It is helpful in our reading of the Gospel of Mark to have an understanding of the situation when the Lord Jesus was on earth. Man’s culture had been in existence for over four thousand years. One aspect of this culture was the religion of the Jews, a strong, typical religion formed according to God’s holy Word. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, the devout Jews were very much attached to this religion.
With this as the background, the Lord Jesus came forth in His ministry to sow Himself as a seed into God’s chosen people. Actually, the Lord Jesus lived and ministered in the center of the world’s population. Both geographically and culturally, the Jewish nation was the center of the inhabited earth. It was to that center that the Lord Jesus came to sow Himself.
Have you ever realized that the Lord Jesus came to the center of the inhabited earth to sow Himself as a seed into God’s chosen people? I do not know of any Christian writings that speak of the Lord’s sowing Himself into people. If you would ask Christians what the Lord Jesus came to do, some would probably reply that He came to save sinners, or that He came to die for our salvation. Of course, the New Testament says that Jesus Christ came to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). However, in the Gospel of Mark we see that the Lord Jesus came to preach the gospel of God (1:14).
The phrase “the gospel of God” does not simply mean that the gospel is of God in the sense of belonging to God. The main thought is that the gospel is something of God Himself. In the New Testament, expressions such as the life of God, the love of God, and the righteousness of God mean that life, love, and righteousness are actually God Himself. In the same principle, the expression “the gospel of God” indicates that the gospel is God Himself. Therefore, to preach the gospel of God actually means to preach God.
The gospel preached by the Lord Jesus was the gospel of the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is God Himself. Then what is the gospel of the kingdom of God? We may answer this question by saying that the gospel is the kingdom, and the kingdom is God. The gospel, the kingdom, and God are not separate; on the contrary, these three are one.
It is of vital importance for us to see that the gospel, the kingdom, and God are one. The gospel is God, and God is the kingdom. Likewise, the gospel is the kingdom, and the kingdom is God. Therefore, according to the New Testament, the gospel of the kingdom of God actually refers to the very God Himself. Here we have God as the kingdom, and the kingdom as the gospel. What should we be preaching today? We should preach God as the kingdom, and the kingdom of God as the gospel.
We should not think that besides the kingdom of God or in addition to the kingdom of God, there is something called the gospel. No, the gospel is the kingdom of God. Neither should we think that besides God there is something called the kingdom. No, the kingdom is actually God Himself. Hence, the Lord Jesus came to preach the gospel of God, which is the gospel of the kingdom of God. Now we must go on to consider how the Lord Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of God.