Mark 16:6-20 NASB [6] And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. [7] But go, tell His disciples and Peter,….
[9] [Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.
[10] She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. [11] When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. [12] After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. [13] They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either. …
[14] Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen. [15] And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. [16] He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. [17] These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; [18] they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” [19] So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. [20] And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.] …
I have put together all these random verses from Mark 16 because I wanted you to see something that I think is very important. Look at verses 15 through verse 20 first. Jesus tells them to go to the world and preach the good news of the kingdom to everyone they come across, and then we are told that they went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by signs that followed. They moved and ministered in the supernatural. He also told them earlier that when someone received the gospel from them and was saved, those people would also start moving and ministering in the miraculous as a normal part of Christian life. One of the real snares of the enemy that keeps us from moving in the power of the supernatural is to get us somehow to subtly think that a miraculous lifestyle is only for the special people, the super deluxe model. We have spiritual heroes that we look to as if they were like spiritual superheroes when the truth is they are just normal run-of-the-mill Christians, manifesting what normal Christians should manifest. If we aren’t moving in signs and wonders, it is not because we’re not the super deluxe model; instead, it’s evidence that we’re just being subnormal. Every Christian should expect to manifest the miraculous lifestyle of Jesus when they minister to people. If we are the body through which Jesus continues to live, we should assume that the Jesus that lives in us will behave the way He always has, supernaturally.
One of the things I want you to notice in the earlier verses is some of the key players that the Holy Spirit mentions in this chapter. He speaks of Mary Magdalene, the former prostitute from whom seven demons were cast out. This is the only gospel where it is mentioned that she was the first person Jesus revealed himself to in his resurrection. In the message the angel gave to the women, they were told to go tell the disciples, especially Peter, that Jesus had risen. Why did He emphasize Peter? Obviously, because Peter had denied Christ in such humiliation. It was important to the Lord that Peter knew everything was okay. Then the disciples, who, when they heard the testimony of Mary and the testimony of the other two, remarkably reacted in unbelief. In verse 14, Jesus reproaches them about their unbelief and their hardness of heart, and then amazingly, He tells them to go into the world and to preach the good news of the kingdom to all creation, and when they went, Jesus was with them by his indwelling presence, and they manifested signs and wonders.
What is this all about? The Holy Spirit never puts together a story arbitrarily. He is trying to say to us that He is not looking for the super deluxe model through whom He can manifest signs and wonders. He is just looking for people who sometimes don’t get it right, who might have a terrible past, who have failed in humiliating ways, who have at times walked in unbelief, to manifest his supernatural power through. He is just looking for weak people like you and me who have given their hearts entirely to him, who, in all their weakness, will just step out, trusting Him to act. His treasure is in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power may be his and not ours.