Crystallization-Study Outlines
The Gospel of Mark

Message One

Living in the Reality of the Body of Christ
according to the Bird’s-eye View
of the Reality in Jesus in the Gospel of Mark

Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:20-24;
Mark 1:15, 35; 4:23-25; 8:22-26; 6:45-52; 9:7-9; 10:45; 16:7

1. The desire of God’s heart is that the reality in Jesus, the God-man living of Jesus as recorded in the four Gospels, would be duplicated in the many members of Christ’s Body by the Spirit of reality to become the reality of the Body of Christ, the highest peak in God’s economy—Eph. 4:20-24, 3-4:
   1. The reality of the Body of Christ is the corporate living of the perfected God-men, who live the divine life of their new man by denying the natural life of their old man according to the model of Christ as the first God-man—Mark 8:34; Rom. 6:4-6; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 3:16-17a; 1 Pet. 2:21.
   2. The reality of the Body of Christ is the Spirit of reality, who is the Spirit of Jesus, mingled with our spirit; the Spirit of Jesus includes the reality in Jesus, the God-man living of Jesus—John 16:13; Acts 16:7; Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17.
   3. When we live in the mingled spirit, we are learning Christ according to the reality in Jesus by the Spirit of reality according to His model as the Slave-Savior in the Gospel of Mark so that His biography becomes our history; the living of the Body of Christ as the new man should be exactly the same as the living of Jesus revealed in the Gospel of Mark—Gal. 6:17-18; Rom. 1:1, 9; Eph. 4:20-24; Phil. 2:5.
2. We need to live in the reality of the Body of Christ by entering into the reality of the Gospel of Mark through the Spirit of reality—John 16:13:
   1. The biography of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark is also our biography, our history, with Peter as our representative—16:7; Hymns, #949, stanza 4:
      1. In the angel’s message to the three sisters who discovered the resurrection of the Slave-Savior, the phrase and Peter is inserted only in Mark’s record (v. 7); the Gospel of Mark is considered to be a written account dictated by Peter and written down by his spiritual son, Mark (1 Pet. 5:13).
      2. Even though Peter had committed the great sin of denying the Lord three times, the Lord specifically mentioned him; this is the gospel—Mark 14:67-72; Luke 15:1-7; John 21:15-17.
      3. And Peter means “and you,” who have failed like Peter, revealing that although we fail the Lord, it is impossible for Him to forget us, forsake us, give up on us, or not love us; if we fall, He will not desert us, and He can make us rise up again for His economy—Rom. 14:4, 7-8; Deut. 31:6; Josh. 1:5; Heb. 13:5; Isa. 49:14-16; Jer. 29:11-14; Prov. 24:16; cf. S. S. 8:6.
   2. Mark 6:45-52 reveals that we need to seek out the journey, the course, that the Lord has ordained for us according to His perfect will and to enjoy Him as our heavenly Minister and High Priest, the One who is interceding for us and sustaining us to finish our course in living a heavenly life on earth for the reality of the Body of Christ—Heb. 8:1-2; 7:26; Acts 20:24; 2 Tim. 4:7-8:
      1. From the ascension of Christ to His coming again, the world is in a long night; “the night is far advanced” (Rom. 13:12), our boat is “in the midst of the sea,” and we still have not reached the destination of our journey—Mark 6:45-48; John 6:21; cf. 2 Thes. 2:2; 2 Tim. 3:1-13.
      2. We need to realize that the journey of faithful believers is one that is “contrary to the wind,” and they experience being “distressed” as they “row”; we need to take the Lord into our “boat” (our married life, our family, our business, etc.) and enjoy peace with Him on the journey of human life—Mark 6:47-51; John 6:21.
      3. In these days, just before the dawn of the Lord’s coming (2 Pet. 1:19), we need to stand against the wearing-out tactics of Satan (Dan. 7:25), be empowered in the grace which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 2:1), and receive mercy from the Lord to be faithful (1 Cor. 7:25b) to take the journey that He has ordained for the building up of His Body, His bride, to bring Him back (Matt. 16:18; Gen. 2:22; Rev. 19:7).
   3. In order to enter into the reality of the Gospel of Mark, we need to repent, to have a change of mind with regret for the past and a turn for the future; to repent is to turn from all things other than God to God Himself—1:15:
      1. On the negative side, to repent before God is not only to repent of sins and wrongdoings but also to repent of the world and its corruption, which usurp and corrupt people whom God created for Himself, and to repent of our God-forsaking life in the past—Isa. 55:7; 2 Pet. 3:9-10, 15.
      2. On the positive side, it is to turn to God in every way and in everything for the fulfillment of His purpose in creating man; it is a “repentance unto God,” and is to “repent and turn to God”—Acts 20:21; 26:20.
      3. Repentance unto life, unto God’s organic salvation in life, is a gift given to us from the exalted Christ—5:31; 11:18.
      4. Christ as the kindness of God leads us to repentance so that, according to His mercy, we can be reconditioned, remade, and remodeled with Him as life—Rom. 2:4; Titus 3:4-5.
      5. Repentance is a divine requirement of God’s New Testament economy and a main item of its proclamation—Acts 17:30; Luke 24:47.
   4. In order to enter into the reality of the Gospel of Mark, we need to “hear Him!” and see “Jesus only”—9:7-9; cf. Rev. 1:10, 12:
      1. We need to take heed to the way we hear the word of the Lord, asking the Lord to give us an ear to hear what the Spirit is speaking to the churches; the measure that can be given to us by the Lord depends on the measure of our hearing—Mark 4:23-25; Rev. 2:7.
      2. We need to have a private and intimate time with the Lord so that He can infuse us with His element to recover our sight; we all need a further recovery so that we can “see all things clearly”—Mark 8:22-26.
3. We need to live in the reality of the Body of Christ according to the bird’s-eye view of the reality in Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, which unveils a full picture of the Slave-Savior serving fallen sinners as a collective person with Himself as their all-inclusive salvation; the life of the Lord Jesus as revealed in Mark is the reality, substance, and pattern of God’s New Testament economy—1:35-38; 10:45:
   1. The Gospel of Mark shows the Slave-Savior coming as a Physician with mercy and grace to heal and recover a complete, sick person with four kinds of major diseases; just as God desires to show mercy to pitiful sinners, so He wants us to show mercy in love to others—2:17; 12:33; Matt. 9:12-13; Micah 6:6-8:
      1. A fever may signify a person’s unbridled temper, which is abnormal and intemperate; the Slave-Savior heals our sick condition, becoming our inward rest and quietness, and restores us to normality that we might serve Him—Mark 1:29-31; Isa. 30:15a; cf. Prov. 15:1; 25:15.
      2. Leprosy is the most contaminating and damaging disease, causing its victim to be isolated from God and from men; the cleansing of the leper signifies the recovering of the sinner to the fellowship with God and with men—Mark 1:40-45; Num. 12:1-10; 2 Kings 5:1, 9-14; Mark 14:3; 1 John 1:3.
      3. The paralytic signifies a sinner who is paralyzed by sin, one who is unable to walk and move before God; through the forgiveness of our sins in Christ’s judicial redemption, we are able to walk and move by the Spirit in God’s organic salvation—Mark 2:1-12; 1 John 1:7, 9; Gal. 5:25.
      4. The flow of blood, the issue of blood, signifies a life that cannot be retained; by touching the Lord, His divine power is transfused, through the perfection of His humanity, into us to become our healing; the God who dwells in unapproachable light became touchable in the Slave-Savior through His humanity for our salvation and enjoyment—Mark 5:25-34.
   2. After the healing of the entire person, there is the Lord’s exposure and cleansing of the real inner being, the heart—7:1-23.
   3. In addition to this healing, there are three feedings by the Lord—the feeding of five thousand (6:30-44), the feeding of the Gentiles as the pet dogs under the table (7:27), and the feeding of four thousand (8:1-9).
   4. After this collective person is healed, cleansed within, and fed by the Lord, he needs the specific healing of his listening organ, speaking organ, and seeing organ—7:31-37; 8:14-26.
   5. Now on the Mount of Transfiguration, his ears are opened to hear the Lord Jesus as the Father’s Son, the Beloved, and his eyes are opened to see “Jesus only,” to see that He is the unique and universal replacement to be the unique constituent of the one new man—8:27—9:13; Col. 3:10-11.
   6. The Lord then brings His followers as a collective person into His all-inclusive death (Mark 15:16-41) and His all-surpassing resurrection (16:1-18) so that they may enjoy Him in His all-transcending ascension (v. 19) as their life and life supply (John 6:35, 57), the Lord of all (Acts 10:36), God’s Christ (2:36), the Head over all things to the church (Eph. 1:22-23a), the Head of the Body (Col. 1:18), the glorified One (Luke 24:26), the enthroned One (Acts 5:31), the One who is above all (Eph. 1:20-21), and the One who fills all in all (v. 23b) to bring forth the new man as the reality of the kingdom of God (Col. 3:10-11; Rom. 14:17), consummating in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2).
   7. Finally, the Lord as the resurrected and ascended Slave-Savior preaches the gospel through His disciples as His reproduction for His universal spreading, until He comes again to set up the kingdom of God on earth—Mark 16:20; Luke 19:12; Dan. 7:13-14; Matt. 24:14.