Mark 8:34 And He called the crowd to Him with His disciples and said to them, If anyone wants to follow after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
To follow after the Lord is to have Him, to experience Him, to enjoy Him, and to partake of Him. If we want to gain the Lord in this way, experiencing Him, enjoying Him, and partaking of Him, we must deny ourselves. If we would have the Lord, then we must go, we must deny ourselves. In previous eMannas on the Lord's exposing the condition of our heart, at the end of chapter seven we do not have the solution to man's inward condition. Here in chapter eight we have the solution. The solution is that, as a fallen person with an evil heart, we must have Christ. We must follow Him, partake of Him, enjoy Him, and experience Him. Then He Himself will be the "medicine" to heal our evil heart. Therefore, the solution to the condition of our evil heart is Christ Himself. In chapter eight of Mark we have a revelation not only concerning the wonderful Person of Christ, but also concerning His marvelous death. In His death we are crucified, terminated, annulled. Hence, when we come to partake of Him, we need to deny ourselves; that is, we need to put ourselves aside and forget ourselves. According to the revelation regarding Christ's death in Paul's Epistles, Christ went through the process of death for God and for us. His all-inclusive death dealt with sins, our sinful nature, the self, our flesh, the old creation, the Devil, the world, and all the ordinances. Through the all-inclusive death of Christ, we have been terminated. Now if we would enjoy Christ and partake of Him, we need to realize that we have already been terminated. Based upon the fact that we have been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20), we should deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow the Lord. (c) Living Stream Ministry.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Mark, pp. 217-219. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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