Mark 1:15

Jesus’ message consisted of two declarations and two commands. First, He declared that the time that God had predicted in the Old Testament had arrived. He was referring to the end of the present age and the beginning of the messianic age, as His second declaration clarified (cf. Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 1:2; Hebrews 9:6-15).

The term "kingdom" (Gr. basileia) as it occurs with "the kingdom of God" in Scripture does not just mean everything over which God exercises sovereign authority. The term "kingdom of God" occurs 14 times in Mark: Mark 1:15; Mark 4:11; Mark 4:26; Mark 4:30; Mark 9:1; Mark 9:47; Mark 10:14-15; Mark 10:23-25; Mark 12:34; Mark 14:25; and Mark 15:43. It means a particular worldwide kingdom over which He Himself will rule directly. [Note: Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v. "basilia," by K. L. Schmidt, 1:579-81.] Of course God does sovereignly rule over all, and over His people in a more particular sense (1 Chronicles 29:12; Psalms 103:19-20). However this is not the rule of God that the Old Testament prophets spoke of when they described a descendant of David ruling over all the earth from Jerusalem. Many Old Testament passages predicted the coming of this kingdom (2 Samuel 7:8-17; Isaiah 11:1-9; Isaiah 24:23; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Daniel 2:34; Micah 4:6-7; Zechariah 9:9-10; Zechariah 14:9; cf. Matthew 20:21; Mark 10:37; Mark 11:10; Mark 12:35-37; Mark 15:43; Luke 1:31-33; Luke 2:25; Luke 2:38; Acts 1:6). Jesus’ Jewish hearers knew exactly what He meant when He said the kingdom of God was at hand, or they should have if they did not. The presence of the King argued for the nearness of His kingdom, but it was still in the future (cf. Mark 9:47-48).

The Jews needed to make a double response since the kingdom of God was at hand. They needed to repent and believe. These two words call for successive actions, but the action is really one act that involves two steps taken almost simultaneously. Repenting involves turning from something, and believing involves embracing something else. For example, a drowning man who is clinging to a scrap of wood needs to do two things when a lifeguard reaches him. He needs to release the wood and entrust himself to the lifeguard.

When John the Baptist called the Jews to repent, he urged them to abandon their former hope of salvation because the Lifeguard was there to save them. When Jesus said, "Believe in the gospel," He meant, "Believe the good news that Messiah is here." Messiah was the subject of the gospel and the object of belief.

This is the only occurrence of the phrase "believe in [Gr. en] the gospel" in the New Testament. It points to the gospel as the basis of faith.