The Gospel Begins

We mark beginnings constantly—New Year's Day, birthdays, and anniversaries. History itself is punctuated by beginnings that shape our world. We remember where we were when certain events began, recognizing their lasting impact on our lives.

Yet among all the beginnings humanity has witnessed, two stand above the rest in significance. The first echoes from the opening words of Scripture: "In the beginning, God created." Without creation, we simply wouldn't exist.

But there's another beginning, one arguably even more glorious and certainly more transformative for those living in a broken world. It's the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The Person at the Center
The gospel doesn't begin with a philosophy or a set of principles. It begins with a person: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This identity isn't merely claimed by followers or invented by well-meaning disciples. God the Father Himself declared it.

At Jesus' baptism, as He emerged from the water, heaven itself was torn open. The Spirit descended like a dove, and the Father's voice thundered from above: "You are my beloved Son." This divine confirmation would be repeated at the Mount of Transfiguration. Even demons confessed His identity, and a Roman centurion at the crucifixion declared, "Truly this is the Son of God."

Throughout the Gospel of Mark, a persistent question echoes: "Who is this?" The religious leaders questioned whether His power came from Satan. Disciples wondered who could calm seas and walk on water. People in His hometown dismissed Him as merely "the carpenter's son." Even Jesus Himself asked His followers, "Who do people say that I am? And who do you say that I am?"

But Jesus' identity as the Son of God is inseparable from His purpose as the Christ—the long-awaited Messiah. His mission wasn't to tear down what was already crumbling, but to restore and make new. He demonstrated authority over demons, creation, sickness, and death itself. When John the Baptist doubted from prison, Jesus sent back evidence: the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, demons are cast out. His works testified to His identity.

The gospel is fundamentally about Jesus—who He is and what He came to do. It cannot exist apart from Him.

The Point in History
Why doesn't the Gospel of Mark launch immediately into Jesus' story? Why pause to reference ancient prophets?

Because the gospel isn't an interruption or a divine Plan B. It's the culmination of everything God had been promising and preparing for throughout history. The gospel couldn't be fully proclaimed until all those promises were kept and all preparations made.

Mark points to prophecies from Exodus, Malachi, and Isaiah—promises of a messenger who would prepare the way, a voice crying in the wilderness. John the Baptist embodied these prophecies, appearing in the wilderness, baptizing, and declaring that one mightier than he was coming—one whose sandals he wasn't worthy to untie.

This preparation mattered profoundly. If any promise God made about Jesus hadn't been kept by Jesus, there would be no gospel to proclaim or believe. The fulfillment of every Old Testament promise authenticated the good news. When the time was fully ripe, when every prophetic word had found its fulfillment, the gospel of Jesus Christ burst forth into human history.

The Place We Find Ourselves
Perhaps most surprisingly, the gospel begins in the wilderness. Not in a temple or palace, not in pristine religious settings we might expect, but in a harsh, barren place of testing and scarcity.

John preached in the wilderness. Jesus was baptized and immediately driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, where He faced temptation for forty days, surrounded by wild animals while angels ministered to Him.

We might find this shocking because we try to dress up the gospel, to make everything around it pristine and religious. But the wilderness is exactly where the gospel must begin—because it's where we are.

Since Adam and Eve's exile from Eden, every human being has lived in a wilderness. Not necessarily a literal desert, but a spiritual reality marked by testing, scarcity, hardship, and the constant presence of temptation. We live separated from our Creator, in a place where relationships bring conflict, work involves toil, and circumstances mix hardship with fleeting moments of celebration.

The beautiful truth is that Jesus entered this wilderness and achieved victory where everyone before Him had failed. Adam and Eve couldn't resist temptation in the garden's abundance. Jesus resisted in the wilderness's deprivation. What proved a point of failure for all humanity became a point of victory for Him.

And because Jesus was victorious in the wilderness, we now have hope. Hope that one day we'll exit this wilderness entirely. Hope that we can experience victory even while we remain in it.

The Personal Response Required
For two thousand years, this message has been proclaimed across the world. But it only becomes good news personally when we respond.

Jesus' first recorded words in Mark are these: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel."

Repent—this means changing your mind. Not just feeling sorry, but fundamentally altering what you believe about everything. Changing your mind about the false hopes you've clung to, the lies you've believed, the solutions you've chased. Repentance is admitting you were wrong about what would satisfy you, what would give you peace, what would solve your problems.

True repentance is radical. When your mind genuinely changes about what you hope in and believe in, your life inevitably changes too. Your views, values, goals, behaviors, and motivations are all transformed.

Believe—this isn't mere intellectual agreement. Demons know and agree that Jesus is the Son of God. Saving faith involves knowledge and agreement, yes, but crucially adds trust. It's the difference between seeing crutches and leaning on them. Between knowing a chair will hold you and sitting down in it. It's putting your full weight, your complete hope, your entire trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

These two—repentance and faith—are inseparable sides of the same coin. You cannot trust Christ without repenting of the other gods you've served. You cannot place faith in Him while still clinging to the idols you've pursued or the solutions you've believed would save you.

A Beginning That Changes Everything
Every other beginning we celebrate eventually disappoints. The new year doesn't magically solve last year's problems. The new relationship, job, house, or achievement doesn't deliver the lasting satisfaction we hoped for.

But the beginning of the gospel promises what no other beginning can: victory over sin, Satan, and death. Freedom from the wilderness's condemnation. Transformation from the inside out. And ultimately, a glorious exit from exile into eternal life with our Creator.
Have you repented? Have you believed? Are you continuing in repentance and faith? The kingdom of God is at hand. The good news is available. But it requires a response—today.