JESUS SPIT ON HIM

“Some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him” (Mark 8:22, NLT).

The Bible is filled with anonymous heroes, nameless servants of the Lord who in quiet, faithful service help others have an encounter with God or receive a miracle. Consider the young woman who told the wife of Naaman, the leprous general of the Syrian army, about Elisha and the miracles God was doing through him (see 2 Kings 5). And then there was the little boy who willingly gave up his lunch so that Jesus could take the five loaves of bread and two fish and miraculously feed five thousand men and at least that many women and children (John 6:9). We don’t know the names of these servants but they are truly heroes of the faith because of their willingness to serve.

“Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, ‘Can you see anything now?’” (verse 23).

“Some people” persistently asked, even begged, and Jesus responded to their repeated calls for help by taking the man by the hand and leading him out of the village. This is a beautiful picture of salvation and God’s continuing care for us as we grow in Him. 

Jesus takes us by the hand and leads us away from the sinfulness of our past — which is represented by the village. Our responsibility is to keep our hand in His. One night when I was in treatment for throat cancer, I asked the Lord what I should do. I was sick and tired, and anxiety and fear were trying to gain access. As clearly as I have ever heard Him speak, in a very loving and fatherly voice He said, “Put your hand in Mine!” Immediately I knew my heavenly Father was present and He had everything under control. Jesus takes us by the hand and leads us into our future!

What happened next to the blind man is very unorthodox. Jesus spit on the man’s eyes! Yes, I did say “He spit”! In the original language (are you ready for this?) the word used here means “to spit.”

If a preacher were to do this today, he could be arrested for possibly spreading a disease. Then he would be vilified on CNN by Piers Morgan for being an absolutely disgusting human being who had the audacity to propagate Christianity by spitting.

 

Why did Jesus spit on the man’s eyes? I don’t really know but He had done this on two other occasions. Once He spit on the ground, mixed some dirt with His spit, put the mud on a blind man’s eyes — and the man was healed (John 9:6)! The other time a deaf man who could not speak clearly was brought to Him. Jesus spit on His fingers, touched the man’s tongue and he was healed (Mark 7:33). Could it be that Jesus simply wanted to establish the fact that what was going to happen was out of the ordinary, that this was a divine intervention that was beyond any rational explanation? The unregenerate mind is incapable of fully grasping the love and grace of God!

In all fairness, in folk medicine of Bible times it was thought that saliva had medicinal qualities and often was recommended for treatment of eye disease. What Jesus did is shocking to us but it would not have been as shocking to the watching crowd.

“The man looked around. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around’” (verse 24).

Salvation is articulated as “the new birth” (John 3:3). Newborn babies do not see clearly or really know what they are seeing and they don’t talk clearly, either, although that will come in due time. The Bible tells us that newborn Christians are not fully grown up, they are babies! And as babies, they need to be cared for, taught and given the time to grow into maturity. People looked like trees to the healed man because his eyes had not been working before and it would take time for them to be trained to focus and for him to understand what he was seeing.

What is happening here shows the progressive growth of both salvation and healing. We are encouraged to “grow in Christ” (1 Peter 3:18). Most healings are not miracles — miracles are instantaneous but healing is a process.

Jesus said, “They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:18, NKJV). Recovery is a process that occurs over time. “Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly” (verse 25).
 
The Lord does not just grab us at the moment of salvation, cleanse us of sin, and then let us go out to fend for ourselves. He is with us to help us grow into the man or woman He has destined us to be. He is not done with us just because we have been believers for five years or twenty years or even fifty years. He is still leading us by the hand. And He is still putting His hands on our eyes and helping us to see clearly. “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20, NLT).

“Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Don’t go back into the village on your way home’” (verse 26).

Jesus told him, “On your journey home don’t go back to where you were before. Let all of that go. You are a new man now and the old life, the village life, is not for you anymore.”

Following are statements that only you can make. Are you willing?

“Jesus, I need a fresh touch of You in my life. I need to see more clearly; I need to grow in You. Please, Jesus, spit on me!” 

HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD

In the English Standard Version of the Bible, the heading for Romans 12:9-21 is, “Marks of the True Christian.” Paul writes about the distinguishing traits or qualities of those who are followers of Jesus.

These verses are challenging! As I studied this passage for a teaching series, I had to stop and make a phone call. I reached verse 17 in my preparation and the Holy Spirit put me under conviction. “Repay no one evil for evil.”

I called an old friend with whom I had gotten sideways. The last time we had talked I was angry at him and said some things that were wrong. As I studied this teaching by Paul, I realized the Holy Spirit was convicting me about this so I called my friend and apologized for my bad behavior and we repaired our friendship.

I hope you will take the time to slowly read through this passage in Romans 12 and let the Holy Spirit speak to you about continually growing in these important qualities.

Paul begins this teaching with a strong statement about love: “Let love be genuine” (Romans 12:9, ESV). Paul clearly teaches that love cannot be hypocritical; in other words, you cannot wear a mask of love. A mask is something we put on and then take off, and for a believer that is hypocrisy. Our love for everybody in and out of the church cannot be “pretend,” it must be genuine and constant. I am concerned about how flippant some have become with the use of the word love. For some, “I love you” is the new cool statement and there is little regard for what it actually means. For many it is just slang, but as followers of Jesus we are to be honest in what we say and how we say it.

The last statement that Paul makes in this passage has been a struggle for me to understand for years. When I come across one of those passages that is hard to understand, my tendency is to not allow it to hang me up; instead I accept the fact that I don’t understand it and move on. My problem this time, however, was that I had made a commitment to do a teaching series on this passage, so I really sought the Lord. And I dug deep into my library and the collected the wisdom of people a lot smarter than I am. And I’m so glad I did! What I discovered is an incredible statement of victory over evil for every believer.

Verse 19 - “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’’’

In verse 19 Paul makes it clear that if someone does us wrong we are not to return their bad behavior by bad behavior on our part. We are not to hold a grudge against the person. If their behavior was criminal, however, this doesn’t mean that we should not get the authorities involved because, actually, we must! What it does say is that we need to forgive the person for their conduct and let the final reckoning come from God Who promises that He will repay.

Verse 20 - “To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’”

The last part of verse 20 has been the challenge for me: “. . . for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head ”

How am I supposed to reconcile having genuine love with the imagery of pouring burning coals over an enemy’s head? This sounds more like revenge than love!

Two ideas are put forth to explain this unusual statement. The first has to do with judgment day when all will stand before God and be judged for their life and behavior. This position seems to say that our enemies will get their appropriate punishment on that day.

The second thought I think is more plausible and fits better with the context. This position says that when we act out of love by feeding or giving water to our enemy, those acts of goodness will be used by the Holy Spirit to bring that person under conviction. The act of goodness releases the conviction of the Holy Spirit on the person; the act of goodness becomes the pouring on of coals of fire.

In Acts 7 Stephen was stoned for his faith. As he was dying he cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60). Standing close to where Stephen died was a young Jewish zealot by the name of Saul who was committed to destroying the Christian church. Stephen’s act of goodness/love began the work of the Holy Spirit in Saul that would be consummated on the road to Damascus. Saul was struck by the power of the Holy Spirit and was marvelously converted. Saul became Paul — who became the greatest apostle the Christian Church has ever had.

If any man understood what it meant to have “coals of fire” poured on his head by an act of goodness, it was the Apostle Paul.

Verse 21 - “Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good” (NLT).

Good conquers evil! Evil wins when we stop doing good and that’s the whole intention of evil . . . to destroy good.

Good trumps evil every time! We may not see that final reckoning right away but it will come because God’s Word declares it so! Paul was proof that good conquers evil.

KNOWING GOD BETTER

“The Lord has established His throne in the heavens and His kingdom rules over all (over the universe)” (Psalm 103:19).

In 1946, when I was two years old, my parents moved from a tiny town on Vancouver Island to the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. Dad had taken a job at one of Canada’s largest lumber mills and Vancouver became my home city. I lived in one of the most beautiful cities in the world until I left for college in California in the fall of 1963.

My parents were both Spirit-filled Christians, commonly known in those days as Pentecostals. After settling in Vancouver, our family began attending the largest Spirit-filled church in Vancouver and according to some reports, the largest Protestant church in the city at that time.  Those were the days when a good-sized evangelical church ran a few hundred people and most Pentecostal churches averaged less than a hundred people. Evangelistic Tabernacle, our home church, had a sanctuary that would seat 1800 and the church was often packed to the doors. It was a true megachurch before the term was ever thought of.

When I was a kid, we did not go to church for one sixty-minute service with a little bit of worship and a brief teaching. Church on Sunday morning was short if it went only two hours and then we were back on Sunday night for an evangelistic service. Tuesday night was prayer meeting at church and Thursday night was Bible study.

My pastor, Ern Baxter, was one of the great preachers of that time and was known to many as “the prince of preachers.” Not only was he the pastor of our church but he often traveled with one of the well-known faith healers of the ’40s and ‘50s, William Branham. Pastor managed the campaigns for Branham and conducted the afternoon Bible teaching sessions. In those days it was not unusual for the healing campaigns to have day services where the teaching was on faith and divine healing. The focus of most of the evening meetings was prayer for the sick and miracles. The campaigns would sometimes last for weeks, with services every day, and were held in large auditoriums or tents that would seat 5,000 to 10,000. It was a very different time in the church in the U.S. and Canada.

It was under Ern Baxter’s ministry that I received Christ as my savior at the age of five. When I was eleven I went with my older brother to our church camp and there, along with many of my friends, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If I remember the night at camp correctly, it was Ern Baxter who laid hands on me just before I began to praise God in a heavenly language. I think it is fair to say that I have a spiritual connection with this man.

Baxter left our church when I was in my early teens and while I heard about him from time to time after that, I never had direct contact with him again. A couple of weeks ago I came across one of his sermons on the Internet. Entitled “Thy Kingdom Come,” the sermon was preached in 1975. I must say that it is an incredible message and as I read through it, one of Baxter’s statements really struck me. Perhaps I found the statement so profound because over the last year I have been studying on how to know God better. My study began with J.I. Packer's very powerful book “Knowing God” (which I think, outside of the Bible, is one of the most impactful books I have ever read). When I read Ern Baxter’s concise statement about the supremacy of God, I was struck with the simple profundity of it. I copied his statement from the sermon so that I could ponder it, and the more I read it the more profound I find it.

I decided to take a different approach to the blog this week and I am sharing the statement my former pastor made. I hope you will take time to reflect on it.

"The Bible tries to tell us in simple language of the ultimacy of God. There is none before Him. There is none beside Him. He takes orders from none. He was created by none. He is Life—Self Existent. There is nothing in Him that should be out of Him. Nothing out of Him that should be in Him. He remembers nothing because He's forgotten nothing. He learns nothing because there is nothing He does not know. He does not need to know because He holds all truth simultaneously. He is the God of the Eternal Now. He can look at human history from the beginning or the end or the middle—for all things are known to Him."

                                                                                                   (Ern Baxter)

“The Lord sits enthroned as King forever (over the ages)” (Psalm 29:10).

THE LONG MARCH

 In 1934 China was in the midst of civil war. Two ideologies were fighting to control the future of this great nation. On one side were the Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek, and opposing them were the Communists with a rising leader by the name of Mao Tse-Tung. In late 1934 the Red Army attempted to break free from the encircling army of the Nationalists and escape from the south of China by marching to the west and then north to a more friendly area of the country.

In October 1934, the Red Army, numbering about 100,000 soldiers, broke free of the Nationalists and began a yearlong trek that would later be called the Long March. In the next twelve months the Army covered nearly 8000 miles over some of the most difficult terrain in China that included mountain ranges, swamps, rivers and deserts. They were continually attacked by Nationalist forces and of the 100,000 soldiers that began the Long March, approximately only 20,000 made it to the desired goal.

The Long March is a picture of a tenacious desire to break free from an enemy and achieve a goal. It is an example from history of the journey of faith every follower of Jesus Christ makes. At salvation we are called to be pilgrims (Hebrews 11:13-16). A pilgrim is one traveling in a land that is not his homeland. Our journey is to move through this life free from the encroachments of the enemy, do the work of the Lord, and achieve the goal of being with God in eternity.

Psalm 84 is sometimes called The Song of the Pilgrim and it is filled with powerful insights and promises for us on our “long march.”

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God” (Psalm 84:1-3, ESV).

Every “born-again” person has a “birthed-in” desire and hunger to be in the presence of God; it is a part of our spiritual DNA. Some immediately recognize the spiritual hunger for home and it becomes the driving force, the focal point of their lives. Their lives are ordered by what they understand to be the important things for a pilgrim journey. Others do not understand the desire right away but as they mature in their walk with God, the understanding begins to take hold and they refocus their spiritual lives to be pilgrims on the long march. We sometimes call this revival or renewal.

Some never get the picture clearly. I call these the spiritually illiterate. They get saved but that is just about it. These are not immature Christians, they are illiterate Christians; they have little or no prayer life and spend little or no time in God’s Word. They have crossed the line of faith and nothing more.

Immaturity in a believer gets taken care of over time by prayer, counsel and the Word. Illiterates never change unless they make a conscious choice to do so. They are the most frequent casualties on the long march, as they never learn to walk in faith or to appropriate protection.

^“Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion” (verses 4-5).

The blessing, the favor of God, rests on those who choose to serve and worship the Lord. His blessing is upon those who know that the strength of the Lord is our salvation. The desire to make the journey home to be with Him in His dwelling place is planted in those who love and serve Him. The highways are the ways of God, the ways of the Holy Spirit that lead and point us home to a full life in Him.

^“As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools” (verse 6).

The Valley of Baca is a type of the hard, dry places we sometimes find ourselves in. The promise of God is that when we come to those places on our journey — and we will — as we press into Him, those dry and desolate places will become a place of refreshing springs. The early rain is a picture of “times of refreshing” that come from the Holy Spirit.

This is a powerful promise! In the most unlikely circumstances God will come and the power of His presence will refresh and restore His people on their long march. It is at the points of desolation that we see the great displays of miracle power (see an example in Mark 6:35).

I experienced this when I was going through my valley of cancer two years ago. In some of the hardest moments when I was filled with anxiety and concern, as I worshiped and pressed into God, those moments were turned from dry and desolate to incredible times of refreshing in the presence of God.

The psalmist David wrote about this same truth in Psalm 23. Following his famous statement in verse four about going through the valley of death, David says, “You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings” (Psalm 23:5, NLT). The valley of dryness and death becomes the point of God’s rich blessing to the heart set on completing the long march.

 ^“They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion” (Psalm 84:7).

The pilgrim becomes stronger as he proceeds on the journey. “From strength to strength” means that each point of the journey builds strength and stamina for what is ahead. The apostle Paul taught this same truth when he said, “Tribulation brings patience, which brings experience, which brings hope” (see Romans 5:3-4). This is strength building strength and then repeating itself again and again.

Our “long march” was never meant to be just our escape path from this world. The march was always destined to be the journey that takes us to the fulfillment of “The Great Commission” and on into the eternal presence of God.