In verse 16 the Lord went on to say to the disciples, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned.” To believe is to receive the Slave-Savior (John 1:12), not only for forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43) but also for regeneration (1 Pet. 1:21, 23), so that those who believe may become the children of God (John 1:12-13) and the members of Christ (Eph. 5:30) in an organic union with the Triune God (Matt. 28:19). To be baptized is to affirm this, by being buried to terminate the old creation through the death of the Slave-Savior and by being raised up to be the new creation of God through the Slave-Savior’s resurrection. Such a baptism is much more advanced than the baptism of repentance by John (Mark 1:4; Acts 19:3-5).
To believe and to be so baptized are two parts of one complete step for receiving the full salvation of God. To be baptized without believing is merely an empty ritual; to believe without being baptized is to be saved only inwardly without an outward affirmation of the inward salvation. These two should go together. Moreover, water baptism should be accompanied by the Spirit baptism, even as the children of Israel were baptized in the sea (water) and in the cloud (Spirit)—1 Corinthians 10:2 and 12:13.
Mark 16:16 does not say “who does not believe and is not baptized shall be condemned.” This indicates that condemnation is related only to not believing; it is not related to not being baptized. Believing itself is sufficient for one to receive salvation from condemnation; yet it needs baptism as an outward affirmation for the completion of one’s inward salvation.
In 16:17 and 18 the Lord Jesus continues, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it shall by no means harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will be well.” Here we see that speaking with new tongues is only one of the five signs that accompany saved believers. It is not the unique sign, as stressed by some believers. According to the divine revelation in the Acts and in the Epistles, what the Lord says here does not mean that every saved believer should have all five signs. It means that each saved believer may have some of these signs, not necessarily all.
In verse 19 we have the ascension of the Slave-Savior: “So then the Lord, after speaking to them, was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God.” The Slave-Savior’s ascension for His exaltation by God was a sign of God’s acceptance of all He had done for God’s eternal plan according to God’s New Testament economy (Acts 2:33-36). In this exaltation God crowned Him with glory and honor (Heb. 2:9), gave Him the name that is above all names (Phil. 2:9), and made Him the Lord of all (Acts 2:36) and the Head over all things (Eph. 1:22), that He may have all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18) to rule over the heavens, the earth, and the nations so that they may work together for the universal spreading of His gospel.
Through His ascension Christ has been exalted to the highest, He has been made the Lord, the Christ, the Head of the church, and the Head over all things to the church. Furthermore, He has been enthroned, crowned with glory and honor, and given a name that is above all names.
In order to experience Jesus as the Lord, the Christ, the Head of the church, the Head over all, and the One enthroned, crowned, and given a name above all names, we need to be in resurrection. When we are in the reality of resurrection, we are in the life-giving Spirit. In the Spirit we experience the resurrected Christ as the Lord, the anointed One, and the Head of everything to the church and the Head directly of the church. In the reality of resurrection, that is, in the all-inclusive Spirit, we realize that this Christ has been crowned with glory and honor, that He has been enthroned, and that He has received the name that is above all names. When we are in such a Spirit, all these aspects of Christ’s ascension are not merely doctrines to us—they are realities.
Apart from the life-giving Spirit making Christ’s ascension real to us, we may think that the ascended Christ has nothing to do with us in our daily living. But every aspect of Christ’s ascension should be part of our daily experience.
If we would experience Christ’s ascension, we need to walk according to the Spirit. When we walk according to the Spirit, we are walking in Christ’s resurrection and ascension. This causes us to be a different kind of person. This is the reason I have been strong to say that the Christian life is not a matter of doctrine. What we need for the Christian life is to walk according to the life-giving Spirit who dwells in our spirit.
In 1964 I was invited to speak to a certain group of Christians in Dallas. During my message I pointed out that what we need is not doctrine but the Spirit. Some who cared absolutely for doctrine were offended, and after the meeting they tried to argue with me. But today I would even be stronger in saying that we need more of the Spirit. Instead of dead doctrine, we need the life-giving Spirit.
We can be in the Spirit because through the resurrection of Jesus Christ we have been regenerated, reborn (1 Pet. 1:3). We can also be in ascension. In our experience, the heavens come to us, because the all-inclusive Spirit brings the heavens to us. Therefore, when we are in the Spirit, we are in the heavens.