A 5-day per week study.

January 1 – Reading Mark 1:1-15.

Read and believe in Jesus.

“…Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”  Mark 1:14b-15

 

The Gospel According to Mark (and probably Peter)

“John Mark” was a close companion of the apostle Peter. It was to Mark’s mother’s home that Peter went when the angel miraculously released him from prison.  Like Paul with Timothy, Peter called Mark, “my son.” (1 Peter 5:13)

We all remember how the youthful Mark accompanied his cousin Barnabus and Saul on their first missionary journey, and how when the trip had only just begun, Mark quit and went home.  This was a black mark on Mark for Paul, and he said “No,” when Barnabus suggested taking him on the second Missions trip.  Paul ended up taking Silas, and Barnabas took Mark with him to his home on Cyprus.  With a name like “encourager,” Barnabas probably patiently trained and taught the young man to be useful in ministry. 

Mark later became a valuable help to both Paul (Colossians 4:10, Philemon 24, 2 Timothy 4:11) and Peter, who, himself, knew what it was like to fail. It was probably from this close assocation and listening to Peter’s account, that Mark got the details about the life and ministry of Jesus. Peter might even have dictated some of it to John Mark.  Mark is sometimes called “the memoirs of Peter.”  

The Gospel was probably written while both Peter and Mark were in Rome. His gospel was for Roman believers, probably mostly Gentiles.  Since Christians were under intense persecution in Rome, Mark presents Jesus as “the Suffering Servant,” emphasizing Jesus’ deeds and service more than His teaching. 

 

Mark 1:1-15.

Vs. 1. The “gospel” means “good news.” Mark’s book is the good news about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Yeshua Messiah),

 

Vss 2-3. Right off the bat, Mark quotes Isaiah (40:3) and Malachi (3:1) about the coming of John the Baptist. There is no mention of John’s birth, or the geneaology and birth of Jesus. Mark gets right to the topic.

(You’ll notice that this story moves rapidly. It’s a book of action. Mark often uses the word, “immediately.”)

 

Vss. 4-8. Mark moves quickly from “a voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way for the Lord” to John the Baptist, in the wilderness, proclaiming repentence and baptism as a way to prepare hearts for the coming Messiah. He also portrays John the Baptist as a prophet, looking a lot like Elijah. And, amazingly, “all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem went out to him to confess their sins and be baptised.”

 

Vss 9-11.  And suddenly Jesus shows up.  He walked all the way from Nazareth to the Jordan River in Judea to be baptised.

Now in Mark, we see no objection by John to baptising Jesus.  It’s like Mark is saying, “You can read about that in the other gospels. The main point is that He was and John did it.” 

Oh, and that beaufiful sign of approval from God – the Spirit decending like a dove on Jesus (from a ripped open sky – did you get that?).  It was affirmation that Jesus’ most important, world-changing, 3-year ministry had truly begun.

(And from the other Gospels, we know that the dove also affirmed to J the B that Jesus truly was the “Lamb of God” who would take away the sin of the world.)

 

Vss 12-13.  Mark says that “IMMEDIATELY the Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness. (You wonder if he was still dripping wet from the baptism!!)  He was out there 40 days. Satan tempted Him. There were wild animals there too.  Oh, and angels ministered to him.

(There is no mention of Jesus’ powerful, reflecting answers taken right from the Old Testament (See Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13.)  I missed that, for it teaches me how to respond when I’m tempted by “the world, the flesh, and the devil.”)

 

Vss 14-15.  With John’s main job done (preparing the way for Jesus, identifying Him, and baptising Him), the prophet is now arrested by Herod, who hated his “yakking about my marriage to my niece!”  (We’ll see more about John and Herod in chapter 6.)

With this, Jesus moves north to Galilee. 

(Jesus did minister some in Judea/Jerusalem before this, including cleansing the Temple, and His midnight meeting with Nicodemus. He also encountered “the Samaritan woman at the well” on His way to Galilee.) 

But Galilee will see the majority of ministry by Jesus, interspersed by trips to Jerusalem for the Jewish Feasts/Festivals, some of which Jewish men were required to attend.  

Here Jesus began proclaiming “the gospel of God,” saying, “The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.”

.

WHAT time was fuliflled? 

Take a peak at Daniel 9:25.   “Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of the Annointed One, a Prince, there shall be seven weeks.“

Seven weeks? That is seven weeks of years = 490 years.   Counting from when God stirred Cyrus, King of Persia, to allow the exiled Jews to return to the Holy Land to rebuild the temple (2 Chronicles 36:22-23), until the coming of the Messiah (Jesus), would be 490 years.  And it was.  John the Baptist had been the first prophet of God to speak to Israel in over 400 years. And he had announced the coming of the Messiah, the Annointed One.

Jesus’ message?  Repent and BELIEVE.

.