EXCERPTS FROM THE MINISTRY

FEEDING AND HEALING

We should not regard the Gospel of Mark merely as a book of stories. This Gospel is a record showing us how the Lord Jesus as the Slave-Savior serves sinners. This service begins in chapter one and continues into chapter seven, where the Lord exposes the condition of man’s heart. We may say that in Mark 7 the Slave-Savior conducts Himself as a surgeon, for He opens our heart and exposes its condition.

In chapter seven we see the Lord not only as the divine Surgeon but also as the One who feeds us with Himself as bread. This indicates that our basic need is for bread, for the supply of life. The Slave-Savior not only heals us, recovers us, and brings us back into fellowship with God; He also feeds us, and He feeds us with Himself as bread. He Himself is our life supply.

First we experience the Lord’s feeding us with Himself as bread. As the result of being fed by Him, spontaneously we experience His healing in a particular way: He heals our deaf ears, our dumb tongue, and our blind eyes.

CHRIST AND HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION

We need to fit together various portions of the Gospel of Mark like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. When the individual pieces have been fitted together, we see a picture. In the Gospel of Mark we see a portrait of certain ones chosen by God. These ones are healed not only in a general way, like Peter’s mother-in-law, the leper, and the paralytic, but also in a particular way in the organs of hearing, speech, and sight. These specific healings involve the Lord’s anointing, as signified by His spittle. Once these chosen ones were nourished by receiving the life supply—the Lord as their bread—their organs were healed. As a result, they could hear, speak, and see. Their organs were functioning properly. Therefore, at this point the Slave-Savior brought them to Caesarea Philippi, to a place where the spiritual atmosphere was clear.

We have pointed out that in Caesarea Philippi the Lord Jesus spoke to the disciples concerning Himself. As He talked with them, He opened to them the realm of mysterious, divine things. At least one of His disciples came to see that He is the Christ. However, this one saw the Person of Christ only within certain limits. He did not see anything concerning Christ’s death and resurrection. For this reason, the Lord went on to tell His disciples that He would be crucified and that after His death, He would rise up. In speaking about His death and resurrection, the Lord further opened the realm of mysterious, divine things. He showed His disciples not only His Person; He also revealed to them His wonderful death and His marvelous resurrection.

THE ALL-INCLUSIVE REPLACEMENT

Now we come to a crucial matter. We need to see that, in the sight of God, everything in the universe except Himself needs to be replaced. Christ with His death and resurrection is the unique replacement in the universe. He is the entire, all-inclusive replacement. Christ with His death and resurrection replaces everyone and everything that is not God Himself. He replaces Moses, He replaces Elijah, and He replaces us. He replaces our self, He replaces our soul, and He replaces our mind. This One replaces everyone else, everything, and every matter in the entire universe. This is the reason we say that He is the entire and all-inclusive replacement.

When the Lord Jesus revealed to His disciples the matters of His death and resurrection, they may have been confused. Peter, in particular, did not understand, and he went so far as to rebuke the Lord (v. 32). Then the Lord rebuked Peter, saying, “Go away, behind Me, Satan, because you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men!” (v. 33). The Lord went on to say, “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (v. 34). Do you know what it means to deny ourselves? To deny ourselves is to be replaced by Christ.

Here the Lord seems to be saying, especially to Peter, “Since you have seen Christ, you need to be replaced by Him. You must be put aside and allow Christ to become you. You need to deny yourself and be replaced by Christ.”