Dave's Diary

Welcome to the Gospel of Mark. It is believed to be the very first Gospel written and to have been penned by John Mark (see Acts 12:25, Acts 15:36-41, 2 Timothy 4:11, and 1 Peter 5:13). Written on the basis of Peter’s eye-witness testimony, the Gospel according to Mark emphasizes that Jesus is the Son of Man who came to give His life to liberate people from the murderous power of sin. Mark presents Jesus as a man of action and divine authority. The word “εὐθέως” (“euthus”, translated as “immediately”, or “at once”) appears some 40 times in Mark. Clearly, Jesus does not mess around. He gets His mission done!

Daily Readings: Mark 1 and Psalm 52

Mark 1 presents itself as, “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.” Immediately it makes clear that the message of this Good News, coming through both John the Baptist and Jesus is this, “‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’” (v.15) In other words, the only right response to Jesus is always to turn away from our sins, turn back to God, and trust in Jesus and all that He has done to establish the Kingdom of God.

The difference between John the Baptist and Jesus, in John’s own words, is that Jesus “will baptise you with the Holy Spirit” (v.8). John could only baptise people in water, as a symbol of forgiveness, cleansing and liberation, but Jesus can baptise us in the Holy Spirit, Who ministers the power of God to actually forgive us, cleanse us and liberate us from the life-destroying power of sin!

Life Application: Spend time today deliberately identifying things you habitually think, say or do, that are displeasing to the Lord. Make the decision to abandon these ways of living and turn to Jesus (i.e. repent) to receive from Him the Holy Spirit’s ministry of forgiveness, cleansing and liberation.