Shabbat Shalom! With the Lord's help, we'll start the study of the Gospel of Mark. And I would like you all to open the Bible to the book of Mark, the Gospel that is written by Yohanan Marcos. This is John Mark. And I would like basically, beloved brothers and sisters, in this ministry meeting today, just to begin with the introduction to the Gospel of Mark. For many years, we have learned from reading the Brit HaChadasha, that is the New Covenant, that God had given to us, obviously, four records of this one single story of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah.

And in those fourfold, you might say, records that was written about the Messiah, Yeshua, we learn many things about this person of the Messiah. Now, we learn about the reason of His coming, we learn about His life here on earth, we learn about His substitutionary death, and we learn, of course, about His resurrection, and ascension, and the promise that He will come again. And just by way of introduction, when you start a new book, or a new epistle, or in this case, a new Gospel, I want to just read at least the first verse, so we will get into that Gospel. But I find it fascinating, as I find it fascinating, as I'm reading this Gospel, to find out a little bit more than what we have known before, about the person of Israel's promised Messiah, Yeshua, and the Savior of this world.

In the beginning of the Gospel, Mark chapter 1, and just verse 1, it says here, the beginning of the Gospel of Yeshua HaMashiach, the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah, Ben Elohim, the Son of God. And I'm just going to stop here, at this moment, with the reading of the first verse of Mark chapter 1. You know, reading the Bible, you find out that in the Word of God, in the Tanakh, that is, the Old Covenant, and in the Brit HaChadasha, that is, the New Covenant, we have four books that begin with the word beginning. You notice very well that in the book of Genesis, we read, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

In Hebrew, the word beginning is Bereshit. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Secondly, of course, it's right found here in the Gospel of Mark. And in the Gospel of Mark, we find out the beginning of the Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah, Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. This is the second book in the Scripture where the word beginning is mentioned. Thirdly, when we turn to the Gospel of John, there also, John the Evangelist gave us as well, right at the start of his Gospel. And he wrote, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Genesis 1-1, Mark 1-1, Yohanan, John 1-1.

But it's not only there in the first book of the Bible or the two Gospels, Mark and John, but even John, once again, later on in his life, he wrote the Epistles of John. And you remember what he wrote in 1 John 1, he said, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled the word of life." So when you really learn in the Word of God, you find out that there are four books in the Tanach and Brit HaChadasha, which all gave us the word "that which was from the beginning" or "in the beginning." Bereshit, right in the beginning.

Of course, every one of these books emphasizes more one thing or another. For example, John 1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." That takes us all the way to eternity past. Before creation. Before man was created. Before Adam in the Garden of Eden. It takes us all the way to the eternity past. And he tells us there was one who was there in eternity past. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And of course, secondly, we have in Genesis 1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

That takes us to creation. It takes us to a time and a season, about 6,000 years from our vantage point of time, to the time where God had created the heavens and the earth to make it suitable for his own creation. And of course, you know what happened. It didn't take too long. And men sinned in the Garden of Eden. Adam had plunged the whole human race into sin. And from that time on, God gave his people Israel, our nation of all, and the whole world, a promise that one day the Messiah will come. And when he's going to come, he will have a beginning, not a beginning to his eternal personhood, namely God the Son, but he will be born here into this world, and he will have a beginning here on earth as a lowly man, as a suffering servant of Jehovah, who will come to this world to redeem mankind.

And that's where Mark chapter 1 began with the beginning of the Gospel of Yeshua HaMashiach ben Elohim, of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. And then John, in his epistle, developed that, and he says, we have handled him. He was from the beginning. We have touched him. We have walked with him. We have spoken with him. We have heard his voice. We have handled him. He was the word of life. He was the Messiah that came into this world. So it is fascinating, brothers and sisters, four books in the Bible use the word Bereshit or Reshit, or in the beginning, in one word or another, in the Hebrew or the Greek, to suggest that there was here something that I'm telling you about a beginning.

Of course, John chapter 1, it takes us to no time at all because it takes us to eternity past. Whatever beginning you're going to put, he, the Messiah, he, God the Son, was already there. He is the creator of all things. That's the first point that I wanted to mention to you about the Gospel of Mark. Secondly, I want to mention, beloved brothers and sisters, which I find it extremely interesting. Many people ask the question, why didn't God give us only one single Gospel? He could have given us the Gospel according to the record of Matthew. Or he could have given us the Gospel according to the record that Yohanan, that is John, would give us.

Or he could give us the Gospel according to the testimony of Lucas that is found here as well. But why did he give us four Gospels? If you'll ask and you will read a little bit about this, you will find out that many Bible teachers will tell us that Matthew was written to our own Jewish people because in the Gospel of Matthew, you have the genealogy of Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, who was a descendant of Abraham through David. And he was eventually born to the family of David, to the tribe of Judah. That's why they often say that Matityahu or Matai, the Gospel of Matthew, was written to zero in on the Jewish people's need.

Then others also suggest that the book of Luke was written in order to zero in on the needs of the Greeks who needed to know concerning a man that came to this world. And to them, they needed to read it from Luke's perspective. And of course, at the Gospel of John, oftentimes we are told that it was written for the whole general community of the world to understand that Jesus, that was born to the Jewish people in the land of Israel, was actually the Son of God. And of course, Mark is being written for us, and many will tell us that it was written for the Romans, who needed as well to see the simplicity in which this person is being presented before them.

And that's why Bible teachers usually say Matthew was written to the Jewish people. Mark was written for the Romans. Luke was written for the Greeks. And of course, Yohanan, that is John, was written to the general population to let all know who Yeshua was, that he was more than just another man. And while it is true, and it is indeed true that there is, you might say, a slant, Matthew is presenting him to the Jewish people, Mark to the Romans, and Luke to the Greeks, and so on. But I would like to suggest that we cannot do without any or one of those Gospels, because really, God wanted to present before us all, and to present before Israel, who were waiting for the Messiah, to present before them his Son from four different points of view.

He wanted to present him because, after all, beloved brothers and sisters, this man, by the name of Yeshua, namely, in Greek, Jesus, English, Jesus, in Hebrew, we call him Yeshua. This Yeshua was the one who was the eternal Son of God. He's going to enter into this world to provide salvation for all humanity. And therefore, those four men gave us four records about one single person whose name is Yeshua, the Son of God. And everyone presents before us the person of the Lord from a different perspective. For example, Matthew will present him as the king of the Jews. You remember, if you turn for a moment to Matthew chapter 2, look at what it says when the Magi's or the wise men came from the east.

When they came to the land of Israel, they asked, they asked this very interesting question. Where is he that was born the king of the Jews? Where is that one that was born the king of the Jews? And God wanted to present before us Yeshua the Messiah as the king that was promised to come. He was promised to come from the family of Abraham. That's why the whole book of Matthew began with the genealogy of Yeshua the Messiah. If you look at chapter 1 and verse 1, it says the book of the generation of Yeshua, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Ben David, son of David and son of Abraham.

He is the king that is coming, that was promised to come. The Mashiach, the Messiah of Israel. He is a descendant of Abraham. He is a descendant of David. And he is the one that all the world searched for him. Where is he that was born the king of the Jews? Now we're going to jump over Mark for a moment. And if you turn with me to the Gospel of Luke, I want you to notice that the Gospel of Luke, we have another genealogy. But the genealogy does not found itself in the first chapter. It is actually in the third chapter. And this genealogy is taking us all the way, not only to Abraham, to Abraham Avinu, Abraham our father.

But the genealogy in the Gospel of Luke presents before us the fact that Yeshua, the Messiah, is not only the son of Abraham and the son of David, but he is the son of Adam. He is a descendant that came all the way from Adam, who was created in the garden. And you notice in Luke chapter 3, it says in verse 23, And Yeshua himself began to be 30 years of age, being, it says, as it was supposed, the son of Yosef, which was the son of Eli, which was the son of Matat, which was the son of Levi. And it takes us all the way to the end of the chapter.

And in verse 38, it says, which was the son of Enosh, which was the son of Sheth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God. And so while in the Gospel of Matthew, God presents Yeshua as the Mashiach of Israel, the king of the Jews, in the Gospel of Luke, he presents him as the son of man, as a sinless man, as a perfect man, who came. Who came, we call him in Hebrew, Ben Ha'adam, a son of Adam, who is a descendant of Adam, who is a real human being, that was born to the virgin Miriam, sin apart. Sin apart. In a miraculous way, he was born to the virgin Miriam.

That's what Luke represents. And that's why in Luke 19 and verse 10, we read that the son of man, Ben Ha'adam, came to seek and to save that which was lost. So in Matthew, we have him as the Mashiach of Israel, the king of the Jews. In Luke, the Lord presents him as a son of man, as a human being, who came from heaven to seek and to save that which were lost. But then I'm jumping still once again over the Gospel of Mark, and I'm going to the Gospel of John. And in John chapter 1, beloved brothers and sisters, we read, and I would like just to read these verses for the whole context of the teaching on the introduction to the book of Mark.

You will notice that in the Gospel that Yohanan, that is John wrote for us, there we really not even going back to any genealogy whatsoever. Why we don't have genealogy in the Gospel of John? John, because the creator of heaven and earth, the sustainer of all things, have no genealogy. He never had a beginning. He never needed to be created. He created everything else. He is the creator. And that's why John began. In the beginning was the Word. How many years do you want to put here? 1,000 years? He was there. 10,000 years? He was there. 1,000,000 years? He was already there. 1,000,000,000 years? In the beginning was the Word.

The Logos. The Logos. In Hebrew we call it the Mimra. The one through whom God spoke and speaks all the time. In the person of the Messiah, of his son. In the beginning was the Word, but he doesn't stop there, John, Yohanan. He said that the Word was with God. He's a distinct person in the Godhead. The Word was there. The Word was there. And he was with God. And then he adds and he says, wait a minute. That Word that was with God, he says in verse 1 at the end, and the Word was God. You see, he's really zeroing in Yohanan. He's telling us, listen, the king of the Jews that Matthew represents and the perfect man that Luke spoke about is none else but the eternal son of God.

And that's why you notice in John chapter 1, it says in verse 3, all things were made by him. And without him there was nothing made which was made. And he was life. And the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness. And darkness comprehended it not. So you see, beloved brothers and sisters, he is the eternal son of God who is the king of the Jews. But he was born as a man like other men, sin apart for the purpose of becoming the Savior. Because the son of man, Ben HaAdam, came to seek and to save that which were lost. We were all lost.

We had no hope. We were all had the disease called sin. In sin did my mother conceive me, the king of Israel, David said, many years ago. I was shapen in iniquity, David said. Isaiah says, woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips. Peter said, depart from me for I am a sinful man. Shaul Paul said, oh wretched man that I am. That's you, that's me. We all needed the Messiah to come. But you see, the Gospel of Mark gave us another important, you might say, slant or presentation. He is not only the God of the universe. He is not only the perfect man that was born, as Luke said.

He is not only the promised Mashiach of our own nation, Israel, who is one day going to reign as king, the king of the Jews, the king of Israel, the king of the whole universe. But the Gospel of Mark presents him as a servant. Oh, and that's ought to move our hearts. Because here, can you imagine that the creator of the universe was willing to become a man, and yet he postponed his future, becoming king of Israel and over the nations of the world, and he was willing to become a servant. In Hebrew, we call him Eved Adonai, the servant of the Lord. Mark is presenting before us the fact that Yeshua became a servant.

Mesharet, or Eved. You know, we don't like to serve many times. We like to be served. But here is one who should be served, who became a servant of us all, in that he came for the express purpose to become the savior of the world. I want you to turn with me to Isaiah, chapter 42, the prophet that prophesized to our nation, Israel, some 750 years before Yeshua the Messiah came. Isaiah said in chapter 42, listen to that. How the whole 42nd chapter began. God says to Israel, presenting before our own nation Israel, the Messiah, and he said to the nation of Israel, Behold my servant. In Hebrew, he neavdi.

Behold my servant, whom I uphold. Mine elect, I have chosen him. He is my sole delight. I have put my spirit upon him, and he shall bring justice to the Gentiles, to the goyim. And of course, he continued, and he continued to speak about this wonderful person who is the servant of the Lord, the servant of Jehovah. Notice in chapter 49 of the prophet Isaiah, one more verse to read. Verses 5 and 6, he said, And now says the Lord that formed me from my womb. And now says the Lord that formed me from my womb to be his servant to bring Jacob again unto him, though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah and the eyes of the Lord.

And my God shall be my strength. And my God shall be my strength. Notice verse 6. And he said, It is a light thing that thou should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. So the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob spoke to the nation, to our own people, Israel, many, many years ago, 2700 years ago, telling to Isaiah to tell Israel that there is a servant who is coming. And that servant is not going to only deal with the nation of Israel, but he is going to be light to the Gentiles that you may be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

In other words, the purpose and the reason that Yeshua the Messiah came is in order to bring salvation. Yeshua. And you shall call his name Yeshua for he will save your Shia. He will save his people from their sins. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, as we look together to the gospel of Mark or to the presentation of this man by the name of Mark of the person of Yeshua, we realize that God does not repeat himself. God is not saying things again and again, you might say, without a reason for that. But God is presenting the Mashiach, the Messiah, Yeshua himself from four different, you might say, points of outlook.

Outlook. He is God. He is a perfect man. He is the king of Israel. And he is the servant of the Lord. And you know why it is important to study about the servant of the Lord? You know why? Because all of us in service failed. Even Moses will tell you, God, I have failed. Even Paul will say, I have failed. I sought to live godly. I sought to be faithful, but I have failed. But there is one man that never failed. His name is Jesus. His name is Yeshua, who was born and honored God from his birth until his resurrection and ascension. He honored God in everything that he did here on earth.

So now, after giving this kind of by way of introduction, I want to kind of share with you a little bit about this man by the name of Mark. Who is this man by the name of Mark? This man, in fact, I would like you please to turn with me to Acts chapter 12. This man that wrote the book of Mark, his name is Marcos. He was a Jewish Israeli man who lived in the city of Yerushalayim. We find his name first mentioned in the book of Acts in chapter 12. If you please turn with me to this passage. I thought it is very important to tell us a little bit about the writer.

I mean, the writer, write a gospel, you might say, a perspective about Yeshua, the Messiah, by divine inspiration. But who is this person? Well, we find out, notice that, that in Acts chapter 12, if you remember that Peter was placed in prison. And when Peter was placed in prison, the local assembly congregation, Kehillah, the local church, we might say, Ekklesia in Israel, in Jerusalem, was found in the house of Mark's mother. Notice it says in Acts chapter 12, it says here, and when he had considered the thing, he came unto the house of Miriam. Notice Mary or Miriam, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark. So we find out that this boy or young man, his name is Mark, but in Hebrew, his name was also Yohanan, John Mark.

Yohanan Marcos in Hebrew. He was a person that his mother lived in Jerusalem. And apparently, notice if you're just passing this, that we find out that in the house of Miriam, apparently they gathered together. Notice it 12b at the end, where many were gathered together for prayer, to pray. So the whole local assembly in the city of Jerusalem, I kind of sometimes wonder if I would have liked to be there, because that's where I was born and raised. And my father was born and raised, and my grandfather came from the diaspora and lived in Jerusalem. I would have loved to be in the local assembly in Jerusalem, in the house of Miriam, the mother of Yohanan Marcos, John Mark.

The brothers and sisters gathered together, and they were praying. They were praying that God will lead them on. They were also praying for Simon Peter, for Shimon Petros, who was in jail, in prison. But somehow, if you remember, Peter was in prison. The angel came and loosed him. Peter was sleeping, of course, if you remember. The angel of the Lord came upon him in verse 7 of Acts chapter 12. And Peter's chain fell, and the angel led him out, and he brought him to the gate, where the brothers and sisters there were praying, to the gate of the house of Miriam, the mother of John Mark, Yohanan Marcos.

And of course, Peter knocked on the door, and you remember the story, how the brethren did not even believe that he was alive, that he came out of prison. You know, you remember, we find out a little bit later here, that when the lady came and they said, "Hey, Peter is here, Peter!" And they told her in verse 15, they said to him, "You are mad!" You know, sometimes, when we pray, we don't even believe that God will give us an answer. We pray, "Oh, Lord, help this person to come out of this, oh, Lord, help!" No, but when the time comes and God gives an answer, they told her, "Oh, you are mad, you are crazy!" It's not possible that Peter came out of prison.

And yet, John Mark lived in the home with his mother. He must have been influenced by the brothers and sisters in the early local assembly. Peter, apparently, must have had a lot of influence upon this man, this young man, by the name of John Mark. The one that gave us this Gospel of Mark, which we have introduction today. But not only this, beloved brothers and sisters, not only that he must have became a believer there in Yerushalayim, after the resurrection, of course, of the Messiah, the assembly was born in the land of Israel, and Mark was one of those individuals that began to be a servant alongside the apostle Shaul Paul and Barnabas.

If you turn now to verse 25, a little bit further in this chapter, notice what it says. It says, "And Barnabas and Shaul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John Yohanan, whose surname was Mark." So imagine, it must be a real privilege for John Mark to be under the umbrella of such a godly people as Shaul, Paul, and Barnabas, who were serving the Lord. In fact, we learn from this passage that John and Mark have served with Paul and Barnabas in the first missionary journey. But something happened. As they are traveling in their first missionary journey, sharing the gospel, some hard time comes along.

And this hard time that came along, we actually don't know the exact reason, but John Mark left to go back home. In fact, turn with me to chapter 13 of the book of Acts. It says here in verse 13, "Now, when Paul and his company loosed from Papos and came to Pelga in Pampilia, John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem." We don't have the reason for that. But can you imagine if you are traveling with Shaul, Paul, and with all those who served the Lord, traveling from place to place. Apparently here, they are loose. They are taking ship. They had shipwrecks. They had all kinds of experiences and so on.

And maybe Mark kind of got their cold feet. We don't know. But it may be that he was kind of maybe homesick. We don't really know. We cannot accuse him with anything. We know our own hearts how many times we get discouraged from the way. When we are a little bit serving the Lord, we get disappointed and discouraged. And we say, "What's the use? I'm going back home." And apparently what happened, John Mark, verse 13 of chapter 13, departing from them, and he returned back to Jerusalem, back to his home. We find him earlier, if you remember in chapter 12, he lived with his mother in the city of Yerushalayim.

And there he was with the assembly in the city of Yerushalayim. And we just can't imagine him departing from the mission field and returning to his own home. I heard many times of those that have been so discouraged in a mission field and they say, "I cannot continue anymore. I'm going back home." Too much pressure. Too much opposition. You can never satisfy everyone. Always problems. Always challenges. This is part of the ministry if we are going to serve the Lord. But apparently, Yohanan Marcos returned back to the city of Yerushalayim. Whatever the reason may be, we know from the next verses I would like you to see that Paul was not happy with that.

If you turn now to Acts chapter 15, and I want to read verses 36 to verse 40. Notice that. It says in verse 36, And some days after, now in preparation for the second missionary journey, Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go again and visit the brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do." So Barnabas determined to take with them John whose son is Mark. But Paul, listen to these beloved brothers and sisters, "But Paul thought not good to take him with them who departed from them from Pampilia and went not with them to the work." You see, we get a little hint here that maybe John Mark should have not gone back because apparently he left the ministry right in the middle of the ministry.

And Paul was not happy with that. So that's why when they were going to move along to the second visits to the all local assemblies in Asia Minor and Barnabas wanted to take Marcos with them, Paul says no. No, I don't want him to come along with that because he departed from us when we were in Pampilia and he went not with them for the work. And apparently that brought about contention between Shaul Paul and Barnabas. This is Barnabas. And apparently there was a friction. You know how it is. Many times there are friction among believers. You know, here's two godly men. And apparently in verse 39 it says the contention was too sharp between them that they departed asunder one from another.

Barnabas took Mark and he sailed to Cyprus. And then Shaul Paul, Paul took Silas and he departed being commended by the brethren unto the grace of God. So apparently, brothers and sisters, you see, already in early days there was contention between godly men. Shaul Paul was a man of God. Barnabas, Barnabas in Hebrew, he was a man of God. But apparently they kind of separated and went along each one as the Lord led them. But Barnabas took Mark, John, Yohanan, Mark, and Paul took Silas. Barnabas and Mark went to Cyprus for the ministry. And Paul and Silas went to Asia Minor to visit the assemblies there in Antioch and other areas where the local churches, local assemblies were born.

Now, I want you to notice that, that it's not the end. Because even though maybe Mark had not been right in going back home, apparently we learned, and I would like you to turn to the book of Colossians for a moment. It may be a family reason why Barnabas took him. Because when you read in Colossians chapter 4 and verse 10, you find out that John Mark, Yohanan Marcos, was actually a relative of Barnabas. In fact, Barnabas was his uncle. We read in chapter 4 of Colossians and verse 10, "Aristochus, my fellow prisoner, salute you, and Marcos," listen to this, "Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, touching whom ye receive commandments, if he come unto you, receive him." Notice now that we learn that Marcos was the son of Barnabas' sister.

And who was Barnabas' sister? Miriam in the city of Jerusalem. And so apparently, you see, there was a contention between Shaul, Paul, and Barnabas. Should we take Mark to the ministry or should we not? Paul says, "No, he left us. He went back. He must not be qualified for the ministry." Barnabas says, "I'll take him." He took Marcos. They went to Cyprus, while Paul and Silas went back to Asia Minor. So, Marcos is amazing to see, to learn a little bit about the story of the life of this young man. In fact, brothers and sisters, not to leave it on a not-so-positive note, we find out that apparently, when he returned back to Yerushalayim, Mark, or Yohanan Marcos, John Marcos, was serving among the Jewish community with Shimon Petros, with Simon Peter.

In fact, now one more verse, please. Notice what it says there in 1 Peter 5:13. Look what he says. Peter is right. He says, "The assembly that is at Babylon, elected together with you, salute you." And then look what he said. "And so does Marcos, my son." You see, beloved brothers and sisters, you see, apparently, when John Mark went back home to Jerusalem, while time passes by, he was serving the Lord with Peter, Shimon Petros. And he went with him to Babylon, where there was a large Jewish community. And there he ministered with Shimon Petros, Simon Peter, among the Jewish people, our own Jewish people. And Peter called him, "My son." Now, of course, he was not his son in the flesh, but he was his son in the Messiah, in the Lord.

Just like Paul called Timothy, "My son." He was his son in the faith. He had led him to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. Just like maybe Peter had led him to the knowledge of Yeshua, the Messiah, where eventually Marcos, John Mark's family, hosted the local congregation in the city of Jerusalem. Interesting. And how commendable to see that even though he had, you might say, mistakenly left the field and went back home to Jerusalem. Yet he served with Shimon Petros in Jerusalem. Eventually went to Babylon, where Simon Peter had been there. And there he shared with him in a ministry that Peter can say, "Greeting to you from Babylon, but also not only me, but also Marcos." But he had the word, "My son." "Bni, habben shili." He was his son in the Messiah, in the faith, in our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah.

But there's another highlight here, beloved brothers and sisters. Not only that he was, in a sense, restored, and he continued to serve in Jerusalem and ultimately even in Babel, Babylon, with Simon Peter. But later on, at the end, you might say, the last while of the life of the apostle Paul, look what Paul is saying about Marcos. Turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter 4 now. And there you notice what Shaul Paul is saying about this man, John Mark, Yohanan Marcus. Look what Paul is saying. Very commendable when you think about it. Paul was alone in Rome. He must have been discouraged because notice what he says in chapter 4 of 2 Timothy.

"I have fought a good fight." Verse 7. "I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. And for there laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing." And he continued in verse 9. "Do thou diligent to come shortly unto me," he says to Timothy. "Timothy, come quickly unto me." He's in prison in Rome. They're soon going to kill this apostle. Then in verse 10 he said, "Dimas had forsaken me." "Having loved this present world and is departed unto Thessalonica," "Serenes to Galatia," "Titus to Dalmatia," "only Luke is with me." Luke is the one who wrote the Gospel of Luke, the doctor, the physician.

At the end of verse 11 of 2 Timothy chapter 4, he's now speaking about Mark. The very one that left them in chapter 12 and 13 of the book of Acts. Now there at the end of his life. You might say when he was so much alone. Look what he says about Mark to Timothy. He says, "Take Mark and bring him with you, with thee, for he is profitable for me for the ministry." I think it's so precious. Earlier, when Mark should have been with Paul and Barnabas, he left the ministry and gone back to his home in Jerusalem. Now, Paul is saying to Timothy, "Timothy, I've heard much about this man by the name of Mark now." I realize, he's speaking now much later on, saying, "Listen, everybody left.

Timah has forsaken me." "Serenes went to Galatia, Titus went to Dalmatia, and Luke is the only one who is with me." He says, "Please, you might say, take with you Mark. Bring him to here, that he will be with me because he is profitable for me for the ministry." It must have been warming up the heart of this man by the name of Mark, who now is desired by the apostle Paul to come to him in order that he will minister to Paul, encouraging him while he is in Rome all alone, and be a servant with him there wherever the Lord will give them an opportunity.

This is, to me, very refreshing, to know a little bit of the background of the book of Mark, the Gospel of Mark, of which we are going to begin our study. And therefore, beloved brothers and sisters, the date which the Gospel of Mark was written is sometime between 56 to 63 AD. We don't have an exact date, but we do understand from some records that it's somewhere there, Matthew, Mark, and Luke was written. The Gospel of John was written much later by the apostle John in about the year 90 or so, but the three Gospels that we have, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, was written sometime at about 56 to 63 AD.

Now you know that by that time, there were already written some letters like 1st Thessalonians and 2nd Thessalonians were already recorded. But the Gospel of Mark was not yet written. In fact, the Gospels, the four Gospels were written after some letters by the apostle Paul already written. And so God wanted to give Israel and to give the whole world the record of his Messiah to be recorded. So he gave us Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Fourfold record of the person and the life of the Lord Yeshua, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, who was the eternal Son of God. John, Yohanan, who was a perfect man, Luke, Lucas, who was the king of the Jews, Matityahu, Matthew, who was the servant of the Lord, Yohanan, Marcus, John, Mark, of which we are studying right now.

Now, turn with me again to the Gospel of Mark. And I want to read to you a verse that is found in Mark chapter 14. If you just go to the end of the Gospel of Mark. And I want to read to you a verse that is very interesting. And reading this and listening a little bit in preparation for this message. Apparently, some understand that a man that is found in Mark chapter 14 in verses 50, 51, and 52, apparently may very well be Mark, John Mark, who was following the Lord Jesus as a young man. When he was captured in the garden of Gethsemane, in the garden of Gatshmanim by the Roman soldiers.

It says in Mark chapter 14 and verse 50, And they all forsook him and fled. All the disciples left Yeshua alone. And then it says there followed him a certain young man, having linen cloths cast about his naked body. And the young man, this is the in plural, young man, these are the soldiers. And the soldiers laid hold of him. Verse 51. And then he left his linen cloth and he fled from them naked. Apparently, beloved brothers and sisters, the only Gospel out of the four Gospels that record that story is the Gospel of Mark. Not Matthew. Not Matthew. Not Luke. Not John. Not John. Only Mark. And apparently, it seemed to be that here is a young man, and I don't have the name here.

I do not know who is that person. But some believe that this is that Yohanan Marcos, who loved the Lord Yeshua so much. And as a young man, while everybody fled, as we read in verse 50, they all forsook him and fled. And he followed after Yeshua and the soldiers as they were taking him and later on ultimately to be crucified, to die on a Roman cross. And so he followed. This young man, as he followed after him, he was covered with linen cloth, cast around him. Maybe it was very late or early morning, late at night. He just quickly came out. He maybe had only an undergarment and then he put an overgarment upon him.

And he quickly went to see what's going to happen to Yeshua from Nazareth, to the Messiah, to the promised Mashiach of Israel. And apparently, as he followed them, the Roman soldiers laid hold of him. So you are one of them. They wanted to take him just the same like the other. The rest of the disciples, they fled. So apparently, as they tried to grab him, to catch him, they grabbed his linen cloth and he ran away. As it says here, he fled from them naked. And it's very possible that this Yohanan Marcos, John Mark, is the one that the Gospel of Mark records the life, the death, resurrection and ascension of the Messiah by this man, by the name of John Mark.

So the date, beloved brothers and sisters, was about 56 to 63 AD. And John Mark is that person that apparently was influenced by Peter and others to write this record because he did not live with the Lord like Peter and James and John, all the apostles. Where does he have so much to say about Jesus the Messiah? Well, many suggest that he was influenced by Simon Peter. And you have a lot of Simon Peter input as he's recording for us the record concerning the man by the name of Yeshua from Nazareth. Now, I want you to understand that any record we have in the Bible is not merely man-made.

It's not his opinion that he wrote here. Matthew didn't write his opinion. All the servants of the Lord who gave us the record in Scripture. For we understand there were men of God who gave us the record by divine inspiration. They didn't write only what they wanted and their thoughts. But they had by divine inspiration they gave us the record of the Word of God. Why do we believe that this is the Bible? Why do we trust in what we have both in the Tanakh, the old covenant, and in the Brit HaChadasha, the new covenant? Why do we trust in this? How do we know if Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy?

Was he when Adam was created in the Garden of Eden? Apparently, God revealed him by divine inspiration to give us the record that we have. How do we know that the book of Joshua was written by Joshua? How do we know it is the Word of God indeed? Because these men of God were, by divine inspiration, gave us this record. Same like the Tanakh, the old covenant. Same thing with the Brit HaChadasha, the new covenant. The men of God received by divine revelation, information, and they wrote exactly as they were guided by Ruach HaKodesh, by the Holy Spirit of God. Let me read you a verse.

Turn to 2 Peter 1:20-21. Look what Peter says. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in all time by the will of men, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. See, we have confidence in the writing of the Word of God, where that again, I'm emphasizing not only the Brit HaChadasha, the new covenant, but also the Tanakh, the old covenant. The Tanakh was given to us by divine inspiration. And we'll see it as we study the Gospel of Mark. That whatever happened in the Gospel of Mark was already predicted many years ago by the Hebrew prophets, who were foretelling Israel the Messiah is coming.

Accept him. He is the King of the Jews. He is the perfect man. He is a servant of the Lord. He is the eternal Son of God. He is coming. He is coming. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Now go with me please to Mark chapter 1. And I just want to emphasize this before I'm concluding this message for now. I just want to emphasize the first verse that we read. Mark chapter 1, verse 1. What a beautiful testimony here. That's how Mark began his proclamation, his record. Mark says, listen, the beginning of the Gospel of Yeshua HaMashiach, the Son of God.

Ben Elohim. The beginning of the Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. Here's how he began. He began very different than all the other ones. Matthew began with the genealogy. Luke took us with another genealogy to Adam. John began in eternity past you might say. In the beginning was the word. And Mark, Yohanan Mark would take us straight into the coming of the person of Yeshua the Messiah. And he says, this is the beginning. Here I want to tell you the story of how the Messiah, Jesus the Son of God came to this world. Here is how it all began.

And you notice he says very nicely here in this passage. He says, this is the beginning of the Gospel. I just want to make a few minutes, just some comments about the word gospel. In the Greek, the word gospel is euangelion. Euangelion. You get the word evangelist or to evangelize or the evangelist. But really, beloved brothers and sisters, the word for gospel comes from the Hebrew word besorah. In Hebrew we say besorah. And besorah is usually good news. And so what he's really saying, this is the beginning of the besorah of the glad tidings. The good news. I want to remind you, beloved brothers and sisters, even though Marcos was writing in view of ministering to the Roman population, that they will understand that.

Yet Marcos was Jewish. He was a Hebrew boy. He grew in Jerusalem. His mother, Miriam, his home was used to the assembly meeting in the city of Jerusalem. He knew very much about the promises that God had given to our forefathers, the nation of Israel. And so Marcos began with the besorah, the gospel. And he wanted to tell Israel, and he really wanted to tell all the nations of the world, listen, there is good news coming. And you know who needs good news? People who have bad conditions. And the whole humanity was in a condition of a need. The whole human race needed someone to come and to meet their need.

And all of us, up till today, we know very well that the condition that existing in a world in which we live in is sad and very bad. All mankind need help, need an answer to their problems. Because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have a need. We needed the besorah, the good tidings, the good news. And so he's writing in Mark 1 verse 1: "This is the beginning of the besorah of the gospel." And what is the gospel? What is the gospel? I will take you just one more time to the prophets. Go to Isaiah chapter 40 now. And this is by way of introduction, because if we're going to understand this gospel, we must realize that the gospel of Mark really is a fulfillment of all that which was prophesied years ago by the prophets of Israel.

Look at Isaiah chapter 40. The word besorah is mentioned in verse 9. "O Zion that bringeth good tidings." Here's the word.

"Besorah, mevaseret, tzion." "O Zion that bringest good tidings." "Get thee up into a high mountain." "O Jerusalem that bringeth up good tidings." "A second time good news." "Lift up thy voice with strength." "Lift it up." "Be not afraid." "Say unto the cities of Judah." "Behold your God." "The one that is going to come to meet your need, Israel." "The one that is going to come to meet the needs of sinners in this world." "Is God himself." "Behold your God." "Hine Elohechem." "He teaches us how important to understand that Yeshua, that the Messiah was more than just another man." "Look at chapter 52 of the book of Isaiah, verse 7." "How beautiful upon the mountains are

the feet of him that bringeth good tidings." "This is the same word, the gospel." "The besorah." "And publish shalom that bringeth good tidings of good." "That publish salvation that sayeth unto Zion, thy God is reigning." "This is the gospel." "The promise that God had given to Israel that one will come and he will be the one that will bring good news to a lost nation, to the lost world." "This is the promise of the Messiah." "And so that's how Marcus began." "The beginning of the gospel." "Of the besorah." "If you read 1 Corinthians 15, you will find out that the gospel is that the Messiah died for our sins according to the scriptures." "And that

he was buried." "And that he rose again on the third day according to the Hebrew scriptures." "This is the gospel." "This is why we preach the gospel today." "This is why we tell people that they need to receive the person of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, as their Lord and Savior, if they are going to be forgiven." "Mark begins the whole gospel of Mark by saying the beginning of the gospel of the besorah." "But who is the besorah is about?" "The besorah is about the person by the name of Yeshua." "Notice, this is the beginning of the gospel." "And he continued, and he said, of Jesus Christ." "In Hebrew, Yeshua HaMashiach." "It's about him." "It's

about his coming." "It's about the fact that he was willing to come from heaven to redeem sinners like you and I." "It is the promise that God had given to Israel." "The Mashiach is coming." "The Mashiach is coming." "The Messiah is coming." "It's not religion." "It's not man-made system." "It's not works of men." "But it is the glad tidings that the Mashiach." "His name is Yeshua." "He is coming in order to become a redeemer and a savior of this world." "And you shall call his name Yeshua." "Matthew 1:21." "Because he will save his people from their sins." "You see, Jesus is his name." "But Christ, Christos, or Mashiach in Hebrew, it's his title." "It's not

his family name." "It's not Yeshua, the first name, and Messiah, or Christ, his family name." "No." "It is Yeshua, the man who was born to the virgin Miriam." "But you know what?

He is the anointed one." "The one that God found pleasure in." "The one that God sent him to this world to accomplish redemption for mankind." "This is the one that Marcus presents when he began the Gospel of Mark." "The beginning of the glad tidings concerning Yeshua, who is the anointed one." "The Mashiach." "And then he says in verse 1, and I'm going to conclude with this by way of introduction." "I tell you there's so much to say here about the person of the Messiah." "But you see, he's saying, he's not only a man that his name is Yeshua." "And he's not only the one that has the title, the anointed one." "But you know Israel."

"You know Romans." "You know Greeks." "You know Jews and Gentiles." "He is the Son of God." "He is God the Son." "He never had a beginning." "He entered this world by taking humanity union with his divine nature." "He is the Son of God." "Ben Elohim Chaim." "Jesus asked Simon Peter," "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" "And you know what Peter said?" "You are the Messiah." "The Son of the living God." "That's the only one who can give us good news." "Any other leader or any other great man could never help us to deal with the question of sin." "God the Son was born in the city of Bethlehem." "Took union

humanity with his divine nature in order to provide for us good news." "We were all lost in sin." "But he came to seek and to save that which were lost." "If you are without the Messiah, I'm challenging you to take him because he is the Messiah, the Anointed One, who is God the Son, who is the only one who is qualified to pay for your sin and for mine." "His name is Yeshua." "His title is Mashiach." "His eternity, he is the eternal Son of God." "May the Lord bless us and help us along as we study the Gospel of Mark." "Can we say Amen today?"