The Marching Orders of the King Text: Mark 16:14-18
Introduction: From Rebuke to Commission
The Lord Jesus, having conquered sin, death, and the grave, does not gather His disciples for a quiet, reflective seminar on theological advancements. He appears to them in the midst of their doubt, their fear, and their hardness of heart, and He gives them their marching orders. But we must not miss the crucial first step. Before the commission comes the rebuke. Before the "Go" comes the "Woe." This is not the sentimental Jesus of our modern evangelical imagination. This is the resurrected King, and He will not send out ambassadors who are crippled by unbelief. He must first perform some sharp, loving surgery on their hearts.
We live in a time that is allergic to rebuke. We prefer affirmation, encouragement, and the stroking of our fragile egos. But the Lord loves His disciples too much to leave them in their funk. Their unbelief was a direct contradiction of the testimony He had provided. Mary Magdalene and the others had seen Him. The evidence was in. But the disciples were huddled in a room, more persuaded by their fears than by the facts. Their hearts were hard, not in the sense of outright rebellion, but in the sense of being slow, dull, and resistant to the glorious truth of the resurrection. This is a condition that frequently afflicts the church. We profess to believe in an omnipotent, risen Savior, but we live like practical atheists, cowed by the morning headlines and the latest cultural insanities.
So Jesus rebukes them. He confronts their sin head-on. And it is out of this loving confrontation that the Great Commission is born. He is clearing the ground. He is preparing them to be vessels fit for the Master's use. The commission to go into all the world is not given to self-confident, polished professionals. It is given to forgiven doubters. It is given to men who have just been taken to the woodshed by the Lord of glory. And this is a profound encouragement for us. Our own unbelief and hardness of heart do not disqualify us from the mission, provided we are willing to receive the Lord's rebuke and move forward in faith. The same grace that rebukes is the grace that commissions.
This passage, then, is not just a command; it is the foundational charter for the new creation. It outlines the church's mission, message, and the divine power that will accompany that mission until the end of the age. This is the blueprint for world conquest, not by sword or by political maneuvering, but by the foolishness of preaching.
The Text
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. And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; and 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."
(Mark 16:14-18 LSB)
The Necessary Rebuke (v. 14)
We begin with the Lord's sharp correction.
"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." (Mark 16:14)
Jesus appears to them while they are eating, a common, ordinary activity. The resurrection is not a mystical, ethereal thing; it invades the mundane realities of life. But the mood is not celebratory. He "reproached" them. This is a strong word. It means to censure, to rebuke, to call out a fault. What was their fault? Two things: unbelief and hardness of heart.
Their unbelief was culpable. It was not an intellectual difficulty with the evidence; it was a moral refusal to accept the testimony of credible witnesses. God had provided the evidence, but they had dismissed it. This is the nature of much unbelief today. It parades itself as intellectual skepticism, but at its root, it is a moral problem. It is a love of darkness rather than light. The disciples should have known better. They had His word, and now they had the word of the eyewitnesses. Their failure to believe was a sin, and Jesus treats it as such.
This unbelief stemmed from "hardness of heart." This is not the hardness of a Pharaoh, but the hardness of a disciple whose heart has become calloused and slow to believe good news. It is a spiritual dullness. Grief, fear, and disappointment had conspired to make their hearts impenetrable to the joy of the resurrection. We must be on guard against this in our own lives. A love of smooth words and a reluctance to face hard truths can lead to a soft theology, which in turn produces hard hearts. God's Word is a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces (Jer. 23:29), and we need its sharp blows to keep our hearts tender and receptive to Him. This rebuke was an act of mercy, designed to shatter their unbelief and prepare them for the monumental task ahead.
The Global Mandate (v. 15)
From the rebuke, Jesus moves immediately to the commission.
"And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.'" (Mark 16:15 LSB)
This is the central command. The verb "Go" sets the church in motion. We are a sent people. Christianity is not a static, private religion for the comfort of a holy huddle. It is an invasive, expansionist, global movement. The scope is breathtaking: "all the world." No corner of the globe is exempt. No culture is off-limits. The gospel is not a tribal religion for Middle Easterners; it is the truth for every man, everywhere.
The task is to "preach the gospel." The gospel is the good news that the King has come, that He died for the sins of His people, that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day, conquering death and disarming the principalities and powers. It is the announcement of a historical fact with cosmic implications. And this gospel is to be preached to "all creation." This is a fascinating phrase. It certainly includes every human being, but it also suggests that the gospel has implications for the entire created order. The redemption Christ purchased is not just for souls, but for the cosmos itself, which groans in travail, awaiting the revealing of the sons of God (Romans 8:19-22).
This command is the engine of our postmillennial hope. We are not engaged in a holding action, trying to rescue a few souls from a sinking ship. We are on the offensive. Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18), and on that basis, He sends us out to disciple the nations. This is a task that will be successful. The knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. This commission is not a "Great Suggestion." It is the King's command, and it will be accomplished.
The Two Destinies (v. 16)
Jesus then lays out the two possible responses to the gospel, and their eternal consequences.
"He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned." (Mark 16:16 LSB)
Here we have the great hinge of salvation: faith. "He who has believed...shall be saved." Salvation is by grace through faith. It is a gift received, not a wage earned. But notice that faith and baptism are linked. The normal, ordinary, expected response of a new believer in the New Testament is to be baptized. Baptism is the sign and seal of the covenant. It is the public enlistment in the army of the King. It is where God formally applies His name to us.
This does not mean that baptism itself saves, in the sense of a magical water ritual. The thief on the cross was saved without it. The crucial element is faith. Notice the second half of the verse: "he who has disbelieved shall be condemned." It does not say, "he who is not baptized shall be condemned." The sin that condemns is unbelief. However, a refusal to be baptized when one is able is a clear sign of unbelief. It is to refuse to put on the uniform of the King. In the ordinary run of things, faith and baptism go together like a wedding vow and a wedding ring. The ring doesn't make you married, but a refusal to wear it says a great deal about your view of the vow.
The alternative to salvation is stark: "condemned." There is no middle ground. There is no third way. To reject the gospel is not to remain in a state of neutrality. It is to remain under the just condemnation of God. We must preach this with clarity and compassion. To soften this warning is not love; it is malpractice.
The Signs of Conquest (v. 17-18)
Finally, Jesus promises that supernatural signs will accompany the advance of the gospel.
"And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; and 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." (Mark 16:17-18 LSB)
These verses have been the source of much confusion and, frankly, much foolishness. We must approach them with biblical sobriety. These are "signs." A sign points to something else. These miracles are not the goal; they are authenticating markers that the kingdom of God has arrived in power. They are the initial artillery barrages in the invasion of Satan's territory.
These signs were clustered around the apostolic age for a particular reason: to authenticate the message and the messengers of the New Testament. Just as there were clusters of miracles around Moses (the Law) and Elijah/Elisha (the Prophets), so there was a cluster around Christ and the Apostles (the Gospel). This does not mean that God no longer heals or performs miracles. He is God; He can do as He pleases. But it does mean that we do not have individuals with the "gift" of miracle-working in the same way the apostles did. The signs that mark an apostle were signs, wonders, and mighty deeds (2 Cor. 12:12).
Let's look at the specific signs. "Cast out demons": The gospel is a direct assault on the kingdom of darkness. "Speak with new tongues": This was fulfilled at Pentecost and was a sign of the gospel going to all nations, reversing the curse of Babel. "Pick up serpents": Paul experienced this on Malta (Acts 28). This is not a command to go looking for rattlesnakes to prove your faith; it is a promise of divine protection in the course of faithful ministry. "Drink any deadly poison": This is a similar promise of protection. "Lay hands on the sick, and they will recover": The book of Acts is filled with examples of this. These signs demonstrated that the power of the new creation was breaking into the old, fallen world. The gospel is not just a set of ideas; it is power. It is the power of God for salvation, a power that brings healing and deliverance not just to the soul, but ultimately to the body and the whole creation as well.
Conclusion: Our Unchanging Orders
The world has changed dramatically since these words were first spoken. Empires have risen and fallen. Cultures have come and gone. But these marching orders have not been rescinded. They are still in effect. The church is still under command to go, to preach, to baptize, and to teach.
We are to go into our world, into our neighborhoods, into our workplaces, and into the public square, and we are to preach the gospel. We are to announce that Jesus Christ is King. We are to call all men everywhere to repent of their unbelief and to be baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are to do this with confidence, knowing that the King who gave the command is the same King who accompanies us by His Spirit. The signs of His power may not look the same today as they did in the first century, but the central sign, the conversion of a sinner, is the greatest miracle of all.
Let us therefore shake off our unbelief and hardness of heart. Let us receive the Lord's rebuke, if we need it. And then let us get on with the task. The world is waiting. The commission is clear. The King is with us. Let us go.