The Beginning of the Gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God
Posted by Pastor Pat on February 14, 2009
Read Mark 1:1
Mark’s Gospel account is a continuation of a story-line that began before the foundations of the world were poured. It is the fulfillment of promises made by God to Himself that would benefit all people in general and His people in particular. It is the story of Jesus Christ. Mark directly identifies the person and work of Jesus Christ as gospel. The word “gospel” gets lost to us modern readers. The word itself is from the Old English god-spell “good tidings or good news” as a translation of the Greek word euaggelion as used in the New Testament. It is not a word that is found in the Old Testament, but was clearly present in idea. What Mark and the entire New Testament endeavors to do is help us see that Jesus Christ is the gospel. He is the good news.
Although there is consent as to the statement, “Jesus Christ is the gospel,” there is always a present danger of putting our hope and confidence in something other than Jesus Christ. Perhaps it is education, or better employment, or a different spouse, or better behaved children. Even in the manner of how we present the “gospel” can become errant. We have made the gospel an A-B-C proposition, as if the gospel were a 3-step program. What we have learned in the past and what we will hear again in this text is simple: “Jesus Christ is the gospel.” But why is Jesus Christ good news?
