“The Good News of the King”
Precis: The Good News of God gives us hope and compels us to repent, believe and follow.
Principle: The Gospel is only good news if we recall our past and present experience of exile.
After looking at the Mission of Jesus summarized in Psalm 72, (righteous reign, reconciling communities, ruling forever), we look to Mark 1:14-18 to hear the words of the King that mark all of his ministry—that the Good News of God has come, the Gospel, and we must then repent, believe and follow Jesus in response to this good news. But what does the Good news truly mean for us today? Taking our cues from Jesus’ message that hearken back to Isaiah 40, we understand that the Gospel is good news that we can finally come back home. Behind every desire we have is a desire for love, to be understood, to have life—that life is ultimately bound up with our Creator and Redeemer who gave of Himself on the Cross to make orphans sons and daughters, and to bring prodigals back home. In response to His work to bring us home, “Back to Eden”, we must turn from our ways, believing in His word and follow Him as the disciples did.