A Great Crowd Follows Jesus
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
I believe it was MacArthur who spoke about the crowds in a previous passage. Most were just curious. Here was this guy, doing newsworthy things, so they went to see him. I would bet most of the crowds following Jesus here were curious people too. It is pretty early in his ministry, so they're still trying to figure him out.
And of course, mentioned in verse 10, the sick and diseased were hoping for healing that he had given to others.
As usual, when I read a passage, there is one thing that catches my eye. Tonight it was verses 11-12. As Jesus traveled, he ran up against unclean spirits, demons, possessed people. We talk about people being possessed these days, but I don't think we mean the same thing that Jesus was really seeing. Or maybe we do, but we just don't believe it can really happen.
Anyway, these 'unclean spirits' would fall down before Jesus and cry out - THEY knew exactly who he was!
And yet, he would tell them to be quiet.
I suppose, Jesus's time to be revealed as the son of God to all, had not yet come. I couldn't really figure it out, but John MacArthur says this: (and it makes a lot of sense)
Closing comment in verse 12. Jesus earnestly warned them not to tell who He was. He had authority over the demons, and He exercised it. He told them never, never to say who He was. He didn't want that. Not all the demons were there that day, some didn't get the memo. So we'll find out in chapter 5. But He didn't want them affirming who He was because that's very confusing. Jesus didn't want people to think demons were His allies, demons were His press agents, demons were His representatives. He wants no promotion from the filthy realm of Satan. It reminds me of Paul in Acts 16 where the demon-possessed girl comes running along and says, “These are the servants of the true high...true...Most High God.” Paul says, “Quiet,” and silenced the demon. Don't say anything.
And I think that even leaks to His disciples. He doesn't want them spreading around who He is as the Son of God too wildly because this is liable to foment a kind of reaction that He's not ready for...it's not yet time. Cause people would be prone like they were after they were fed free food to try to force Him to take His messianic place. All in God's good time. Most important thing was that individual people seeing the miracles, understanding this make the conclusion of who He is, accept His message that He came to end Judaism and to bring salvation by faith alone in Him alone and embrace Him as Lord and Savior.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Mark 3:13-19
1 comment:
Makes sense that it would be more than just the "crowd control" issues - this makes perfect sense.
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