CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 4
The Lord had announced the new order of relationship. Here He sets forth broadly the different actions of the word, the varied effects of the dissemination of the word all over the earth, and these varied effects might be found at different times in each of us. When the word is received spiritually it subdues you - when intellectually it exhilarates you; “with patience”
[p. 145] implies preparation. There must be preparation in the heart to produce fruit. It is important to see that preparation is necessary in order to receive the word. How often have we heard it, and it has slipped away. We did not really receive it.
The Lord is here describing His own ministry. Israel would not receive it, therefore it is according to Isaiah 6: 10, “Make the heart of this people fat”. God did not communicate His mind without having a distinct object in view. It is now, not hereafter, that He looks for thirty-fold, sixty-fold, etc. We are left in this world for a particular purpose, not merely to learn ourselves or for the business of the world, but to be expressive of Him who is not here. All things contribute to the purpose for which we are sent into the world. As harness on the horse is not the purpose, but it contributes to the purpose and the use for which it is intended, so we have to be in circumstances “for Christ”.
Each one has a mission, women as well as men. I wonder if we could all tell what mission the Lord has sent us here for. Each one is called to set forth Christ in a particular line. The testimony is Christ, not some particular thing, and you are a person sent here to carry out Christ in the line that He intends; by His own desire you are left in this scene to be for Him here. That would give great importance to everything. If He has given you anything to do, you will never be happy until you do it.
In Mark you get the Lord setting forth the new order of things that He is going to establish on the earth; you have the virtue of Himself. We do not get the benefit of it till after His death but in 1 Peter we are to show forth the virtues of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.
Verse 21. Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel? The church was to be the candlestick, but Christ was the light Himself. Putting light under a bushel is designedly putting it out of the way. Verse 22.
[p. 146] There is nothing hid, etc. All will come out here, not only at the judgment-seat. There are two kinds of hypocrisy: one is concealing what you are, the other is assuming to be what you are not. In Luke 12 the disciples were in danger of concealing what they had. Verse 24 is a very comforting passage. If you take in a good measure, you will be given good measure. You are receptive. The more you take in, the more you can take in. The more you do, the more you can do. One great thing the Lord looks for is receptiveness. “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it”. “Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance”. There is great encouragement to pray for one who is going on well.
It is important to bear in mind that in chapter 4 we pass into a new section, the moral side. The sowing of the word begins the new section. The sowing takes in more than the church - it is the whole course of the word on earth. The Lord is the Servant in this gospel, and the first character of the Servant is that He heals all that need healing.
Then there is a new action, the word is sown. He deals with man morally to prove to the Jews that everything would be offered to man. Mark’s gospel is service. John comes in after the ruin, after 2 Timothy, and shows what God holds to in spite of what you are. There is what remains in spite of all man’s failure. It is very interesting to note the difference between Stephen and Paul. Stephen’s mantle is: All is over and I go to heaven. Paul’s mantle is: All is over, but I will go on, though deserted by every one, proclaiming Christ. Many would accept Stephen’s who would not take up Paul’s. We are to have both - one for comfort, the other for service. The man of faith in every dispensation rises to the highest thought of God about His people. Nehemiah must have the feast of tabernacles, notwithstanding all the weakness and ruin. Nehemiah was in very different circumstances [p. 147] from Joshua. In Judges every possible expedient was tried. Then Samuel comes in - dependence on God - the same power that was at Jericho in Israel’s brightest day. Samuel had no weapon but prayer, but that was enough. He took a stone and called it Ebenezer, saying, “Hitherto Jehovah has helped us”. Mark gives three parables - Matthew five. One is the internal and two the external - one is the secret history of grace in the soul. Verse 31 is the external, the mustard seed - it has got out of its proper form and become a monstrosity. It has given an impetus to the world. Evil lodges under its shadow.
What has made the confusion in christendom is that God’s thought was lost, and men tried to set things right by human means, according to their own conscience, instead of going back to God’s thought, as Nehemiah did in his day.
The kingdom is rule, God’s rule down here. The house is distinct from the kingdom, though in one sense they are co-terminal.
Verse 33. This gospel gives the manner of the Lord’s ministry. He is always the Teacher. What touches Mark gives us! “He spoke the word .. . as they were able to hear”, and “When they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples” (verse 34). If you have ‘received’ the word, the test comes. Now, can you stand amid the winds and waves? He had given them the gospel internally - now He brings them into external circumstances, where they have no one to help them but Himself. It is winter after summer.
He is here in the storm teaching them what they ought to have done. What ought we to do now if tossed in a storm? To be like Him. He was asleep. Now I am to be calm. I learn to be like Him by being in the happy sense of union with Him where He is; that is, above the storm. The first effect of the storm on a soul that knows the Lord is to make you turn to Him. The disciples did not turn to Him in a right [p. 148] way. The first thought is to ask Him to allay the storm; that is not faith in Him! Christ is always in the aspect towards me that I ought to have. He was asleep. He puts the winds, waves and all to sleep. There was a great calm. I should like to know what is the Lord’s own feeling about what is now going on. He is not moved by any of these things that distress me. He knows the end from the beginning. You will often find that you had a taste for summer - green pastures for your soul - then winter comes, you have nothing. But winter is a good time to test how much you have received, and how much it has connected you with Christ, so that you have Him for your winter day. Here it is the Lord in the ship, and there is no help but from Himself. In this interesting gospel He is the Teacher all through, and all the pressure and difficulties are to teach and enlighten you. He would say, You are to learn in every circumstance that I am your only resource. Every devout person turns to the Lord in his trouble (that is Psalm 107); he is thinking of how he can get out of the trouble, not of how the Lord would act in the trouble.
Thinking of Him as in the storm would not make you act like Him in a storm. It is only the happy consciousness of being united to Him where He is that can make you act like Him where He was, because you get everything through His death and resurrection. He says, Where is your faith? If they had faith, they would say, We cannot sink because He is here. It is faith in Him who was in the ship with them, as it is now faith in Him at the right hand of power. It is of immense importance to see that if we are near Him for every moment of our lives, we shall always find that He is in the aspect toward us that we ought to be in. He was asleep, thus indicating to them that they should be quiet - at rest in spite of the waves. He said, “Peace, be still!” He put them all to sleep, even the wind and waves!
[p. 149] For a young soul the Lord often removes the storm. To me it is the greatest thing to know, when a storm comes, what is the Lord’s own feeling about it. He is not moved by it. He sees the end from the beginning. I come out of His presence calm, in peace. Further on, we find He does not quiet the storm. He will often act thus for a young believer as He does not for an older one. To the latter He says, You have learned that I am better than favours. I will give you Myself.
Which would you choose? There is a most necessary process, although we do not always see the necessity for it. There must be testing, winter must come. You see a fine tree; will that shoot bear fruit this year? It must be subjected to winter first before it will bear either blossoms or fruit. That is God’s order, because He means to have established in your soul the verity of the truth you have received. “Tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope”. People think they are going on and enjoying the Lord, but they do not get any additional truth until they go back and pick up the stitch that was dropped. You must go back and be like Abraham where he had the altar at the beginning - he was fifteen years away! He made no progress all that time! I believe it would be an immense help to the soul, and would give immense insight to the nature of Christ’s present interest about one, to know that if I look to Him, He would indicate to me what should be my manner of life in this particular strait that I am placed in. It is not, as some say, surrendering oneself; it is that I am so occupied with Christ that He displaces myself. It is, “Not I, but Christ liveth in me”. Take all the churches in the Revelation. He appears to each one in the aspect in which each one needs Him, and to us He would say, If you keep your eye on Me, you will get help, and the right kind of help. You will thus learn the particular manner of His grace towards you. He has a particular manner of grace for [p. 150] you and for me. It is wonderful to find the Lord looking down and seeing the various plants of His, as it were, in a desert. This one by the bedside of a sick friend; that one in domestic duties, another as a slave, and to see that He has a particular grace towards each one, and that He would produce something in each one, that each might adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Christ would give grace for this. It tells of angels, principalities and powers in heavenly places. The testimony now is not always before men outside. The testimony is before angels. “Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?”