Author: Bill Hall

Mark 8:32
Jesus told his disciples about this where they could all hear him. Peter takes him aside to issue his rebuke. What is happening here is the devil seazing upon misunderstanding in the heart of Peter. Thus, thinking Jesus is just being pessimistic, and missing the part about rising again, Peter feels it his duty to set things straight. Ah, and how often does a well-meaning person fall prey to this trickery!

Heavenly Father, thank you for protection from the evil one. You will keep us from being destroyed by the enemy if we will find our strength in you. May we never forget that you are the perfect Source for all that is good in our lives. You always have the best plan. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.

Mark 8:31
Jesus begins to tell his disciples about what was going to happen towards the end of their time together. It’s important for us to remember that Jesus is indeed a prophet. He tells the future because he knows the future. In fact the Bible tells us the spirit of Christ is the spirit of prophecy, all the prophets prophesied by him. Indeed, this is what makes the prophets different from fortune tellers or diviners that find their source in the devil. The prophet of God gets his truth from Jesus, who knows the future because he is God, and knows everything.
This is a very unique situation. Who would claim to know the day of his death, unless he were God? And, it would only stand to reason that God would speak of rising again because you would not think that to be final for him. If human authors had written the Bible by themselves, without divine inspiration, they would not have put such a thing in Scripture. Someone would be considered mad to believe something like this, and yet it is the truth. This is one of the great things that verifies the truth of Scripture.
It is interesting that several groups of the Jewish leaders are mentioned here. It’s not just that all of them are thrown in together. The elders would reject him. The chief priests would reject him. The scribes would reject him. This is interesting because, had any one of these groups been on his side, there would have been a possibility of him not being rejected. But, they all turned against him.

Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus even though you knew exactly what was going to happen. Thank you for the sacrifice of your son. Thank you for your great mercy and love! Thank you for Christ! Oh Lord Jesus thank you for dying in my place, your great love for me is overwhelming! I will praise you forever, and lift your name on high. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you Father, Amen.

Mark 8:30
We have to understand Jesus in terms of his eternal existence. There were times in the writings of the prophets that the Lord told the prophet to seal something up. The Lord controls what is revealed, and when. Thus, it would be strange not to expect the same thing from Christ.
Jesus is not trying to keep people from believing in him. But, he wants them to come to the conclusion on their own. The time for national transformation was over. The Jews were not going to accept their Messiah, they were going to have him crucified. So the disciples were not to proclaim his identity as the Messiah openly until after the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

Heavenly Father, you for your direction of history. You always know what is best, and what to give us at any given time. You do the most merciful thing, and that is a great glory to You! Thank you for your truth. Thank you for your love. Thank you for judging us on the basis of your Word, and not our own misconceptions. Give us a desire and love for your truth, it is so precious! I will praise you for your Word as long as I live! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.

Mark 8:29
Jesus now plows ahead and gets the disciples to think about the question themselves. Who was Jesus? Did they really know him? After all this time with him could they identify him for who he was?
Mark’s Gospel has of course been accused of being too short, and not descriptive enough. But, I find this short statement of Peter’s faith to be quite appropriate. Jesus is the Christ. That puts it plainly, just as it needs to be. It tells us that he is all that the Old Testament had prophesied. It tells us that he is the One the Holy Father has chosen. It tells us he is the only Hope for mankind. It tells us that he is the King. It tells us that he is the Savior.
This is the conclusion that Jesus wanted people to come to. He wanted them to understand who he is in his fullness. And yet, he wanted people to come to this realization on their own. He didn’t want them to be forced into it, coerced into it, or just wowed into it through miracles. He wanted people to come to this conclusion in their hearts.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the Christ! The Lord Jesus is our Hope, our Salvation, our King, our great love. He is your suffering servant, and by His righteousness he has justified many. He has brought us to you, dear Father. Thank you for the shed blood of Christ on Calvary! I will never be able to thank you enough for Christ, but I will live my life for him. He is worthy of all the glory. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.

Mark 8:28
Taking part in the superstition of that day, Herod had assumed Jesus was John the Baptist come back from the dead. So, many people took the same opinion. Others thought Jesus was Elijah, forgetting the Ministry of John the Baptist, and that he would usher in either the Messiah or some impending judgment. The rest weren’t really sure what to think, so they tried to liken him to one prophet or another.
Though the popular opinion concerning Christ was incorrect, we can draw some parallels between this and common belief today. The disciples make it sound as if everyone believed something about Jesus. This is true even today. Everyone has some kind of belief about Christ. Even those who would say he’s just a man, or he didn’t exist, are fairly vociferous about their belief. In other words, everyone realizes that Jesus is the crucial subject. One cannot adopt any form of what might be called Christianity without dealing with the Christ.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for Jesus! This is what we must come to. We must realize the fullness of Christ. We must understand his person, and have a relationship with him. Jesus is the key to everything. You, Father, have made it so. Jesus is the person that matters for our eternal destiny. Our lives are to be wholly surrendered to Him. Lord Jesus I surrender myself to you, and seek Your glory in everything. You are worthy! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.

Mark 8:27
The Caesarea Philippi area was likely not far from the Bethsaida that Jesus had just been to. Thus, walking along, he begins this conversation with them. It is great to have these private conversations recorded because they really give us an insight into what Jesus was teaching his disciples at the time.
This particular conversation had as its goal for the disciples to begin to understand what Jesus was driving at with his teaching. He wanted them to understand that he wanted to bring people to a place of belief, so that they would understand that he is the Messiah. As we know, this is vital, because belief in Christ is the key to salvation. So, Jesus is trying to pass along to the disciples the most important thing.

Heavenly Father, thank you for always coming back to the most important thing. You can give us a lot of great advice and tell us how to do a lot of things, but you always focus on the most important. You know what is best for us, and you know what is for your ultimate glory. Thank you for working in our hearts to bring us to Christ! I’m so glad that I’m saved! Having your truth available, knowing your Son as my personal Savior, and being able to take part in your work in this world, it’s all so wonderful. I will lift your praises high all my life, and never cease to bring you honor and glory! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.

Mark 8:26
Jesus does this same thing on many occasions, telling the one who has been healed not to tell anyone in town. Jesus does this, as we have seen before, for several reasons. People in this region were having difficulty believing. And, miracles are easy to misunderstand, misconstrue, and misrepresent. The crowd would capture and modify the story many times over.
Even more than this, Jesus likes for teaching to go along with miracles. It was much more effective for him to do miracles for those who understood more of the truth, rather than those who understood less. Remember, his goal was spiritual sight.
The final reason is in connection with Jesus’ desire concerning his public image. He wanted to control what miracles were seen as public, and what miracles were not. He wanted to fashion the truth that reached the masses. He wanted people to understand they needed to believe in him on the basis of who he was by looking at the prophets and the law, not just on the basis of his miracles. And why is this? Jesus knew that knowing him as a miracle worker might bring someone to physical healing. But, knowing him as the Messiah of Israel would bring someone to spiritual healing.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your mercy to us. You understand how we think, and what we need as a result. Very often we think we know what needs to happen, or how we need to be helped. And yet, all along, you know what is best. We can always depend upon you to have our best interest at heart. Your faithfulness is absolute, and your love is unconditional! I will praise your name forever, your care for me is amazing! I love you! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.

Mark 8:25
It seems from the language here that this fellow was either closing his eyes or looking down. This would not be uncommon for someone that’s blind, even someone who had once seen but had lost their sight as this man. In fact, it is very possible that this loss of sight was due to an injury to the eyes of some kind.
We might well ask what men this man saw if they were out of the town. However, it is fairly certain that the Lord Jesus took his disciples with him, and so the man would have seen them right away.
This miracle is a great parallel to the spiritual blindness that we so often experience. Even though the Lord has given his saints the spiritual sight to see the truth, we often still are in blindness and darkness. And why is this? Because we allow sin to blind us and keep us from seeing the truth as it is. The lost, are trapped in this blindness and darkness and cannot escape without turning to Christ. Those who belong to him must exercise their freedom from it, that we may lead others to Christ.

Heavenly Father, thank you for restoring our spiritual eyes, not just our physical ones. It is a wonderful blessing to see your grace and truth in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can never thank you enough for all it is ours through him. As we go through this life following your leading, we will not cease to sing your praises for your amazing grace. You are the only one who can heal us, and make us as we ought to be. You can restore us to the place that we should be spiritually. You are perfecting our hearts on a daily basis. Thank you for your ongoing activity in our lives. Your love is so wonderful, and your truth is a blessing to us at every moment. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray and praise you, Amen.

Mark 8:24
So here we have the apparent failure of Christ to heal this man right away. It says here that he looked up. The word here indicates that he did indeed regain his sight. But, he could not see clearly yet. Jesus, as we saw in the last verse, asked the man if he saw anything. This was rather strange too. Jesus must have known that the man would not see right away.
Because he knows everything, Jesus knew that this man was having difficulty believing in him. He knew that the spiritual darkness in this area was very strong. But he also knew that this man had seen before. Otherwise, the man would not have known to say what he says in this verse. Jesus knew the man would know what he was seeing, and that he would have difficulty believing Jesus could heal him.
Jesus heals him in stages on purpose. Just as there are those who could once see, but are now blind, there are those who can see, but not very well. Thus, Jesus first heals this man in accordance with his faith, which was weak. As always, Jesus is teaching. He is trying to help this man understand that his faith was weak. Jesus, ability was not limited, but he wanted this man to be delivered from spiritual as well as physical blindness.

Heavenly Father, your wisdom is so much better than ours. You know what we need, and when we need it. You are always trying to teach us something. You never stop doing things for our good. We praise you for your kindness to us. You understand this world better than we do, and you alone know the best path. We will follow your leading so that we will not walk in darkness. Thank you! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.

Mark 8:23
This story is the perfect backdrop for the discussion Jesus was about to have with his disciples concerning who he is. He removed the man from the public eye. Taking him away privately, he then goes through a process for healing him that can only be called bizarre. In this verse he spits and touches the man. As we see in the following verses, this does not fully heal the man, and Jesus has to touch his eyes again for the full healing.
So, why? Why was this healing so different? Was Jesus somehow limited? Like the disciples, we need to remember the feeding of the four thousand. Did Jesus have any trouble with that miracle? No. He’s the one who thought of it. So, is this miracle different? Yes. Remember that superstition was rampant in that time. It was easy for people to misunderstand, misrepresent, and misidentify, Christ. This is one of the reasons why Jesus asks his followers who people were saying he was.
The miracle with the for thousand followed a lengthy message from Christ. This miracle, on the other hand, was not accompanied by teaching. Thus it was not a limitation in Christ’s ability, but was instead due to spiritual darkness.
Now, spiritual darkness has no effect upon Christ. But, it can have a profound effect on people. This man and his fellow countrymen did not understand Jesus completely. Jesus did do miracles for those who didn’t understand, but he was much more interested in doing them for those who realized who he is.
We must always be careful to remember that Jesus didn’t come to set up shop as a miracle worker. He came to solve man’s real problem, sin. Blindness, and all of our other ills, are only realities because of sin.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the light of the glorious gospel of Christ! We live in a dark world. Thank you for sending Christ to rescue us from ourselves. You are worthy of the glory for it all. You didn’t have to save us. Thank you! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.