Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. WEB
When Peter and the rest begin proclaiming Christ, they had to work from the Old Testament as there is no New Testament for them to use. Within the Old Testament, there is no chapter that played a bigger role than Isaiah 53 in Peter’s understanding of the significance of the cross as substitution and satisfaction. Many modern people have moved away from this idea due to a bad understanding of what this means. A typical view is that it is some type of divine child abuse but since Jesus is God, this is God doing it to Himself. The idea that it is something being done to Jesus by an angry God (or to appease an angry God) takes away the very divinity of Christ. Of course, many who don’t believe in substitutionary atonement also don’t believe in the divinity of Jesus. Nevertheless, the death of Christ brings sin and forgiveness to the forefront.
Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God. 2 As it has been written in the prophet Isaiah: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way.” 3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness,‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths.’” 4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the region of Judea and all of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins. ….8 I baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” 9 And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. 10 And immediately going up from the water, he saw the heavens tearing open and the Spirit descending as a dove upon Him. 11 And a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My Son, the beloved; in You I am well pleased.” BLB
Mark is associated with the Apostle Peter. There are some ancient sources that tell us that Mark began work on this while Peter was still alive while other sources say it was after Peter had died. Unlike the other Gospel accounts that contain some earlier history regarding Jesus, Mark comes right out of the gate with his thesis statement for everything that he is about to write.
John the Baptist is deliberately positioned as Elijah not just in Mark but in all four Gospels. “Beloved son” comes from Psalm 2:7 and “well pleased” comes from Isaiah 42. Mark 1:10 is reminiscent of Isaiah 64:1
Isaiah 64:1 Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence, WEB
Immediately after the baptism, Jesus is tempted in the wilderness by Satan. He begins His public ministry with a call to repentance in Mark 1:15 then early in chapter two, heals the paralytic after first telling the man that his sins are forgiven. Afterward, He informs the scribes in the audience, who are silently accusing Him of blasphemy, that He does indeed have the authority to forgive sins. He goes on to say a few verses later that His calling is with sinners rather than with the righteous because it is the sick who are in need of a doctor. He makes the first reference to His future death at the end of the chapter in the discussion of the bridegroom.
In the next several chapters, we are given stories that deal with sin, fear (including the fear of death) as well as some examples of people with terrible afflictions. Mark doesn’t tell us if their conditions came about through something these people have done or if it is something beyond their control. Either way, Jesus comes through victorious in all of these situations (although it is interesting that none of these stories take place in Nazareth because of their unbelief).
Each time Jesus does something, people (including the disciples) ask “Who is this”? Surprisingly, the apostles just seem to get dumber and dumber as time goes by despite being with Jesus every day. There is also growing opposition from the religious leaders as Jesus is correcting their teachings and skewering them for the poor job they have done in taking care of their flocks.
Mark 8:31 He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. WEB
Immediately after Peter has proclaimed Him the Christ, Jesus makes the first of what will be three predictions about His future death. Note the “must suffer” which indicates that it is part of a plan.
Acts 2:23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. NASB
Revelation 13: 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. KJ
Each time they hear about His death, the disciples seem to be distracted with trivial things such as who is the greatest among them. We then get to the third time Jesus brings this up and we see John and James asking to be able to sit on either side of Jesus in His glory. He explanation to them ends:
Mark 10:45 For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” WEB
We are in bondage (kidnapped, if you will) to sin and death but Jesus has paid the ransom for many. This verse has caused some problems with many commentators but the for our purposes here, start by looking at the teachings of Jesus that Mark has given us such as the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4 as well as considering the reaction of the people in the region of the Gerasenes who asked Jesus to leave after losing 2,000 pigs and those in Nazareth.
1Peter 1:18 knowing, as you do, that it was not with a ransom of perishable wealth, such as silver or gold, that you were set free from your frivolous habits of life which had been handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ—as of an unblemished and spotless lamb. 20He was pre-destined indeed to this work, even before the creation of the world, but has been plainly manifested in these last days for the sake of you who, through Him, 21 are faithful to God, who raised Him from among the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are resting upon God. WEY
In chapters 14 through 16, Mark wants us to understand these events is through the lens of Passover. Passover (the Festival of Redemption) is the commemoration of the Jews being freed from slavery in Egypt after a series of 10 plagues. Note that while the Jews were safe from the first nine, God had specific instructions for this tenth and final plague in which the firstborn would be killed. The failure to follow these commands of killing an unblemished, one year old lamb and wiping the blood from the lamb on the top and sides of the door-frame would leave that Jewish household to the same fate as the Egyptian households.
Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. KJ
God ordered that the Jews were to observe Passover annually. In these celebrations, the Passover lambs were taken to to the Temple to be killed and their blood was sprinkled onto the altar.
Mark 14:23 He took a cup, and when he had given thanks, He gave to them. They all drank of it. 24 He said to them, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many. NHEB
The disciples, as would anyone who was Jewish, when hearing the words “new covenant” would immediately know what Jesus was talking about:
Jeremiah 31:31 Look, the days come,” says the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, and I disregarded them,” says the LORD. 33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the LORD: “I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people: 34 and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD’; for they shall all know me, from their least to their greatest, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sins I will remember no more.” NHEB
The people are given a choice between Barabbas and Jesus. Barabbas is clearly a sinner and like us, he deserved his punishment. Jesus, whom Pilate has declared to be innocent, steps in and takes his place.
Mark 14:33 Now when it was noon, there was darkness over the whole land until three in the afternoon. NHEB
The references to darkness show up not only in the Gospels but throughout the Bible (for example, being cast into the outer darkness). On the cross, Jesus is confronting that darkness – the separation from God. Right after Jesus dies in chapter 15, the veil covering the entrance to the Holy of Holies is torn (same Greek word that we seen at the baptism of Jesus where the heavens are torn open) and in that moment, everything changes and the separation between God and man is gone. Just in case the people (and perhaps some people today) weren’t paying attention, there is the Roman centurion who sums up what he has just witnessed by stating that “Truly this Man was the Son of God” (KJ).
The significance of Christ’s death is that it fulfilled God’s plan for atonement. While some may try, you can’t argue against Paul using Mark as both understand the significance of Christ’s death as how it fulfilled God’s plan for atonement. While some might question why does Jesus suffer and die if He is the Son of God, this question loses its relevance when viewed through the lens of this wonderful plan.