one.
Note that both John the Baptist and Ezekiel have God doing the work here. John and Ezekiel are both messengers. God’s sprinkling in Ezekiel is symbolic of God’s forgiveness, washing us clean of our rebellion against Him, blessing us. The work of changing a heart from stone to flesh is symbolic of God’s work of rebirth, restoring life as it was intended in the beginning.
We see this in John 3:3 when Jesus speaks to Nicodemus. Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born [a]again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Note that the footnote designation [a] offers “from above” instead of “again” as an alternative understanding of the Greek word. This makes clear the action is in God’s hands.
This “born again” concept is about to be made real in the lives of the people.
John the Baptist shows the people the way to forgiveness of sins through the physical submersion of the body in the Jordan River. They rise from the water washed clean, their sins forgiven.
He also tells of One who will come bringing the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and through the Holy Spirit come a new heart and a new life.
The First Baptism January 9
Mark 1:9 It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
We must ask why Jesus, the Son of God, felt the need to be baptized by John. There are several possible explanations, and one or all may be true.
First, Jesus leads by example. In John 3, He speaks of the two baptisms, of water and the Spirit, to Nicodemus. Jesus does not ask of others something that He has not done.
Second, Jesus is symbolically crossing the Jordan. The tribes crossing the Jordan under Joshua had left the physical bondage of Egypt for the freedom of the Promised Land. Jesus is leading those who would follow from the spiritual bondage of the Law to the freedom of relationship with God.
Third, Jesus is confirming John’s message and accepting the role of the long awaited Messiah. John the Baptist’s mission as forerunner is complete. John passes the baton to his successor as Jesus reveals Himself as the long awaited Messiah.
Finally, we are told that He led a perfect life, so why does He require a baptism of repentance? We might think of this from another perspective. At each stage of His life, He was holy in proportion to His abilities.
The rose is perfect as a tender shoot, even though it has no flower. The rose is perfect with its first green leaf, though still flowerless. The plant is perfect as it presents its first bud, though still flowerless. And at last the crown of the plant appears with the first flower.
As a fully mature man, Jesus is ready to accept the crown and scepter. He submits to the baptism of water, rebirth to His new work as He walks the land. He accepts the baptism of the Holy Spirit, rebirth to His intended role with power from above.
Think again of repentance as a turning away from the path a person has followed and a returning to the path that God has intended. Jesus is turning away from the people and acts that have lead Him to this point in life.
He is laying down the roles of son of Mary, brother to her other children, friend of His acquaintances, carpenter, and the other roles associated with His early life. His life can have but one focus at this time.
He is now revealing Himself as the Messiah and is dedicated to His purpose of setting the captives free.
The Second Baptism January 10
Mark 1:10 And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.
The word translated as immediately in the NKJV is Strong’s #2112. Mark uses it 40 times in this Gospel, also translated as straightway and forthwith in the various translations.
There is an urgency throughout the Gospel of Mark, so it is appropriate that we sense this at the beginning of his story of Jesus. This is not Mark’s urgency, but Jesus’ urgency. Everything Jesus does in Mark’s rapidly moving account is to accomplish the end intended, freedom through the cross.
John baptizes Jesus into the reborn body of the Messiah, and immediately the Holy Spirit baptizes Jesus into His reborn spiritual identity as Messiah. In the moment that he has been washed clean of His old physical life, the life of preparation, the Holy Spirit dresses Him in the royal purple robe of righteousness, the garment for the spiritual role of the Son of God.
Seeing the heavens parting is perhaps the best way to describe the opening between the dimensions of spiritual heaven and physical earth. The coexistence of heaven and earth in Eden had been broken into two separate realms. Although God reigned as King in both, much of earth did not recognize His authority.
The word translated as parting is the same Greek word used when the veil of the temple is rent (Mark 15:38). This is a dramatic action word for a dramatic event.
The Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus like a dove. Why a dove? The Holy Spirit is symbolized in different ways at different times.
Luke 3:22 shares the imagery of the Holy Spirit as a dove. Other symbols include water (John 7:37-39), fire (Acts 2:3), wind (John 3:8), a voice (1 Kings 19:11-13), and more. Describing a spiritual being in physical terms may require different terms depending on the circumstances.
The dove was Noah’s symbol of a new beginning above what had become a watery grave for the people of a wicked age. The flood has washed the land clean. Noah sends out a dove to find their new dwelling place.
The Holy Spirit as a dove descending on Jesus after His baptism of water by John is appropriate. A new world awaits.
The world of a new relationship with God awaits each of us.
A Voice January 11
Mark 1:11 Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The Trinity is present in its separateness here. The baptism of Jesus by John is an opportunity for reunion of the three in the earthly realm.
As Three separate entities in one Being, they are at once a mystery and a fact.
The Father is the Genesis, the Creator of the beginning. He spoke the universe into existence.
The Son is the spoken Word that brought this existence into reality.
The Holy Spirit continually inhabits, dwells within, the Creation.
The Holy Spirit has symbolically entered the human body of Jesus. The voice of the Father affirms the Son in verse 11. Jesus rises from the water with the Father above and the Spirit within.
Jesus bursts from beneath the water, appearing as a man. But He is whole as God and Son and Spirit. He is whole as union of the three. He is holy.
If the concept seems difficult, we see such mystical unions of separateness regularly.
We see water as ice or water or steam. We may see two or three of these states separately, as the ice cube changes to water and then evaporates. The potential for all three states resides in whichever state we see.
Similarly, the Trinity is a necessary example for agape love. Love cannot exist in only one being. Two beings provide the opportunity for love or conflict. Three or more beings provide the opportunity not only for love and conflict, but for inclusion or exclusion.
The Trinity is our example of unity in diversity. We will see that what is best for the whole of the trinity is best for the part of the Trinity, even unto death.
God sees His Son and says that He is well pleased. “Well pleased” is a compound Greek word conveying to “think good.”
Mark quotes Jesus later in his book as saying that a house divided against itself cannot stand. The three must be unity.
And each of us was created to be part of that unity.
The Wilderness January 12
Mark 1:12 Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.
The sense of urgency and forcefulness again jumps out to us from this verse.
Immediately (without delay) the Spirit drove (expelled or cast) Him into the wilderness (desolate or solitary place).
The verb, drove, in Mark is much more forceful than Matthew’s led. This is not to imply the Spirit forced Jesus to go to the wilderness. It is more that Jesus, now filled with the Holy Spirit, responds to that inner voice with the urgency that originated with the Father.
Jesus repeatedly states in the Gospels that He is obedient to the Father. Consider this: in mortal form, Jesus no longer has the resources available to the other members of the Trinity. The power of God is available to Him, and the Holy Spirit supports and informs Him. But it is the mortal body of Jesus that must endure the trials and persecution that is to come.
The wilderness is important for the baptism to take root, to become an integral part of the being. The temptations of Satan will follow, into the desert and beyond, but the wilderness experience has another purpose.
If baptism is the born again experience, the rebirth into a new being, then the wilderness is the necessary death of the old being.
The old being has developed habits, ways of being, that are not conducive to living the born again life. Breakfast of certain foods at the same hour; the routine interactions with relatives and friends, buyers and sellers; the comfort of a particular place; the priority of servicing the needs of life.
All of these and more must die to the new life.
And the other people – the relatives, friends, retailers, customers, etc. – all have their expectation of the old self. Their world view does not allow for the other person to change, to no longer meet their expectations.
The old self that was the person must die in their eyes.
Forty days is sufficient for a person to change old habits, and for others to change the habit of the old person, the former you, in their lives.
The time in the wilderness is the incubation period for the Spirit to grow within and to mature, to change the focus from self to God.
The wilderness calls for us to revisit when we need to return to the way.
The Temptation January 13
Mark 1:13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
The wilderness protects us from the influences of our culture that would have us return to the old self. It is an insulation against interference with the transformation that is occurring.
This is not to say the place is safe, only that its dangers are different.
In the quiet of solitude, Satan’s voice is clearly heard, and we know it is his voice. The tempter, the accuser of God and the brethren, makes arguments to the self that must be denied in the isolation of the wilderness.
If Adam and Eve were tempted in the Garden that was abundance, think how much more forceful the temptation in the desert that is scarcity.
Mark does not go into the details of Jesus’ temptations. Matthew and Luke wrote of the temptation of food for a starving man, the temptation to test God, and of the offer of a worldly kingdom now. These were hard tests, and appropriate tests for the person that was Jesus.
We will find the unique temptations that are peculiar to our own self equally challenging.
Satan’s temptations of Jesus will not necessarily be ours. And the point is not the nature of the temptation, but the nature of the refusal.
“It is written” were the words Jesus used as a preface to His refusal of each temptation. Jesus quoted the Scripture available to every person. He did not use anything supernatural. He used what is available to us.
Each of us can know the correct response to the temptation. Each of us can act on this knowledge with the power of the Holy Spirit within us. We dare not rely on secular knowledge or human will alone.
Mark’s reference to wild beasts is curious. Strong’s says this is the diminutive form of the word for a “dangerous animal (venomous, wild).” This brings to mind that serpent of old, the snake of the Garden. That the animals are venomous and/or wild is at odds with Jesus’ restoration of the kingdom of heaven on earth. This puts these wild beasts in Satan’s camp.
Angels do minister to Jesus while on this prolonged stay in the desert.
And we are promised the Holy Spirit when we face temptations. With the Spirit’s help, we will not be given more than we can bear.
Jesus Begins His Ministry January 14
Mark 1:14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God…
Mark omits Jesus’ early Galilean ministry, skipping to the point at which John is arrested by Herod.
The other Gospels record Andrew, John, Simon (Peter), Philip, and Nathanael becoming followers of Jesus. There is the wedding feast at Cana and the miracle of changing water to wine. He cleanses the Temple in Jerusalem, and Nicodemus comes to visit him at night. During His return to Galilee, Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well.
Mark picks up with Jesus in Galilee again. With John the Baptist imprisoned, Jesus calls for repentance because the kingdom of God is at hand.
Replacing traditions of men, not everyone will welcome the kingdom. Amos 5 speaks strongly against those for whom the kingdom of God is an enemy.
7 “You who turn justice to wormwood,
And lay righteousness to rest in the earth!”…. 11 “Therefore, because you tread down the poor
And take grain taxes from him,”…. 21 “I hate, I despise your feast days,
And I do not savor your sacred assemblies.” 18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
For what good is the day of the Lord to you?
It will be darkness, and not light.”….
John was sent to prison for speaking truth to power, for telling Herod that he had sinned by marrying his brother’s wife, a marriage that was the result of two divorces. The message of John, and then of Jesus, of the kingdom of heaven being at hand, was not well received by Herod, or some others.
The Sadducees in controlling the Temple, and the Pharisees with their legalistic requirements of the Temple, both fell under Amos’ curse of those who did not desire the day of the Lord’s coming.
The call to repentance is a call for self-examination. Beliefs lead to thoughts, lead to words, lead to actions, lead to habits, and lead to values that lead to character. Take every thought captive. Examine if it is of the kingdom.
The good news is that the kingdom of God is already within us if we truly desire it and are willing to live under God as king now.
Next day
