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preaching from Mark 1:14-15
“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came.” In 1:1-3, we see John the Baptist is the messenger and the voice who prepares the way of the Lord. In 1:7 and 8, we see John saying, “after me, he who is mightier than I is coming. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Now, John’s job is done and so Jesus is coming. His role as the promised precursor ends with the coming of the Greater One who would baptize with the Spirit (1:9-13). “After John was arrested, Jesus came.”
John has fulfilled his role and he’s arrested. And then Jesus came to be arrested later. The word “arrested” or “handed over” is used 20 times in Mark in such as 1) John was arrested, 2) Jesus was betrayed by Judas, 3) Jesus is arrested by the priests and the scribes; 4) the disciples will be delivered into the hands of the priests and scribes. This word is usually used in a passive form that John/Jesus/the disciples are arrested according to the plan of God.
“Jesuse came into Galilee.” Where is he coming from? Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but he grew up in Nazareth, Galilee. So Galilee was Jesus’ home and the home of his disciples. He did much of his ministry in Galilee. But here, it says Jesus is coming to Galilee. Where is he coming from? Look at verse 9, you’ll see that Jesus coming from Nazareth of Galilee to get baptized by John in the Jordan, which is in Judea, some 60 miles away from Nazareth. He got baptized and then was thrust into the wilderness to be tempted for forty days. Then he began his ministry in Judea.
Mark was not recording here the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, since He had already ministered in Judea for about a year (John 1:35–4:45). So there seems to be about one year gap between verse 13 and 14. Mark is not much interested in the chronology of Jesus’ ministry, but the theology that John was arrested, fulfilled his messenger role, and then “the Coming One” came. As Jesus came back to His hometown, he met the Samaritan woman on the way and told her that he was the “Coming One, the Messiah.” He came from Judea back to his hometown, Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God.
In verse 4, John came proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; in verse 7, John came preaching about the coming one who is greater than he. Now, in verse 14, Jesus demonstrates himself to be the “Greater One” by proclaiming the gospel of God. John fulfilled his role as the messenger according to the prophecies of Isaiah and Malachi, and preached a baptism of repentance. Jesus also fulfilled his role as the “Coming one” according to the prophecy of Isaiah, found in Isaiah 61:1: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. Not like John who proclaimed a baptism of repentance, Jesus proclaimed the gospel of God.
What is the gospel of God? To answer this question, we have to know what the gospel is. What is the gospel? Is it belief in the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it love God and love your neighbors? Is it abundant life? Is it helping the poor? Is it saying that you are born a champion? Not really, we are born a sinner. Is it being born again? Well, we should not restrict the gospel just in being born again. Then what is it?
Gospel simple means good news. So what do we do with good news? We announce it. Gospel is good news which is announced. So what’s the gospel of God? The gospel of God is good news about God which is announced – good news about what God was doing in the world supremely in and through Jesus Christ. Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. That’s the gospel. So the gospel includes God sending his Son to die, raising His Son from the death, reconciling, justifying, adopting sinners in and through his Son, etc.
The gospel of God in verse 14 and the gospel of Jesus Christ in verse 1 are parallel. The gospel comes from God in and through Jesus Christ and brings us back to God. Paul called it “the Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24) because there can be no salvation apart from grace (Eph. 2:8–9). There is only one Gospel (Gal 1:1–9), that is what God is doing in the word in and through Jesus Christ supremely on the cross (1 Cor 15:1–11). There is no other gospel. Let him who preaches another gospel be cursed.
So when Jesus made his proclamation, he made two declarations and two commands. The first declaration is the time is fulfilled. What does it mean? The Messianic time anticipated in the Old Testament is fulfilled. God’s appointed time of preparation and expectation, the Old Testament era, now stood fulfilled in accord with God’s plan (Gal 4:4; Heb 1:2; 9:6-15). The verb form of “fulfill” here expresses that there were events or processes that have produced this state. This is also what they called a “divine passive,” which means God is the agent. God made it fulfilled … to be cont.
Lian Kim
Only a sinner, saved by grace. When Jesus came into my heart, I was not what I had been. Born as the middle son of Nang Lian Mung’s five children- four males and one female. My Dad a professional tailor turned to be a volunteer evangelist has been preaching the gospel to not less than 150 villages. Not by flight, not by car, nor by motorcycle, but he took most of his travelings on foot. He saw God planting churches, saving hundreds of lives and changing ungodly characters and preparing them for the Master’s use. What a blessed man he is!
You can imagine how easy or hard it would be for me and my siblings. A volunteer evangelist didn’t bring back food, but souls. Could those souls cover school fees for five high school students? By no means! Did they have to quit schooling because they lacked finance? Never. O taste and see how good the Lord is. Once you really experience Jehovah Jireh, you will humbly look to him again and again. I can even recall quite a few moments in which God immidiately answered our prayers.
Serving the Lord has been our high call. All my siblings have followed my Dad’s step. As for me, there’s no truning back. Here I stand preparing to launch my boat into a deeper water. I know the Lord sails with me. Would you like to join us?
