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.