But *ye*, take heed to yourselves, for they shall deliver you up to sanhedrims and to synagogues ye shall be beaten and brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them;
The disciples had just admired the temple buildings. Jesus turns from what will happen to the stones to what will happen to them: arrest, beatings, and trials before rulers. Then He gives a surprising reason for it all — "to bear witness before them."
Jesus starts by telling them to watch themselves. In Mark, this warning fits the shape of the whole book.
The Lord's warnings and instructions clearly have their service in view. This has been the character of Mark all through. Christ Himself is the perfect Servant of God. He is the Prophet here on earth, preaching the gospel and doing works in its spirit. So even in His prophecy He is still the Servant. He gives them what would matter so much, not only for their souls, but for their work. This is not only a prediction of coming judgments. It also warns and counsels them in their testimony.
The verse names two kinds of authority. Councils and synagogues are religious. Governors and kings are civil. Both react to the same witness.
The Lord warns the disciples that their testimony will bring them into conflict with the authorities of the world. But God would use this persecution to bring the gospel before the great ones of the earth — a "testimony to" rulers and kings.
The phrase "to bear witness before them" explains how the message reaches people the disciples would never otherwise meet. The courtroom becomes their pulpit.
For the disciples, the result of this testimony would be persecution. They would be beaten in the synagogues and accused before kings and governors, and this would be a testimony to them. This is the means which the Lord uses to carry the gospel to kings and to the great of the earth. The preachers are not the great of the earth. His disciples would always have to keep their true character. In keeping it, they would appear before kings and rulers as prisoners, to give an account of their faith.
This has a further gain. Chains stop the message from bending to fit the room. They also make the witness more visible than friendship with the powerful ever would.
All this would become a testimony to them. It was God's way of bringing the gospel of the kingdom to kings and princes, without changing its character, without adapting it to the world, and without mixing the Lord's people up with the world's customs and its false greatness. What is more, circumstances like these made their testimony far more visible than friendship with the great ones of the earth would have done.
The words came true within a few years. Men were arrested for the name of Christ, and the book of Acts names them.
The disciples would be imprisoned and brought before Gentile kings and rulers for the sake of the name of Christ. This became true very soon after the Lord Jesus returned to Glory. But the Lord used this persecution in a way men did not expect. He made it a testimony to Himself and to the gospel of His grace... We see this in Peter and John (Acts 4:13-14); in Stephen (Acts 6:8-10; 7:1-60); and in Paul on various occasions (Acts 22:1-21; 24:24-25; 26:1-31).
Commentators differ on how far the verse reaches. Some read it as describing only the persecutions of the earliest Christian days, "such as the book of Acts shows us happened as soon as the new message of salvation was preached" (F. W. Grant). Others see the same words also covering a later group of witnesses.
Verse 9 was true of the disciples in the book of Acts. It will clearly be true too of the godly remnant of Israel who bear a testimony for God after the Church is taken up to heaven. Jewish councils will then oppose them just as fiercely as they opposed the early apostles. We know that almost 2000 years has come in between, while God gathers out the Church. This prophecy does not take that in-between period into account, apart from mentioning general troubles such as wars, earthquakes and famines.
- Take heed. Jesus warns the disciples about themselves. In Mark He speaks as the Servant to servants at work, so the prophecy guides their testimony, not just their souls.
- Testimony costs. Their witness put them at odds with the world's authorities, religious and civil.
- Testimony travels. Persecution is the means the Lord uses to carry the gospel to kings and to the great of the earth. They would hear it no other way.
- Testimony stays pure. As prisoners they could not soften the message to suit the world. That made their witness far more visible than friendship with the powerful.
- Testimony proved true. It happened soon after Jesus returned to glory: Peter and John, Stephen, Paul. Commentators differ over whether the same words also point to a faithful group still to come.
and the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.
Mark sets this line inside a warning about beatings, courts and betrayal. The promise that the good news reaches every nation stands right in the middle of the cost of carrying it. Two questions follow: which gospel is meant here, and how far the "must" reaches into our own day.
Mark's account of this discourse keeps turning back to the work the disciples were about to do.
Here we find that the Lord's warnings and instructions clearly have their service in view. This has been the character of Mark all through. Christ Himself is the perfect Servant of God, the Prophet on earth preaching the Gospel and doing works in its spirit. So even in His prophecy He is still the Servant. He gives them what would matter so much, not only for their souls, but for their work. This is not only a prediction of coming judgments. It is a warning and an instruction for their testimony.
The councils and kings of verse 9 are not an interruption of the mission. They are how the message reaches kings and rulers.
For the disciples, this testimony would bring persecution. Men would beat them in the synagogues and accuse them before kings and governors, and this would be a testimony to those rulers. This is the means the Lord uses to carry the gospel to kings and to the great of the earth. The preachers are not the great of the earth. His disciples would always have to keep their true character. So they would stand before kings and rulers as prisoners, giving an account of their faith.
The Lord also takes away the worry of standing on trial.
This testimony brings persecution with it. In view of that, the Lord tells His disciples not to worry ahead of time about what to say when they stand as prisoners before the great ones of the earth. They are not to prepare their defence. In that hour they would be given what to say. They would not be the speakers, but only the mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 24:14 speaks of "this gospel of the kingdom" and adds, "and then the end will come." Mark says only "the gospel." One writer treats that difference as deliberate.
Note that in this chapter the marking out of the different periods is not nearly as defined and precise as in Matthew. So it does not say, "This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed… to all nations, and then the end will come." The end of the age is not in question here. Instead we have the general statement that the Gospel must first be preached (compare chapter 16:15, 20).
Commentators differ over how much weight verse 10 can carry. Some read "Gospel" here as a broad word, not as a timetable for today's mission work.
Some read verse 10 together with Matthew 24:14 and conclude that the Lord cannot come for His saints until the Gospel has reached all the nations of today. But we have to remember two things. The disciples He was addressing were at that moment the God-fearing remnant in Israel, and they had not yet been baptised into one body, the church. Also, the "Gospel" in this verse is a general term. It covers not only the Message preached today, but also that "Gospel of the kingdom" which Matthew speaks of.
Another writer draws a sharper line and places the kingdom message in the future.
After His death and resurrection He gave His disciples a different gospel to preach — the gospel of the grace of God, which still goes out (Luke 24:46-47). The gospel of the kingdom is set aside for now. It will be heard again, but only after the Church has left the earth. The end cannot come until that gospel comes back and is preached to all nations.
Whatever the timing, this gospel is for every place and every time — and it costs those who carry it.
Where and when would you expect this good news to be spread? Surely everywhere and at all times. I am deeply thankful for all who have gone out at great personal risk, with real devotion of heart to the Lord. They have gone to tell weary souls in the darkness of the nations about the glory of the Person and the value of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is easy for others less devoted to stay at home and criticise their work.
- Servant's brief. Mark records this prophecy for workers, about their work. Christ the perfect Servant instructs His servants before He sends them out.
- Cost. Councils, beatings, rulers and kings come first. The disciples stand there as prisoners, not as important men, giving an account of their faith.
- Gift. In that hour they are not the speakers; the Holy Spirit supplies the words, so no defence needs preparing.
- Reach. The persecution itself is God's route for carrying the message to the great of the earth, and out to all nations.
- End. Mark says "the gospel" and leaves out Matthew's "then the end will come." Commentators differ on whether this covers today's preaching, a future proclamation, or both.
But when they shall lead you away to deliver you up, be not careful beforehand as to what ye shall say, [nor prepare your discourse] but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak; for *ye* are not the speakers, but the Holy Spirit.
The Lord has just warned His disciples that their witness will drag them before rulers and courts. Now He tells them how to face that hour: no rehearsal, no prepared speech, and a promise that the words will come.
Many read this chapter as pure prophecy. One writer notes that in Mark the Lord aims His warnings at the disciples' work.
Here we will find that the Lord's warnings and instructions clearly have their service in view. This has been the character of Mark all through. Christ Himself is the perfect Servant of God, the Prophet on earth preaching the Gospel and doing works in its spirit. So even in His prophecy He is still the Servant. He gives them what would matter so much, not only for their souls, but in their work. This is not only a prediction of coming judgments. It is forewarning and counsel for them in their testimony.
Arrest looks like the end of a witness. In fact God uses it to carry the message to people who would never hear it otherwise.
The Lord warns the disciples that their testimony will bring them into conflict with the authorities of the world. But God would use this persecution to bring the gospel before the great ones of the earth — a "testimony to" rulers and kings. And this gospel must first be preached among all nations before the end, when Christ comes.
Why can they stop worrying about words? Because they would not stand there alone.
But there is more. God would be with them along the way. When the disciples stood in front of the magistrates, they were not to think over what they ought to say. They did not need to prepare speeches. The Holy Spirit would be with them, and they would be given what to say at that very moment.
The last clause moves the whole weight off the disciple. He is present and his mouth moves, but the source of the words is elsewhere.
In that hour they would be given what to say. They would not be the speakers, but simply the mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit.
This does more than take the pressure off. It also says where the disciple's power comes from.
The Holy Spirit does not only put so solemn a seal on the testimony. He is also a positive power for the one who is giving that testimony… Here we see the spirit of complete dependence on God. "The Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what should be said."
The book of Acts shows the promise at work. One writer lists the men who stood in exactly this spot.
When these things happened, they would need no speech-writer. They would not even need to study first what would be the wisest or most fitting answer when accused. Instead, they were to depend entirely on God to give them the words just when they needed them. In this they would allow the Spirit of their Father the freedom to speak without hindrance. We see this beautifully carried out in the cases of Peter and John in Acts 4:8-12 and 5:27-32; Stephen in Acts 7; and Paul in Acts 24:10-21 and 26:1-29.
The verse is often borrowed to excuse stepping up to preach without study. One writer answers that directly.
We say plainly that wherever possible, one should think over and study the subject he expects to speak on. Taking no thought about how or what we will speak is no mark of spirituality. We do not believe it is a correct use of the Scripture either… Here, the Lord is assuring His disciples that He will never desert them when they are brought before kings and rulers for His name's sake. They need not think out in advance any line of defence, or any elaborate statement of what they hold.
- Handed over — the trial is no accident. God uses the hostility to carry the message to rulers and kings who would never come to hear it.
- Given, not gathered — the words arrive "in that hour"; the disciple is not told to be clever, only to be dependent.
- Not you — the disciple is only the mouthpiece. The Holy Spirit is the speaker, and a positive power in the one who testifies.
- Proved — Peter and John, Stephen, and Paul all stood in that spot, and the promise held.
- Limited — this promise covers the courtroom, not the pulpit. It never cancels study and preparation for ordinary preaching.
But brother shall deliver up brother to death, and father child; and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.
The Lord is answering a question about the temple's fall. Here He tells His followers what their testimony will cost them. The danger will not come from rulers only. It will come from the people closest to them. So why does good news turn a family against itself, and which days does the Lord have in view?
These words are not bare prediction. They are instructions for men about to be sent out, with a warning about what the work will cost.
It speaks of the work the disciples would do among Israel, and of their witness against the authorities who persecuted them. The gospel would be preached in all nations before the end came. As preachers they were to fill the place Jesus had held among the people, only their testimony would reach much farther. All this would be done in the face of every possible suffering and the hardest persecutions.
The verse moves from brother, to father and child, to children and parents. One writer names the rule behind that order.
The disciples are warned that truth presented in the power of the Holy Spirit stirs such hatred in the human heart that persecution will come from their own families. The closer the relationship, the more bitter the hatred. Brother will rise against brother, father against son, and children against parents, even having them put to death.
The betrayal is not a reaction to anything the disciples did wrong. It answers something else: God making Himself known.
God revealed in the person of Christ, or in the preached word, stirs up the hatred of the human heart. As long as God is not made known, people put up with everything. But once He is made known, man's will rises up against His authority, and against the pressure this revelation puts on a conscience that is not at rest.
Another writer looks ahead to the days of tribulation and sees the same betrayal as an exposure of what was already in the heart.
Even the closest family ties will count for nothing, because the hatred toward the name of Christ, the true Messiah, is so strong. Brothers will betray brothers, fathers their children, children their parents, handing them over to death. How terribly unnatural! Yet this will expose the real character of the unbelieving heart of men.
Family is God's own arrangement, made at the beginning. Here that arrangement becomes a weapon. The nearness that should protect a person is what hands him over.
The hatred of the human heart against the testimony of God would show itself by driving men to break the ties God formed at creation. The natural affections of the human heart would turn into open hostility. These relationships carry rights; but now they would be the rights of hatred, and brother would hand over brother to death.
Commentators differ on the period this verse covers. Some tie it to the first generation of preachers, whose sufferings the book of Acts records.
Mark, like Luke, gives special weight to the persecutions the disciples would have to endure... These are persecutions of the earliest Christian days. Acts shows us that they started as soon as the new message of salvation was preached... The spirit of hostility to Christ would destroy even the natural love of family.
Others place its full force in a time still to come.
The hatred of all men will grow more marked after the Church is gone, and the remnant of Israel will suffer badly. Anyone who bears the suffering of the tribulation and endures to the end would be saved for blessing on earth in the coming thousand-year kingdom.
- Testimony first. These words go to men being sent out as preachers. They take up the place Jesus held among the people, and suffering comes with the work.
- Revelation provokes. While God stays hidden, people put up with anything. Once He makes Himself known in Christ or in the preached word, man's will rises against His authority.
- Nearness measures the hatred. The closer the relationship, the more bitter the hatred — which is why the verse moves from brother, to parent, to child.
- Creation's ties reversed. The same hatred breaks the bonds God formed at the beginning, and the rights of family become the rights of hatred.
- Then and still ahead. Some writers read this of the persecutions recorded in Acts. Others read it of a tribulation still to come, when the hatred of all men grows sharper.
And ye will be hated of all on account of my name; but he that has endured to the end, *he* shall be saved.
These words come in the Lord's prophetic discourse, spoken to His disciples about the days ahead. Verse 13 sets a hatred that reaches everyone beside a promise tied to endurance — which raises two questions: what does "saved" mean here, and which "end"?
The warnings in this chapter build in stages, and this one is the last and broadest. Rulers, then family, then everyone — and one reason runs through all of it.
The Lord warns His disciples about the persecution. It would not only come from those in authority and from their closest relatives. All men would hate them because they confess the Name of Christ. But the one who endures to the end will be saved — whatever the end may be, whether a martyr's death or the coming of Christ to the earth. As always, the test of reality is continuance. There may indeed be failure, and even the love of many growing cold, but those who are real will endure. Peter broke down, but his faith did not fail; he continued to the end.
The betrayals described just before this verse are traced to the same cause — the world's hostility to one Name.
Because of the hostility of governments toward the name of Jesus, one would betray his own brother to be killed, a father betray his son, and children their parents.
The promise here is often read as an offer to the unconverted. The first question is who was standing in front of Him.
These words do not tell us how sinful people receive the salvation of their souls. The Lord was not addressing sinners but men He had already brought into relationship with Himself — His disciples. At that moment they were representative of the chosen remnant of Israel, who will be found on earth at the time of the end.
The word "saved" carries more than one sense in Scripture. The danger in view here settles which sense it is.
Salvation in its fullest sense looks on to the final deliverance from the very presence of sin — the consummation in heaven. There is also a governmental and outward salvation. Our Lord speaks of it in His prophetic discourse: "He who endures to the end will be saved." This, we hardly need to say, does not refer to the salvation of the soul, but to deliverance from the Great Tribulation through which the Jewish remnant will be called to pass, with an indirect application to us also.
So what does that deliverance lead to?
The hatred of all men will grow and be more marked after the Church is gone, and the remnant of Israel will suffer badly. That is why we are told, "the one who endures to the end will be saved." Anyone who bears the suffering of the tribulation and endures it to the end would be saved for earthly blessing in the millennium.
Commentators differ here. Hamilton Smith leaves it open — a martyr's death, or Christ's coming. Another writer fixes it to one point:
"The end" here is not the end of one person's life. It is the end of the whole time of persecution, trial and sorrow, and the second coming of Christ will bring that end. Endurance is the supreme virtue that is to mark these saints, for their salvation is sure when Christ appears.
Some read this verse as if it undercut salvation by grace. The reply is that different passages view the believer from different angles.
Ephesians 2:8-9 views the Christian as saved already. Elsewhere he is looked at as on the road to heaven, not yet there, and therefore exposed to the trials of the way. So his "enduring to the end" makes sense. It is the proof that his faith is genuine, and that the grace of God is sustaining him. Enduring to the end, he is saved.
The endurance ends, and not in the sufferer's own stamina.
After the glorious appearing of the Son of Man comes the gathering together of "His elect." Verse 20 mentioned them, and they are those who "endure to the end" (verse 13). Christ's appearing will save them. These elect are the God-fearing remnant of Israel in the last days. Angels will gather them from every part of the earth, and they will become the redeemed Israel who enter the millennial reign. All this must be kept separate from the coming of the Lord for His saints in 1 Thessalonians 4, when the Lord Himself will come down from heaven and our gathering will be to Him.
- The Name is the cause. They are hated for confessing Christ's Name — not for anything wrong in them.
- The Name draws hatred inward. Rulers first, then family, then all men; hostility to that Name splits households.
- The Name is held by endurance. Continuance is the test of what is real; Peter broke down, yet his faith did not fail.
- The Name fixes the end. The end is not just the end of a life. It is the close of the whole time of trial, and Christ's coming brings it.
- The Name secures the outcome. "Saved" here means deliverance through the tribulation into blessing on earth. It applies to us too, still on the road to heaven.