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Mark - Who is Christ?
A Bible Study Course on the Gospel of Christ according to MARK
PART 4 - Jesus' Great Miracles in Galilee and its Surroundings (Mark 3:7 - 8:26)

19. A Blind Man Healed at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26)


MARK 8:22-26
22 He came to Bethsaida. They brought a blind man to him, and begged him to touch him. 23 He took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village. When he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything. 24 He looked up, and said, “I see men; for I see them like trees walking.” 25 Then again he laid his hands on his eyes. He looked intently, and was restored, and saw everyone clearly. 26 He sent him away to his house, saying, “Don’t enter into the village, nor tell anyone in the village.”

A true Christian develops from partial knowledge to recognition of the redemptive plan of God. He who believes in Christ grows in the knowledge of his love and the experience of his power. He does not become perfect, in spite of the perfection gifted to him, but moves from faith to more faith. This spiritual development may be seen clearly in Christ’s healing of the blind man at Bethsaida.

Some believers brought a blind man to Jesus and asked him to touch him with his healing power. This is exactly the subject of preaching. Your privilege, as a saved believer, is to bring the blind, with respect to faith, to Jesus in your prayers that he may enlighten them with his Spirit. The service of your supplications is the beginning of their healing. Christ did not immediately comply with the demand of those who sought him, but took the blind man aside. He led him from the midst of the crowd into isolation and silence, and was willing to heal him, and the blind man followed Jesus to a quiet place. As such, Christ takes every seeker after truth aside, away from the clamor of life, to treat him personally in the peace of meditation, according to his own needs and troubles.

The Son of God spat in the eyes of the blind man, as a symbol of purification of his sins. He who is blind in spirit needs first to purify his heart of sin by Christ’s blood, for sins have hidden our knowledge of God.

Jesus touched the blind man with his divine hand, and his power ran into the man who expected to be healed, as an electric current runs into your hand and body when you touch an electric wire. As such the power of the Holy Spirit, the new heavenly element, dwells in you when you believe in the forgiveness of your sins by him who was crucified, for Christ does not only speak to you, but he also makes you a partner of his own power.

Then Jesus spoke to the blind man, and encouraged him to look. The blind man began to see partially, as some of those who believe in Christ do not see clearly at first, the capacity of their salvation, and the mysteries of the Holy Trinity, especially when the spirit of spiritual blindness had pressed on them for a long period. However, hearing the word of God frequently, and communication with his kind power develop true knowledge, and right faith.

Christ did not lose patience with the healed man when he could not immediately see clearly, but put his hands again on the man’s eyes when he confessed that he could see partially. As such, we encourage you, dear reader, to confess your growing hopeful faith, that you may experience when the Son of God touches you, and gives you wider insight into his salvation, power, and love.

Finally the healed man could see and recognize Jesus clearly before his eyes. The kind face of Jesus was the first thing to reach that man’s heart. Then he saw with astonishment all the details of the world around him, and his heart was filled with joy, for his eyes had seen the Lord.

Christ warned him not to hasten to mention this event to the others, but to leave the crowd and withdraw from them, giving thanks to the Lord that he might recognize through his thanksgiving who Christ was, how great his work was, who man is in himself, and his unworthiness to receive the Lord’s help.

Do you ever thank your Lord for your opened eyes? There are more than three hundred thousand blind people in the Arab world. Do you have enough pity and willingness to serve them? When will you begin to thank your Lord for the salvation he has given you? When will you visit a blind man in your area, pray with him, and help him practically?

PRAYER: O Lord, we thank you for your patience with us. Forgive our spiritual blindness, purify our hearts of offenses, and impurity with your precious blood, and enlighten us with your Holy Spirit, that we may see you clearly in your kindness, and never forget you. Help us to recognize our foolish hearts, that we may not become proud, but be filled with your peace, and bring many from spiritual blindness to you, that they may see you, as we do, the center of our life. Help us also to serve the blind in our surroundings with practical services and constant prayers. Amen.

QUESTION:

  1. What do we learn from Jesus’ healing of the blind man at Bethsaida?

QUIZ 2

Dear reader,
If you have carefully studied this second booklet on the Gospel of Christ according to the Evangelist Mark, you will be able to answer the following questions easily:

  1. What is the meaning and aim of the charge of the delegation from Jerusalem?
  2. Who was the brother of Jesus, and who was his sister?
  3. What are the four categories of people who hear the word of God and behave in different ways?
  4. What is the rule of spiritual growth and decline?
  5. How do we keep the word of God?
  6. Why can faith not be hidden at all times?
  7. What is the mystery of growing in the kingdom of God?
  8. Why is the kingdom of God greater than all doctrines?
  9. Why was Jesus able to fall asleep in the midst of the storm? What do we learn from the silencing of the destroying element?
  10. How did the demon-possessed live after Jesus had freed him from unclean spirits?
  11. Why did Jesus allow the ruler of the synagogue to fall down before him?
  12. Why was the woman healed when she touched Jesus?
  13. What do we understand about the person of Jesus from his raising the dead girl?
  14. Why was Jesus unable to perform miracles in his hometown?
  15. What were Christ’s commands to his apostles before sending them out to preach?
  16. What were the reasons for the death of John the Baptist?
  17. What is the mystery of feeding the five thousand?
  18. What did Christ mean by his statement to his disciples, “It is I”?
  19. Why does washing of hands, and performance of ritual ablution have no purifying power before God?
  20. What are the original sins, which crop up in the heart of each man?
  21. What is the significance of Jesus’ miracle in reply to the faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman?
  22. How did Jesus cure the deaf-mute man?
  23. Why and how did Jesus fill the four thousand hearers?
  24. Why did Jesus not perform a special sign for the Pharisees?
  25. What was the answer that Jesus expected from his disciples when he had discussed the leaven of the Pharisees?
  26. What do we learn from Jesus’ healing of the blind man at Bethsaida?

If you are able to answer 22 questions out of the above 26 questions, we will send you the next booklet of this series. Please write your full name and address clearly, and send your answers to the following address:

Waters of Life
P.O.Box 600 513
70305 Stuttgart
Germany

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