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
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