SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/17/2012 11:18:00 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Warning the Disciples PT-2
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Mark 8:22-26
Message of the verses: In yesterday’s SD we looked at Mark 8:10-21
and now I want to finish up this section today by looking at Mark 8:22-26.
“22 ¶ And they *came to Bethsaida. And they
*brought a blind man to Jesus and *implored Him to touch him. 23 Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought
him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on
him, He asked him, "Do you see anything?" 24 And he looked up and said, "I see men,
for I see them like trees, walking around." 25 Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and
he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly.
26 And He sent him to his home, saying, "Do
not even enter the village.’”
I wish to
make a short comment on this entire section that is from verses 10-26 and as I
have looked at the names of the sermon messages that John MacArthur had on
these verses I came to realize that throughout this section Mark is speaking
about blindness and then sight, for in these last four verses Jesus performs a
miracle in which the person that he heals from blindness is completed in two
phases. At first the man is totally
blind, and then he can see only partially, and then he is healed by Jesus to
see fully. We have seen that the
Pharisees were totally blind, and the disciples were partially blind and in the
remaining part of this chapter we will see that the disciples will become
completely cured from their blindness because Peter will announce to Jesus and
the rest of His disciples that He is the Messiah, which is what a person must
do in order to have his blindness cured:
“that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your
heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
A little
more background material about this miracle: It is the only miracle done by Jesus that was
done in two stages, and it is only mentioned in Mark’s gospel. This is the last recorded miracle that is
done in Galilee and so this may have some special meaning just because of that
fact. After this miracle is done we will
see a great turning point in Mark’s Gospel, in that Jesus will just begin to
focus on the teaching of His disciples, and one of the things that He will
teach them again and again is that He is going to die, and then three days
later be resurrected back to life. They
did not get this and did not even want to talk about it. When you look at the 24th chapter
of Luke and some of Jesus’ disciples are headed to Emmaus, and remember this is
after His death, they still did not get it and Jesus had to make this clear to
them as He showed them that all of this was predicted by the prophets from the
beginning of Genesis till the end of the Old Testament. Genesis 3:15 states “And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise
you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.’” This is the first prediction that Messiah
will come into the world to save sinners from their sin and it happened right
after Adam and Eve sinned.
I have run into
some obstacles in trying to finish this SD and one of them was losing the
electric power for a while when working on this. The power is now back on and so I will
continue working on this SD.
This
miracle that we are looking at in Mark 8:22-26 is not the only miracle that
Mark records that is not in any of the other gospels, for the miracle that is
in Mark 7:31-37 is the other miracle that is not recorded in the other
gospels. Dr. Wiersbe writes that “Perhaps
we can see in these two men illustrations of the disciples’ spiritual condition
described in Mark 8:18, ‘18 Having eyes,
see you not? and having ears, hear you not? and do you not remember?’
(AKJV). Jewish readers would connect
these two miracles with the messianic promises in Isaiah 35.
“In both
these situations, friends brought the men to Jesus; and in both situations,
Jesus led the men away from the crowds.
In fact, in the latter case, He took the man outside the city. Why? Probably because the city of Bethsaida had
already been judged because of its unbelief (Matt. 11:21-24). No more evidence would be given to them.”
I have
already mentioned that this is the only healing of a blind person that Jesus
did that happened in stages, and perhaps it was to show that we as believers
grow in stages like this man received his sight, or perhaps it was to
illustrate that the disciples were in a position of partial blindness as
mentioned before too, at any rate Jesus did it this way. The man was not from Bethsaida, for Jesus
tells him to go to his town after he is healed, and we can surmise that the
people who lived in Bethsaida were not going to get any more miracles done
because of their unbelief. This man
could go to his town and tell the people what Jesus had done for them.
It was not
until the 19th century that people could be healed of their
diseases, but up until that time they had to live with the diseases they had
and that is one of the reasons that during the life of Jesus on this earth that
these miracles was so astonishing, but in most cases it was not enough for
people to believe that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.
The chapter
from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary that covers this section is entitled “The
Servant-Teacher” and it covers Mark 7:1-8:26.”
He concludes his commentary in this section, and this chapter by
writing, “The disciples learned some valuable lessons on this trip, lessons that
they would need to remember and apply in later years of ministry. We today need to learn these same lessons:
(1) don’t seek after signs, but live by faith in His Word; (2) trust Jesus to
meet needs; (3) avoid the leaven of false doctrine; (4) let Jesus work as He
wills, and expect variety in His working.
“Mark
recorded the events of some busy days in the ministry of God’s Servant! Next he will take us ‘behind the scenes’ as
the Servant instructs His disciples and prepares them for His death on the
cross.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Dr. Wiersbe gave four valuable lessons that I
need to continue to learn and put into practice as I walk with the King today
so that I can be a blessing to others whom the Lord brings into my path.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: I still desire to be content,
and in doing this I desire to remain in the Vine in order to be led by the
Spirit of God to do the things that He has for me to do that were planned from
eternity past. (Eph. 2:10)
Memory verses for the week:
2Peter 1:1-6
1.
Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus
Christ,
To those who have received a faith
of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our
God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2. Grace and mercy be
multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3. seeing that
His divine Power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness,
through the true knowledge of His who has called us by His own glory and
excellence. 4. For by these He has granted
to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world by lust.
5. Now for
this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral
excellence, and in your moral excellence knowledge, and in your knowledge
self-control, and in your self-control perseverance, and in your perseverance
godliness,
7/17/2012 5:22:33 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment