Mark 8
COMMENTARY:
: 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and said, Why does this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation. (389 “sighed deeply” [anastenazo] means groan deeply, sigh intently, give a deep groan, or to groan aloud.)
DEVOTION: When you read the Bible, you find the question “Why” many times either implied or stated. Abraham might have asked why he had to leave his hometown to go on a journey. Jacob might have asked why life was so hard for him. Job could have asked and did ask many questions of the LORD regarding all his loses. He even asked why the LORD allowed him to be born. The Psalmist asked the same question in many of his Psalms.
Have you ever wondered if God ever said why regarding what the children of Israel kept doing in the wilderness with all that HE had done for them? We know that God the Father never asked why because HE knew the beginning from the end. While Jesus was on this earth HE was the God/man and is seems HE is asking what is wrong with these people that they really don’t get MY message. HE has been preaching. HE has been teaching. The problem was that the Pharisees wanted a sign that HE was really the Messiah. They wanted HIM to do something more fabulous than raising the dead. More fabulous than healing a blind man. More fabulous than turning water into wine. They were never satisfied. No matter what HE did it was never enough.
What would our reaction be when we have done everything, we can to show someone you love them and they want more. Would you groan? HE did because they never really understood but HE did know that they were blinded by Satan. HE knew that they were just being religious and not true followers of the Godhead.
It is true of those who are in leadership in the church that they try to get the church closer to the LORD and HIS service and many just don’t get it. They seem to be waiting for a sign from heaven that now is the time for them to start working for the LORD. It also seems that if they had a clue as to the date of the LORD’S return, they would work hard a few days before it would happen just to show the LORD that they cared.
Jesus was saying that they should just do what they are supposed to and not wait until the last minute. Are we waiting until we are sure we have no time left before we start really stop sitting in a pew and start serving the LORD each day of our life!
CHALLENGE: Are you waiting for a sign from heaven before you are sold out for the LORD? Do your present actions show that you are working on your growth in the LORD and your service to your King? Only you can answer both of these questions.
: 17 And when Jesus knew it, HE said to them, Why reason you, because you have no bread? Perceive you not yet, neither understand? Have you your heart yet hardened? (4456 “hardened” [poroo] means blind, cover with a thick skin, to make the heart dull, to be or become insensible, have a closed mind, to become dim, callus, or made stubborn or without feeling.)
DEVOTION: On a daily basis the LORD was training HIS disciples for the future. HE gave them the meanings of HIS parables. Any time they asked questions HE would answer them in a way that they would understand. HE sent them out on mission trips with the ability to spread the gospel wherever they went. HE gave them power to heal the sick and cast out fallen angels.
Each lesson HE taught them was to advance them in their knowledge and understanding on how HE worked in their life. This was just an introduction to how the Holy Spirit was going to work in their life in the future.
HE mentions a few times during HIS training that they might still have a hard heart. HIS teachings were not reaching into their inner man to help them understand what HE was saying. HE was disappointed that they were not thinking straight yet. It took all of the three years and HIS resurrection for them to begin to understand. It took the coming of the Holy Spirit to help them understand more and finally it took them a lifetime to understand what was going on.
No believer is fully trained until the day of their meeting with the LORD. HE does expect more sometimes than we give. HE seemed to expect more on this occasion than the disciples were ready to understand.
CHALLENGE: Keep praying for discernment in understand what the LORD is trying to teach you in your present circumstance. Don’t waste the training.
: 23 And HE took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when HE spit on his eyes, and put HIS hands on him, HE asked him if he saw aught. (4429 “spit” [ptuo] means to expel or eject saliva from the mouth.)
DEVOTION: Most of the time, we remember that the LORD did things instantly. HE even did things long distant. People came to HIM concerning people who needed healing. Some of them were demon possessed. HE cast out fallen angels out of people.
On a few occasions we find the LORD using other means in HIS healing of someone who has an ailment. This is one of those occasions. Instead of instantaneous healing there is more of a process.
Here we find the LORD taking HIS spit and placing it on the eyes of a blind man. HE then asks what the man sees. He says that he sees men as trees. So his eyes were not clear enough yet. He needed more vision to see clearly.
Next he put HIS hands on him again. HE had him look up again. His eyesight was fully recovered. He could see all men clearly. There were two steps to this healing process.
Remember the LORD was always teaching during HIS ministry. HE didn’t leave anything out that the disciples needed to know.
The lesson here seems to be that we shouldn’t always expect instantaneous healing. Sometimes healing comes as a process. If we are not healed immediately we should continue to pray. We should continue to wait on the LORD. Too often we give up if the healing or answer doesn’t come right away.
God uses doctors and hospitals sometimes in HIS healing process. Luke was a physician who followed the LORD and wrote two books of the Bible. He understood what was happening each time someone was healed.
Doctors and medicine are needed for healing some of the time. We need to pray about our health on a regular basis.
CHALLENGE: Sometimes HE heals and sometimes HE doesn’t but we need to make sure we don’t always associate sickness with sin all the time.
: 33 But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get you behind me, Satan: for you savor not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. (567 “Satan” [Satanas] means adversary, the prince of evil spirits, the inveterate adversary of God and Christ, or a Satan-like man.)
DEVOTION: Satan is another name for the Devil. The Devil is the prince of all the evil angels that fell before the foundation of the earth. Some of these evil angels are in chains. Some of these evil angels want to possess human bodies. These evil angels are also called demons.
Here we have Christ telling Peter to get behind him. Peter had rebuked Christ for telling the disciples about his future death by the religious leaders. Peter didn’t want Christ to die. He and the rest of the disciples were still thinking that Christ was going to set up an earthly kingdom and they were going to reign with HIM.
Jesus called Peter – Satan. Why? When someone speaks, as the adversary would like him to talk, he is talking for our adversary. Here Peter was saying words that our adversary would like him to say. Jesus was saying that Peter was under the influence of the devil when he was rebuking HIM. Peter still had a closed mind to what was really going to happen at the first coming of Christ.
Sometimes Christians will come to church and in a meeting of the church they say that they want to be “the devil’s advocate” in a discussion. Is this the same thing that Peter was doing in front of Christ? If so, should it be done? Remember every idle word is recorded. Our church business meetings don’t need any “devil’s advocates.” Our churches don’t need any “devil’s advocates. Too often we don’t see the LORD working in a church because they don’t want to listen to what the LORD is telling them to do. Our Christian communities don’t need any “devil’s advocates.” We can sometimes be an “adversary” of the LORD’s work here on earth.
The LORD has given us specific commands regarding what we should be doing now until HE comes again. One of them is to reach our world with HIS message. Too many are sitting and not moving into their world to spread the Word of God.
CHALLENGE: Don’t be a “devil’s advocate.” Spread the Gospel in your neighborhood until HE returns.)
DONATIONS:
Remember that all donations to Small Church Ministries are greatly appreciated. The treasurer will send a receipt, at the end of the year unless otherwise requested. Please be sure to make check out to “Small Church Ministries.” The address for the treasurer is P.O. Box 604, East Amherst, New York 14051. A second way to give to the ministry is through PayPal on the website: www.smallchurchministries.org. Also, if you can support this ministry through your local church please use that method. Thank you.
Visit our Facebook page for Small Church Ministries – please invite others to join us on Facebook. Thank you. Look for the logo from the devotionals.