Accompanying Signs

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

ACCOMPANYING SIGNS

Mark 16:19-20

19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

NIV

These are the last works of this gospel according to Mark and he tells us something very interesting. First, there is no question as to where Jesus is. Mark makes sure to tell us that after he has spent some days appearing to various people and as we know from the other gospel accounts he spent time with his disciples. We know that he met them on the seashore one day and was preparing a meal as they came to shore and again, Peter jumped out of the boat and got to shore first. But after all those times and people that he appeared to it was time for Jesus to return to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. This is where Jesus is now and of course, we know that he sent the Spirit to be first convict us of our need to repent of our sin and to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but also to be our guide. He leads us into all truth, he guides us to that truth and gives us the understanding or the discernment to know truth from falsehood. There is also something here which is very interesting and of what we can also expect as we do that which we have been called to do. The disciples went out and preached everywhere. Of course, we may not be called to preach everywhere, although in some sense we all have been called to go into all the world and preach the good news. We could interpret that in both the sense of traveling the world and preaching, which we are doing in the sense of supporting those who have been called into the mission field and do go to parts of the world. However, we too can go into the world in the sense of the world of business, the world of medicine, the world of science, or the service industry or whatever profession or career path we have been called to, and in that path, we are still called to be His witnesses. That would be in some sense preaching the good news, even if it is by our good life, our working as though we are working not for men, but for the Lord. Whatever we are doing, we can be sure that the Lord is working with us and confirming his word in our lives by signs that accompany it. The question we have to ask ourselves, is what are the signs that accompany our lives, that confirm the word in our lives and that the Lord is working with us? We think that we would have to be doing that which we have been called to do in the first place. It would seem inappropriate for us to expect the Lord to work with us if we had made the choice as to what career path we wanted and thus we would not be on the path he chose for us or called us to. So then we have to believe we have listened to him, and we have walked this path, this journey we have been called to, both this spiritual and physical journey of his choice. We then would have to believe he is working with us and confirming his word in us. How does he work with us? What is he doing as he works in us? We would have to believe that there would be signs in our lives, signs that he is with us, and that we have the word in us. We talk about the signs of the times as though we understand what that means. As our culture changes, as the years pass by, we see differences in what is acceptable and more openness of blatant disregard for God. These are the signs of the times. But Jesus said there would be signs that appear in our lives. Signs of his working with us and signs he has and is and will be confirming the word in our lives. We could see this in one respect as we are in a constant state of change, that we are always growing, not stagnant in our walk, but always on the move, growing to be more and more like Jesus. However, in another sense, we should expect some kind of signs in our lives, signs that other people take notice of. Jesus had just told them they would speak in new tongues, they would handle snakes, could drink poison and they would place their hands on sick people and they would be healed. We considered these signs already, but did Jesus mean just those, or did he mean some other signs? Either way, if we are doing that which Jesus has called us to do, there will be signs that accompany his confirming his word in us. There are and will be accompanying signs.