"And they began questioning Him, saying, 'Why is it that the scribes say that first Elijah must come?' And He said to them, 'Elijah does first come and restore everything. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that He should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I say to you, that Elijah has indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him.'
And when they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. And immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed, and began running up to greet Him. And He asked them, 'What are you discussing with them?' And one of the crowd answered Him, 'Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and stiffens out. And I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.' And He answered them and said, 'O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!' And they brought the boy to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling about and foaming at the mouth. And He asked his father, 'How long has this been happening to him?' And he said, 'From childhood. And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!' And Jesus said to him, '"If You can!" All things are possible to him who believes.' Immediately the boy's father cried out and began saying, 'I do believe; help me in my unbelief.' And when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, 'You deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.' And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, 'He is dead!' But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. And when He had come into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, 'Why is it that we could not cast it out?' And He said to them, 'This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.'" (Mark 9:11-29)
Mountaintops are great places to be. And mountaintop experiences are great things to have. But there comes a time when we all must go back down into the valley because that's where we live. In the valley, the challenge is to translate those mountaintop experiences of intimate communion with God into valley living, where people are hurting and need our help.
God gives us those mountaintop experiences in order to equip us to minister in His name. But often we miss the point. Often we find ourselves attempting to do His work without very much success. We roll up our sleeves, only to fail. And most of the time we don't understand why. Have we not worked hard enough? Have we not applied the right methodology? Perhaps we should try something different. What is it that we've missed?
We've missed the point that Christ consistently tries to teach us. We've missed the point that faith is the key to everything in the Kingdom. Throughout Jesus' earthly teaching ministry, His main focus was on faith - not faith in faith or faith in a formula, but faith in a living God. Jesus took His inner circle of disciples onto the mountaintop to encourage them to believe, whether they fully understood that truth would only be seen later. But that is the truth we need to understand in order to be successful both in our own personal walk with the Lord, and in our ministry to others.
In our text today, Jesus will encounter problems resulting from a lack of faith and reveal to His disciples the centrality of faith and the supreme importance of prayer. If we can come to understand and practice these two keys, we can unlock the door leading to supernatural power in our lives.
The account begins with the disciples coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus has been miraculously metamorphosized in their sight. His entire person was transformed into a radiant glory. It was the glory of the Divine inner person of Jesus. For a brief moment on top of that mountain, eternity and time were joined. And the glory of God the Son shone through.
As they came down the mountain, they were discussing a theological teaching. The appearance of Elijah on top of the mountain along with Moses had brought this question to their minds.
"And they began questioning Him, saying, 'Why is it that the scribes say that first Elijah must come?' And He said to them, 'Elijah does first come and restore everything. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that He should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I say to you, that Elijah has indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him.'" (vv. 11-13)
The disciples didn't understand the teaching that Elijah would be the forerunner of the coming of the Messiah. They had just seen Jesus affirmed as the Messiah of God, and yet He had come before the appearance of Elijah on the mount. What did this mean? Were the scribes wrong? Was Elijah not to come before the Messiah? Jesus pointed out to them that Elijah does come first; and that indeed one had come already in the spirit and power of Elijah. We know from Jesus' teaching in another place that John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah. And so Jesus was explaining these things on the way down to the valley.
No doubt, as the disciples and Jesus descended the mountain, they were filled with the afterglow of the marvelous experience they had just been privileged to be a part of. They were full of divine encouragement. But what they were about to confront was altogether different. What they were about to experience was...
"And when they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. And immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed, and began running up to greet Him. And He asked them, 'What are you discussing with them?' And one of the crowd answered Him, 'Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and stiffens out. And I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.'" (vv. 14-18)
The first thing Jesus would encounter here in the valley below was human insufficiency. He would encounter the failure of His own disciples to deal with a demon-possessed boy.
Notice first, the astonishment of the people. In verse 15, it says that, "when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed." Was it that they were just surprised to see Jesus? Or was there something more? Perhaps there was. The Amplified New Testament reads, "And immediately all the crowd, when the saw Jesus returning from the holy mount, His face and person yet glistening, were greatly amazed and ran to Him and greeted Him." Perhaps the glory of the transfiguration still radiated from Jesus' person. It could have been much like when Moses returned from the holy mount in Exodus 34. In that account, we find Moses still glowing with the radiance of God's glory. In Moses' case, it came from without; but in Jesus' case, the glory came from within. Perhaps that is what the crowd saw and were astonished by. No doubt, they had seen Jesus many times before, so it was not a surprise to see Him again. But now He was glowing with the glory of God.
When we encounter the glory of God, it is indeed a fearful thing. That is why Jesus came in the form He did. The physical body of Jesus masked the eternal glory of God. Jesus could not have come in the fullness of God's glory. Had He done so, we could not have borne it. It would have been so totally awesome and powerful that no flesh could have stood in His presence. We can only behold the glory of God in a certain small measure. But as we do, the Scripture teaches we are changed from glory to glory, into that same image.
We next come to the argument of the scribes. Verse 14 says that a large crowd was gathered around His disciples, and that the scribes were arguing with them. The argument centered around the disciples' inability to deal with the demon-possessed. They had tried and failed. And no doubt, the scribes were giving them a hard time. As you recall, the scribes were not particularly fond of Jesus, nor His disciples. I'm sure they took this opportunity to deride them and their Master concerning their impotence. Perhaps they were trying to convince them that their form of exorcism was the only effective means to be used. More probably, they were just simply condemning the entire movement as fraudulent.
The world has not changed much since then. It only takes one failure for the world to condemn all of Christianity. The scribes had seen many miracles, but they chose to attribute them to the devil, Beelzebub. But now when they saw a failure, they were quick to condemn the entire ministry. God is moving in His Church today, and there are still those who would condemn all the good that has been done because of one failure. We must be careful, lest we do as much. We must not be quick to judge based on human failure. The only reason you have human failure is because you have humans attempting to do the work. And that will never change. But human failure does not reflect upon God, but upon us. God is still able.
Jesus asked the crowd to explain what the discussion was about and one man spoke up. In his answer we see the anguish of a father. He said, in verse 17, "Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and stiffens out. And I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it." This man had a child who was in horrible shape. In Jesus' inquiry later in the text we find that this man's son had been this way since childhood. The devil was seeking to destroy this man's son, and he in his utter desperation, had come to Jesus. His heart was broken. He loved his son. You can hear his anguish as he says in verse 22, "Take pity on us and help us."
This man was not condemning the disciples. He was pleading his case. He had brought his son to them and they had tried and failed. Human inadequacy was apparent, both in the desperation of the father and the failure of the disciples. They had attempted to apply a religious formula and it had not worked. They did not have the power in themselves to make it work. The father was powerless as well. If he could have done anything for his son, he would have. And of course the son was powerless in his own bondage. But what had happened to His disciples? Had He not sent them out only weeks before to cast out demons and heal the sick? Now, He had been apart from them for only a brief time and they were powerless. Had they forgotten all He had taught them? This was the situation Jesus encountered at the foot of the mountain.
How would Jesus respond to it? What could He say or do in the midst of this encounter with human insufficiency? What we find next is...
"And He answered them and said, 'O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!' And they brought the boy to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling about and foaming at the mouth. And He asked his father, 'How long has this been happening to him?' And he said, 'From childhood. And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him." (vv. 19-22a)
Notice the challenge of the situation. Jesus' disciples had failed. Now all eyes were on Him. Would He be able to do more? Was their failure indicative of a removal of God's blessing from Jesus' ministry? No doubt, the scribes would have loved to see Jesus fail in this regard as well. How would He handle it?
He handled their challenge with a challenge of His own. He identified the problem as a lack of faith. He called it unbelief. It was a difficult situation. Here was a boy who was severely demon-possessed. He had been so since childhood. The situation was grave, but Jesus was up to the challenge.
"But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!' And Jesus said to him, '"If You can!" All things are possible to him who believes.' Immediately the boy's father cried out and began saying, 'I do believe; help me in my unbelief.'" (vv. 22b-24)
We see here the condition of the miraculous. The father said to Jesus, "But if You can do anything..." And Jesus replied, "If You can..." The father's request was turned back to him in the form of a challenge. The challenge was for him to meet the condition of the miraculous, and that was to have faith.
Faith is always the condition to receive anything in the Kingdom. The Bible says in Hebrews that without faith it is impossible to please God; that if we would come to God, we must come to Him in faith. Faith is the key that unlocks the door to the miraculous for us. Jesus said, in verse 23, "All things are possible to him who believes." If we would see God move in our lives, or in the lives of others, we must believe.
When the father had heard this, he cried out, "I do believe; help my unbelief." Truly that could be the cry of each one of us. We do believe God can work, but sometimes it's hard to believe that He can work in our situation. We must never be afraid to confess our sense of inadequacy, our struggle with faith. As we humbly come to God, He will bless the little faith we do have and increase that faith. After all, it only takes faith the size of a small mustard seed to move mountains. Jesus will reward any size of our faith if we will but put it in Him.
What we see next is the confirmation of the promise Jesus made to the father. Through the exercise of this father's faith, Jesus would act to heal his son.
"And when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, 'You deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.' And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, 'He is dead!' But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up." (vv. 25-27)
When Jesus saw the father exercise what little faith he had, he rebuked this unclean spirit and cast the spirit out. The crowd was rapidly gathering and saw what was happening. They saw Jesus speak to this spirit, and then the boy go into convulsions, and then his body become lifeless. Perhaps the scribes were saying, "Heal him indeed; you've killed him!" But then Jesus reached out his hand and the boy got up. Perhaps a cheer went up from his disciples. Their Master had been vindicated. Perhaps the scribes grimaced at yet another miracle. No doubt the father rejoiced with the son who had been restored to him. But in all of this, there was the confirmation of the promise of God that all things indeed are possible to those who believe.
But what had really happened? Why had the disciples failed? What had Jesus done differently? In the next two verses we see Jesus giving...
"And when He had come into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, 'Why is it that we could not cast it out?' And He said to them, 'This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.'" (vv. 28-29)
The disciples didn't understand. They had a problem with perception. What was so different in what Jesus had done? They had tried the same thing. In Jesus case it had worked; in theirs it had not.
But had they really tried the same thing? I believe the disciples had attempted to exorcise this demon by use of a formula. They had put their faith in a formula rather than in the power of God. And Jesus would reveal this by His answer.
Jesus said to them, "This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer." What Jesus was revealing was the place of prayer as central to any true ministry. He was saying to them that they had not been in that place of communion with God when they had tried to deal with this demon-possessed boy. Only as they ministered out of that place of fellowship with God could they have the power to do effective ministry.
The same is true for us. If we are not "prayed up," so to speak, we will not have power with God when we attempt to do His work. We may roll up our sleeves and work hard, but we will fail. The work of God must be done in the power of God, or we will not succeed. Prayer is central to tapping into the power of God. Unless we pray, we will not understand the will of God. Unless we pray, we will not understand the way of God. The disciples had placed their faith in a formula. What Jesus is saying is that we must place our faith in the living God and get our direction as to ministry from Him through prayer.
But sometimes effective ministry comes at a price. Many ancient manuscripts end verse 29 with "prayer and fasting." If we take that as the reading, we come to understand another important point. That is, that the price of power is sacrificial. While we may receive pardon from God as a gift, power from God sometimes has to be bought. The price is sacrifice on our part. We must be willing to deny ourselves in order to receive this power from above. That is what fasting is all about. Fasting, of course, is refraining from food. But implicit in the principle of fasting is that of self-denial. Fasting was used in order to refrain from all worldly indulgence and enable one to concentrate solely on God. But I'm sure that the text means much more than that. Also implied here is a refraining from sin and the things of this world. We must be willing to pay the price necessary to have power with God.
It all revolves around our relationship to Him. If we have committed ourselves to Him as His man or woman, if our lives are surrendered to Him, if we are dedicated to do His will, and if we spend time in intimate communion with Him, then the world of the spirit, the world of supernatural ability will be opened to us.
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