We have two Scripture readings tonight, the first from Isaiah chapter 52, part of Isaiah's prophecy where we have the promise yet to be fulfilled, and then we'll be reading from Mark chapter 1 where we see the fulfillment of that promise. So, reading first from Isaiah chapter 52, beginning at verse 3, and reading down through verse 10, let us give our attention to God's own Word. For thus says the Lord, you were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money. For thus says the Lord God, my people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. Now therefore, what have I here, declares the Lord, seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail, declares the Lord, and continually, all the day, my name is despised. Therefore, my people shall know my name. Therefore, in that day, they shall know that it is I who speak. Here I am. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns. The voice of your watchman, they lift up their voice. Together they sing for joy, for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. And then turning over to Mark chapter 1, we'll read the first 15 verses. These are the same 15 verses I preached last time I was here. I haven't forgotten, but we're going to look at a slightly different part of these 15 verses. So, Mark chapter 1 at verse 1. the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt about his waist and ate locusts and wild honey, and he preached, saying, After me comes he who is mightier than I. the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when He came up out of the water, immediately He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son. With you I am well pleased. And immediately the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness, and in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. So far the reading of God's Word. Gospel. That's a word that we as Christians know with great familiarity. Gospel. It's an old, old English word. We speak what's called modern English, and before modern English was middle English, and before middle English was old English, a thousand years and more ago. and that Old English came up with the word gospel, which really means God's Word. And it's a pretty good translation of the Greek. The Greek Evangelium is really two Greek words put together meaning good news. You already knew that, didn't you? You may not have known that that's what the Greek meant, but you already knew about good news, didn't you? You already knew the gospel was good news. Perhaps it would be even better to translate it into English, good message, because John's gospel is very much about the good message and the messengers that carry it. And in Greek, message and messenger are related to one another just the way they are in English. So, God is about the business of giving us a good message born by the messengers He has appointed. And that's just how Mark begins his gospel. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, behold, I send my messenger before your face. The good message of Jesus Christ, behold, I send my messenger before your face. Mark begins his gospel by calling it a gospel. See, this is a sermon of easy concepts. But Mark is the only gospel writer who refers to his book as a gospel. Each of the gospels begins in very different ways, and Mark begins kind of abruptly, beginning. Now, where else would you begin except at the beginning? But it's the beginning of the good message that he wants to highlight. the good message of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, who will be proclaimed by messengers. And Mark is so eager, then, that we should really focus on that good message, that we should really focus on that gospel. Do we know what the gospel really is? Now, I bet most of us here, under pressure, could come up with a fairly good statement of the gospel, of the good news, of the good message of Jesus Christ. But what we want to look at tonight is how Mark presents that gospel, how Mark begins his account of Jesus, the good news of Jesus, in a way that helps us understand that good news, because Mark is a messenger of the good message. And he fills his first chapter with messengers. There's Isaiah the messenger, and there's John the Baptist the messenger, and there are angels the messengers. Did you know that angel in Greek just means messenger? And Jesus is the messenger. We'll see as we go along that Jesus is both the message and the messenger. So we want to see how Mark has decided under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to help us understand what the gospel is. And the first point that becomes clear here is that the gospel is a promise. the gospel is a promise. It's a promise that was made in anticipation to the Old Covenant people, and it's a promise that is fulfilled in the coming of Jesus to the New Covenant people. And the promise is this, God will come to save. God will come to save. It's not that salvation was unknown in the Old Covenant, but the Old Covenant was a preparation and a waiting and an anticipation for the fullness that was yet to come. Because in the Old Covenant, we saw again and again and again the failure of Israel because of its sin. We see Israel, as Isaiah said, first of all, as strangers in Egypt, and then as oppressed in Assyria and Babylon, and then in Mark's day, occupied by the Romans. Yes, there had been promise. Yes, there had been a declaration of salvation. But there had been great suffering. There had been great loss. There had been great failure. And Israel had lived by promise. Israel had lived in anticipation. Israel had been waiting for the promise to be fulfilled. And what Mark is saying here in his first chapter is that now is the day of fulfillment. Now the promise is fulfilled. That's exactly what Jesus said in His first sermon that's recorded for us here in Mark. It's a kind of short sermon. The sermons in the Bible are much shorter than the preachers you have. Aren't you thankful that you don't have a bunch of really short sermons? But here's Jesus' very short sermon. The time is fulfilled. The time of your waiting is over. The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. And what is that gospel promise? What is the promise that the people have been anticipating? It's that God Himself will come to them, that the God who had at times been so distant, the God who had sometimes come to them in judgment, would now come to them with salvation, would come to them to make peace between Himself and them, would come to bring to them fulfillment. And the prophets expressed it in so many different ways. He would come with comfort. He would come with peace. He would come with joy. He would come with happiness. He would come with salvation. They would be a people redeemed. All of the alienation between them and God that they had experienced in their history would be put behind them. And in the time of fulfillment, God would be present with His people to fulfill that promise of salvation. God would come. God would be with them, everything would be made right. And that's what's promised here. This is the good news in Isaiah 40 and in Isaiah 52. The prophet promised a day of good news, of fulfillment, of the good message made known. And that's what's being declared here in these remarkable opening verses of Mark. Mark immediately turns our minds to Isaiah. You know that in Greek, and it's one of the ways that Greek is so much nicer than English, there isn't any punctuation. Wouldn't that be nice, boys and girls, if you could go to school and study and not have to worry about punctuation? Maybe in schools today you don't have to worry about punctuation, but in my day, in the good old days, you had to worry about punctuation. If we look at that first verse of Mark 1 verse 1, it probably should read, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, comma, not period, as written in Isaiah the prophet. Mark is saying the gospel was prophesied for us, was foretold for us, was promised for us in Isaiah. And now the promise of Isaiah that God would come is fulfilled. God has come to us at long, long last. The people have been waiting a very long time. Isaiah had written some 800 years before Mark's day. 800 years. Can any of us think of anything we know that happened 800 years ago? What was happening in America in 1200? What was happening in Europe in 1200? What were the names of your relatives 800 years ago? We don't have a clue, do we? 800 years is a long time to wait. Before Mark gets around to quoting Isaiah, he first quotes in verse 2 Malachi. Malachi, the last of the prophets to Israel. Malachi, who had prophesied 400 years before Mark's day. 400 years is only half of 800 years. I was very good in math. But 400 years is a very long time, isn't it? Now, 400 years takes us about back to the Synod of Dort, so we're feeling a little more comfortable. We're a little bit aware, but it's a long time to wait, isn't it? 400 years. They were waiting for the fulfillment of what Jeremiah had said, that there would be a new covenant where all God's people would know Him. Jeremiah had prophesied about 600 years before Mark. How long they had been waiting, how long they had been struggling, struggling with temple destroyed, struggling with exile, struggling with oppression, struggling with what we all struggle with whenever we have to wait. Will God ever fulfill His promise? Waiting is one of the hardest things we have to do, isn't it? Why do we have to wait? Why do we have to wait? I was asked that question just in the last week about waiting. What about God's timing? We could do better, couldn't we? At least in particular points, we think we could do better. We shouldn't have to wait so long. It's very interesting, I think, at least it's very interesting to me, that after Isaiah in chapter 40 talks about the good news and the promise of His coming and that we'll see our God and He'll come and He'll save us and He'll lift us up like lambs in His arms and hug us to Himself and save us, that Isaiah in chapter 40 then goes on to that famous second half of the chapter that talks about the sovereignty and glory of God. And I think he does that very intentionally to say, you've received a wonderful promise, But you're going to have to wait for its fulfillment. You're going to have to wait, he doesn't say this, 800 years. Might be an interesting question to discuss. If Isaiah had said you're going to have to wait 800 years, would that have been more comforting or less comforting? Well, 800 years at least, we'd know how long we have to wait. That's one of our struggles, isn't it? Not knowing. But 800 years? 800 years? While you're waiting, Isaiah in effect says, think about this, verses 13 and 14 of chapter 40. Who would counsel God? Are you in a position to offer advice to God about His timetable? Do you want the responsibility of telling Him He should do things differently? Or verse 23, who would doubt His power? Our waiting is not because our God is powerless to do something differently. Or verse 27, who would doubt His knowledge and wisdom? Is God wise in the timing that He chooses? Even though it can seem so hard for us, even though it can seem so slow or maybe so fast. Do we really want to suggest that we are wiser than God? And that's why Isaiah 40 can conclude with those marvelous words, those who wait upon the Lord, trusting Him, will renew their strength. We'll become stronger by waiting on the Lord, by trusting in His timing and in His wisdom. Psalm 130, verse 5, I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His Word I hope. When we become impatient, it's because we're trusting our own experience rather than trusting the Word of the Lord. And the Scriptures throughout call us, don't they, to trust His Word, which means to trust Him, to trust His plans, to trust His purpose. Psalm 37, verse 7, be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. My wife says to me that when she married me, I was a patient person, and she fears that over the years I've become less patient. I think maybe that's true. I hate to confess that publicly. It's hard to be patient, isn't it? It's hard to wait upon the Lord, in his timing. It was hard for Israel to wait 800 years. But oh, the joy when the waiting is over. Oh, the joy when the fulfillment is announced. And that's why the opening of Mark's gospel is so powerful. That time is fulfilled. That's the good message. The promise is fulfilled. God has come, and the promise is fulfilled in the person who has come, Jesus, Jesus, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus. That's what Mark wants us to know. The promise is of Jesus coming. And who is this Jesus? Well, His very name tells us, doesn't it? Jesus, Joshua, the Lord saves. That's who's coming. That's why it's the fulfillment of all that the prophets talked about. Jesus is the Lord's saving. And who was Joshua in the Old Testament? He was the one who led the people into the land of promise. And that's just what Jesus does for us, doesn't it? He leads us to the land of promise. He doesn't leave us in the wilderness of this world. But He leads us on. He leads us to Himself. He leads us to glory. And He does that as God's Christ. He is the anointed one. He is the one who was appointed for this very purpose. Again, Isaiah prophesied, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me, the Lord has messiahed me, the Lord has Christed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn. Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one who has come to save, and Jesus is the Son of God. Now, the Messiah might have been, some of the Jews thought, simply a human being, and Jesus was a human being. He was the true Son of David. But Jesus is also the divine Savior. Jesus is God come in the flesh. Jesus is the Son of God. And Mark, throughout his gospel, will labor to show us in all sorts of ways how Jesus is the Christ and how Jesus is the Son of God. And he does that here in that first chapter with the story of Jesus' baptism. Because as Jesus comes up out of the waters of baptism, what happens? He receives the Holy Spirit, And he hears the voice of the Father in heaven who declares, to translate it just a little more literally, this is my Son, the Beloved One, in whom I am well pleased. What a thing to say, what a thing for the Father to say of Jesus. This is my Son, the one I love, the one in whom I am well-pleased. So, the gospel is a promise, the gospel is a purpose, is a person, and that person has come to be a Savior. That person is the beloved one of God. how will God treat him? Think about that for a minute. God has just said to Jesus, you are my beloved Son. I am completely happy with you. What's going to happen then in light of that wonderful declaration? We read that the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus has just received, drives Him out into the wilderness. That verb is the same verb that is used throughout Mark's gospel to refer to casting out the demons. Jesus is cast out by the Spirit into the wilderness. Why? Because he's a suffering Savior. Because the Father has appointed him to bear the sins and the burdens of the people. He is beloved. He is faithful. And in that love and in that faithfulness, He will save us from our sins by bearing those sins on Himself. And we have a foretaste of that here in the temptation that He undergoes. A terrible temptation. A temptation of 40 days in the wilderness struggling. And out of it, He remains the beloved Son. he remains the faithful son. He remains the son in whom God is well-pleased. Here's the gospel, the gospel of Jesus, who suffers so that we might have good news. And that leads us really to the third point then. The gospel is a promise, the gospel is a person, the gospel is also a plea. Jesus' first sermon concludes, believe in the gospel. Believe in the gospel. We don't know exactly how Jesus said it, but I'm really pretty sure he said it with great passion, with great intensity. Believe the gospel. You know, there are an awful lot of people who, if you say the word gospel, will tell you they're not interested. There are an awful lot of people, if you say the word gospel, will say, I have another religion. There are an awful lot of people who, if you say the word gospel, will say, Oh, I'm really interested in that for right now. But you discover pretty soon they're more interested in other things. Jesus is saying to us, don't ignore my word. Don't reject my word. Don't play with my word. Accept my word. Believe that the time is fulfilled. That the kingdom is at hand in King Jesus, and that the promise of salvation, the promise of peace with God, is fulfilled in Jesus who came as the message and the messenger to say to every one of us tonight, believe the gospel. Has God come to save you in Jesus? If you believe the gospel, He has. May that be true of every one of us. Amen. Let us pray. O Lord, our God, You know us, and You know how hard it is to wait. And so, we are so thankful for the testimony of Mark that the waiting is over in the profoundest sense. God has come to save in Jesus, and He saves us from our sins. He saves us from death. He saves us to life eternal, and we pray, O Lord, that that great confidence, that great hope might be the hope of every one of us here tonight, that we might know life, everlasting life in Jesus. Hear us, for we pray in His name. Amen.