According to the Gospel of Mark and the book of Acts, Peter not only passed through the death process, but also entered into the Lord’s resurrection and ascension. Therefore, when he stood up to preach the gospel on the day of Pentecost, Peter was a different person. He was a crucified, resurrected, and ascended person, a reproduction of the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ. Peter was a duplicate copy of this Christ. Having been brought into the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, Peter was also saturated with Christ. He was one with Christ, and Christ had even become him. For this reason, we may say that Peter was a duplication of Christ on the day of Pentecost.
The record in the Gospel of Mark indicates that Peter passed through a lengthy process in order to become a reproduction of Christ. This process began in chapter one, when Peter, a fisherman, was called by the Lord Jesus. After calling him, the Lord brought Peter into a process that took more than three years to complete. As a result, on the day of Pentecost Peter was a person who had been brought into the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ.
Perhaps at that time Peter could understand the significance of the Lord’s table. The Lord had instituted the table as part of His preparation of the disciples, as part of the process to bring them into a full realization of His death and resurrection.
We need to see that the Lord intends to bring all of us into His death and resurrection. Through His death and resurrection we may enjoy Him as our replacement. As we enjoy Christ as our replacement, He becomes us and we become one with Him. The result is that we become His reproduction, His duplication. This is the vision conveyed to us in the Gospel of Mark.
We have seen that God’s economy is to produce the new man. The way to produce the new man is to replace us with Christ.
In the preaching of the gospel Christ as the universal replacement is ministered to others. However, when we present Christ as the all-inclusive replacement, there will always be conflict and persecution. Because Satan has usurped the old creation, and because Satan instigates those of the old creation to oppose the things of the Lord, the things of the old creation hinder us in allowing Christ to become our replacement.
First, Christ replaces all the old things of Judaism. We have seen from chapters nine and thirteen that Christ replaces Moses and Elijah and also the temple. Furthermore, Christ replaces the things in the Gentile world. He replaces culture, customs, habits, and the old way of living.
Because Christ is such a replacement, conflict is unavoidable. However, this conflict serves a positive purpose. Through the conflict we are put to death and ushered into resurrection. This means that, eventually, all that the enemy can do through persecution and conflict only helps release the flow of resurrection life. Hallelujah for the flow that produces the new man that will become the kingdom of God! This new man is produced by the death and resurrection of Christ. Through the Lord’s death and resurrection we enjoy Him as the all-inclusive, universal replacement for the producing of the new man.