Continuing on and completing this teaching beginning with Mark 5:30.
30 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” 31 And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” 32 And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. 33 But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”
Now there’s a whole lot in these previous verses that we could study, but that’s for another lesson. Besides, I have taught the revelation of truth behind these scriptures in previous lessons.
35 While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?”
Religion will always try to get you to abandon your convictions. Jairus said his daughter was sick and a touch from Jesus/Grace would make her well. Here comes the naysayers trying to destroy Jairus’ beliefs. As Graham Cooke says “Every word of God received must by necessity be challenged with contradiction”.
36 But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.”
Whenever a challenge comes to a Word from the Lord, God will strongly confirm it’s authenticity. Jesus told Jairus not to be afraid “any longer”. That tells me fear tried to come upon Jairus, but Jesus reassured him everything was all right.
37 And He allowed no one to accompany Him, except Peter and James and John the brother of James. 38 They came to the house of the synagogue official; and He saw a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing. 39 And entering in, He said to them, “Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep.” 40 They began laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and entered the room where the child was.
I want you to notice that in verse 38 the people were “loudly weeping and wailing”. Here in verse 40 they began laughing. Religion will always laugh at your truth statements, especially when they don’t fit the natural realm of the world. How quickly religion changes faces.
Jesus doesn’t mess with the unbelievers. He simply puts them out of the way. He realized that unbelief doesn’t need to be in the presence of faith. He understood that wherever two shall agree there is power. He didn’t need disagreement in the room with Him.
41 Taking the child by the hand, He said to her,“Talitha kum!”, which translated means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”. 42 Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded.
There it is again. They were astounded or amazed. This verse tells us the young girl was twelve years old. This is the second time in these verses that the number twelve is used. The woman with the issue of blood was sick twelve years. Basically, she was dead for twelve years. This little girl was alive for twelve years and had died. Now both are totally set free and alive.
43 And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that something should be given her to eat.
In Mark 8:15, Jesus spoke to His disciples about the characteristics of a hard heart. He said the following in Mark 8:17-18.
17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? 18 Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember,
In these verses, Jesus gives us symptoms that are descriptive of a hard heart: (1) not being able to perceive, (2) not being able to understand, (3) not being able to see, (4) not being able to hear, and (5) not being able to remember. These are all speaking of inabilities in the spiritual realm.
A hard heart is characterized by an inability to perceive spiritual things. This describes a person who just doesn’t have an aptitude for spiritual things. Others seem to perceive things that a person with a hard heart can not.
The words of Mark 6:52 are still ringing in my ears where it reads “For they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.”
Not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves. They could not get a revelation of the truth surrounding the miraculous. Rather than understanding it is the norm, they were amazed and maybe dismayed. Their minds were not renewed to the point where the supernatural is the norm and miracles become simple.
It is the hardened heart that dulls a person’s ability to perceive and understand. It is the equivalent of spiritual retardation. It isn’t sin that causes hearts to be hard; it is focusing on things other than the miracles Jesus performs.
It isn’t looking at pornographic magazines or fighting or lying (certainly not condoning these things); it’s trying to save your own lives, fix the problem, or get right when you are in the midst of the storm that will harden your heart. Grace/Jesus has all that you need. When you’re trying, He cannot work for you.
When we think spiritually instead of naturally, we will quickly realize that Jesus takes care of us in every situation. Instead of being surprised at the supernatural blessings from Jesus, we will come to expect them.
It just seems as though we are so dominated by considering the natural, that we are surprised by the supernatural. But the truth is, our hearts have become hardened toward God and His supernatural power because of our failure to stay focused on spiritual things. The supernatural lifestyle ought to be the norm in our lives where miracles become simple.
Let me say this again. Grace is not right doing, it’s right believing. We should expect to see the miraculous power of God manifest in our lives all the time. Seeing things from God’s perspective. God was not amazed or bewildered when Jesus performed His miracles. He was pleased, because God knew that was normal. We ought to have the same perspective. Grace and Peace.
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