Good News

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

GOOD NEWS

Mark 1:14-15

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" 

NIV

Once again Mark leaves out a whole bunch of information about John the Baptist, such as when he told his disciples that he must decrease and Jesus must increase, or how it happened that he ended up in prison and finally was beheaded because of the vengeance of a woman. No, Mark moves right to the heart of the issue of showing Jesus as both a Servant and Sacrifice. Much of what Mark records show us the Servant Jesus moving about doing the will of His Father, so it would seem right that Mark moves past all the events surrounding John the Baptist and starts with Jesus on the move. The first words of Jesus that Mark records for us are that of Jesus proclaiming,  "The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news! “. This is the message for every one of all nations, of all times, at least until the Day of Lord arrives. What we have to realize is that the Kingdom of God is here. In the sense of being near, as Jesus puts it, it is near as repenting and believing the good news. Once we do repent and believe we become citizens of the kingdom of God, so then it is near, so near that we can be in it. Just the thought that we are living in the Kingdom of God at this very moment gives us shivers up and down our spine. It warms our hearts as we live in His kingdom, it gives us a sense of calm and delight. Being a citizen of the kingdom of God allows us to be called the children of God, it gives us an identity of which we cannot find in this world. It is true that both worlds, both kingdoms exist on earth at the same time, but are realms that are also far apart. The realm of this world under the influence of the deceiver exists and we once were a citizen of that kingdom. We lived in that kingdom of darkness and death, but the light of Christ penetrated that darkness, at least at the place we lived and we saw the light and followed it across that bridge, the cross of Christ, and we were moved from the darkness into the wonderful light of Christ, and he relocated us and gave us a new passport indicating our new citizenship. That passport allows us to enter his kingdom, and to live for all time within the kingdom of God. This passport we were given never expires, it is good for all eternity. Our old passport that showed us to be citizens of the kingdom of darkness and death was revoked the movement we repented and believed. This is indeed good news. With all the bad news that is associated with the kingdom of darkness and death, we have accepted this good news and now we live in the kingdom of light and life. That is no greater good news.