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Mark Bible studies: Introduction
One thing you may notice if you are reading Mark for the first time is that when Mark introduces the "beginning of the gospel (that is the 'good news') about Jesus Christ, the Son of God", he doesn't start with the familiar beginning we hear about at Christmas with a baby born in humble circumstances. Instead he quotes from the prophet Isaiah.
About 700 years earlier Isaiah had been told by God that a man would come to prepare the way for the Lord himself. Mark goes on to announce that John, known as "The Baptist", is that man, and that his mission is to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins.
Then as now, recognising sin and turning away from it towards God is the first step in following Jesus. And this is quite literally what people were being called to do: drop everything and follow Jesus, listen to his teaching and join the Kingdom of God.
As we began our studies in Mark we found ourselves returning again and again to the Old Testament. Jesus quoted so often from the scriptures himself, and identified his mission so much with Old Testament prophesy, that we wanted to get an overview of the history of God's interactions with his people and the promises he made to them. For this reason you will find numerous questions in the Mark studies which ask you to look at the original passage in the Old Testament.