The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark 1:1

Mark points to a "begining of the gospel", not a begining of Jesus, but a begining of His message. Where did the message of Jesus come from? People were asking, and still do. What is the source of gospel? What is its foundation?  The next verse tells us something about it:

It is written in Isaiah the prophet.

The gospel of Jesus finds its starting point, its begining in what was WRITTEN by Isaiah. The gospel can never be divorced from the written word. So what was written in Isaiah? What was this starting point?

Mark 1:2-3
"I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way"-  "a voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"  

The written word pointed to a messenger, a forerunner, with a voice. What was this voice like? How can it be found? It is a "VOICE of once calling in the desert." Now, I have lived in a desert and I can tell you there are not a lot of people out there in the middle of the desert calling out. Because a desert is inhospitable. It is hot, and dry and uncomfortable. There are many voices in the city, in the air conditioned comfort. There are many voices in universities and on the internet. There are voices calling out on TV and Radio.... what makes this forerunner different? He is calling out in a place where there are not many voices and he is still drawing a crowd. This voice is saying things that need to be said. He is radical. "Laying an axe to the root of every tree". The voice in the wilderness is not a voice that wins elections or worldly fame. The voice in the wilderness is calling out a people who are ready for God to take His rightful place among us.

The starting point. The begining of the gospel is the written word. The written word speaks of a voice calling out in a difficult place.

People came to hear the prophet, baptising in the wilderness. Among the people there was a remarkably ordinary man. He, too, came to be baptised. No one noticed anything different about Jesus. John the Baptist noticed it, in another place scripture says he called out "BEHOLD THE LAMB" when he saw Jesus. That was John the Baptists role, point to Jesus.

When Jesus was baptised and He came up out of the water something extra ordinary happened.

And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

Now a voice came from heaven.

The begining, the foundation, the starting place of the gospel is not the voice from the open heaven. The begining, according to scripture IS scripture. Without scripture we cannot discern the voice of the prophet. The written word is the foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Do we need to hear the voice from the open heaven: absolutely! But that is not what seek. The world is filled with voices gabbering about things they know nothing about. God has his messengers and the point to Jesus and Jesus with nail scarred hands leads home.