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The Gospel of Mark begins with a proclamation that what we are about to read is good news. Gospel comes from the Old English godspel, "good story" or "good news". This is a good story and it brings good news and we need to pay careful attention to it (Hebrews 2:1).
The word "beginning" is also significant and suggests the opening verse of Genesis. John's Gospel makes an even more explicit link with Genesis when he writes:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning."(John
1:1-2)
Sometimes advertisers characterise the products they promote in this way, "The original and the best", or "Don't settle for less than the original product". Here we have the beginning of the original gospel story, the true beginning of the true original. We may lose it and then rediscover it, as did King Josiah (2 Chron.34), or we may stray from it and come back to it as in the days of Hezekiah (2 Chron.29-31), but it cannot be supplanted or replaced by later "revelation" claiming to be a new beginning. This is the original and unsurpassed good news.
Just as this "beginning" is linked in the minds of the gospel writers to Genesis, so the events described in the gospels are a fulfilment of what has been written. "It is written in Isaiah the prophet", declares Mark in verse 2, showing that this beginning is also a continuation of what has gone before. And, as though to confirm that this is the long-awaited fulfilment of prophecy, Jesus proclaims in verse 15:
"The time has come…The kingdom of God is near.
Repent and believe the good news!"
This beginning is also a kind of end - an end of waiting. This is a
culmination of all God has done before in His dealings with men. The
time has come for what? "The time has come, the kingdom is near." The
kingdom is near because the King has drawn near - Christ the King. Jesus
is almost shouting at us, the kingdom of God is near - get into the
kingdom. How are we to do that? "Repent and believe the good news".
If you believe the good news, the good news about Jesus Christ, if you have repented and believed then the kingdom of God is yours:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit (those who recognise
their spiritual poverty before God and repent), for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven" (Matthew 5:3).
May we walk this week in the sure knowledge of the nearness of the kingdom and the assurance of the love of the King. Good news indeed.
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