MARK 16
CAC The place the women have in relation to resurrection is a very noticeable feature. I think the women would represent what was inwardly wrought of God, that state of the affections which must underlie the public service if it is to have any value. The man takes the first place in public service clearly, but in regard of personal devotion the woman has a peculiar glory. If the testimony is about to take an entirely new character, the Lord would have the affections of His [p. 188] saints to be enlightened as to it so that there might be a state of heart that would support the public witness.
Rem The women’s affections were shown in their following the Lord to the cross, and then seeing where He lay; they appeared in the resurrection scene again.
CAC Yes, it is blessed to recognise that spiritual affections and devotion to Christ are found in the saints; they often need to be enlightened and liberated, but they are there. It encourages one, in desiring to help the saints, that affection and devotedness are there at the bottom, the result of the Father’s teaching and drawing, so that there is something to work on in the saints. I think it gives confidence and steadiness in all service to know it is not beating the air. Paul loved to recognise the spiritual condition present and to build on it. But often, though there are spiritual affections and devotion of heart, there is an unpreparedness as to the way the testimony may move and the different shape in which it may manifest itself. We see in this chapter that no one is equal to the greatness of the divine thought but the Lord Himself, and it is only in personal contact with Him that we become equal to it. We find that in the first section of the chapter they do not catch a glimpse of Him, hence there is no testimony, nothing but amazement, alarm and fear, which shows that the divine truth of resurrection was not in power in the soul.
Ques What is power in the soul?
CAC I think in this chapter the power is seen to have its source in the Lord Himself; its spring is there. In the disciples, whether men or women, we do not see conditions of power. If the true character of the testimony is set forth, it is set forth in a figurative way in the young man sitting at the right of the sepulchre, but it is not seen personally in the women or men; the power was in the Lord. All the power that comes in is the power of the Lord, and His word invests them with power; it is His own working with them that accomplishes the result.
My impression is that in a chapter like this we see the firmament of His power (Psalm 150), the wonderful expanse of His power. There were limitations in the days of His flesh, things were contracted, but in resurrection what an expanse at once! The firmament of His power reaches out to all creation. We need a great sense of the character of divine power; it is resurrection power, and nothing can contribute to it that is of [p. 189] the flesh or nature. I do not think we learn to part company with everything of the natural order without going through an exercise that would correspond with the amazement and alarm of the women.
Rem We get a shock sometimes in finding we are trusting to something that is not divine power.
CAC Yes, and not following the Lord to the divine end. Devotion may go so far after the Lord and yet not be prepared for the exceeding greatness of what God has before Him and the character of holiness which is connected with the power of that scene. The thoughts of affection stop short. There is a devotion prepared to honour Christ at personal cost; they brought the aromatic spices, there was love. True devotion may even be on the line of retaining the Lord in a place and condition not in the thought of God; they came to embalm Him. They were in the divine school, learning the character of the testimony as it was said to be, and the character of power that would maintain it; but they were not equal to it. The Lord had said a good deal to them about His death and resurrection, but they had never taken it in.
Rem The disciples did not realise who He was, that death could not hold Him. Peter had the revelation that He was the Son of God, and yet did not believe in the resurrection.
CAC Yes, it is possible for us to have things in our souls and yet not to have estimated them aright. It does not follow that we know the greatness of, or have taken the full dimensions of, what we have as taught of God. As to resurrection it could not be apprehended until it had taken substantiality in the Person of Christ. It was substantiated in Him before it could be apprehended or realised.
What has impressed me in this chapter is the importance of reaching the presence of the Lord; it is His presence that brings power. “The Lord working with them” is power; the greatness of power is in Himself.
Ques How does the young man come in? Does he indicate where to see Him?
CAC I think they had to learn in the sepulchre the divine secret. I should suppose we have set forth figuratively in the young man the character of the testimony, the energy and purity and power that would mark it: all is set forth representatively in the young man. Then he is sitting at the right; I think that sets forth the power of the Lord’s right hand.
“[p. 190] Thy right hand, Jehovah, is become glorious in power ... hath dashed in pieces the enemy”; death and the grave were despoiled. After that who could want human or natural power? The power of that mighty hand is glorious in power, and the expanse in which that power acts is illimitable, it moves out to all creation. The women have divine light about it all, but that is not sufficient to deliver them from amazement, alarm and fear. The Lord Himself does not appear, they do not get a glimpse of Him, and without Him there is no power. We all know what it is to have a good deal of light and to understand a good deal about the testimony in terms, but what about the power?
Ques In Mark we get two young men: one in chapter 14 who fled, and one here. Does the first represent energy in seeking to follow Christ without power?
CAC Yes. The young man in the garden represents a natural desire to follow the Lord; he has a linen cloth cast about his body, but he is not invested with it properly. It is like having the truth in terms and phrases but not being clothed with it so as to take personal character from it; so when the testing comes he leaves the garment and flees. The garment and the man were separable. But here the young man is clothed in a white garment; we have here the true character of the testimony and all is in the power of Christ’s right hand. Think of the security of it!
Rem The women came to seek Him.
CAC Yes, but they were not moving quickly enough; they came early to the sepulchre but not early enough. The Lord moved earlier than they did. What they found was that it was a region of power; death was not there. There was nothing to embalm; difficulties were not there; weakness was not there. They found themselves in the firmament of His power, but they were not equal to it. They had an intimation in verse 7 of the character of service that was to go on. The conditions in which the service to be rendered are indicated, and the kind of people that the Lord would use in service. “Tell his disciples and Peter” — such people as Peter were to be vessels of service for the testimony. People who had to learn their own weakness and prove the Lord’s restoring grace would now have ability to follow Him in a new power and serve Him in obscurity apart from all the pretensions [p. 191] of Jerusalem.
Ques Is that why Galilee is mentioned?
CAC Yes, to indicate the kind of sphere in which power would be exercised, in Galilee; not in setting up the kingdom in David’s city. The Lord goes first; everything hangs on Him in this chapter.
It is helpful to see that all that had come out in the Lord in the days of His flesh, that wonderful service which constitutes the glad tidings, is all carried through in resurrection; and things get a wonderful expansion in resurrection because that is outside of human limitations. The Spirit is not brought in here, but the wonderful power of the Lord; the Lord works with them and the Lord clothes them with the glory and greatness of the commission.
Ques Would the different accounts of the resurrection in the gospels be due to the resurrection being spiritually apprehended? There is a great difference in each gospel.
CAC God never intended in the Scriptures that it should be made to fit and tie. Everything is presented in divine perfection and suitability, and every touch is a divine touch. What Mark presents is in suitability to the whole character of his gospel; it is the ministry of Christ all through the gospel, and it is still His ministry in resurrection. Whatever value the disciples get or display is all that with which He clothes them.
Ques You said the disciples were in school. Does the end of this chapter show that they have qualified in their schooling? The power is personal to them now.
CAC Yes, they have learned experimentally their own inadequacy. That is the lesson we all have to learn in regard to every bit of service. We have to learn our own inadequacy, whether on the line of affection as set forth in the women, or on the line of active energy as seen in the men. We are not equal to the immensity of what is proposed, but the Lord is perfectly equal to it all, and there is a power that is absolutely illimitable and which fills the whole expanse so that all creation can be visited in blessing.
The women reveal their unpreparedness for this new order of things. “Trembling and excessive amazement possessed them”. It is often so. A truly devoted heart may not be ready to take peacefully an unexpected path in which the only support is resurrection power. The Lord Himself does not appear in this section, and hence there is nothing but fear in the warmest hearts, and there is no testimony.
[p. 192] The next section is obviously different. We get the testimony of the three witnesses disbelieved, and the eleven reproached with unbelief and hardness of heart. The whole seems intended to show how the strength of the service as continued here was in the Lord Himself. He takes them up and gives them a universal mission. It is “to all the creation”. That is, men are looked at as God’s creation, and the glad tidings is concerning Christ in His wonderful service. We sometimes take a limited view of the gospel, but it covers all the service of Christ as brought out in the gospel. “He that believes and is baptised shall be saved”. One must take one’s place definitely with Christ in separation from the world. “Saved” and “condemned” are the two contrasts here. “Saved” is that one is brought to own Christ, and to get the good of His service. If one disbelieves, he shows the state of his heart; he must be condemned.
It is a wonderful thing that it is “to all the creation” here. The Lord’s bringing that out to those He has had to reproach with hardness of heart just shows that virtue was in Himself and not in them. It is a wonderful thought that the Lord in this character of service has the whole creation in view. It is God’s creation and it is in the view of God for blessing because it is His creation. It would help us to think of men as God’s creatures. I often thank Him that I am His creature; it is a blessed thing. All men stand in relation to God as His creatures, and they all come into the sphere of the service of Christ, the service of blessing which He is rendering. The glad tidings in Mark would include all that is in his gospel. We get the beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, but nothing about the end; we have not come to that yet. All that is set forth in the blessed service of Christ can be announced as glad tidings to men: how He can, in serving God, meet all conditions amongst men. He came to meet it all.
Now we are in this great expanse, not limited, but the service widening out to all creation. How it magnifies the greatness of Christ, the blessed goodness of God which will be served by His Son in relation to all creation! One loves to think of it and that the blessing is so fully secured in Christ for all creation.
Ques The Lord is still working?
CAC Yes, the gospel is going on; Mark is not finished.
[p. 193] The Lord said that certain signs would follow for those that believe, and all that the Lord said was literally fulfilled.
Ques Why did the signs cease so soon?
CAC I suppose they ceased as soon as the wisdom of God perceived that they had done their work. In Hebrews 2 we read of God bearing witness to the word by signs and wonders; the early brethren had the confirmation of these signs. There are wonderful moral signs seen today in the hearts of men — demons cast out and people speaking new tongues; a man who has been a filthy man and speaking foul language begins to speak a new tongue under the influence of grace. But there were outward signs at first. We find in 1 Corinthians 12 that all had not miraculous gifts — “are all in possession of miraculous powers?” No, they were not, and Paul encourages them to follow the line of love and edifying, which is greater than outward signs. Here the signs are connected with the commission. “They ... preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs following upon it”. That is how christianity was established in the world; wherever the apostles and Paul went preaching the word there were outward signs of the power of God connected with the proclamation of the glad tidings. F.E.R. used to say, ‘If people go to the heathen they ought to go with miracles’. The test is the glad tidings. Whatever signs may be given among people who do not know the truth to assure them that it is of God, yet the glad tidings are the test and bring to light the condition of heart of everyone. If a man disbelieves he exposes his own condition of heart; those believing the signs only were not saved. The Lord did not attach any value to believing because of signs; the fact of seeing a miracle would not convert anybody. The greatest miracle of all is the Lord, and to set Him before people in the service of His love. What a big gospel we have to preach if we only preach Mark’s gospel! The service of love has been going on ever since. Sitting at the right hand of God is a beautiful finish to the gospel.
One often thinks of the great expanse in which God is working — all the continents of the earth. Who can tell how many souls are reached and blessed every day? We should be astonished if we knew. The work of the Lord is going on in resurrection power, and it will go on until the end.