9
A miniature of the Kingdom
1 And He said to them, “I tell you assuredly: there are some standing here who will certainly not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God present with power.” 2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them up on a high mountain alone by themselves. Then He was transfigured in front of them; 3 His clothing became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth is able to whiten. 4 And Elijah appeared to them, along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. 5 Well Peter reacted by saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three shelters: one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (Because they were terrified, he didn't know what to say.)* 7 With that a cloud was covering them and a Voice† came out of the cloud: “This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to Him!” 8 And then, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
9 Now as they were coming down from the mountain,‡ He ordered them not to recount to any one the things they had seen until the Son of the Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the ‘rising from the dead’ meant. 11 And they asked Him, saying, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 12 So in answer He said to them: “Elijah indeed does come first, and restores all things; also how it is written concerning the Son of the Man that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt. 13 Still, I say to you that ‘Elijah’ has also come, and they did to him as they wished, as it is written about him.”§
The nine couldn't do it
14 Upon coming to the disciples, He saw a large crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 Well as soon as the crowd saw Him they were excited and ran to greet Him. 16 He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?” 17 In answer a man in the crowd said: “Teacher, I brought you my son, who has a mute spirit.* 18 And wherever it seizes him it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth and gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. Indeed, I spoke to your disciples, that they might cast it out, but they could not.” 19 But He answered him by saying: “O unbelieving generation,† how long shall I be with you, how long shall I put up with you? Bring him to me!” 20 So they brought him to Him. Upon seeing Him the spirit convulsed him, and falling to the ground he started wallowing, foaming at the mouth. 21 Then He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said: “From childhood. 22 Really, it has often thrown him both into fire and into water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 Jesus said to him, “It's ‘if you can believe’;‡ all things are possible to the one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, with tears, “Lord,§ I believe; help my unbelief!”*
25 When Jesus saw that the crowd was running up, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit,† I am commanding you, get out of him and never enter him again!”‡
26 Then it yelled, convulsed him violently, and came out. Well he looked to be dead; so much so that many said, “He's dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he stayed on his feet. 28 Well upon His entering a house His disciples asked Him privately, “Why couldn't we cast it out?” 29 He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing except prayer and fasting.”§
Jesus predicts His death again
30 Having gone out from there they were passing through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know; 31 because He was teaching His disciples and saying to them, “The Son of the Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and once killed* he will rise on the third day.” 32 But they were not understanding this information, yet were afraid to ask Him.
About humility
33 Then He came to Capernaum; and once in the house He asked them, “What were you debating among yourselves on the road?” 34 But they kept silent, because on the road they had debated among themselves who was greater. 35 So He sat down, called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then He took a child and stood him in their midst, and embracing him said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives not only me, but the One who sent me.”
Either for, or against
38 So John answered Him saying, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, one who doesn't follow us;† and we forbade him, because he doesn't follow us.” 39 But Jesus said: “Do not forbid him, because no one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterward speak evil of me. 40 For he who is not against you is for you.‡ 41 Further, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you are Christ's, I tell you with certainty, he will by no means lose his reward.§
About offenses
42 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe into me to fall,* it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.† 43 Further, if your hand is causing you to fall, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into the Life maimed than having both hands to go away into Gehenna,‡ into the unquenchable fire— 44 where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’§ 45 And if your foot is causing you to fall, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into the Life lame than having both feet to be thrown into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire— 46 where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ 47 And if your eye is causing you to fall, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye than having both eyes to be thrown into the Gehenna of fire— 48 where ‘the* worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’
49 “Further, everyone will be seasoned with fire,† and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.‡ 50 Salt is good, but if the salt loses its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”§
* 9:6 He threw away an excellent opportunity to say nothing. † 9:7 Peter never forgot that Voice! See 2 Peter 1:17-18. ‡ 9:9 This was the next day; they spent the night on the mountain (Luke 9:37). § 9:13 The Lord stated plainly that the coming of the real Elijah was still future. Since the Baptizer was Messiah's herald at His first advent, Jesus refers to him as ‘Elijah’ (recall that John was already dead). * 9:17 Here was a desperate father who considered that his problem was more important than a theological discussion. So he interrupts (although the discussion may have been about the demon and their failure). † 9:19 I suspect that He was looking at the nine, not the crowd. ‡ 9:23 Perhaps 3% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit ‘believe’, which alters the meaning (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). § 9:24 Around 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit ‘with tears’ and ‘Lord’, to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc. * 9:24 I can sympathize with this father. When I consider all the things that the Lord Jesus said could be done with faith, and that I have yet to do, I too must say, “Help my unbelief!” † 9:25 The father had said it was a mute spirit; Jesus adds that it is also deaf—the two often go together. ‡ 9:25 Note that Jesus forbad any return. Demons will do anything to deceive, confuse or demoralize us. If you resist a spirit, he leaves, but another may immediately take the place of the first and produce the same effect, making you think that nothing happened, so that you feel demoralized. If you resist but do not forbid a return, he leaves but may come back, in an hour, a day or a week. If I have to rebuke the enemy I now rebuke not only the spirit actually at work but any and all others that might wish to attack the person in the same way. I used to forbid any repetition of the attack, but now I send them to the Abyss. I believe Luke 8:31 give us basis for consigning demons to the Abyss, thereby reducing the number of the enemy's forces (against us). There we read that the demons begged Jesus “not to order them to go into the Abyss” (“the Abyss” is the same phrase that the AV renders as “the bottomless pit” in Revelation 20:1). That means that He could have—I conclude that He refrained from doing so because He had not yet won the victory, at that time. But now it is different. In John 14:12 the Lord Jesus said to His disciples: “Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes into me, the works that I do he will do also; even greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father.” What does “because I go to my Father” imply? I conclude that it must be His victory—could He have returned if He had failed, if He had not succeeded in destroying the devil (Hebrews 2:14)? That is why we are supposed to be doing “greater” works—like ordering demons into the Abyss, for instance. C. Fred Dickason, who has personally ministered to over 400 demonized believers, says that his experience indicates that once a demon is ordered into the Abyss it does not come back (Demon Possession & the Christian, Moody Press, 1987). Paul E. Billheimer says much the same in Destined to Overcome (Bethany House Publishers, 1982, p. 46). Can you imagine if God's people really got a hold on this? We could continuously reduce the number of demons opposing us! Hallelujah! So then, why not order all recalcitrant demons into the Abyss? In fact, why not do the same for any and all that intrude upon our notice? § 9:29 Four Greek manuscripts (all inferior), against 1651, omit ‘and fasting’, to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc. * 9:31 This seems to us to be an awkward expression, but that is what the Text says. † 9:38 Around 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit ‘one who doesn't follow us’, to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc. ‡ 9:40 Instead of ‘you’, some 10% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘us’ (both times) (to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). § 9:41 But how and where could an unbeliever be ‘rewarded’? I suppose with blessing in this life. * 9:42 It is clear from the context that the verb ‘fall’ throughout this paragraph refers to a spiritual fall with eternal consequences. I believe that the Lord was being perfectly serious and literal here. I suppose most deadly temptations come at us through the eye. Obviously it would be better to pluck out an eye, literally, if it would stop you in time, than to fall from the Faith and wind up in the Lake. In the first place, most people are not prepared to take such drastic measures, and in the second, by the time they wake up to what is happening, they have already crossed the line. That is why Hebrews 3:12-14 is precisely to the point: “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today’, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.” † 9:42 The implication is clear: anyone who deliberately destroys a child's faith in Jesus has bought himself a one-way ticket to the Lake of Fire. I suppose that ‘child’ could include high school and college students. ‡ 9:43 Strictly speaking, ‘Gehenna’ was the local dump outside Jerusalem—something was always being burned, and there would be plenty of worms. But Jesus here uses it as a figure for the Lake of Fire, the ‘second death’. § 9:44 See Isaiah 66:24. Perhaps 4% of the Greek manuscripts omit ‘into the unquenchable fire’ at the end of verses 43 and 45, and also omit verses 44 and 46 entire, to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, [TEV], etc., except that most keep ‘into the unquenchable fire’ in verse 43 (but not in verse 45). I find the figure of an immortal worm to be rather daunting—always chewing on you, but never finishing you off! (Evidently there were those who thought that saying it once was quite enough.) * 9:48 I here follow the best line of transmission and 30% of the Greek manuscripts. † 9:49 Now what might this mean? Well, those who believe into Him Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire; those who don't, get a different fire. ‡ 9:49 Some 7% of the Greek manuscripts omit the second clause of this verse, to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc. But just what might this mean? Well, Romans 12:1 speaks of a ‘living sacrifice’ and in Matthew 5:13 Jesus calls His followers ‘the salt of the earth’. If you present yourself as a living sacrifice to Jesus, He will make you salty. § 9:50 For ‘salty’ people living and working together, ‘peace’ may not be easy.