Do you know what has been taking place for the last nineteen hundred years? The centuries from the first century until the twentieth have witnessed the delivery of the new man through the preaching of the gospel and the suffering of persecution.
We need to understand why the new man is brought forth by the preaching of the gospel amid persecution. From the time of man’s fall, the old creation has been under the usurping hand of Satan, God’s enemy. God is now working to produce a new man out of His old creation. The enemy, however, is not willing to allow such a thing, and he is instigating everything and every matter to oppose God’s economy in order to frustrate the birth of the new man. This is the reason for persecutions. From the time Peter stood up to preach the gospel on the day of Pentecost, this persecution has been taking place. Persecution first came from the Jews with their religion and then from the Gentiles, including the Roman rulers in their politics. Throughout all the centuries this persecution of those who preach the gospel has not ceased.
During the past nineteen hundred years, two things have been going on continually: the preaching of the gospel and persecution. It is sovereign of the Lord that these things have not ceased. Century after century, the Lord’s faithful ones have preached the gospel at any cost, even at the risk of their lives. Meanwhile, Satan, having usurped the old creation with the old man and his society and culture, has instigated a great deal of persecution.
What will be the outcome of Satan’s opposition to God’s economy? The outcome will be that neither Satan nor the world will gain anything. Ultimately, the outcome will be the full delivery of the new man.
After the lengthy process for the birth of the new man, the Lord Jesus will come back to receive the new man at the time of the saints’ rapture. This means that when the Lord Jesus comes back, there will be a rapture, and this rapture will be the final delivery of the new man. If we see this and then read chapter thirteen of Mark again, we shall receive fresh light from the Word. In this chapter the Lord was bringing His close followers into such an understanding of God’s economy.
The central point of God’s economy is the producing of the new man through Christ’s death and resurrection. The death of Christ has terminated the old creation, and His resurrection has germinated the new creation. Therefore, to be brought into Christ’s death and resurrection is to be brought into the termination of the old creation and the germination of the new creation. In this germination we enjoy the all-inclusive, universal replacement, who is the living, wonderful, marvelous Person of Christ, the God-man.
When we enjoy Christ as the universal replacement, He will become everything to us, for He will replace everything with Himself. This is the reason Paul says that in the new man “there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:10-11). In the new man there are no racial differences. In the new man there is no culture or social rank. Instead, Christ, the universal replacement, is all and is in all.
Christ will replace the entire old creation, and He will be the whole new creation. How can this take place? It can take place only through Christ’s death and resurrection. Hence, it is necessary for us to be brought into the death and resurrection of Christ. In His resurrection we enjoy Him as the all-inclusive, processed, indwelling, life-giving Spirit. The Person who is this universal replacement is the One with both divinity and humanity. Today this wonderful Person is the compound Spirit to be our enjoyment so that God may have the new man for His expression.
I hope that we shall all be enlightened to see the vision related to the words “birth pangs” in 13:8. These birth pangs are required for the delivery of the new man. The delivery takes place through the gospel, and the preaching of the gospel is always accompanied by persecution.
Wherever we go to preach the gospel, we should be ready to suffer persecution. If you are preaching the gospel and teaching the truth, yet you never suffer anything but are always warmly welcomed, you need to question whether your activity is really of the Lord. If your preaching and teaching are of the Lord, you will face persecution. The reason for this is that the delivery of the new man always involves birth pangs. Even today, this birth with its birth pangs is still taking place.