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Scripture Reading: Mark 1:1, 9-11, 14-15; 9:2-9; 16:14-20
With this message we begin a series of supplementary messages to the Life-study of the Gospel of Mark. These messages will be concerned with the life of the Slave-Savior as a life that is fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy.
In the Gospel of Mark we see a Person, the God-man, who lived a life that was fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy. If we would understand this life, we need to know what God’s New Testament economy is. In other words, it takes the entire New Testament to explain the life the Lord Jesus lived. This means that it takes all the other twenty-six books of the New Testament to define the Gospel of Mark. If we make a thorough study of the New Testament with respect to God’s economy, we shall see that there is no defect, deficiency, or shortcoming in the life of the Lord Jesus. The life He lived was absolutely according to and for God’s economy. In His life there is nothing contrary to this economy.
Although we may love the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Matthew, in these Gospels we do not have a complete biography of the Lord’s life. This complete biography, presented in its historical sequence, is found in Mark. In this Gospel we have a complete record of a life, the life of the Lord Jesus, that is according to and for God’s New Testament economy. In this life there is no deficiency with respect to God’s economy.
Mark is the base of Matthew, John, and even Luke, because Mark is a biography of the life of the Lord Jesus arranged according to historical sequence. If we want to understand a certain matter in the other Gospels, we need to come back to the Gospel of Mark.
At this point I would like to call your attention to the chart printed with this message. In this chart we can see how in the Gospel of Mark the record of the Lord’s life progresses step by step until we come to the highlight. Then we are brought into the Lord’s all-inclusive death and wonderful resurrection so that we may enjoy Him as our replacement. The result of taking Christ as our replacement is the new man. The new man is the reality of the kingdom of God, which issues first in the church, then in the millennium, and ultimately in the New Jerusalem.
Although the Gospel of Mark is short, it is all-inclusive. It contains all the factors of the New Testament. These factors are elements of the life of the Slave-Savior, a life fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy.
As the One who lived according to and for God’s New Testament economy, the Lord Jesus lived in a new dispensation, having the old dispensation terminated. This is clearly revealed and portrayed in chapter one (1:1-8). John the Baptist was born a typical Old Testament priest, yet he lived in the wilderness in a way that was uncultured. His appearance and his food were very different from that of the priests. John’s work and his way of speaking were also uncultured. Whenever a person repented, John put that one into the water, baptizing him. All this was an indication that the old dispensation had been terminated. This was the situation and atmosphere when the Lord Jesus began His ministry. This indicates that His ministry was fully in the New Testament dispensation. Therefore, with His life we cannot find anything of the old dispensation.
When the Lord Jesus was about to begin His ministry, He had Himself buried, baptized, by John the Baptist (1:9-11). He had no sin or oldness, yet He was still baptized. His baptism was a testimony to the universe that He rejected Himself, that He put Himself aside in order to live by God.
Immediately after His baptism, the Lord Jesus was thrust into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit (1:12-13). From that time onward, He fulfilled His ministry by living, moving, and working in the Holy Spirit.
As the One living and moving by the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus preached the gospel (1:14-20). In His preaching He sowed the incarnated God as the seed for the kingdom of God. He sowed into men’s hearts a seed that would grow and develop into the kingdom of God.
In the Holy Spirit the Lord Jesus taught the truth (1:21-22). For Him to teach the truth was to enlighten darkened mankind and to disperse man’s darkness.
The Lord Jesus also cast out demons (1:23-28). This casting out of demons was for the purpose of spreading the kingdom of God.
In His ministry the Lord Jesus healed the sick (1:29-39). To heal the sick is to enliven the dead, to make the dead alive.
According to the Gospel of Mark, the Lord cleansed the leper (1:40-45). To cleanse the leper is to sanctify the enlivened one. The Lord did this by forgiving sins, feasting with sinners, being their joy in righteousness and life, satisfying them, and liberating them.
While the Lord Jesus was carrying out such a gospel service, He was also binding Satan and plundering his kingdom. Satan had no ground in Him. In 3:22-30 we see that the Lord bound Satan and plundered his house by the Holy Spirit.
In 3:31-35 we see that the Lord Jesus denied the natural relationship. Instead of remaining in the relationship of the natural life, He chose to be in the relationship of the spiritual life. This was the reason He could say, “Whoever does the will of God, this is My brother and sister and mother” (3:35). The natural relationship was not given any ground in His living.
As the One who lived fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy, The Lord Jesus suffered the world’s rejection and hatred. In 6:1-6 He was despised by the Nazarenes. Elsewhere in this chapter we see that He suffered the world’s rejection.
In 7:1-23 the Lord Jesus exposed man’s inward condition, the evil condition of man’s heart. He said, “That which goes out of a man, that defiles a man” (v. 20). Then He spoke concerning wicked things that proceed from within and defile a man (vv. 21-23).
After exposing the condition of man’s heart, the Lord Jesus presented Himself as the life supply to a seeking one (7:24-30). In 7:27 He referred to Himself as the children’s bread, that is, as our life supply. Hence, He presented Himself as the bread of life.
In 7:31-37 the Lord Jesus healed a deaf and dumb man, and in 8:22-26 He healed a blind man. In these instances the Lord healed specific organs of those who had been enlivened by Him.
In 8:27—9:13 the Lord Jesus is revealed as our universal and entire replacement. It is through His all-inclusive death and wonderful resurrection that we can take Him as such a replacement.
The Gospel of Mark presents the Lord Jesus as the One who accomplished an all-inclusive death. In His death He bore our sins, condemned sin, crucified the old man, terminated the old creation, destroyed Satan, judged the world, abolished the ordinances, and released the divine life.
After the Lord accomplished this all-inclusive death, He entered into His wonderful resurrection. In and through His resurrection He regenerated His followers and germinated the new creation.
After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus “was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God” (16:19). He now remains in His all-surpassing ascension to execute what He has accomplished through His death and resurrection.
In previous messages we have pointed out emphatically that the Lord Jesus did not enter into His death, resurrection, and ascension alone. Rather, He brought His followers into His death, and then He ushered them into His resurrection. As those who have been ushered into the Lord’s resurrection, His followers may now enjoy Him in His ascension as their life and life supply, the Lord of all, God’s Christ, the Head of all to the church, the Head of the Body, the glorified One, the enthroned One, the One who is above all, and the One who fills all in all.
Through His death, resurrection, and ascension, and by bringing His followers into that death, resurrection, and ascension, the Lord Jesus has brought forth the new man as the reality of the kingdom of God. First, this new man issues in the church. Then, in the coming age, the new man will develop into the millennium. Ultimately, in the new heaven and the new earth, the new man will consummate in the New Jerusalem. This will be our eternal destiny, and this is also the conclusion of the Scriptures.
The Gospel of Mark is not merely a storybook. This Gospel conveys a heavenly vision, a vision that should direct our steps, control our living, and bring us into God’s consummation. This vision is able to keep us in God’s economy so that we may live the church life with the goal of reaching the millennium and the New Jerusalem.
Such a vision from God will always direct our steps and control our living. This was true even in the Old Testament, where we are told that without vision the people will perish (Prov. 29:18a). Under the heavenly vision we are directed toward God’s destination, and our life is controlled according to God’s economy.
If we would know the truth, we need to see the vision of God’s economy. I can testify that years ago I was caught by this vision. Because we have seen it, we can press on in spite of suffering, defamation, and all kinds of trouble.
This vision has become the principle that directs our steps and that governs our way. Why do we take the way of the Lord in His recovery? We take this way because we have been caught by the vision of God’s economy. Because we have seen this vision, throughout the years heavenly light has been flooding into the Lord’s recovery. The reason for this light is that we are under this vision. Whenever we come to the Word of God, the light shines because we are in this directing, controlling, governing vision.
My burden in this message is that we would see that the Gospel of Mark reveals a life that is fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy. This life is not merely righteous, holy, spiritual, and victorious. Many Christians know that we should live a righteous, holy, spiritual, and victorious life. But have you ever heard of a life lived according to God’s New Testament economy? The Gospel of Mark presents the Person of the God-man, the One who lived, acted, moved, and worked step by step according to God’s economy.
The author of the Epistle of James, on the contrary, was not fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy. Instead, James continued to live according to certain Jewish traditions and practices.
The Gospel of Mark records how the Lord was examined by different parties. But no one could find fault with Him. As we consider the Gospel of Mark, we also are not able to find any fault, defect, or deficiency in the Lord’s living related to God’s economy. The chief priests, scribes, elders, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians tried to find fault with the Lord Jesus according to Jewish law and practice, and according to Roman politics. Let us examine Him according to the measure of the New Testament economy, of a standard that is much more strict. If we were to examine the Lord in this way, we would not find any shortcoming with Him. He not only fulfilled the law — He fulfilled God’s economy.
Actually, the life of the Lord Jesus recorded in Mark is a complete, whole, perfect, and entire pattern of God’s New Testament economy. For this reason, if we would understand what is revealed in Matthew, Luke, or John, we need to consider the pattern presented in Mark. This pattern will then become a key that opens the other three Gospels.
Among today’s Christians there is a great deal of debate and division. This is the result of being in darkness and of not having the vision of God’s New Testament economy. The spiritual sky above many believers is dark. Their talk and study are in darkness. How much we need our spiritual sky to be clear! I hope that this Life-study of the Gospel of Mark will cause heavenly light to shine upon you, light that will grow until it shines in full (Prov. 4:18).
Praise the Lord for the clear view concerning God’s New Testament economy! This view should become our vision to direct, control, keep, and preserve us and also carry us on. Furthermore, this vision should become the yardstick, the standard, by which we measure matters related to the Christian life. If we have this vision, we shall see that it is not sufficient simply to be righteous, holy, spiritual, and victorious. James was such a godly person, yet he was short with respect to God’s New Testament economy. May we all see the vision of God’s New Testament economy and see in the Gospel of Mark a portrait of a life fully according to and for God’s economy.
[see The Progressive Steps of the Gospel of Mark chart]
