\u201cThe beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.\u201d That\u2019s how Mark begins his Gospel. Similarly, Jesus\u2019 first statement in Mark is: \u201c”The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).<\/p>\n
But what is<\/em> the Gospel? What are we to believe?<\/p>\n Consider these eight elements of the Gospel stated or implied in this passage.<\/p>\n 1) God is King!<\/u><\/p>\n Jesus says the Kingdom of God is at hand. Who is king in the Kingdom of God?<\/p>\n God<\/em> is king in the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n And though we see all around us sin and misery and disaster, rebellion against God, anger at God, despising of the name of Jesus, God assures us: \u201cI am in control; I am bringing about My wise and good purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n In Daniel 7, God appears on His fiery throne, with ten thousand time ten thousand standing before Him. Then one like a Son of Man comes to Him – picturing Jesus coming to the Father \u2013 and the Father gives Jesus \u201cdominion and glory and a kingdom\u201d \u2013 that is, all <\/em>authority. Daniel then tells us He is the king not only of the Jews, but of all <\/em>peoples and nations. His kingdom will never end; He reigns forever.<\/p>\n So God is King. Jesus is King. No one rivals His power. As Jesus says in Matthew 28, \u201cAll authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.\u201d<\/p>\n Thus the Gospel begins with this truth: God is King. Jesus is King.<\/p>\n 2) His Kingdom is at hand<\/u>!<\/p>\n God gave Daniel that vision more than 500 years before the time of Jesus. The people have waited centuries for God\u2019s Kingdom to come. Finally, John the Baptist comes to prepare the way for the promised King, in fulfillment of prophesies through Isaiah and Malachi. John knows he is only a forerunner, saying, \u201cAfter me comes he who is mightier than I\u201d (Mark 1:7). Finally, the time is at hand (Mark 1:15). The return of the King is soon.<\/p>\n 3) This is terrible news for God\u2019s enemies<\/u><\/p>\n The Gospel, the Good News, is terrible news for those who remain God\u2019s enemies.<\/p>\n From the first man and woman, from Adam and Eve, all men have been rebels against God. All of us are \u201cby nature children of wrath\u201d (Ephesians 2:3). We have rebelled by saying:<\/p>\n Since God created us to love Him, to delight in Him, to show what He is like, we have thus violated the very purpose of our creation. God therefore has a perfect right to dispose of us \u2013 as we would dispose of a mug that leaks when we fill it with coffee. Indeed, the Apostle Paul tells us in that when Jesus comes from heaven, He will inflict \u201cvengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might\u201d (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).<\/p>\n You do not want to be among God\u2019s enemies on that day. But you need not be His enemy:<\/p>\n 4) This can be Good News for you<\/u>!<\/p>\n Mark says this is the beginning of the Good News of Jesus for you do not have to remain a rebel against God. You do not have to suffer the eternal punishment away from the Lord who is the source of everything good in you.<\/p>\n How can that happen? I can I change from being God\u2019s enemy?<\/p>\n Instead, Jesus says you must simply \u201crepent and believe the Gospel.\u201d That is, you must repent and believe the four elements of the Gospel we\u2019ve already stated: God is King, the Kingdom of God is at hand, this is terrible news for God\u2019s enemies, and this can be Good News for you. And you must believe the four remaining elements:<\/p>\n 5) Jesus is the Son of God<\/u><\/p>\n We see this in Mark 1:11. Jesus comes to John the Baptist at the Jordan River. John baptizes Him, lowering Him under the water, and raising Him up. Then: \u201cA voice came from heaven, \u2018You are my beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n If Jesus is the Son of God \u2013 what must be true about Him?<\/p>\n Picture your biological children. Or picture your biological parents. Can\u2019t you see your likeness in them? There is a family resemblance to you, isn\u2019t there?<\/p>\n Just so with Jesus.<\/p>\n Jesus is the Son of God, \u201cthe exact imprint of His nature\u201d (Hebrews 1:3). Indeed, Jesus tells His disciples. \u201cHe who has seen me has seen the Father\u201d (John 14:9).<\/p>\n So Jesus is the Son of God \u2013 but as we have seen, Daniel 7 calls Jesus the \u201cSon of Man.\u201d Indeed, Jesus refers to Himself by this title dozens of times.<\/p>\n The son of Mary, the one born in Bethlehem, who grew up in Nazareth, who taught in Galilee, who was crucified rose from the dead outside of Jerusalem, was a genuine man. Like you and me, He ate, He drank, He got tired, He had flesh and bones. He was human. Really human.<\/p>\n He was like us in every way except one.<\/p>\n Jesus is the only human who never sinned, who never rebelled against God. That\u2019s why God says at His baptism: \u201cWith You I am well pleased.\u201d<\/p>\n Jesus tells His listeners, \u201cRepent and believe in the Gospel\u201d – because that is the only <\/em>way to be put right with God. Your sin, your rebellion, your arrogance separates you from God. You are by nature under His wrath, condemned to that eternal punishment. But if you believe in this Gospel, if you believe in Jesus as Lord, Savior, and Treasure, God takes your sin, your condemnation, and assigns it entirely to Jesus hanging on the cross. Once Jesus takes the punishment you deserve, you yourself, united to Him, become well-pleasing <\/em>to God. For when God looks upon you, He sees His well-pleasing Son.<\/p>\n Thus, the only possible forgiveness of sins is through faith in risen Savior.<\/p>\n 8) Finally: God not only saves us from condemnation but God grants us Himself!<\/u><\/p>\n John says, \u201cI have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit\u201d (Mark 1:8). That is: In Christ, you will be covered with, filled with God Himself!<\/p>\n Once the Spirit fills you, He bears fruit in your life: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Thus, by the Spirit God is transforming you into the likeness of Jesus. You are being made like Him now and will be perfected on the Last Day.<\/p>\n Thus the Gospel includes not only freedom from condemnation, but freedom from slavery to sin now, and the promise of perfection when Jesus returns:<\/p>\n God will delight in you as He delights in His Son, and you will delight in Jesus as the Father delights in Him.<\/p>\n This is the Gospel, friends. Know it. Believe it. Proclaim it. Live it. Submit to your King. Rejoice in Your Savior. By the Spirit, walk as children of light. And eagerly anticipate Jesus\u2019 return.<\/p>\n [This devotion is based on part of the October 3, 2021 sermon on Mark 1:1-15. You can watch that service at this link<\/a>; the sermon audio is available here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThe beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.\u201d That\u2019s how Mark begins his Gospel. Similarly, Jesus\u2019 first statement in Mark is: \u201c”The time is fulfilled, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,15],"tags":[2419,2412,2418,2414,2411,2420,2416,571,2415,657,736,865,883,1290,1388,2417,2410,2413],"class_list":["post-3052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-devotions","tag-alien-righteousness","tag-ancient-of-days","tag-by-grace-through-faith","tag-children-of-wrath","tag-daniel-7","tag-elements-of-the-gospel","tag-eternal-destruction","tag-fruit-of-the-spirit","tag-gods-vengeance","tag-gospel","tag-holy-spirit","tag-judgment","tag-kingdom-of-god","tag-rebellion","tag-salvation","tag-son-of-god","tag-son-of-man","tag-the-time-is-at-hand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3052"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3055,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3052\/revisions\/3055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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