Introducing… The Gospel!

Christmas 2022

I love the way the gospel of Mark begins. It is incredibly direct and full of content. Mark’s first line – the line that is meant to captivate his readers – is this:

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

Right there, dear friends, is likely the simplest definition of the Gospel. And one of the best launching pads for unpacking and diving deeply into the Gospel.

Mark is writing to Gentiles, many of whom would have not had a deep understanding of the Bible, or the customs of the Jewish people. This is why he isn’t wordy, and keeps his sentences short. His purpose is to introduce people who aren’t familiar with the Bible to Jesus. We can learn something from this. Yet let’s not miss that though Mark says few words, those words are full of content.

            This gospel that Mark wrote is the record of true events that happened in history. “Gospel” means good news. But notice that Mark gets specific. This is not his gospel; this is not good news about him, or about old-man Levi down the street; and it’s not about humanity. This is a gospel about Jesus.

Jesus: The Nazarene

What does the name Jesus tell us? Thankfully, we don’t have to guess. The name Jesus means savior. An angel told Joseph to name Him Jesus, because “he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Already Mark is pointing us to see that this Son of God is on a mission. Before we go on, though, there is more in this name that Mark wants us to see. Look down at Mark 1:9, the very next time the name Jesus is used.

“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee….”

            That’s shocking! It’s shocking because Nazareth wasn’t a place you wanted to be. No one important came out of Nazareth (much less anything good)! It was like a place to find a cheap motel on the way to somewhere better. We don’t understand this now because we hear of Nazareth all the time. But let me rephrase this verse to try and show you what it was like for the first readers…

“In those days, Jesus came from Nowhere, somewhere in Galilee.”

Mark is saying that the place Jesus was raised in, the place that he calls home, is a place nobody thinks of as a good or important place to be.[i] They only despised it (John 1:46; 7:41, 52).

            You know what’s more shocking? This was God’s plan. Matthew 2:23 tells us that he grew up in Nazareth to fulfill what the prophets had spoken of in the Old Testament. Where did the prophets prophesy this exactly? Unless you associate Nazareth with being despised, you’d never figure it out. The prophets never explicitly prophesied that Jesus would come from Nazareth, only that Jesus would be despised (Isaiah 53:3).[ii]

Jesus didn’t come to be great and powerful in wrath towards sinners. No, He came on a mission “to save His people from their sins.” He had to come in the fullness of what it meant to be human, yet without sin, to be able to save sinful humans (Romans 8:3). This is why Jesus was a Nazarene from His birth, throughout His ministry, during His crucifixion, in resurrection, and into His ascension. Why? Because, in everything, Jesus was doing what is necessary for our salvation as a true human being. He did everything as Jesus of Nazarene.

Christ: The Anointed One

            What about “Christ?” What does that tell us about this Gospel and who He is? Again, we don’t have to guess! Christ means the anointed one, or the Messiah. This term again reminds us that Jesus is on a mission in fulfillment of God’s plan (Romans 1:1-2), but it’s richer than even that! Look down at Mark 1:10.

            After Jesus was baptized (which was a wonderful picture of how Jesus was bearing the sin of His people for them, though He Himself had no sin), Mark records that

“when He came up out of the water, immediately He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove.”

That’s what anointing looks like! Jesus is the One anointed with God the Spirit. From God the Father the Spirit comes to rest on Jesus – not just a little bit of the Spirit – the Father gives the whole Person of the Spirit lavishly! Not begrudgingly – God’s not trying to hold Him back (John 3:34).

            Why is this so important? Because Jesus and the Father likewise anoint those who go to Jesus for salvation with the Spirit! When Jesus was preparing to ascend into heaven, He told His disciples that He will give them the Spirit to be with them forever so that, in the Spirit, He would still be with them (John 14:16-18).

            Hold on though, it gets better! The Apostle Paul writes in Titus 3:5-7 that God has poured out the Holy Spirit on believers richly through Jesus, so that we are heirs of eternal life! We will come back to what it means to be an heir in a moment, but don’t miss the reference to eternal life! That’s not talking about a boring, endless existence up in the clouds. It’s talking about God’s own eternal life, which we get to share in with Jesus by His Spirit!

            God’s life is eternal in duration. It doesn’t have a start; and it doesn’t have an end. God’s life is also eternal in goodness. God hasn’t been bored or lonely for the duration of eternity. Why? Because the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have infinitely loved each other for all eternity! This is what Jesus says (praying to His Father) in John 17:24. And it is this eternal life of love that Christ wants to share with us!

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

What exactly does it mean to share in this eternal life? Well, Jesus explains in verse 3:

“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

            That’s it! It’s by knowing Jesus – the One who came on a mission to save sinners, the One who is anointed with the Spirit – and the only true God, His Father! Another time we will dive into this more. Right now, we have one thing further to explore!

Jesus Christ, The Son of God

            What does it mean that Jesus Christ is “the Son of God?”

            Someone was once asked, “What do you think about God?”, to which he replied, “We’ve never been properly introduced.”[iii] Mark wants to introduce us to God. When we see Jesus Christ throughout this gospel, the point Mark wants to make is this: Jesus Christ is truly God, and when we see Him, we see who God is. Throughout the gospel we see that Jesus has teaches with His own authority, not someone else’s (Mark 1:21). We see that He has authority over sickness (Mark 1:31, 34), nature (Mark 4:39), Spiritual darkness (Mark 5:13), death (Mark 5:41-42), and sin (Mark 2:5) – authority only God possesses – and everybody knew it![iv]

            That’s not all Mark wants us to understand about Jesus Christ being “the Son of God.” Look down at Mark 1:11.

“And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’”

When the Spirit comes to rest on Jesus at the start of His earthly ministry, God the Father has something to make clear! This is His Son who He loves; and He is pleased with Him.

            When we talk about Jesus being the Son of God, we are talking about the deepest and most delightful truths imaginable. When Mark says that Jesus is the Son of God, he is telling us about who the Father is (the One who loves Jesus), and who the Spirit is (the One who delights in and loves the Father and the Son), and who Jesus is (God with us; the One who is perfectly loved by God the Father)! This is Gods eternal life!

Here – for all the world to see – God is fully communicating who He is. Jesus Christ stands on earth as the Nazarene, lowly identifying with those He has come to save. The Spirit, coming from the Father, rests on Him, showing that all the goodness and joy of God rest on Him. And the Father speaks for all the world to hear: “I LOVE MY SON, and I am already completely pleased with Him!” An opening into heaven, a beautiful light, a booming voice!

The next time we see a scene like this is later, in Mark 9:2-13. Peter, James, and John witness the transfiguration – when God gives them a peek at Jesus in His majesty. The experience was intense, there was other-worldly beauty, and Moses and Elijah (the two major figures of the Old Testament show up)! The disciples are shocked and terrified! Then, the Father speaks again,

“a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son; listen to him.’”

Immediately after God said that, they just saw Jesus. No more intensity, no more other-worldly majesty, only Jesus. Just standing there, alone. No fanfare, no worldly majesty that we should look at Him; no particular beauty that we should desire Him (Isaiah 53:2). Just Him. And that’s the point. If we truly want to see, know, and hear God, we don’t need to look anywhere else. That’s why God tells us to listen to Him. “There is no God in heaven who is unlike Jesus. Jesus is the glory of God, the very substance of His being. He is the radiance of His Father who shows us exactly what His Father is like.”[v]

The Full Gospel

            This is a full Gospel. We didn’t and don’t fill it. This is a full Gospel because we have a full God! It’s about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In Him all the fullness of God dwells bodily (Colossians 1:19). The Father hasn’t held anything back – no, He hasn’t held His Son or His Spirit! He provides everything we need for salvation from sin and death. We dare not add anything to this Gospel, or take anything away. He started this mission; and overflowing in His fullness, we get to join in!

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[i] Peter Mead, Pleased to Dwell (2014). Christian Focus Publications, p. 105-111.

[ii] English Standard Bible (2011). Crossway, p. 1823.

[iii] Rico Tice, Christianity Explored (2002). The Good Book Company, p. 8.

[iv] Rico Tice, Christianity Explored (2002). The Good Book Company, p. 8-17.

[v] Michael Reeves (2021). Overflow, p. 35.