The Beginning, Revisited

It’s wedding week at our house. This coming Friday evening, our son Michael and his fiancé Hilary will be married. So I thought this busy week would be a great time to look back at the first post in this study, Knowing Jesus—just to be reminded of what we’ve set out to learn. Here is post #1: The Beginning. . . .

Welcome to our new study on Mark! We’ve got a lot to learn a lot in the coming weeks. At times we’ll move quickly, at times we’ll move slowly. We’ll answer some questions and we’ll raise some questions. And we’ll get to know Jesus like never before.

Ready? Open your Bible and let’s get to it!

Read Mark 1:1.

Mark calls his record “the beginning of the gospel about Jesus.” He tells what happened when the Word (referred to in John 1:1) entered the world in flesh and became known as Jesus, the Son of God. (Read Luke 1:31-32a, 35.)

So Mark’s book is really the beginning of the human venture of Jesus. But the eternal existence of the Word had no beginning. Scriptures like 1 Peter 1:20 and John 17:5 tell us that “Jesus” existed before the world began, though He wasn’t called Jesus until He was born in human form. John 1:1-3 says He—the Word—was present and active in the creation of the world, and was always “with God, and…was God.”

The Word was the expression of God, the “speaking” part of the Godhead. Any time God “spoke” in the Old Testament, the Word was there as His speaking voice. When the Word came to earth in human form, He was expressing or “speaking” to us about God—wording God—in a way we humans could relate to and understand.

In Him, we can actually see how God would live as a man:
• what His priorities would be
• how He would treat His fellow men
• how He would handle betrayal
• how passionately He would love and obey His Father
• and so much more.
Jesus was God’s living, breathing demonstration!

The gospels, including Mark, clue us in that there is more to Jesus than meets the eye. This was no ordinary man. Many people who think they know who Jesus was/is, have little idea of the real scope of His identity and existence. What we’re about to learn may be very eye-opening for you. Curious about Jesus? Check back each week for more!

This first post ended with the two questions that follow. Maybe this study has affected your description of Jesus, or taught you something new about the Spirit-led life based on the way He lived it. How would you answer these questions at this point in our study?

What do you think? Share your ideas!

If someone asked you to answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” in three sentences or less, how would you respond based on what you know now?

How did the Word in human form—as Jesus—have a unique way to demonstrate God’s ideal life for us? What have you learned from His life?

Next week, we’ll continue our study of the final week of Jesus’ earthly life. Don’t miss it!

Please remember that you can receive this study by email each week by simply subscribing in the right-hand column of this blog at www.dianemcloud.com/blog. I’ll meet you right here next week!

© Diane McLoud 2014