The entire New Testament is a book about a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospels are biographies of this Person, and the remainder of the New Testament is the definition and explanation of this Person. We thank the Lord for the biography of the Lord Jesus presented in the Gospel of Mark. However, we need to spend much time in reading the Epistles in order to see the definition of the life recorded in Mark. If we read only the Gospel of Mark, we shall see many of the events that took place during the Lord’s life, but we shall not know the meaning of these events. But when we come to the Epistles, we are enlightened concerning these things.
In the Epistles of Paul we have a broad view of Christ with His death and resurrection. In his Epistles Paul indicates clearly that Christ is all-inclusive. For example, Paul tells us not only that Christ is the Head of the universal new man; He also says that Christ is the Body (1 Cor. 12:12). In Colossians 3:11 Paul says that in the new man Christ is all the members and is in all the members. From these verses we see that Christ, the anointed One of God, is all-inclusive.
Paul also reveals clearly that Christ’s death is all-inclusive. Paul tells us that we were crucified with Christ and in Christ (Gal. 2:20). In Romans 6:6 Paul declares that our old man was crucified with Christ. These verses indicate that Christ’s death on the cross was not merely the death of an individual. Because Christ is all-inclusive, His death was also all-inclusive. How could such an all-inclusive One die only as an individual and not experience an all-inclusive death? There is no indication in the Gospel of Mark that Christ died an all-inclusive death. But in the Epistles as a God-inspired definition and explanation of Christ with His death and resurrection we see that His death certainly was all-inclusive.
In the Epistles of Paul we also see that we were included in Christ’s resurrection and ascension. In Ephesians 2:6 Paul says that God “raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” Therefore, in the sight of God, we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. As God’s chosen people, we all have been put into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). Since Christ is in the heavenlies, we also are in the heavenlies. We all need to see from the Epistles that Christ and His death, resurrection, and ascension are all-inclusive.
According to Mark 10:32, when the Lord Jesus was going to Jerusalem, He brought His disciples with Him. He included them in all that He was doing. Judas was the only disciple who did not continue with the Lord until the end. After the Passover feast, the Lord Jesus exposed Judas, and then Judas left. As a Jew, he had the right to enjoy the Passover feast. But because he had not been chosen by God to remain with the Lord, he had no share in the Lord’s supper. All the other disciples experienced the supper and were included in the Lord’s death and resurrection.
When the Lord Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, His disciples were with Him. Peter was even so bold as to take out his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant (14:47). In his boldness Peter caused trouble for the Lord and made it necessary for Him to heal the servant’s ear. In a sense, Peter was crucified before the Lord Jesus was. The Lord was crucified at Golgotha, but Peter was crucified in the courtyard of the Praetorium.
The point we are emphasizing here is that the Lord Jesus brought His disciples through all the steps that led to His death and resurrection, and then He included them in His death and resurrection. If we understand the narration of the Gospel of Mark according to what is revealed in the Epistles of Paul, we shall see that not only those disciples but we also were included in the death and resurrection of Christ.
When some hear that we were included in Christ’s death and resurrection, they may say, “How is it possible that we were included in the Lord’s death and resurrection? We were not even born when these events took place.” According to man’s way of thinking, we could not have been included. But God’s way of thinking, which is according to His eternal view, is different. According to God’s understanding, we were crucified and resurrected with Christ even before we were born. Although we cannot understand this according to our natural mind, it is nevertheless a fact.