Mark 16:19 - Meaning and Application

Here we see, first, Christ received into the heavenly world (Mark 16:19). After the Lord had said all he intended to say to his disciples, he went up into heaven in a cloud, as is described more fully in (Acts 1:9). He did not merely gain entrance there, he entered with honor into his kingdom. He was taken up and welcomed in royal glory, with the praise of the heavenly host. Then he sat at the right hand of God.

To sit means rest, because his work was finished. It also means rule, because he then took up his kingdom. To sit at the right hand of God means the highest honor and authority. It shows the sovereign dignity Christ has been given, and the full authority he now carries out. Whatever God does for us, gives to us, or accepts from us, he does through his Son. Now Christ is glorified with the glory he had with the Father before the world began.

We also see Christ welcomed in this lower world, in the way people believed his message and he was received into glory, as in (1 Timothy 3:16). The apostles worked hard for him. They went out and preached everywhere, near and far. Their message was spiritual and heavenly, and it went against the spirit of the world. It faced strong opposition, and it had no support from wealth or power. Even so, the preachers were neither afraid nor ashamed. They worked so faithfully that, within a few years, the message spread to the ends of the earth, as in (Romans 10:18).

God also worked with them to make their labor fruitful. He confirmed the word with signs that followed, partly through miracles done on people’s bodies, which served as divine proof of Christian teaching, and partly through the effect of the message on people’s minds by the Holy Spirit, as in (Hebrews 2:4). These were truly signs that followed the word, the reforming of the world, the destruction of idolatry, the conversion of sinners, and the comfort of believers. These signs still follow the gospel, and we should pray that they may continue more and more, for Christ’s honor and the good of all people. So the evangelist ends with prayer, and teaches us to say Amen. Father in heaven, may your name be honored, and may your kingdom come.