The Gospel Of The Kingdom
THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM
MARK 1:14-15
Jesus announces the good news.
Jesus had already been active before John was arrested (John 3:22-24), but this event marked the commencement of his own work proper in the area around Galilee. Galilee was a comparatively small area, some 50 miles long and 25 wide.
His work is fully summed up as “preaching the gospel of God.” Although the Gospel of Mark concentrates chiefly on what Jesus did, he was fully aware that Jesus brought a message of good news about God by word and deed.
We have here a précis of that message. It was that the time of waiting and expectation (cf. Daniel 7:22) had ended and the kingdom of God had drawn near. Here, “kingdom” really means kingship or rule. To the Jews this phrase denoted that God is the eternal King in heaven who expects men to obey his royal law. They cherished the hope that one day God would act visibly and powerfully to set up his kingly rule in a rebellious world. This act would be one of redemption for those who obeyed God as king (the Jews themselves!) and of judgment upon those who oppressed them (eg the Romans!). The announcement of its coming was therefore truly a piece of good news (Isaiah 52:7).
Jesus’ announcement contained two revolutionary points. First he stated that the kingdom was “at hand”; the Greek verb may mean that it had actually arrived or (more probably) that it was very near. Jesus saw his ministry as the inauguration of a new era of salvation in whose coming Calvary and Pentecost were decisive stages. This new era would lead inevitably to the consummation of God’s kingship in an open and glorious manner in the future. There would be two stages, the inauguration of the era of salvation in Jesus’ earthly ministry and the church, and the consummation of God’s rule with the final judgment upon all who refused God’s salvation offered through Jesus.
The second revolutionary point was that Jesus summoned the Jews to repent in view of this great announcement. They as much as the Gentiles were not fit for God’s rule. In this he was like John; but whereas John could only look forward to the coming of the mightier One, now the mightier One himself called them to believe the good news and prove for thernselves that salvation really had come.