“JESUS
CHRIST - A MAN APPROVED OF GOD (Acts 2:22)”
Miracle #24-
THE
TEXT:
32
And they bring unto him one that was deaf,
and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his
hand upon
him.
33 And
he took him aside from the multitude,
and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue;
34
And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and
saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
35
And straightway his ears were opened, and
the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.
37
And were beyond measure astonished,
saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear,
and the
dumb to speak.
(Mark 7:32-35,36-37)
THE
EXPLANATION:
And
they bring unto him one that was deaf,
Once
again, Israel is being reminded how the LORD replied
to Moses “Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or
deaf,
or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? (Exodus 4:11)
when
Moses said unto the LORD the following …
“O
my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither
heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow
of
speech, and of a slow tongue. (Exodus 4:10)
and
had an impediment in his speech;
The
thin strip of tissue that runs
vertically from the floor of the mouth to the undersurface of the tongue
is
called the lingual frenulum … which is also called the string of
the tongue (Mark
7:35).
This
man suffers from the speech impediment
of being tongue-tied, a condition where tongue movement is
restricted
due to a short lingual frenulum.
For
example, some people have difficulty licking
around their lips, or raising the tongue tip inside their mouth.
This can mean that they have difficulties with eating and pronunciation
of
certain letters of the alphabet, and indeed speaking.
and
they beseech him to put his hand upon
him.
Those
that brought the man to Christ, might have in the
back of their mind, that Christ just might be God manifest in the flesh
(1
Timothy 3:16), and would have been mindful of the Old Testament
scripture,
where the LORD said to Moses “… Who hath made man's mouth? or
who maketh
the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the
LORD?”
(Exodus 4:10-11)
And
he took him aside from the multitude,
Often
the crowds would mock, add confusion and unbelief
or just come for the circus and entertainment that Christ would provide
with healing.
and
put his fingers into his ears,
Hearing
is the most important thing with God not our talking
… ears first then the mouth second.
Furthermore,
Christ is indicating for those present where
he will be healing … the ears and the tongue. If not,
the crowd
just might think it to be a coincidence. It’s as if Christ is saying
with his
actions “I’m going to heal this (the ears) and then I will heal that
(the
tongue)!”
In
addition, this is similar to when Christ raised
Lazarus, and he spoke “Lazarus come forth …” (John 11:43), so when he
arose,
greater would be the wonderment for those present.
Christ
said what he meant and meant what he said … very
specific.
Dear
Reader, let us hear what the word says then speak it
… not the other way around.
and
he spit, and touched his tongue;
Christ
spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle
(John 9:6)
This
action would remind Israel about creation, where
Christ uses water to form Adam from the wet dust of the ground. Adam
was made
from mud.
“But
there went up a mist from the
earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the
LORD God
formed man of the dust of the ground …” (Genesis 2:6-7)
To
the astute and discerning Jew, here was Christ the
Creator (Romans 1:25; Colossians 1:16-17) again ‘re-creating’ a man’s
body
part.
And
looking up to heaven,
Why
look up? That’s where God the Father lives. As with
raising Lazarus, Christ also looks up to heaven (John 11:41)
he
sighed,
Why
sigh? In another place Christ “… sighed deeply
in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign?
verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this
generation.”
(Mark 8:12)
It’s
as if Christ says “Here we go again with another
miracle … why can’t they just believe that I am God … just like the
Gentiles
will.”
and
saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be
opened.
Christ
on earth is an ever-present reminder to Israel,
that Christ is God manifest in the flesh (1Timothy 3:16), and that God
had
lowered himself to become a man as the Son of man (Philippians 2:7),
and
therefore speaks in the form of the ‘lesser’ language of the Babylonian
Aramaic, which had replaced the pure Hebrew around the 6th century BC.
Other
specific instances reflect this as follows ... Abba
(Mark 14:36); Raca (Matthew 5:22); Rabboni (John
20:16); Eli,
Eli, lama sabachthani (Matthew 27:46)
Even
on the cross, Christ, although God himself (1 John
5:7-8), speaks the ‘lesser’ language of Aramaic to God the Father
(Matthew
27:46) … Christ being in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3).
And
straightway his ears were opened, and the
string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.
Yes
Dear Reader, Christ healed instantly right on
the spot … as with all his miracles there were no gradual healings. And
here’s
the difference … today we have eternal salvation, being saved straight
into the
kingdom of God, but they didn’t under their kingdom of heaven
And
he charged them that they should tell no
man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they
published
it;
This
was so as not to attract the thrill seekers, or
indeed increase his popularity, as Christ still had more work to fulfil
the law
(Matthew 5:17) according to the Father’s will.
And
were beyond measure astonished, saying,
He
hath done all things well: he maketh both
the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.”
Christ’s
healing this man, was a practical demonstration
to Israel, of what they could experience spiritually should they so
desire
(Matthew 13:13) … with their believeth on Christ (John 3:16)
Harley
Hitchcock
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