February 26, 2012 · Mark 1:12–15

Desert Time Spent at Lent

At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

“Jesus preaches the kingdom of God has come — or the kingdom of God is near. The time of the kingdom of God is fulfilled. — I want to see the kingdom. Here it is. — It's interesting. Jesus has another tension here. Because sometimes he talks about the kingdom of God as — "It's here." And it makes sense, because he's the king. The kingdom of God is here, because I'm the king. It's here now. Other times he's talking about the kingdom of God — he's talking about the future. "Run for the hills." He talks about all these signs of bad things going to happen. And when the kingdom of God finally arrives — it's kind of like, "Oh, God — what's going on? Is it here, or is it not?" Well, it is. It's there with Jesus. Jesus is the king. And he runs the kingdom of God for his Father. But there's this tension. Scholars call it "realized eschatology" versus "future eschatology." It's realized right now. We already have the kingdom. But there's also the future element: the now, but not yet. There's all these ways to talk about it. The point is: the reign of God breaks in with Christ. It has begun, and it's here. It grows stronger in the church. But it won't rule the earth until Jesus returns. Our job is to repent and believe — repentance and faith.”