The Full GospelSample

The Time Has Come // The Gospel According to Mark

Today, we’re looking at the second gospel account, found in the Book of Mark. As you’ll see, it’s very similar to what we read yesterday—with some interesting changes that will help to deepen our understanding and appreciation of what God has done, is doing, and will do through Jesus.

He starts by saying:

…Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:14-15 NIV

Mark wants to make it very from the beginning that this message from Jesus is the good news of God. Why? Because, unlike Matthew, Mark primarily wrote his account of Jesus’ life to a non-Jewish audience. Meaning, the people reading this book would have been far less knowledgeable of the Jewish Scriptures (what we call the “Old Testament”) and all the expectations pointing to the Messiah (the chosen Savior and King promised by God).

So right off the bat, Mark includes a little bit more detail to help us recognize the significance of the words Jesus is about to say. He notes Jesus saying, “The time has come …” Jesus is announcing that something God promised long ago, and the people of God have been waiting for for generations, has finally arrived. He’s saying, “That thing everyone has been looking forward to has finally started! The wait is over!”

Jesus declares, “The kingdom of God has come near.” Heaven, the place from where God rules, was coming to earth. This is the same kingdom Matthew referenced yesterday, but through the lens of a different audience.

Matthew wrote to a primarily Jewish audience, where the name of God is respected so highly that they would often use another word in place of it just to make sure they didn’t use God’s name in vain.

But Mark, writing to non-Jewish people, chose to simply call it the “kingdom of God.”

While it’s slightly different, what’s most important is what remains the same. In both gospels, the announcement Jesus is making is that the rule and reign of God has come near, it’s taking root in history, and everyone is invited.

Also similar to Matthew’s gospel, Mark records Jesus declaring, “Repent and believe the good news!” But instead of simply saying, “repent,” Mark’s gospel includes the word, “believe.” Why? Because, unlike the people who grew up on the Jewish Scriptures, many of the people in the Greek and Roman world saw our physical lives as being separate from our spiritual lives.

Jesus isn’t asking us to simply follow Him with our bodies or our minds. He wants all of us: heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Mark wants to make it clear that Jesus isn’t just looking for us to change our behaviors. He’s asking us to surrender our whole lives. For Jesus, repentance was more than just believing something is true, or behaving in a certain way.

Repentance is about both: changing what we believe and how we live.

According to Jesus, repentance is the entrance to the kingdom of God. We choose to trust and believe in the God whose kingdom has come near, and choose to live and act in accordance to the commands of our King.

Now the question becomes, What does it really mean to be a part of God’s kingdom? As we talked about yesterday, a kingdom is a group of people ruled by a king. In the kingdom of God, Jesus is our King, and His followers are our people. When we choose to trust in Jesus, we are born again into a new family with people who have been forgiven and redeemed by the grace and goodness of Jesus.

This means that once you become a Christian, you have a place and a people you belong to. The people of God, the Body of Christ, is God’s solution to the isolation, loneliness, and lostness that so many spend their whole lives trying to escape.

And while there are a lot of different metaphors and images that Scripture uses to illustrate the kingdom of God, the one that most people will be familiar with is the church. (No, we aren’t talking about a building.) We’re talking about the people of God who gather together to worship in His name.

Before the word “church” ever referred to a building, it meant “a gathering of people for a specific purpose.” The Greek word for church is ekklesia. In its original context, this word described Greek citizens of equal rank and authority who gathered together to make decisions for their community.

And this gathering of equals who work together to serve their community is what the church is meant to be. We have a King. His name is Jesus. He is the head of the body, the Ruler of His kingdom, and the One who is ultimately in charge.

He has called us to be His representatives and ambassadors: making decisions, solving problems, offering compassion, extending forgiveness, acting with goodness, and establishing justice so His kingdom will advance and His name will be glorified.

If you are a follower of Jesus, you have a responsibility to play your part in His good plans for the world. We don’t simply sit around and wait for Him to finish what He started, but we get in the game and run the play that we’ve been given: loving God, loving others, and making disciples of all nations.

The time has come for us to become the good news for others that Jesus has been for us.