Mark chapter 7. We started talking about this last week. We've got Jesus going to the Gentiles. We'll talk a little bit about it because it ties in with Isaiah 35. I kept saying last week at the end, read Matthew 12, read Matthew 12, and I meant Matthew 15 because there's a parallel story there. We'll look at that tonight. Uh, but we've got a set of verses that goes from chapter 7 verse 24 the phoenician woman And then jesus is going to go as we looked at the map last week and it's on your page here again tonight Uh goes from tyre up to sidon Which is 20 miles north on his way to the sea of galilee over to decapolis. He's apparently uh staying out of jewish land, especially the land ruled by herod antipas who just has executed John the Baptist and now thinks Jesus has now got some kind of power or spirit of John the Baptist on him because he's doing these miracles. The Pharisees have constantly rejected Jesus, so he's up in Gentile territory, Tyre, Phoenicia, or Phoenician territory, Tyre going up into Sidon, and then over to Decapolis on the other side. And that's where our stories take place tonight. If we want to go to I will go to mark or Matthew chapter 15 because we left last week I want to go there and read that we read it after we shut the video off last week because I was just wanted to say something about it. But we see in Mark chapter 7 these verses with the Phoenician woman where she comes and begs for him to heal her daughter. Jesus is in a house. He's alone or trying to stay away from the crowds. The crowds find him. Remember the crowds that come down from Phoenicia into Galilee have seen Jesus. So when he gets up to Phoenicia, gets up into the vicinity or the region of Tyre, they know who he is. They've been looking for him. And this woman comes and asks for help. And he says, as we saw last week, he says, verse 27, I'm reading in Mark, we're going to go to Matthew. First let the children eat all they want, he told her, for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs. Yes, Lord," she replied, but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. He calls her a dog, a Gentile. You're not part of the children. Again, that's the ministry goes to the Jews first, and then the Jews are to take the blessing to the world. She then says, yes, she agrees with that, but even the dogs, that's a little diminutive. It means a smaller dog, a house dog. gets to eat the crumbs that fall from the children's table. She recognizes her place as a Gentile, which means this woman apparently knows or is familiar with some of these Old Testament verses or these concepts, at least knowing that the Jews have salvation and they're going to be the beneficiaries of it after the Jews receive it. Then he told her for such a reply you may go the demon has left your daughter I mean he just speaks it and it's already taken place and he's again amazed with her faith as we can see in Matthew I'm going to go to Matthew 15 and This will be useful to look in Matthew 15 tonight because the stories overlap the second story we're going to talk about tonight after this one is the mute and uh... man deaf and mute uh... that's only recorded in mark the only places recorded is in mark chapter seven here and we'll see tonight but it's alluded to in this account of matthew and if you look at matthew chapter fifty and again i don't want to be going through all the gossels teaching uh... parallel commentary of the Gospels, but it is interesting to see some of the background and what's going on. I'm in Matthew chapter 15, verse 21. Same story we looked at last week, but now from Matthew's perspective. Leaving that place, Galilee, Jesus withdrew, it says, to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Same thing. A Canaanite woman, and again in the Greek it's you know, lo, a Canaanite woman, or behold, a Canaanite woman. It's like an expression of surprise, of like, or couldn't you believe, behold, a Canaanite woman. And again, notice it says here, Canaanite, before it talked about a Syrophoenician, meaning a woman from Phoenicia, that was of the Syrian area because the Phoenician had expanded into North Africa. So identified in the Syria Phoenician. This Matthew calls her with the Old Testament reference, a Canaanite woman came from the vicinity. And from that vicinity came to him crying out, now again, this is amazing right here, Lord, son of David, have mercy on me. This is a Canaanite woman outside of Israel recognizing Jesus as Lord, which could simply mean just sir, but it does also, is also the same word used when they recognize him as God. But the key here, Son of David, she knows that this is the Messiah, and the Messiah is going to bless Israel, but also, we're gonna see in Isaiah 35, Jesus is going to, the Messiah, is going to bless the Gentile nations, especially Phoenicia, Tyre, that area. She calls him Son of David, have mercy on me, my daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession. Jesus did not answer a word. He did not respond to her. So his disciples came to him and urged him, send her away. She keeps crying out after. So the impression there is she doesn't just come once and ask. She continues to ask. The woman has, we already saw in Mark, she has great faith and a great understanding of theology, especially in the flow of salvation, that the Jews have salvation, but they'll benefit from it. But she not only knows that Jesus has healed many people, and she's seen that. She has some kind of a background that keeps her coming and keeps asking. And the disciples say, send her away. She keeps crying out after us. He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. Again, spurring her on. It's very similar to what we saw in Mark. But the woman came and knelt before him. Lord, help me, she said. He replied, it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs. Yes, Lord, there it is, she said, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. Then Jesus answered, Woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted. And her daughter was healed from that very hour. Again, the point there in seeing this, that she is calling him son of David in Phoenicia. And Mark records that she understands that she's just a Gentile gonna receive salvation after the Jews, or the Jews are gonna receive it first. So, I mean, great understanding on her part. And Jesus, lets her push her faith, lets her beg, lets her ask, lets her show her persistence, and then challenges her. And it may not be so much Remember jesus is training the disciples it may not be so much is an interaction between the phoenician woman and jesus But he's got disciples watching him And he's showing them what will take place with the gentiles and we they should know this it's in isaiah 35 We're going to go there here in a moment, but the disciples are They're the ones who would think of the Gentiles as being dogs. Even Peter is going to get called in, like we talked about before, after he goes to Cornelius' house. The church in Jerusalem is going to call Peter in and say, we heard you went into a Gentile's house and ate with them. And Peter says, well, God told me to. And the Spirit came on them, just like us. And they're trying to figure it out. They realize, well, i guess god has accepted the gentiles and this is really i would say one of the main points here is jesus is showing them that they're gonna be rejected by the jews also with their message but they've also got to take it to the gentiles and that's where the story continues in fact as we go through matthew the next story we'll look at in going back tomorrow are mark is the mute man and this is uh... right here it takes place right in these these verses so I'm looking in chapter 15 of Matthew verse 29. Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing him the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and laid them at his feet, and he healed them." Now, we should understand this is what's taking place then, after Jesus leaves the Phoenician woman, Tyre, goes 20 miles north into Sidon, I mean, goes up to go south. He goes up into Sidon, and then comes past the Sea of Galilee, back into Decapolis. And when he gets there, we're going to read about the mute man, And then we're going to read about the feeding of the 4,000. And that's what you see right here. When he went up on a mountainside and sat down, great crowds came to him, bringing him the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and laid them at his feet, and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking. And that's going to be the story coming up next. the crippled made well, the lame walking, and all of this is right out of Isaiah 35. We're talking about that here in a moment, because that's what the Messiah is going to do. But Isaiah 35 is focused on the Gentiles and the restoration of the world. Now, we realize it hasn't reached its fulfillment. Isaiah 35 is an eschological verse of full restoration through the Messiah. but it's interesting to see here in matthew fifteen and march seven uh... jesus moving in that arena uh... just just touching it just just doing what he's going to do in a total sense sometime the future so it's very intentional what jesus doing in fact the words i'll show you the wording used by the disciples when they write mark matthew and mark parallels the Septuagint Greek in Isaiah 35. So it's not a mistake. It's like, oh, look, it's almost the same thing. It is the same thing. It is eschatological fulfillment that they're seeing take place in Jesus' ministry. But it's, again, that now, but not yet. It's Jesus is here. A good example is When Mary and Martha's brother Lazarus died and Jesus came and she says, if only you'd been here, my brother would not have died. And he says, your brother will live again. And she goes, yes, I know in the final day. And Jesus says, I am the resurrection, the life. And she goes, I know my brother will live again in the future. He says, no, I am the resurrection of life. In other words, we're not waiting for a day. God is following time. There is a sequence of events. There is a progression of salvation. And we do not know the day or hour. But that day or hour, we're not waiting, Jesus is not waiting for that day or hour to be the resurrection of life. Jesus is not waiting for his powers to be revealed or unleashed, I should say, unleashed. Jesus is that today. He is, he says, I am the resurrection of life. Move the stone back. We don't have to wait until that day. I am the resurrection life. I can do it now. And that's what's taking place right here in Mark 15, Matthew 7, is Jesus, Isaiah 35, is clearly talking about an eschatological day. But because that Messiah is here moving through Phoenicia, moving through Decapolis in 30, 31, whatever AD, he is there. And it's like, I'm not going to wait. I'm going to do this today. And he's going to be doing these things right here. the crippled and mute, and many others, and laid them at his feet, and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel." Notice the God of Israel, because these are Gentiles. Jesus is not in... There may be some Jews mixed in the crowd, and that's not to say it's absolutely Gentiles, but he's in Gentile territory. Jesus called the disciples to him and says, I have compassion for these people. They have already been with me three days. And this is where our story goes from here into the feeding of the 4,000. And here's one of the keys here that we're going to see. Go back to Mark, if you would. Is the people have been with jesus for three days. This is different than the feeding of the 5 000 We're going to spend some time on this the difference the 5 000 they had been they were jews That this is one of the differences. They were jews that had been with jesus one day These are the 4 000 And they are Gentiles that have been with him here in Matthew. He's going to say the same thing in Mark, for three days. And the Decapolis is the 10 cities. And it varied between sometimes it would be 10, or 12, or 11, depending on the time. Gentile cities on the east side of Galilee, but they were separate. There was a distance between them. So I mean, when he's between cities, they're in a remote place. And they were with Jesus for three days, these Gentiles. And the word that is used, and I'll show it to you here when you get through the notes, is they were committed to Jesus. The Jews, I don't want to be derogatory unnecessarily, but they were there to to to see an event there he was there in their neighborhood he was out seen on the northwest corner or shore of of the sea of galley uh... and they're out in the wilderness and they got him something to eat and they went home but these people have been with jesus for three days they just keep bringing him people to heal and they are consumed with his presence that time has gone by and they haven't given any thought for for food and jesus is going to now feed the 4,000, and this is going to cause, you know, you should ask, this should cause you a problem. It's like, wait, 5,000, just two chapters ago, now he's feeding 4,000, and he's going to ask his disciples, what are we going to do with these people? And they're like, oh, we don't know. We don't know. It's kind of like, well, we just fed 5,000 two weeks ago. What do you think? It's like, oh, I forgot. And so that's going to cause some kind of a tension in the story. It's like, how did they forget? Are these the same story repeated twice? We'll show you some of the similarities, but there's enough differences. One, I'll say this, and I'll get back to the text. This says 5,000, the first story in Mark, 5,000 men, specifically 5,000 men plus women and children. So again, it just says 5,000 men plus women and children. So at the minimum, 5,000 men, women, gotta go plural women, two, and you gotta go plural children, two, it's at least 5,004, okay? That's the least. But if you figure, if you wanna figure 5,000 men and they all brought a wife with them, okay, that's pushing it, but 5,000 and then they all had not everybody had their whole family with them but say there's you know four thousand children okay and then you can make your own numbers there but now you're at fourteen thousand people it's five thousand plus it's five thousand plus a couple more thousand if it be a thousand women a thousand children it's five thousand pushing seven ten twelve thousand people here when it says five thousand Here in Mark, when it says 4,000, it says, you can read it, it says people. It's talking about men, women, and children. This is total 4,000 people. So this crowd could be 12,000. including all the people, this is 4,000. And we're not going to say and women and children. The women and children are counted in the 4,000. They just counted the men with the Jews. They counted men, women, and children with this number. So again, the crowd size is vastly different. I mean, it doesn't sound, you know, just in the English story, the 5,000, 4,000. But when they describe the 5,000, you understand I don't need to say it again and repeat myself. That is going to be up another difference that's going to be made here in this account. All right. I do want to point this out. Just looking through your notes on page one, you've got the story of the Phoenician woman in Mark. We looked at that already. Turn the page, and we're going to pick up on page four. That's the mute man in Mark 7, verses 31 through 37. And we're going to read that part on page four. And then we're going to read on page 6, Mark 8, 1 through 10. That's the feeding of the 4,000 that takes place. The story ends just like the feeding of the 5,000 with the people being sent away and Jesus and the disciples getting into a boat. And they're going to sail across the Sea of Galilee. And that's where page 7 of your notes comes in. Mark chapter 8 verse 11 through 13. After going up to Tyre, 20 more miles north into Sidon, coming down through Galilee, or you know, across the top of the Sea of Galilee into Decapolis, and ministering there, feeding 4,000 people, won't leave Jesus alone. There are all kinds of people joining Jesus. He gets in a boat, sails back across to the Jewish side of Sea of Galilee, and he's met by the Pharisees again, and that's chapter 8 verse 11 on page 7. After all these great stories, Tyre, Sidon, Decapolis, the Phoenician woman, the mute man, the crowds, he gets back to Galilee and what do they say? The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. I mean, he's just had some very positive response from the Gentiles, gets with his disciples, gets a boat, sails across, and they meet him on the other shore of Galilee. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and says, why does this generation seek a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation. And he left them, got into the boat again, and went back to the other side. And it's interesting there, no sign will be given it. We can go back to the feeding of the 5,000 and say that was a sign. Because John presents it as a sign. Jesus is going to refer to it as a sign. The Jews had a sign when he multiplied the bread and fed the 5,000. They should have asked a sign. When a sign is given, It's to say, what does this mean? Like when Jesus was born, a sign is given to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Meaning you're going to find a babe in a trough, a feeding trough, a watering trough. that when you see that that is the sign if you say what does this mean this means this is the messiah the same thing when he multiplied the bread it was a sign for them to say not just a sign and wonder oh ah this is amazing but What does this mean? A sign that would be properly interpreted would be the day of Pentecost when they were speaking in tongues and they heard everyone speaking their own language. They said, what does this mean? This means something. very good and peter raised his voice and explained to them what what that meant it wasn't just wow weird you should have saw that that was a weird experience i wish that could happen again can we do that again tomorrow it's like no that was a sign it happens once and it's for you to say What does that mean? What should I be trying to understand? And then God will send something to you to explain what is taking place right here. The food was multiplied to the 5,000. That was a sign. And what they thought was, can we get breakfast? instead of, who are you? Moses did that, now who are you that you can do this? Thank you for asking, I am the bread of life, Jesus. And he ends up saying that in the book of John and it drives the people away. The more he talks about him being the bread of life, the more he tries to explain the sign or get them to ask about the sign, the more people leave him until finally he turns to the disciples and says, are you going to leave too? Because they don't want to know the sign, they just want to see the miracles. And so it's interesting here that when he comes back after feeding the 4,000, they meet him and say, we want a sign. It's like, no you don't. This evil generation, you want a sign, but you won't ask about it. You don't want a sign. You want to prove me wrong. In other words, and you know, meaning they're not really if he was, okay, I will give this so and say, well, why didn't Jesus say, all right, ask me to do something amazing. And then he'd say, you know, write your name in the sky with your finger. It's like, That's not what they were not looking for proof. They were looking for a reason to argue with him reason to kill him They they've already they've already closed the door. Okay, that's how this episode ends and then jesus goes away And he's basically done with the jews uh... let's go to page like i was saying let's go to page uh... four and begin reading the new material after the phoenician woman chapter seven of mark verse thirty one then he returned from the region of tire and went through side into the sea of galley dot that sounds weird because as you you saw the maps you've got a very some last week here's the mediterranean here's tire and he's in the region of the city of tire sidon is up here it's on the coast Sea of Galilee's here. Here's Decapolis over here. He goes to Galilee But he goes 22 miles. He goes to Galilee by going this way and so That is I'll read it to you again. It says then he returned from the region of Tyre and and went through sidon to galilee so he returns by going to sidon and then the catalyst and we can all we don't have stories all that's taken place here but you can imagine the the the crowd that had formed around the entire and as he's moving people recognize him they know who he is he's got a lot of reputation and it's very possible says these people have been with us for three days they're following him out of phoenicia out of through syria to the capitalists And they're coming from around Decapolis, because remember, the man that had the demon, he wanted to come with Jesus. No, you go back and tell everyone what God has done for you. And when Jesus shows up here the first time, they begged him to leave. that then the man went out and began to explore again if you tie it together he went out and evangelize the Decapolis area so when Jesus shows up this time they're all there so what the apostles are supposed to be doing and learning how to do the demon possessed man went out and did it and when he shows up the whole area of the ten cities is there to meet Jesus and they won't go away for three days. So, again, there's that idea here of the Jews are not supposed to be going out and telling it, and I don't want to spend much time on that, probably because they're going to present their own slant on it. You know, Jesus, the conservative Republican, is here to help us overthrow the Democratic Party. It's like, uh... no no no i'm not going to join the zealots or the pharisees i'm here for something beyond and uh... no i can't don't don't go out and present your own gospel as a republican don't go out and present your own gospel it's like you jews just wait and let me introduce myself we're over here in the decapolis they don't have that overriding messiah idea this is what he did for me he delivered a demon me from a demon and uh... you should come see what he can do for you It's like, OK, I can work with that. They're not going to put it into a prepackaged political message or whatever their religious slant is. And that might be why he let the man go over that way. Nonetheless. he's coming down in this area chapter 7 verse 32 and they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment now again we read this in Matthew this is many people are being brought to him it's not like he's here and they bring him one man they're bringing him there's people laying all around him and they just keep bringing people to him this man's got two things he is deaf And he has a speech impediment. It doesn't mean he can't speak. It means he does not speak well. Now, at what level? It's very serious. But how serious it is, it doesn't give an indication. But he can make sound. It's just probably you can't understand it. And he is deaf, which would be probably an effect on his speech. And they begged him to lay his hand on him. So the Gentiles over here, they've made the connection. Jesus needs to touch these people. Now Jesus is going to do several things here that's interesting. Jesus cast the demon out of the girl up here and wasn't even in the, hadn't even seen the girl. The woman is just begging Jesus to help her and doesn't even, you know, Jesus doesn't pray. He basically is in a debate with her, maybe demonstrating to the disciples, are we going to help the Gentiles? I mean, I'm here to help the Jews, not these dogs. And the woman is like, yes, but I'll take the crumbs that fall from the table. If your people reject, the children will eat it. I'll take whatever crumbs you've got. And she calls him son of David. He goes, that's a good answer. You answered that question with faith. You answer that question with good theology. What your request has been granted. It's like. And she goes back and finds the daughter healed, in bed, and healthy. Where now, they are asking Jesus to touch them. And several things take place, which gives us this idea that Jesus could just speak, he could just think. But sometimes God is going to meet the people where they're at. If this is what you expect, this is what he'll do. If you think we need to be touched, if we need you to touch with both hands, well, look at what he's going to do. And I'll just read it here. And some of this may come up in the area that this is not magic. This is not the right way to do it. It's him meeting the people where they're at with their faith. And if you see me touch you, you'll know that I've got compassion on you, that I've made contact with you. And, you know, something should happen. Yes, I'm expecting a touch or whatever it is. And they brought him a man who is deaf and had a speech impediment. And they begged him to lay his hands on him and taking him aside from the crowd privately, again, taking him away from the crowd privately. Again, you gotta wonder, why not just do a public demonstration? He has been doing public demonstrations, but this individual's taken aside privately. He put his fingers into his ears. Oh, so that's what you need to do, put your fingers into their ears. Well, that's what he does here. And after spitting, touched his tongue. Okay, so, okay, now, how do you do this again? Take the person away privately, put both fingers in the ear, spit, like, where? I mean, while you're touching the ears, what's the spit for? And then he touched the tongue. It's like, okay, I don't know if I can remember all that. Now, I don't want to read into this, but one thing about this is this may be something they're expecting, a touch, the ears, unplug the ears. Well, let's read this. I'll read this, I'll go through some notes. spitting uh... touched his tongue and looking up to heaven he sighed there's a lot going on right here he's got his fingers in his ears he's spitting he's touching his tongue sighing looking up to heaven i mean you want some visuals you've got some visuals and then he says ephatha ephatha which is aramaic for be opened and what you have here besides this being written in the present tense in the greek meaning it's like uh... it's it's like here's the story also here's here's a the here's the full of marks gospel but also here's a story in the present tense like it's happening right now which means if you go with all of the history of the book of mark This is Peter's story about what he saw and what he heard given in the present tense. And Mark records it just like Peter would have said. And that's clear right here when it says, Jesus says, Ephetha, which is Aramaic. So Jesus would have been speaking Aramaic on this side, which Aramaic would have been a form of the Hebrew, it's, you know, that they were speaking in this area. They would have spoke the original Hebrew, would have spoke Aramaic, they would have spoke Greek, probably knew a little bit of Latin. But he's speaking Aramaic, and he said, Ephetra, Ephetra, which means, now Mark translates it, again, not into English, but in Greek, and in the Greek we translate into English. So he puts his fingers in his ears, spits, touches his tongue, looks up to heaven and sighs and says, be open or epithet. and Peter remembers what he said in there and Mark records it and it means be open and his ears were opened and his tongue was released and he spoke plainly and I notice what it says doesn't say and he began to speak he's been speaking he just can't speak clearly or good or Uh, here he speaks plainly in the english translation esv and jesus charged them to tell no one But the more he charged them the more zealously they proclaimed it So you've got a zealous crowd that's doing the exact same thing and probably the reason jesus wants to put a lid on it Is people are starting to? again this is me making why would he tell the the the demon man that had had the demon cast out to go and now he's telling everybody now let's let's keep this contained i'll do the explaining because people are probably going off and now building their own explanation of what was going on Let, let the people come and we will do it and we will explain what's taking place instead of you going off and, and saying, you know, that's how false doctrines would get started or misapplication. And it's very dangerous over in Jewish territory because they're looking for a Messiah. In fact, when Jesus is executed, you know, before in Matthew 24, he says, when I'm gone, many, many Messiahs are going to come. And they did. between 30 A.D. and 70 A.D. and afterwards, there was many guys showed up as the Messiah and they followed them to their destruction because they fit their political model that they wanted. and they were astonished beyond measure saying he has done all things well he even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak again that's that's again like the third time it's been mentioned that the deaf and the mute speaking in hearing uh... some things that we have written down there as far as notes uh... that i'd maybe haven't said we've got a look at matthew sir isaiah thirty five and that will pick up in point four It's I've got their speech impediment is how it's translated in the Greeks. There's there's the Greek text right there transliterated and it says and they bring to him a deaf and who spoke with difficulty that's the phrase who spoke with difficulty english standard has a speech impediment is the words here there m a j i l a l o s let's see if i can get that written on the board without becoming too boring and distracting m a j g m a m a g I-L-A-L-O-S is the word, and you see in the Greek it is mu, omicron, Like this right here with the on and the oh, that's the original. This is the the phrase of the word right here Now this word is translated mute In some translations or here in the in the greek who spoke with difficulty or had a speech impediment. It means literally Speaking with difficulty now while we're looking at this. I want you to look at point five This is out of Isaiah 35. We're going to go read Isaiah 35. Isaiah 35 verses 5 and 6. This is a prophecy of when the Messiah comes. Now, not necessarily when this Messiah, I mean, this is the same Messiah, but not necessarily this time, but eschatologically when the Messiah comes to restore all things, it says, Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and The tongue of the mute sing for joy, for waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. We'll talk about the wilderness and the desert here in a moment. But notice right there, the tongue of the mute shall sing. The word mute is underlined and bold. This is the best I could do for you. Underneath that, on page five, is the Septuagint. Now it would be easy for me to get the Hebrew and show you the Hebrew words, but that's... I wanted to show you that when they took the Hebrew and put it into Greek from Isaiah 35, when Isaiah... 35 went from the Hebrew into the Greek, the Septuagint translation. You can see it right there in the box. The word mute is M-O-G-I-L-A-L-O-N. It is this word right here, same exact word that is in the Septuagint. So Mark is using a word, when he describes this man as mute, it's the exact word that's in the Septuagint same Greek word that's in the Septuagint, translating Isaiah 35 out of the Hebrew. So it's no doubt a direct connection. I'm going to show you more. This word, it means, mute is the simple translation, but it means speaking with difficulty. He's not totally mute, he speaks with difficulty, and his tongue will be loosened, and that's gonna come up here. Oh, let's see how far I wanna push this. Let's go ahead and go to, we'll come back to that in a minute. Let's go to Isaiah 35, please. I'll be reading in the NIV. And Isaiah 35, if you can understand this and hear this, the book of Isaiah is in two parts. There's part one and part two. Some liberal scholars think there's two different Isaiahs. There's the original Isaiah, possibly, then there's an Isaiah that came later. There's the really oppressed Isaiah who's talking about boo-hoo, it's all bad. And then there's the Isaiah that says, you know, leave this book like this list little positive spin on things gonna be okay and look up things really get better uh... that's i think a faulty idea because the book of isaiah is known as the book of isaiah it's written by isaiah so it's always been no one and jesus himself quotes from the first half of the book of Isaiah and says, as Isaiah said or wrote. And he quotes from the second half and says, as Isaiah wrote. So Jesus gives Isaiah credit for both books. Again, there's a clear break, and Isaiah 35 ends the first half of the book. and if you go back to the chapters before this you can see uh... just in my NIV it's simply titled uh... it's not in the text but the title of the text is judgment against the nations and it's just God judging Judah and judging uh... Tyre and the Phoenicians and bringing all this judgment on the world uh... but in Isaiah thirty five It switches and closes down the book with an eschatological promise talking about redemption, not just for Israel, but for those Gentiles, but also for all creation, meaning we're going to go through this time of the world's in sin. The world's going to have to be judged. But as God works his plan of salvation, we're going to restore all of it to this eschatological kingdom age. And that's what you see here. I will start in Isaiah 35 verse 1. And the verses that we're looking at here are going to be in verse 6, where this word pops up of Isaiah 35 verse 6. But notice, it's almost as if Jesus is left Israel and is acting out this part of his eschatological promise before he goes to his crucifixion, just saying, hey, this is what's coming. It's not the fulfillment, but here it is. Chapter 35, verse 1. The desert and the parched land will be glad. The wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Now, again, both the feeding of the 5,000 and the 4,000 are going to be in a wilderness area. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom. It will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. Look, the glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. He's just coming out of Lebanon, or Phoenicia. He says, they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God. Lebanon, all these areas will see the splendor of our God. Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way. Say to those who are fearful of heart, be strong, do not fear. Your God will come. He will come with vengeance, with divine retribution. He will come to save you. First, Israel. and then the gentiles then will be when that when he does that when he comes then verse five then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped then will the lame leap like a deer and here's our verse and the mute tongue right here there's the word mute tongue shout for joy water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert burning sand and goes on and talks about it talks about a highway being there and what it is is that is going to be a day in the future when jesus christ restores but he's when he resurrected Lazarus we don't have to wait for the resurrection of the dead because Jesus I am the resurrection I can raise him today and same thing here Jesus leaves Galilee that Jews are rejecting him arguing with him it's like I'll just go up here and do a little preview of what I'm going to do and heal, open the mouths of the mute and bring prosperity and blessings to the land. And it is, again, a sign of things that are yet to come. So that is page five of the notes. point six uh... jesus touch we've mentioned the spit something just to give you some information on spit was unclean with all other bodily fluids he just got that are with the pharisees about was clean and clean you did your disciples all wash your hands yeah look at me i'm spitting here amongst the gentiles healing him and which would be again what what what what what does that mean that he's fitting here's some clues one is it's unclean Although in some cases spit was associated with healing in the ancient Middle East meaning once again is he I don't know But is it's unclean for the Jews, okay? But do the Gentiles see this as a sign of a process of healing? It's like they had recognized. Ah, this is healing and Point three. Two historians, Tacitus and Suetonius, record the same account of a blind man in Alexandria, Egypt, begging Emperor Vespasian, he was the emperor who began the wars on Jerusalem, became the emperor, and his son Titus finished them, but begged Emperor Vespasian to heal him with his spit. So two Roman historians recorded in Alexandria, Egypt, Vespasian going by and a blind man begging that he be healed by Vespasian's spit. There you have it. And you've got three examples of Jesus using spit. One is Mark 7, right here. We're talking about it. And he spit. Where did he spit? Did he spit on the guy's tongue? Did he spit on the ground? Did he spit on his hands? What did he do? Which way did he spit? but we're not going to get too far. Remember Jesus is going to come after healing the 4,000 and come across the Sea of Galilee and the Pharisees are going to meet him there and say, show us a sign. He goes, you're adulterous generation and goes back to the other side and he goes across the Sea of Galilee to Bethsaida and in Bethsaida That's the next verse, point two, Mark 8, 23. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, Bethsaida. And when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, do you see anything? So we're just one chapter away from Jesus doing the same thing, going back to the other side to Bethsaida, and now actually spitting on the guy's eyes. I mean, okay, I mean, I'm not writing this stuff. I'm just saying, it's like, and so that's why I spit at people. I mean, it's like, I don't know, I'm not gonna start spitting at people. And if we had a healing line, you ask for prayer now, I probably wouldn't spit on you. I mean, unless you're sitting up close and sometimes I do spit when I'm talking. Kids have experienced that at school. John nine, verse six, you know this, the pool of Siloam. having said these things he spit on the ground and made mud with his saliva now how much spit do you gotta have to make mud to put in someone's eyes you're not just spitting in someone's eyes you're spitting in mud to make mud cakes to put in not one eye but two eyes i mean i'm just saying if you read the story he made a spit enough to make mud with saliva Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and sends him to the Pool of Siloam to wash his eyes, and he could see. So those are your three examples of Jesus using spit. Again, is that some kind of, first of all, it's not a magic formula. It's not a medical procedure. It's not magic, and it's not medical. It's something that Jesus is doing, some kind of point of contact, some kind of faith confirmation that they can hear and understand, I have you, I'm touching you, I care, I'm going to heal you. Here, you want me to communicate? Here, Feel this in your eyes. What's that? Yeah, there's something in your eyes. Go wash it out. The guy would say, oh, I think he spit on some mud. It's like he just knows there's something stuck on his eyes that he's going to go wash off. A point of focus. I'm not sure. But there you've got it. Now I'll point this out as we go by. The Pool of Siloam. I've got it in the Jerusalem book, and I've showed you pictures of it. Last week I've seen it pop up on several different feeds, and I've been watching a couple videos. They have got the whole, at first, in 2005, when they first had the, Tony's calling me on my phone. I want to make sure that she's, she must be leaving right now from New Zealand. Watch online, dear. Okay. 2005, when they found the Pool of Siloam, they're doing some water works there in Jerusalem, and they uncovered, they found one side of it, and I've showed you pictures of it, and you've seen them before. But the rest of the pool is still on the ground. It's in someone's backyard. Just a big pile of dirt. And you see the pool goes underneath there. It's like, well, can we dig up your backyard? Well, it's like, no. I mean, you want to dig up my, can we tear your deck off your house and dig it? No. Well, somehow, it's now 2005, 2023. They've made some kind of arrangement. And there's backhoes in there. And they're moving that dirt out. And they're excavating it. And they're going to, if it's exposed like it should be, like uh there's there's a it's a mikvah uh what you can see is this, the stepped right here, these are steps. And again, this is not accurate, but you can see like this, and this part's all covered up over here. But you have on like right here, right there is a mikveh, just like the Pool of Siloam, but not as big, but it's a, it's a, rectangle like this. This is the lowest part. Then there's the steps coming up like this. And it goes all the way around. Like these are steps going down. So if you got low water, you guys go down these steps. These are steps coming out. I'm not sure that makes sense. So this is hidden right here. And again, I don't know. They're still just moving dirt up. They haven't got down to this. And we're not sure how far down this is going to go. But we're going to expect that they're going to find something like that. Because this is already exposed right here. And I've walked on this, walked several times, take pictures different times. But anyway, that's that's happening right now. I just thought because that that's the other time Jesus made you spit to heal a guy at the pool So long, okay Then point Eight immediately was loose the immediately was loose the band or release the chain or dissolve the bond If you go to page six, you can see the Greek right there from verse 35 chapter 7 verse 35 And we're opened his ears It put his fingers in his ears says epithet and were open his ears his ears are opened and immediately was loose the band of the Tongue of him and he began speaking plainly. So once his ears were unplugged he Then there was a chain, a band, a bond, something on his tongue that was dissolved. And there's your words right there. Was loosed, the band, it's in the Greek, page six, in the box. The word is elithe, which means was loosed. The words mean to loose, to release, to dissolve, to untie. The band, the band is a band, a bond, a chain imprisonment. of the tongue. So the tongue was bound or chained or imprisoned with something that needed to be loosed, released, dissolved, or untied. And that took place when the man's ears were unplugged or unstopped. Again, that's what it says. That's what took place. So there you have it. And he could hear Uh, and now he can speak plainly and everyone was excited and wanting to tell everybody about it. Now, here we go. Chapter six. Um, can you tell me what time it is? Okay, here we go. Very quickly, page six, beginning in Mark 8, verses one through 10. This is the feeding of the 4,000. In those days when again a crowd had gathered and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them. Now, this is not like at another time somewhere else. In those very days, they've been following him for three days, bringing him lame. They're in a wilderness area, or deserted area over in the Decapolis, and great things are happening. They have nothing to eat. Jesus says, now this is written in first person, this is a dialogue, this is Jesus, this is different than the 5000, where it tells you what was taking place. This now is Jesus speaking, dialoguing. It's a recording of his dialogue. I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them had come from far away." Or some of them have come from far away. And his disciples answered him, how can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place? How can one, how can anyone do this? And Jesus is going to say, well, he's going to show them, I can. and he asked them how many loaves do you have they said seven and he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground didn't divide them into groups just when it was sit down uh... And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples. Now, before, he looked up to heaven and blessed them or prayed Thanksgiving. This is gonna be different type of a prayer. It's the Eucharist, more of a blessing. It's two different words, two different styles. One was Jewish, one is similar to what the church does at the Eucharist, just the words are different. And he broke them the bread and gave them to the disciples to set before the people, and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish." Once again, the diminutive of the word fish. It's a different word than fish before. These would be fish, probably sardines, something that had been dried, salted. It was one of the staples of the food. It's a different word than used for the 5,000. It means a small fish, a few small sardines that someone had. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. Then he blesses the fish and sends them out. And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. And there were about 4,000 people. and he sent them away and immediately he got into the boat and his disciples and went to the district of the moon they'll they'll month booth on which be on the other side so that is the account of the four thousand Here's some things that are similar. This must be the same event recorded two different times. Must have been legends that got built up. Look at Mark. Mark's a scholar. Matthew, he's doing great research. They're putting these things together. They're not going to like, oh, man, I didn't realize I already wrote this story. I mean, come on. They're not going to write the same story accidentally. And we're close enough to the events that If they're going to record it twice, it's going to be two different events. But I mean, that would be my argument. But here are the similarities. These things very quickly. Similar between the 5,000 and the 4,000. They're in deserted places. Jesus has compassion in the crowds. He asks, how many loaves do you have? He commands them to recline. He has a prayer. The disciples participate. The people ate and are satisfied. leftovers are gathered, Jesus dismisses the crowd, the disciples and Jesus get into a boat. So that must be the same story. And that's, I mean, that's fair if you're going to, you know, don't, you know, you should think. The differences, though, are the 5,000, you had five loaves and two fish, the 4,000, seven loaves and a few sardines, different word. Word for fish is different. For the 4,000 there, I just said it. Point three, 5,000, you have 5,000 men, and then I already explained that. But the 4,000, you've got 4,000 people. So the difference would be possibly 10,000 to 12,000 people versus 4,000 total people. Point four, with the 5,000, the crowd was with Jesus one day. With the 4,000, they'd been with Jesus three days. Very clearly, the 5,000 was in the spring. The word is green grass, chloros, which means light green grass, like we get a word chlorine from that, actually. 5,000 were broken into groups. The 4,000 just seated on the ground. Leftovers with the 5,000 was 12 baskets. four thousand seven baskets now again some people don't want to get into what does that mean figure today again play that game if you want to i'm not here to tell you i have no idea what that means i mean i can match it twelve basket full must be the twelve tribes of israel uh... the seven basket fulls must be the seven nations of the land of canaan uh... i mean seven hills of rome uh... the seven you know whatever i mean i don't know i don't know if there's if that's something you're good at and go for it uh... it's not my point here tonight point eight the five thousand people wanted a revolution that's the people looking more for our they wanted a messiah they want to make him king we see in john the four thousand they just didn't want to leave jesus they just didn't they just didn't go home they just kept big bringing people to him so again one want to make him king one didn't want to leave him so that they did crowds are different And then point 10, the 5,000 were Jews in Galilee that were fed on the northwest side of the Galilee. The 4,000 were Gentiles in Decapolis that were fed on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. During those days refers to the time that Jesus was traveling. Point three, the crowd is said to remain with Jesus, which communicates a special commitment. It lasted for seven days. That word remain, I didn't do a lot of work on it, but it has a special meaning, not just stay with Him, but they're committed to Him. They're remaining. They will not leave Him. They're groupies, if you would, but in a positive sense. And Jesus prays different. Now, after this, he gets in a boat, crosses back to the Sea of Galilee after all these adventures. I mean, there's just people laying around being healed. There's a Canaanite woman that's got tremendous faith. The 4,000 people won't leave him. He gets in a boat, goes back to just for the disciples. If nothing else, remember, it's not so much Jesus trying to figure stuff out or these just random things. It's Jesus is showing the disciples This is the way the Gentiles can respond. Look at this. I mean, they're not even following the law of Moses, but look, they're receiving me. Now, let's go back to Galilee, see how the Jews are doing. They don't want to get out of the boat, but they do get out of the boat, get on the shore, and they meet him, and they start arguing with him. It's like, show us a sign. Who do you think you are? If you're really the Messiah, he says, you're not getting anything. Look what just happened over there for the disciples. You see what just happened over there? They respond. This is what Isaiah is talking about. We're going to bless the nations. These Jews have a lot to learn yet. In fact, they're heading towards destruction again because they're going to. And so the disciples are not necessarily understanding all of it. But again, as they look back on these events, they will have a perspective on it. And now we'll pick this up next week. We'll start talking about that argument they're going to have. He goes back over to Bethsaida and he's heading up to Caesarea Philippi, which again, outside, up in Syria, outside the land of Israel, and he's going to say to the disciples, you know, okay, who do men say that I am? And then what do you say? And he's going to have to be at the gates of Hades there and say, you know, hey, I'm going to build my church. I'm going to build my, chose my called out ones. And again, they're not thinking, oh, yeah, steeples and churches and choirs and small groups. I mean, the word simply means my assembly, my called out ones. I'm going to begin to assemble them. And you're going to be part of it. You're going to be the ones that do this. And that's interesting, that comes right after this Gentile mission. And then when he's done with that, transfiguration, meets with Moses and Elijah, turns and sets his face and marches to Jerusalem for his crucifixion. And so, in a sense, the Galilean ministry, here's the Jews, here's their chance, here's the Gentiles, graduation ceremony, you guys are ready? Okay, here we go. And he goes and is crucified. And that's Jesus' ministry. I'll pray, and we'll pick this up next week. Father, we thank you for the chance to look into these things. We thank you for your word. We ask that we, again, would be the people that are living now, but not yet in the fullness of the kingdom. Father, we would look for your presence even today. The things that we anticipate in the future, we'd expect to see some of those things happening in our lives right now, today. But Father, we do look forward to the day when these things are fully manifested. We ask that we again may walk after you, that we may share the gospel and present Jesus Christ correctly to this generation. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you for your time.