To Believe Or Not To Believe

For today and the following two days, this time before we celebrate Ascension Thursday, we shall be made part of Jesus’ school, as we learn more of what He taught prior to Him returning to His Father in heaven.

Our given Scripture text comes from Mark 16: 16. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. However, I have been constrained to bring you these verses, from fourteen, right through to nineteen. This is so that all who are unfamiliar with it, will be made familiar with the time spent in those final hours before Ascension and after this event. I quote.

Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well. After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up to heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.

Jesus is speaking to His disciples, just before His Ascension. He does not waste any time, but teaches them to the end. He is telling them about the work He is sending them out into the world to do, in His Name and for Him. He has told them to Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. You and I know that the Gospel is the Gospel of God, the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Jesus has instructed them to speak, teach and preach on the Kingdom as He had been teaching them. Keep ever in mind that He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. Acts 1: 3b. The Kingdom of God was paramount to Jesus, as we know how, even before His death and resurrection, He never failed to teach, preach and show the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven, especially through vividly diverse and convincingly instructive parables.

In our given text, Jesus is very clear on the matter of hearers believing and not believing. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16: 16. Note clearly and distinctly, the timeframe of our text. Have you observed that it comes directly before Jesus ascended into heaven? O yes, we are told this crucial bit of detail. After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up to heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.

Does this not alert us to the dire importance and need to hear and learn about the Kingdom of God and to believe what we have heard? Has it ever crossed your mind that the last words of Jesus to His Eleven, while He was in a resurrected flesh and bones body, before He ascended into heaven, included instructions regarding the Kingdom of heaven? Indeed yes! He particularly specified that, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. .

In this moment, in this time, will we not hear our Risen Lord speaking to you and me?

Jesus has made two life and death statements in this text.