Mark 1:1 | Meeting Jesus as He Is

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

Jesus asked the all-important question, “[W]ho do you say that I am?” (Mk 8:29).   We must each wrestle with this question and come to the truth on the matter.  When Mark tells us about Jesus, he certainly presents him as a man, but he also doesn’t withhold deific language.

The term “Son of God,” while normalized in the Western World after 2,000 years of Christian use, would be an astounding claim in the ancient Roman and Hebrew world.  To say that one is the “son of” was to share attributes with that individual, such as rank, etc.  To say that one is “the Son of God” is to elevate that individual to a position of glory reserved for God alone.

Moreover, Mark calls Jesus “Christ.”  The Greek term, Christos (“anointed one”), would have been understood by a Greek-speaking world as a term of sovereignty.   It’s the equivalent of the Hebrew term mashiach or “Messiah.”  This would be the One the Old Testament predicted would rule over the earth.

Thus, with his brief opening, Mark introduces us to both the deity and the royalty of Christ.  What’s more is that this Gospel, while obviously the words of Mark (and ultimately Peter), claims to actually be ultimately the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This is His story, not Peter’s, or Mark’s, or ours.  This is the account of the good news that comes from the Jesus Who is also the Christ, and Who is also the Son of God.

Have you ever considered the marvelous Person of Christ?  Does your soul not cry out with Thomas, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).  If you’ve never come to Christ, know that it is precisely because He is the Christ and the Son of God that He can forgive your sinful rebellion.  It is precisely Who He is that makes Him mighty to save, able to justify you and regenerate your heart.  Have you turned from your sin and come to the Lord as your Savior yet?

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