God Sends His Prophet....

In the Old Testament, the primary way that God communicated to His people was through the prophets. While each prophet had a different audience, their message was the same: turn to God. However, the period of time in which the prophets spoke to God’s people abruptly ended with the prophet Malachi’s final word. That word, depending on your translation, is “curse” or “destruction” (Malachi 4:5). And, as that word fell upon the ears of Israel, it sealed the Old Testament record with a haunting echo! Furthermore, following this final message from Malachi, there were 430 years with no divine revelation whatsoever from God to His people (no vision, dream or spoken word). As much as these final Old Testament words were haunting, the New Testament’s first words of hope are just as powerful as they, like a storm’s initial rumble, speak of the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark’s introduction to this gospel is a lightning strike that produces one of two responses in the hearts of readers; either a fire of repentance or a fire of rebellion. Additionally, the first eight verses of chapter 1 provide four divine revelations. The first divine revelation is….  

The gospel is the good news of Jesus 

Five words into this book is a politically charged word for any citizen of the Roman empire; it is the word “gospel”. This word was not coined by Christians; rather, the concept was significant in Roman culture. It meant “good news” and was associated with the worship of the emperor on his birthday. They called these events “evangels”. In fact, archaeologists found a calendar inscription to the emperor Octavian Augustus, dated nine years before the birth of our Savior that reads the following: “the birthday of the god was for the world the beginning of good news….” (Lane). By opening his gospel with the incredibly strong statement found in Mark 1:1, Mark is making the very significant point that the true God has come. His name is Jesus, meaning “Yahweh is salvation.” Christ is the title reserved for the Messiah, the promised one of Israel. If Mark’s title did not create enough conflict in the hearts and minds of skeptical Romans, Mark's second descriptor, the “Son of God”, will. There is no doubt that there was a test of loyalties when the Messiah King came into this world! Likewise, that same test of loyalty exists for us today. Friend, the gospel of Jesus is not just a greeting. This gospel has content with that content being Jesus Himself. He is the sum and substance of the gospel and it is imperative that we correctly and fully comprehend who Jesus is. Mark knows this; thus, he will spend the next sixteen chapters explaining, arguing, illustrating and defending that Jesus Christ is the Son of God!

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