"The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel." -Mark 1:15

In saying "the time is fulfilled," Christ is incorporating all of history as we know it into His Word and presence. Past, present, and future are all fulfilled in Him, because He is the Creator come down in human flesh to save you through the same flesh He carries to the cross in perfect obedience and raises up for your justification before God.

In saying "the Kingdom of God is at hand," Christ is drawing near so that His hearers may receive through faith what He offers by grace, namely the forgiveness of sin and everlasting life. His body is to be identified with the Kingdom of God not merely symbolically, but substantially.

In saying "repent and believe in the Gospel," Christ urges His hearers to take hold of a righteousness no man can obtain of his own will. It is a righteousness that satisifes the wrath of God and turns the hearts of men away from sin and death and toward the life of the world to come, urging them to abstain from idols and the corruption inherent in the present age. Repentance is offered and received in the person and work of the very One speaking these words.

All of these words are as applicable today as they have been throughout the ages. The state of affairs between God and man is one of reconciliation by grace, out of a boundless love that will never cease, but will seek out and carry home the fallen, the broken, the weak, the sick, the lame, the sinner who is dead in trespasses and dead to God. This is as true and certain as Christ crucified and risen for the sin of the world.

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