All of the foregoing is real and meaningful to the believer in this our day. The passage that follows, however, does not seem nearly so real nor nearly so meaningful, at first glance, to the contemporary Christian.
Jesus went on to say: And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well1
There are quite a number of people who claim that this passage is to be taken literally in every generation. In some sections of the country there are professional snake handlers who persuade their congregations that God has promised to provide them with immunity from the deadly venom of rattlers. Others periodically set up their tents or meet in coliseums. to advertised themselves as faith healers, claiming to have the power to give sight to the blind, and healing to people with chronic, and even malignant, diseases. Others continue to speak in strange utterings - really silly noise. The results have been a travesty to our Christian faith. Have you ever considered that almost unanimously no one knows what they have said? The closest to this utterings is baby talk. The people in Jerusalem on Pentecost heard the apostles speak in different tongues languages - and the people heard them in their own language!
It would seem that some of these signs were meant specifically to apply to the church in its infancy. They were demonstrations to the power of God and to confirm his Word2. Certainly, they were not new to the early disciples of Jesus. When Jesus sent forth the twelve, he gave them power to heal the sick and to release individuals from the domination of demons3.
Shortly after these words of Mark 16:17-18 were uttered, on the day of Pentecost, people from nay different countries and of many different tongues were amazed because they heard the disciples speak in their own languages and they said: Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?4
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The spiritual meaning of these words should not be overlooked. There is a very real sense in which the power of God still attends the messenger and recipient of the cross and in which the presence of God still affords guidance, sustenance, and protection to those who call on his name.
It should be noted that Matthew, in his record of the Great Commission, emphasizes the spiritual power that belongs to the servant of Christ, as he reports Jesus to have said, And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age5.