As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed. And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, “It was never seen like this in Israel!” But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.” (Matthew 9:32-34)

Two Views Of Jesus

The miracles of Jesus were not charlatan exhibitions of sleight of hand or trickery. Men like Simon the sorcerer would later amaze the people with his supposed powers and the crowds believing he possessed some gift from God. Jesus defied all the tricksters of His day. His miracles were astonishing, demonstrative, undeniable, and of such a nature no man can deny. The harshest critics of Jesus never denied His miracles; they only denied the source of His miracles. Thousands of people were healed of paralysis, blindness, blood disease, infirmities, demon-possession, fevers, and some raised from the dead.

Following the healing of two blind men, a demon-possessed man who couldn’t speak was brought to Jesus. Moved with compassion, Jesus cast out the demon and the man’s tongue was loosed. Healing a known mute who suffered from a demon was a powerful testimony that Jesus of Nazareth was not an ordinary man. No man had the power to immediately cause a mute to speak or to cast out a demon from a man. Jesus demonstrated unmistakably He was the Son of God.

As the crowds watched Jesus heal the mute, two separate opinions arose from what they saw. The crowds were amazed. They saw the man from Nazareth do what no other man had done or could do. Healing the mute was not a magician’s trick. Clearly, Jesus healed the man of an impossible disease. The multitudes marveled at the ease and power of Jesus to cast out a demon and make a mute speak. Their reaction was to claim that such a thing had never been seen in Israel. The people were correct in their observation. A second view of the same incident was heralded by the Pharisees as nothing more than healing by the prince of the demons. The Pharisees saw the same mute man possessed of a demon – healed and speaking and yet they could only conclude the ‘healing’ was done by the forces of evil. The people and the Jewish leaders saw the same miracle and came away with two different views.

The hard-hearted Pharisees saw the power of God in ways no modern man has witnessed and still denied Jesus. A failed philosophy of men suggests if Jesus were here today, the world would accept Him as the Son of God. In fact, what happened to Jesus two thousand years ago would happen today. If Jesus stood in the middle of Times Square and raised a man from the dead or healed a crowd of sick people of various diseases; most would accuse Him of trickery, dishonesty, and deception. They would heckle Him and run him out of town. Only a few honest hearts would see something never seen before and recognize the power of God.

What Jesus did with the mute and demon-possessed man pales in comparison to the miracle that happens every day. No one is raised from the dead or receives the healing power of the divine hand. Miracles of healing do not occur today as found in the First Century. No man has the power to raise the dead, heal the sick, cause the blind to see, or make the lame walk. Those who claim such powers are liars and frauds. The greatest miracle that declares Jesus Christ the Son of God is the Bible.

God never intended to keep men on earth to perform miracles. All those who were raised from the dead died again. The mute and demon-possessed man died, as did all those healed of diseases. Jesus came to bring the Word to heal the most serious malady man has – sin. The Bible is the greatest miracle of God that heals the greatest need of men. Blind men are healed of sin by the power of the word. People with cancer can find hope in the healing power of God’s grace. No disease can destroy a man who possesses the word of God. The Bible is the greatest miracle that heals the greatest disease by the greatest sacrifice through the love of the greatest Son ever known.

There are two views of the Bible: the honest heart recognizes the word of God as something never seen or heard in the wisdom of men. The majority of people view the word of God as a book of demonic origin because they reject it as a myth or fairy tale. Jesus is still dismissed as nothing more than a good man but not divine. How the Pharisees saw the miracle did not change the fact the man who was healed knew the power of God. It does not matter how the world views the Bible to those who know the power of the word. What the world does not realize is their view of the Bible will be brought to light at the judgment seat of Christ. It is then the view of all men will be that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God – the Word.