Bible Commentaries

A Divine Command

Mark 16:15

So said Jesus Christ, according to the report given in the Gospel according to Mark. "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Can we make these words more universal? Can we add another province to the sphere? Let us see:—"Go ye into all the world." Can you add one island to that geography—a little island? Can you? "And preach the gospel to every creature." Is there one left out—a little one, a black one? Say what omissions mark this census. Not one. Is this like Jesus? Was he always so big in thought, in love, in care? Was he never little, mean, economic, sparse, critical? Did he always keep house for the whole universe? What is the characteristic of Christ along this line of thinking? Is it not universality, inclusiveness, godliness? How many men did God make, and who made the rest? Where is there a man that shaped himself, called himself into existence, maintains an independent individuality and relation to things, comes and goes as he pleases? Where is that man? As at the first God's hand was upon all, so through and through all the story God's love is upon all, and Christ's dear Cross overshadows all, and Christ's infinite heart welcomes all. If there be anything contrary to this, then we are mocked; false words have been spoken to us, promises have been spoken to the ear and broken to the heart. Is this the God we can worship? Is he a trifler? Is he a verbal necromancer, saying one thing and meaning another, indulging in the double entendre; ambiguous, uncertain? or is he positive, definite, clear, plain, meaning just what we expect him to mean when we are told that he is Love?

"Preach the gospel to every creature." Then every creature needs it? What is Man? I have never seen him; you have never seen him. You have seen a Mark 1:2

Malachi 3:1

Mark

Mark 12:10

Psalm 118:22

Mark 1:3

Isaiah 40:3.

Mark 12:19

Deuteronomy 25:5

Mark 1:44

Leviticus 14:2.

Mark 12:26

Exodus 3:6

Mark 2:25

1 Samuel 21:6

Mark 12:29

Deuteronomy 6:4

Mark 4:12

Isaiah 5:10

Mark 12:31

Leviticus 19:18

Mark 7:6

Isaiah 29:13

Mark 12:36

Psalm 110:1

Mark 7:10

Exodus 20:12; Exodus 21:17

Mark 13:14

Daniel 9:27

Mark 9:44

Isaiah 66:24

Mark 13:24

Isaiah 13:10

Mark 10:4

Deuteronomy 24:1

Mark 14:27

Zechariah 13:7

Mark 10:7

Genesis 2:24

Mark 14:62

Daniel 7:13

Mark 10:19

Exodus 20:12-17

Mark 15:28(?)

Isaiah 53:12

Mark 11:17

Isaiah 56:7; Jeremiah 7:2

Mark 15:34

Psalm 22:1

"Though this Gospel has little historical matter which is not shared with some other, it would be a great error to suppose that the voice of Mark could have been silenced without injury to the divine harmony. The minute painting of the scenes in which the Lord took part, the fresh and lively mode of the narration, the very absence of the precious discourses of Jesus, which, interposed between his deeds, would have delayed the action, all give to this Gospel a character of its own. It is the history of the war of Jesus against sin and evil in the world during the time that he dwelt as a Man among men. Its motto might well be, as Lange observes, those words of Peter: "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him" ( Acts 10:38). It developes a series of acts of this conflict, broken by times of rest and refreshing, in the wilderness or on the mountain. It records the exploits of the Son of God in the war against Satan, and the retirement in which after each he returned to commune with his Father, and bring back fresh strength for new encounters."—Smith's Dictionary of the Bible.