The Lord used
these figures of speech to draw attention to His appreciation of all that is
ever given up for His sake and the gospel's and to show what a sharp eye He
keeps on each surrender to ensure subsequent rewards.
Each item in the
first list is repeated in the second list, except for fathers and wives.
A disciple of the Lord, cut off from home and hearth, can have any number of
sisters and brothers and so on; he is promised ten thousand such. He does not
need multiplied fathers because he already has a Father in heaven. It would
have been inappropriate to promise him ten thousand wives!
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Having listed
the marvelous return on one's investment in the cause and work of Christ, the
Lord adds "with persecutions" — just in case someone should simply want to
get in on only the benefits.
But there is more!
There is all this and heaven too!
But many that
are first shall be last; and the last first. (10:31)
The Lord now looks
ahead to "the crowning day that's coming by and by," when some startling revelations
will occur. People we have seen reigning as kings down here will find themselves
set aside up there. Many people whom we regard as nobility down here are not
known as great aristocrats in heaven. The prophet Samuel discovered this principle
when God sent him to choose a king from among Jesse's sons. They were handsome
boys. When the oldest, in all of his natural magnificence, was first to stand
before him, he thought for sure that here was one who was every inch a king.
The Lord said to him, "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his
stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for
man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart" (1
Sam. 16:7). Eliab would have been no more use in the Valley of Elah than King
Saul — who had been chosen by the people to be king of Israel simply because
he was so big (1 Sam. 9:1-2; 18:22, 28).
_____________________
Adapted
from Exploring the Gospel of Mark: An Expository Commentary by John Phillips.
Used by permission of Kregel Publications. The John Phillips Commentary Series
from Kregel is available at your local or online Christian bookseller, or contact
Kregel at (800) 733-2607.
_____________________
John
Phillips is a popular preacher and Bible study leader who now resides in Bowling
Green, KY.
