CHAPTER 1

(A.D. 26)

THE MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

¹The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (could read, the beginning of the Good News concerning Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God; the Holy Spirit begins this Book by testifying to the Kingship and Deity of Christ before setting out His Perfection as a Servant; the actual beginning of this Gospel is the Ministry of John the Baptist);

²As it is written in the Prophets (proclaims the Old Testament as the Word of God), Behold, I send My Messenger (John the Baptist) before Your Face (Christ), which shall prepare Your Way before You (preparation for the introduction of the Messiah [Mal. 3:1]).

³The voice of one crying (the preaching of John the Baptist was full of emotion and feeling) in the wilderness (typical of Israels spiritual condition), Prepare ye the Way of the Lord (the sense of a military command), make His paths straight (rightly discern the Word, and obey it).

⁴John did baptize in the wilderness (Water Baptism in this fashion was unique), and preach the baptism of Repentance (Repentance of the individual) for the Remission of sins (should have been translated, because of the remission of sins; the people were being baptized because they had already repented in their hearts; there is no Salvation in the ceremony of Water Baptism).

⁵And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins (meaning that the confessing of sins and the act of Water Baptism, were at times, simultaneous).

⁶And John was clothed with camels hair (characteristic of the doctrine which John taught, namely penitence and contempt of the world), and with a girdle of a skin about his loins (a sash); and he did eat locusts and wild honey (the locust were dried to a crispness in the sun and eaten with honey, not uncommon in those days);

⁷And preached (deep emotion), saying, There comes One (not merely one, but rather The One) mightier than I (The Almighty One) after me (I will prepare the way), the latchet of Whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose (the difference being, the former was a created being, while the Latter is the Creator).

⁸I indeed have baptized you with water: but He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit (due to the Cross, the Holy Spirit can now come into the heart and life of the Believer to abide permanently [Jn. 14:16-17]).

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS

⁹And it came to pass in those days (the close of the Ministry of John the Baptist), that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee (respects the beginning of the Ministry of Christ), and was baptized of John in Jordan.

¹⁰And straightway (immediately) coming up out of the water (Water Baptism is by immersion, which alone can satisfy the type, not by sprinkling), he (John) saw the Heavens opened (saw the Heavens rent asunder, whatever that might mean), and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him (Luke said, in a bodily shape like a dove [Lk. 3:22] exactly what he saw, we dont know, but he definitely did see something):

¹¹And there came a Voice from Heaven (The Voice came from the rent or opened heavens, no form was seen, but a voice was heard), saying, You are My Beloved Son (in contradistinction to all others), in Whom I am well pleased (this means that God is pleased with us, only as long as we are in Christ; we have here the Trinity, the Voice from Heaven, God the Father, the Holy Spirit being sent, and the Son on Whom He is sent).

THE TEMPTATIONS OF JESUS

¹²And immediately (the first act of the Spirit on Christ) the Spirit (Holy Spirit) driveth Him (strongly moved upon Him) into the wilderness (believed to be near Jericho).

¹³And He was there in the wilderness forty days (probationary period), tempted of Satan (tempted constantly during the forty days and nights); and was with the wild beasts (the last Adam had an entirely different setting than the first Adam, which was Paradise); and the Angels ministered unto Him (as to exactly how, we arent told).

THE CALL

¹⁴Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, Preaching the Gospel (Good News) of the Kingdom of God (a realm in which a King, namely Christ exercises His Power to act and control),

¹⁵And saying, The time is fulfilled (as predicted by the Prophets, Christ has now come), and the Kingdom of God is at hand (is available): repent ye, and believe the Gospel (repent and believe may be regarded as a summary of the method of Salvation. This means that Repentance and Faith are the conditions of admission into this Kingdom, i.e., the New Covenant).

¹⁶Now as He walked by the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon (Peter) and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

¹⁷And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

¹⁸And straightway (immediately) they forsook their nets, and followed Him.

¹⁹And when He had gone a little farther thence, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets.

²⁰And straightway He called them (the Ministry is a call not a career): and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after Him (it seems they had the blessings of their father).

AUTHORITY OVER DEMON SPIRITS

²¹And they went into Capernaum (where Jesus made His Headquarters); and straightway (immediately) on the Sabbath Day He entered into the Synagogue, and taught.

²²And they were astonished at His doctrine (what He taught, and the way He taught it; His Doctrine was the Word of God, while the Scribes basically taught tradition): for He taught them as One Who had authority, and not as the Scribes (a group supposed to be expert in the Law of Moses).

²³And there was in their Synagogue a man with an unclean spirit (the word, unclean runs the gamut of all the activity of Satan from immorality to deceptive, lying, religious spirits [Rev. 16:13-16]); and he cried out,

²⁴Saying, Let us alone (the lead demon cried out, but there were more demons than one in this man); what have we to do with You, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? (They resented the intrusion of Christ into their domain.)AreYou come to destroy us? (They knew that He had the power to do whatever needed to be done.) I know You Who You are, the Holy One of God (demon spirits knew Who He was, but the religious leaders of Israel didnt know, or rather refused to know).

²⁵And Jesus rebuked him (the lead demon), saying, Hold your peace, and come out of him (in effect, He said, shut up, and come out of him).

²⁶And when the unclean spirit had torn him (hastily, trying to come out), and cried with a loud voice (represents a screech of fear fear of Christ, and fear not to obey Christ immediately), he came out of him (there was no delay).

²⁷And they were all amazed (speechless), insomuch that they questioned among themselves (the Scribes animated, prolonged discussion), saying, What thing is this? (In effect, Who is this Man, referring to the possibility, and their thinking, that He might be the Messiah.) what new doctrine is this? (Doesnt refer to new in respect to time, but instead, in comparison to the dry as dust droning of the Scribes.) for with authority commands He even the unclean spirits, and they do obey Him (this is absolute power over Satan and all demon spirits, and with obedience carried out immediately).

²⁸And immediately His fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee (when it would spread to Jerusalem, it would infuriate the religious leaders).

HEALING

²⁹And forthwith, when they were come out of the Synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon (Peter) and Andrew (Peters brother), with James and John (these four were probably the only Disciples He had at that time, which was the early part of His Ministry).

³⁰But Simons wifes mother lay sick of a fever (bedridden), and anon (immediately) they tell Him of her (there is no mention of the wife of Peter by name in the New Testament; according to the testimony of Clement of Alexandria, and Eusebiu, she suffered martyrdom, and was led away to death in the sight of her husband, whose last words to her were, remember thou the Lord).

³¹And He (Jesus) came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her (healed immediately), and she ministered unto them (probably helped prepare a meal).

DEMONS CAST OUT; MANY HEALED

³²And at evening, when the sun did set (when the Sabbath ended), they brought unto Him all who were diseased, and them who were possessed with devils (demons).

³³And all the city was gathered together at the door (all the sick and afflicted).

³⁴And He healed many who were sick of divers diseases (many and varied types of diseases, and of every kind), and cast out many devils (demons); and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew Him (means they knew Him to be the Messiah).

A PREACHING TOUR

³⁵And in the morning, rising up a great while before day (was between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.), He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed (the example of a strong prayer life, was a habit with Him, and provides an example for us [Mat.14: 23; Mk. 1:35; 6:46; Lk. 6:12; 9:28; 11:1]).

³⁶And Simon and they who were with Him followed after Him (sought to find Him).

³⁷And when they had found Him, they said unto Him, All men seek for You (the pronoun, You is emphatic, meaning that those who sought Jesus would not be satisfied with seeing His Disciples).

³⁸And He said unto them, Let us go into the next towns (while in prayer, He had heard from Heaven, and had been given direction respecting what to do and where to go), that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth (He was to cover the majority of the land of Israel).

³⁹And He preached in their Synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils (healing and Deliverance, as important as they were, were secondary to the preaching of the Word).

JESUS HEALS A LEPER

⁴⁰And there came a leper to Him, beseeching Him (begging Him), and kneeling down to Him (this was not merely a rendering of honor to an earthly being; it was a rendering of reverence to a Divine Being), and saying unto Him, If You will, You can make me clean (leprosy was so loathsome, that the leper didnt know if Jesus would heal him or not, even though he knew, that Jesus had the Power).

⁴¹And Jesus, moved with compassion (is a portrayal of the Heart of God), put forth His hand, and touched him, and said unto him, I will; be thou clean (according to the Greek, His Word healed the man, and not His touch; when He touched him, the healing had already been effected, and the man was clean; the words I will forever settled the question of the Will of God to heal the sick).

⁴²And as soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him (proclaiming the spoken Word to be enough), and he was cleansed.

⁴³And He (Jesus) straitly charged him (strongly demanded of him), and forthwith sent him away (sent him to the Priest, as the Law demanded [Lev. 14:2]);

⁴⁴And said unto him, See thou say nothing to any man (not at the present time): but go your way (first), show yourself to the Priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them (this pertained to the Law of the cleansing of the Leper, which was a complicated affair [Lev. 14:1-32]).

⁴⁵But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city (was Capernaum), but was without in desert places (because of the press of the great crowds): and they came to Him from every quarter (the man not obeying what Jesus told him to do, gave occasion for the enemies of Christ to accuse Him; in other words, they would say that He had ignored the Law, which of course He hadnt, but the man did, and despite the admonition).