In this message we shall begin to cover the many aspects of Christ’s work in His earthly ministry.
In His earthly ministry the Lord Jesus preached the gospel, the good news. Luke 4:18a says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor.” The Greek word rendered “bring good news” is euaggelizo, which means to evangelize, to announce good news. To preach the gospel was the first commission of the Lord Jesus as God’s anointed One, the Messiah. The good news was to be preached to the poor, that is, to the poor in heavenly, spiritual, and divine things (Luke 12:21; Rev. 3:17; cf. Matt. 5:3).
Mark 1:14 says, “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God.” Christ’s preaching was to announce God’s glad tidings to the miserable people in bondage. His teaching (Mark 1:21-22) was to enlighten the ignorant ones in darkness with the divine light of truth. His preaching implied teaching, and His teaching implied preaching (Matt. 4:23). This is the first thing He did in His ministry, and it was the all-embracing structure of His evangelical service (Mark 1:38-39; 3:14; 6:12; 14:9; 16:15, 20).
In His preaching the Lord Jesus told people to “repent and believe in the gospel!” (Mark 1:15). To repent is mainly in the mind; to believe is mainly in the heart (Rom. 10:9). As used in Mark 1:15, the word “repent” literally means to think differently afterward, that is, to have a change of mind. To repent is to have a change of mind with regret for the past and a turn for the future. To believe in something is to believe into the thing which we believe. It is also to receive the things which we believe into us. To believe in the gospel is mainly to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31), and to believe in Him is to believe into Him (John 3:15-16) and receive Him into us (John 1:12) so that we may be organically united with Him. Such a faith in Christ (Gal. 3:22) is given to us by God (Eph. 2:8) through our hearing the word of the truth of the gospel (Rom. 10:17; Eph. 1:13). This faith brings us into all the blessings of the gospel (Gal. 3:14). Hence, it is precious to us (2 Pet. 1:1).
To believe is to receive the Lord Jesus not only for forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43) but also for regeneration (1 Pet. 1:21, 23), that those who believe may become the children of God (John 1:12-13) and the members of Christ (Eph. 5:30) in an organic union with the Triune God (Matt. 28:19).
Specifically, in Mark 1:15 the Lord Jesus preached that we should believe in the gospel. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1:1), the gospel of God, and the gospel of the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, with all the processes through which He has passed, including incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, and all the redemptive work He accomplished, is the contents of the gospel (Rom. 1:2-4; Luke 2:10-11; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; 2 Tim. 2:8). Hence, the gospel is of Him. The gospel was planned, promised, and accomplished by God (Eph. 1:8-9; Acts 2:23; Rom. 1:2; 2 Cor. 5:21; Acts 3:15), and it is the power of God unto salvation to all believers (Rom. 1:16), that they may be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:19) and regenerated by Him (1 Pet. 1:3) to be His children (Rom. 8:16) and enjoy all His riches and blessings as their inheritance (Eph. 1:14). Hence, it is the gospel of God. It brings the believers into the realm of the divine ruling that they may participate in the blessings of the divine life in the divine kingdom (1 Thes. 2:12). Hence, it is also the gospel of the kingdom of God. Therefore, its full contents are the same as that of the New Testament with all its bequests. When we believe in this gospel, we inherit the Triune God with His redemption, His salvation, and His divine life with its riches for our eternal portion.
Home | First | Prev | Next