Doug Van Pelt

Mark Sixteen

I have it from good sources (okay, maybe Chad O isn't a good source) that Kiss was originally going to call their hit single "Mark Sixteen" instead of "Christine Sixteen," but a good rhyme won out in the end.

I'm awful.

Hey, we've come to the end of the book of Mark ... and this one is not without controversy. The last 12 verses are not included on some early (more reliable than Chad O) manuscripts. Thus, some people doubt their authenticity. While that topic is interesting, I am more interested in a related one -- MIRACLES.

This chapter starts out with a resurrection story, a narration of Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bringing spices to anoint the dead body of Jesus at His tomb. They instead found a "young man" dressed in a white robe, who correctly identified that they were looking for "Jesus the Nazarene." It's interesting that He was called "the Nazarene" rather than "the Christ," isn't it? If the name Jesus was a common as I'm led to believe, then there was probably more than one Jesus living in Nazareth at the time. This "young man," who was certainly an angel, told the women that Jesus had risen, and that He could be found in Galilee. A couple of stories expounded upon in other Gospels appear in this text, albeit in short form.

Then there is a discourse from Jesus, where He says:

"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. WHoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemened. And these signs will accompany those who believe; In My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and He sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed His word by the signs that accompanied it.

Whether or not these 12 verses were meant to be canonized or not, the doctrine found in these few verses can be supported elsewhere, which is pretty darn important when you're talking about a doctrine. Snake handling aside, which was a sign that God performed with the Apostle Paul when they were shipwrecked on an island and gathering firewood to keep warm. I'm not too confident that God wants us to bring snakes in a box to church and hold them as a sign that He's still protecting His saints from harm. That seems to cross the line into "tempting God," which Jesus didn't speak too fondly of when being tempted by Satan.

But speaking in tongues and casting out demons and healing the sick? These are all things that certainly happened and are recorded in the book of Acts. Heck, there's even a story in there about people hoping that even the shadow of Peter passing by would pass over a sick person and that person getting well. I imagine most of us reading have had contact with a modern day miracle at some level.

There is a doctrine that's fairly popular that states that these kind of miracles "passed away," that they existed only to confirm God's Word and His special touch or given authority to the 11 remaining apostles. That once His Word (as in the New Testament joined with the Old to become the canonized Holy Bible) was written and established, that all these miracles went away.

I think that concluding this sort of docrtine is an awfully convenient way to explain away why God didn't heal your Aunt Melba when you prayed for her; or when God didn't answer your prayer the way you wanted. 'Oh, well, God must not be in the miracle business anymore.'

I don't buy that. First of all, Scripture doesn't give us that instruction. Paul makes an argument about tongues passing away, gifts of healing passing away, but he puts a qualifier in there: ...these things will pass away when "the perfect comes." The Perfect is a reference to Jesus. A few verses later it states that "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face." He's not talking about the coming of the Bible here. He's talking about the Perfect Holy One -- Jesus.

In regards to healing and deliverance from evil spirits, I really like the example that you could say Jesus' mother Mary gave us when she said at the Wedding in Cana: "Do whatever He tells you." That's the basic model for healing, deliverance and (I think) evangelism that the Vineyard church teaches. I really like it and have mentioned it in this blog more than once. It comes down to:
Ask God what to do.
Do whatever He says.

It requires faith to listen to God and believe you're hearing His voice, but I think it's a fun adventure to experience.

Alright!
We are finished with the book of Mark.
Now, Lord willing, we'll start going through The Love Dare book, beginning tomorrow. Normally I don't blog on weekends much, but since it's Valentine's Day, it's a perfect time to start that book. It's a 40-day challenge. I hope I don't fail.

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at February 13, 2009 09:52 AM