Two of the most well-known verses from this letter are 9-10:

But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;  for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

Our salvation from God through Christ comes with some wonderful facts. You are a chosen race. We have been transferred from being “in Adam” and we are now “in Christ.” You are a royal priesthood. Through Christ we need no other mediator. We can interact directly with the King. You are a holy nation, called to be separate from everyone else, all those who haven’t been saved. You are God’s own possession. He owns you.

You are these things, so with that indicative, with that which is true about you, there are some imperatives, some things you are to be. You are to proclaim God’s excellencies. He made you… us… His people. He gave us His mercy. And in response to His goodness and all He has done for us, we are to live holy lives and proclaim His greatness.

You are, you are, you are, you are… we see it all over the Scriptures. So be. We don’t “do” to earn God’s favor. God shows His favor to us and so we “do.” Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The title of this post is verse three from this chapter. As I preached through this book I was continually struck by this verse. How could the apostle write such a verse when it’s clear from the remainder of the book that there was some degree of suffering going on, and that it could perhaps get worse? It’s not an uncommon question even today. Why praise God when there is so much evil in the world? Why worship a God who allows terrible things to happen? How can we cry out “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”?

The answer is found in the rest of the chapter, beginning in the second half of verse three:

who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

What this short passage makes clear is that, for the Christian, it’s not primarily about the here and now but about eternity with the Lord. This does not mean we take no care for ourselves today or that we are never taking the moment into account, but we live, no matter what the circumstance, with the knowledge that no matter the suffering and evil, we have been, are being, and will be shown mercy by God. He has CAUSED US to be born again. We didn’t do it ourselves. He made it happen. And we’ve not been born again to just another life, but eternal life, a living hope. And it is as sure as the resurrection of Jesus is.

What the believer has waiting for him (or her) is an inheritance (something we did not earn ourselves, but was given to us) that is indescribably wonderful and will never be less than indescribably wonderful. We can rejoice that we are protected by God.

In response to this grace gift, the believer lives a changed life. We live holy because He is holy (and has thus declared us to be holy). We fervently love others because God, through Christ, fervently loves us. And through it all, no matter what happens to us right here and right now, we can still proclaim with conviction, gratitude, and awe, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”

I’m struck by the words of the angel in Mark 16:7, “But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you” (emphasis mine).

How we respond to all things pertaining to Jesus is directly proportional to how important we deem the fact that everything happens just as He has told us. For example, the disciples responded to the reality of the resurrection by going and preaching the gospel with reckless abandon, at the cost of their lives, because they had come to place due emphasis on the fact that what Jesus had told them was true, is true, and will forever be true.

As we come to the close of the gospel of Mark, how important are these words of Jesus to you? How vital is the gospel not just to when you got saved, but your entire life, every single day? What He has told us has ramifications.

I contend that the thesis of the Gospel of Mark is found in the first verse of the book: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). The thesis, therefore, is Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that is good news.

This thesis is proven, over and over again, throughout the book, whether it be in the manner in which He teaches, how He forgives sins, how He casts unclean spirits out of men, how He cleanses lepers, how He calms the storm, how He feeds thousands upon thousands on just a few loaves and fish, or how He raises the dead. Only God can do these things. Only God. Not an imposter. Not a mere man. Only God.

And yet God was a man. Jesus Christ added humanity to His deity when He took on flesh. He walked the roads we walked, endured the things we endured, so that we might have a faithful high priest, as the writer of Hebrews says. Ultimately, as we read in Mark 15, the Son of God, the King of the Jews (it was as Pilate said), was killed like a robber, numbered with transgressors, when He was crucified.

And at the end of all of this, right after He breathed His last breath, a centurion, a Gentile, a Roman soldier, validated the thesis of the Gospel of Mark when he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” Mark 1:1 and 15:39 are the bookends of this Gospel. So we see how the word of God is verified, as the Son of God was crucified, but thankfully that was not the end of the story. Mark’s thesis was proven at 15:39, yes, but there are a few verses yet remaining in the book, chapter sixteen. Glory to God in the highest!

We are utterly powerless to save ourselves and we are utterly incapable of keeping ourselves in salvation. It is all by the grace of God. What more proof do we need than Mark 14, where those closest to Jesus cannot endure with Him in His greatest hour of need?

In verses 32-42 Jesus is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus tells them to “Sit here until I have prayed.” He takes Peter, James, and John a little further, tells them of His distress, then says, “Remain here and keep watch.” Yet in verse 37 Simon Peter is found by Jesus to be asleep. Again He goes to pray, but again in verse 40 they are sleeping. There eyes are too heavy to carry the burden of staying awake, but less their souls strong enough to carry the burden of their sin. A third time they fall asleep and Jesus says, “Are you still slewing and resting? It is enough…” and then He announces the impending presence of the betrayer, Judas Iscariot. But the point here is that Jesus’ followers are not strong enough even to stay awake for Him. What an indictment of our insufficiency!

It gets worse in verses 66-72, where Peter denies Jesus not once, not twice, but three times. He was even willing to curse and swear rather than stand up for Christ. And his own betrayal of Christ drove Him to weep. Actually, all betrayal of Christ causes weeping. It’s just a matter of timing. Either you weep in repentance with a broken spirit or you weep where there is nothing but the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Hopefully you find yourself doing the former and not the latter. Hopefully you realize that you have pathetic spiritual endurance and are completely reliant upon the grace of God to save you from your sins and keep you in His love.

Glory be to God that this is exactly what He does through His Son Jesus Christ!

These are some of the final words Jesus would speak to His disciples regarding the end times. And in the midst of all this instruction, do not overlook a command that is given, not once but several times, in various ways.

• “See to it that no one misleads you” (3)
• “But be on your guard” (9)
• “But take heed” (23)
• “Recognize” (29)
• “Take heed, keep on the alert” (33)
• “Be on the alert” (35)
• “Be on the alert!” (37)

It is clear from the words of Jesus that He wants us to pay attention. And this isn’t just some teacher we’re talking about. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the subject of all of this end times teaching, commands us to be on the alert.

We so are prone to take our eyes off the fact that (a) Jesus Christ is coming back, and (b) He has told us what the days preceding His return will be like. We are not off base to talk about the signs of the times. Jesus has commanded us to be watchful, alert, taking heed.

What else does this text tell us? Well, it is a wonderful evangelistic text in my opinion, because who in their right mind would want to live in the kind of days being talked about in this chapter (and hell is indescribably worse!!!)? Of course, unbelievers are not in their right mind because they do not have the mind of Christ. They cannot discern spiritual things. But those who have been called out of the darkness and into His marvelous light can proclaim the excellencies of Christ and warn others of what is to come.

How seriously do you take Christ’s warning commands to be on the alert? Believe and obey and call others to do the same.

Consider verses 41-44 carefully:

And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”

What an indictment of those who think the amount they give means more to God than the heart with which it is given! God loves a cheerful giver, not a high-dollar giver. Never be deceived into believing that what you give is the standard by which God will grant you favor. Some view giving in the church as if they are buying stock… the more they give, the more control they have (or should have). This is Satanically faulty, a lie from the father of lies. Those in Israel made sure everyone saw what they “did for God,” including their giving.

But Jesus turns the lies of giving on their head when He declares that the poor widow gave all she had, which was more than the rich man. Does your giving mean any kind of real sacrifice, beloved? Or is it just enough to not put a dent in any of your other priorities? I feel that American Christians, myself included, need to swift kick in the pants when it comes to choosing comfort and every other thing over what we are willing to give.

We must take the glory of God so seriously that we, like the poor widow, are willing to give all we have to live on… for the One who gives and through Whom eternal life are found.

This is what Jesus said in verse 25:

Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.

I am struck by the way this is said. Whenever we are praying we are to be forgiving. That’s a bottom line imperative from the Lord of Lords. How often do you associate forgiveness and prayer? Maybe sometimes, but here Jesus is saying that we are to associate the two all the time. They go hand in hand. You can’t have prayer without forgiveness.

Think hard about this, especially if you are holding on to the hurts of the past. If you have not forgiven those who have wronged you, you may not realize it but it is deeply impacting both your relationship with and usefulness to our God. Jesus words seem to not merely imply, but clearly state that whenever prayer is going on, forgiveness, whenever it is needed, needs to be going on.

How much is forgiveness a part of your prayer life?

In the opening passage of this chapter the Pharisees approach Jesus and begin to question Him about whether it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife. While other gospel writers include what has been described as an “exception clause,” Mark does not include any such provision for a man to divorce his wife. On the contrary, he attributes the Mosaic provision to the hard, sinful hearts of the Israelites, but He adds, “But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.”

This is not only a clear statement that marriage is between a man and a woman, but it makes clear that marriage is a God-ordained institution that goes as far back as creation itself. God has joined man and woman together, so when a man and woman divorce for any reason… ANY reason whatsoever… it is a rejection not merely of a God-ordained ideal (that would be to easy to justify in our sinful heads)… No, it is a rejection of God Himself and His will.

Why do we not take seriously the words of Jesus Christ Himself when He says, “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” The Lord is not making a suggestion here. He is declaring an imperative. And to take it further, He declares that those who would divorce and marry another woman are adulterers. And there is no place in Scripture where it is redeeming or God-honoring to be an adulterer.

In our modern societal conflicts regarding marriage 99.9% of the attention seems to be geared toward the gay marriage debate. To be sure, Jesus is clear that marriage is one man and one woman, and so we should as Christians stand against any other government-sanctioned aberration of true marriage. However, if we fail to take at least an equally hard-line stance against divorce then we are abdication the greater responsibility.

May God forgive us for our failures to stand against divorce, and may God empower us to honor Him through godly marriages that last ’til death parts the man and woman.

When we sing the great hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul” we sing the words, “And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll; The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, Even so, it is well with my soul.” There is coming a day when our faith will be transformed into seeing and being with Jesus Christ face to face. That is our hope, our certainty, our future reality… if you are in Christ.

Until that happens, either via our physical death or the return of Christ for His bride, we still struggle with sin, with doubt, with the need for a constant, progressive, unwavering faithful obedience. We have been given the gift of faith, faith in the only begotten Son who has been glorified and sits at the right hand of the Father, but we are not yet glorified. We are waiting for that day when our faith shall be sight.

So as we fight the good fight of faith we utter the same cry, rather silently or audibly, of the father whose son was demon-possessed, mute and slamming himself to the ground, and foaming at the mouth: “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

That is where all true Christians are. We have been given faith by the grace of God (Eph 2:8-9). We do believe. But in our struggle with sin we so often fail to obey. Our belief becomes practical unbelief, and that is something we should neither desire nor settle for. It is true that perfection waits for us only on that day we see Him and are like Him (1 John 3:2), that day when we die or that day when the clouds be rolled back as a scroll. But God is holy and we are His holy nation. We must be holy, by His grace, as He is holy.

I do believe; help my unbelief. Be glorified, O Lord, as I trust in You to glorify me with Yourself.