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Scripture Reading: Mark 9:1-8; 16:20; Phil. 1:21; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:4
The entire New Testament is a book about a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospels are biographies of this Person, and the remainder of the New Testament is the definition and explanation of this Person. We thank the Lord for the biography of the Lord Jesus presented in the Gospel of Mark. However, we need to spend much time in reading the Epistles in order to see the definition of the life recorded in Mark. If we read only the Gospel of Mark, we shall see many of the events that took place during the Lord’s life, but we shall not know the meaning of these events. But when we come to the Epistles, we are enlightened concerning these things.
In the Epistles of Paul we have a broad view of Christ with His death and resurrection. In his Epistles Paul indicates clearly that Christ is all-inclusive. For example, Paul tells us not only that Christ is the Head of the universal new man; He also says that Christ is the Body (1 Cor. 12:12). In Col. 3:11 Paul says that in the new man Christ is all the members and is in all the members. From these verses we see that Christ, the anointed One of God, is all-inclusive.
Paul also reveals clearly that Christ’s death is all-inclusive. Paul tells us that we were crucified with Christ and in Christ (Gal. 2:20). In Rom. 6:6 Paul declares that our old man was crucified with Christ. These verses indicate that Christ’s death on the cross was not merely the death of an individual. Because Christ is all-inclusive, His death was also all-inclusive. How could such an all-inclusive One die only as an individual and not experience an all-inclusive death? There is no indication in the Gospel of Mark that Christ died an all-inclusive death. But in the Epistles as a God-inspired definition and explanation of Christ with His death and resurrection we see that His death certainly was all-inclusive.
In the Epistles of Paul we also see that we were included in Christ’s resurrection and ascension. In Ephesians 2:6 Paul says that God “raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” Therefore, in the sight of God, we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. As God’s chosen people, we all have been put into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). Since Christ is in the heavenlies, we also are in the heavenlies. We all need to see from the Epistles that Christ and His death, resurrection, and ascension are all-inclusive.
According to Mark 10:32, when the Lord Jesus was going to Jerusalem, He brought His disciples with Him. He included them in all that He was doing. Judas was the only disciple who did not continue with the Lord until the end. After the Passover feast, the Lord Jesus exposed Judas, and then Judas left. As a Jew, he had the right to enjoy the Passover feast. But because he had not been chosen by God to remain with the Lord, he had no share in the Lord’s supper. All the other disciples experienced the supper and were included in the Lord’s death and resurrection.
When the Lord Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, His disciples were with Him. Peter was even so bold as to take out his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant (14:47). In his boldness Peter caused trouble for the Lord and made it necessary for Him to heal the servant’s ear. In a sense, Peter was crucified before the Lord Jesus was. The Lord was crucified at Golgotha, but Peter was crucified in the courtyard of the Praetorium.
The point we are emphasizing here is that the Lord Jesus brought His disciples through all the steps that led to His death and resurrection, and then He included them in His death and resurrection. If we understand the narration of the Gospel of Mark according to what is revealed in the Epistles of Paul, we shall see that not only those disciples but we also were included in the death and resurrection of Christ.
When some hear that we were included in Christ’s death and resurrection, they may say, “How is it possible that we were included in the Lord’s death and resurrection? We were not even born when these events took place.” According to man’s way of thinking, we could not have been included. But God’s way of thinking, which is according to His eternal view, is different. According to God’s understanding, we were crucified and resurrected with Christ even before we were born. Although we cannot understand this according to our natural mind, it is nevertheless a fact.
When we study the Gospel of Mark, we are actually studying our own biography. This means that the biography of Jesus is also our biography. In the words of a hymn, “He is my history,” and “His life is my experience” (Hymns,#949). Therefore, the biography narrated in Mark is not only a biography of the individual Jesus but also a biography of the believers.
In particular, the Gospel of Mark is a biography of Peter, our representative. Peter is present in the first chapter of Mark, and his name is specifically mentioned in the last chapter: “But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you into Galilee” (16:7). Furthermore, the cases in this book are a composite portrait of us as represented by Peter. For example, on the Mount of Transfiguration Peter said, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. And let us make three tabernacles — one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (9:5). Because Peter is our representative, his speaking here is also our speaking. Likewise, when Peter denied the Lord three times, that was also our threefold denial of the Lord. The angel’s word concerning Peter in 16:7 is also a word concerning us. As we read this verse, it is correct to insert our name in the place of Peter’s name, since we are represented by him.
From the time Peter was called by the Lord Jesus in 1:16 and 17, he was captured by Him and was always with Him. Along with James and John, he was with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. This indicates that wherever the Lord Jesus went, Peter went with Him, for the Lord brought Peter with Him.
Do you believe that when the Lord Jesus was crucified, He left Peter and the other disciples? No, when the Lord Jesus was crucified and buried, Peter, the representative of us all, was crucified with Him. Moreover, the Lord Jesus was not resurrected alone. According to God’s point of view, which is beyond the elements of space and time, we all were included in Christ’s resurrection.
First Corinthians 1:30 says that it is of God that we are in Christ. When were we put into Christ by God? Ephesians 1:4 says that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. This indicates that in eternity God chose us in Christ. That must have been the starting point of God’s putting us into Christ. Therefore, we were put into Christ by God when He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
One day the Christ in whom we were chosen by God in eternity came to us and called us. In chapter one of the Gospel of Mark Christ called Peter (1:16-18). Here the Lord seems to be saying, “Peter, I am the Christ in whom you were chosen by God the Father. Now I come to you to carry out the Father’s choice. He has already put you into Me. Why do you remain here fishing? Come, follow Me.”
The Father had selected Peter in Christ before the foundation of the world. Thus, from God’s view in eternity, Peter was already in Christ. But in Mark 1 the Lord came to Peter in order to carry out the Father’s choice.
From the time the Lord called Peter, He brought him with Him wherever He went. When the Lord was arrested and judged, Peter also was arrested and judged. When the Lord was crucified, resurrected, and exalted, Peter also was crucified, resurrected, and exalted.
If we had only the Gospel of Mark, it would not be possible for us to have such an understanding of Peter’s relationship to the Lord. But in the Epistles we see that Christ died on the cross as an all-inclusive One, as the One who included in Himself all whom God had chosen. Therefore, God’s chosen ones were included in Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. We all need to see this.
The life the Lord Jesus lived is now our life. Today we are His expansion, increase, and continuation, and we should continue to live the kind of life He lived.
After Christ’s ascension, His disciples continued His life, a life of preaching, teaching, casting out demons, healing the sick, and cleansing the lepers. This is the significance of 16:20: “But those went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the accompanying signs.” Here we have the continuation of the life of the Lord Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Mark. This life, a life according to and for God’s New Testament economy, has not ceased, for it is continued by those who believe in the Lord.
In the past nineteen centuries, many matters have come in to frustrate, damage, and even replace in the lives of Christians the unique life that is according to God’s New Testament economy. These hindering matters include culture, religion, ethics, morality, philosophy, the improvement of character, and the effort to be spiritual, scriptural, holy, and victorious.
We need to have a clear view of the kind of life we should be living. Are you living a life of culture and religion? A life of ethics, morality, philosophy, and the improvement of character? Are you trying to be spiritual, scriptural, holy, and victorious? All of us have been distracted from God’s economy by certain of these things. Where can you find Christians today who are not living a life of one or more of these ten items?
All Christians have been frustrated and damaged by the good that is related to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree that is versus the tree of life is not merely the tree of the knowledge of evil; it is the tree of the knowledge of both good and evil. In fact, the word “good” is mentioned before evil in Genesis 2:17. This indicates that good things as well as evil things can keep us from enjoying the tree of life. In our experience as Christians, good things may actually hinder us much more than evil things. Those who love the Lord may not touch what is evil, but day by day they may allow something good to replace the tree of life in their experience. Are not culture, religion, ethics, morality, philosophy, and the improvement of character good things? Certainly they are. To be sure, trying to be spiritual, scriptural, holy, and victorious is good. Nevertheless, anything apart from the life-giving Spirit is a frustration to the life that is fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy.
God has put us into Christ not that we may live a life of good things, but that we may live a life that is uniquely, wholly, and absolutely of Christ. God has put us into Christ so that we may live a life of Christ to carry out His New Testament economy.
Although more than nineteen centuries have passed since Christ’s ascension, He still has not come back. God’s people are not yet ready for the Lord’s coming. For centuries those who love the Lord Jesus have been hindered by different kinds of good things. These good things have occupied those who love the Lord and seek Him. Christians who love God and seek the Lord do not care for worldly things. Once they have been caught by the Lord to love Him and seek Him, they may be hindered by things they think are related to being spiritual, scriptural, holy, and victorious. Some Christians are preoccupied with ethics, morality, and improvement of character; others are distracted from the Lord by their efforts to be spiritual, scriptural, holy, and victorious. How few really care for the living Person of Christ Himself!
We have emphasized the fact that the Gospel of Mark presents a portrait of a life that is fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy. In eternity past God the Father put us into the One who lived such a life. Now we should be the continuation of this life. This means that the life we live should not be a life of culture, religion, ethics, morality, philosophy, or improvement of character. It should not even be a life of trying to be spiritual, scriptural, holy, and victorious. The life we live today should be Christ Himself. Only a life that is Christ is fully according to the New Testament economy of God. Any other kind of life, no matter how good it may be, is short of God’s economy.
In Galatians, Philippians, and Colossians Paul deals with certain things that hinder us from living Christ. In Galatians and Philippians we see that the religion founded according to God’s Word was keeping the believers from living Christ. The hindrance dealt with in Colossians is philosophy, perhaps a kind of Gnosticism. Galatians and Philippians deal with the frustration caused by Judaism, and Colossians deals with the frustration caused by philosophy. We may say that this religion and philosophy were the highest products of man’s culture. But these were the very things that were keeping God’s chosen people from living Christ. Therefore, in Philippians Paul declared, “To me to live is Christ” (1:21). In Galatians 2:20 he said, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Then in Colossians 3:4 he spoke of “Christ our life.”
As we consider the life portrayed in the Gospel of Mark and the definition of this life in the Epistles of Paul, we need to see the kind of life we should have today. This picture needs to direct, preserve, and control us in a life that is fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy. As those who have been brought through all the chapters of the Gospel of Mark, we should be the continuation of the life presented in this Gospel.
