Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; Intense interest fastens upon "beginnings." There is large scope for the play of imagination. We gaze with exquisite pleasure on the laughing face of a royal babe, or on the launch of a mail ship, or on the babbling rise of some historic river. Human life is fall of "beginnings." I. CHRIST'S INCARNATION WAS A GREAT BEGINNING FOR HUMANITY. II. THIS BEGINNING HAD ITS HIDDEN ROOTS IN THE PAST. III. THIS NEW CREATION IS BOTH LIKE AND UNLIKE THE OLD. It is like, in that it opens with a voice. It is unlike in the fiat uttered. Attention here is challenged for the message, not for the man: it is a voice. The man is a cipher, the doctrine everything. IV. BEGINNINGS ARE OFTEN ATTENDED WITH PAIN. The desert life of John, with its ascetic austerities, was painful. It was painful to the natural man — to his social tendencies. Each day begins in midnight darkness. Each year is born in wintry cold and gloom. The life of the plant opens with the fracture of the seed. And the beginning of the gospel's life in individual souls is attended with sorrow and mortification. V. THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IS A BEGINNING WITHOUT AN END. In the kingdom of Messiah, the prophecy becomes fact — "Thy sun shall no more go down." Prophets foresaw the fall of the earthly Jerusalem; no prophet has ever foreseen the decay of the heavenly. The gospel is power — infinite power. Is there no limit to man's development? None. By virtue of Christ's gospel, we are always beginning. (D. Davies, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;WEB: The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. |
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