His First Message

We know Jesus is soon to come; we don't know when the last message of
the gospel will be proclaimed. However Jesus' first message is relevant
today. It needed to be heard then and it needs to be heard now.

Mark 1: 14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came
into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom

of God, 15 And saying, The time
is fulfilled, and the kingdom
of God is at hand: repent
ye, and believe the gospel.

For thirty years Jesus had been on earth. From Egypt he came to Nazareth and grew up there. The land of Israel was divided into three parts–Judea to the south, Samaria in the middle, and Galilee to the north. Nazareth is in Galilee. Therefore Jesus was known as a Nazarene and a Galilean. He still is. Everyone in the region was very familiar with him and he with them. Joseph was well known for his work as a carpenter. In his growing up years Jesus never tried to promote himself. He was just another Nazarene or Galilean. He came to us to dwell among us so we could be comfortable with him and know him from a human standpoint.

His time was near, so he went to where John was preaching. Jesus and John were cousins. Each knew each other. Their families knew each other. They knew who Jesus was, but they could only comprehend a little of who he really was. John leaped in his mother's womb when he heard Mary tell his mother the news of the baby she had conceived. John knew enough that when he saw Jesus approaching the river that he said "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world." Still Jesus was much more than John could comprehend.

Jesus is more than we can comprehend. We have more of a friend in him than we realize. We have his guidance and protection even when we're not thinking of him. Jesus should be all the world to us for we are all the world to him. He came to his own to save his own. We, like those back then, take him for granted and think of him as just another Galilean.