“AND when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked. the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou deaf and dumb spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And lie said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:14-2014And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. 15And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. 16And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? 17And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; 18And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. 19He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. 20And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. (Mark 9:14‑20).)
This ninth chapter of Mark shows us what it is to have to do with the Lord Jesus personally, and there is nothing so real, as to have to do with Christ, to meet Christ, and to hear His voice speaking words to you, that go to your heart and meet its need; for the Lord Jesus, whom God presents to me now, for the acceptance of faith, is the very same Jesus who walked this earth for three and thirty years, and therefore it is so blessed to trace His pathway down here.
In the end of Chapter 8 Jesus had been asking His disciples, “Whom do men say that I am?” They answer that some had said one thing, and some another, but all had said wrong. Peter beautifully owns Him, “Thou art the Christ.” He was the reputed son of Joseph the carpenter, the One who had for years wrought with His own hands. His countenance betrayed what kind of a man He was, “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”
And why? Because, I believe, the Lord never met a sorrow that He did not make it His own, and never met a grief that He did not bear it.
He carried every sorrow in His heart that He took away by His power, and therefore the Scripture says, “He was acquainted with grief.” And if this be the character of Jesus, there is no kind of sorrow that may not go to Him now, and tell out all its bitterness, all its weary grief.
He had always leisure when on earth to attend to everyone that came to Him, whoever that one might be. He had not leisure sometimes to eat, but if there was a heart that needed Him, Jesus had always leisure to attend to that heart and meet its need. He meets the widow with her dead son, and raises the dead; meets the leper and cleanses him.
In Luke 6 you have a beautiful picture of a vast multitude healed by Him of every kind of disease. Did he send a few away helped? No! He healed them all. He sent way no convalescents, as we speak, but all went from His presence cured.
This ought to have shown who He was, but those round about with their guesses were completely wrong. Peter alone says, “Thou art the Christ of God, the Son of God.” Then the Lord says, “I am going to die.” Peter did not understand this; he had not yet learned that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission.”
Have you ever learned yet the absolute necessity of death coming in between your soul and God? If you have not, you must learn it, if not now, you must learn it in a future day, when you taste the second death yourself; and what is that? The lake of fire!
In the beginning of Chapter 9 the Lord takes up Peter and James and John to a high mountain, and they see His glory, see a miniature picture of the day that is coming when that glory will be displayed. When He comes down from the mount, He comes at once into a scene of misery.
I find in this chapter a picture of what the world is, of what man is, and of what the power of Satan is—of what the power, too, of Christ is.
As the consequence of riffs death, He is able to bring out this, that all power “in heaven and in earth is given unto me.” By His death He has bought the whole world.
He bought the field for the sake of the treasure in it. He has the power to deliver every heart that cares to be delivered from the bondage of Satan. Every heart that cares to be made free, He has the power to make free. Those that want to know His power shall know it. Those who want to know Himself shall know Him.
This poor child was filled with the power of Satan. Do you say, “That is not my case?”
It is your case unless you are brought to the Lord. Paul says he is sent to the Gentiles “to open their eyes,” that is the first thing “to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.” What does that mean if you are not under Satan’s power?
And again (Col. 1:1313Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: (Colossians 1:13)), “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness.” What does that mean, think you? It means that man unconverted, man unsaved, man unblessed, man unwashed, though he may talk of being free, is still under the power of Satan, under the power of the enemy of souls.
People say, “It is impossible that we are under Satan’s power, we do not believe in Satan, we do not believe in hell.” Do you not believe? I do! And I warn you by the blinding power of Satan now. I warn you by the terrible certainty of the lake of fire in the future, not to despise the Word of God, and I beseech you to accept the Grace of God now.
I warn you by coming judgment, do not let Satan deceive you.
People do not like to own they are led captive by Satan, but God’s Word says you are under the dominion of Satan, unless you have been brought to Jesus.
Have you ever been brought to Jesus yet?
You know whether you have or not. “I have been religious,” you say. That will not do.
The father had brought his son to the disciples, brought him within the sphere of religious influence, but it was all of no use. Had he been brought to Christ? No! Never! And none but Christ could meet his case, or can meet yours. Nothing but the delivering power of Jesus is sufficient for your need. It is humbling to have to confess that your case is too bad—for any remedial measures short of the divine power of God, in the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ; but is it not better to see and own your state now, and to be delivered from it, than to find out too late, by-and-bye, that God’s word is true, and that you have been the vassal of Satan, when there is no longer any deliverance. Satan has blinded you and deceived you, and now you are with him forever; for let me tell you this solemn truth, those who keep company with the devil in time, must keep company with had through eternity, and those who know Christ in time, will know Him, and be with Him through eternity.
“In the place where the tree falleth there it shall be.” If your tree were cut down today, where would it be? Oh! Christless soul, where, think you, would you be? If you are not brought to the Lord yet, you are Satan’s slave, however much you may dream you are free.
You are like a ran condemned to death, who has committed murder, and his country’s laws have doomed him to die, but he has fourteen days respite, and he hopes still in some way to get off at last, so that the sentence will not be carried out in his case. But the fourteen days draw to a close; the last night before the day fixed for the execution has come: let us enter that felon’s cell. The man is fast asleep. You would have thought he could not sleep the night before his execution; but there he is, his head resting on a hard bolster, fast asleep. A few hours and he will be in eternity; but now he is asleep and he dreams. Listen, he is talking in his sleep.
He thinks he is at liberty; he talks of the river he played by as a child; he makes an appointment for the morrow; he dreams he is free!
“He is deceived,” you say. True, he is deceived, but still he dreams he is free. Now the turnkey puts the key in the door, the lock goes back with a harsh grating noise. Ah! he is awake now. Is it to freedom he wakes?
No! no! The prison walls are a reality; the handcuffs, the sheriff, the hoarse cries of the crowd are all realities, the executioner and the gallows are terrible realities, and to these he wakens. The dream is over. Death and judgment are before him, and there is no escape.
The last hour of the respite has expired, and there is no pardon!
He is alive to his condition now; and oh!
Christless soul, you too will wake up some day; take care that you do not wake up in hell, wake up to find God’s word is true, that you are under Satan’s power, for there you will be under it forever and ever!
But to you who do want Christ, you who know you are bound and are seeking liberty, what have I to say to you? I can tell you with joy what a Christ you have to turn round to; One who has wrought out a perfect and eternal redemption for you by His own death upon the tree; One who has now gone up on high, having finished the whole work of redemption. What is the only thing He is looking for from you? For you simply to trust Him! He is not looking for you to improve your condition, but to trust Him!
“Bring him unto me,” Christ says of the child in this chapter. If deep be the need of your heart, deeper still is His desire to meet your need. “Bring him unto me.” Charming word to fall on the ears of an anxious soul from the lips of Christ.
Why was it a dumb spirit here? Because it had not a word for God! And that is just like you. You have never had a word for God till now. And how long have you been a sinner far from God? All your days. “Of a child.”
Ever since you came into this scene.
“And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him.” The grand object of Satan is first to deceive and then to destroy you Look at this picture of helpless agony, and hopeless impotence, but not too helpless and hopeless for the hand and heart of Jesus. It is the picture of a sinner in his sins. He must be brought to Jesus. You are brought to the Lord as you are, and he meets you just as you are. He only looks for you to give up all thoughts of being better, and simply trust Him. “If thou canst do anything,” the father says. Is that the language of faith? No, of unbelief. What is there He has not power for? Mark the Lord’s answer. Jesus said, “The ‘if thou canst’ is not my side but yours, not have I got power, but will you exercise the faith that draws down the blessing? The ‘if thou canst’ is, canst thou believe? Canst thou trust me?”
See the effect of this on an honest soul, “And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.” Here was faith.
When he comes to the Lord first, he says “Master;” but when the Lord turns the “if thou canst” back on the man, as it were, faith springs up immediately in his heart, and he says “Lord!” “Lord, I believe.” Can you say “Lord, I believe,” to Him just now?
What will bring showers of blessing down on you this moment? “Lord, I believe.”
That is the link between the Lord up there in glory, and you down here in your sins.
“I am waiting for you to trust me,” says Jesus. “I can do no more for you than I have done. I have done everything that God demanded, and that your state required. I have met Satan for you, met judgment for you; can you trust me?” Do you say, “Lord, I believe?” Then it is all settled. Not “Lord, I feel,” or “Lord, I desire,” but “Lord, I believe.” Is this the language of your heart, Christ-less but Christ-seeking soul? Then it is a settled question, the indissoluble link is formed. The Lord never helps people to be saved. He saves them outright.
This evil spirit was not only dumb but deaf. “How is this a picture of me?” do you ask? I will tell you. Not only have you never had a word for God, but you have stopped your ears to every word of God. Not one word of God’s has ever entered your soul, or pierced your heart. You are deaf, and dumb, and dead, and lost; sinner take care that you are not damned too!
If you would have rest with Christ above, if you would escape the horrors of hell, turn to Jesus now. Still the sweet words of Jesus sound forth, “Bring him unto me;” but a day is soon coming when He can only say, “Depart from me,” for evermore.
“And the spirit cried out and rent him sore, and came out of him, and he was as one dead.”
There was a tremendous struggle at the last. The devil does not let go his prey without a terrible struggle to hold it still. “You had better put it off,” he says, “do not be so decided just now, wait a bit.” Satan does not like to lose his vassals.
“He was as one dead.” That is what a soul feels like. But Jesus lifts him up and he arises. He is set free by Jesus! Can that emancipated soul ever get back to its old condition? Never! Never!
The sow goes back to its wallowing in the mire, truly. But why? Because she is a sow!
And the dog to its vomit, because it is a dog; but if a sheep gets into a ditch, and it is taken out and washed, it gets as far from the mire as possible.
When a soul is brought to the Lord, and learns it is a sheep of Christ’s, I do not say that soul might not slip and get down into the mire, but it would not become a sow, And presently the Shepherd’s crook comes in, and the sheep is drawn back. It does not love the mire, and the sow does; there is the difference.
Never have you seen a sheep in a ditch but it was struggling to get out of it.
“Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.” What power, what dignity it gives! I have been taken up by Christ, delivered by Christ. I did nothing, he did everything.
This is a scene that tells of the perfect deliverance that Jesus gives to those who trust in Him. I ask you, do you trust Him? If so, may your heart be filled by the amazing blessing of knowing He has perfectly delivered you from Satan, and you are set free to follow Him. Christianity is to know Christ and to enjoy Christ. May your heart be only occupied with learning to know Him better, and with the enjoyment of Him day by day till He comes.
W. T. P. W.