Mark "The Gospel of Jesus Christ"
The greetings/introductions to each of the New Testament books reveal who Jesus is, His leaders are, and who the church is individually-collective, and this blog series is to help us understand how that allows God’s people to receive revelation into a deeper relational existence than they had prior to knowing this amazing map of our journey that He has given to us.
The Gospel According to Mark’s greeting is, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.”
The one and only time that the phrase, “the gospel of Jesus Christ” is in the Bible is here in the first sentence of Mark. Before this statement, the gospel was only attached to the phrase, “gospel of the kingdom.” This statement, “the gospel of Jesus Christ” has a minimized emphasis and is certainly overlooked by many people; because, that is how God slowly introduces His people to the truth. The Bible continues with paring the gospel with words such as: of our Lord Jesus, Christ, God, grace, and uses the gospel as a stand-alone word many times, but this is the only time it is used this particular way, and it tells His people very directly who He is and the purpose of His being. Jesus Christ came with “The Good News;” because, He is “The Good News.”
The next thing Mark writes is, “the Son of God” This is again a direct statement without any supporting lineage or explanation. Mark is known for its bold, simple approach, and this allows us to know simply that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He does not need any explanation.
However, Mark continues, by writing, “Behold, I send my messenger before thy face…” God told of the messenger that would come and prepare His people for accepting Jesus Christ before He sent the messenger and the messenger was sent as God stated. This is the same thing He does for His people today. They may receive the messenger or reject him, but he always comes before Jesus appears to God’s people to prepare the way for Jesus to accomplish His purpose.
Tomorrow’s blog is Luke’s introduction which states, “having had perfect understanding”
