The Vision (9.18.26): The Confession of the Man Who Had Dwelt Among the Tombs

 

Image: Morning scene, North Garden, Virginia, September 2026

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Mark 5:1-20:

Mark 5:1-20 records Christ’s casting out a Legion of demons from a man “dwelling among the tombs” in the country of the Gadarenes (vv. 1-2). After Christ cast out this legion, sending them into a nearby herd of swine, the man was found “sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind” (v. 15).

When Christ came to the ship to depart from that land, the former demoniac asked if he might go with the Lord, that “he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not” (vv. 18-19).

There is a spiritual lesson here, no doubt.  The Lord Jesus acquiesced to the demonic request to be sent into the swine (v. 13).  He agreed to the populace’s request that he leave town (v. 17).  The only request he denied was the one that came from the former demoniac who had become his disciple!  Does it not often seem to us, from our human perspective, that God allows the desires of the wicked to prosper while the simple requests of the saints are denied?  How much greater is his wisdom! 

The Lord Jesus tells him, “Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee” (v. 19). Perhaps this man had exotic dreams of traveling with Christ to faraway places to preach the gospel, and the Lord sent him instead into his own patria, to his own household, family, friends, neighbors. The Lord Jesus tells some men to go and follow him. He tells others to stay and follow him.

Mark reports the man’s obedience, “And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel” (20).

These final verses (vv. 19-20) offer a striking Christological statement. Christ told the man to go and tell what the Lord (God) had done for him (cf. Luke 8:39). The man went and told what (the Lord) Jesus had done for him.

The man who had dwelt among the tombs was now confessing, “Jesus is Lord.”

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (9.11.26): Great Storm, Great Calm, Great Awe

 

Image: Summer evening, North Garden, Virginia.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Mark 4:36-41:

The record of Christ stilling the storm in Mark 4:36-41 has been a comfort to many believers over the years, as they have encountered their own storms.  It might be the storm of losing a job, of failing in a business, of having conflict with a parent, spouse, or child, of losing a loved one, of serious illness, of facing deep spiritual discouragement, depression, or despair.

The adjective “great (Greek: mega)” is repeated three times in this passage. There was a “great [mega] storm of wind” (v. 37), a “great [mega] calm” (v. 39), and a “great [mega] fear or awe” (v. 41, where the AV reads, “they feared exceedingly”) in the aftermath.

From this account we gain the application that we are to rely upon Christ in all the circumstances of life and never doubt his tender concern for us.

We should first consider the comfort of the fact that the Lord Jesus was awakened by the cries of his disciples in their distress.

Matthew Henry observed, “When Christ seems as if he slept in a storm, he is awakened by the prayers of his people; when we know not what to do; our eye must be to him (2 Chron 20:12); we may be at our wit’s end, but not our faith’s end, while we have a Savior to go to.”

Sadly, even our prayers to Christ in distress can take on that complaining tone of the disciples, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” (v. 38).

Christ himself taught his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount not to be overcome by worry (Matthew 6: 25-34).

Someone said, “Worry is an old man, with bended head, carrying a load of feathers which he thinks are lead.”

Another wrote,

Fear knocked at the door.

Faith answered.

No one was there.

Peter exhorted that we are to be “Casting all our care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Christ told his disciples that every hair upon their head were all numbered by the sovereign Father (Matthew 10:30).

Some years back I read a devotional book titled Jesus is Victor by Corrie Ten Boom, the Dutch believer whose family was sent to a concentration during WW2, where her aged father and beloved sister would both die.

She writes of her initial imprisonment which included four months of solitary confinement in a dark dank cell:

Once I stood with my back against the wall with my hands spread out, as if to try to push away the walls that were closing in on me.  I was dead scared.  I cried out, “Lord, I’m not strong enough to endure this.  I don’t have the faith!”

Suddenly I noticed an ant roaming the floor of the cell for days.  I had just mopped the floor with a wet rag, and the moment the ant felt the water on the stones, he ran straight to his tiny hole in the wall.

Then it was that the Lord said to me, “What about that ant?  He didn’t stop to look at the wet rag or his weak feet—he went straight to his hiding place.  Corrie, don’t look at your faith; it is weak, like the tiny feet of that ant.  Don’t dwell on the treatment you might receive from these cruel people.  I am your hiding place, and you can come running to Me just like that ant disappeared into that hole in the wall (pp. 79-80).

Let us remember that though the Lord may permit great storms, he also provides great calm, that issue in great awe.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

J. A. Alexander on the increase yield of the good ground seed in Mark 4:8, 20

 

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Interesting comments by J. A. Alexander in his 1864 Mark Commentary on the increase yield of the seed that falls on the good ground as “some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred” (Mark 4:8, 20).

Interestingly enough, in his comments on Mark 4:8 Alexander suggests that gains at this proportion are “moderate and modest” if not low: “The productiveness ascribed to the nutritious gains in this place is by no means unexampled either in ancient or modern times. It is indeed a moderate and modest estimate compared with some recorded by Herodotus, in which the rate of increase was double or quadruple even the highest of the three here mentioned, and the recent harvest in our western states affords examples of increase greater still.” Later in his comments on Mark 4:20 Alexander’s focus is not on the measure of the yield, but the “proportional diversity” of the rate. The notes in the MacArthur Study Bible on Mark 4:8, however, offer a different evaluation: “An average ration of harvested grain to what had been sown was 8 to 1, with a 10 to 1 ratio considered exceptional. The yield Jesus refers to are like an unbelievable harvest.” When Grok is asked if a 100 to 1 ratio is good for wheat, it says: “Yes. 1:100 is high for wheat. The standard seed-multiplication ratio used by seed-certification agencies for wheat is 1:20. That is the figure expected in ordinary commercial production. You can get ratios closer to 1:80–1:100 (occasionally even higher) only in special seed-increase plots that are planted at a much lower seeding rate than a farmer would use for grain. Those plots sacrifice yield per hectare in order to stretch a small quantity of expensive nucleus or foundation seed as far as possible. In a normal wheat field grown for grain, 1:100 would be an unusually high return.” In context with the parable of the mustard seed in Mark 4:31-32, in which the mustard seed “less than all the seeds” produces a plant “greater than all herbs,” it would seem best to think the yield of the seed on the good ground would be high rather than moderate of modest. So, was Alexander just wrong here? Can his view be justified? What was he thinking? If the harvest was "moderate and modest," what is the spiritual point about the good ground yield?

JTR

The Vision (9.4.26): The Secretly Growing Seed

 

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Mark 4:26-34.

“And he said, so is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground… and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how” (Mark 4:27-28).

“It is like a grain of mustard seed, which… is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: but when it is sown, it groweth up... and shooteth out great branches…” (Mark 4:31-32).

What do we learn from our Lord’s parables of the secretly growing seed (Mark 4:26-29) and the mustard seed (Mark 4:30-32)?

First, we need to apply this teaching to our understanding of Christ’s kingdom. It is here, but not yet.

The Lord is sovereign over his own work. His kingdom is here, and it is secretly growing, just like that seed in the parable. It is his work. He will bring the fruit when he is pleased to do so and according to his timetable. Rest assured, however, a harvest time is coming.

Sometimes the present kingdom can look to us like such a small and weak thing. No bigger than a mustard seed. But it has a great God behind it. And when he is pleased it will become a mighty branch and a resting place for men from many nations.

As the prophet Zechariah asked, “For who hath despised the day of small things?” (Zech. 4:10).

That is the view from the macro-scale, but we can also apply this, secondly, to the micro-scale.

You may look at the seed sown in you and see little growth and no fruit, and you may despair.

You may look at the small seed sown in the lives of loved ones, children, friends, and neighbors, and ask, Where’s the fruit?

We are reminded today to put our trust in the Lord. The kingdom is like a secretly growing seed. It is small as a mustard seed. But it is a great God’s work, and he who began this good work will be faithful to complete it. Consider the words of James:

James 5: ⁷ Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

⁸ Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

All the aches and pains and disappointments will indeed be ended at the time when Christ comes again with power and great glory. It will be the time of the final harvest, the final resurrection. So, let us take heart, fellow pilgrims. Let us be steadfast, unmoving, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

He is lisping this to us in ways we can understand and untangling it for us in ways we can grasp, as he did to the first disciples in parables (Mark 4:33-34).

The kingdom has come in Christ’s incarnational ministry. It is here right now. And it will be here one day in ways greater than we ever could have asked or imagined.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (8.28.26): Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel?

 

Note: Devotional taken from last Sunday's sermon on Mark 4:21-25.

And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? (Mark 4:21)

In his explanation of the parable of the sower, Christ told his disciples that the “good ground” was those who heard the word, received it, and brought forth fruit (Mark 4:20).

He followed this up with figurative teaching about a lamp or light that should not be hidden.

The simplest and most sparsely furnished first century home would have had these basic items, an earthen lamp, a basket, and a mat that rolled out into a bed.  The Lord Jesus is saying that when it is night a man does not take the candle or lamp and hide it under a bushel basket or under his bedding, but he puts it on a candlestick or lampstand.  And the higher you put it the more it illumines the room.

The Lord Jesus is here speaking about the responsibility of believers (good ground hearers) to be a source of light and truth in the world.  They have been given insight that others do not have.  They are glowing with the knowledge of the gospel and of Christ. This is not be hidden or obfuscated.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ made a similar point:

Matthew 5: ¹⁴ Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

¹⁵ Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

We sometimes sing the children’s song based on this parable: “This little light of mine, I’m gonna to let it shine….”

In John’s Gospel there is an account of a man named Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a “ruler of the Jews” who came to Christ “by night” (3:1-2). Later there is mention of another man named Joseph of Arimathea whom John describes as “being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews” (John 19:38).

John records that when Christ was crucified and died on the cross, it was indeed Joseph who went to Pilate and asked for the Lord’s body for burial (John 19:40-42). John also notes that Nicodemus was there helping him (v.39).

Witnessing the cross work of Christ made these men finally cast caution to the wind and let their light shine, as they made it publicly known, whatever the consequences, that they were his disciples.

In John Calvin’s day there was a group of Frenchmen who had privately embraced the gospel but publicly and outwardly had remained in the Roman Church. Calvin wrote several tracts calling these men “Nicodemites” and urging them to declare outwardly what they had confessed inwardly.

Are we “good ground” hearers of the Word? Have we heard and received that Word, and are we bearing kingdom fruit?

If so we must not hide the light but set it as high as we can that others might see and be drawn to Christ.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (7.24.26): Do Christian today still keep the sabbath?

 

Image: Morning skies, North Garden, Virginia, July 2026.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Mark 2:23--3:6.

Is the moral law of God, as epitomized in the Ten Commandments, still binding on the consciences of believers today?

We would probably not have an argument over 9 of the 10 commandments. The controversial one would be the fourth commandment: Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy (Exodus 20:8).

Many evangelicals today would say this law is now abrogated, like the dietary rules or the keeping of the Passover.

One popular Study Bible (MacArthur’s) has a note at Exodus 20:8 which says of the fourth commandment, “Belonging especially to Israel under the Mosaic economy, the Sabbath could not apply to the believer of the church age for he is living in a new economy” (p. 125).

Reformed (Biblical) theology, however, rejects the rejection of the Sabbath.

We maintain that God’s moral law has not fundamentally changed. The fourth commandment is a creation ordinance. It was established when God made the world in the space of six day and all very good and then rested on the seventh day (Exodus 20:11), and it remains.

The only shift that has occurred in this commandment since the coming of Christ is that the sabbath is no longer a seventh day sabbath, but it is now a first day sabbath, the day when Christ was gloriously raised from the dead (John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:6-7; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2). So, from creation to the resurrection, the sabbath was the seventh day, and from the resurrection of Christ till the second coming, it is the first day of the week.

As Paul wrote in Hebrews 4:9: “There remaineth therefore a rest [sabbatismos] to the people of God.”

We believe that when we look at the Scriptures, and especially at the Gospels, we find that Christ nowhere rejected the sabbath, although he did reject those who were adding unbiblical laws about the sabbath (like forbidding works of necessity, Mark 2:23-28, and mercy, Mark 3:1-6).

Christ affirmed Biblical sabbath keeping and rejected unbiblical sabbath keeping.

On this special day we set aside what is lawful to do on other days and give ourselves to the public and private exercises of God’s worship.

Let us follow Christ’s teaching and example and call the sabbath a delight (Isaiah 58:13). Let us not think that we have to keep the sabbath, but that we get to keep the sabbath.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (7.10.26): Christ: The Bridegroom

 

Image: Detail, Roman wedding scene on a sarcophagus, second century, British Museum, London.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Mark 2:18-22.

“And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast” (Mark 2:19).

In Christ’s early ministry he attracted both disciples and critics.

In Mark 2:18 the critics ask, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?” They were essentially accusing him of not teaching orthopraxy, right conduct.

We have Christ’s response in v. 19 with his own question: “Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?”

He poses here a parable or an analogy. Christ is like a Bridegroom who has come. In a first century Jewish wedding, the bride and the wedding party would wait for the coming of the Bridegroom (see Christ’s parable of the wise and foolish virgins regarding his second coming in Matt 25:1-13). When the Bridegroom arrived the wedding celebration began.

Here in Mark 2:19 Christ speaks about his first advent or first coming. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into this world to claim his Bride, the people of God, the Church. Those who are his disciples are “the children of the bridechamber.” They are part of the wedding party. The coming of the long-expected Bridegroom (the Messiah) is a time of joy and celebration and gladness. It is not a time of “affliction” of the soul and fasting.

This is Christ’s response to these critics. There are times for feasting and times for fasting. Weddings are not funerals. The Bridegroom has come. Joy and gladness are in order. This was the proper response of his disciples.

Christ then adds in v. 20 what is essentially a prophecy of both the cross and his ascension: “But the days will come, when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days.” The disciples will be filled with great sorrow over all these things.

An underlying point is being made. Christ is taking to himself the title of being the Bridegroom. If you look at the Old Testament, you will find a rich treasury of references to the one true God of the Bible as being the Husband or Bridegroom of his elect people, his Bride. Consider just one example:

Isaiah 54: ⁵ For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.

⁶ For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.

⁷ For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.

When Christ declares himself to be the Bridegroom, he is declaring himself to be God. His first disciples thus confessed, “Jesus is Lord.” They were filled with joy at his first advent, and his disciples on earth will be filled with joy again at his second coming when we are called to “the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev 19:9). Christ is the Bridegroom!

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (7.3.26): Follow Me

 

Image: Caravaggio, The Calling of Saint Matthew (close-up), c. 1599.

Note: Devotional article based on last Sunday's sermon on Mark 2:13-17.

“And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him” (Mark 2:14).

The early ministry of Christ on earth involved the calling of his disciples. In Mark 1:16-20 we have the call of two sets of fisherman brothers: Simon and Andrew, James and John. In Mark 2:14 there is the call of Levi (also known as Matthew), the publican (tax collector). The description is minimal. No doubt Christ knew this latter man and had spoken previously with him. The Evangelist Mark describes the moment in which action was demanded, a command given, a response required. A call goes forth. This is the effectual call to faith and the call to apostleship.

To Simon and Andrew Christ said, “Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men” (1:17).

To Levi he said, “Follow me” (2:14). This is the call to discipleship, to enroll in the school of the Lord Jesus Christ, to become his apprentice, to learn from him.

Paul said to the Corinthians, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1).

Peter called upon men to follow in Christ’s steps (1 Peter 2:21).

Christ himself said in Luke 9:23, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

To follow Christ means you can’t follow the crowd. You can’t follow anyone but the Lord Jesus Christ. Our God is a jealous God. And Christ is a jealous Christ. Christ himself said, “No man can serve two masters” (Matt 6:24).

If you follow Christ, you have to deny yourself. You have to leave some things behind.

I spent a summer after college leading young men on weeklong backpacking trips in the mountains of Southwest Virginia. The night before we left for the trip, we had the boys lay out the things they wanted to take, and then we usually had to cut that into at least half. We had to get the weight lower to avoid blisters, fatigue, and dragging behind.

As Christians, we have a race to run, and we cannot get bogged down with needless burdens that will hold us back from following Christ. We must certainly never turn back. Christ said, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

The response of Levi is also simply and minimally recorded: “And he arose and followed him.” Christ is honored when our obedience to his call is similarly prompt and sincere.

Let us deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow him.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (6.12.26): The Authority of Christ

 

Image: "Knockout" Rose, North Garden, Virginia, June 2026.

Note: Devotional taken from last Sunday's sermon on Mark 1:21-34.

“for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:22).

“for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him” (Mark 1:27).

Even secular unbelieving historians agree that the Lord Jesus Christ was a man who possessed a personal power, warmth, and winsomeness that affected those who encountered him, heard him, and observed his ministry. He drew men to himself in the way that a magnet draws metal. He was a man who demanded followers.

That personal, “magnetic” personality is noted in our passage today at several points. The term that is used to distinguish the uniqueness of Christ is “authority [Greek: exousia].”

In Mark 1, Christ conducts his threefold ministry: preaching, teaching, and healing (cf. Matt 4:23; 9:35). First, he was preaching in Galilee the gospel of the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15). Second, he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum (Mark 1:21: “and [he] taught”). Third, he was healing. He healed (exorcised) a man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue (Mark 1:23-26). He healed Simon’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31). He healed many who gathered in the evening at his door (Mark 1:32-34: “And he healed many that were sick of diverse diseases, and cast out many devils,” v. 34). 

His unique authority shines through. Mark the Evangelist describes the response of those who heard him in the synagogue, “And they were astonished at his doctrine [didache]: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:22).

Mark also unveils the amazed questioning pondered by those who saw him exorcise the man with the unclean spirit: “What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him” (Mark 1:27).

Behold the authority of Christ.

He preached Himself.

He taught with authority as God in the flesh. He did not teach about God; he taught as God. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, he will say: You have heard it said…, but I say unto you….

He healed the souls and bodies of men, showing his authority over both the unseen spiritual and the visible natural worlds.

He will lay down his life on the cross and take it up again the third day as his greatest sign or miracle.

The final question: How will we respond to Christ? Will we recognize his authority? Will we bend the knee of our hearts before his throne?

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

 

The Vision (6.5.26): Come Ye After Me

 

Note: Devotional taken from last Sunday's sermon on Mark 1:16-20.

“And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men” (Mark 1:17).

Christ’s public ministry began with his preaching (see Mark 1:15). It continued with his calling men to come after him and become his disciples or followers.

In Mark 1:16-20 we have the account of our Lord calling two sets of brothers to be among his first disciples: Simon (Peter) and Andrew (vv. 16-18), then James and John (vv. 19-20). Two sets of brothers by nature became brothers in Christ.

So often our picture of the disciples come from medieval artists that depict the Lord Jesus and the disciples as frail, pale, and sickly.  They hardly seem to have had strength enough to pick up a heavy net! But the picture here in Mark 1 is of strong, sun-darkened, solid, working men.  Simon and Andrew were busy at their trade, casting a net into the sea, “for” Mark says, “for they were fishers” (v. 16).

The occupation of fisherman must have been a common livelihood in this area.  Many have noted that when the Lord Jesus went looking for followers, he did not go to the royal court, or to the religious schools, but to the shipyard.  He chose sturdy, common, ordinary men.  The Puritan commentator Matthew Henry observed:

The instruments Christ chose to employ in setting up his kingdom, were the weak and foolish things of the world; not called from the great Sanhedrin, or the schools of the [rabbis], but picked up from among the [tarps] by the seaside, that the excellency of the power might be wholly of God, and not at all of them.

Do you get it?  Why did Jesus choose men like these?  Because if he had chosen princes and scholars we might have been tempted to give them glory.  In this way, to God alone through Christ alone be all the glory.

Note the language used by Christ. He does not say to these men, “I see within you the inner fishers of men.”  His hopes for them did not rest on any inherent potential that they held within themselves.  When we see an exquisite vase that has been beautifully shaped and crafted and decorated by a master artisan, we do not say, “Wow, that was some great clay!”  The focus is not on the raw material but on the artist.

Nor does the Lord Jesus say, “Come after me and become whatever you want to be.”  He has a very definite end in mind, and he is not leaving this up to these men.  He says he will make them to become fishers of men.

There is great significance in this, is there not?  They had been spending their lives casting out nets to gather in fish and the Lord Jesus says instead, that he will make them cast their nets to gather in the souls of men.  These rough fishermen will later, of course, become apostles.  They will be the foundational heralds of the gospel.  Here the Lord Jesus is giving the church its central apostolic commission.  We are about fishing for the souls of men.  Our fundamental calling as a church is evangelism, endearing the gospel of God to the hardened hearts of men.

In 1773 the Puritan Thomas Boston at the tender age of 22 published a little book titled, “The Art of Man-Fishing” in which he meditated on these words of Christ.  Boston applied these words to the preacher who, through the nets of his public preaching and teaching ministry and his one-on-one private ministry appointments, was constantly striving to see men drawn to a place of settled commitment to Christ.

Note also that the Lord Jesus does not say, Follow Me and I will make you to become social workers, or Red Cross volunteers, or school teachers, or political revolutionaries.  Now there is a place for acts of Christian charity and mercy, for education and Christian citizenship, but our primary calling is evangelism, endearing the gospel of God to the hardened hearts of men.  Let us not drift from this calling.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff

The Vision (5.29.26): The time is fulfilled

 

Image: Modern view of the Sea of Galilee.

Note: Devotion based on last Sunday's sermon on Mark 1:9-15.

Mark 1:14  Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

The beginning of our Lord’s public ministry followed his baptism (Mark 1:9-11) and his wilderness temptation (1:12-13).

 It was initiated or triggered by the arrest of John the forerunner: “Now after that John was put in prison….” (v. 14a; cf. 6:14-29). It was an act of manly courage for our Lord to begin his public ministry at this time.

Mark continued, “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching [proclaiming] the gospel of the kingdom of God” (v. 14b).

Christ’s public ministry did not begin with miracles, feeding the masses, opening blinded eyes, raising the dead, or telling parables, but Christ came first as a Preacher.

The apostle Paul would later write, in 1 Corinthians 1:21, “it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

The premier practitioner of this means of grace was Christ himself. Christ is the Prototypical Preacher. We merely human and very fallible preachers stumble and stammer and preach imperfectly. Christ is the Perfect Preacher.

What did he proclaim? The gospel [good news] of victory. Mark began by noting this book records, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1).  It will end in Mark 16:15 with the risen Lord telling his disciples, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

In v. 14 Mark the Evangelist describes Christ as preaching “the gospel of the kingdom of God.” This means the rule or reign of God on earth. Christ did not, in his first advent, come to establish a political kingdom. He told Pilate at his trial, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). Here is the gaping difference between the Lord Jesus Christ and Muhammad. One conquers by the cross, and the other attempts to conquer by the sword.

In v. 15 we have Christ’s own words recorded by the evangelist. Christ said, “The time is fulfilled.” The word for time here is kairos. It refers to special time, the right moment, and not mere chronological time, chronos.

Christ recognized that in his coming and in his initiation of his public ministry he was fulfilling the plan of God that would lead to the bloody cross and the glorious resurrection, a shameful defeat and a stunning victory.

Christ declared, “the kingdom of God is at hand.” The rule and reign of God is present in Christ Himself. This happens even before the end of history. Christ comes into history and into time, and his kingdom is established, though it is not yet fully realized till he comes again with power and great glory.

He ends with two commands: “repent ye [experience a change of mind and a change of heart] and believe the gospel [the good news which is centered in the person of Christ himself].

There is a debate about the order of these two things in what is called “the order of salvation.” Do I first repent and then believe, or do I believe and then repent? Here, repent comes first in order, but it may well be that they come as contemporaneous events.

Christ has come. The time is fulfilled. Let us turn from sin in disgust and turn to Christ in faith.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle