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!

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).

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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.

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John Phillips is a popular preacher and Bible study leader who now resides in Bowling Green, KY.