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We are
still in the far north with Yeshua. He had left
the Land of Israel, and had traveled to the region
of Tyre, along the Mediterranean coast, where
he helped the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman,
because the mother had faith, humility, and a
willingness to go against tradition that opposed
the truth. Now the King goes south, to the Decapolis,
the region of the Ten Cities, which is east and
south of the Kinneret. 7:31 Again He went out
from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon
to the Kinneret – the Lake of Galilee, within
the region of Decapolis. They brought to Him one
who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they
implored Him to lay His hand on him.
This is
a tough case. One of his senses is not working.
He couldn’t hear, and he could only speak with
difficulty. He couldn’t hear all the beautiful
things there are to hear in God’s great world
– the intricacies and joy of music, the sound
of your wife’s voice, the noise of children playing,
the wind blowing through the trees, the waves
coming up against the shore, the delightful sound
of a river flowing, the Word of God being taught
and discussed, instructions from your boss to
enable you to work better, instruction from your
teachers to equip you for the tasks of life, stimulating
conversations that bond you to your friends and
family, the sound of laughter and sadness, joy
and sorrow. He heard none of that. And, he also
had a difficult time communicating to others,
making his ideas and thoughts known to them, expressing
his love, asking for help.
Healing
someone who may have never heard anything is almost
like a work of creation, which gave man the ability
to hear in the beginning. Would Yeshua be able
to heal one whose sense of hearing wasn’t working?
Yeshua took him aside from the crowd, by himself,
and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting,
He touched his tongue with the saliva.
Why did
Yeshua do that? Ray Stedman suggests that Yeshua
used spit because the people may have believed
that there is something therapeutic about human
saliva. Many people do put a finger that is cut
or burned into their mouth to soothe it. It seems
that what Messiah is doing is awakening the faith
of this deaf man, who couldn’t hear the words
of the Messiah. And by touching his ears, and
through the application of spit to his tongue,
the deaf man who couldn’t hear and couldn’t speak
properly, sensed that something was going to happen
which would involve the miraculous healing power
of God. The man's faith was awakened, and with
faith in God he received a great healing.
And
looking up to Heaven with a deep sigh, He said
to him, "Hippatach!" that is, "Be opened!" And
his ears were opened, and the impediment of his
tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly.
This was a great miracle.
And
He gave them orders not to tell anyone. Unlike
today’s alleged miracle workers, Yeshua didn’t
seek publicity. The Son of God healed people for
the sake of the people who were healed, and not
to impressed the crowds. In fact, He told the
people who knew about this great miracle to keep
it quiet. Whenever you see a so-called miracle-worker
attempting to do miracles to entertain crowds,
and raise money, avoid that man.
In spite
of Yeshua’s commands, they disobeyed Him. But
the more He ordered them, the more widely they
continued to proclaim it. Perhaps they thought
that they understood the situation better than
Yeshua, and that His commands should be ignored.
Can you imagine? And yet, how often do we do the
same?
This was
no ordinary miracle. And this wonder, along with
His many others, benefitting the lives of so many,
profoundly impressed those who found out about
it, and they were utterly astonished, saying,
"He has done all things well; He makes even the
deaf to hear and the mute to speak."
Mankind
is like this man. We are deaf. We can’t hear what
we need to hear. We can’t hear the voice of God
calling to us, telling us His good laws, telling
us He loves us, and that we are far from Him,
and need to be reconciled to Him, telling us that
we can live forever in a new universe with Him.
And, we can’t speak the way we need to speak.
We find it difficult to talk to God. We are not
able to speak to Him freely like we should. We
are uncomfortable in His holy and awesome presence,
and our words are awkward, incomplete, distorted
and halting. Only as we come to Rabbi Yeshua,
and He touches us, are our spiritual ears open
to hear the voice of God that will bring us eternal
life. Only when He speaks to us are our mouths
able to confess the truth that result in salvation
and everlasting life.
Yeshua
did a miracle for one. Now He will do a miracle
for many. Mankind is deaf, and He gave hearing
to a deaf man. Mankind is starving, and Yeshua
will again miraculously feed multitudes of those
who are hungry – hungry for bread, and hungry
for God. 8:1 In those days, when there was
again a large crowd (numbering in the thousands,
testifying to the great influence of Yeshua) and
they had nothing to eat, Yeshua called His disciples
and said to them, "I feel compassion for the people
because they have remained with Me now three days
and have nothing to eat. Think about it. They
were so hungry for Yeshua, and for His teachings,
and for the things of God that they ran short
of food! Since man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds from the mouth
of God, may all of us have more hunger for the
things of God than desire for our food! If
I send them away hungry to their homes, they will
faint on the way; and some of them have come from
a great distance."
And
His disciples answered Him, "Where will anyone
be able to find enough bread here in this desolate
place to satisfy these people?" And He was asking
them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they
said, "Seven." And He directed the people to sit
down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves,
He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving
them to His disciples to serve to them, and they
served them to the people. They also had a few
small fish; and after He had blessed them
(“giving thanks” is the same as “blessing the
food.”
When we
bless the food, we are not praying a blessing
for the food to be good, or not to poison us,
but giving thank to God for the food), He ordered
these to be served as well.
Yeshua
prays to God the Father. God the Father does a
miracle through Yeshua and His prayers. Yeshua
gives the food to the disciples. The disciples
give the food to the crowds. So, here is how blessings
flow to humanity. The Son of God is the Mediator,
and makes intercession to His Father. God the
Father hears, and blessing flows from the Son,
to the disciples. The disciples are also mediators
and priests. They receive the blessings of God
that are coming through Messiah, and bring those
blessings to the rest of the world. We are priests.
A priest needs to be holy, so that he can fulfill
his function, and bring people to God, and the
blessings of God to people. Is that you?
And
they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up
seven large baskets full of what was left over
of the broken pieces. About four thousand were
there; and He sent them away.
After
having fed 4,000 men, there was more food left
over than there was to begin with! That’s God!
Amazing, abundant resources, and able to do the
miraculous when His people draw near to Him and
have faith! The previous great miracle, when the
bread and the fish were multiplied, and 5,000
men were fed, was no fluke. This is truly the
One who can feed starving humanity. This miracle
shows that Yeshua is the Messiah of Israel, the
One sent by God to meet all the needs of the Jewish
people, and those of the world.
Humanity
is like this crowd. We are in a desolate place,
without the resources we need. We need help! We
are hungry. We need our physical needs to be met,
but even more importantly, we need spiritual nourishment.
Yeshua is One sent by God can help us physically
and spiritually. He can feed our bodies and our
souls! He can give us our daily bread, and also
God’s bread – spiritual life, the bread of life,
that will sustain our souls, and keep us alive
forever!
Yeshua
had done many great miracles, miracles which hadn’t
been done in Israel for hundreds of years. God
had been doing great signs and wonders through
Him that had never been done among the Chosen
People. But, for those who don’t want to believe,
there is never enough evidence. For those whose
hearts are inclined away from the Almighty, there
is never enough proof. There are not enough miracles,
not enough proofs for God’s existence. The overwhelming
evidences of laws and design in nature won’t suffice,
the abundant and clear Messianic prophecies won’t
convince, the evidences for Yeshua’s resurrection
and testimonies of transformed lives are inadequate,
the historical accuracy of the Bible, aren’t convincing.
And sadly, this kind of unbelief characterized
most of the Pharisees.
8:10
And immediately He entered the boat with His
disciples and came to the district of Dalmanutha.
The Pharisees came out and began to argue with
Him, seeking from Him a sign from Heaven, to test
Him. Many of the religious leaders were already
seeking ways to destroy Him. They had failed to
find sufficient evidences to use against Yeshua
in His teaching and in His opposition to some
of their traditions. Some of the Torah-teachers
attributed His miracles to the power of Satan.
Now, the Pharisees ask Him to do a miracle that
supposedly would convince them that His power
came from Heaven – from God. But, Yeshua had done
more than enough great miracles, that showed,
for those whose hearts were inclined toward God,
that Yeshua was working with Heaven.
In reality,
this was a temptation for Yeshua to do something
wrong. What if Yeshua said: “You know, you are
my people. I love you. I want to convince you
so that you will accept Me. OK, since you demand
it, I will do another great miracle,” and wammo,
a pillar of cloud appeared above Yeshua! But,
what if the Pharisees then said, “That’s not enough!
That’s not convincing to us. We demand another
sign” – and so, behold, fire fell from Heaven!
But that was not enough for them, and Yeshua prayed,
and God spoke from Heaven, but they said, “The
voice of God can be imitated by the enemy. We
demand another sign”? It would put the Pharisees
in a place of authority. Yeshua would appear foolish.
God would be mocked. It would confirm them in
their unbelief, and only make things worse for
them.
So, this
should be understood to be a temptation to do
something wrong. And, Yeshua understood this.
Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, "Why
does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I
say to you, no sign will be given to this generation."
And, I
say to those of you who want signs before you
will believe, or crave miracles and prophecies
and visions to sustain you in your faith – be
careful. Blessed are those who do not need miracles
to come to faith, or sustain their faith. It is
generally a wicked generation and wicked individuals
who demand a sign before they will trust their
Creator, when so many signs, evidences and proofs
have already been given. Read the Word of God,
and consider the mighty wonders that the Lord
has already done. Study the prophecies, and see
how they have been amazingly fulfilled. Consider
the universe around you, which reveals eternal
power and divine nature of the Great Intelligent
Designer. Look at history, and see how Yeshua’s
death and resurrection has changed the course
of history and transformed millions.
Leaving
them, without doing a sign, He again embarked
and went away to the other side. And they had
forgotten to take bread, and did not have more
than one loaf in the boat with them. And He was
giving orders to them, saying, "Watch out! Beware
of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven
of Herod." Leaven is often used as a symbol
for sin. The leaven of the Pharisees was hypocrisy
– looking religious on the outside, while being
far from God on the inside. It was adding man-made
traditions to the Word of God, which crowded out
the true teachings of the Scriptures. The leaven
of Herod was taking away from the Word of God,
and placing worldly power, and money and material
wealth above the desire for God, thus also crowding
out God and His Word. But the disciples were not
as spiritually astute as they should have been,
and couldn’t discern the Lord’s words – when they
were meant to be understood literally, and when
they were to be understood allegorically.
And so,
they began to discuss with one another the
fact that they had no bread. And Yeshua, aware
of this, said to them, "Why do you discuss the
fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see
or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? Having
eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you
not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke
the five loaves for the five thousand, how many
baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?"
They said to Him, "Twelve." "When I broke the
seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets
full of broken pieces did you pick up?" And they
said to Him, "Seven." And He was saying to them,
"Do you not yet understand?”
In other
words, Yeshua was saying: “I am not worried
about the lack of bread. That will come, by miracle,
if necessary, to those who are close to God. How
can I be talking about the lack of bread, as if
that is a matter that is of great concern to Me?
If you had confidence in God and in Me the way
you should, and a heart that was receptive to
what is important, you should have understood
that! I am far more concerned about true belief
more than bread, faithfulness more than food,
as you should be! I am giving you an order. Always
watch out, and be aware of anything that would
add to, or take away from, pure faithfulness and
devotion to God and His Word.”
Here is
a modern example of this same sort of hardness
of heart, blind spiritual eyes and deaf spiritual
ears: understanding “this is My Body and this
is My blood” in a literal way, which means that
those participating are engaging in cannibalism!
But, Yeshua’s words weren’t literal when He first
spoke them, because the matza wasn’t literally
His body, and the wine wasn’t literally His blood.
He was speaking non-literally, and that’s how
those words should be understood.
The lesson
here? Stay on the road that leads to eternal life.
Enter into a genuine relationship with the Living
God, based on knowing the Word of God. Be true
to the Lord and to His Scriptures, and don’t let
anything take away or crowd out God and His Word.
Again,
another great miracle takes place. Just as God
used Yeshua to restore the sense of hearing, and
the ability to speak, now the Almighty uses His
Son to restore the sense of sight to one who was
blind.
8:22
And they came to Bethsaida, a town a couple
of miles north of the Kinneret, and they brought
a blind man to Yeshua and implored Him to touch
him. Consider what this man could not see.
The intricacies of creation – thousands of kinds
of wondrous trees and plants and animals and insects,
the constantly changing clouds floating in a blue
sky, magnificent jewels, precious metals like
gold, silver, the glories of the night, the white
diamond-like stars and the silver moon, magnificent
multi-colored sunrises, spectacular gloriously-hued
sunsets. Think about never seeing a beautiful
woman, handsome man, children as they grow and
play, the face of a beloved, beautifully designed
human works of art, panoramic vistas, fields of
flowers, leaves as they unfold, a rainbow, wonders
like waterfalls and mountains, oceans and rivers.
Think about the disadvantages blindness brings:
the inability to work in all kinds of jobs and
earn a decent living, reading the Word of God
for yourself, all the great literature in the
world. All this was withheld from this man. Could
Yeshua heal this man, and restore his sense of
sight?
Taking
the blind man by the hand, He brought him out
of the village (Yeshua did not do miracles
to impress the crowds, to cater to their corrupt
desire to be entertained by seeing miracles, but
to benefit the individual and serve God); and
after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands
on him He asked him, "Do you see anything?"
Again,
Yeshua may have used spit, something tangible
and considered to be part of healing, to awakening
the faith of this blind man, who could feel but
could not see. The man's faith was encouraged,
and with faith in God he received healing. But
this healing is unlike all the other healings
that Yeshua did – it came in two stages.
And
he looked up and said, "I see men, for I see them
like trees, walking around." This was the
first phase of this healing. The man was only
partially healed. Then again He laid His hands
on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored,
and began to see everything clearly. And He sent
him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the
village."
Of course,
God, working through Yeshua, could have healed
this man instantly, like all the other recorded
healings of Yeshua. Why was this blind man healed
in two stages? Maybe it was to teach the disciples,
and us, some lessons.
The disciples
are like this blind man. Yeshua had touched them,
and their spiritual eyes had been opened, but
only partially. They understood only some of the
things that they needed to know. They were starting
to see that Yeshua was the Anointed King sent
by God, but they didn’t yet see that He was the
eternal Son of God. They didn’t see His mission
– that He came to die to make full atonement possible.
It was only after Yeshua’s death, and His resurrection,
would they enter into phase two, and be completely
healed, and able to see who Yeshua really is,
and understand His mission. It was only after
His death and resurrection would they see that
they too would need to suffer in their mission.
It was only after Yeshua was glorified was the
Holy Spirit able to dwell in them in a whole new
and powerful and permanent way.
Not only
are the disciples like this man, but all of humanity
is like this man. Mankind is blind. We can’t see
God for who He really is. We are blind to the
seriousness of sin, and unable to see God’s solution
– salvation by faith alone, and by grace alone,
atonement that takes place when we place our faith
in God and Messiah. We need a miracle – to be
touched by Yeshua, the One whom God has chosen
to restore our sight, the Messiah who enables
us to see God, see the truth and see the truth
that results in eternal life.
Is it
too far of a stretch to see humanity partially
healed at the First Coming of Messiah, when thousands
of people had their spiritual eyes opened, which
has now grown into hundreds of millions, but we
will have an even greater outpouring of knowledge
and truth and light and salvation, at the Second
Coming, when our eyes will be fully opened? May
that great day, and our full healing, soon come!
Mankind
is deaf and dumb, hungry and starving, blind.
It is only as God touches us, as we get close
to Yeshua, that we can hear, speak, find and nourishment.
Then, it is our duty to be servants of Messiah,
and priests to humanity, and bring them to Messiah,
so that they can be healed, and give them the
truth as God is giving it to us. In this time
between the First and the Second Comings, stay
true to God and His Word, and not fall into the
religious error of the Pharisees – hypocrisy and
man-made teachings that crowd out the Word of
God, and the error of Herod, worldly values, and
materialism, that likewise crowd out God and His
word.
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