And these signs shall follow those that have believed in my name they shall cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mark's Gospel closes with the risen Jesus sending His disciples out to preach. He attaches a list of visible signs to that sending. Two questions still divide readers: who are the signs promised to, and how long were they to last?
Casting out demons comes first, and it happens in the name of a Master who has gone away. One writer shows why His absence would leave His servants stronger, not weaker.
"In My name they will cast out demons." He begins with power over Satan. They were to go out in the power of His resurrection. He was going away, but that would not cost them power. They would gain instead… The Jews thought that all the great works were to be done while the Messiah was on earth. Not so. In His name, while He is absent, His servants would cast out demons. "They will speak in new tongues." What a wonderful testimony of God's grace towards all men! They were now to speak of His wonderful works in the languages by which God had confused men at the tower of Babel. This was fulfilled first on the day of Pentecost to the Jews, then to the Gentiles in due time.
Demons come first on the list for a reason. One writer points to what stood behind the religions of the ancient world.
Satan had taken the world for himself, largely through the religions of men… "What pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God," says the apostle (1 Cor. 10:20). In Egypt, when God brought His people out, the judgments that freed them fell on Egypt's gods. It is the same now in Christianity. "In My name they will cast out demons" proclaims Christ's supremacy over the religious rulers of the pagan world.
Taken together, the five signs are not a random assortment. They make one double announcement.
The first sign should be their dominion over evil spirits, the second, the proof of that grace which went beyond the narrow limits of Israel, addressing itself to all the world. They should speak various languages… In a word, it should be the overthrow of the power of the enemy over man, and the proclamation of grace to all men.
The verse ties the signs to believing, not to any qualification in the preacher.
Second, the Lord states that these signs will follow, with no conditions to be met first by the preacher. There is no requirement that he must have a special "baptism of the Spirit," as people often insist. If men believe, these signs will follow. That is what the Lord says. All you could conclude from their absence is that no one has truly believed.
That last line is deliberately absurd, and the same writer answers it. The promise never said what readers add to it.
Some people seem to read words into this statement that are not there. It does not say that these signs will follow all who believe, in all places, and for all time. If it did, we would be forced to conclude that hardly anyone today has believed the gospel — and that we have not even believed it ourselves!
One writer works from an older translation, which reads "those that have believed" where the ESV has "those who believe." He compares Mark's ending with Matthew's.
There is not a word here about time. It is not all who believe, but "those that have believed." And it is not said of those who believe right on to the end of the age. Nothing of the kind is hinted at. In Matthew it is different. There the Lord tells them to make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them, and He promises them His presence to the end of the age… Our Lord's word came true to the letter in the particular period when these signs were given. But nothing bound them to last forever.
Commentators differ on why the signs faded. Some say the signs had finished their work:
They had miraculous gifts to give them credentials with the people they preached to. But the main thing was not these gifts. It was what God placed in people's hearts through them. The miraculous gifts served the spiritual part of their work — evangelizing, pastoring, teaching — the way scaffolding serves a building. The scaffold comes down once the building is finished.
Others blame the failure of Christians, and read the open wording as a test:
Why is the power in the church now not the same as in the days of the apostles? Clearly because of man's unfaithfulness. The promise in Mark is not made to the apostles, but to those who believed through the apostles' ministry. It did follow those who believed, and that promise was fulfilled. It is left vague, because it was to be the proof of the church's faithfulness with what God entrusted to it — and the church failed.
- Name. The signs work in Christ's name. His going away cost His servants no power. They went out in the power of His resurrection.
- No rivals. Demons are cast out first. That announces Christ's supremacy over the powers behind the world's religions, just as God's judgments in Egypt fell on Egypt's gods.
- Nations. New tongues undo Babel. They carried God's works to the Jews at Pentecost and then to the Gentiles — a testimony of His grace towards all men.
- Not the preacher. The promise is tied to believing, not to a special experience first. And it was never given for all places and all times, so missing signs today prove nothing about anyone's faith.
- No clock. In Matthew the Lord promises His presence "to the end of the age." In Mark He sets no such limit on the signs. Writers differ on why the signs stopped: some say they had finished their work as credentials, others blame the unfaithfulness of Christians.
they shall take up serpents; and if they should drink any deadly thing it shall not injure them; they shall lay hands upon the infirm, and they shall be well.
Mark's Gospel ends with five signs promised to those who believe, and the two strangest of them sit in this verse. Readers ask what these signs meant, whether they happened, and whether they belong to believers today.
The serpent is not chosen at random. One writer takes it as the visible symbol of Satan's power in the world:
"They will pick up serpents with their hands" — the outward symbol of Satan's power in this world. Man has hated the snake by instinct since the fall, unless he is so foolish as to worship it. "And if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them." No power in nature, living or lifeless, could prevail against them. Instead, "they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." The good power in His name overcomes evil and drives it out.
Taken together, the promises form a pattern. One writer traces them all back to a single victory:
Picking up serpents, and taking no harm from any deadly drink, would fence life round against the sly attack of the destroyer. The miraculous healings showed power over the working of death in others. All of it together testified to the Lord's victory over Satan, over death, and over sin. Sin was what gave power to both death and Satan. Nothing that had not gone to the bottom of the question of sin could touch these.
The promise was not left as theory. Watching islanders once drew the wrong conclusion twice over:
Paul laid a bundle of sticks on the fire, and a viper, roused and angered by the heat, fastened on his hand. God arranged it to verify the promise of the Lord Jesus (Mark 16:18), and as a sign to the kind islanders. It was all the more a sign because at first they misread it and left God out, as unbelief so often does. When they saw the poisonous creature hanging from his hand, they were certain he must be a murderer who had escaped the sea only to meet just punishment. But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm. They watched long and in vain for violent swelling or sudden death. Then everything changed, and they called him a god.
The last sign in the verse is the gentlest. One writer sees in these signs a preview of the coming age:
The signs of Christianity are marked by kindness. They are samples of the power that in the coming age will banish the evil one and drive away the terrible effects of sin. Then mankind as a whole, and Israel above all, will sing, "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases" (Psalm 103:2-3). That day has not yet dawned on Israel and the nations. But meanwhile, to launch the good news and in honour of Him whom men crucified and God has now exalted in heaven, there was a display of the powers of the coming age wherever it seemed fitting. It showed not only power over a defeated enemy, but pity for his poor victim, suffering man.
The promise sets no time limit, and it never says the word "all." That silence carries weight:
The Lord tells His disciples that signs should follow those who believe... Notice that He does not say these signs would follow all who believe, or that they would continue for all time. The sign-gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:29-30 are not the same as the nourishing gifts of Ephesians 4:11. The sign-gifts came to the early church as a public testimony, to catch the attention of an unbelieving world. The church has broken down entirely in its responsibility. So the Lord no longer calls attention to a ruined church by outward and miraculous signs. But though the church has lost her outward ornaments, the Lord does not stop loving and feeding His body, and the gifts of Ephesians go on to the end.
People who claim these signs today pick and choose. One writer notes which parts they leave out:
It is telling that they stress the parts that suit them. They stress the speaking with tongues and the divine healing. They say little about casting out demons, and even less about picking up serpents and drinking poison. Even the most eager among them is not keen to put these last two to the test.
- Victory — every sign traces back to one triumph. Christ went to the bottom of the question of sin, so death and Satan lost their grip.
- Serpent — the snake stands for Satan's power in the world. In the hand of Christ's servant it did no harm.
- Shield — poison and venom could not cut the messenger's life short. God fenced him round until he had carried the message.
- Kindness — the signs never destroy. They heal, and give a taste of the age when God will sweep sin's effects away.
- Silence — Christ promised the signs would follow, but He named no time limit and did not say all believers. That silence warns us against demanding them, and against daring God to prove them.
The Lord therefore, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God.
Mark ends its account of the perfect Servant in two short lines. He speaks to His disciples, is taken up, and sits down. Three questions follow. Who received Him? What does the seat mean? And has a seated Christ stopped working?
The verse does not say He rose to heaven. It says He was received there. Someone else acted.
On earth He had been cast out, but He is received up into heaven. His works on earth had been refused, but now He takes His seat in a place of rule and power that nothing can resist. But the wording is that He was "received up," and so the stress falls here: both His welcome and His seat are due to an act of God. The perfect Servant may have been refused here, but by the act of God He takes the place of power, where nothing will stop His hand from carrying out what pleases the Lord.
Mark has traced a life of unbroken service; the welcome at the end matches it.
This high place had been kept for the devoted Servant of God, who served Him so faithfully on earth — right up to death, and even the death of the cross. Elijah had been faithful in his own measure in serving Jehovah, and God took him to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:1, 11). This pictured in advance the taking up of the Lord Jesus to heaven. But there is no word of the reception given to Elijah — how blessed was the reception given to the Son of God! Nothing but the greatest place in heaven was suitable for Him, so He sat down at the right hand of God.
Through most of this Gospel Mark writes simply "Jesus." The title "Lord" comes late, and the timing matters.
To me the absence of such a title earlier is a beauty in Mark, not a blemish. His work was to show the service of Jesus. But God has now vindicated His rejected Servant by the resurrection, and has made Him both "Lord" and Christ. Until now this Gospel had traced Him as the Servant, the Son of God. What could be more natural, or even necessary, than that it should now make Him known as "the Lord"?
The seat is not only honour. It rests on a sacrifice already made, and He took it once for all.
His ascension goes together with His sitting at the right hand of God. This was a thing done once. It did not need to be repeated, and Hebrews always speaks of it that way: "We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens"; "by His own blood He entered once into the holy place"; "but this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down forever" — or "has taken His seat in perpetuity" — "at the right hand of God."
The seat also has a future in view.
His sitting down proves that He has nothing more to do in that way for His friends. He now only waits "until His enemies are made His footstool."
The next verse refuses to leave Him idle, and that is exactly what makes this ending fit Mark.
The Servant who had stooped so low is lifted so high. There at the right hand of God He has taken His place — the Man in Glory. The work is finished. But the word "work" appears once more in this Gospel: "And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs." No other Gospel says that the risen One works with His servants. How fitting that the Holy Spirit placed it at the close of the Gospel of the Servant. He came from God to take the Servant's place. He served on earth. He sacrificed Himself for our sins. And now, as His servants go out to serve in His name, He still works with them.
Some have doubted that this ending is genuine. One answer looks at how well it fits the rest of Mark.
You might have thought there was rest in heaven now that Christ's work on earth was done, and done so perfectly... But not so. Mark's Gospel shows us Jesus as the workman of God, so even in the rest of glory He is the workman still... Would a forger have kept up the bold thought of "the Lord working with them," while every other word suggests that He was then at rest?
Each Gospel ends on a different note.
Matthew's Gospel closes with Christ remaining on earth, Mark's with His reigning in heaven, Luke's with His retiring from earth, and John's with His returning to earth.
- Refused — on earth the Servant was cast out. The welcome and the seat are God's own act, not a prize the world gave.
- Received — the welcome matched the service. Nothing less than the highest place in heaven suited Him.
- Renamed — the title "Lord" appears here because God had raised His rejected Servant and vindicated Him.
- Rested — He sat down. The sitting proves the one sacrifice is finished and needs no repeat. He now waits until His enemies are made His footstool.
- Resumed — the seat did not end His service: His people went out preaching, and He worked with them from there.
And they, going forth, preached everywhere, the Lord working with [them], and confirming the word by the signs following upon [it].
Mark's Gospel ends with two movements at once. The disciples go out across the world; the Lord works with them from heaven. What does that working mean, and what were the signs for?
The previous verse puts Christ at God's right hand; this one shows He has not stopped serving. Sitting down marks finished work, not retirement.
The work was done: He sat down. His great earthly work was over. He was the great Servant who could say, "I have finished the work which You gave Me to do." So He sat down at the right hand of God, the place of power. "And they went out and preached everywhere." Is the Lord, then, inactive? No — the Lord "worked with them." From the first verse of Mark to the last, Jesus is the One who does all things well. He worked for men in His life — or rather, for sinners. He suffered for sins in death. Even now He works with His servants, after He has gone up to heaven.
Mark has traced a servant's path all through. At the end the title "Lord" appears. The man who records it had once failed as a servant himself.
God had vindicated His rejected Servant by the resurrection. He had made Him both "Lord" and Christ. What could be more natural, or even necessary, than that the same Gospel which had so far traced Him as the Servant, Son of God, should now make Him known as "the Lord"? ... Now it was Mark's place, and only Mark's, to add that, while they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord was working with them. Jesus, even as Lord, is — if I may say so — servant still. Glorious truth! And whose hand was so suited to record it as his? He proved by sad experience how hard it is to be a faithful servant. He also proved that the grace of the Lord is enough to restore and strengthen the feeblest.
The preachers went; the results did not come from them.
His disciples did go out, preaching without boundaries or limits. But the power that gave force to their words and labours was His, and not theirs. From His high seat above He worked with them, and gave the signs He had promised... He gave these signs to confirm the word, and the word needed that confirmation most at the very start of its preaching.
The signs were not the message. They came after it, and they cut two ways.
The apostles go out to preach in the world. The Lord works with them, confirming the word with the signs that went along with it. Salvation depended on faith and the confession of Christ. Once the word was planted, the Lord bore witness to His truth by powerful signs. This made faith easier, and left unbelievers without excuse.
"Everywhere" is measured by the world as people knew it then.
The witness was universal within the world as people knew it then... Yet it was stated as a fact even then, because Christ's servants had gone out and preached everywhere in all the world as then known. So Mark 16:20 testifies.
Christ set no time span on the signs.
The Lord in this case does not say how long these signs were to last... but as for the signs of Mark 16, with wonderful wisdom He leaves out all mention of a period. All He said was that these signs were to follow; and so they did. He did not promise they were to be for five, or fifty, for a hundred, or five hundred years.
Commentators differ on what continues today. One answer is that the working never stopped — only its form changed:
The signs of verses 17 and 18 are rarely seen today. But signs do still follow the preaching — signs in the moral and spiritual realm: characters and lives wholly transformed. The perfect Servant at the right hand of God is working still.
The verse is not only history. It holds a promise for anyone the Lord sends out.
"And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them." Where do you and I preach? There is a great lesson in this, and we may take great encouragement. If the Lord tells you to go out with His Word, follow His guidance and leading simply. Then you will find Him working with you as He did with them then.
- Seated, still serving. The finished work let Him sit down; it did not make Him inactive. Mark opens with the Servant and closes with Him working still.
- Working with. The disciples did the going and the speaking. The power behind their words came from Him, at God's right hand.
- Confirming. The signs came after the word, not instead of it. They made faith easier and left unbelief without excuse.
- Everywhere. The preaching covered the world as people then knew it. The commission was a fact, not a wish.
- Following. Christ set no time limit on the signs, and commentators differ over what continues. One thing is sure: the Servant at God's right hand still works with those He sends.