The Time is Fulfilled

Mark 1:14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."


14 Μετὰ δὲ τὸ παραδοθῆναι τὸν Ἰωάννην ἦλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν κηρύσσων τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ 15  καὶ λέγων ὅτι πεπλήρωται ὁ καιρὸς καὶ ἤγγικεν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ· μετανοεῖτε καὶ πιστεύετε ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ.

One of the great things about the book of Mark is that it is all about action.  It leaps from one story to the next and there is rarely much time for background material.  Here we see a lot of time condensed into two verses.  We learned about the John the Baptizer's ministry and then we see the transition to Jesus.

Jesus says something pretty striking to His listeners.  He tells them that πεπλήρωται ὁ καιρὸς.  The verb πεπλήρωται is a perfect passive, which means that it would most literally be translated something like, "the time has been fulfilled."  What time is that?  Jesus continues with καὶ ἤγγικεν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ, which is a perfect active.  Here we see that the kingdom is near.  What does this mean?

It means that everything that the prophets wrote about were coming true in Him.  They predicted His coming and here He was.  They didn't have to keep looking through the prophets and they didn't have to keep watching and waiting.  He arrived to fulfill the prophets.  He emphasized this by explaining that the kingdom of God is near and therefore, they had to repent and believe right then.

What does this mean to us?  I think that it is a key to understanding Old Testament prophecy.  It points forward to Christ.  He is the ultimate fulfillment of prophecy.  This puts our focus on the cross and not anywhere else.  Frankly, I think that is where it should be.

The Time is Near

 Revelation 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

3 Μακάριος ὁ ἀναγινώσκων καὶ οἱ ἀκούοντες τοὺς λόγους τῆς προφητείας καὶ τηροῦντες τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ γεγραμμένα, ὁ γὰρ καιρὸς ἐγγύς.

Here we go.  It's time to spend 22 days in Revelation.  Unlike many folks, I've never known quite how to take this book.  I find it intriguing that Calvin never wrote about it.  It is full of apocalyptic imagery.  In fact, a good book on hermeneutics will treat apocalyptic as its own literary genre.  We're going to meet strange beasts and visions.  We're going to see Jesus as the complete opposite of the modern "hippie in a pink dress" as He is often portrayed.  And, I think it's safe to say, I'm going to get a little confused.

Now I suppose that should not be the case given that I go to a soundly Dispensational school.  Some there would tell me that it all fits together quite nicely if I just read Daniel and some other OT prophecies correctly.  But then you have this verse before the book really gets going.  Here John tells us that ὁ γὰρ καιρὸς ἐγγύς.

Anyone who has had even one semester of Greek can tell you what this means.  It means what the ESV translates it to mean.  It could also be read "the time is at hand."  In other words, it seems that John is telling the reader that what he is describing is going to happen very soon.  The typical way a good Dispensationalist reads Revelation is that it speaks of the future when Christ returns in glory.  But I don't know how to deal with this phrase if that is the case.

John could not have been mistaken because He wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  Is it possible that these things have happened in some symbolic way?  Can we tie this book to the sacking of Jersualem in 70 AD (c.f. Mat 24)?  Perhaps.  I'm not sure if I'm ready to go that far.

What I do know is that there are still some wonderful devotional gleanings to be had from Revelation.  Tomorrow will be much more edifying to the soul.