WWUTT 2192 O Unbelieving Generation (Mark 9:14-19)

In Mark 9, 19, Jesus said, O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Jesus is patient even with this generation that we should come to repentance when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

The Transfiguration and the Return to the Disciples

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel of Mark, we're in chapter nine and picking up where we left off yesterday. If you will recall, Jesus went up on the mountain with his disciples, Peter, James, and John, and he was transfigured before them.

Now we're reading of them coming back down the mountain and rejoining the rest of the disciples. That's where we pick up the action in verse 14. I'll read through verse 29 out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

And when they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes arguing with them. And immediately when the entire crowd saw him, they were amazed. And as they ran up, they were greeting him.

And he asked them, what are you arguing with them? And one of the crowd answered him, teacher, I brought you my son, possessed with a spirit, which makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.

I told your disciples to cast it out and they could not do it. And he answered them and said, oh, unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to me.

And they brought the boy to him. When he saw him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion and falling to the ground, he began rolling around foaming at the mouth. And he asked his father, how long has this been happening to him?

And he said, from childhood. And it is often thrown in both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, if you can, all things are possible to him who believes.

Immediately the boy's father cried out and was saying, I do believe, help my unbelief. Now, when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit saying to it, you mute and deaf spirit, I command you come out of him and do not enter him again.

And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out. And the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said he is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him and he stood up.

And when he came into the house, his disciples began questioning him privately. Why could we not cast it out? And he said to them, this kind cannot come out by anything but prayer. Now, before looking at the whole of this account, which may take us the next two days, so today and tomorrow, we're looking at this particular miracle.

Elijah, Malachi 4, and the Coming of the Lord

Before doing that though, let me go back a little bit because I didn't quite finish up the section that we read yesterday, particularly where Jesus talks with his disciples about Elijah. And I think this is relevant to the section of the exorcism that we're focusing on here today.

So back in verse 11, this was after the transfiguration. Remember, Jesus has transfigured before them. They see him in his glory and standing with him is Moses on one side and Elijah on the other. And so after all of this, as they're coming back down the mountain, they began asking him saying, why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?

Now that question may be prompted by the fact that they just saw Elijah there with Jesus. So perhaps they're thinking, was this the fulfillment of some kind of prophecy? Was this the coming of Elijah that the scribes were talking about?

And Jesus said to them, Elijah does first come and restore all things. And yet, how is it written of the son of man that he will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I say to you that Elijah has indeed come and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him.

Now, Jesus is referring to a prophecy that comes at the end of Malachi. This is actually like the last few verses that you would read of the Old Testament before you jump into the new. So in Malachi chapter four, I'm gonna go ahead and read the whole chapter because it's only six verses.

But from verse one, it says, for behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace and all the arrogant and every worker of wickedness will be chaff. And the day that is coming will set them aflame, says Yahweh of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

But for you who fear my name, the son of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. Now, son here is S-U-N, not S-O-N, but talking about a new dawn. So the son of righteousness is coming with healing in its wings, and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.

And you will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing, says Yahweh of hosts. Remember the law of Moses, my servant, even the statutes and judgments, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.

Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh. And he will turn the hearts of their fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land, devoting it to destruction.

Now, this passage has an immediate fulfillment to it, immediate fulfillment in the sense of it being fulfilled in the time of Christ. And then there's even a future fulfillment. There is an eschatological aspect to this.

And that might become obvious to you where it talks about the day is coming burning like a furnace. So are we talking about the judgment of God coming up here? Every worker of wickedness will be chaffed.

It will be burned up on that day of judgment. So let me address that from both perspectives, the coming of Christ the first time and the coming of Christ the second time. In Jesus' first coming, which is what we're reading about here in the gospels, he is preceded by John the Baptist.

John comes in fulfillment of what was prophesied by Isaiah, a voice crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. And John the Baptist is the fulfillment of that prophecy.

He's also the fulfillment of this one in Malachi 4, where it says, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh. And so Jesus is saying here, Elijah does first come and restore all things.

And you see that John the Baptist has done that. He came preaching and preparing the people for the coming of Yahweh. So they were prepared for it. Things were restored. The hearts were anticipating the coming of the Messiah.

They were washed with baptism, which was necessary to prepare them for the King who was about to arrive. That's what John the Baptist accomplished. But then Jesus says, Elijah has indeed come and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him.

So just as they ignored John the Baptist and persecuted John the Baptist and he was put to death, so the same thing was going to happen to Christ. This itself was even foreshadowing what would happen to the one that he came preparing the way for.

The one who was coming after him, Jesus, he likewise was going to be persecuted and put to death. So this is why it is written of the son of man that he must suffer many things and be treated with contempt.

Now you'll notice in Malachi 4, verses four and five, that both of these verses mentioned Moses and Elijah. Remember the law of Moses, my servant, and then behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet.

And here the disciples have just witnessed Moses and Elijah standing with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. So they're tempted to think, is this the fulfillment of that prophecy? Is this exactly what we were expecting to happen?

And here it is. So just as the scribes have been talking about, that Elijah the prophet must come first. Jesus says that Elijah has come and yet the son of man has suffered many things. So there's kind of a suggestion here that even though this is a fulfillment of prophecy, it's not the total fulfillment of the prophecy.

John the Baptist came, but it wasn't like most of them expected the fulfillment of the prophecy about Elijah. They thought he was really gonna come back. After all, when he ascended into heaven, he went up bodily.

Elisha saw him and the other 50 prophets that were along with him. He didn't die. He was carried up into heaven on a whirlwind. So surely he's coming back the same way. He's gonna descend from heaven just as was prophesied.

But John the Baptist comes not as Elijah, but in the spirit of Elijah. And then there is also a prophecy concerning Moses and Elijah that will happen again. And it's the two witnesses that are talked about in Revelation 11.

In verse three, it says, "'I will give authority to my two witnesses "'and they will prophesy for 1 ,260 days "'clothed in sackcloth.'. "'These are the two olive trees "'and the two lampstands "'that stand before the Lord of the earth.

"'And if anyone wishes to harm them, "'fire comes out of their mouth and devours their enemies. "'So if anyone wishes to harm them, "'he must be killed in this way. "'These have the authority to shut up the sky "'so that rain will not fall "'during the days of their prophesying.'".

Who else did that? That was Elijah. They also have authority over the waters to turn them into blood and strike the earth with every plague as often as they wish. Who did that? That was Moses. And when they have finished their witness, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them and overcome them and kill them.

And their dead bodies will lie in the street of that great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Now, again, this is in the spirit of it. It's not literally Moses and Elijah.

It's not literally Sodom and Egypt. It's not literally the city where the Lord was crucified. All of these things are symbolic of this. And those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.

And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate and send gifts to one another because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them and they stood on their feet and great fear fell upon those who were watching them.

And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, come up here. Then they went up into heaven in the cloud and their enemies watched them. Now, I don't have time to go into all the symbolism that is being unveiled here in Revelation chapter 11.

But let me just say this. These two witnesses are the church. We're not waiting for a literal prophet in the spirit of Elijah and a literal prophet in the spirit of Moses. These prophets have already come and it is the church.

These are the two witnesses. Remember that throughout the Bible, whether you're talking about the Old Testament law or even what Jesus established for the church in Matthew chapter 18, every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses, right?

So the church is the witness for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is the witness, stands as witnesses to call out the world for its sin. You are sinful. So you have two or three witnesses that are able to say to the world, you have sinned and we are witnesses of your sin.

And then also are able to stand before the world and say, here is the solution to your sin. And it is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. So we see how these prophets, Moses and Elijah, will come again, the spirit of them in the church.

And by the way, that reference back in Revelation 11, 4, these are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. That's your clue into recognizing that this is the church that we're talking about because from the beginning of Revelation, the church is being described as occupied by a lampstand.

So the lampstands represent the churches or the spirit of God that is within those churches. So once again, we have what is said there in Malachi 4 has a fulfillment in the first coming of Christ and a fulfillment in the second coming of Christ.

The two witnesses are witnessing in the earth now before, as said in Revelation 11, 12, we will hear a loud voice from heaven saying to us, come up here and they will go up into heaven in the cloud and their enemies watched them.

That will be the day of the Lord that comes in judgment when we will be rescued out of the earth and the judgment of God will come upon the earth. So here, as we come into this miracle that Jesus performs, casting out this demon, what does this have to do with what we just read about these questions the disciples have asked Jesus about Elijah?

Well, notice that when Jesus rebukes the crowd, including his disciples in verse 15, he says to them, oh, unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you and how long shall I put up with you? And what did we just read in Malachi 4?

That the coming of the law of Moses and Elijah the prophet will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land, devoting it to destruction.

And so here, what do you have here? The disciples have just asked Jesus, Peter, James and John specifically, have just asked Jesus about this prophecy concerning the coming of Elijah, which is talked about in Malachi 4, where it is said there that the hearts of the fathers will turn to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers.

And what happens in this exorcism? But you have a father whose son is being possessed by a demon and the father cares for his son. His heart is turned to his son and saying, Lord, save my son. And so you're seeing the fulfillment of that, which is said in Malachi 4 happening right here as Jesus is casting out this spirit, even rebuking the generations.

And you also see the generations represented in this father and in this son. And so likewise, even today, as you consider the church as the two witnesses in Revelation 11, we care about that next generation.

And that next generation's hearts are even turning to us in the sense that the previous generation, or sorry, the current generation will listen to the previous generation and then will care for the next generation.

So in a rebellious culture, you see this several times in Paul's letters, whether it's Romans 1 or 1 Timothy 1 and some other places, he will talk about how in a rebellious generation, they are disobedient to their parents.

That's one of the signs of a rebellious generation. And that doesn't just mean that children rebel against their immediate parents. It's also to say that a generation of people will disregard the previous generation.

We have nothing to learn from them. We don't take care of them. We just, you know, we're doing it better than they did it. So there's this disrespect for the previous generation. And that's one of the marks of a rebellious generation.

When Christ comes and through the preaching of the gospel, a generation's heart is turned to the previous generation. Then you see children that are obedient to their parents, that honor their mother and their father, and will either listen to the previous generation and learn from them or will even care for them.

And then the hearts of that generation toward the children of the next will be to share the gospel with them so that they will come to faith in Jesus Christ and so be saved. And so Jesus rebukes the generations here for not believing.

And here you have a father which represents an older generation and his son, which represents the next and the love and the care and affection that he has for his child. All of this tied into the same question or the very question that Peter, James and John had just asked Jesus coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration.

And here they come to meet the rest of the disciples. And this is the scene that is taking place. So let me come back to verse 14 very quickly. We'll get through just these few verses here as we wrap up the lesson today.

Unbelief, the Father and Son, and Jesus’ Rebuke of the Generation

So when they came back to the disciples, where whatever was their assignment, they were doing something separate. It wasn't like they were just hanging out at the base of the mountain, waiting for Jesus and Peter, James and John to come down.

The other disciples had an assignment. So when Jesus and the three come back to join the other nine, the scribes are arguing with them. Remember that Peter, James and John had even asked Jesus, why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?

So here they come and join the rest of the disciples with the scribes arguing with them. And immediately when the entire crowd saw him, they were amazed and they ran up and were greeting him. So the disciples, and they know these disciples are disciples of Jesus.

As soon as Jesus shows up, well, he gets all the attention. The disciples are not doing as well as you do. So here we have this man from the crowd that is needing his son to be healed. And so will you heal him?

That's kind of the approach of the crowd. And one of the crowd answered him. Well, anyway, Jesus says in verse 16, what are you arguing with them? So why are you arguing with my disciples? What's the argument that's going on here?

And then one in the crowd, the father, answered him and said, teacher, I brought you my son. So he came to his disciples with his son, expecting that Jesus was going to be among them and he was going to be able to heal his son.

But the father says he was possessed with a spirit and the spirit makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.

And I told your disciples to cast it out and they could not do it. So the disciples probably standing there looking kind of sheepish, because they do ask him later on, why were we not able to cast out the spirit?

And what's Jesus' response to this? It's not just to his disciples, but it's even to the man. Because Jesus will rebuke the man again a second time to which the man will respond, I do believe now help my unbelief.

We'll get to that part tomorrow and consider that. But here after this father has said these things to Jesus, Jesus answered them. He's talking to his disciples. He's talking to the crowd. He's talking to the father who just raised this problem before Jesus.

And Jesus says, oh, unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to me. Now this isn't Jesus saying, I've had enough of you people, I'm out of here.

Good luck atoning for your sins on your own. That wasn't his attitude here. But remember going back to Malachi 4, where it's talking about the judgment of God that is going to be coming upon a wicked generation.

The day is coming, burning like a furnace and all the arrogant and every worker of wickedness will be chaffed and the day that is coming will set them aflame. So Jesus is saying, how long shall I be with you?

As long as Jesus is here, then what is being accomplished is the last part of Malachi 4. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land, devoting it to destruction.

So as long as Jesus is there, then the judgment of God is restrained. But saying, how long shall I put up with you? This is as though to say to them, you are not being destroyed because of God's mercy, because of his restraining hand, but you don't have much time.

How many miracles have you seen performed among you and yet you still do not believe? They remain unbelieving. The whole time that Jesus has been with them has been just an exercise of the Lord's patience.

It's been a demonstration of the Lord's patience. He has tolerated their waywardness and the unfaithfulness of this people. And yet he is still going to fulfill the father's purpose. And he is going to die as an atoning sacrifice so that all who believe in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

Yet it is upon each and every person to recognize that now. You don't have time to mess around with this. Who knows how long the Lord will put up with you until you turn from your sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and so be saved.

So it's the same sort of thing that Jesus is saying to this crowd. It is time for you to believe and your unbelief is the reason for your bickering and your arguing. It is the reason this young man has not yet been healed.

It is the reason why you still remain an unbelieving generation. Or as we read it in this same account back in Matthew 17, you are a faithless and perverse generation. But yet the Lord is gonna have mercy and compassion even upon this father and will still heal his son.

You know, there've been times in my life where I have not felt so terribly faithful and I've still sinned and gone after the passions of my flesh instead of devoting myself completely to the Lord. I feel like there are times even as a pastor that I've squandered my time and I wondered what would my congregation think of me if they knew how much time I was wasting instead of doing the job that they're really paying me for.

Am I unqualified now? Is God going to strike me down and remove me from ministry? And if it would so happen, then he is certainly just to do so. But by his mercy and by his grace, I am convicted of my sin before I do something worse.

I come back to the Lord Jesus Christ and he heals me. First John 1, 9, if we are faithful to ask forgiveness for our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And God continues to do that even in our present day. It is never, his patience is never an excuse for us to continue in sin. Rather as said in Romans 2, his kindness and forbearance and patience is meant to lead you to repentance.

So do not continue in sin and unbelief any longer. Repent of this and turn back to the Lord Jesus Christ. Be healed and restored and he will make your path straight. We'll stop there and we'll come back to this again tomorrow to consider further, especially this line that the father gives to Jesus.

Lord, I do believe, now help my unbelief. How is God working that out in our lives? Heavenly father, we thank you for what we have read. And in our moments of doubt, in our moments of waywardness, you have been patient with us.

It is not an excuse for our doubt or our sin, but it is by your mercy that we continue to be upheld by your goodness and grace. And so forgive us our sins and direct us in the way that we should go today, living as Christ, turning to you, even sharing your gospel with others so that others may come to know Jesus and believe and so be saved.

It is in Jesus name that we pray, amen.

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