He Speaks, it Happens!
Today, I was blessed to hear an awesome sermon on Mark 9:14-32, in which my pastor pulled out many beautiful truths about Christ's power and deity and the continued lack of faith shown in the disciples. I will not use this blog to go over all the points he made in his sermon, though they were all awesome. Hopefully this sermon, which I would recommend, will eventually be available on the church website at the following link: http://provcommunity.org/pages/htmlos/00958.3.1613955208332642443/providence/resources.html-
RESOURCES-SERMONS-?
As I was combing through the passage last night in preparation for this morning's sermon, God illumined 2 details that transformed the text for me. They were rather simple points that many would have noticed perhaps on a first read, but I'm a little slow sometimes so you'll have to forgive me. I was blessed by studying through this passage last night and pray that you will be blessed as well as you read this blog.
(Please keep in mind, I don't claim to be an authority on Scripture. I don't have a seminary education and I've never heard anyone else say some of the things I'm about to write. Please don't think I'm being dogmatic or insisting that what I'm saying is absolutely correct. I just want to share what God showed me as I studied the text, while always being totally accountable to my brethren and open to any commentary someone may want to offer if I've suggested anything erroneous.)
1. In v. 20, the demon inside the boy, once he set his eyes on Christ, immediately fell to the ground, rolling around and convulsing - foaming at the mouth. What jumped out here was the demon's quick move into a position of submission to the authority of Christ, even though he rolled about and thrashed to show his hatred of Jesus' control over him, he did immediately fall to the ground taking a low place in the presence of the Holy God of the Universe. Truly, all demons and even the devil himself are aware of the Lordship of Christ. They know He is God and they are scared. They rightly fear the Lord, yet do so while hating His righteousness, purity, holiness, mercy, compassion, etc. They recognize Him, fear Him, know His power over them, but hate Him all the while.
"You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder." James 2:19
2. In v. 25, Jesus called the spirit "you deaf and mute spirit". I wonder if this had anything to do with why the disciples were unable to cast out this demon? Sounds wierd, but bear with me for a minute. Throughout the disciples' walk with Jesus, did they not cast out many demons in the name of Christ, by His power? Certainly there were instances where they commanded demons to come out and the demons obeyed. In fact, Mark 6:12-13 says, "They (disciples) went out and preached that men should repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them." So, it doesn't seem to be that the disciples suddenly lost their gift or God-given ability to cast out demons. It may have been that they lost their focus and tried to cast out this demon in their own strength. This is very possible. But, it seems to me that this particular demon was somehow different than all the rest of the evil spirits the disciples had encountered in the past. Just how was this spirit different? I think the answer to this question is in Jesus' statement in v. 29. He says, "This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer." Well, what kind of demon was it?
In v. 25, Jesus called it "you mute and deaf spirit". We know from reading through the entire passage that the father of the boy in v. 17 alluded to the fact that the demon "made his son mute". Note, the boy was not mute, the demon was making him so. However, Jesus knew, because He's God, that this spirit was also deaf. So, could this "mute and deaf spirit" hear the disciples' commands to leave the boy, even if they were commanding it in the name of Jesus? My guess is, no. I'd suggest that Jesus' command to the spirit completely transcended the language barrier because He alone has the unique ability to speak things into being! We know that Jesus spoke and the foundations of the world were laid. Truly we see throughout Scripture that Jesus is not bound by language, audability, or comprehension. Jesus just makes things happen. Humans, and apparently spirits, are however bound thus - completely limited to communication by means of intelligible words and sounds, which would be completely useless if speaking to a deaf and mute being, whether human or spirit.
Though Christ's disciples were given the gift of healing and casting out demons, there were some limits to their abilities. They healed and exorcised in the name of God, but were not God themselves. They were not able to transcend this communication barrier with the "deaf and mute spirit". Jesus' instruction in v. 29 tells them that in this instance, with this kind of demon, they needed to pray to Him so that He could "give the command" that would transcend the barrier they were up against. "He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, 'You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.'" Mark 9:25b "Praying", on the part of the disciples, would have been as effective as as "bringing the boy to Jesus" as referenced in v. 19.
RESOURCES-SERMONS-?
As I was combing through the passage last night in preparation for this morning's sermon, God illumined 2 details that transformed the text for me. They were rather simple points that many would have noticed perhaps on a first read, but I'm a little slow sometimes so you'll have to forgive me. I was blessed by studying through this passage last night and pray that you will be blessed as well as you read this blog.
(Please keep in mind, I don't claim to be an authority on Scripture. I don't have a seminary education and I've never heard anyone else say some of the things I'm about to write. Please don't think I'm being dogmatic or insisting that what I'm saying is absolutely correct. I just want to share what God showed me as I studied the text, while always being totally accountable to my brethren and open to any commentary someone may want to offer if I've suggested anything erroneous.)
1. In v. 20, the demon inside the boy, once he set his eyes on Christ, immediately fell to the ground, rolling around and convulsing - foaming at the mouth. What jumped out here was the demon's quick move into a position of submission to the authority of Christ, even though he rolled about and thrashed to show his hatred of Jesus' control over him, he did immediately fall to the ground taking a low place in the presence of the Holy God of the Universe. Truly, all demons and even the devil himself are aware of the Lordship of Christ. They know He is God and they are scared. They rightly fear the Lord, yet do so while hating His righteousness, purity, holiness, mercy, compassion, etc. They recognize Him, fear Him, know His power over them, but hate Him all the while.
"You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder." James 2:19
2. In v. 25, Jesus called the spirit "you deaf and mute spirit". I wonder if this had anything to do with why the disciples were unable to cast out this demon? Sounds wierd, but bear with me for a minute. Throughout the disciples' walk with Jesus, did they not cast out many demons in the name of Christ, by His power? Certainly there were instances where they commanded demons to come out and the demons obeyed. In fact, Mark 6:12-13 says, "They (disciples) went out and preached that men should repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them." So, it doesn't seem to be that the disciples suddenly lost their gift or God-given ability to cast out demons. It may have been that they lost their focus and tried to cast out this demon in their own strength. This is very possible. But, it seems to me that this particular demon was somehow different than all the rest of the evil spirits the disciples had encountered in the past. Just how was this spirit different? I think the answer to this question is in Jesus' statement in v. 29. He says, "This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer." Well, what kind of demon was it?
In v. 25, Jesus called it "you mute and deaf spirit". We know from reading through the entire passage that the father of the boy in v. 17 alluded to the fact that the demon "made his son mute". Note, the boy was not mute, the demon was making him so. However, Jesus knew, because He's God, that this spirit was also deaf. So, could this "mute and deaf spirit" hear the disciples' commands to leave the boy, even if they were commanding it in the name of Jesus? My guess is, no. I'd suggest that Jesus' command to the spirit completely transcended the language barrier because He alone has the unique ability to speak things into being! We know that Jesus spoke and the foundations of the world were laid. Truly we see throughout Scripture that Jesus is not bound by language, audability, or comprehension. Jesus just makes things happen. Humans, and apparently spirits, are however bound thus - completely limited to communication by means of intelligible words and sounds, which would be completely useless if speaking to a deaf and mute being, whether human or spirit.
Though Christ's disciples were given the gift of healing and casting out demons, there were some limits to their abilities. They healed and exorcised in the name of God, but were not God themselves. They were not able to transcend this communication barrier with the "deaf and mute spirit". Jesus' instruction in v. 29 tells them that in this instance, with this kind of demon, they needed to pray to Him so that He could "give the command" that would transcend the barrier they were up against. "He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, 'You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.'" Mark 9:25b "Praying", on the part of the disciples, would have been as effective as as "bringing the boy to Jesus" as referenced in v. 19.
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