LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."
But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that He drives out demons."
Matthew 9:32-34
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Have you experienced a miraculous work of the Lord?
If not, perhaps you haven’t been keeping your eyes and ears open as they are happening in volume each and every day…and have been since the dawn of creation. You only need to read the first chapter of the first book of the Bible to see the awesome power of God in full display. You could also watch either of these two videos by Louie Giglio as they both serve to further underscore the greatness and majesty of God very well:

“How Great Is Our God” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAzCP8SEKwc

or

“Indescribable”, https://vimeo.com/23304568

Now turn your eyes from the Old Testament and look toward the New where we find Jesus and the breadth of His Father’s power on full display in and through Him and the works He performed during His ministry. In just the past few devotions alone, we have read accounts where He raised a young girl from death to life and brought total healing to a woman suffering from bleeding and two blind men with just a single touch. Indeed, He had performed many incredible acts of goodness among the people, acts that no one had ever witnessed before. We see that trend continuing today as we continue our study of Matthew, Chapter 9. Look again at these verses here:

While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."

But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that He drives out demons."  Matthew 9:32-34
In this passage, we find Jesus and His disciples encountering a “man who was demon-possessed and could not talk”. We don’t know how long this man may have been afflicted like this but note here that the demon within had rendered the man silent and the demon itself even remained quiet in the presence of Jesus. Contrast this with the man who had been taken over by an evil spirit named Legion who actually carried on a conversation with Jesus, knowing who He was and the great might He possessed, a might that could vanquish demons into the Abyss.

Well, the actions of the demons may have been different but one thing that wasn’t was how Jesus dealt with each. For in this account from Mathew, we read where Jesus drove the demon out, enabling the man to speak once again.

As we have seen throughout Jesus’ ministry, He had drawn a crowd who no doubt gathered with anticipation that He would do something remarkable and astounding in addition to teaching them the will of the Father and how they were to live. With the healing of the demon-possessed man, Jesus didn’t disappoint those who were in His company. In fact, those in the awestruck crowd proclaimed:

"Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."

Indeed, the crowd had never seen any man do what Jesus had done. They had only seen God do similar works, which has always left me baffled who the people could not accept the claims of Jesus to be God’s Son. Surely, there could be by way of no other power that He could perform the acts He was.

Well, unfortunately not everyone was impressed with what Jesus had done. For scripture tells us that the Pharisees who witnessed the exorcism first-hand didn’t see it as an amazing miracle of God. Rather, they connected Jesus to Satan, saying "It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons." They couldn’t have been more wrong and it’s sad to me that the Jewish religious leaders, the ones who had the obligation under God to teach people the truth, chose to ignore all the Messianic prophesies that had predicted Jesus’ coming and refused to align Him with His heavenly Father.
That sadness translates to present times as well. For aren’t these the same competing attitudes we see in our world today?
On one hand, we have those who believe in the power of God, or come to believe in the power of God, through the amazing, incredible works He does each and every day. These people have absolutely no reservations with believing Jesus is God’s one and only Son, that He has been given authority over the heavens and the earth, and that He possesses the power to do anything, to include being the Savior for all mankind.  
On the other hand, we have those who would like to attribute what they witness to other things like to science or black magic or chance, anything but a Master Creator and Maker and His only Son. These skeptics close their minds, hearts, eyes and ears to the possibility that anything could be of God and mock anyone who does. Sadly, they do it to their own demise and destruction for without believing in God and Jesus, they miss out on glory, now and forever.  
What a heartbreaking existence that is but it is all about choice. God gave us free will to choose salvation or damnation. We will rise or fall by way of the option we pick.
As for me, I choose to believe and trust in Jesus, the only One through which we can be saved, the only One through which all things are possible. Whether in New Testament times or today, there is nothing beyond the work of His almighty, infinitely powerful hands.

One thing’s for sure. Live for Jesus and He will continuously lead you to and through experiences that will leave you in awe like the crowd in today’s scripture passage. For a life with the Savior is a life like nothing you have ever seen.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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