The time has come! It is the beginning of a new age; it is the very turning point of history. The old has gone; the new has come. The kingdom of God, which has been distant from us since the world’s beginning, has now been made known to us. The time has come!
Mark’s gospel, the earliest of the four, begins with this curt but emphatic introduction of Jesus. His gospel is good news; his kingdom is come. This moment in time cuts history in half: an old age in desperate need of redemption, and a new age of redemption. In the old age, people ran far from God’s glory and languished because of it. Greed, injustice, and violence reigned. People pursued glory but found themselves empty; they pursued pleasure but found themselves miserable. All things yearned for purpose and peace and order and joy and love. Truthfully, much of today’s world still operates this way. But God’s kingdom fills and fulfills the rest. God’s kingdom is present at last, and we are able to receive that purpose and peace and order and joy and love for which we were made. That is very good news indeed!
So critical was this hinge of history that all three persons of the Trinity were present for it. The incarnate Son was being baptized and anointed for ministry, the Spirit came and descended on him, and the Father spoke aloud to glorify him. God came to make the biggest statement in history before he changed history altogether.
As a result, we are new age people! Our reaction to the good news should transform us to our very core. “Repent and believe the good news,” Jesus says. Verse 15 is probably the thesis of Mark’s whole gospel. We know the good news; we’ve all heard it told countless times before. But now that knowledge should become conviction, and conviction passion, and passion action. The time has come. Let us do away with all of our attempts to gain glory, happiness, or fulfillment from means other than God. The kingdom of God has come, and so we, its eternal citizens, should repent and believe.
