A Commentary on Mark by Lion of Patmos Videos: Perturbing the Devils (Mark 1:21-28)

Courtesy of Lion of Patmos

In our previous presentation we read Mark’s succinct account of the forty days in the wilderness, using it as an opportunity to identify the Adversary who tried Christ. The evidence pointed towards them being an incredulous and scornful descendant of Cain, perhaps an individual or group from those racial vipers among the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to enquire of John the Baptist.

This interpretation is supported by the fact that the Adversary challenged Christ to prove that He was the Son of Yahweh at a very early point in His ministry, and the only reasonable explanation for their insight is that they were present some days or weeks earlier at the Jordan, when the declaration from heaven sounded out: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am satisfied!" Of course, being a viper, they would have naturally sought to challenge that testimony.

Christ being immersed in the Jordan and then going on to be tried by a descendant of Cain in the wilderness mirrored the history of the children of Israel in a very direct and literal way, because when Israel entered the wilderness after an immersion in the Red Sea, they were tempted by murmurers among the “mixed multitude”. Some of those vipers in their midst would have been the descendants of Shelah, the bastard son of Judah. The people failed and hardened their hearts in the wilderness, but Christ triumphed over the viper and made “propitiation for the failures of the people”.

Much how the adversary in the wilderness fled from Christ, we will now see the further perturbation of Yahweh’s enemies as we continue with Mark, while His children will only become increasingly comforted and jubilant. 

Read the essay here. Download the video here or view at the Media site.