Mark 1:1-8 (2)

The first Person: Jesus Christ

The centre of the whole New Testament. the most important tipping point in the Jewish and the world history introduced in the first sense of the entire New Testament. Jesus Christ is the centre piece of the Gospel, the Good News.

The First, The Alpha

The Gospel of Mark is the first book of the 4 Gospels.

The first Character is Jesus Christ,

The first messenger for Jesus’ fore-runner is Isaiah

the first fore-runner for Jesus is John the Baptist.

in parallel with the OT, the First chapter of Genesis, the Creator spirit (spiritual form) came with God’s word. to bring the new heaven and new earth to the Darkness

in Parallel in Mark 1:1-8, the Creator Spirit came down in Physical Form descended on Jesus the Son of God in Physical form (fresh). the Creator Spirit and the word are in Physical form (in Fresh) before the people. This is the tipping point in God’s plan for his people (his blemished part of His image) after 400 years of Silence after Malachi. in Parallel, there were 400 years in Egypt before Moses arrived to redeem the people of Israel from oppression.

The meaning of the names

the meaning of the first person Jesus Christ is “Saviour” and “Anointed one”

the meaning of second person Isaiah in Hebrew means God is salvation

the meaning of third John in Hebrew means God has been gracious".

God is the Alpha and Omega: John means God is Gracious in the beginning and to the end. John the Apostle wrote the final book of the Bible, the Revelation by John (as God has been gracious)

The Baptism with Water (Grace)

Baptism means wash clean. it is the Jewish tradition to a ceremonial wash before entering the Holy Temple. Jesus is therefore clean himself before entering the temple of God

The Holy Spirit (Grace)

In the beginning first book of OT genesis: In the beginning there was God, the earth was empty, formless, dark and the spirit of God hovered over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light.' so there was day, followed by night. Each New day came New creation, Vast Oceans, the vast sky, the Earth green and growing. the Spirit of God, the creator Spirit. brought out of the chaos, the cosmos.

The Holy Temple of eternal God (Grace)

The only dwelling place of God on Earth. Jesus after his fresh is cleansed by water. the Creator Spirit descended on him as symbolic for Jesus the perfect sinless and cleansed fresh now is the temple of God. God can only dwelling in his own perfect image. the Holy spirit is eternal and Jesus the Son of God is eternal, the temple is no longer temporal on earth but it is eternal in Christ and dwell by the Father’s spirit. Its eternally clean, Holy and Perfect. Only God himself in sinless fresh can quality, that is Jesus Christ.

This is the second tipping point of God’s plan. God’s dwelling place is now in Jesus Christ’s fresh eternally. the Kingdom of God is here as Jesus says.

The image of God (Grace and Sin)

Man and woman are said to have been created in the image/likeness of God in only three passages in the early chapters of Genesis (Gen 1:26–28; 5:1–3; 9:6). (Curtis, E.M., 1992. Image of God (OT) D. N. Freedman, ed. The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, 3, p.389.)

We are the same as the first images of God, Adam and Eve, and are blemished. From eternal begin being temporal. our lives are timed. From residing in the eternal garden of Eden to residing in the temporal corrupted world through Adam’s sin. everything is temporal, nothing last forever in this corrupted world. Adam, the blemished image of God, is the gateway for sin to enter this world and Christ is our gateway to return to the eternal Kingdom of God without blemish.

Jesus on the cross took away all our blemishes and covered with His righteousness and Holiness by the Holy Spirit. the image of God is restored by believing in Jesus Christ. by Faith, we received the blessing to be the temple of God. we are the priest of God we are the disciple of Christ. we are Christian and Christlike in our daily lives, in our hearts, souls, and minds.

Jesus said to Pharisee, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Matt 22:37-39

The Kingdom of eternal God (Grace)

After the water baptism, The Spirit of God dwell in Jesus Christ. God only dwell in the Holy of Holies inside the Temple. This means the Holy of the Holies is in Jesus Christ. Holy Temple of God and Kingdom of God are in Christ. Whoever reached out to Jesus, will be reached out to the Kingdom of God

In Genesis 1 the Spirit of God, the Creator: Out of Bondage, freedom (tempted by Satan 3 times, defeated Satan 3 times means absolute defeat; Out of disorder, order (Supernaturally calming the storm). Out of confusion, harmony (death resurrected). Out of deformity, Beauty (Blind can see deaf can hear, leprosy are cleaned).

The Omega last forever (Grace)

Mark 1:8 ESV John the Baptist says: ‘I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”

We are baptised with Jesus’ eternal Spirit means we are cleaned and covered by His eternal Spirit and righteousness once for all after Jesus’ fresh died on cross for us. Jesus substitutes for us to take the wrath of God for our sins. We, Christians, are in Christ covered by His righteousness and our Father only see us in Christ eternally righteousness and will not see our sins, His blemished images anymore forever.

Revelation 1:8 ESV

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

By our Father’s Grace, we are blessed through Christ. Through Jesus Christ’s righteous on us and in us, we are blessed with our Father’s wisdom wisdom and favours. His Grace is our unearned and undeserved favours. God has been gracious ( by the meaning of His messenger’s name John the Baptist) in the beginning and to the end by the writer of God’s final written message in the book of Revelation, John the Apostle (God has been gracious until the end).

Jesus is almighty limitlessness

Nicky Campbell in the alpha online said that

the first one to forgive is the strongest,

the first one to forget is the happiest.

Jesus gave himself for me, our Father will never look at our sin anymore.

Through Jesus, Our Father has given us limitless forgiveness because He is the strongest almighty (as Jesus taught Peter to forgive seventy times seven). He is the fountain of happiness. Imagine there there 2.4 Billion people on earth are Christian in 2020 and have been forgiven. There are 17.2 Billion people are not Christians. Many of them are at our doorstep, our neighbours. we are Christians mean we are Christ-like. What should we do every day to our non-believing neighbours and friends?

Fountain of limitless joy and happiness

Our Father Through Jesus Christ has given us the fountain of limitless joy and happiness.

The scripture says: Hebrews 10:16–18 ESV 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” 17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” 18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

The Law demands, The Grace gives

The Law demands righteousness, and the Jewish Priests developed ritual to show their people how to be physically righteous by behaviours but lack Godly hearts.

After the first Pentecost in OT, the Law came (Moses brought the two tablets of commandments from Mt Sinai), 3000 were judged and killed (The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died (Exo32:28))

The first Pentecost after Jesus ascension, the Holy Spirit came in ACT 2 to the Disciples of Jesus Christ, by God’s grace, 3000 were saved.

For if, by the trespass of the one man (Adam), death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! (Roman 5:17)

We Christians received God’s grace by faith through Jesus Christ our saviour. After the Baptism of Holy Spirit, we are covered by Christ’s righteousness before Our Father.

We believed in Christ by faith and received and filled by His Grace until eternity.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing through reading the God’s word.

The Great Commission

Matthew 28:16–20 ESV

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshipped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

By faith in Jesus Christ, we are Baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit. We have received the limitless of Grace from our God. We Christians live like Christ will also pass His grace to the unbelievers: we can start with giving our times to share the Good News of Christ in our lives with all the unbelievers. Boldly proclaim that we are Christians, its not by our might but by Jesus’ name we do it. By His Grace we give that has already given to us.

God’s Plan

Mark 1:1-8 has summarised God’s eternal plan for restoring His own images Through His Son Jesus Christ and finished covering His people turn back with Jesus Christ righteous Through the holy Spirit. Its all initiated, executed, restored by God alone. We Christians are just here to received His grace of redemption and justification by our faith in Christ.

Roman 5:1 says : Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

(peace may be translated to let’s keep rejoicing (the Bible Knowledge Commentary))

God is our future hope and the hope is now in us through Jesus Christ and is forever. Forever Shalom. Amen.

This is my moment of thoughts whiling writing this bible note: The painful past is death, there is no future but death in the painful past. It is sin that bring us back to our painful past and keep our focus away from God in our presence. Stay with God’s glory means stay in his presence. Look at God means look away from sin. This is repentance. When we look at God by praying, reading his word, singing and worship Him, mediating His word in spirit and even just praise and proclaim in our minds and by our mouths that “ we are the righteous of God in Christ” at any time day and night. Jesus will walk us together to his Glory from our presence to eternity. Just keep looking away from unhappiness by look at God. We are saved by Jesus Christ. God is out Fountain of peace joy and happiness, we are righteous in Christ. we are filled with peace, joy and happiness. we are filled with overflowing grace, Satan always try to tempt us to think that we are not filled. its does and finished by Jesus Christ on the Cross. its once for all. there is no second.

Doubt is non-believing. so don’t doubt. Jesus gives us once for all the mean to the fountain, we are over-filled by faith in Christ. Jesus is the Word. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by reading the Word of God.