48. The Marvel of Unbelief in the Messiah

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1 Handel's Messiah: The Person and Work of Christ 48. The Marvel of Unbelief in the Messiah By Dr. Paul M. Elliott From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase Part 48 of a series. Read part 47. We are told that the Messiah "marveled" at the pathetic unbelief of the people of Nazareth. How could the omniscient Son of God marvel at anything? Would He marvel at us? Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing. (Isaiah 35:5-6) As we continue our consideration of the attesting signs of the Messiah's authenticity, we now focus upon those who chose to deny and even suppress that evidence. As we noted in our last article, we find one of the first recorded occasions of such unbelief in the opening verses of Mark chapter 6. Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! "Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?" So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house." 1

2 Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. (Mark 6:1-6) We can truly understand the significance of these verses as we consider the events that preceded them. Four Mighty Miracles In the two chapters that precede this account, we find that Jesus had been preaching and performing miracles throughout the region that surrounds the Sea of Galilee in the north of Israel. In Mark 4:35 through the end of 5, we find detailed accounts of four mighty miracles that the Lord Jesus performed. No doubt, He performed many others at this time, but Mark under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit puts the spotlight on four miracles that each demonstrated a different aspect of Jesus the Messiah's supernatural power. First, in chapter 4 we find that He demonstrated His power over the creation. He had stilled a violent storm on the Sea of Galilee by rebuking it with only His spoken word. Secondly, in the beginning of chapter 5, Jesus demonstrated His power over the forces of the Devil. By only His spoken word, once again, He commanded a legion of demons to come out of the man at Gadara, and He sent those demons into a herd of swine, which then ran headlong over a precipice and drowned in the sea. Thirdly, later in chapter 5, Jesus demonstrated His power over disease and sickness. Once again, without even a spoken word, He healed a woman who had a problem of uncontrolled bleeding for twelve years. This woman did nothing more than to touch Jesus' garment, doing this in faith that He could heal her. Fourthly, at the end of chapter 5, Jesus demonstrated His power over physical death. He raised the young daughter of Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, from the dead. Again, Jesus 2

3 merely spoke the word - "Little girl, arise" - and she was restored to life. The things that Jesus had done became widely known. We read in chapter 5 that the man of Gadara who had been delivered from his demon possession went throughout the ten cities of modern-day Syria and Israel that in the first century were called the Decapolis. These ten cities extended from Damascus in Syria to Beersheba in the south of Israel, a distance of over 120 miles. Mark tells us that this man proclaimed in all of these cities "all that Jesus had done for him" and that the people "marveled." The Unbelief at Nazareth So with these things in mind, let me now draw your attention to the great contrast that we find in the text that is before us, in Mark chapter 6. In verse 1, we read that Jesus "went out from" the towns on the north and the east of the Sea of Galilee, "and came to His own country [that is, to Nazareth, which is west of the Sea of Galilee], and His disciples followed Him." And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?" So they were offended at Him. The word that is translated "offended" is the Greek word from which we derived the English word "scandalized." More literally, in the original language, He was a stumbling-block to them. They were scandalized by the doctrine that Jesus taught and the mighty works He did. Jesus offended their spiritually blind sensibilities. The idea in the original language is that Jesus' words and deeds caused them to distrust and reject the very One they ought to trust and accept. They disapproved of what Jesus taught, and that barrier of unbelief in their hearts kept them from acknowledging His authority. Their 3

4 spiritual hard-heartedness and hard-headedness kept them from even acknowledging that He was indeed the Messiah, the Son of the living God. The Prophet Without Honor Note Jesus' reply to the people of His home town in verse 4: A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house. It is significant that at this point in His earthly ministry, Jesus specifically states that He is a prophet. We read elsewhere in the Gospel accounts (for example in John 4 and Luke 4) that Jesus has already declared Himself to be the Messiah. In Mark 1:10 Jesus had declared that He is the Son of Man, with the power of God. In John 5:22 Jesus had also already declared that He is the Son of God. But now, at Nazareth, Jesus further declared that He is a prophet. What is a prophet? A prophet is someone who speaks the words of God on the authority of God. Jesus declared, "I am a prophet." He said it again in John chapter 14. In John 14:10 Jesus told the disciples, "the words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority," but on the authority of My Father in Heaven. Jesus, the God-man, is the greatest of the prophets. But, He said, "a prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house." What is the "honor" that Jesus said was absent at Nazareth? The word that is translated "honor" in this verse means "reverent submission." Jesus received no reverent submission at Nazareth, only stubborn opposition - hard-headed and hard-hearted unbelief. Despite all that He had said, and all the signs and miracles that attested to the fact that Jesus was who He said He was, the people of Nazareth self-consciously chose not to believe in Him. Why? Because truly believing in Jesus as the Messiah would involve not only believing in His miracles, but also submitting to His authority - in others words, giving Him the honor that a prophet of God deserved. 4

5 "A Few Sick People" And then we come to these intriguing words in verse 5: Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. "He laid His hands on a few sick people." What a pathetic state of affairs, after all the glorious miracles that preceded it. What exactly took place? Was the Messiah robbed of His power by their unbelief? The word that is translated "sick" in this verse - "a few sick people" - has to do with merely being weak or mildly ill. We must keep in mind that we have no record that Jesus sought out people to heal. The consistent picture throughout the Gospels is that Jesus healed those who were brought to Him or came to Him seeking healing. In light of this, what happened at Nazareth takes on its true significance. The people simply did not bring their "hard cases" to Jesus. They did not bring people who were demonpossessed. They did not bring people who had serious diseases. They did not bring the lame, or the blind, or the deaf, or the lepers. They did not ask Jesus to raise anyone from the dead. They did not bring to Jesus any of the categories of people who are spoken of in the great prophetic statements describing the attesting works that would accompany the manifestation of the true Messiah of Israel. The people of Nazareth were so blind and so stubborn in their unbelief, so unwilling to submit to Jesus, that they would not even bring people to Him who really needed His help, and whose deliverance would demonstrate His Messiahship. And so, Mark says, "He could do no mighty work there." The problem was not that Jesus was somehow hindered from exercising supernatural power. The problem was that these people simply rejected His supernatural power. They were scandalized by it. They refused to avail themselves of it. 5

6 How Could the Son of God Marvel? Next we come to this startling statement in verse 6: And He marveled because of their unbelief. How can it be that Jesus the Messiah, God in the flesh, "marveled" at their unbelief? As we read the Gospel accounts, we need to always remember that when Messiah was on earth He was not a mere man. When Jesus came into this world, Philippians chapter 2 tells us that He did not cease in any way to be God. He took on the form of a man, the form of a servant. His deity was cloaked in humanity. But His deity was not diminished in the slightest. And so the all-knowing God-man knew the hearts and thoughts of men. Nothing took Him by surprise. So how, then, can the omniscient God of the universe be said to "marvel"? The point is that Jesus expressed marvel. He expressed, in human terms, the great marvel of sinful man's rejection of the person and work of Jesus the Messiah, apart from the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. The people of Nazareth had all the attesting signs and miracles set before them, all the fulfillments of the Messianic prophecies. They were literally staring God in the face. But they rejected Him as a mere man. Dear reader, in light of these things let me ask you three questions. Who Is Jesus to You? First of all: Is Jesus a mere man to you? Or is He perhaps someone who is less than fully God to you? Is your thinking like the bumper sticker that says, "My Boss Is a Jewish Carpenter"? That is the position of many in the Evangelical church today. They have embraced "another Jesus." They have embraced a false "Jesus" who is a moral example, or a mentor for success in life, or a so-called "friend" who will overlook all our faults, and will never be so impolite as to point out our sins to us, or to lay the claims of Lordship upon us. 6

7 But if Jesus is not fully God, if He is not fully the Lord of glory, then He is not the Messiah. And if He is not truly the Messiah, then He is not even remotely, not even possibly, the Savior of men. Take away the deity of Christ, or diminish the deity of Christ, and you have no Christ. You have no Christianity. You have no Savior from the wrath of God. You have an empty shell instead of the reality. There is no power. There is no Gospel. There is no salvation. The Christ of the Bible is no mere man. If you are truly a Christian, it is no matter of having a "boss" who is a Jewish carpenter. You have a God - the Creator, the Lord, the Savior, the Redeemer, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords - and nothing less. He has every claim upon you. Do Jesus' Words Offend You? Let me ask a second question: Do Jesus' words offend you, as they did the people of Nazareth? In John 14:6, Jesus declared that He is the one and only Way, the one and only Truth, and the one and only Life. No man comes to the Father, He said, except through Me. Does this, the great central truth of the universe, offend you? Or do you receive it and believe it gladly? Are you truly willing for your salvation to be His way? Are you truly willing to put aside your sinful, fallible opinions and submit to His truth as the only truth? Are you truly willing to have life - eternal life - as a gift, from the only One who can give you that gift, because He is the One who purchased it for you with His own blood? And are you willing to live life in this world in the light of the life you shall live in the world to come, if you are truly a Christian? Are you willing to submit to the working of the Spirit of God living within you, and the Word of God open before you, to do the work of sanctification within you? Are you willing for God by His Word and His Spirit to do the cleansing, pruning, molding, shaping, and purging that are necessary to bring you into conformity with the image of Christ? You cannot have your own private way. There is only one Way. You cannot have your own private truth. There is only one Truth. You cannot have eternal life as His free and gracious gift, and then live life in this world however you see fit. There is only One who is truly Life itself. Jesus Christ is "the Way, the Truth, the Life." Is that who Jesus is to you? 7

8 Do You Bring Your "Hard Cases" to Jesus? Let me ask you a third question, one that assumes that you are truly trusting in Christ for your salvation: What kinds of things do you bring to Him in prayer? Do you only bring, so to speak, "a few sick" to Him, as the unbelievers at Nazareth did? Do you only bring the small things? Or do you trust Him for the big things? Do you bring your hard cases to Him? Do you bring, as it were, the leprosy, and the blindness, and the deafness, and the lameness of your life to Him? Do you bring the seemingly impossible things to Jesus? Do you trust in the greatness and the power of the Christ who intercedes for you at the very throne of God? If you do, then you are like another man at whom Jesus the Messiah marveled, but for a very different reason. Just as He marveled at the unbelief at Nazareth, Jesus also marveled at another man's great faith in Him - someone who was not even a Jew. We shall study that account as we continue. Next: The Marvel of Belief in the Messiah hm_48 Copyright TeachingtheWord Ministriesmmmmmwww.teachingtheword.org All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced in its entirety only, for non-commercial purposes, provided that this copyright notice is included. We also suggest that you include a direct hyperlink to this article for the convenience of your readers. 8