Jesus Christ, Son of God, King of Israel

Gospel of Mark

Mark or otherwise known as John Mark. It was common for Jewish Christians in the Hellenistic Judaism community to have a Hebrew name and a Greek name. A Hellenistic Jew was a Greek-speaking Jew and that was what John Mark was before converting to Christianity.

Where we first meet Mark is in Acts 12:12 where we see that his mother hosted early church gatherings at her house.

We know that his mother Mary’s home was significant for the early church because Peter comes there when he gets out of prison.

Mary most likely was a wealthy woman because she owned property and it was big enough to house a church gathering.

There is another view that Mark was the boy that fled away from Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane is held on something we can’t prove. Which is that Marks mother Mary owned that garden. According to this view, Mark would have been a guard in charge of the night watch when he was a young man. It is a view that some will present and it is nice to think about, but there is no evidence to prove it. I will have to ask God about it when I see Him after I leave this world.

There is one other common view of Mark. They say that if Mary was involved in the early church then likely her home was used for the Last Supper in Mark 14.

Papias of Hieropolis an early church father (60AD-120AD) assures us that John Mark is the author of this Gospel. The gospel of Mark is believed to be written around 50AD.

The early church fathers all concur and affirm that John Mark is the author of the gospel. They all state that he interpreted and recorded Peter’s account of Jesus’s life. John Mark would be an odd candidate for the authorship, but since the people that were there while it was happening affirm it, we trust them. The early church was actually unanimous in their acceptance as John Mark as the author.

“It is in the following words: “This also the presbyter said: Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately, though not indeed in order, whatsoever he remembered of the things said or done by Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor followed him, but afterward, as I said, he followed Peter, who adapted his teaching to the needs of his hearers, but with no intention of giving a connected account of the Lord’s discourses, so that Mark committed no error while he thus wrote some things as he remembered them. For he was careful of one thing, not to omit any of the things which he had heard, and not to state any of them falsely.” These things are related by Papias concerning Mark.” – Papias of Hierapolis 60AD

John Mark helped Paul on the first missionary journey (Acts 12:25; 13:5).

We don’t know how he assisted them. Some say as an interpreter, but also that he shared the gospel.

Mark was the cousin of another wealthy landowner, Barnabas. (Colossians 4:10; Acts 4:36-37)

There was a sharp dispute over Mark between Paul and Barnabas on whether to take him on the next missionary journey. So, Paul and Silas went one way, Mark and Barnabas went the other. (Acts 15:37-39)

Paul and Mark apparently reconciled over the dispute. We know that because of Scriptures like 2 Timothy 4:11 and Philemon 24.

The early church affirms that Peter is talking about John Mark in 1 Peter 5:13.

Which further proves that Mark was a disciple of Peter who interpreted and recorded Peter’s account of the gospel.

Son of God

So, we start our study in Mark on verse 1.

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” - Mark 1:1

The phrase Son of God is often confused when reading Scripture. People have taken the title, Son of God, and taken it out of the context of Scripture.

The main false idea surrounding the name Son of God is that Jesus was created. The truth is that Jesus wasn’t created. He is eternal.

The other false idea surrounding the name Son of God is that Jesus isn’t God. The truth is that Jesus is God.

I will show you how both of these are true in Scripture, but first I want to show you how the phrase son of God is used throughout Scripture.

Angels were called sons of God: Job 1:6 “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.”

Israel was called son of God: Exodus 4:22 “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son,”

True Christians are called sons of God: John 1:12; Romans 8:12-19; Galatians 4:4-6.

Jesus Christ is called the Son of God: Mark 1:1; John 1:49, as well as many other passages. This is where we will be tonight.

The beginning of the gospel is that Jesus is the Son of God, but not in the same sense that angels, Christians, or Israel is a son of God.

Nathanael noticed that Jesus is different. In fact, Nathanael recognizes Jesus as God. Let’s look in John 1.

John 1:43–51 (ESV)

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Nathanael doesn’t make the statement that Jesus is the Son of God, King of Israel for no reason. Those were dangerous claims in the context of which Nathanael meant them. He was referencing a prophesy about the Messiah.

2 Samuel 7:14–16 ESV

I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”

Psalm 2 ESV

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Jesus is the foretold King of Israel in 2 Samuel 7. God tells David that he will have someone from his lineage that will come, and that His kingdom will be established forever. This tells us that Jesus is eternal. He was never created, He is eternal. He is God.

Jesus is the Son of God. He is the eternal One. He is YAHWEH. John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.””

Nathanael was saying that Jesus is God, Jesus told the Pharisees that He is God. He called Himself, I AM, YAHWEH. That is the name of God that God gave to Moses at the burning bush.

Jesus wasn’t a mere man or an angle Hebrews 1. He was truly God and truly man. God the Son came down and dwelt among men as the God-man.

God had to come to earth. A man doesn’t have the ability to give eternity or forgive sins. Man doesn’t have the ability to not sin. That power lies in God alone.

A Son looks like his Father, and Jesus reflected as a man exactly who He is. He lived a perfect life without sin, while still feeling pain, sadness, anger, tiredness.

Philippians 2:6-7 “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

son of God or son of the devil?

1 John 3:1–10 ESV

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

A son of God reflects His very nature. Jesus did it perfectly because He is God. We cannot do it perfectly because we battle against the flesh, but does your life reflect His? If not, you may not be a child of God.

A son of the devil is whoever doesn’t reflect God. Someone who doesn’t believe or even professes to believe but doesn’t reflect God has no claim to God. A son of the devil doesn’t practice righteousness and they don’t love their brother. That means that they don’t love the people of the church.

There is a mercy and grace that is given to the true believer by God to love those that belong to Him especially. That means that I love those that are in the church regardless of how they treat me. I do that because Christ loves me and has forgiven me of all my transgressions. Loving everyone like Jesus did is hard to do, but John is saying that True believers at the very least love the brothers,.

The danger of not being a legitimate son of God is Hell. Not trusting in Christ truly and completely will end in your demise.

Jesus Christ is the true Son of God. He is God and He gives us the example. If we don’t put our faith in Him and repent then we cannot call ourselves children of God.