"He Is Dead!"

"He is Dead!"

As I was studying this passage that has always meant so much to me, I realized that it may apply to your lives in a different way than the Lord used it in my life. At this point the Lord laid it on my heart to pray and let Him lead me today with this passage. I will share how it changed my heart but I am going to tell you what God gave me while praying about this devotion! Ready? Let's pick up from where we left off yesterday!

Mar 9:23 Jesus said to him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believes.

Mar 9:24 And immediately the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief.

As I was studying this passage I wanted to share some things with you that jumped out at me! First of all, I wondered why this father even asked with some doubt if Jesus could help. As I researched the Hebrew and Greek dictionary I found that the man addressed Jesus as Lord, but the word in the Greek that was used here was similar to our word "sir". In some theologians notes on this passage there is mention that he may not have even recognized or known Jesus for the miracles he had performed elsewhere! This very well could have been the first time he had spoke with our Savior!
Secondly, I found that his son had been tormented with this demonic spirit since he was an infant. The term "child" is used twice but are different in the Greek language. In the following passage it refers to an infant. This boy had been deaf and dumb from his infancy and his father was desperate when he had heard that the people who are healing would be in their town. He was probably dragging his son from crowd to crowd trying to find someone that could help him!
Let's read,

Mark 9:21 And he asked his father, How long is it since this came to him? and he said, From a child.

Mark 9:22 And often it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.

Thirdly, I found that the man had already been to the disciples for help but they weren't able to help him. Isn't that strange? Here they were within view of Jesus calling out in the name of God and healing others but they couldn't help this man with his child. It was when Jesus began to approach the crowd around the disciples and addressed the scribes, that some of the people recognized and actually saluted him! Let's read the verses that lead us to this event,


Mark 9:14 And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them.

Mark 9:15 And immediately all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him, saluted him.

Mark 9:16 And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them?

Mark 9:17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought to thee my son, who hath a dumb spirit;

Mark 9:18 And wherever he taketh him, he teareth him; and he foameth and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away; and I spoke to thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not.

In verse 17 the use of "Master" means "teacher" so this is another sign that the father didn't understand or know who Jesus was. Don't we have allot of people that fit this description? They know about His teachings and about His history of miracles but just not quite sure enough to truly believe in His infinite ability to heal the most desperate people from their long journey of suffering and sadness! Instead they have chosen to continue to live in the deception that they must suffer through this life and that somehow they must have done something to deserve this while they are on earth. But LOOK at how Jesus helped this father!

In verse 18, the Greek definition for teareth is
to "break", "wreck" or "crack", that is, (especially) to sunder (by separation of the parts; G2608 being its intensive (with the preposition in compounds), and G2352 a shattering to minute fragments; but not a reduction to the constituent particles, like G3089) or disrupt, lacerate; by implication to convulse (with spasms)

Can you imagine? This poor boy possibly about 9 years old by this time had been living a life with out hearing, without talking and experiencing these destructive convulsions; foaming at the mouth like a mad dog and chomping his teeth together to scare off anyone that might get close to him and it says he was pining away. The Greek definition for this is worth seeing.

xērainō
xay-rah'ee-no
From G3584; to desiccate; by implication to shrivel, to mature: - dry up, pine away, be ripe, wither (away).

We must understand the conditon of this boy to be able to fully appreciate what happened this day. Now can we understand where this mans unbelief had come from? Would you have grown weak over the years of any hope had you experienced this.

The father had been to the disciples but they couldn't help him and Jesus addresses the questions. He then says something that is for the religous leaders of this day.

Mark 9:19 He answered him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you, how long shall I suffer you? bring him to me.

One day Jesus woldn't be here on earth and the faith of those who follow Him would have to be stronger than it was. They could see and experience His life and soon he would be crucified and resurected. I believe this recorded event is as much about our faith as it was about the child!
Let's read on,

Mark 9:20 And they brought him to him: and when he saw him, immediately the spirit tore him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed, foaming.
Mark 9:21 And he asked his father, How long is it since this came to him? and he said, From a child.
Mark 9:22 And often it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.

Don't you think Jesus knew when this spirit came to his son? Of course he did! Again this is part of how our Lord builds our faith in Him! Until we can see the helplessness of our own situation and how long we have been trying on our own, we will not fully understand how important our trust in Jesus really is! That is what this man was learning as Jesus questioned him!

Let's focus on the boy now! He was so messed up! Oh my goodness, think about it! He had been burned, almost drowned, having convulsions, couldn't comunicate at all, biting at people and withering away physically! The only thing that made this boy appear to be alive was the demonic spirit working in him and it was killing him. I can't imagine going through this but what happened next somehow touched a cord with me that would stick with me for years now!


Mark 9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying to him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
Mark 9:26 And the spirit cried, and rent him severely, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; so that many said, He is dead.

When Jesus removed the evil spirit, the boy appeared to be dead lying there on the ground. As people looked at him they saw a young man that had been abused physically, mentally and spiritually. They saw someone that's life was over! All they could see was the leftovers of his past and a hopeless condition so what did they say? He Is Dead! He Is Dead! It was over in their view of things!


Let me tell you something that I have been telling people ever since I read this passage! The way may get rough! You may have been abused in one or all of these ways in the past! But our Lord and Savior is able to take anyone and make them new again! Let's look at verse 27,

Mark 9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

The Greek for "lifted up" in this passage is as follows,
ἐγείρω
egeirō
eg-i'-ro
Probably akin to the base of G58 (through the idea of collecting one’s faculties); to waken (transitively or intransitively), that is, rouse (literally from sleep, from sitting or lying, from disease, from death; or figuratively from obscurity, inactivity, ruins, nonexistence): - awake, lift (up), raise (again, up), rear up, (a-) rise (again, up), stand, take up.

This passage meant so much to me that I knew it would be so hard to keep it short! I am going to tell you why and then I'll be finished.
On February 2, 2004, I realized fully for the first time in my life what God's act of mercy and grace meant to me and how it had given me the freedom to be a child of God and joint heirs with Jesus in heaven one day! I praise God every day for leading me into His Word instead of following Satans lies into destruction following my divorce! Satan wanted to take me down so much that he tried every trick in the book. I had even come to the place at one time that I felt like everthing would be better if I just vanished.
Isn't that what must have been going on in the mind of this boy? He was being attacked by powers he couldn't control!
He was rejected and avoided by everyone, except his father.

When I read this passage for the first time, I had experienced rejection by the people I had been in church with for 15 years in Raleigh. I had been ridiculed and reject by the in-laws I had cared about and done homerepairs for 18 years. I had been rejected by the woman I loved the most in this world and as a result I was only with my children half of their lives now. I had lost my nice Commercial Supt. job as a result of the stress. I was trying to find work and not doing very well with that at all. I had tried to get help from counselors/pastors at local churches but they all had a full schedule and it would be weeks before they could see me. I called five churches! Can you believe that, five churches, and then I gave up on people helping me. I knew that it wasn't going to work if I kept trying to find someone to help me! Why, you may ask?

Remember the boy and all he had been through? Remember how people saw him when he was laying there? He was worn out; exhausted; he was scarred physically and emotionally. Noone could help him because they had been too busy doing what they had always done; saying a quick prayer and moving on to the next thing. The saw that boy as hopeless! They saw him as dead!

At first, it really hurt to realize that that was the way people saw me and that is why they didn't want to get involved! I wept for a while, I have to admit, because it's not a pleasant feeling at all knowing people have given up on you and you know you are still alive!

What happened next was what has changed my life forever though! Let's read one more time


Mark 9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

That's right! I arose that day because I had learned to TRUST God! I was the one laying on the ground that day! I felt like I was dead! The people who knew me had already said "he is dead" and I was living as if I were dead, but let me tell you something today friend!
Jesus is right there, ready to bend down and take YOUR hand and lift YOU up! You too will arise to a NEW life! You too will find the Peace and Joy in trusting Jesus for the healing that only he can do!
He told his disciples later that this kind of person can only be healed by prayer and fasting! That is why Jesus was different! Trust in the One who is able to lift you up! Trust Jesus today!
He wants to show others what He can do for You! God Loves You!