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Scripture Reading: Mark 13:1-37
In this message I would like to give a further word on chapter thirteen, one of the most difficult chapters for us to understand. Many readers of the New Testament regard Mark 13 merely as a prophecy. Actually, this chapter is not merely a prophecy; it is also a word of preparation given by the Lord Jesus to His followers. Two indications of this are the word “temple” in verse 1 and the expression “birth pangs” in verse 8.
In chapter eleven the Lord Jesus cleansed the temple (Mark 11:15-17). In a very real sense, the Lord condemned the temple. After cleansing the temple, the Lord Jesus dealt with the leaders of Judaism, those who were especially concerned for the temple. The disciples heard all that the Lord said to those leaders. After such a thorough dealing with the temple and with the Jewish leaders, the Lord went out of the temple. Mark 13:1 says, “And as He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples says to Him, Teacher, behold, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” This is a strong indication that the Lord’s disciples were still occupied with the traditional concept of the temple, which was a sign or symbol of the Jewish religion. For the disciples to still have such a regard for the temple meant that they were fully occupied with their old religion.
When the Lord Jesus was on earth. God’s intention in His economy was to change the dispensation from the old things to Christ. It was God’s desire that Christ would replace the things of the former dispensation. This is the reason we say that Christ, who is both God and man, is the universal replacement. Christ as the universal replacement was first revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration. The Lord brought three of His disciples to the top of this mountain in order to show them that God in His economy intended to replace everything with Christ. There would be no place for Moses or Elijah, and no place for the natural man. Everything and everyone must be replaced by Christ, the all-inclusive One.
When the Lord Jesus cleansed the temple, He was preparing to replace the old things with Himself. He was canceling, annulling, the things of the old dispensation in order to prepare the way for His disciples to take Him as their replacement. He was preparing them to be brought into His death and resurrection so that He might be their all-inclusive replacement.
To take Christ as our replacement through His death and resurrection is to be brought out of the old creation and to enter into the new creation. God’s economy is first to produce the old creation, and then to bring forth the new creation out of the old.
God’s new creation is mainly the new man. The producing of the new man out of the old creation involves the process of birth. The expression “birth pangs” in 13:8 refers to the travail involved in the birth of the new man.
The period of time between Christ’s resurrection and ascension and His coming back is for the delivery of the new man. We believe that we are living toward the end of that period of time in which the new man is being delivered. Looking back upon more than nineteen centuries of history since the Lord’s ascension, it is easy for us to realize that throughout the centuries many have experienced the birth pangs for the delivery of the new man. The Jews, the Gentiles, and all the cultures and civilizations of the world have been part of these birth pangs. Even the wars that have taken place have been part of the birth pangs. These birth pangs are for one thing — the bringing forth of the new man.
Today’s world situation with its birth pangs is for the birth of the new man. This is the reason I watch the world situation.
Do you know what has been taking place for the last nineteen hundred years? The centuries from the first century until the twentieth have witnessed the delivery of the new man through the preaching of the gospel and the suffering of persecution.
We need to understand why the new man is brought forth by the preaching of the gospel amid persecution. From the time of man’s fall, the old creation has been under the usurping hand of Satan, God’s enemy. God is now working to produce a new man out of His old creation. The enemy, however, is not willing to allow such a thing, and he is instigating everything and every matter to oppose God’s economy in order to frustrate the birth of the new man. This is the reason for persecutions. From the time Peter stood up to preach the gospel on the day of Pentecost, this persecution has been taking place. Persecution first came from the Jews with their religion and then from the Gentiles, including the Roman rulers in their politics. Throughout all the centuries this persecution of those who preach the gospel has not ceased.
During the past nineteen hundred years, two things have been going on continually: the preaching of the gospel and persecution. It is sovereign of the Lord that these things have not ceased. Century after century, the Lord’s faithful ones have preached the gospel at any cost, even at the risk of their lives. Meanwhile, Satan, having usurped the old creation with the old man and his society and culture, has instigated a great deal of persecution.
What will be the outcome of Satan’s opposition to God’s economy? The outcome will be that neither Satan nor the world will gain anything. Ultimately, the outcome will be the full delivery of the new man.
After the lengthy process for the birth of the new man, the Lord Jesus will come back to receive the new man at the time of the saints’ rapture. This means that when the Lord Jesus comes back, there will be a rapture, and this rapture will be the final delivery of the new man. If we see this and then read chapter thirteen of Mark again, we shall receive fresh light from the Word. In this chapter the Lord was bringing His close followers into such an understanding of God’s economy.
The central point of God’s economy is the producing of the new man through Christ’s death and resurrection. The death of Christ has terminated the old creation, and His resurrection has germinated the new creation. Therefore, to be brought into Christ’s death and resurrection is to be brought into the termination of the old creation and the germination of the new creation. In this germination we enjoy the all-inclusive, universal replacement, who is the living, wonderful, marvelous Person of Christ, the God-man.
When we enjoy Christ as the universal replacement, He will become everything to us, for He will replace everything with Himself. This is the reason Paul says that in the new man “there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:10-11). In the new man there are no racial differences. In the new man there is no culture or social rank. Instead, Christ, the universal replacement, is all and is in all.
Christ will replace the entire old creation, and He will be the whole new creation. How can this take place? It can take place only through Christ’s death and resurrection. Hence, it is necessary for us to be brought into the death and resurrection of Christ. In His resurrection we enjoy Him as the all-inclusive, processed, indwelling, life-giving Spirit. The Person who is this universal replacement is the One with both divinity and humanity. Today this wonderful Person is the compound Spirit to be our enjoyment so that God may have the new man for His expression.
I hope that we shall all be enlightened to see the vision related to the words “birth pangs” in 13:8. These birth pangs are required for the delivery of the new man. The delivery takes place through the gospel, and the preaching of the gospel is always accompanied by persecution.
Wherever we go to preach the gospel, we should be ready to suffer persecution. If you are preaching the gospel and teaching the truth, yet you never suffer anything but are always warmly welcomed, you need to question whether your activity is really of the Lord. If your preaching and teaching are of the Lord, you will face persecution. The reason for this is that the delivery of the new man always involves birth pangs. Even today, this birth with its birth pangs is still taking place.
As we read chapter thirteen of the Gospel of Mark, we should not be distracted from the main point in this chapter. The crucial matter here is that the Lord was telling His close followers that the entire world situation is for the producing of a new man. This new man can be produced only through Christ’s all-inclusive death and His wonderful resurrection. This is the reason we need to be brought into His death and resurrection.
If you study the account of Peter’s preaching on the day of Pentecost, you will see that he emphasized the two matters of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He told the people that the One they despised and crucified has been honored by God, for God raised Him from among the dead. They crucified Him, but God resurrected Him. The Lord’s followers were His witnesses. In particular, they were witnesses of His death and resurrection.
We have seen that Christ’s death was the termination of the old creation and that His resurrection was the germination of the new creation. In the new creation we enjoy Him, the all-inclusive One, as our universal replacement provided by God. Christ is not only our Savior — He is our life and everything to us. Not only is He everything to us; He is everything in God’s economy. God’s economy is to produce a new man, and in this new man there is nothing but Christ. In the new man Christ is in everyone, Christ is everyone, and Christ is everything. We all need to see this marvelous vision.
Concerning the vision of God’s economy, the crucial matter for us to see is that we need to enter into Christ’s death and resurrection so that we may participate in the full enjoyment of Him as the universal replacement. Today as our replacement Christ is the life-giving Spirit. It is not our intention to argue in a doctrinal way concerning the Trinity or the Spirit. Our aim is to help the believers know that we need to enter into the all-inclusive death of Christ so that we may be in His resurrection. Then in His resurrection we shall participate in Him and enjoy Him as the life-giving Spirit to be our replacement. This Spirit now dwells in our spirit. We have actually become one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). As we live in the Spirit and even live this Spirit, He will make Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension real to us.
The entire world situation is for the completion of the re-formation of Israel and also for the completion of the birth of the new man. Because we have a clear view concerning these two matters, we can see something that statesmen and politicians cannot see. They do not realize that the world situation is for the re-formation of Israel and the birth of the new man. Thank the Lord that we know the purpose for the things happening in the world. We thank Him for a clear view of the world situation.
Not only do we know where the world is in relation to God’s economy; we also know where we are as believers. We are in the death and resurrection of Christ, and we are in the enjoyment of Him as our all-inclusive replacement. This means that we are in Christ.
Many talk about being in Christ without having a full realization of what this means. To be in Christ is to be in the full enjoyment of Him as the entire, universal replacement through His all-inclusive death and His wonderful resurrection.
We need the Gospel of Mark to help us see that Christ is our replacement through His death and resurrection. It was not in an external, outward way that the New Testament believers entered into the death and resurrection of Christ. From the Gospel of Mark we see that the early disciples, our representatives, followed the Lord from the very beginning. Eventually, they, and also we, passed through the process leading into Christ’s all-inclusive death and into His resurrection.
If we see the vision of the all-inclusive death of Christ, we shall realize that when He was crucified, we were crucified with Him and in Him. Likewise, when He was resurrected, we were resurrected in Him. We also are in ascension with Him. Therefore, now we can declare, “Hallelujah, in Christ’s resurrection and ascension I am participating in the enjoyment of Him as my replacement!”
As our replacement, Christ is the indwelling, life-giving Spirit in our spirit. As we live by this Spirit, the Spirit will become in us the reality of Christ Himself with His death, resurrection, and ascension as our complete and full enjoyment. It is in this way that the new man is delivered. May we all see the vision of the bringing forth of the new man through our participation in Christ and in His death, resurrection, and ascension.
