Lessons 3-4

Lesson 3 – Mark 1:1

Mark 1:1 starts out “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”

The word ”gospel” means “good tidings,“ used in Luke 2:10 by the angels when they announced the birth of the Messiah. We'd say “good news.” The birth of the long-awaited Savior of the world was good news--great news!

This verse then says, ”The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;”

Now let's look at the different names and titles in this verse. First, ”Jesus.“ This name was chosen by God, His Father. “Jesus” means “He shall save His people from their sins.” (Matt.1:21) This special name was revealed by an angel to the virgin Mary (Luke 1:26-31) and later, to Joseph, who would be Jesus' guardian. (Matt.1:20-21) They were obedient to God and named God's Son, Jesus, when the Baby was born months later in Bethlehem. So "Jesus" means "Savior.”

Jesus had another name: Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” This name was foretold in the Old Testament, many hundreds of years before Jesus was born. (Isaiah 7:14) The gospel of John starts out with that theme, "God with us." God the Word, as He was known in heaven (John 1:1,14), came to Earth and became flesh, that is, became the Man called Jesus. So, Jesus was God with us.

The word “Christ” means “anointed One.” In the Greek language it is “Messiah.” So we see that the verse in Mark 1:1 reads, ”The beginning of the good news of Jesus, the Savior, the Anointed Messiah, the Son of God.”

Did you know that there are several references to the Son of God in the Old Testament? God stated in the OT scriptures that He had a Son. Look at the following 3 scriptures from the Old Testament. Read each one several times.

What does each verse tell you about the Son of God?

Psalm 2:12

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,

And you perish in the way,

When His wrath is kindled but a little.

Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Proverbs 30:4

Who has ascended into heaven, or descended?

Who has gathered the wind in His fists?

Who has bound the waters in a garment?

Who has established all the ends of the earth?

What is His name, and what is His Son’s name,

If you know?

Isaiah 9:6-7

For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Principle: Since Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God's anointed One and our Savior, He is the One we should trust, study and follow. You trust Jesus by believing what He says and doing what He says. You are studying Him by means of this Bible study. To follow Him, every morning ask the Lord to direct your steps to walk His ways. Ask Him to direct your words, so that your words honor Him. Look up Psalm 25:4. Memorize it and then pray it to God.

Lesson 4 – Mark 1:1 cont.

I'm going to review the last question I asked in lesson 3 from last week. I gave you 3 verses to look at and to determine what they told us about the Son of God. They were all verses from the Old Testament and were written hundreds of years before the Lord Jesus was born. Yet they told information about Him.

Proverbs 30:4

Who has ascended into heaven, or descended?

Who has gathered the wind in His fists?

Who has bound the waters in a garment?

Who has established all the ends of the earth?

What is His name, and what is His Son’s name,

If you know?

This verse shows God has a Son. (In John 1:1 and 14 and also Rev 19:13 we learn His heavenly name was The Word.)

Isaiah 9:6-7

For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

These verses reveal God has a Son Who would come to Earth to be born as a Child. He would have a number of titles, Wonderful Counsellor, mighty God, everlasting Father and Prince of peace. Verse 7 shows that God's Son would be a Ruler one day and that when He becomes King, He will rule forever. "The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform it” means God of all the heavenly angels will see that this happens.

Principle: Since Jesus is the wonderful Counsellor, He has the wisdom to help us with any problem we bring to Him. Since He is the mighty God, He has the power to help us. Since He is the “our Father,” He loves us and wants to help us. Since Jesus is the Prince of peace, He can give us the peace we need, if we will trust Him with our problems.

I left out the 3rd verse:

Ps 2:12

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,

And you perish in the way,

When His wrath is kindled but a little.

Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

This verse and the other verses in Psalm 2 show that the Son of God is important, the King. He is to be honored and revered. It implies He is powerful and is in a position to judge people's behavior toward Him. Yet it also says that those who put their trust in Him are very happy.