Ryle on Mark 10:28-34

Imported boundary: J. C. Ryle's Expository Thoughts on Mark from the Internet Archive DjVu OCR for the 1858 Robert Carter St. Mark volume. Title pages, preface, contents, running heads, page numbers, OCR boilerplate, and indexes are not mirrored. The source includes Ryle's printed Scripture text and exposition; this scan-derived text remains needs-verification.

Primary passage: Mark 10:28-34.

Source Text

28 Then Peter "began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. 29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my sake, and the Gospel's, 30 But he shall receive an hundred- fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with perse- cutions- and in the world to come eternal life. 31 But many that are first shall be last : and the last first. 32 And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem ; and Jesus went before them ; and they were amazed ; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what thins should happen unto him, 33 Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem ; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the Chief Priest?, and unto the Scribes ; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall de- liver him tothe Gentiles : 34 And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him : and the third day he shall rise again.

The first thing which demands our attention in these verses, is the glorious promise which they contain. The Lord Jesus says to His apostles, " Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the Gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions ; and in the world to come eternal life." There are few wider promises than this in the word of God. There is none certainly in the New Testament which holds out such encouragement for the life that now is. Let every one that is fe.arful and faint-hearted in Christ's service look at this promise. Let all who are enduring hardness and tribulation for Christ's sake, study this promise well; and drink out of it comfort. To all who make sacrifices on account of the Gospel, Jesus promises " an hundred-fold now in this time." They shall have not only pardon and glory in the world to come. They shall have even here upon earth, hopes, and joys, and sensible comforts sufficient to make up for all that they lose. They shall find in the communion of saints, new friends, new relations, new companions, more loving, faithful, and valuable than any they had before their conversion. Their introduction into the family of God shall be an abundant recompense for ex- clusion from the society of this world. This may sound startling and incredible to many ears. But thousands have found by experience that it is true. To all who make sacrifices on account of the Gospel, Jesus promises " eternal life in the world to come." As soon as they put off their earthly tabernacle, they shall enter upon a glorious existence, and in the morning of the resurrection shall receive such honor and joy as pass man's understanding. Their light afflictions for a few years shall end in an everlasting reward. Their fights and sorrows while in the body, shall be exchanged for perfect rest and a conqueror's crown. They shall dwell in a world where there is no death, no sin, no devil, no cares, no weeping, no parting, for the former things will have passed away. God has said it, and it shall all be found true. Where is the saint who will dare to say in the face of these glorious promises, that there is no encouragement 213 to serve Christ ? Where is the man or woman whose hands are beginning to hang down, and whose knees are beginning to faint in the Christian race ? Let all such ponder this passage, and take fresh courage. The time is short. The end is sure. Heaviness may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Let us wait patiently on the Lord.

The second thing, which demands our attention in these verses, is the solemn warning which they contain. The Lord Jesus saw the secret self-conceit of His apostles. He gives them a word in season to check their high thoughts. " Many that are first shall be last, and the last first." How true were these words, when applied to the twelve apostles ! There stood among those who heard our Lord speak, a man who at one time seemed likely to be one of the foremost of the twelve. He was one who appeared more careful and trustworthy than any. He had the charge of the bag, and kept what was put in it. And yet that man fell away and came to a disgraceful end. His name was Judas Iscariot. Again, there did not stand among our Lord's hearers that day one who at a later period did more for Christ than any of the twelve. At the time when our Lord spoke he was a young Pha- risee, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and zealous for nothing so much as the law. And yet that young man in the end was converted to the faith of Christ, was not behind the chiefest apostles, and labored more abund- antly than all. His name was Saul. Well might our Lord say, " the first shall be last ; and the last first." How true were these words, when we apply them to the history of Christian churches ! There was a time when Asia Minor, and Greece, and Northern Africa, were full of professing Christians, while England and America were heathen lands. Sixteen hundred years have made a mighty change. The churches of Africa and Asia have fallen into complete decay. The English and American churches are laboring to spread the Gos- pel over the world. Well might our Lord say, "the first shall be last, and the last first/' How true these words appear to believers, when they look back over their own lives, and remember all they have seen from the time of their own conversion ! How many began to serve Christ at the same time with them- selves and seemed to run well for a season. But where are they now ? The world has got hold of one. False doctrine has beguiled another. A mistake in marriage has spoiled a third. Few indeed are the believers who cannot call to mind many such cases. Few have failed to discover, by sorrowful experience, that " the last are often first, and the first last."

Let us learn to pray for humility, when we read texts like this. It is not enough to begin well.

We must persevere, and go on, and continue in well-doing.

We must not be content with the fair blossoms of a few religious convictions, and joys, and sorrows, and hopes, and fears.

We must bear the good fruit of settled habits of repentance, faith, and holiness. Happy is he who counts the cost, and resolves, having once begun to walk in the narrow way, by God's grace never to turn aside.

The last thing that demands our attention in this pas- sage, is our Lord's clear foreknowledge of His own sufferings and death. Calm]y and deliberately He tells His disci- ples of His coining passion at Jerusalem. One after another He describes all the leading circumstances which would attend His death. Nothing is reserved. Nothing is kept back.

Let us mark this well. There was nothing involun- tary and unforeseen in our Lord's death. It was the result of his own free, determinate, and deliberate choice. From the beginning of His earthly ministry He saw the cross before Him, and went to it a willing sufferer. He knew that His death was the needful payment that must be made to reconcile God and man. That payment He had covenanted and engaged to make at the price of His own blood. And so when the appointed time came, like a faithful surety, He kept His word, and died for our sius on Calvary. Let us ever bless God that the Gospel sets before us such a Saviour, so faithful to the terms of the covenant - so ready to suffer - so willing to be reckoned sin, and a curse in our stead. Let us not doubt that He who fulfilled his engagement to suffer, will also fulfil His engagement to save all who come to Him. Let us not only accept Him gladly as our Redeemer and Advocate, but gladly give ourselves, and all we have, to His ser- vice. Surely, if Jesus cheerfully died for us, it is a small thing to require Christians to live for Him.