What the Lord Is Saying on Covid-19: See Again
Good morning, everyone.
Permit me to stand on existing protocol as what is heard is shared. Characteristically, I shall go straight to point. This morning we examine Mark 10: 46 – 52. I shall be quoting principally from the Authorized Version while making necessary digressions – abbreviations are explained at the end.
Perhaps the first digression should be the concession that this message is a distant continuation of the What the Lord Is Saying on Covid-19 series and is best understood in line with it. (I apologise for not updating that series — Parts VII and VIII are yet outstanding; I know what I heard, I just don’t feel the time is right yet.) I shall provide links to them at the end of this message, and perhaps reproduce Part II for quick access in light of the direct relevance to today’s discourse.
As usual, we are going to lay a lot of foundation before getting to the crux of the discourse so that by the time you have read to the end you will have picked all of what God has for you because I am of the conviction that there are in this message different strokes for different folks. Alleluia.
✓ So, verse 46: And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.
- So where is Jericho? To answer that question, we must first look at what we know about Jericho. Bear in mind that we are taking a figurative look at this passage to reap the message. Our successive interpretation of this passage therefore is one out of a possible many – one that bears relevance to our current situation – as I do not claim to know it all.
- Rather than conjecture, I shall provide scriptural parallels and trust the Holy Spirit to illuminate; after all, we are talking about sight and God is light. – 1 John 1: 5.
- i. Joshua 6: 26: And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.
- Genesis 3: 17: And to Adam [God] said: …cursed is the earth in thy work; with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. – DRB; CB, GB, SLT.
i. 1 Kings 16: 34: In his days did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord , which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.
John 3: 16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. – NIV; BSB, CSB, NLT.2 Corinthians 5: 15: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
In Part II we learnt that: Jesus would visit the covid world with healing (I believe this has happened), those on the mountain would nevertheless be afflicted still, there would be violence (I believe the #BLM, #Antifa, #EndSARS were part of the scheme of violence that are to be experienced just as I believe we have not seen the end of it), and that the world would ask Him to please leave (this I yet believe is coming).
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and those who as we learnt in Part II paid attention to the Christian message, there was a man handicapped from following him. Scripture gives us his name and parentage because he was a known person. As we learnt in Part III, like the demoniac of Mark 5, Bartimaeus was renowned, but he could not leave Jericho with the Lord.
Contrary to scripturally guaranteed blessings, Bartimaeus was struggling as are many of us. As we learnt in Part V, covid crippled a lot of institutions and not just the church. Bartimaeus was therefore reduced to begging by the roadside to survive. Please note that he was poor because he was blind.
Now, as part of laying the foundation properly, permit me to leap to verse 51: Then Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man told him, “Rabbouni, I want to see again.” – ISV; BSB, GNT, GWT, LSV, NET, NHEB, SLT, WEB, YLT.
We’re now at the crux. You see, in sharp contrast to the traditional rendering of this verse as “that I might receive my sight, KJV,” and “that I might see, NIV”, I have quoted the more faithful rendition. You see, pun intended, in the Greek the word is ἀναβλέψω (anablepsō) meaning, “to look up, to recover my sight.”
Perhaps you now see why I was in such a hurry to get here: Bartimaeus was seeing before! In contrast to the congenitally blind man in John 9 (mentioned en passant in Part IV), Bartimaeus had a good and prosperous life before trouble (read: covid) hit! He was not always blind and poor; and as noted before, he became poor when he lost his sight.
Haven’t you lost sight of Jesus? Is that not why you are struggling? But I digress.
✓ Now we go back to verse 47: And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
The Lord asked me to tell you that He is yet very much around to hear you; cry now therefore before He leaves. Isaiah 59: 1, 2: Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
John 17: 14: …the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
As the world prepares to turn away from their Maker, cry out that you may see clearly which way to go. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you… And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold… For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. – Matthew 24: 4-5, 11-12, 24.
✓ Verse 48: And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
The Lord asked me to encourage you. In this walk, there is no room for peer pressure. You will be mocked, you will be jeered; why, you will be persecuted! Earlier in that Chapter, the Lord himself had reassured Peter: And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s. But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life (Verses 29, 30).
Later in that last journey to Jerusalem, the Lord warned: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be… And except that [Jehovah] had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. – Matthew 24: 21; Mark 13: 20.
The Lord says we must hold on tenaciously therefore: For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. – Mark 13: 34 – 36.
✓ Verse 49: And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.
The Lord says to reassure you that after you have endured you shall be recognised. All those previously mocking you, jeering you, persecuting you, will turn around to salute your courage and steadfastness: But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. – 2 Timothy 4: 5, 8.
There is so much more to say at this juncture but so little space. As is customary, I shall reserve comments. Let the reader discern.
✓ Verse 50: And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.
Have you put off your old man? That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. – Ephesians 4: 22, NKJV.
- 1 John 2: 15: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- 2 Peter 1: 4: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
✓ Finally, verse 52: And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.
Matthew 25: 34: Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Matthew 11: 6: And if anyone is not offended because of Me, he is blessed. – HCSB.
1 Corinthians 10: 23: “Everything is permissible”–but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible” — but not everything is constructive. – NIV.
Now, here’s the tricky part: Bartimaeus could have walked away after receiving his sight. His prayer had been answered, he had been restored; he was permitted to go, he had a legitimate reason to not be seen again. But he had learnt his lesson from his earlier lifestyle whence he became blind; he would not stay in Jericho, he would follow Jesus.
You see, the GWT renders Matthew 11: 6 this way: How happy are those who have no doubts about me! The Lord says to ask you, Are you harbouring doubts? Has your love not waxed cold? Do you retain your first love? And even I, the spokesdonkey, am guilty. The WEB puts it: Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.
Truth is, in this covid era we have found credible reasons to be just a little distant from the Lord. We have legitimate occasions to not attend church, especially if someone or something had offended us in the congregation. And church is not even compulsory as we now have alternatives. I personally take offense at the financial insensitivity in certain congregations but that is not what the Lord has sent me to say.
Here is that: But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. – Matthew 24: 13.
And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. – Luke 12: 47.
Whereas most scripture quotations are from the Authorized Version, heavy reliance has again been placed on The New Testament in the Original Greek 1881 by BF Westcott and FJA Hort as reproduced in The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures 1985 by the New World Bible Translation Committee.
BSB, Berean Study Bible, CB, Coverdale Bible, CSB, Christian Standard Bible, DRB, Douay-Rheims Bible, GB, Geneva Bible, GNT, Good News Translation, GWT, GOD’S WORD® Translation, HCSB, Holman Christian Standard Bible, ISV, International Standard Version, LSV, Literal Standard Version, NET, New English Translation, NHEB, New Heart English Bible, NKJV, New King James’ Version, SLT, Smith’s Literal Translation, WEB, World English Bible, YLT, Young’s Literal Translation.
Below are links to episodes IIa and IIb
©Ayk • 08 Jan 2021
Again, this work may only be shared whole.
#haveJesus
My prayer remains that we #qualify. Matthew 24: 13; Acts 20: 24.
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