COV LIFE BLOG

Mark 1:14-20 – The Gracious Call of God’s Appointed King

Jesus preached this message to them: “The kingdom of God is near.” He didn’t come with good advice – “five tips on building a better Galilee”, or “How to have a better marriage”, or, “Learning to live with the Romans.” That was not Jesus’ message. He does not come to confirm the status quo of a nation. It was not a new type of spirituality he introduced, or the beginning of a new religious grouping to rival the Pharisees, or Sadducees, or Essenes. What Jesus said would have stirring influence on spirituality, and politics, and inter-racial relations but that was only because it was not focused on any of those things.
 
Jesus went to Galilee to restore the throne and dominion of God in the souls of the people who lived there. Jesus had not come to set up in Galilee a new state with territory, boundaries, a currency, and a flag, over which he would be the monarch. He was not talking about a geographical area when he spoke of the kingdom but an activity, a rule over people who had entered this kingdom by a radically different immigration control – a new birth, and by receiving this King into and over their lives. His preaching was a redemptive event. ‘The kingdom of God is near’ means this: ‘the King is near.” Installed at his baptism by divine approval the mighty King from heaven has appeared. The words were an assertion of Jesus’ redeeming power and might. “All those years you have been waiting for the Kingdom of God, and now,” Jesus says, “the Kingdom has come because the King himself has come. I am here.” The Lord was telling the people of Galilee that they were now confronted by a power that they could not avoid. “Come under my power. Live under my rule. Obey my laws. Enter my kingdom.”
 
This same King speaks in the same way today. No longer does he enter the little villages of Galilee, for he is seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. But what kingly authority he has! He has all power in heaven and on earth. He has the whole world in his hand. He upholds all things. He guides and governs the movement of every particle of mass and energy. He governs the galaxies. He is the King of the fish of the sea and the birds of the air. He is holding in his hands the aggregate of all those forces that pulsate in this glorious galaxy and a million million more. This King reigns in triumph over life and death. The vast universe is but a speck before him. Yet he reigns as gentle Jesus meek and mild. The king of love my Shepherd is, whose goodness faileth never. He can still be touched with the feeling of my infirmity. This King is here, in his Word, in his promises, in his commands. The King has come.
 
There was such power in his words and of his works, and so the whole Messianic mission of Jesus was very critical and decisive. It called for urgent action on our part. The time has come; the King is here in Jesus of Nazareth. Hear and obey your King!

Geoff Thomas

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SCRIPTURES FOR THIS SUNDAY
Read Mark 1:14-20 and consider the call of Jesus in light of his kingdom’s coming. Has the call of Jesus struck you with the worth that you hear it’s call to come and die and to surrender all to him in light of his kingdom? What hinders you from following the call as obediently as you should?

SONG FOR THIS WEEK
Blessed Assurance by Fanny Crosby