Mark 1:14,15 – “when” is the Kingdom?
When is the Kingdom of God? Many people the Kingdom far into the future… out of our reach, out of our grasp, not for today. What did Jesus say about it? I’m going to utterly dissect a passage I found in Mark.
“Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14, 15 NKJV
This has become one of my favorite passages of Scripture. It ushered in a “suddenly” of understanding for me after days of wrestling with questions of “when”. (The “suddenlies” of God are simply amazing)
I’m not going to get into defining what “when” means… I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from what the Word says. If you read nothing else, skip to the end where I switch to red text and see what conclusion you draw.
Let’s look at it in a bit more depth:
(sorry… for some reason the actual greek letters won’t render correctly in wordpress!)
| Now after John was put in prison | Not going to dissect the Greek here because the meaning is quite plain in English – the timing of this event was at the beginning of the earthly ministry of Jesus, AFTER He was anointed by Holy Spirit. (by contrast, not after the crucifixion, resurrection, or ascension; not after Pentecost, and not at some point in the future, but right then) | |
| Jesus came to Galilee | I’m not sure, but I think this fulfills what Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 9:1 about Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. | |
| preaching | kerysso verb: present active participle |
To herald, to proclaim, with a suggestion of formality, gravity, in an imperative or commanding fashion… to publish and proclaim openly something which has (already) been done. Used in reference to John Baptist, Jesus, and the apostles. |
| the gospel | euaggelion | The gospel is good tidings, a reward for good tidings, the good news of Jesus and His Kingdom, the truth about Jesus and the Kingdom of God |
| of the Kingdom | basileia | Kingdom is the domain and dominion of the King – His royal power, kingship, dominion, rule, territory subject to rule… the right and authority to rule… the royalty of Jesus and of believers conferred upon us by Jesus (cf Rev. 1:6), the reign of Messiah |
| of God | theos | Literally God and the things of God |
| and saying | kai lego hoti |
Kai means “and”…
lego means “speaking, saying, teaching, exhorting, commanding, directing, calling by name”…its meaning is similar to kerysso but is more “He opened His mouth, used His voicebox, and words came out”. hoti means “because of”; although it’s technically a conjunction I would call its use here adverbial because it illuminates “saying” (but I’m not grammar expert – that’s just the way it strikes me) |
| the time | kairos | Kairos is God’s timing, that opportune moment that all of history hinges upon. Seasonal, the “right” time, often comes as part of a crisis or major change, a decisive moment, an instant, a “suddenly”.
in contrast to chronos time – the linear days, nights, years we live in here on the earth. God brings the two (kairos and chronos) crashing together; when He does, change is the result. When we say “It’s a God moment” or “a divine opportunity” or even “rhema” that’s what we’re talking about…kairos intersecting with chronos. |
| fulfilled | pleroo
perfect passive indicative |
Fulfilled is one of the most wonderful words in all of Scripture… it means to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full… to cause to abound, to furnish or supply liberally… to render full… nothing wanting or lacking…
to complete… to consummate… to make complete in every way and render perfect… carry through, accomplish, bring to realization, realize, bring to pass, accomplish The verb tense indicates a completed action, not needing to be repeated at any future point. It’s done: It is Finished: Right now and forever! |
| and the Kingdom of God | basileia theos |
See above; literally the domain and dominion of the King |
| is at hand. | eggizo
perfect active indicative |
to bring near, for something to be “right there” – the same word is used in James, “draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” It begs the question – when God says, “I will draw near to you” – how near is that? How much nearer could it be?
Similar verb tense to “fulfilled” – this drawing near is something that is already completely done and is done forever. There is no more to be done. The Kingdom can be no more “at hand” now than it was when Jesus made the statement. |
| Repent | metanoeo
present active imperative |
An imperative is a command: You do this. When Jesus said, “repent”, he was commanding you and me to repent.
What is repent? It means to change one’s mind. Yes – there is an element of feeling sorry for your sins. That’s part of repentance. But feeling sorry does not necessarily mean change; repent means to change. To follow through with action. Repentance means gaining the mind of Christ, a Romans 12:2 “renewing” of the mind. |
| and believe | pisteuo
present active imperative |
Another command: believe.
It means to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in… conviction and trust that bring about action (pisteuo is not intellectual assent), absolute trust, to commit to without reservation or restriction. |
| the gospel. | euaggelion | (see above) – what Gospel did Jesus preach? The Gospel of the Kingdom. |
Awesome, isn’t it?
