“HE came... through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. 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.”
We will recall, in Mark 5, the Lord driving the legion of demons out of the possessed man — sending them into a herd of swine. When the unclean beasts drowned in the sea the people requested him to leave — and He did so. However, there was at least one believer left to tell the story of this wonderful Person (the young man who was healed). We read that he began to publish in Decapolis how great things the Lord had done unto him.
Perhaps it was in part, at least, the result of his testimony that when the Lord now returns to Decapolis, there are those who seek Him and bring with them a poor man in need of healing grace. When the man is cured the harsh thoughts that previously drove Jesus away are forgotten by the people, who proclaim: “He hath done all things well. He maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak.”
In this story there is a picture of Israel’s attitude toward the Lord Jesus — first refusing and then at a later date welcoming Him. It is stated in John 1:1111He came unto his own, and his own received him not. (John 1:11), “He came unto His own and His own received Him not.” Because Israel refused the One who came as their Messiah, the invitation to accept Him as Saviour was given to the Gentiles — this time extending to our present day. Then at a still future date, after the Lord comes in the clouds to take all believers to heaven with Him, there will be a restoring of Israel in the millennium, when the “ear of Israel” will be opened to hear the Redeemer’s voice and their “tongue loosed” to speak His praise. But remember that tween the time of the Lord’s cony for the Church and the millennium there will be a tribulation period severe judgment on the whole nation of Israel.
This narrative also pictures each one of us in our natural state before God. Our ears are deaf to His voice and our tongues cannot speak aright until, by divine grace, we see the Lord Jesus as our Substitute, taking our sins on Himself and bearing God’s judgment on the cross. When faith lays hold of this, the believer becomes “a new creature” and finds the divinely-given nature bringing the “ear to hear” and the tongue delighting to speak of the One who has so loved us.
Are you a true believer, trusting in the Lord as your Saviour? Then earnestly guard against listening to things improper to your position as a child of God. If wrong expressions reach the ear, how prayerful we should be that they will not affect our hearts and minds. Let the word to us be: “I will hear what God the Lord will speak.” Psa. 85:88I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. (Psalm 85:8).
Need we comment as to the tongue? Christian friend, extreme care is needed with this member of the body. James 3:88But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. (James 3:8) tells us that “the tongue can no man tame” and this is surely true, as we are so painfully reminded when unguarded speech comes from our lips. Isaiah 50:44The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. (Isaiah 50:4) states: “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary:... He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.”
Thus is the ear changed to hear right things and the tongue both tamed and instructed to speak good that others might be helped and God honored. May it be our true desire. both in hearing and speaking, to please Him at all times and show forth the new life within us.
ML-09/15/1963