Mark 3:7-12

Mark 3:7-12  Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed.  When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.  Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him.  For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.  Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”  But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was. 

Jesus commanded the demons not to announce that He was the Son of God.  He knew these demonic spirits understood who He really was because they were of the spirit world.  Jesus did not want them thwarting his mission on Earth by exposing him as the Son of God, for He first had to come as a son of the flesh.  Jesus had to taste of man's weaknesses and temptations before He could become the unblemished sacrificial Lamb for the sins of the world.  To be the perfect acceptable sacrifice without sin or corruption, He had to live in the flesh by faith, listening to the Holy Spirit's words, relying on the Spirit's supernatural power, obeying the Father.  Jesus said, All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.  For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.  (John 6:37-38)  Jesus willingly laid aside his heavenly position and was born a man of the flesh, yet He was one with the Father.  Everything He did was according to God's will, for He always did what the Father told him to do.  He relied completely on God the Spirit to answer his prayers.  In today's passage, we see Jesus doing many wonderful acts to reveal God's grace and love to the people.  His ministry was so revelatory, dynamic and powerful that throngs of people gathered around him, seeking deliverance from their sicknesses and difficulties.  Many in this crowd sought healing; other wanted freedom from demon oppression.  Hungry souls gathered to hear Jesus' wisdom.  Many came just to watch this man of miracles, for no one from the beginning of time had done what Jesus was doing.  Regardless of why they were there, the pressure on Jesus from the crowd was so great that He asked the disciples to prepare a boat so He could escape the crowd, for He was mere man, and He wanted to keep the people from crowding him.  Of course, the people just followed him along the shore, for Jesus' works were so powerful and wonderful that the throngs of people followed him everywhere.  They looked for healings and miracles; they looked for signs and wonders. 

In these last days when knowledge is doubling every few years, people look for signs and wonders, but they do not look to God.  They look to man for the next invention, for the next breakthrough into cyberspace.  With unbelief taught throughout the world, we must have people full of the Holy Spirit to lead God's people, to tell them where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.  (See Romans 5:20)  With great darkness, there must be great light.  Without that light, this world will become darker and darker.  The elite of the world boldly champion unbelief as openly as they have ever done.  The world is as it was in the time of the tower of Babel when all people function under the auspices of one language: the computer language.  Man uses this language to discredit the idea of God, to laugh at the Neanderthals who still believe in the myth of a creator God who works in the lives of those who love him.  They want to bring down the very notion of a holy God who sent his Son to die for sinners.  Surely this new world would mock the calling to be a minister or a missionary to share the Good News with the world, saying such foolishness no longer belongs in modern culture.  But the Word says, When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.  (Isaiah 59:19)  As with the Tower of Babel, But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.  The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”  (Genesis 11:5-7)  Man's incessant drive to be God or Godlike is seemingly culminating in these last days.  Scientists everywhere seek to discover the essence of life, of matter, of time.  If man can find the foundational elements of life, matter, and even time, he can become a creator.  He can replace the Creator of all things.  He can sit on the throne of God.  This age-old desire to replace God still motivates man, for he has always been disgruntled with serving the holy God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Of course, the secular man laughs at such a conclusion, but do people really know the intents and purposes of their hearts and the spirit behind their drive to know all things and to erase God from every equation.  The Bible says the heart is deceitful and wicked.  Who can know it?  

What is the answer to darkness?  More light.  As Jesus walked the earth, He turned on the light in a dark and desperate world.  As He turned on the light, people flocked to hear his words and to see his deeds.  We need to turn on the light by fasting, praying, and answering Christ's call upon our lives.  Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:14-16)   People in the world look for a contrast with their lives.  We need fresh testimonies to share with them.  We need to be able to tell them about people healed of their sinful lives, people who are now clean and serving God because of the transforming light of Christ.  We need to be point to the lives of people who are physically, emotionally, and psychologically healed by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  We cannot let darkness encase the church with unbelief as we yield power to a world that looks to the Internet for all its answers.  Instead, we need the lively work of the Holy Spirit evident in the lives of Christians.  We must let the Fruit of the Spirit reap a rich harvest in all believers of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)   Believers are not only to love those who love us: we are to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us.  Fighting and arguing with the world will not show God's love.  Self-sacrifice and servanthood show the image of God to the world.  Love breaks hardened hearts, isolates hate, and snuffs it out.  Love destroys loneliness, cares for the sick and dying, makes government work, and empowers people to do works of goodness.  Love breaks the backs of lawbreakers, brings children back to their parents, and brings true authority back into a society.  But God's love is always painful and will cost you something, usually something you don't want to do.  Discovering the essence of all things will not bring love to the world; only God will do this through Christ Jesus who illustrated true love on the cross.  As Jesus is the light of the world, we also must be lights in this dark world.  We must let the Day Star arise and shine, bringing God's love to his people.