Everybody in the human race understands the fear, the terror of death which then raises the question of all questions, can anyone...has anyone conquered death and can I enter into that experience of triumph?
That is the compelling question. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. If you had walked with Jesus from town to town, ate meals with him, watched him respond to his critics, what would have stood out? Consider that as John MacArthur looks at the character of Christ, giving you an intimate picture of Jesus' compassion and patience with the people around him, also his power over sin and death.
The lesson you're about to hear is part of John's series from the Gospel of Mark called Jesus Over All. But John, before you begin the lesson, it's important for our listeners to know that programs like today's would not be heard in communities like this one if it were not for some very important and strategic ministry partners. It's only fitting that we express our thanks to these groups, and I know you're happy to do that. Yeah, it's a small army that makes my teaching available and possible, and we could start with saying thanks to the team at this radio station. We don't take for granted the opportunity to teach the Word of God on this station. You're providing a critical platform for ministry and for teaching the Word of God. What an amazing tool it is, and much is being accomplished for God's kingdom through this station and others like it that make solid Bible teaching available. Particularly while driving, people are tuning into stations like this one, even randomly scanning the dial and finding Bible teaching programs and finding grace to you.
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Pray for the people at this station, pray for the people at Ambassador. And we are thanking the Lord for your part in this ministry as together we pray that God would continue to use His Word for His glory. Now stay here as we return to our study from Mark titled, Jesus Over All. That's right, friend, follow along with John now for a compelling look at Jesus' power over death and what that means for you today.
Here again is John MacArthur. Let's look again at Mark chapter 5 and this is part 2 in this text that records really two incidents, one inside the other from Mark 5 21 to the end of the chapter, verse 43. We have already considered the first portion of this passage down through verse 34 and we'll pick up the story in verse 35 with a little bit of a review. And what we're going to see in verses 35 to 43 is Jesus breaking up a funeral by raising the person from the dead. Breaking up a funeral, wouldn't you love to be able to do that?
Wouldn't we all love to be able to do that? We understand that funerals are the most desperate of all human occasions and experiences. The Bible accurately says that all the human race is in slavery to the fear of death, Hebrews 2.15. Romans 6 says that the whole human race is in slavery to sin and the consequence of being a slave to sin is being a slave to the fear of death. Death, of course, is the ultimate fear that impregnates all other fears with its threatening and final reality. That is why Job 18, 14 calls death the king of terrors. In Psalm 55, verses 4 and 5 we read, my heart is in anguish within me, horror has overwhelmed me, fear and trembling come upon me...why? The terrors of death have fallen upon me. Everybody in the human race understands the fear, the terror of death. Which then raises the question of all questions, can anyone...has anyone conquered death and can I enter into that experience of triumph? That is the compelling question. Has anyone conquered death and in so doing have they made it possible for me to triumph over death?
Many years ago there was a Canadian scientist by the name of G.B. Hardy who in his search for the true religions said, I only have two questions, has death been conquered and has it been conquered for me? And in his search, he ended up the only place anybody on that search will end up and that is with Jesus Christ who rose from the dead and by His resurrection provides resurrection for all who put their trust in Him. He said, that is the only question that anyone should ask with regard to the selection of a religion.
Has anyone conquered death and can that triumph be applied to me? He checked and he said, all religious leaders in the world have occupied tombs. Only Jesus' tomb is empty. Certainly in the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Jesus claimed to have power over death. The gospel of John begins by telling us that everything that was made was made by Him, that is to say He created everything that lives. It also says, in Him was life. He Himself said, I am the way, the truth and the life. He said, I am the resurrection and the life. He said, I am come to give life and to give it more abundantly. He said, whoever believes in Me shall never die. He said, because I live, you shall live also. And in that one statement in John 14, 19, he answered the two questions, I live and you can live as well.
Evolving death is the great question. In fact, Jesus went so far as to say early in His ministry at the very beginning in John 2, 19, destroy this body and in three days I will raise it up. That is not an idle claim. Every one of the four gospels ends with a historical account of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, unmistakably true because there were over 500 eyewitnesses.
All the evidences are in. He conquered death for Himself. But not only for Himself, when the disciples of John the Baptist wanted to know whether Jesus was the Messiah, when they were asking the question, is it He or should there be another who would come? The answer came and these are the words of that answer, defining the reality of who Christ was. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear and the dead are raised up.
That's the answer to the question. It's one thing to make the claim to raise people from the dead, it's another thing to be able to do it. It's one thing to claim that you will conquer death, it's another thing to do it. And Jesus showed His power over death in the resurrections that He accomplished with a word, with a command during His ministry and by the power exhibited in His own resurrection. And consequently, as Hebrews 2 tells us, He then destroyed the one who had the power of death, namely Satan, and delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to its bondage or slavery. Now in the passage that we're looking at, chapter 5, it's kind of the final factor in a series of stories that give us insight into the power of Jesus. The first one came in chapter 4 and we saw His power over nature as He controlled the wind and the waves. And then in chapter 5, the chapter opened with a maniac in Gadara who was possessed by a legion of demons, thousands of them. We saw Jesus' power not only over nature, but over demons. And then in our last study, we met a woman with an issue of blood and again we saw Jesus' power over disease. And here in the final portion of this text, we see His power over death. Certainly there is no one who has ever lived, no figure in any religion that has exhibited this kind of historical power.
He stands alone. Now let me set the scene for you a little bit. Go back to verse 21 because as I told you, the miracle of the woman healed of the issue of blood is sandwiched inside the story of the resurrection and it begins in verse 21. When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat, that is from the eastern side of the lake back to the northwestern side near the town of Capernaum, after the experience of the storm getting over there and then the deliverance of the maniac, now they return, a large crowd as always, numbering in the tens of thousands very likely, gathered around Him and so He stayed by the seashore. One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up and on seeing Him fell at His feet and implored Him earnestly saying, My little daughter is at the point of death, please come and lay your hands on her so that she will get well and live.
He went off with Him and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him. He's a desperate parent. He is what any parent would be. He's at the end of his resources and his twelve-year-old daughter, verse 42 tells us she was twelve years old, she is near death and he is profoundly anxious over this reality, a desperate parent with a dying daughter. He is a synagogue official. That is to say, he is part of the religious establishment, not a clergyman, not a rabbi or a priest, a Pharisee or a scribe, but a lay person who is part of the clerical system nonetheless, part of the religious establishment, certainly under the authority of the scribes and Pharisees. We all know how they felt about Jesus.
They hated Him and wanted Him dead. But here is a man who is unfaithful to his religious system. He has come to believe in Jesus. He has come to believe in His power.
He is so confident that no matter what happens, he never demonstrates the least amount of doubt. He is confident, he is strong in faith in the person and the power of Jesus. He comes and makes an open public confession of the dilemma that he's in and an open confession that he believes in the power of Jesus and that is public and that would demonstrate his indifference toward the political religious establishment to which he was accountable.
This is a bold step. We see him come then humbly. He comes and falls down worshipfully and he begs in full confidence for the healing of his daughter. He would surely have been previously aware of all the miracles Jesus had done, even of the time when he forgave the sins of the man who was lowered through the roof in that very area, very much possibility that it was at Peter's house which is a very, very short two-minute walk from the synagogue in Capernaum where he very likely was the official. He may well have been in the synagogue when Jesus cast the demons out of the man who screamed at him during the time he was speaking there. He certainly was aware of the miracles he had come to the conclusion that Jesus indeed was a divine miracle worker.
He had absolute trust in and confidence in his power. And so he comes to Jesus. And Jesus responds to him and we put a little outline together and said, first of all, if you want to look at the whole scene from the perspective of Jesus and how he ministered to people, we would say first he was accessible. He was right in the crush of the crowd day after day after day, only escaping occasionally to teach his disciples in some isolation or to be alone with his father. He was not only accessible to the crowds, he was available to individuals. And here comes a man and it tells us in verse 24 that he went off with him. It wasn't easy to get to the house where the man lived and where the daughter was so ill because a large crowd was following him and pressing in on him.
It would be very, very difficult even to move. We then said that not only was he accessible and available, but he was interruptible because all of a sudden in verse 25 a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years appears. But Jesus healed her on the spot. Not only did he heal her, it tells us in verse 34 at the end that she was healed of her affliction, but in the same verse before that, daughter, identifying her as a child of God, your faith literally in the Greek has saved you. This is, we said last time, her effectual call into salvation.
He knows his sheep and he calls them. Now he is speaking to the woman in verse 35, still speaking, perhaps to the women and to the crowd around, doing further teaching, who knows what that conversation was about. But it's precisely at that time as he's finishing up with this woman and beginning to move in the direction of the house of Jairus who is extremely anxious, just on the edge of pushing through the crushing crowd as they're beginning in that direction, verse 35 says, they, meaning plural messengers, came from the house of the synagogue official saying, speaking to Jairus, your daughter has died...your daughter has died. The delay has proven deadly. Did they know that Jairus was going to find Jesus?
Certainly they did. Certainly he would have told his wife, family, friends. But now Jesus has delayed and she is dead. This is reminiscent, isn't it, of Martha's attitude in John 11 21 when they sent word that Lazarus was sick, Jesus was up on the Jordan and they sent word to him that Lazarus, his friend, was sick and Jesus delayed.
And when he finally arrived, Martha says to him, it's too late...it's too late. You could have done something if you had gotten here before he died. These are people who had seen the miracle power of Jesus but found it difficult to believe that He could raise the dead. The implication is that Jesus has been wasting His time. Certainly the implication of these messengers, whether they were family members or associates, was that Jairus was an exceedingly important person. Wherever Jesus had focused His attention to whomever He had been giving His interest, whatever reasons there were for the slow movement, perhaps Jesus didn't really understand how important Jairus was.
Wouldn't it have been pretty much standard procedure for people to jump when Jairus wanted something or needed something? Maybe he was a good man, certainly he was a noble and religious man and I think he's come to be a believer in Jesus Christ in this story. His faith is rock solid. And perhaps they were looking at the situation in a way that he didn't even look at it because there never is any statement that comes out of his lips but confidence in Jesus. But certainly those who were part of his life who were unbelievers, we know that because later on they laugh at Jesus, thought that Jesus had been wasting His time when He should have been spending it with a very important man. If they had known anything about this woman, maybe some told them what was going on.
If they did know, they would have said that Jesus had spent His time with the most rejected instead of the most respected. Well the messengers express hopelessness at this point, they say, why trouble the teacher anymore? Why trouble the teacher anymore? That title, the teacher, is important for you to note because if you think that Jesus' reputation was as a miracle worker, you've missed it. His reputation was as a teacher. His message was more important than His miracles. His miracles made the point that He was divine, but His message was critical and He was known as the teacher...teacher. Title of respect, Deidoskalon, shows His emphasis.
It's too late to bother the teacher, your daughter has died. Now Jesus is in the midst of a crushing, noisy, demanding, even aggressive crowd. And He is so calm, He is like the eye of a hurricane.
And so I want to give you a fifth point. It's a word that I like, it's not used very much. He was imperturbable, I like that word.
It's a synonym, if you like it better, is another word I like, unflappable. Means calm, tranquil, undisturbed, unruffled. There could be absolute chaos going on around Him, panicky messengers, an anxious gyrus, a crushing crowd laying all of its demands on Jesus. And He is just completely at calm, moving inexorably in the sovereign purposes of His Father.
We see that unfold in the whole scene as He moves to the house. But let's pick it up in verse 36. But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, the dialogue about the fact the girl is dead and there's no reason to bother Him anymore, said to the synagogue official, here's the literal Greek language, stop fearing, keep on believing...stop fearing, keep on believing. Replace your fear with your faith. And Luke 8.50 adds in the parallel passage, this is in Luke and in Matthew, parallel accounts, Luke adds that Jesus also said, and she will be made well...she will be made well.
You have nothing to fear. There Jesus gives Him the words that He so much wanted to hear. Our Lord's perspective is completely different than everybody around Him because He moves in the perfect knowledge of the will of His Father. Verse 37, they begin to move toward the house, that's implied, and He allowed no one to accompany Him except Peter and James and John, the brother of James. Obviously He couldn't take the crowd. He couldn't even take the Twelve into the house.
That would be too much, asking too much. This is the first time in the ministry of our Lord that He isolates these three. This is the first time.
And get used to it, right? The inner circle, Peter, James and John, they were three of the first four Apostles that He called. James and John were brothers and Peter and Andrew were brothers. Peter becomes the leader, James and John the other two intimates, and Andrew is a sometime inclusion in the inner circle.
This is the first occasion where He separates them out. Peter, the leader, John the lover, and James the first martyr. It isn't that they were to be given special treatment, is it rather that they were to become the channel of intimate experiences, personal teaching back to the rest. They were not the end, they were not the cul-de-sac, they were not the dead end, they were merely the conduit. Jesus could only give Himself intimately to a few and this must be the perfect number for Him to work with intimately and through these three disseminated the experiences and the instruction back to the rest.
Important for leaders to understand that, I think. So Jesus says, only you can come. For the first time they're looking at each other and saying, wow, cause this is their first time as His intimate triumvirate. Verse 38, they came to the house of the synagogue official. It took a while. I would think that the occasion with the woman was a lot longer than it took to read it and maybe even a lot longer than it took to preach it. Remember now, these are stories that are summarized, these are cryptic reports on these events. The conversations were longer and more extensive and more repeated. That's why you have differing statements in comparing the gospel records together because they weren't just one statement, one answer, one movement, one act, one...that's just simply a reporting of it in a condensed way. We don't know how long it took for Jesus to talk to the woman, to speak to the woman, to speak to the crowd about the woman, to teach. But perhaps hours...perhaps hours because by the time they get to the house, pressing through the crushing crowd, the house is in a commotion and people are loudly weeping and wailing.
What does that tell you? The funeral was on in full force. So time for the knowledge of the girl's death to be disseminated for the weepers and the wailers and the flute players, we'll talk about them in a minute, to be invited, everybody is there and this chaotic cacophony is in full force. And again I see the imperturbability of Jesus in this. He just never moves in a panic, never. He moves so calmly, so tranquilly from one thing to another in the purposes of God. You're listening to Grace To You with John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary.
This lesson is part of John's current study titled, Jesus Over All. And friend, just a reminder to pray for the team at this radio station and if you can let them know that you're listening and learning, you will encourage them more than you know. And of course, we'd love to hear how God is using Grace To You in your life as well. If you benefited from Grace To You, write us a note and send it our way. Our address here is Grace To You, post office box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412. Or you can send us an email at letters at gty.org.
That's our email address one more time, letters at gty.org. And be sure to mention the call letters of this radio station any time you get in touch with us. Also, keep in mind that at our website you can download all of John's sermons. That's more than 3600 messages, including those from his current study, Jesus Over All. All of them are available to download free in MP3 and transcript format. And remember, too, the variety of other free resources available at gty.org. If you want to know what the Bible says about doctrines like sovereign election or justification or issues like men's roles and women's roles in the church, you'll find a sermon, a blog article or a devotional that covers that subject and answers your question.
Again, head to our website, gty.org. Now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace To You staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for being here today, and be sure to join us again tomorrow as John shows you how Jesus demonstrated love to those around him and how you can follow his example today. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time, on Grace To You.
