The Book of Mark is one of four books that sets forth the four-fold earthly-life and death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It emphasizes Jesus Christ being God's servant and it details his activities showing how he carried-out God's intention.
Mark 1:1-3:
1:1Beginning of the good-message of Jesus Christ, son of God, .2according as it was written2 in Isaiah, the prophet (Isaiah), "Look!, I apostle My angel before your face who will fully-prepare your way; .3a sound crying-aloud in the desert-place, you must prepare the way of (the) Lord, you must make his paths straight."
Mark explains that this is the beginning (start, commencement) of...
...according as it was written and continues written in Isaiah, emphatically the Prophet Isaiah (as part of the old covenant writings [some Greek texts have "the prophets" instead of the singular word referring to Isaiah only, however, a combination of quotations from the various prophets were usually ascribed to Isaiah]; a "prophet" is a person who speaks-forth God's words being revealed to him concerning the past, present and/or future to, before, in front of a person or people; this word places emphasis on speaking to others)...
These quotations are taken from Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3 prophesying about John the baptizer (baptist). John was the person who was carrying-out this prophecy - he was preparing the people of Israel for the Lord Jesus Christ to come after him carrying-out his own ministry to those people. These verses reference what is written in Exodus 23:20-23 where God spoke to Moses regarding how He would help him and the children of Israel to proceed. In Exodus, God spoke of His "angel" referring to one of His spirit-beings. An angel is a spirit-being whose office and character is one of a messenger. The word "angel" comes from the Greek word aggello which means to tell or deliver a message and therefore an angel could be called a messenger. Here in Mark 1:2, Mark likens John the baptizer to that angel in Exodus who prepared the way for Moses and the children of Israel to do what God wanted them to do. John, of course, was not a spirit-being but he did the same function on behalf of God for Jesus and he delivered the message to the people of Israel preparing the way for Jesus to come after John among the people.
[Reference: Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1; Matthew 3:3, 11:10; Luke 3:4, 7:27; John 1:23. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (2) immediately following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]
You may purchase a printed paperback book of Mark at:
or
