By J. Vernon McGee
When the founding fathers came to our shores, they did not come on an invasion. They did not come to make war. They did not want to fight the Indians, but tried to make peace with them. They did not come to exploit others. They did not come to rape the land of its wealth. They truly came in peace. It has been stated poetically in a very beautiful way:
Not as the conqueror comes,
They, the true-hearted, came;
Not with the roll of the stirring drums,
And the trumpet that sings of fame;
What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war? -
They sought a faith's pure shrine!
Aye, call it holy ground,
The soil where first they trode.
They have left unstain'd what
there they found -
Freedom to worship God.
That was their mission.
However, looking back in history to the time when Mark wrote his Gospel, we find that the strong man had a different mission, for the strong man was the Roman Empire. For almost a millennium, the Romans brought peace to the world. They brought a peace that was obtained by a philosophy different from that of the men who founded our nation. Their methods were contrary to ours and contrary to the Word of God. The legions of Rome marched over the then known world. Rome was part of the image that Daniel interpreted for Nebuchadnezzar (see Daniel 2:40). It was typified by iron, and Rome was as hard as iron. The Romans were men of will and strength. They undertook the Herculean task of ruling the world, and they did it for one thousand years. They believed in human power expressed in law and order, and they would subordinate the individual to the state in their attempt to attain a universal state. They built highways over the territories they conquered to give them ready access so they might indeed rule the world. They promised to those they conquered law, order, and protection. And the iron heel of Rome was put down on mankind.
They represented the idea of active human power in the ancient world. They embodied that idea in the state or empire, as the repository of law and justice. They came in process of time to deify the state as the grandest concrete manifestation of power. With the consciousness of being born to rule the world, they pushed the idea of national power to universal empire.
Caesar Augustus, who passed the tax bill that moved Mary and Joseph down to Bethlehem, was actually a great-nephew of Julius Caesar. His name was Caius Octavius, and he took the name of Caesar because it was a name that would stand against the world. But he wanted a title, and the Senate suggested many titles to him. He declined to be called king or dictator, because neither title signified enough. He took the title of Augustus because it carried not only the connotation of politics but that of religion. That is what Rome presented to the world. Gibbon, who probably made the greatest study of the Roman Empire, said:
The empire of the Romans filled the world, and when the empire fell into the hands of a single person, the world became a safe and dreary prison for his enemies. To resist was fatal and it was impossible to fly.
Although Rome brought peace to the world, it was a frightful peace.
Dr. Robert Culver wrote one of the most brilliant books on Daniel I've ever read. Listen to what he has to say: Two millennia ago, Rome gave the world the ecumenical unity which the League of Nations and the United Nations organizations have sought to revive in our time. The modern attempts are not original at all (as many of our contemporaries suppose), but are revivals of the ancient Roman ideal which never since the time of Augustus Caesar has been wholly lost.
This gives us a picture of the tremendous empire that was ruling the world when the Lord Jesus Christ was born.
In this connection, Dr. Gregory further states concerning the Roman:
He was to try whether human power, taking the form of law, regulated by political principles of which a regard for law and justice was most conspicuous, could perfect humanity by subordinating the individual to the state and making the state universal...Its Herculean tasks and its universal empire furnish the highest expression of the human soul as the repository of the energy for shaping the world to law and order.
The Roman, as the man of power, was to attempt the solution of perfecting mankind and bringing a "millennium" here upon the earth. That, my friend, is the awesome picture that is presented of the great empire that ruled in the day when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Rome represented active human power in the ancient world. It led to dictatorship and finally to worship when that power was vested in one man.
At this time Paul says, "But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law" (Galatians 4:4). Jesus Christ lived and died and arose from the grave in the Roman Empire. One day a little Jew by the name of Paul hobbled into the city of Rome with a message, which, Gibbon said, shook the empire to its foundations. Of this message, Paul had written:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)
God sent a message to that segment of the world population of that day, the Gospel of Mark. John Mark is the writer. Although I do not want to elaborate on him since he is not the one we're looking at, this young man was evidently schooled in Roman thought. He himself apparently was a man of action, though he certainly was a coward at the beginning (see Acts 13:13). But he made good. His Gospel is actually Simon Peter's account. Evidently John Mark got the facts from Simon Peter, who was likewise a man of action - he liked action better than he liked logic. And this is the man the Spirit of God chose to be the first one to go to a Roman soldier, a centurion, and preach the gospel.
Let's turn to that record now, as it's rather important. Simon Peter had been coached by the Spirit of God regarding going to a Gentile - which he'd never done before. Listen to him as he goes into this Roman home:
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all). (Acts 10:34-36)
But this is a new kind of peace. It's a kind of peace that you do not have to send an army to bring about, a kind of peace that comes inside a man and is not imposed by outside force. Another Roman centurion yonder in Philippi was startled when he found that all the doors of his prison were open, supposing the prisoners had escaped. He knew nothing of the kind of power that could hold men without prison bars. (See Acts 16:26, 27.) A centurion was a realist, he was a man of physical power, believing only in that. Now follow Peter as he continues his message to the Roman centurion:
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit, and with power; who went about doing good.... (Acts 10:38) (That's interesting because that is what the Roman thought he was doing and believed in doing - going about and doing good.)
...and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree. (Acts 10:38, 39)
This, you see, is the way Peter gave the gospel to a man of action, a Roman. He goes on:
Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly. (Acts 10:40)
Peter was a man of action.
Most of the church fathers concur that Simon Peter is the one who gave the facts to John Mark. Let me give just a couple of quotations to support that statement. Papias, associate of Polycarp, heard the words of the apostles from those who were their followers. He writes: "Mark, the interpreter of Peter, wrote carefully down all that he recollected, but not according to the order of Christ's speaking or working."10 And Tertullian, one of the great minds of North Africa (he was from Carthage), wrote that the Gospel "Mark published may be affirmed to be Peter's, whose interpreter Mark was." We find Eusebius says the same thing, and Clement says there was a group of Roman knights that requested Simon Peter to leave in writing the things he had taught them, and that it was John Mark who wrote for him. It was DaCosta, in his book on Mark, who said that the style of Mark's Gospel is very much like the commentaries of Caesar. Mark is brief and blunt. Forty times the word "straightway" occurs. His most-used word is "and." Jesus did this...and He did that...and He did the other thing. That's Mark's Gospel.
Mark emphasizes the miracles. Of the physical miracles Christ performed, twelve of them are recorded in the Gospel of Mark. There are five nature miracles: He stills the storm, He feeds the five thousand, He walks on the sea, He feeds the four thousand, He curses the fig tree. And then there were ten spiritual miracles of casting out demons. Mark records only one supernatural miracle - Jesus raised the dead. (And you need only one to prove who Jesus is!) John Mark's account is the Gospel of the miracles. It's the Gospel of action. Jesus is the King, the almighty conqueror here. He eclipses all the conquerors and the Caesars of Rome, and He corrects what was wrong in them. And when you march through Mark, you're marching with One who is a Man of power who can reach men of power. Therefore, you do not have a logical or chronological order in Mark. He moves in rapid succession from miracle to miracle, culminating in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Now we are going to look at the first chapter of Mark. I may not get this over to you, so let me say at the beginning that here is, without doubt, one of the most remarkable chapters in the Word of God. All the facts that are here we find in the other Gospels, but they are not told as Mark tells them. Notice how he begins:
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
(Mark 1:1) Wait a minute, Mark, tell us about His birth. No, there is no baby in Bethlehem in Mark's record. What did Caesar care for babies? If you'd like to know whether or not he cared for them, he signed the tax bill that commanded everybody to go and register. It was the winter season, and probably somebody with a heart protested, "Why do it at this time? There are many women with babies." He probably said, "What do I care about babies? One born every minute. I'm not interested in them." So the Gospel of Mark does not open with a baby in Bethlehem - that would have been weakness to the Roman mind. Matthew and Luke tell us about the Nativity, but not Mark. In other words, you'll not find any baby pictures of the caesars. When I was in Rome, I went around to take a look. There were statues of the caesars. And, friend, I wouldn't want to be in there at night. Even in chiseled stone they're a fearsome-looking crowd. There is no baby there.
As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. (Mark 1:2)
The second verse reveals another tremendous fact: there is no genealogy here. After all, the Roman couldn't care less about Abraham and David. The Roman's question was, "What can Jesus do? We want to know what He can do." And when a man comes to your house to do a job for you, you ask him whether or not he is able to do the job. Suppose he says to you, "My ancestors came over on the Mayflower." What do you care whether his ancestors came over on the Mayflower? You want to know whether he can fix the T.V. May I say to you, the Roman wanted to know what Jesus could do; he cared nothing for His ancestry. Mark begins with John the Baptist, who introduces this One. John steps out as the voice crying in the wilderness, making this tremendous statement the Roman wouldn't miss.
John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. (Mark 1:4)
The Roman at this point would have thrown up his hands and said, "No one can forgive sins, not even Rome. We give justice to the world, we give law to the world, but we do not give mercy." Rome never exercised mercy. It was always justice. Sins were not forgiven. If you broke the law, you paid the penalty. And here is One who is talking about the remission of sins!
Notice that John now says that this One is greater than he is.
There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. (Mark 1:7)
He is greater than Caesar. "He is so great," John says, "I am not even worthy to untie His shoestring."
I, indeed, have baptized you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit. (Mark 1:8)
That's the way in which He was going to be greater than John. Notice what happens:
And it came to pass, in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. (Mark 1:9)
This is action, friend - "straightway" and "immediately" are used forty times in this Gospel.
And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him. (Mark 1:10)
Heaven responds to this One, by the way, and heaven had never responded to Caesar, although he claimed religious sanction.
And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Mark 1:11)
God in heaven identifies this One who is come, and God recommends Him.
Now Jesus is to be initiated. Can He stand the test? No caesar could - Rome fell from within. When the caesars began to give the orgies of Bacchanalia, which lasted, not a day or a week, but even a month, then Rome was no longer fit to rule the world, and Caesar became a pantywaist who did not venture beyond the walls of Rome, though the frontier was way up yonder in Gaul.
Now notice the temptation of Jesus:
And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. (Mark 1:12)
Note the urgency of all this.
And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tested by Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. (Mark 1:13)
He stood the test. And don't think the wild beasts were wild to Him. They were not. What Mark is saying is that both the wild beasts from beneath and the angels from above ministered to Him. He rules over nature, He rules over the animal world, and He rules the angels. Rome never had a caesar like this, by the way. They knew nothing of such a man as this.
Jesus met the greatest enemy of all. The greatest enemy was not what Julius Caesar met in the north in Gaul. Our Lord met Satan, the enemy that overcomes so many of us today. Satan tested our Lord but could not conquer Him.
He's marching now. Notice:
Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe the gospel. (Mark 1:14, 15)
What a message!
Now our Lord is calling His followers:
Now as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. (Mark 1:16)
Now Mark gives us one day in the life of our Lord:
And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. (Mark 1:21)
He is working on the Sabbath day. When they questioned Him about it later, He said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17).
In other words, "We've got a man down in the ditch. We're getting him out. We're redeeming him."
And they were astonished at his doctrine; for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. (Mark 1:22)
He spent that entire morning in the synagogue teaching. What did He do in the afternoon? Mark tells us He went over to stay with Simon Peter at his house.
But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and straightway they tell him of her. And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. (Mark 1:30, 31)
There's none of this hocus-pocus healing when He heals. They didn't fall over; they stood up and walked off. Well, I suppose after a day like this He will take the evening off. But no.
And in the evening, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and those who were possessed with demons. And all the city was gathered together at the door. (Mark 1:32, 33)
You haven't read the Gospels aright if you have not discovered there were literally thousands of people of that day who were healed by Him. No wonder the enemy never questioned His miracles. There were thousands of lame men who were now walking, thousands of blind who could now see, thousands of deaf who could now hear. That's what He did all evening.
Well, He's had a pretty busy day, has He not?
Early the next morning He got up and went out to pray. He had another busy day ahead of Him. And when He came into Capernaum He healed a leper, and that leper disobeyed our Lord. Jesus told him, "Don't tell anyone." But he told everybody, and the crowd came so that Jesus couldn't do the work He had come to do. He was not really a thaumaturgist; He had come on another mission. His purpose was not to perform miracles but to prepare those who were around Him for the fact that He was going to the cross to die. Because of the crowds, He had to withdraw from Capernaum.
Sometime later He returned to Capernaum, and word went around that He was there. Again He was thronged so that in order to reach Him a man was let down through the roof. To him our Lord said something that shocked the Romans:
When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins are forgiven thee. (Mark 2:5) Even the scribes who were there said, "Who can forgive sins but God only?" (Mark 2:7). And Rome said, "Even God can't forgive sins. We punish them. Who is this One now who says He'll forgive sins?" Well, He is the Son of God. The world at this time was sick and tired of justice. I hear a great many people say today, "All I want is justice from God." No, you don't. You'd be in jail if you got justice. My friend, what you and I want is mercy. And that is what Rome was wanting in that day; that's what Rome wanted to hear.
Later on there came this man Paul, who wrote to these Romans. I'd like you to hear what he said to them. It is, without doubt, a remarkable statement.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
This means Caesar is guilty. The Senate is guilty. Corruption is everywhere. All have sinned.
Being justified freely [without a cause] by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. (Romans 3:24, 25)
In other words, Paul is saying that Jesus is the mercy seat for our sins. There was a poor publican who prayed, "O God, make a mercy seat for me to come to." And many in the Roman Empire were weary of hearing about justice and law. Now here comes the message of a mercy seat where men can come and be forgiven. Yet righteousness is maintained, justice is maintained because this One (what a contrast to Caesar He is!) died for His subjects. No Roman caesar ever did that!
Handed over to a Roman centurion one day was a prisoner. He had taken that prisoner with the others - there might have been a hundred to three hundred there that day. But this prisoner was different, and he soon found that out. To begin with, in this business of nailing men to crosses he had been cursed in every language of the Roman Empire - but not by this Man. He said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). The Roman centurion looked up and said, "He is different. I've never heard that before." And then he witnessed the events that took place there. Three hours, Mark says, were in light, and man did his worst. Three hours of darkness followed in which God did His best, for in that last three hours the cross became an altar on which "the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world" was offered (John 1:29).
When light breaks out again, the Roman centurion, who had been with the other crowd, now steps beneath the cross:
And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the spirit, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. (Mark 15:39)
Somebody says, "Well, he doesn't know much theology, does he?" No, he never read Strong's Theology, and he never read any of my books, either. But, you know, God never asks a sinner to do but one thing: take his place beneath the cross. And that's what he did. He knew that much - he knew Jesus was the Son of God.
Men died for the emperor. Many a time in that great Colosseum in Rome the gladiators would come up to Caesar's box and say, "We who are about to die salute you." They were laying down their lives for their emperor. In contrast, Jesus, the Son of God, was laying down His life for His subjects. Paul said, "...that [God] might be just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:26).
After World War II our nation became the most powerful in the world. We had a glorious opportunity to influence the world for good and for God. We didn't do it. Americans began to travel throughout the world, and there appeared a book titled The Ugly American. The proud, arrogant, cursing, swaggering, and drinking American was seen on every continent. "America is a Christian nation," he said, but he took God's name in vain and lived as though God did not exist - he didn't need Him. Americans turned to Washington instead of to worship; believed in government, not God; went to the bureaus instead of to the Bible.
To put it quite simply, we are in a mess. James Reston, who is a liberal but a very brilliant writer, made this observation before an election:
What is wrong here is that none of the presidential candidates has the answer to the problems of the nation. If you read the political news these days, it is hard to escape the conclusion that nobody is fit to be President. Each candidate in turn describes our problems in such depressing terms that he inevitably eliminates himself as the man to solve them.
What a picture - a nation filled with insoluble problems! And there is no use looking to the church. The church today is in the position of compromise, corruption, and confusion. It cannot solve the problems of the nation.
Is there any hope for us? Yes. I hand you today the Gospel of Mark. It is the one for the strong man, the one who thinks he does not need God. The Roman finally came to the position, when his empire caved in, that he did not have the solution. And there went out over that empire the greatest movement the world has ever seen. It was greater than the Reformation. Literally millions turned to Christ. Why? Because they learned of the Man Christ Jesus, who died for their sins. Because of His sacrifice He could offer mercy and still be just. Today His offer is the same. He alone can solve the problems of your life.
Although He will save you by faith alone, when you become His He will be a greater dictator than Caesar was. He says:
He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37)
He also said:
Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:34)
Let's cut out all this nonsense of burning candles and saying, "I dedicate my life to Him." My friend, until you're ready to follow Him and pay a price, you are not following Him. You just think you are. He demands your surrender. He is greater than Caesar. He is the mighty Conqueror. Do you dare follow Him? I think He is sick and tired of all these shabby, flabby, compromising Christians who are afraid to stand for that which is right today. He is calling you. But don't come to Him unless you mean business.
