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The best way to become impressed with a book of the Bible and to keep this book in your memory is to keep the bird’s-eye view of this book. Once you become impressed with a bird’s-eye view of a book, this book remains in you. In this chapter we will look at the bird’s-eye view of the book of Mark and of the book of Romans.
I must honestly tell you that in my whole Christian life I never loved the book of Mark until I was forced to write the footnotes on this book for the winter training of 1983. At least one of my old Chinese Bibles contained outlines for nearly all the books of the New Testament. This Bible, however, did not contain an outline for the book of Mark. I did not make an outline for this book because I did not think it was worth it. Before preparing for the winter training of 1983, the only thing that I could tell you about the outline for the Gospel of Mark was that in the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, John the Baptist came (1:1-4), and at the end the disciples went to proclaim the gospel to all the creation (16:15, 20). Even though there was no incentive to write this outline and even though I did not have much to write, I was forced to write something to match the writing of the other books. Therefore, the Lord helped me. After such a writing, I got a clear bird’s-eye view of the book of Mark. I have been deeply impressed with this view, especially after writing the footnotes, the outline, the message outlines, and even more after speaking something concerning these sixteen chapters in the training. I do not think that it would be so easy for me to forget what I have been impressed with.
Mark gives us a full portrait of how Jesus as the Slave of God serves a sinner. I do not say sinners, because all the pieces in this book should be considered as a collective case. Do not consider Peter’s mother-in-law as an individual person sick of fever. She is a part of the sick person. Do not consider the leper as a separate individual. He also is a part of one complete sick person. In other words, the book of Mark shows us a complete sick person who was sick of fever (1:29-31), sick of leprosy (vv. 40-45), sick of paralysis (2:1-12), and sick of a flow of blood (5:25-34). This is a fourfold sickness. In the entire book of Mark you cannot find a fifth sickness. You may ask concerning the one with the withered hand (3:1). That case does not show the person who was sick; it only shows one of his members being sick. For example, with the blind the eyes are sick, with the deaf the ears are sick, and with the dumb the mouth is sick. However, the entire being, the entire person, is sick of only four kinds of diseases according to Mark — fever, leprosy, paralysis, and the flow of blood, the issue of blood.
After the healing of the entire person, there is the exposure of the real inner being, the heart, in chapter 7 (vv. 1-23). The heart is seen in chapter 7 as something that is dirty and contaminated with nothing good and nothing pure. This is the inside, real situation and condition of such a fallen and sick person. The one who is sick of fever, leprosy, paralysis, and the flow of blood is rotten, dirty, and contaminated within his heart. Then this dirty inner being was cleansed. Following this is a case of feeding — the feeding of the children and the little dogs (v. 27). Accompanying this sort of feeding are two miracles of feeding — the feeding of five thousand (6:30-44) and the feeding of four thousand (8:1-9). We must see that in this Gospel there are at least three feedings. The small, miniature feeding is the feeding of the little dogs. The Syrophoenician woman was considered in the eyes of God as a little dog. The unbelieving Gentiles are the wild dogs, while all the chosen Gentiles are the little dogs. We should praise the Lord that we are not wild dogs, street dogs, but we are little dogs under the table of the children, who are the Jews. We cannot compare with the Jews, but, praise the Lord, we are still the little dogs under the table, eating the children’s crumbs. Preceding this miniature feeding is the feeding of the five thousand, and following it is a confirmation of this feeding, which is another feeding of four thousand.
We should not consider Peter, James, and John as individuals in the bird’s-eye view of Mark. We have to consider that they are part of the same person. This person was healed from his fever, cleansed from his leprosy, recovered from his paralysis, and rescued from his issue of blood. He was exposed in his inner being, and he was fed. It is this kind of person who can go up to the Mount of Transfiguration (9:2-13). A person sick with fever or sick of leprosy cannot go up the mountain. Only such a person who has passed through this marvelous process is qualified to go up to the Mount of Transfiguration.
This person was healed from all his diseases, cleansed from within, and fed. At this point this person is healed, made alive, and cleansed inside, but he is still deaf, dumb, and blind. What this man needs is a listening ear to be able to listen to the heavenly speaking (7:31-37). This is so that he will not speak nonsensically any longer. He speaks nonsensically because he never hears (v. 32). He needs the healing of his ears to hear clearly. Then he needs the healing of his mouth to be able to speak properly and the healing of his eyes so that he can see. It was on the Mount of Transfiguration that the need of the healing of the listening organ, speaking organ, and seeing organ began. When you were healed from the general diseases, were made alive, and were fed, you were able to go with the Lord to the Mountain of Transfiguration. Now you need to see, and you need to hear the heavenly voice. You need to see that Christ is unique and that He is the unique replacement to replace everything, including you. Do not propose the building of three tabernacles the way Peter did on the mount. There is not one tabernacle for the law, one for the prophets, one for Christendom, or one for human culture. We must hear Him, and we need such a hearing ear to hear Him. Do not hear culture; do not hear the prophets; do not hear the law; do not hear Moses or Elijah; do not hear anyone. You must hear Him. Then from Mark 9 the Lord began to unveil who He was, what He would do and go through, and where He would be (vv. 30-32; 10:32-34). This is the basic teaching from chapter 9 to the end of this book.
From Mark 9 onward Jesus brought His disciples with Him to bring them into Himself, to bring them into His death, and to bring them into His resurrection. To get into Christ you must go through His death and resurrection. Then you will reach Him. By this we can see how wonderful this book is.
In the first few chapters of the book of Mark, it seems that the Lord Jesus did not grasp Peter, James, and John. In the last four or five chapters, however, the Lord did grasp them. They were there with Him wherever He went and whatever He did. Even Peter’s mistakes and shortcomings did not stop the Lord from grasping him until the Lord Jesus brought him to the cross with Him. Do you realize that when Jesus died on the cross, Peter was there? Jesus went to the cross with Peter. Probably Peter did not realize this, but he was brought there (Gal. 2:20). Jesus brought Peter and the other disciples into His death, into the tomb, into His resurrection, and into His ascension. Therefore, Peter and the others eventually became absolutely in Jesus Christ. Then they could carry out Jesus’ commission. Then all of them were able to do what Jesus did in Mark 1. In chapter 1 there was only one Jesus, but in chapter 16 there were many reproductions of Jesus.
Here is a full portrait of a person sick of a fever, of leprosy, of paralysis, and of an issue of blood. Such a person was dying, but he was made alive; he was healed of all his diseases; he was cleansed within; he was fed; and he went up to the mountain with Jesus. However, he still needed to hear, to speak, and to see, so Jesus healed all the organs related to these functions (7:31-37; 8:22-26; 9:14-29; 10:46-52). Now this person began to hear the voice from the heavens, to speak the proper thing, and to see the vision. Jesus brought this person into His death (15:16-41) and into His resurrection (16:1-18), and this person ascended to the heavens in Jesus Christ (v. 19). Then this collective person came down to preach the gospel just as Jesus did (v. 20). This is a bird’s-eye view of the entire book of Mark. This is not merely a history or a story but the divine significance of Mark.
Now we come back to these four kinds of diseases. We must realize that every person is abnormal. Everyone has a fever. It may be that everyone’s temperature is one hundred and five degrees. When a wife gets mad with her husband or when a husband gets mad with his wife, their temperature goes up to one hundred and ten degrees. Every descendant of Adam is abnormal with a fever. Everyone is also sick of leprosy; they are unclean. Also, everyone is paralyzed and cannot walk. They cannot do anything before God. Finally, everyone is flowing blood, dying, leaking life. Was not this your case?
We cannot be represented by one case. The Lord Jesus needed four Gospels, and we need four “gospels” too. Our “gospels” are negative gospels. He has four sides, and we have four sides too: one side is abnormality, another side is that we are dirty and contaminated, a third side is that we are paralyzed, not able to walk or do anything, and the fourth side is that we are leaking life. We are not living, but we are dying. The case of the woman with the flow of blood is merged with the case of a girl who died at twelve years of age (5:21-43). Her death is at the end of the twelfth year of the woman’s flow of blood. This indicates that the flow of blood issues in death. We were abnormal persons, dirty, unclean, paralyzed, and dying. However, the Slave-Savior, the Slave of God, came to render us a service. He healed us, and He saved us from our sick condition. We were healed from all our diseases, cleansed from within, and fed by the Lord. We became a pleasant person like Peter, James, and John. We all were qualified to go up the mountain, but we got there blind, deaf, and unable to speak. We were healed and made alive, but we still did not have the seeing, speaking, and hearing ability. We needed the further healing of our organs. At this juncture Jesus was transfigured before them, and Christ was unveiled, because by this time they were healed in their hearing and seeing organs. They could hear, and they could see, so the Lord brought this collective person all the way to the cross and entered into resurrection and ascension.
This is not an allegorization. It is impossible for anyone to allegorize things so rightly. What we have done is to put the jigsaw puzzle pieces together to enable us to see a full picture of the Slave-Savior serving the fallen sinners with His all-inclusive salvation. We need such a bird’s-eye view of every book of the Bible.
The bird’s-eye view of the book of Romans is mainly of four stations. You must remember and be impressed with these four stations. Romans is composed of sixteen chapters with four sections of four chapters each. The first four chapters end with the word justification (4:25); this is the station of justification. From chapter 5 through chapter 8 is the section on sanctification. The third section, from chapter 9 through chapter 12, is on the Body of Christ. Finally, the last section is a station ending with the local churches because the churches are mentioned in chapter 16 (vv. 1, 4-5). If you have such a bird’s-eye view of these four stations, you can see that the book of Romans shows the fallen condition of a sinner who is going to be made a son of God so that he can be an organic member of the Body of Christ, which is expressed in the local churches. This one sentence covers the entire book of Romans, from chapter 1 through chapter 16, with the four major stations.
The first section goes from the fallen stage of the sinner through God’s condemnation according to the law. Then Christ’s redemption redeems us from God’s condemnation. Finally, this redemption brings us God’s justification through our faith in the Redeemer. This is the first section of the book of Romans.
The second section of the book of Romans begins with chapter 5. As justified persons, from chapter 5 we must realize that first we were in Adam, but now we have been transferred out of Adam into Christ. We are no longer in Adam but in Christ. Also, since we are in Christ, we are in union, identified, with His death and resurrection, and we are in His death and resurrection (6:4-5). Because we are no longer natural persons in Adam but resurrected persons in Christ, we should no longer live in the old flesh (ch. 7). We must live in and according to the Spirit (8:2, 4, 6, 13). Thus, we are sanctified not only positionally but also dispositionally. We are not merely outwardly justified with God. This only changes our outward condition. Now we have been transferred out of Adam into Christ, and in Christ, through His death and resurrection, we are being transformed. This transformation is a subjective, dispositional sanctification. Through this sanctification we are fully conformed to the firstborn Son of God as His many brothers and as the many sons of God (v. 29). We were once sinners in Adam, but now we are here in Christ, sons of God and brothers of Christ, to be conformed into His image. This is the dispositional and subjective sanctification, which actually is transformation and also the proper designation. We are all designated to be the sons of God and the members to compose the Body of Christ.
The third station of Romans brings us to the Body of Christ. This section begins from chapter 9 and shows us that it is altogether a matter of God’s mercy in choosing us (vv. 11, 16). It is not up to us. We have been redeemed, justified, and transferred into Christ, and here in Christ we are transformed, sanctified, and fully designated as sons of God to be members of Christ to form His Body and even to be conformed to His image. This is altogether a matter of God’s mercy, of His merciful choice. Thank the Lord that we were all chosen and that it was not up to us. Then in chapter 10 we see that as chosen ones to be the vessels of mercy unto glory (9:23), we must call on the name of the Lord for our enjoyment of His riches (10:12). He is rich to all who call upon His name. This is quite meaningful. We were chosen by His mercy, but we must enjoy Him by calling. We must be a caller. We must call on the name of the Lord so that we may enjoy all His riches. In chapter 11 we can again see the thought of God’s mercy — all things are out of Him, through Him, and to Him (v. 36). Everything is up to Him, and we as the Gentiles are the wild olive branches grafted into the genuine olive tree (v. 17). This is out of Him, this is through Him, and this is to Him. This is altogether God’s business, God’s doing. It is not of us. The only thing that we can see that we have to do in these sections is to call upon the Lord’s name. First, we believe in Him, and then we call on Him. This will bring us to the station of the Body of Christ.
We must be deeply impressed with this section — that it is altogether of God’s mercy and of God’s doing. He will have mercy upon whom He will have mercy. He will show His compassion to whom He will show His compassion. Also, everything is out of Him, through Him, and to Him. This indicates that it is altogether His doing. We have been grafted into the genuine olive tree, and here in the tree we are enjoying all the juice of the root of the fatness of the olive tree. The juice of the root refers to the riches of Christ, which we can enjoy by calling on His name. By this we reach the station of the Body of Christ.
From chapter 13 through chapter 16 we are shown how to live in this Body. In other words, we are shown how to have the church life. To have the church life we must live according to chapter 13. According to chapter 13, we must keep a good and proper relationship with the government (vv. 1-7), we must love others (vv. 8-10), and we must awake from our sleep to be a living person watching and waiting for the coming day (vv. 11-14). We must live this way. Then in chapter 14 we see that we must live the church life by receiving all the saints (v. 1). We must be careful about this. This is a deciding factor as to whether our meeting is sectarian or not. It all depends on how we receive the saints. We must receive the saints without any kind of division. This means that we must receive all the saints — whoever God has received, we must receive. We should not say that we do not like a certain brother because he is not according to our taste. If we do not receive a brother and keep him outside the door of the church because he is not “our kind of Christian,” this is sectarian. We must receive the ones who are weak in their belief.
According to Romans 14, some are so weak that they do not dare to touch sacrifices to idols. An idol is nothing, and the things offered to the idols are nothing. A weaker believer, though, may not be able to eat these things because his conscience is so weak. He may still keep a religious diet, not eating the things that are unclean. He would not even touch a sacrifice to idols, and he may not want to break the Sabbath. It does not matter how weak a believer is. We must realize that as long as he is a real brother, we must receive him. He is our weak brother. Do not blame him. We have to blame the Father who begot him. The Father has accepted him. Who are we to exclude him? To exclude him would make us sectarian and the people whom we meet with a sect.
Chapter 14 also tells us that the church life is the practice of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is not eating or drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (see v. 17 and footnote 1, Recovery Version). The church life as the practice of the kingdom goes in three directions — one direction is with ourselves, another direction is with others, and the third direction is with God. The kingdom of God is righteousness toward ourselves, peace with others, and joy with God in our spirit. A church life that is a practice of the kingdom of God is in these three directions. Chapter 15 goes further to tell us that we must receive the believers according to Christ (v. 7). We must be what Christ is, and we must do what Christ does. Then we see that the entire church will be sanctified and offered to God for His satisfaction (v. 16). Finally, in chapter 16 we see the proper local church as the expression of the Body of Christ. In Romans 16 we see the local churches and the saints living in the living church. If we live in Cenchrea, we must be a member of the church there (v. 1). If we live in Rome, we must be a member of the church in Rome (v. 5). Other churches are also mentioned in chapter 16 (vv. 4, 16).
This fellowship should give us a clear, bird’s-eye view of the book of Romans. John and Revelation are also good illustrations of other books of which we need a bird’s-eye view. We need to acquire a bird’s-eye view of every book in the New Testament.
