The Beginning Of The Gospel Of Jesus Christ, The Son Of God
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” —Mark 1:1
As one studies the gospels, the reader should notice that each gospel writer presents the Lord in a different manner. In Matthew, Christ is portrayed as King. In Mark, He is portrayed as servant; in Luke as man, and in John, He is portrayed as God.
The book of Mark is beautiful in its simplicity. It is by far the shortest of the gospels, yet its beauty and richness is unparalleled.
Mark, it seems, is to have been of the tribe of Levi. John was his original Jewish name with Mark his Roman prefix, though it gradually began to surpass his Jewish name.
Many scholars believe that Mark wrote his gospel under the direction of Peter; however, he was, no doubt, a personal witness of the life and ministry of our Lord.
The Beginning
The opening phrase of the text— “The beginning” —refers to the ministry of John the Baptist as we see in verse 2.
John was the forerunner of Christ specially called to announce the coming of the Messiah. Without going into a lot of detail, every minister of the gospel should pay close attention to the ministry of John the Baptist. Luke 1:17 says of John, “And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
It’s our job to prepare people for the coming of the Lord. That means that ministry is not a popularity contest but an exposition of Bible truth.
The Gospel
The Greek word for gospel is euagelion, which means “a message of good news.” In the first century the word gospel was a word of common use for good news of any kind. Mark takes it out of any secular usage and links it to the message of salvation. This gospel of good news tells us that Jesus saves, heals, delivers, fills with the Holy Spirit, and is coming soon. The good news is that now because of Calvary man can be reconciled to God.
Jesus Christ
The name Jesus means Savior; Christ means “anointed,” so one could say, “Jehovah saves and is the Anointed One.” There is no name greater than Jesus Christ, for that name encompasses every doctrine in the Bible.
That precious name proclaims justification, sanctification, healing, joy, peace, grace, mercy, comfort, glory, majesty, and so much more.
The Son Of God
The phrase, “the Son of God,” expresses His relationship to the Father and that He is a separate, distinct person from the Father. The Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest said, “He proceeds by external generation from God the Father in a birth which never took place because it always was. By virtue of all this, He possesses co-eternally the same essence as God the Father.”
It is interesting to note that Mark 1:1 is made up of twelve words. The number twelve has great spiritual significance for it is God’s number for government. In the New Testament, we see the number twelve as follows:
• the twelve apostles
• the twelve foundations in the heavenly Jerusalem
• the twelve gates
• the twelve pearls
• the twelve angels
The New Jerusalem will be 12,000 furlongs square, while the wall will be 144 (12 × 12) cubits (Rev. 21:16-17). The number of the sealed in Rev. 7:4 will be 144,000—12,000 of each tribe. All of this points to a perfect government ruled over by the perfect Savior, Jesus Christ. As the old saying goes, “It’s all about Jesus.”
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