Author: Bill Hall

Mark 9:33
Ah, so rather than ask Jesus more about the resurrection, they devolved into their favorite subject. Jesus, knowing that they didn’t ask him about what he has said for fear of embarrassment, embarrassed them now by asking about their new subject. They had thought it was safely hidden from him, but of course it was not.

Heavenly Father, we can always be transparent with you. You already know it all anyway. You know our limitations, our hangups, our misconceptions. We are not hiding anything from you, so why should we try? Thank you for your mercy in spite of all that you know about us. Thank you for forgiveness in Christ! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.

Mark 9:32
Alas, they still did not understand. Though we can lament this lack, the worse circumstance appears next. They would not ask Christ to help them understand. They were embarrassed of their ignorance, and were afraid of asking. What a sad condition! Here they were, seated before the repository of all truth, paralyzed by selfish fear. Yet, are we not often just like them?

Heavenly Father, thank you for your truth! May we always turn to your Word to find our answers. We need truth for our lives. We must seek for what we need from Christ. Jesus has all that we need. Thank you! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.

Mark 9:31
Notice how Jesus says that the son of man ‘is delivered’ into the hands of men. As Jesus makes plain elsewhere, this is all in God’s plan. Otherwise, it would never have happened. Jesus could not have been caught or killed by man if it had not been God’s will.

Heavenly Father, we know that everything works according to your will. We may think that our plans are all up to us, but they are not. You are the one who knows what will happen next. Thank you for your goodness! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.

Mark 9:30
Jesus wanted some private time with his disciples. He wanted to prepare them for what was about to take place. Galilee was his home base, not just the place where he did much of his ministering.
Why would Jesus spend so much time preparing his followers for his death if he knew they wouldn’t understand anyway? Well, there are several answers to this. Jesus always works to prepare us, if we are listening. It is consistent with his character, not our choices. And, Jesus knows that we actually understand things pretty well most of the time. We just don’t accept what we understand, and so we rely on other sources for the answers. Also, Jesus is a person just like us, and he wanted to share what was on his mind.

Heavenly Father, thank you for telling us so much, regardless of our choices. It is a glory to you that you have made the truth available to us. But, it is also a glory that some truth is held back and reserved for those who will accept the truth they already understand. Thank you! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.

Mark 9:29
And what exactly does that mean? Well, in Matthew we get a bit more. Jesus tells them there that the first cause of their failure was their own faithlessness. Then, as here, we see the part about prayer and fasting.
The fact is that we tend to jump to conclusions. For example, we may have a disease, and we pray and ask God to remove it from us. But, if he doesn’t remove it right away, we assume he just isn’t going to. However, he may still be going to remove the problem, only a bit later.
The disciples assumed that if they couldn’t cast the demon out immediately, they wouldn’t be able to do it at all. Well, they in their own power could do nothing. It had to be the Lord doing it in any case. Prayer and fasting is what Christians use to move God to do something. It shows our devotion to him.
This demon had inhabited this boy since a young age, and his father was less than confident that Jesus could help. This kind of situation would only be alleviated by a group of Christians fasting and praying over the problem. And, as a result, the body of Christ may do anything Christ may do.

Heavenly Father, help us to understand that our faith is not to be based upon our limited understanding, but your limitless ability. Even when we see no way, you already have the way cleared. The path is open before us, we must walk it in your will. Thank you for your deliverance! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.

Not feeling well, no post today.

Mark 9:28
Of course the disciples wondered why this situation came out this way. They had cast out other demons. They had not forgotten that fact. However, this event had challenged their faith.
Though questions like this might be embarrassing, they are very important. It is never a good idea to miss out on learning becuase of an unwillingness to swallow pride.

Heavenly Father, thank you for teaching us from your Word! You want us to have truth in our lives, not to just be confused and misinformed. Jesus is such a blessing! We are so privileged to have the gospels to tell us about his time here on earth. Thank you! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.

Mark 9:27
Jesus knew that the boy was not dead. And, right away he helps him to his feet. Jesus is quick to help isn’t he? His work in our lives gives us so much hope!

Heavenly Father, thank you for the great cross work of Christ. Thank you for the work of your Holy Spirit in our lives. Thank you for the great future you have given us. To you, Father, be all the glory forever! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.

Mark 9:26
The big question in this verse is did the boy die? I can be emphatic, based on the context, that the boy did not die. Although Jesus would be more than able to raise the boy back from the dead had he died, that’s just not what happened. Jesus had just told the demon spirit to leave the boy’s body. This verse records for us the result of that command. The demonic spirit would have been unable to kill the boy upon his exit. And why? Because Jesus had told the demon exactly what to do, and the demon would not be allowed to do anything else to harm the child. The only thing the demon did do, was to put on temper tantrum as we can see here.
Now there are those who will say, yes but the demon rent the boy when he exited. A closer look at the Greek here will reveal that the word means to convulse. In other words this demonic spirit was able to throw the boy to the ground, but he was not able to hurt the child any further. Jesus power is absolute. Once he had told the spirit to leave, there was no other option, the demon had to obey the command.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your power on our behalf. No matter what the devil might try to throw our way, we belong to you. As your Word says greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. May we always rely fully upon you, and look to you in every situation. If we do, there is nothing that the devil, or anyone else, can do about it. Thank you for your faithfulness! Thank you for the beauty that you have put around us, and for our family and friends that are such a blessing to us. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Mark 9:25
The sceptic will ask why Jesus rushes to the deliverance of the boy when the people began to crowd together. Well, can we know why? Yes, there were several good reasons. First, Jesus knew that the demon would not be happy about his command, and would throw another temper tantrum when he received it. So, Jesus was protecting the people around the boy from this potential outburst. Secondly, given the complexity of this particular situation there was quite a bit of room for people to misunderstand or misrepresent what was being done. So, Jesus was preventing people’s stories from being too terribly farfetched. Third, as we saw earlier, the whole crowd may not have been there for the same reason. As a result, many of those who were now crowding in to see may not have known what was going on. It was time for the matter to come to a conclusion, rather than dragging on. Finally, the Greek here indicates that the group of people now gathering were actually in addition to the crowd that was already there. It was evidently quite a number of folks. Rather than giving the scribes, or the demon, the opportunity to say anything or do anything else to draw the crowd’s attention, Jesus cast the demon out immediately.
Notice Jesus’ words to the demonic spirit. He is very specific. He very directly charges this demon not to come back to the boy. He refers to the demon as deaf and dumb. As we said before, whether that means the demon itself was deaf, or it was a demon that caused deafness, we don’t really know. However, because Jesus uses this language, it’s important to consider that point. The fact that Jesus tells the demon not to come back seems to indicate that there was a possibility for this to happen. Jesus says no more and no less than what needs to be said. This is consistent with the Scriptures in that the kingdom of darkness is discussed no more, and no less, than necessary.

Heavenly Father, it is so great to know you. You can always be trusted, no matter what. You are truly faithful. You are trustworthy regardless of what might go on in our lives. There is nothing that could come our way which would prove you to be untrustworthy, or unfaithful. You will never ‘fall out of love’ with us. Your power is perfect, we will never find you to fail. It is not even possible! Thank you for you! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.