The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible

by Michael S. Heiser

First, Mark’s note that the heavens were “split apart” is significant. The Greek lemma is schizo. Mark’s choice of the term in connection with the water baptism of Jesus has drawn the attention of scholars because of the use of schizo in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament used by Jesus and the apostles. Not coincidentally, schizo is the verb used in Exodus 14:21 to describe the miraculous parting of the sea.12 Think back to our discussion of the exodus event.13 The deliverance from Egypt was a victory over hostile gods. In Exodus 15:11 Moses asked the rhetorical question, “Who is like Yahweh among the gods?” The answer was obvious: no one. The exodus event was a release from exile. Yahweh brought his people out of Egypt to reconstitute them as a nation and re-establish his Edenic kingdom rule on earth. Mark wants readers to see that a new exodus event is happening. The kingdom of God is back, and this time it will not fail because it’s being led by the visible Yahweh, now incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth.14 The imagery is even more startling when we factor in Jude 5, a passage we looked at earlier in this chapter. Jude has Jesus leading a people out of Egypt. The reference was to the visible Angel, who was Yahweh in human form, who brought Israel out of Egypt into the promised land (Judg 2:1–2; cf. Exod 23:20–23).