Healing of the Blind Man at Bethsaida

Introduction and Prayer for Illumination

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, April 27th, 1986, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. I would invite you to turn with me, please, to the 8th chapter of Mark's Gospel, the Gospel according to Mark in chapter 8, and follow as I read verses 22 through 26, Mark 8, beginning with verse 22.

0:41 Mark, writing with reference to the Lord Jesus and his disciples, informs us, and they come into Bethsaida, and they bring to him a blind man, and beseech him to touch him. And he took hold of the blind man by the hand. And he took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village. And when he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, Do you see anything?

1:13 And he looked up and said, I see men, for I behold them as trees walking about.

1:23 Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes, and he, that is the blind man, looked steadfastly and was restored, and saw all things clearly.

1:38 And he, that is the Lord Jesus, sent him away to his home, saying, Do not even enter into the village. Now let us again seek the face of God, and ask God by the Holy Spirit to bring near to us the person of our Lord Jesus, as he is set before us in this portion of his word.

2:10 Our Lord, we have often sung, Our restless spirits yearn for thee, Where'er our changeful lot is cast, Glad when thy gracious smile we see, Blessed when by faith we hold you fast.

2:32 O Lord, we confess that the deepest needs of our hearts cannot be satisfied by a mere intellectual interaction with some very special person, but by the verses of your holy word. We thirst, we pant, we hunger for you. Our hearts can be satisfied with nothing less than a spiritual assimilation of who you are and what you delight to do for needy sinners. Come then, we pray, by the Spirit, and so shine upon our hearts through the Scriptures, that we will be satisfied with nothing less than a spiritual assimilation of who you are and what you delight to do for needy sinners.

3:16 That we will see you, that we will know you, that we will be enabled to feed upon you, and that some who, sitting here in this very moment, have never seen any glory in your person, nothing suitable in your work to their need, O Lord Jesus, reveal yourself in saving mercy to some, even in this place today, for your praise, for your glory, for the reward of your own sufferings. Hear us, Lord Jesus, and answer. Amen.

Uniqueness of the Miracle and Unanswered Questions

3:54 We return this morning to our consecutive expositions in the Gospel of Mark, and as we do, we come to this incident, recorded in Mark 8, 22 through 26, and read in your hearing just a few moments ago. Now this is a unique incident in the Gospel record, and unique, basically, for two reasons. First of all, Mark alone records this incident of healing. Nowhere in Matthew, Luke, or John

4:38 will you find another account of this particular healing ministry of the Lord Jesus. And that it is unique, secondly, in that it is the only recorded miracle of healing in which Jesus is healed. In which Jesus did his work in distinct stages. Now he may have done this on other occasions in the course of his ministry.

5:06 I've chosen my words carefully. It is the only recorded example of such a miracle. There may have been one, two, or a thousand others. For you remember, John tells us, many other signs did Jesus, in the presence of his disciples.

5:26 But these only are written. And so of the recorded instances of the healing ministry of Jesus, this stands unique in that Mark alone records it, and it is the only recorded instance of a two-stage miracle. Now that immediately raises questions. Why does Mark and Mark alone record it?

5:53 Why did Jesus heal in two stages? Why does Mark insert this particular incident of two-stage healing precisely where he does? That is, standing between Jesus' warning about the leaven of the scribes and the Pharisees and of Herod, and the marvelous confession which will follow in Caesarea Philippi with respect to his own identity, and the identity of his own disciples. So what is the answer to this question?

6:38 Well, if you hope to have those questions answered by me this morning, I will tell you up front, my preaching will disappoint you. Because I do not know the answer to those questions. But if you come to the passage desirous, then, by the grace of God, you will not leave disappointed, but instructed and edified. And then, if you are a child of God, and you see the Lord face to face in the beatific vision, then, when it is appropriate in the eternal state to sit down and ask the Lord the unanswered questions, I am sure He will not at all be grieved or insulted if you ask,

The Miracle Itself: Introduction, Details, and Sequel

7:23 of Him, the questions which I am sure He is well able to answer. Now, as we come to the passage, we will examine it under two broad categories. First of all, the miracle itself, and then, secondly, the message of the miracle. As we come to the first major heading, the miracle itself, it is obvious, even in a cursory reading of the passage, that the record of the miracle itself has three major divisions.

7:57 We have the introduction to the miracle in verse 22. We have the details of the miracle in verses 23 through 25. And then, we have the sequel to the miracle in verse 26. And that is the outline we will follow as we simply attempt to open up and set before you what Mark gives to us by way of vivid discussion.

8:22 This is a vivid description of this unique miracle. And as Mark so often has done in previous sections we have examined, so he does again here. He uses a linguistic form called the historical present, in which it is not only proper, but in a sense it is mandated by the linguistic structure that we attempt to place ourselves in that precise, historical setting and see the incident unfolding before our eyes, so that we are not so much looking back two thousand years trying to peer into Bethsaida

9:05 and see what happened, but rather have Bethsaida leap forward two thousand years into this assembly and the event described transpiring before our very eyes. First of all, then, the miracle itself, the introduction to the miracle, verse 22. And they come unto Bethsaida, and they bring to him a blind man, and beseech him to touch him. In this introduction to the miracle we are first of all directed to the place where it occurred.

9:42 It is said that they, that is the disciples and Jesus, at this time when our Lord is seeking, relatively speaking, a time and a period of seclusion that He might concentrate instruction upon His disciples. When for purposes of personal safety He has retreated from the major population centers, at this particular time the disciples, in company with the Lord Jesus, come into the city, or the town, of Bethsaida. Now,

10:21 Now this Bethsaida was the Bethsaida found on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee east of the Jordan River. It is the Bethsaida that was built up into a rather large and imposing place under Philip and was named in honor of Julia, the daughter of the Emperor Augustus, and is often called Bethsaida Julia. And it is in this area, on his way up into the area of Caesarea Philippi, that this miracle takes place.

11:02 But in the introduction, we are not only directed to the place in which the miracle was performed, but also the person. The persons involved in the miracle. We are told that some unnamed persons, because the plural pronoun is used, and they bring to him who the they is, we do not know. It may have been two relatives.

11:34 It may have been ten friends. It may have been two friends. It may have been ten relatives. But some unnamed.

11:43 Some unnamed people, therefore at least two, bring to Jesus an unnamed friend or relative who is described as a blind one. A man who cannot see. When the rays of the sun shine directly upon his eyeballs, nothing registers on the retina. No impulses are sent by the optic nerve to the brain, giving him the faculty of sight.

12:13 There is in the subsequent context an indication that he was most likely not born blind, but that at a given point in his life he had lost his sight. The word used for the restoring of his sight would seem to indicate that he previously possessed sight, as well as his ability to discern the difference between men and trees, and to know that he was seeing men with eyes. When he was seeing men walking about, but only seeing them as trees, these things all point in the direction of a man who was afflicted with blindness, who at one time had had the faculty of sight.

12:56 Now blindness as a present condition is a horrible affliction no matter how we have come to it. But to have enjoyed the faculty of sight, and then to have it utterly removed, is perhaps an even greater affliction than never to have seen at all. And so the person that is brought to Jesus is described as a blind man. And these unnamed friends, the moment they bring him to Jesus, engage in a fervent activity of pleading with Jesus that he might touch their friend.

13:38 Notice the language. They bring to Jesus a blind man, and they are beseeching him. They are pleading with him. They are entreating Jesus to touch him.

13:54 Convinced that the Lord Jesus has the power to heal him. Convinced that the Lord Jesus has within himself whatever is necessary to restore to this man his sight. Convinced that Jesus may never pass away. Convinced that the Lord Jesus has within himself whatever is necessary to restore to this man his sight.

14:10 Convinced that the Lord Jesus has within himself whatever is necessary to restore to this man his sight. 關係 to the point of their fleeting Constellation. What is unique of this in Christ's vision is that when Jesus is on the cross and not yet born. to how the Lord Jesus would heal him, namely that his touch was essential to the healing, I personally believe that that's reading too much into the text.

14:51 This may simply be a synonym for beseeching him that the Lord Jesus would in any way heal their friend, whereas touching may have been one of his most frequently used external circumstances in administering healing that the sign stands for the thing signified. Well then, that's the setting, that's the introduction to the miracle. A blind man who feels all of the horrible reality of being shut up in his own world of darkness,

15:31 but blessed with some relatives or friends who love him, who care enough for him to bring him to the Lord Jesus. And to plead on his behalf. Now then, secondly, we notice the details of the miracle in verses 23 to 25. And the details likewise break down into three categories.

15:57 There is first of all the withdrawal, the deliberate withdrawal, verse 23. And he, that is Jesus, took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village. The first thing the Lord Jesus does in response to their entreaty is graciously to grasp the hand of the blind man and to lead him away from the village out into a more secluded set of circumstances. Now whether his friends followed him or not, we do not know.

16:37 But since there were obviously some present, when his sight began to return to him, for he said, I see men walking about, most likely it was the disciples and possibly these friends who accompanied the Lord Jesus and the blind man as Jesus leads him away from the masses and into a more secluded place. So the first detail of the miracle is the deliberate withdrawal. Then secondly, we have the first stage of the healing, the first stage of the healing, 23b.

17:17 And here the language in the original is very, very precise. And when he had spit on his eyes, and there is no and in the original, that conjunction and is supplied, but it's not there. And when he had spit on his eyes, laid his hands upon him, he asked, asked him, do you see anything? We might render it this way.

17:44 Having spat upon him, having laid his hands upon him, he asked him. So that the spitting and the laying on of the hands were concurrent activities of the Lord Jesus. And there is a debate among exegetes whether the hands were laid first and then he spat, and the hands were laid. But this much is clear, and this much cannot be denied from the construction that the spittle from Jesus' mouth, literally he spat into his eyes.

18:23 And he laid his hands where? Well, we don't know precisely from verse 23, but we read in verse 25, then again he laid his hands upon his eyes. So that we learn from verse 25, his hands were upon his eyes, and the spittle went into his eyes. Having spit into his eyes, having laid his hands upon him, then Jesus asked him a question, do you see anything?

19:00 Now can you imagine, all of the cultural differences notwithstanding how strange this must have appeared. Here the friends come pleading with Jesus, will you touch our friend and heal him? Jesus takes him by the hand, there's nothing wrong with his hand, that isn't where he needs to be touched, it's his eyes, he takes his hand. And he doesn't heal him, he leads him off into a more secluded place.

19:28 And there drawing close to the man, places his hands upon his eyes, spits into his eyes, and then he asks the question, do you see anything? There is no word of healing, he doesn't say eyes be opened, be healed, he simply puts his hands upon his eyes, he spits into his eyes. But he does make an inquiry, do you see anything? And the text tells us, and he, I'm sorry, do you see anything?

20:07 Verse 24, and he looked up and said, I see men, for I behold them as trees walking. In response to the question of Jesus, do you see anything? The verb means, literally, he looked up, apparently his head was somewhat down, the spittle dripping from his eyeballs, Jesus' hands are now withdrawn, and whether he had to wipe the spittle off his eyelids, I don't know, imagine he would, that's what I would do, if someone had spat in my eyes, and said, now can you see, I'd wipe the spit off, wouldn't you? I think you would.

20:48 As unfastidious as it may appear to our culture, this is what the text says, that he spat upon his eyes, laid his hands upon them, do you see anything? And looking up, he does see. For the first time in we don't know how long, there is something active, with the light rays that are coming upon his eyeballs, something is registering upon the retina, signals are being sent by the optic nerve to the brain, and what he says is, I see men, and I know they must be men, because they're walking about, but I see them as trees, that is, I do not see clearly enough to distinguish

21:30 all of the distinctive features of a man in distinction from a tree. A tree has a main trunk, and it has its appendages called branches, a man has a trunk and appendages called arms and fingers and a head, but because the sight was at first indistinct, he suggests, I see, I do see, I who was blind, I do see, and I even see what I discern to be men walking about, but I see them as trees. Now he might at that point have been tempted to say, this is so much better than the blindness I have known, take off irresponsibly shouting, clapping his hands and stumbling around

22:14 and trying to embrace these walking trees and share his joy, but he doesn't. Apparently he stands riveted to the spot, so that we then move on in the details of the healing to the second stage of the healing, verse 25. Then again he, that is Jesus, laid his hands upon his eyes, no spittle this time, laid his hands upon his eyes. That's all.

22:44 And what was the result? Mark then gives us three verbs. For you Greek students, two aorists and one imperfect. And in the use of those three verbs, he underscores the total restoration of his sight.

23:03 And he looked steadfastly, that is, he saw clean through to the reality of what things were. He no longer saw things as it were in a mist or in a cloud in which you cannot make out objects distinctly. You know something is there but you can't see through to the reality. Mark uses a verb that means he saw through to the reality.

23:30 He saw clearly. Then the second verb, in verse 25, and was restored. The seeing clearly and the restoration were definitive. He had clear sight returned to him.

23:49 He was restored in the faculty of sight. And then we are told, he continued to look upon all things literally from afar. That would be a literal rendering of the text. He continued to look upon all things literally from afar.

24:04 He continued to look upon all things from afar. And that adverb translated afar comes from two words which means afar and with radiance. In other words, he could look off as far as a man could look in the distance and see everything perfectly clear. The Lord restored to him 20-20 vision, maybe even the 20-15 vision that some men have, such as Chuck Yeager, the test pilot, who at age 60 still has 20-15 vision, can see things in afar with unusual clarity and perception.

24:43 And this is precisely what is said of this man. The second stage of his healing brought to that man perfect human eyesight. Well, having looked at the introduction to the miracle, the details of the miracle, now briefly note the sequel to the miracle, verse 26. When all this is transpired, what then happens?

25:08 Jesus then charges the man with what seems to be an unusual charge. He sent him away to his home saying, Do not even enter into the village. Having taken the man out of what is here called the village, for once it was a small village, and it is called what it had come to be, in the mind and memory of people over many years, and not in terms of what it presently was in its more enlarged state. He had taken him out of the village, out of Bethsaida.

25:47 Now having healed him, he says, Go to your home, and even if the natural route to your home lies through the village, do not even enter. Go directly to your home. And there ends the account. of this unusual miracle.

26:06 The man from all that we have in Scripture, unlike the man in chapter 7, who was told to be silent, but disobeyed the Lord, there is no indication but that this man who knew the healing virtue of Christ upon his blind eyes, returned in obedience to Christ to his own home. So once again, another pitiful individual whose day began with the burden of blindness, closes this day with restored sight. He can look upon the glory of a sunset once more.

26:47 He can awake to the wonder and the glory of a sunrise. He can look upon the faces of friends and loved ones, perhaps wife and children. He can admire the petals of a flower once again, once again, in the beautiful coloring of a landscape, in the intricate coloring of a bird, things from which he had been shut out perhaps for a long period of time. Another person has known the intimate, tender, yet powerful intervention of Jesus of Nazareth at the precise point of his physical need.

Message 1: Validation of Jesus' True Identity as Messiah

27:25 Well, that's the miracle as it's given to us in the text. Now, what is the message of that miracle? Why is it put here in the Word of God? What are we to learn from this unique miracle, this incident recorded only in Mark, the only two-stage healing in the New Testament?

27:48 Well, as time permits, I want to set before you several aspects of its message, but the first is its most fundamental message, and it is this. This miracle constitutes another validation of the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth. This miracle constitutes another validation of the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth. Mark never forgets the theme which he announced in his opening sentence, the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ,

28:32 the Son of God. My treatise is good news. It is good news that focuses upon Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ of God, the Son of the living God. And if the good news is to remain good news, it must again and again shine upon the person and the work of Jesus himself.

29:00 Now, in the Old Testament, God had predicted that in the age of Messiah, one of the marks of the work of God in Messiah would be this very activity of opening the eyes of the blind. Notice in Isaiah 35, verses 4 and 5, when God comes to save his people, the end of verse 4, Isaiah 35, 5, then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

29:43 Then shall the lame man leap as a heart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing. In the age of Messiah, when God comes forth to save his people, one of his great activities will be the opening of the eyes of the blind. Now, you remember in Luke chapter 4, when Jesus in Nazareth stands and reads out of the prophecy of Isaiah, telling the people that that prophecy has now come to fulfillment, Luke chapter 4 and verse 18, he quotes a passage in which this

30:24 indication of Messiah's credentials is again underscored. The Spirit of the Lord, who is upon me, because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor, he hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. Now, John is in prison. In the midst of that set of circumstances, he begins to doubt, is Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah whom I said he was?

31:01 I spent my ministerial career brief as it was, heralding him as the Lamb of God, as the Messiah of God, as the Son of God. Now, in this set of circumstances, amidst the horrible cloud apparently of personal depression, and the apparent defeat of the cause of God in his own imprisonment, John wonders, is this really the Christ? And in Mark, in Matthew's Gospel chapter 11, we have the record of him sending some of his own disciples to Jesus to inquire about this very issue. Matthew 11 too, when John heard in the prison the works of Christ,

31:46 he sent by his disciples and said, Are you he that comes, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and tell John the things that you see and hear. The blind receive, receive. They have the credentials of Messiah.

32:08 In the day of Messiah's activity as Jehovah's deliverer, the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. I have proclaimed in the synagogue of my own hometown that the Scripture is now fulfilled. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me in the unique anointing upon Messiah. I am Messiah, and in that capacity I will validate my claims by opening the eyes of the blind.

32:45 Are you the one that should come, or do we look for another? Tell John what you see, that the eyes of the blind are being opened. And so this passage, whatever else it teaches us, does indeed constitute another validation of the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth. He is nothing less than God's anointed one.

33:16 He is God's deliverer. And it's not without significance that in the next paragraph we will see that when Jesus asks His own, Who do men say that I am? Who do you say that I am? Their confession is, Thou art the Christ.

33:36 Thou art the Christ. The credentials are overwhelming. They are too many and too oft repeated to be coincidental. You are no false Messiah.

33:50 You are the true Messiah, God's only anointed one, who has come forth to bring deliverance to your people. They say, Pastor, that's all well and good for them, but what difference does that make to me? My friend, listen, it makes all the difference in the world. You pin your hopes on a bogus Savior, and you've had it.

34:13 For it is not the sincerity of your faith that saves. It is the object of your faith that saves. And if you believe upon a non-existent Savior, you will experience a non-existent salvation. And the great wonder and great impact of these portions of the Gospels in which one miracle after another is set before us is that God is saying in a way that we cannot miss it, Jesus of Nazareth is indeed all He claimed to be.

34:48 He is indeed the Messiah, the Deliverer, the validated and only Savior of men. And so if I speak this morning, to someone who amidst all the cacophony of religious voices, pointing you in a thousand directions for the fulfillment of the greatest longings of the heart, for an answer to life's ultimate questions, Who am I? Where am I going? How can I be prepared for death and the world to come?

35:23 My friend, take answers from none other than the one validated Savior, the Savior of men, even Jesus of Nazareth, who is God's true and only Messiah. Mark says my treatise concerns the good news that focuses upon Jesus Christ, Jesus Messiah, Jesus Anointed One. And do I know He is the Anointed One? Yes!

Message 2: Demonstration of the Method of Grace through Vital Contact

35:59 He opens the eyes of the blind. But then secondly, the message of the miracle is this. It not only constitutes another validation of the true identity of Jesus, but it contains another demonstration of the method of grace. It contains another demonstration of the method of grace.

36:30 Remember the setting. A man in his desperate, undeniable need is brought to Jesus. Now as He did again and again, as recorded in the Gospel of Mark and in the other Gospel records, Jesus makes it plain that the virtue of His sovereign, gracious, healing intervention comes in connection with His person. Jesus could heal by the mere exercise of His will.

37:04 That's why He could heal at a distance. You remember the man that came for His servant? He was healed at a distance of 20 miles by the sheer exercise of the sovereign will of Christ. He could heal with a word.

37:20 Why does Jesus go through all of the details described in this account of Mark? He takes Him by the hand. That's intimacy of Christ. He leads Him out.

37:38 And however far He went in all of that trip, He was in direct, living, flesh-pressing contact with Jesus. Jesus held His hand all the way to the place of seclusion. But He doesn't stop there. Remember now, a blind man cut off from the world of sight.

38:01 He's felt the touch of Christ. He realizes, whatever's going to happen to me is going to happen in attachment to, in proximity to, in contact with Jesus of Nazareth. He has the faculty of hearing. No doubt they've explained to Him, we're going to bring You to Jesus.

38:19 And so they bring Him and He hears them pleading. And the first thing He feels in response to their plea is the touch of Jesus upon His hand. Now He's out in the place of seclusion. The questions are swirling in His mind.

38:33 What's He going to do next? And the next thing that happens is He feels gentle hands upon His eyes. And remember, He couldn't see the spit coming. His eyes were probably closed.

38:46 He feels the spittle of Christ as it splats upon His closed eyelids. His ears hear the sound of the expectorating. What in the world is Jesus doing? Well, I don't know all that He's doing, but this much is clear.

39:03 My spittle is something from myself. As my hands are an extension of myself, what is Jesus doing? He is communicating in sign language to this man. He takes him by the hand from the populated place to the secluded place.

39:24 He is already giving, as it were, His introductory statement, blind man, whatever happens to you will happen in proximity to me, in attachment to me. And then He intensifies His message. Blind man, whatever happens to you will happen in conjunction with that which comes forth from me as my spittle comes from me, as it emanates from me, as my hands are a part of me. And then when He asks him, do you see anything?

39:57 He draws him out to use the faculty already imparted and then again He lays His hands upon him. What's the purpose of all of that? Well, surely it is this, that for the rest of His days, when anyone ever asked Him, are you the man that one time used to go around with the white stick? How come you see?

40:21 Whatever He'd say, this He'd have to say, I came into contact with Jesus. He could never forget. There was the touch, the hand, the spittle, the fingers upon the eyes. He learned the lesson and learned it well, that the virtue and the power of Jesus emanates from the person and the will of Jesus.

40:53 And all occurred when He came into that living contact with Jesus of Nazareth. And as we have had occasion to underscore in the past, so I underscore again, the message of this miracle, my friend, is this, in your spiritual blindness, in your spiritual deadness, in the spiritual crippling and withering of the limbs of your soul, whatever your sinful deformity may be, the answer to that deformity lies not in faith, not in form and ritual and institution.

41:37 It lies in a person. And it lies in your coming into vital contact with that person. For this is the record that God has given unto us eternal life. And this life is in His Son.

41:56 He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life, but the life of God abides upon Him. As many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe on His name. Can I state it any more simply, my sinner friend, young or old, man or woman, boy or girl?

42:25 I'm amazed how much ignorance can exist in the context of even the plainest of preaching. Dear friend, listen, the matter is simply this. If you would be healed of the malady of your soul, there is one place of healing. You can't get it from your friends who may desire it for you.

42:48 You can't get it from others who've received it from Christ. You must have Christ take you by the hand, spit upon your blind eyes, touch your blind eyes. You must come into living vital relationship with Jesus Christ himself.

Message 3: Illustrations of Christian Duty and Experience

43:13 Then the message of the miracle is also to be found in this.

43:19 The miracle conveys some vivid illustrations of vital truths pertaining to Christian duty and experience. The miracle contains some vivid illustrations of vital truths pertaining to Christian duty and experience. You see, God has filled his word with wonderful illustrations of truths that are taught elsewhere in plain language, but he has scattered throughout his word wonderful living illustrations, pictures of those duties and those privileges. Let me just underscore two of them briefly that are here.

44:01 The unnamed friends and relatives or relatives of this man are models, models of aggressive, compassionate, and earnest intercession. Do you see how they are models of aggressive, compassionate, earnest intercession? This whole miracle begins with the introductory statement, They bring to him a blind man, and they are beseeching him, pleading with him, entreating him.

44:38 It all begins with these unnamed relatives or friends who bring a blind man to Jesus and plead on his behalf that Jesus would do for their friend what they would do for him if they could, what he would do for himself if he could, but which was impossible in both cases, but was altogether possible for the Son of God. I say it constitutes. It is a vivid illustration of what aggressive, compassionate, earnest intercession is. What is intercession?

45:17 It is seeing among us those who are blind and dead and crippled in their sins and acknowledging that we cannot give them the sight or the strength or the life they need. We know of one who can. And we therefore take upon ourselves the response of God. And we therefore take upon ourselves the response of God.

45:39 And we therefore take upon ourselves the response of God. We thigh all the gift of the Lord that 않고 that comes from God to make your heart to be with Him all throughout yourselves, even thought ciertly is not easy. That is the crux of mystery. minutes a day to real aggressive compassionate earnest intercession on behalf of others

46:16 if i were to ask you to name five people for whom you intercede consistently for their salvation could you parents aggressively compassionately earnestly persistently entreat the lord jesus for your own children do we entreat the lord for our neighbors for our relatives surely these unnamed friends set for us a clear illustration of what we ought continually to do on behalf of

46:58 those whose need can only be met by the son of god but then the second vivid illustration is here in the passage is that the two-stage healing is often the pattern of spiritual illumination and i'm not the only one who has seen this in the passage it may partially answer why mark places the passage precisely where he does notice where it comes in the preceding context the whole issue of jesus warning about taking heed of the leaven elicits this rebuke from the lord jesus verse 18 having eyes

47:44 do you see not having years do you hear not and do you not remember jesus chides them for having eyes but not seeing clearly what they ought to see and yet after this incident they see more clearly than they've ever seen for peter on behalf of them confesses the true identity of jesus and in the parallel passage in matthew jesus says flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you

48:14 but my father in heaven but isoners who they left Graffster confidence his truer density but jesus begins to teacher no concentrated way that in that identity he looked at that person messianic kingdom by means of suffering and death and resurrection but there's技지 still soul limited did peter prize for and in the way of jesus going to the across and peter has issued a review and you're gonna put him off but he's a giant real too. get behind me Satan they came to see gradually his true identity as Messiah while they had not yet seen that the cross was central

48:58 to his whole messianic mission it was by degrees that their sight was open could it be that the passage is put here for that very reason whether it is or not surely it illustrates the pattern of spiritual illumination it is a gradual impartation of accurate sight and I say this on the one hand that you will not be discouraged with people that you are praying for and laboring over and you are bringing the word of God to them and they seem to have things so mixed up and yet you get a little glimmer of light they are beginning to understand one facet of truth

49:41 in a way that you say ah that gives me hope to believe the Lord is giving them spiritual eyes and ten minutes later they say some off the wall thing and you say oh man they are still as blind as a bat no they may be seeing men as trees walking about and if Jesus can give some initial measure of sight he can give sight that sees clear to the horizon with 2015 vision and therefore we need not be discouraged God does not save all men by a blinding flash of light in which Christ crucified is revealed immediately to the soul as the only hope of sinners

50:26 saving illumination for many comes in these painful stages as it did in the case of this blind man and then I say for some of you discouraged about yourself you say I seem to be so slow to come to a grasp of the truth of God and while I'm trying to understand the truth here it seems I let go of the truth over here and while my eye is fixed upon this truth another one gets out of focus dear friend continue to plead with the Lord Jesus and in loving attachment to him believe that he will do what scripture tells us if he's begun a good work in you

51:09 though you now see through a glass darkly the time is coming when you will see face to face and you will know even as you are known continue on in the fellowship of Jesus and he who has given you initial sight will bring you to the clear sight even the sight of his own glory undimmed by any remaining darkness for we shall be like him when we see him as he is and then finally the message of this miracle is this it contains a soul for admonition to those who despise their spiritual privileges

Message 4: Sober Admonition to Despisers of Spiritual Privileges

51:52 this miracle contains a sober admonition to those who despise their spiritual privileges Jesus comes to Bethsaida brings the man out of Bethsaida and after healing him he says do not even enter into the village what's the significance of that? well it could well be that this is the significance listen to his words in Matthew 11 and verse 21 he began to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done

52:33 because they repented not woe unto you Chorazin woe unto you Bethsaida for if the mighty works which had been done entire sorry for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon that were done in you they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you woe unto you Bethsaida at this point in our Lord's ministry previous to this particular miracle

53:17 he had pronounced the woe upon Bethsaida for not repenting in the face of constant validations of the identity of Jesus Matthew Henry with his usual perception commenting on this writes as follows on this very passage in Mark 8 the directions Christ gave to the man he cured not to tell it to any in the town of Bethsaida nor to go into the town were probably a town where probably where some were expecting him to come back who had seen Christ lead him out of the town but having been eyewitnesses to so many miracles and not so much as the curiosity

54:02 to follow him let not those be gratified with the sight of him when he was cured who would not show so much respect to Christ as to go a step out of town to see the cure wrought Christ does not forbid him to tell it to others but he must not tell it to any in the town slighting Christ's favors is forfeiting them and Christ will make those know the worth of their privileges by the removal of them Bethsaida in the day of her visitation would not know the things that belong to her peace and now they are hid from her eyes

54:46 they will not see therefore they shall not see dear people do you see do you see the admonition in the passage if this is indeed the Bethsaida referred to in the warning mighty works had been done validating the presence of Messiah of such a nature that should have wrought a whole town wide repentance but it didn't and Jesus said had those works been done in the cities further to the north Tyre and Sidon they would have repented such mighty works would have been effectual to their repentance therefore as a preview

55:30 to the judgment of the last day there is a judgment of his providence he will not send back a man who is the monument of his miracle working power they've had light enough privilege enough and now some of that light and privilege is removed that's one of the most sober truths in all the word of God and it's a truth that only applies where there's intense gospel light and my friends whatever else this place is it's a place of intense gospel light whatever else it is whatever else it isn't it is a place of intense gospel light

56:12 and Jesus has the right to say to that man again no more light you want darkness have your darkness until you sink into outer darkness my friends that's a horrible thought some of you now are irked and irritated because the Lord Jesus has surrounded you with people who do what these friends do they continually bring you to Jesus on their knees and they plead with God to have mercy upon you some of you children you are brought to Jesus in the sense that your parents

56:57 bring you to the place of his special presence they not only plead on your behalf at the throne of grace they exercise parental prerogatives and bring you to the place of his special presence and again and again and again there is the overture of his love and his grace and his mercy the announcement of his salvation adequate for the neediest of sinners offered to all without discrimination you hear the pleas the entreaties you see the tears and the agony of soul of those who seek to bring you to Christ and you say I will

57:38 and there comes a time when God says alright, have your way and there are people living on earth who are as good as if they were in hell or in hell because God has said no more Jesus is trying to scare me no my friend, that's here in the text don't go back into the village go back Jesus, merciful, compassionate, patient long-suffering

58:23 is the Jesus who weeping over Jerusalem says your house is left desolate you knew not the day of your visitation it's gone and it's gone and now judgment awaits you oh dear unconverted friend don't let pass the day of your visitation when is it? today is the day of salvation today, if you hear his voice harden not your heart you've heard his voice in his own word you've seen him in his tenderness in his compassion in the overflowing of his love

59:06 and pity to a blind man that's the heart of Jesus to sinners flee to him be content with nothing less than the attachment of faith to Christ in all the virtue of his saving power the Christ who is sufficiently validated as God's Messiah whose crowning validation was his resurrection from the dead after he died as God's anointed priest offering himself up upon the altar of divine justice to satisfy all the demands of God against the sin of everyone who will believe upon him

Call to Flee to Christ and Final Prayer

59:50 oh go to him go to him cry to him find the wonderful virtue and power of Jesus even as the blind man that day my mind went working as to what it would have been like if when his friends brought him to Jesus and Jesus stood him by the hand he wriggled back and said I don't want to go with you he'd say well your fool would do that he had the power to no indication there was impotence in his limbs when it says Jesus took him by the hand he implied the clear unmistakable implication is he didn't fight Jesus Jesus stretches forth

60:33 his hand in the gospel and says son daughter young man woman old man old woman I would take you into the orbit of my grace and my mercy and my kindness and my forgiveness and what do you do? you draw your hand back

60:51 from the son of God and when you draw back from him you draw back to darkness to death to death and to hell oh give yourself to him for in him there is light and life and heaven and salvation let us pray our father we thank you for these portraits of your beloved son given to us in the gospel records we thank you that our living Lord

61:36 fills up the record with his own living presence we thank you that we do not need to simply look back with historical interest upon how the virtue and the power of Jesus met the need of a man hundreds of years ago but we can look into this narrative knowing that he lives and reigns and is present by the word and spirit to meet the need of sinners here and now oh God by the spirit give eyes to behold the spirit the spirit to behold his glory hearts and wills to embrace him and we pray for your dear people

62:19 that we may have our love and devotion to our compassionate almighty savior deepened and strengthened as we behold him in the mirror of the word that beholding him we may from one stage of glory to another be transformed into his likeness seal then your word to our hearts and to your name be praise and honor and glory through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen