Mark 1:5

‘And there went out to him all the country of Judaea, and all those of Jerusalem, and they were baptised of him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.’

‘There went out to him --.’ The verb indicates a continuing process, there was a continual stream of seekers.

‘All the country of Judaea and all those of Jerusalem.’ The inhabitants of Jerusalem always distinguished themselves from the inhabitants of the surrounding area (compare Isaiah 1:1; Isaiah 2:1; etc). In the Old Testament they were constantly spoken of separately. This was because originally Jerusalem was an independent city which was David’s by conquest, using only his own followers to capture it, and it was only then that it was combined with Judah and Israel to form a united kingdom. It thus always saw itself as distinctive, as ‘David’s city’ (2 Samuel 5:7; 2 Samuel 5:9 and often).

‘All the country -- all those of --.’ This is a generalisation and means a great proportion of them so that it could almost be seen as all. There was a huge revival movement. This is confirmed by Josephus, the Jewish historian, when he says ‘many flocked to him, for they were greatly moved by hearing his words, ---’ which he then connects with John’s death at the hands of Herod.

‘And were baptised of him in the River Jordan confessing their sins.’ By their baptism they were indicating repentance and turning to God in preparation for the coming age and openly owning up to their sins. This was no formal ritual of confession but the reflection of a people truly broken down because of their sense of guilt and shame, and unable to hold back. They were people of a broken and contrite spirit (Psalms 34:18; Psalms 51:17; Isaiah 57:15) seeking the fruitfulness of life which would result from the Spirit’s outpouring. So he baptised them signifying that they were now seen as ‘worthy’ as a result of their repentance to be recipients of that coming, end of the age, outpouring of Holy Spirit promised by the prophets. Yet the fact of this movement, with the people flocking to hear, and responding to, John’s preaching, did demonstrate that the Holy Spirit was already now at work in some measure (see above), and would especially be so in the ministry of Jesus (Luke 4:1; Luke 11:13; Matthew 12:28), which was why Jesus could chide Nicodemus for not being aware of the significance of being born of the Spirit (John 3:10). The promise was, however, that even better was to come (John 7:38-39; Acts 1:8).