THE NAKED RUNAWAY

"And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body. And the young man laid hold on him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked."

Mark. 14.51, 52.

On the night that Jesus was betrayed by Judas and arrested and taken into captivity by the Roman soldiers, the scripture states that all of Jesus' disciples had fled. This young man was also taken hold of by the soldiers, but fled or escaped, leaving only the linen cloth behind. The Scriptures are silent as to the identity of this certain young man who followed Jesus. But since Mark is the only one of the four writers of the Gospels to mention this, it is believed by many that this young man was Mark himself. But since the scriptures are silent as to identity, we must be also.

That night that Jesus was tried and sentenced to death by the Jews and was crucified the next day. That day Jesus took upon himself all the sins and transgressions of his elect, he being the firstborn. And that Lamb without spot or blemish, was the perfect and only acceptable sacrifice for the sins of his people. His people were under the old covenant, which was the law of Moses, and which pronounced him guilty as a sinner under that law, or old covenant, which says that the wages of sin is death. Under that old covenant was the Levitical priesthood, whose ordinances and sacrifices could never take away sin. But it did in type and shadow, point to the Lord Jesus Christ, who when the fullness of time was come, "God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons." Galatians 4.4-5. So Jesus by his perfect life kept the law to a jot and tittle and condemned sin in his flesh by fulfilling the law and its demands.

The moon, I believe, represents the law because the moon has no light of its own. It only reflects the light of the sun. The law, though perfect, gives no light (righteousness) or warmth (life) to a poor alien Sinner. But the law (moon) points to Jesus, who is the light and life of his people. The scripture says that the law was a shadow of good things to come. Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, paid the sin debt for his elect. With his blood that he shed on the cross, Joel prophesied that "the sun shall be turned Into darkness and the moon into blood." The sun (our Lord) was turned Into Darkness when he said "it is finished" and gave up the Ghost and died on the cross. And the moon was turned into blood when they pierced his side, and his blood covered the demands of the law (moon) and paid the debt of sin that his people owed. That day his people were stripped of the linen cloth, the Old Covenant, which temporarily covered their nakedness (sins) during the night of the Law. And the new covenant was established, "And for this cause, He is the mediator of the New Testament. That by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament, they which are called, might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." So when the Son of righteousness shone forth in the Daybreak of the gospel dispensation, and the night of the law or legal dispensation had ended, Jesus has now clothed his people with the garments of salvation and his robe of righteousness. That young man, who I believe represents the Lord's people, was stripped down, leaving the linen cloth, the Old Covenant, and fled naked from the penalties of the law, to be clothed by Jesus with the New Covenant, which is an everlasting covenant through the blood of Christ. "For this is the covenant that I will make with The House of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying no Lord, for all shall know me from the least. To the greatest, for I will be merciful To their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Hebrews 8.10-12.

This linen cloth which clothed this young man, who was dead in sins and trespasses under the law, was done away with and replaced with the garment of salvation. "For the Lambs Bride, the Church shall be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of Saints." Revelation 19.8.

May his grand and glorious name be forever praised!

William Edwards

April 8,2023

Signs of the Times 

(Reprinted by Permission)