Life-study of Mark

Witness Lee

Sep 2023 · Life-study of the New Testament (2nd edition) Book 2 · Living Stream Ministry

About this ebook

Matthew, Mark, and Luke are synoptic in portraying the Savior’s humanity in different aspects with His deity. In the Life-study of Mark, Witness Lee leads the reader into Mark’s perspective and purpose in composing his Gospel, and he shows how Mark’s particular presentation of Christ applies to the believers’ experience of Christ. Witness Lee shows that in his Gospel, Mark presents the Savior as a slave. He explains that Mark does not tell the Savior’s genealogy and status, because the ancestry of a slave is not worthy of note. He further shows that in contrast to Matthew, who presents to us the Savior’s marvelous teachings and parables concerning the heavenly kingdom, and John, who presents His profound revelations of the divine truths, Mark’s intention is not to impress us with the Slave’s wonderful words, but with His excellent deeds in His gospel service.

Mark’s Gospel provides more details than the other Gospels in order to portray the Slave-Savior’s diligence, faithfulness, and other virtues in the saving service He rendered to sinners for God. In Mark’s Gospel are the fulfillment of the prophecies in Isa. 42:1-4, 6-7; 49:5-7; 50:4-7; 52:13–53:12 concerning Christ as the Slave of God. His diligence in labor, His need of food and rest, His anger, His groaning, and His affection display beautifully His humanity in its virtue and perfection, while His lordship, His omniscience, His miraculous power, and His authority to cast out demons to forgive sins, and to silence the wind and the sea manifest in full His deity in its glory and honor. What a Slave of God! How lovely and admirable! Such a Slave served sinners as their Slave-Savior, with His life as their ransom, for the fulfillment of the eternal purpose of God, whose Slave He was.

About the author

Born in 1905 in northern China, Witness Lee was raised in a Christian family and educated in English-speaking schools. At the age of 19 he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and consecrated himself to preach the gospel. Early in his service, Witness Lee met Watchman Nee and began to labor together with him. In 1949 Witness Lee was sent by Watchman Nee to Taiwan to ensure that the things delivered to them by the Lord would be preserved. In 1962 Witness Lee came to the United States and began to minister here. He ministered in weekly conferences, delivering several thousand spoken messages until 1997. He gave his last public conference in February 1997 at the age of 91. His major work, Life-study of the Bible, comprises over 25,000 pages of commentary on every book of the Bible from the perspective of the believers' enjoyment and experience of God's divine life in Christ through the Spirit.