Mark 16:17-20 | The Reign of the Ascended Lord
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Jesus is Lord over everything.
SERMON IN A SENTENCE: The ascended Lord Jesus gives witness everywhere through His gospel-preaching church: that He rules all creation.
SIGNS OF JESUS’S RULE OVER CREATION (v17-18)
To do a proper study of these more “miraculous gifts,” we must rightly interpret and apply the purposes, instructions, history, and abuses of them throughout the New Testament.
See how these verses relate to the rest of Mark’s Gospel: Mark 1:9-13, 23-27, 32-34; 3:11, 14-15, 27; 6:7-13.
Even more, notice how this longer ending seems to draw from Luke 10:17-24, especially as it relates to having power and protections over creatures, demons, and harm.
Mark 16:17–18
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ACTS (v20)
Mark 16:20
And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
Into Acts 28, we have biblical record of Jesus confirming His word through miracles that the Spirit worked through “them who believed.”
THE LORD’S REIGN, WORD, AND CHURCH (v19-20)
Because Jesus reigns as Lord over all, His word and church must be taken seriously in all the world and in all our lives.
Mark 16:19–20
19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
The ascended Lord Jesus rules over every power, every word, every creature, every harm, and every affliction. There is nothing that is not under God in Christ’s authority in heaven and earth. And Jesus’s work through His church is a visible and powerful witness to His reign.
The church is called to tell all creation to worship Jesus as Lord and King! We are about worshiping and making worshippers of Jesus.
Q: Is your worship of Jesus centered on Him and making Him known? Does your worship of Jesus move you to “preach His word everywhere”? Are you truly worshipping Jesus?