Mark 16:18, commentary and pictures

The risen Christ spoke these words to the eleven just before He was taken up to sit at God's right hand, commanding them to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature with salvation to him that believes and damnation to him that believes not. He promised that signs shall follow them that believe, that they shall take up serpents without harm and drink deadly poison without hurt, and shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover, together with casting out devils and speaking with new tongues. This protection and healing is not limited to the apostles but extends to all believers for as long as the gospel commission continues, with the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the Holy Spirit. The promise is claimed by living faith that abides in Christ under the Holy Spirit with humility and consecration, presenting the sick to God in prayer while also using nature's remedies and teaching health, rather than carrying faith healing to extremes. Healing the sick will attend the final worldwide proclamation under the latter rain to bring souls to decision, yet miracles alone do not prove a work is from God because Satan also works lying wonders.

Commission Setting and Wording

The risen Christ spoke these words to the eleven disciples just before He was received up into heaven to sit at the right hand of God, after rebuking their hardness of heart for not believing those who had seen Him risen, and after His blessing at Bethany on His return to His heavenly home. He commanded them to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, preaching repentance and remission of sins among all nations beginning at Jerusalem, teaching all nations, baptizing and teaching obedience. To him that believes and is baptized belongs salvation, and to him that believes not belongs damnation. With this sending went the promise of power from on high and of His presence always even to the end of the world.

The verse promises three signs that shall follow them that believe: they shall take up serpents without harm, if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them, and they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Together with these stand casting out devils in His name and speaking with new tongues. These signs are to be literally fulfilled through Christ's appointed agents as they preach the gospel, and they belong alongside faith, baptism, and salvation in the commission, not restricted to a particular age of the Christian church. They show divine protection and healing power attending gospel work, given to gospel workers whose new hearts give them new words as they go everywhere preaching.

After speaking these words the Lord was received up, and He worked with the disciples as they went forth and preached everywhere, confirming the word with signs following. The Holy Spirit bore confirmation of the truth when the Word was ministered under God's supervision, and then the work is accompanied with results because the Word is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. The signs give assurance for the great and solemn work now of preaching the Word and canvassing, that God works through those who are true and whole-hearted, that with God nothing is impossible, and that His sufficiency meets the work.

The verse places protection from serpents and deadly poison and healing through laying hands on the sick among the signs accompanying believers sent to preach the gospel in Christ's name. These signs confirmed the Lord's work with those who preached and confirmed the gospel message, making practical healing part of the gospel commission. They belong to the spiritual gifts manifested in the Christian age.

The commission continues Christ's first missionary charge to preach that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and cast out devils freely. Physical healing is a science of heavenly birth bound up with the gospel commission, joining preaching with physical healing and giving men and women today opportunity and authority to minister to sin-sick souls and to those needing physical healing. The presentation is the alpha and omega of knowledge, the textbook ministers, physicians, youth and all church members must study most earnestly to avoid foundationless theories. When physicians are diligent students of it and ministers live in accordance with it, the truth will be proclaimed with power and souls will be converted, for the day for working as the apostles worked is not past.

Jesus gave His disciples power to perform miracles and promised divine protection so wicked men could persecute their bodies but their lives would be preserved until their testimony was complete. Afterward they might be killed for the testimony they had borne. The same commission requires converted believers clustered together to hear and heed it by dispersing and preaching the gospel everywhere. Neglect of this going-forth work leaves churches weakened and lifeless, weakened by much labor and many plans to keep them alive, and doing this work breaks up that state.

Doing it means feeling responsibility for neighbors and entering neglected unworked fields and unworked cities to make centers of truth and places centers of truth, opening new fields and preaching to those who have not heard the truth. It requires planting memorials for God in Washington, D.C., the capital and heart of the nation, giving there the full rays of present truth and the proclamation that the kingdom of God is at hand, teaching lawmakers and people God's law as the foundation of all right laws, and giving the light on health reform through a sanitarium. It requires putting all forces into solid work in dark diseased neglected places in humble simplicity, cooperating with Him as the great Medical Missionary with the promise of Christ's presence and His working with them to accomplish His great work. This outlines the work of the members of the church of God, and the passage connects that commission with the church's calling to serve as God's consecrated agency for the spiritual recovery of humanity, in unity, zeal, and devotion.

Protection from Deadly Harm

The promise guards the disciples of Jesus when their lives are endangered, including endangerment by poisoning. Their safety and their work do not rest on their own strength but on the power of the Holy Spirit, and Christ gives that power, protection, and healing to believers who go to teach all nations. The help needed in warfare against error and darkness does not come from human beings but from Christ, to whom all power in heaven and earth is given, and the promise is claimed by looking to Him and placing confidence in Him rather than turning to uncertain, dependent human beings. The signs of taking up serpents without harm, drinking deadly things without harm, and recovery of the sick through laying on of hands follow them that believe and confirm their testimony of Christ and His resurrection.

Being specially guarded against deadly drink met a real and present danger. Poisoning was widely practiced by ambitious and unscrupulous people to remove those who stood in the way of ambition. Even deluded people who thought they were doing God service might seek to put Christ's witnesses to death by any means, including poison.

Protection from serpents was fulfilled as in the case of Paul. A venomous viper fastened upon his hand, yet he was unharmed despite the islanders' expectation that he would die. His survival gave him influence among the people, which he used to lead them to the gospel. Such protection from serpents and deadly drink, together with healing of the sick, belongs to the signs and wonders confirming the testimony about Jesus and His resurrection, both through the apostles and through those who receive their message.

God still protects His believing people from deadly things taken in eating and drinking in ways too many to count. This comes through God's miracle-working power, with gospel truth expelling Satan's dark workings on human minds and healing many bodies.

Healing by Laying On Hands

The promise is that disciples may lay hands on the sick and the sick will recover, and it remains trustworthy as the privilege of God's children to claim by faith. Christ Himself works through His servants as channels of His healing power as they present the sick to God in faith and teach them to trust the great Healer. The miracle is done by the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer, not by human power, for the one who prays is not the miracle-worker. Those who pray therefore call upon God the miracle-worker and give Him the glory and praise when healing comes, and bodily affliction almost unto death is Satan's oppression seeking to take life, driven back by united prayer to God in faith so that healing power comes down and the afflicted are made whole, without which balm in Gilead and Physician they would perish.

Healing bodily disease in Jesus' name testifies to His power to heal the soul as well as the body, and confirms the testimony of the disciples and those who receive their message. It is connected with Christ as the risen Saviour and great Restorer who longs to save fully those who come to Him, and who is willing to heal as when on earth. The gospel still has power to bring physical healing and spiritual healing, including conviction of sin. Those who care for the sick are therefore to minister in trust in His power for recovery, using remedies provided in nature, teaching how to preserve and regain health, presenting the suffering to Christ in faith, and praying for His healing power.

Caring for physical health prepares people to receive the gospel, so healing the afflicted belongs to the commission of Christ's representatives to minister to both soul and body. Medical missionary work is pioneer gospel work under that commission, including giving simple treatments to relieve pain and disease and teaching health principles that prevent illness and restore health. Laying hands on the sick so they may recover was Christ's final instruction to the apostles as His representatives on earth, and healing the afflicted was a central and major part of His own work entrusted to them alongside preaching. Ministering to the sick and afflicted and relieving their needs in this way is service Christ will commend when He comes.

The promise has been illustrated by remarkable answers to prayer in critical illness, when laying hands on the head in prayer as an act of faith brought immediate improvement to a gravely ill husband. Henry was anointed and prayed over with hands laid on him and recovered rapidly, attributed to God's answer to prayer and the power of His promises. Clarissa Bonfoey was healed after Hiram Edson laid hands on her in the name of the Lord. A child carried to Jesus in prayer had his disease rebuked in Jesus' name so that it stopped progressing, yet he remained weak and unable to eat, so faith was still tested.

Recipients Through All Time

The promised signs are not confined to the apostles nor to any one age of the Christian church. They belong alongside the preaching of the gospel, faith, baptism and salvation in the commission, with no stated time limit, and run as long as that commission to preach continues. The promise extends to believers and to all who receive their message, reaching even the last believer. The words spoken to the disciples are spoken to believers now also, joining preaching with physical healing, so the day for working as the apostles worked is not past and men and women today have opportunity and authority to minister to sin-sick souls and to those needing physical healing. That present work follows Christ's example and His first charge to preach that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and cast out devils freely, since physical healing is a science of heavenly birth bound up with the gospel commission and was fulfilled when the disciples went forth everywhere with the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following.

The promise extends as far as the commission itself. No single believer is promised every gift, for the Spirit gives gifts to each person according to the needs of the Lord's work. These signs remain the privilege of God's children, and faith may claim the gifts needed in service.

The signs accompany believers as they carry the gospel — protection from serpents and deadly drink and recovery of the sick through laying on of hands — and confirm the preached word as the Lord works with those who proclaim it. They are to be literally fulfilled through Christ's appointed agents, and Christ works through the Holy Spirit to make the preached Word powerful and bring people to faith and obedience. Christ's servants labor in reliance on His power, not their own, as He accompanies the proclamation with power.

This power of the Holy Spirit among Christ's disciples includes healing the sick through prayer and the laying on of hands and rebuking and casting out devils and evil spirits. It would have remained with the church if it had retained its holy and distinct character, making it mighty and feared by its enemies, even a terror to them. Lack of faith is why more of that power has not been seen. Believers should expect the promise to be fulfilled and seek God's power in faith, for these signs are connected with Christ's gift of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens, converts and sanctifies.

Conditions for Receiving Power

The promise holds just as fresh and strong and trustworthy now as in the days of the apostles, and it is the privilege of all God's children to claim it by faith as an endorsement of faith. The sick and suffering are to be presented before God in the arms of faith, taught to believe in the great Healer, and brought to God in prayer pleading the promise for relief and for a revelation of God's healing power. The need of faith in God for healing is to be revived and kept before the church, the almost extinct realization of this privilege restored, and this part of the commission brought into practical life with as great force as the preaching of the Word. The signs follow those who stop holding themselves in their own hands and drop self into the hands of God with increasing faith rather than losing faith.

Those who believe in this way are kept unharmed by snakes and by any deadly drink and bring recovery to the sick when they lay hands on them. Healing of the infirmities of soul and body, with signs following those who believe, comes when believers get out of self and abide in Christ under the control of the Holy Spirit, with consecrated sanctified zeal purged from selfishness. Gospel truth expels Satan's dark workings on human minds and heals many bodies, and God protects His believing people from deadly things taken in eating and drinking in ways too many to count. Laying hands on the sick brings recovery when God hears prayer offered for those who will give Him the glory. Hundreds of sick people in every place would be healed if their hearts were humbled and meek so they would not be spoiled or exalted by the manifestation of God's goodness and love.

Healing by God's immediate power comes when the healed will remain humble, use the gift rightly, and learn from Christ His meekness and lowliness of heart, allowing the Lord to work by His Holy Spirit on the body and show His immediate power through living faith. Lack of great humility of heart and danger of self-glorification keeps the Lord from entrusting His blessing to many. Every true worker living out this promise will redouble earnest, sanctified exertion wherever Christ's cause has a claim and God's people have necessities to be met, doing much more good to those who need healing. Carrying faith healing to an extreme has greatly hurt the subject.

Those who care for the sick should use remedies provided in nature, teach how to preserve and regain health, present the suffering to Christ in faith, and pray for His healing power. The promise of healing calls for living faith in God's power and prayer for divine help, alongside rational medical care. Sanitariums and remedies do not replace reliance on Christ, the great Healer. In the darkness of error and the warfare of Satan and his angels against the truth, the help needed does not come from human beings but from Christ, to whom all power in heaven and earth is given.

This promise is to be claimed by looking to Christ and placing confidence in Him, the Mighty Counsellor standing among His people, instead of casting burdens on overworked men who are themselves wholly dependent on God and cannot give the help needed, and instead of turning to uncertain, dependent human beings for help. To receive the promised power for preaching so mightily that thousands are converted in a day, believers must fulfill the commission and place themselves where God can give the power, warning their fellow beings instead of leaving them unwarned. This means feeling responsibility for neighbors, prayerfully taking up the work at hand, and doing earnest, sanctified, evangelical work for the unenlightened, entering unworked cities, making places centers of truth, and bringing Bible truth before many to prepare a people to stand in the day of the Lord. Expecting Heaven's approval while leaving others unwarned is impossible.

Final Proclamation and Deception

Healing the sick belongs among the signs that accompany believers in the final worldwide proclamation of the gospel, when God's servants will perform miracles and the sick will be healed. In the worldwide proclamation of the third message under the loud cry, miracles and healings will follow the believers' work, with mighty miracles wrought and signs and wonders following those who believe. These signs help bring the inhabitants of the earth to a decision. They attend the call that draws sincere people out of fallen churches and strengthens them to stand with those keeping God's commandments.

At the close of the gospel work this promise is manifested in the latter rain, when believers proclaim the warning with power, the sick are healed, and signs and wonders follow them. The same promise is reflected in a reformatory movement in which the sick are healed and other miracles are wrought.

Satan also performs lying wonders, so miraculous signs alone do not establish that a work is from God. He will perform deceptive wonders, including bringing fire down from heaven, so signs alone do not distinguish God's work from deception, while he produces counterfeit wonders to mislead people. Such spiritual power and signs, cited alongside casting out demons, can occur in the last days, confirming the word as Christ works with those who preach. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit believers receive marvelous power and their testimony is confirmed by signs and wonders, including taking up serpents, drinking deadly things without harm, and healing the sick by laying hands on them, wrought not only by the apostles but by all who receive their message.

Medical Ministry in Practice

Physical healing belongs to gospel work itself, for the laying on of hands upon the sick that they may recover stands inside Christ's commission to His disciples and accompanies the preaching of the word through the Lord's working. The rich and wonderful provisions of the gospel include medical missionary work, which belongs to the third angel's message as the right arm belongs to the body, serving it under Christ and never to be made the head. That medical missionary work is pioneer soul-saving work, carrying out Christ's work by ministering to both soul and body through giving simple treatments to relieve pain and disease and teaching health principles that prevent illness and restore health. It is needed in new fields, where miracle-working power goes with the medical missionary who works understandingly.

Christ's own healing work continues through trained medical missionaries, gospel medical missionaries, missionary nurses, and the Christian physician as a missionary, who in His name may perform miracles and treat the sick and injured. They pray for the sick, minister to their needs with nature's remedies, teach how to preserve and regain health and avoid disease, present the suffering to Christ in faith, and pray for His healing power. That healing includes physical and spiritual restoration together, for Christ's healing can convict of sin and bring healing to the soul as well as to the body.

This ministry comes through direct contact and personal ministry by which the blessings of the gospel are communicated to those in need and to the lost. It is an individual work that cannot be done by proxy and is not to be left to committees or organized charities, requiring individual responsibility, individual effort, personal sacrifice, and direct personal ministry. No one is debarred from ministering, for protection from harm and healing of the sick by laying on of hands may be claimed by faith by all God's children as an endorsement of faith. The work is not limited to ministers or medical workers but belongs to everyone who receives God's grace, and members of the church, including youth and all church members, are to be taught to share life-giving truth, to give the message of Bible truth to all to whom they can find access, and to minister to others including through care for the sick.

Those who take up this appointed work will be a blessing to others and will themselves be blessed, finding in Him who called them an unfailing helper. The despondent will forget despondency, the weak will become strong, and the ignorant will become intelligent. Christ gives the gifts and powers He promised His disciples to those who serve Him faithfully, and healing of the sick involves the combined efforts of human beings and God. That combination upholds the spiritual character of medical missionary work in prayer and laying on of hands.

Caring for physical health prepares people to receive the gospel, for healing the afflicted was a major part of Christ's work. Ministering to the sick and afflicted, visiting the sick and relieving their needs, is the service of Christ's representatives on earth under His final instruction to the apostles that they lay hands on the sick so they recover. Those who do this work for the suffering will be commended by Christ when He comes.