Scripture Reading: Mark 16:1-20
Chapter sixteen of the Gospel of Mark covers three matters: the resurrection of the Slave-Savior (vv. 1-18), the ascension of the Slave-Savior for His exaltation (v. 19), and the Slave-Savior’s universal spreading of the gospel through His disciples (v. 20).
In 16:1-8 the resurrection of the Lord Jesus was discovered by three women — Mary the Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome (v. 1). In verse 6 an angel said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are seeking Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He was raised! He is not here! Behold, the place where they laid Him.” The Slave-Savior’s resurrection is proof that God is satisfied with what He accomplished through His death. It is also a confirmation of the effectiveness of His redeeming and life-imparting death (Acts 2:24; 3:15).
According to verse 7, the angel said to the women, “But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, even as He told you.” In the angel’s message to the three women who discovered the resurrection of the Slave-Savior, the phrase “and Peter” is inserted only in Mark’s record. This is probably due to Peter’s influence on the contents of this Gospel. In any case, this phrase indicates that Peter’s intimate relationship with the Slave-Savior was particular, so that it was emphasized even by the angel.
In verse 7 the angel said that the Lord Jesus was going before the disciples into Galilee. Just as the Slave-Savior began His ministry from Galilee of the Gentiles (Matt. 4:12-17), not from Jerusalem, the holy city of the Jewish religion, so also after His resurrection He would still go to Galilee, not to Jerusalem. This strongly indicates that the resurrected Slave-Savior abandoned Judaism and was initiating a new era for God’s economy of the New Testament.
In 16:9-11 the Lord Jesus appeared to Mary the Magdalene; in verses 12 and 13, to two of His disciples; and in verses 14 through 18, to the eleven disciples. In verse 15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all the creation.” This reveals that the redemption of God accomplished by the Slave-Savior through His death and resurrection is not only for man, the leading one in God’s creation, but for all the creation. Hence, all things, whether on earth or in the heavens, were reconciled to God, and the gospel should be proclaimed to all creation under heaven (Col. 1:20, 23). Based upon this, all the creation expects to be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:19-22).
In verse 16 the Lord went on to say to the disciples, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned.” To believe is to receive the Slave-Savior (John 1:12), not only for forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43) but also for regeneration (1 Pet. 1:21, 23), so that those who believe may become the children of God (John 1:12-13) and the members of Christ (Eph. 5:30) in an organic union with the Triune God (Matt. 28:19). To be baptized is to affirm this, by being buried to terminate the old creation through the death of the Slave-Savior and by being raised up to be the new creation of God through the Slave-Savior’s resurrection. Such a baptism is much more advanced than the baptism of repentance by John (Mark 1:4; Acts 19:3-5).
To believe and to be so baptized are two parts of one complete step for receiving the full salvation of God. To be baptized without believing is merely an empty ritual; to believe without being baptized is to be saved only inwardly without an outward affirmation of the inward salvation. These two should go together. Moreover, water baptism should be accompanied by the Spirit baptism, even as the children of Israel were baptized in the sea (water) and in the cloud (Spirit) — 1 Corinthians 10:2 and 12:13.
Mark 16:16 does not say “who does not believe and is not baptized shall be condemned.” This indicates that condemnation is related only to not believing; it is not related to not being baptized. Believing itself is sufficient for one to receive salvation from condemnation; yet it needs baptism as an outward affirmation for the completion of one’s inward salvation.
In 16:17 and 18 the Lord Jesus continues, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it shall by no means harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will be well.” Here we see that speaking with new tongues is only one of the five signs that accompany saved believers. It is not the unique sign, as stressed by some believers. According to the divine revelation in the Acts and in the Epistles, what the Lord says here does not mean that every saved believer should have all five signs. It means that each saved believer may have some of these signs, not necessarily all.
In verse 19 we have the ascension of the Slave-Savior: “So then the Lord, after speaking to them, was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God.” The Slave-Savior’s ascension for His exaltation by God was a sign of God’s acceptance of all He had done for God’s eternal plan according to God’s New Testament economy (Acts 2:33-36). In this exaltation God crowned Him with glory and honor (Heb. 2:9), gave Him the name that is above all names (Phil. 2:9), and made Him the Lord of all (Acts 2:36) and the Head over all things (Eph. 1:22), that He may have all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18) to rule over the heavens, the earth, and the nations so that they may work together for the universal spreading of His gospel.
Through His ascension Christ has been exalted to the highest, He has been made the Lord, the Christ, the Head of the church, and the Head over all things to the church. Furthermore, He has been enthroned, crowned with glory and honor, and given a name that is above all names.
In order to experience Jesus as the Lord, the Christ, the Head of the church, the Head over all, and the One enthroned, crowned, and given a name above all names, we need to be in resurrection. When we are in the reality of resurrection, we are in the life-giving Spirit. In the Spirit we experience the resurrected Christ as the Lord, the anointed One, and the Head of everything to the church and the Head directly of the church. In the reality of resurrection, that is, in the all-inclusive Spirit, we realize that this Christ has been crowned with glory and honor, that He has been enthroned, and that He has received the name that is above all names. When we are in such a Spirit, all these aspects of Christ’s ascension are not merely doctrines to us — they are realities.
Apart from the life-giving Spirit making Christ’s ascension real to us, we may think that the ascended Christ has nothing to do with us in our daily living. But every aspect of Christ’s ascension should be part of our daily experience.
If we would experience Christ’s ascension, we need to walk according to the Spirit. When we walk according to the Spirit, we are walking in Christ’s resurrection and ascension. This causes us to be a different kind of person. This is the reason I have been strong to say that the Christian life is not a matter of doctrine. What we need for the Christian life is to walk according to the life-giving Spirit who dwells in our spirit.
In 1964 I was invited to speak to a certain group of Christians in Dallas. During my message I pointed out that what we need is not doctrine but the Spirit. Some who cared absolutely for doctrine were offended, and after the meeting they tried to argue with me. But today I would even be stronger in saying that we need more of the Spirit. Instead of dead doctrine, we need the life-giving Spirit.
We can be in the Spirit because through the resurrection of Jesus Christ we have been regenerated, reborn (1 Pet. 1:3). We can also be in ascension. In our experience, the heavens come to us, because the all-inclusive Spirit brings the heavens to us. Therefore, when we are in the Spirit, we are in the heavens.
Concerning the Slave-Savior’s universal spreading of the gospel through His disciples, 16:20 says, “But those went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the accompanying signs.” This preaching of God’s gospel to all the creation (v. 15) by the resurrected and ascended Slave-Savior, as the Slave of God, through His believers, began from Jerusalem and has been proceeding to the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8) continuously and universally for the past centuries. It will continue to proceed until the Slave-Savior comes to set up the kingdom of God on earth (Luke 19:12; Dan. 7:13-14).
In 16:15 the Lord said to His disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all the creation.” Then verse 20 tells us that they went out and preached everywhere. This indicates that we also should go forth to tell the nations, and even all the creation, of the wonderful Slave-Savior, His all-inclusive death, and His marvelous resurrection.
We have seen that in chapter one of the Gospel of Mark there was only one preacher of the gospel. But when we come to the end of this Gospel, there are many preachers. Who can say how many gospel preachers there are today? Furthermore, the preaching in chapter one of Mark was mainly to the Jews, but the preaching at the end of chapter sixteen is to all the creation, that is, at least to all the different peoples on earth. In order to preach the gospel to all the creation, we may need to be beside ourselves in the Lord. If you have never been zealous in preaching the gospel to all kinds of peoples, this may mean that you may have never been beside yourself in the Lord Jesus.
On the day I was saved I was called by the Lord. I knew that it was my destiny to preach the Lord Jesus. However, my understanding at the time was that I would preach Him in the villages of my homeland. Now I am in this country preaching the Lord to those from every continent.
Oh, let us tell everyone about the wonderful Lord Jesus! Let us tell all people about the Lord’s all-inclusive death and marvelous resurrection! Let us not be silent; let us preach the gospel, present the truth, and minister life.
Having passed through the Gospel of Mark, we may say that we have experienced the different kinds of healings: the healings of our ears, tongue, and eyes. Now we are qualified to speak for the Lord. I hope that through this Life-study of Mark we all shall be ushered into Christ as our entire, universal, all-inclusive replacement. Then we shall be able to testify with Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Having experienced Christ as our replacement, we then shall be able to speak forth to all the nations concerning Him and His death and resurrection.
We thank the Lord for giving us the clear vision that this age is for the producing of the new man through the preaching of the gospel. All things — the world situation, international affairs, the economy, industry, education, and even wars — are for this. According to Revelation 6, the first of the four horses is the white horse of gospel preaching. This means that the white horse is taking the lead, and the other horses are following. Gospel preaching must take the lead. This age is for the preaching of the gospel to produce the new man. Now that we have seen this vision, let us go forth to preach Christ to all the creation!
