But since Mark, John Mark, was so young … where did he get his information about Bartimaeus?

Here’s an idea.

But let me first say this. The doctrine of the inspiration of the Scriptures, the belief that they are God breathed, written from above, does NOT require an eyewitness for any event. God the Holy Spirit was present that day when Jesus restored Bartimaeus’ vision! He certainly told John Mark what to write, what to say, about this grand miracle. That alone makes this account both accurate … and inherently without error!

Yet often that Same Holy Spirit does use human instrumentality to deliver His Message.

I believe he does so here.

If John Mark did not see this event in person, how does he know such detail?

Perhaps from Simon Peter!

In 1^st Peter 5:13 the Senior Apostle calls young John Mark his “son” in the ministry!  “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.”

No doubt Peter told John Mark about everything he ever saw or heard Jesus do or say!

In fact, I counted the times Peter is mentioned, by name, in Mark’s Gospel.  Five times he is called “Simon,” his Jewish Name, which means “one who hears with his ears.”

Then the special name Jesus gave this disciple, Peter, is mentioned nineteen more times!  This name means "rock or stone."

Total times Simon Peter surfaces … two dozen, quite numerous for a span of only sixteen chapters!

Some fundamental conservative Bible Teachers believe that Mark’s Gospel is really the written testimony of Simon Peter himself. Of course the Book of Mark, inspired of God and perfect in every way, is indeed written by the Lord God Himself. As Paul said in 2nd Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” This certainly includes the New Testament's second Gospel!

But still, Peter's fingerprints are everywhere!

Mark, who gave us this precious eyewitness record of Jesus’ thirty three years on earth, also gives us one more key hint that Peter’s testimony has played a very important part in the composition of this Biography of the Lord.

I am speaking of a literary device called “inclusio.” By definition this means the repeating of identical thoughts or places or words or people at both the beginning and again at the ending of a marked piece of literary work.

Mark uses this technique … with reference to Peter!

Let me show you what I mean.

The first Disciple called to follow Jesus, at least in Mark’s account, is Peter! There he is! Read Mark 1:16-18. “Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.” Here’s the first bracket in the inclusion!

Then again in the last chapter of Mark, chapter sixteen, we encounter Peter for the last time. Jesus had by then been crucified, buried and raised from the dead. The Angel in the tomb, the empty tomb, gave instructions to three godly ladies, believers in Christ, who had come to the graveside. Here’s the account. “And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.” Mark 16:5-7

Peter in the first chapter.

Peter in the last chapter!

Inclusio!

Signifying importance.

And perhaps authority.

And likely eyewitness testimony!

Thank God our Gospels, as all the Bible, are right!

One can absolutely depend upon them, their lovely plan of salvation based upon the Blood of Jesus, for entrance into Heaven!

                                                                                       --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 2:

The Bible clearly portrays Jesus as One Who could work miracles. He did so many times.

The Gospel of Mark records one of the loveliest in chapter ten.

First of all the setting of the event must be described. "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." Mark 10:46

Jericho, which means "a place of fragrance," is a city about 14 miles northeast of Jerusalem. It was geographically much lower than the capital city. Also Jericho was only five miles from the Jordan River. Jesus is passing through the city here in our Text, on His way to Jerusalem where He would die for our sins ... on the Cross of Calvary. He has just been talking, earlier in chapter 10, about being a minister or servant to others. He here, with Bartimaeus, lives what He preaches!

Notice Jesus is not alone as He travels. His "disciples" include no doubt the Twelve. The noun "mathetes" means "learners or pupils or students." But also remember that "a great number of people" accompanied them too. It's "kai ochlos ikanos," meaning "and a considerable crowd, a sufficient crowd!" These flocks of people are on their way to Jerusalem to the Passover Festivities, thousands upon thousands of them would be going as required by the Law of Moses.

As they journeyed up the hill out of Jericho, a man was sitting by the side of the road. A well-built Roman road ... parts of which remain to this day.

"Bartimaeus" means "son," which is "bar" in Hebrew ... son of Timaeus. Mark does not usually give names. Here he does. Timaeus means defiled or unclean! What a name! These names must fit into some kind of a pattern here, a typological pattern!

The man is blind. "Tuphlos" means without sight and is so used all 53 times it appears in the New Testament. It of course can apply to physical blindness or intellectual or for that matter spiritual blindness too.

"Highway" is simply "hodos," a road or path or trail. Here it's a broad highway obviously, with such crowds traversing it day after day. In Bible days a "highway" was literally raised a few inches from the ground. On a higher level than the mere earth. The pavement was indeed elevated!

But lastly, in this opening verse of the paragraph, Bartimaeus is "begging."

Blind men in Scripture often resort to this ... of necessity! "Prosaiteo" combines the verb for "asking, seeking, desiring" which is "aiteo," and "pros" which means "to or toward" or even "facing" someone! By this being a present participle we can deduct that Bartimaeus did this day after day and had done so for a long time!

Well, now we have a blind beggar, a sinner too no doubt ... and an approaching Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ!

What do you think is going to happen?

What happens, or at least has happened millions of times through all of history, when a sinner meets the Son of God?

Salvation!

Praise the Lord!

                                                                               --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 3:

The account of Jesus healing blind Bartimaeus is most fully given in Mark’s Gospel, the shortest of them all!

Surely this suggests that great significance is to be attached to this account.

However, honestly, we must acknowledge that both Matthew and Luke do tell the story of Bartimaeus, leaving him nameless however.

But in Matthew’s rendering of the story, there are two blind men healed! Read Matthew 20:29-34 to picture the whole scene. And Matthew is considered here to be an eyewitness too.

And when Luke describes the miracle, Jesus is entering Jericho, not leaving it!

What do we do with little differences like these, when all are written in Holy Scripture?

First of all, we do not allow them to “shake” our faith in the inspiration and inerrancy of the Word of God! It has no mistakes!

Secondly, we admire the Bible for being so brutally honest. Here is no evidence of an “editor” excising any apparent inconsistencies.

Thirdly, these do not necessarily imply contradictions in the Gospel accounts. They can, upon prayerful thought, be at least theoretically explained.

For example, the two men healed of blindness in Matthew 20 could be a totally different miracle, one not recorded elsewhere by Mark or Luke. But since it is the same place in the narrative ... that last trip to Jerusalem ... and in the same city, Jericho ... it is likely the same event. So, of the two men healed … only one, Bartimaeus is mentioned by Mark, perhaps because he went on to serve the Lord and was well-known to the early Church.

And Luke placing the miracle as Jesus entered the city, while the other writers, Matthew and Mark, both have it at His leaving the city can be perhaps be explained like this. Maybe two miracles occurred in Jericho, both involving the healing of blind men. One at the Jericho’s entrance and the other at its exit!

I do know this.

Jesus taught us in John 10:35 that “The Scripture cannot be broken.”

Also the Psalmist promises us that God’s Word is “pure.” In fact, “purified seven times.” Psalm 12:6

Our faith in God’s Word certainly must remain strong, stronger than anything a faithless critic’s nitpicking can destroy!

“For ever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in Heaven!” So says Psalm 119:89.

Amen!

                                                                              --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 4:

I am trying to prove that our Gospel Accounts of the life of Jesus are not only inspired, perfect, without error, written of God … but also accurate and filled with “local color,” living detail … just as if one had been there when Jesus did or said certain things!

They are built upon eyewitness testimony!

Not hearsay!

Not gossip!

Not myth!

Not fable!

But instead, fact!

They relate to us Truth!

We are using the example of Blind Bartimaeus, his healing at the command of Jesus, as one example.

I suggest that Mark is not only giving us this episode as it was impressed upon him of God the Holy Spirit, but also as he heard it firsthand from one of the Disciples, someone who was present when the miracle occurred! Likely this would have been Simon Peter, John Mark’s apparent mentor!

But today even more so, I believe Mark talked with Bartimaeus himself!

You might be asking, Why?

Because of Mark 10:47. “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 opening verb alone is proof!

He, Bartimaeus, “heard” Jesus’ very words!

From the definition of “akouo,” to give heed to something or to obey it, all the way to the tense, which is aorist, and the precise verbal form, which is a participle, to the case and gender and number … this verb is built not on theory or supposition, but on fact! Only Bartimaeus, unless God the Holy Spirit chose to bypass him … which God can do mind you since God knows everything, is omniscient … only that blind man could have known exactly what he heard, then what he thought, then how he was going to respond!

Now exactly how he heard we do not know.

Maybe a passerby told him.

Maybe he was privy to a nearby conversation about our Lord’s approach.

Maybe the Holy Spirit just started convicting his lost soul.

Luke tells us that he asked someone what was happening. See Luke 18:36-37 for the details.

The verb “cry out” is “krazo” and means to shout out loud! Only someone there would have known his tone and decibel level! No one else would have even tried to describe this aspect of the event! This is not fiction we are describing, it is the inerrant Word of God!

Also “krazo” is here a present infinitive, this loud crying went on for quite some time, apparently until Jesus noticed the poor man!

And the very words, these are a direct quote!

“Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”

Such surety!

“Jesus,” in Greek “Iesous,” means Saviour, Deliverer, One Who rescues!

“Son of David,” using “huios” instead of the similar “teknon,” is also indicative of first source authority. “Huios” means sonship in its sense of dignity and position, precisely what Bartimaeus meant to say here! He is acknowledging the Deity of Christ I believe! If Jesus is indeed the promised Son of David, He is necessarily then the coming Messiah … and therefore, as attested by His miraculous Virgin Birth, God’s Very Son too! By the way, “teknon” would have been accurate of Jesus too. That is, a genuine son who bears the likeness of his father! It’s just that apparently Bartimaeus said and the Holy Spirit precisely recorded the particular vocabulary word that was used that memorable day.

This again sounds like an eyewitness!

To “have mercy” translates “eleeo” and means to have compassion or pity on one in his dire circumstances, his bleak situation! Mercy in the New Testament often addresses the misery one is suffering! While Grace concerns that person’s guilt! The intensity of the request is shown by the imperative nature of the verb! Again, only Bartimaeus could have known this for sure.

And get this. It is precious. He did not have to keep on again and again begging for Mercy!  This verb is an aorist, indicating finished or completed action! Mercy sought … mercy granted! An old sinner does not have to seek God’s mercy very long … our Heavenly Father, like the Prodigal’s Daddy, is eager and willing to extend His lovingkindness!

When the publican at the Temple, also back in Luke 18, asked God for mercy … “God be merciful to me a sinner” … he was saved on the spot! He “went home justified!” That verb “be merciful,” however is “hilaskomai” and means God “mercy seat” me! Mercy Seat, that’s where the Blood was sprinkled in Bible days! To be “mercy-seated” is to be saved, born again for sure!

Likely Bartimaeus’ plea for mercy will be accepted as well!

And, as we all have read ahead, Jesus indeed answers!

Praise the Lord!

                                                                                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 5:

The Lord Jesus healed several blind men during His short earthly Ministry.

One of these involved a man by the name of Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus. This miracle happened in Jericho.

The Bible account, while no doubt inspired by the Holy Spirit and absolutely  without error, is obviously written with the help of an eyewitness, someone “on the scene” as the event transpired.

The blind man was "sitting."

Precisely by the "highway."

His very words and even the inflection of his voice in saying those words are clearly given!

His sheer determination is also related!

The fact that Bartimaeus cast his outer garment aside as he went to Jesus is an example of what authors call “local color” and could only have come from a vibrant eyewitness.

Direct quotes, word for word, are consistently given!

The promptness of the miracle, its very immediacy!

Who would know these things better than someone there … maybe even Bartimaeus himself!

The Gospels seem to have buttressed themselves with such powerful eyewitness armament. The Gospel of Luke plainly claims such for itself.

Look at its opening paragraph. “Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.”  Luke 1:1-4

Luke just tells us right up front that his sources are just that, eyewitnesses. “Autoptes” means seeing or viewing for oneself! “Autos” is self and “optanomai” is ”to gaze” upon something!

For Luke “eyewitness” testimony settles an issue!

It also satisfies in our Courts of Law!

The Old Testament recognizes the power of such witness in places like Deuteronomy 19:15. “At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.”

Even the attitudes of the healed blind men are apparent in Mark 10:48. “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.”

Traveling along with Jesus, or at least in His company, were crowds of people. Throngs were going to Jerusalem in preparation for the approaching Passover. The Twelve Disciples accompanied Him even more closely, by His side.

These people “charged” Bartimaeus to be quiet. The verb here is spelled “epitameo” and literally means “to place value upon or to prize something or to honor it!” Here the verb is used to indicate that NO HONOR was placed on Bartimaeus at all! He was worthless to the people!

But not to Jesus!

Praise the Lord!

Remember that “cried,” in Greek “krazo,” means to yell out loud!

Adverbially the blind man is screaming “the more a great deal!” In Greek that’s “mallon polus,” two words with basically the same meaning. Here is grammatical “piling on!” Mark pours one term after another into the mix, just to reveal to his readers that Bartimaeus was going wild! This was his opportunity! Noise will help him attract Jesus’ attention! Violently if necessary he will gain a hearing! I wonder if this is part of what Jesus meant when He taught us “the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force!” Matthew 11:12

Amazing!

Next, still according to verse 48, the same prayer is prayed again!

“Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”

Remember that Jesus prayed the same thing three times in Gethsemane. And Paul repeated thrice his prayer about the removal of his “thorn in the flesh.” Repetition in prayer is not forbidden, vain repetition is!

I have a theory, based upon Scripture.

A man or woman does not have to beg for mercy very long, if he's doing so in sincerity and brokenness, before God in Heaven hears and answers his or her plea!

Psalm 147:11 promises us that “The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His Mercy.”

In the next verse we shall see if Jesus helps!

But remember This is the very Same  Jesus Who clearly said “He that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out!” John 6:37

Amen!

                                                                                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 6:

Let’s study a verse of Scripture.

We shall use the next “slice” in our current Text, Mark 10:46-52, the account of Jesus healing a blind man.

We could almost for our purposes choose any verse in this context.

Examining it for eyewitness testimony, we must look word for word at its beauty. Every one of the Bible’s 31,102 verses is lovely in many ways.

Verse 49 reads: “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.”

Just any narrator could not have told us that Jesus “stood still” to heal Bartimaeus. He could just as easily have done so as He walked or knelt praying. In fact, He performed one miracle without even being on the scene, many miles away!

But an eyewitness, either Bartimaeus himself or perhaps Peter the Disciple, related to Mark, John Mark, the human writer of this Gospel, this precise information.

Jesus “stood still” translates “histemi,” a single Greek word meaning to be “set” or to “stand by or stand still” or even be “established.” It’s an aorist verb, indicating the action did not take long. Rather, it was soon finished, then Jesus continuing His journey to Jerusalem.

An eyewitness would have been needed to write the next word too! Jesus “commanded” his Disciples to call the man to His side. The exact verb used here by the Holy Spirit, “epo,” means something spoken or stated, but always in the past tense as we would call it. Of the 977 times our word here occurs in the Bible, 859 times it is rendered as “say” and 57 more times as “speak.” Then why does our Bible say that Jesus commanded something done? The Holy Spirit, Who also is An Eyewitness to this event, makes the word into a command! He was there. He is the Interpreter of Jesus in Scripture. And He is always right! Of 16 different Bible “versions” I checked, 11 of them here changed the word “commanded” to something else, usually just “said.” That little difference voids the impact of the eyewitness element here. I’m sticking with the dear old King James Version myself!

Here now is a man being “called” to the side of Jesus, called on the command of Jesus! I remember the day I was called too, don’t you, dear Christian friend?

So the blind man was summoned. And that’s one of the legitimate meanings of the word, “kaleo.”

“Blind” is “tuphlos” in Greek and means without sight. That was certainly true of Bartimaeus physically, but I am here to tell you that the man could see quite well spiritually. He could see some things, even before Jesus healed him. He could spiritually see better than Pilate, better than Herod, better than the Pharisees! He may have still seen men "as trees walking," but at least he saw that the Saviour was passing close to his side!

Then some eyewitness related to Mark the exact words the messengers used, “Be of good comfort.” An unconcerned or more careless writer might have reported that merely a vague invitation was given.

This four word exhortation is really a command! An imperative mood verb, “tharseo,” is used. “Thrasos," its root, means bold or daring or courageous! Its equivalent, "fear not!" Even the old English term “comfort” historically carries that meaning, based on its Latin background. “Fortis” means courage, fortitude! “Com,” the prefix, means “with.” Be of good comfort … be bold and brave! Here’s both an eyewitness and an earwitness, if I can coin that word!

“Rise,” the precise and perhaps even logically unnecessary word of instruction, is included … again because someone was listening that day! “Egeiro” means “raise up” and is an imperative. Bartimaeus had theretofore had little reason to get up for anything. But now, Jesus has come!

Then, for the third time in one verse, redundant to the journalism professor or the grammar teacher, but necessary to the eyewitness … “kaleo” is used. He “calleth” thee!

I am through with that bunch of Bible denying liberals who say the Scriptures were written a hundred years after Jesus by men who never had any personal contact with the Lord or any of His direct followers!

No Sir!

We have many living eyewitness records of people who saw and heard and touched Jesus again and again!

Remember what John wrote in the introductory paragraph of his little Epistle. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us; that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” 1^st John 1:1-4

Do notice the words I have capitalized!

                                                                                      --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 7:

“And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.” What a lovely verse of Scripture this is, Mark 10:50.

This miracle sure has taught me to appreciate the eyewitness aspect of the Gospel stories!

A blind man, Bartimaeus by name, called repeatedly for Jesus as the Saviour passed by Jericho one day.

Our Lord heard and stopped and called for the beggar.

Then Mark records, as if he were there when if fact he was probably then only six or seven years old, “And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.”

This eyewitness testimony is vital to the account.

All the Gospels use such information to validate their findings. Of course Matthew and John were Disciples themselves and would have been present ex officio. And Luke carefully tells us in his first chapter that he took great pains to gather eyewitness testimony from the earliest of the Believers in Christ.

So obviously did Mark.

“Casting away” is “apoballo” and just means to throw aside something. “Ballo,” the source of our English word ball, unsurprisingly means “to throw!” This act alone indicates the great faith that Bartimaeus already had! He discarded his outer coat! He that night would not be there begging! He was going somewhere warm and safe! He would no longer need that tattered and worn and likely filthy garment! Jesus was there!

The aorist participle quality of “apoballo” means that the bind man was through with his old life and ready for a new one, “in Christ!”

“Garment” is represented in the Text by “himation,” used 61 times in the Word of God. It means the outer or upper raiment, a robe or vesture or cloak. This man is going to be robed in more ways than one! If he gets saved, a robe of righteousness is his. If he gets healed ... a new job, some cash and a whole new wardrobe! A fresh clean one!

Bartimaeus “rose,” or “stood up” as “anistemi” means. This word is akin to “anastasis,” the Bible noun for resurrection!

Bartimaeus’ coming salvation, just a few seconds away now, is made possible by Jesus’ Death, Burial and Resurrection! “Because HE lives, we shall live also.” John 14:19

But here’s the greatest matter of all. The blind man CAME TO JESUS! “Erchomai” means to come or go, with this context leaving no choice at all.

I remember when I came to Jesus!

Do you?

Even the little preposition “to” bears a load of significance. “Pros” means “face-to-face” closeness!

And remember what Jesus promised. “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37

What a scene!

Peter saw it!

Matthew saw it!

A bind old sinner man, dirty and hungry, facing Jesus with all the expectancy his soul can offer!

What happened next?

One does not even have to ask!

Jesus healed him ... and saved him too!

Praise the Lord!

                                                                           --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 8:

We have been talking about the “eyewitness” aspect of Mark’s Gospel. He has definitely talked with some people who were there, present when Jesus preached and taught and wrought all His wonderful works.

Each Gospel, there are four in the Word of God, brings such accuracy and accountability to the New Testament.

Matthew the former Tax Collector was saved and called to be one of the Lord’s Disciples. He thereafter accompanied Jesus wherever the Saviour went. Therefore he himself was an eyewitness to most of what he wrote.

John the Apostle would also fit into the same category as Matthew, except he saw even more of the Lord’s works firsthand, the Transfiguration and the Gethsemane events specifically.

Luke, while not an eyewitness himself, was certainly as were all the Gospel writers inspired of the Holy Ghost. That makes everything he wrote perfect, without error! But even he, physician as he was, took careful notes and based his material on carefully documented eyewitness records! For verification see Luke 1:2.

Then we come to Mark’s Gospel, the very reading of which insists upon eyewitness evidence! Someone who was there and heard and saw and sensed the whole event related to Mark the account of Bartimaeus’ healing, including some specifics!

No doubt!

“And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.” Mark 10:51 says.

The Lord occasionally gives a man or woman a “blank check” so to speak.

For example, Solomon could have had anything he wanted! Prudently, he asked for Wisdom! Read with me 1st Kings 3:5. “In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.” Here was his answer: “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?”

 The same opportunity was afforded Bartimaeus. Again, “Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?”

 The verb “do” tranalates “poieo” and suggest a beautiful deed, literally a poetic act, something lovely and graceful! All Jesus did was such! Peter said “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good ….” Amen!

The verb “said,” a form of “lego,” is in the aorist “tense,” completed action being depicted. Bartimaeus only had to ask this once … and it was done by the Lord!

“Lord,” the vocative used here, is “rabboni” in Greek. It is Arabic and means “rabbi, teacher or master.” It is also a term of respect, though falling short of Divinity. Jesus is not only Rabbi, He is God, a fact Bartimaeus is soon to realize fully!

 The whole clause “that I might receive my sight” is a translation of one Greek word. “Anablepo” means simply “to see” (“blepo”) again (“ana”), to see again!

 Did you get that?

 Grammatically Bartimaeus just told us that once he could see! Maybe years ago! His sight had been lost; an accident, a disease, a fight? We just do not know how. But he longs to have it restored!

 The verb is in the subjunctive mood. The blind man is expressing a desire, a strong one, a yearning deep within his heart!

 Request made!

 Answer on the way!

 That’s the way it was … and still is … with Jesus!

 He promised: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” Matthew 7:7

 Tomorrow, Lord willing, we shall see Jesus’ response!

 He honored Bartimaeus’ faith!

                                                                                --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 9:

The Lord can heal in so many ways!

Gradually, as when the blind man whom Jesus touched first saw “men as trees walking.” Then later, men became fully and clearly visible! See Mark 8:24.

He also could heal from a distance. In John 4 Jesus, while in Cana of Galilee, healed a certain man’s son who was sick in Capernaum, many miles away!

Jesus could heal via His spittle!

His touch.

His powerful Word!

But in Mark 10:52 another adverb is used to describe the Lord’s omnipotent ability.

“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.”

“Hupoago,” the first verb in our verse, is translated “go thy way” seventeen times in the King James Bible. Fifty-five more times it is just “go.” If the context demands so, it can be rendered “go away” and “depart” and even “get thee hence” too. Literally it means “to go under” or “to lead under.” Bartimaeus ultimately will not be accompanying Jesus daily. He will return to his home and be a witness there, a witness to the power and glory of our Lord!

To be "made whole" translates “sozo,” the salvation verb of the New Testament! While some will argue with this, Jesus literally told Bartimaeus “be saved!” It is true that “sozo” in Scripture can refer just to physical deliverance, but here, being associated with “faith,” surely more is implied!

I believe Bartimaeus that day received two kinds of sight!

Physical and spiritual!

Faith, or “pistis,” means belief! "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ , and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31

To receive one’s sight,” anablepo” in Greek, might indicate that the blind man once could see. He then would have been getting his sight again! “Ana” can and does often mean “again.”

Then again, “ana” can mean “above.” Jesus could be saying “look up,” Bartimaeus, to the One Who really healed you! This is of God! And, as you know, Jesus is God!

But the word I’m most aiming for today is “immediately!” Jesus performed many of His miracles that way. Most of them in fact. This adverb is spelled “eutheos” and means “at once, forthwith, straightway.” I quickly counted 40 times that the Gospel of Mark employs this term! It is one of his favorite words!

One second he was blind … the next second, perfect vision!

Then, watch Bartimaeus’ first response to Jesus’ marvelous Grace.

He “followed” Jesus. “Akoleutheo” is fused from “keleuthos” meaning a “road” and “a” as a particle of union. Joining One who is in the roadway! Following Jesus!

The last noun, “way” translates another synonym, “hodos,” and means literally a “road” and figuratively a “journey.”

Old things had passed away!

All things had become new!

Salvation came to more houses than just Zacchaeus’ when Jesus walked this earth!

Praise the Lord!

                                            --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 10, CONCLUSION:

We have been studying the “eyewitness” element in the Gospel accounts of Jesus, His Life and Works. Of course this includes His Death, Burial, Resurrection, Ascension to Heaven, and promised Return some sweet day.

Mark, the shortest of the Gospels and one of the earliest, reveals this very clearly. But so do the other three.

Let’s notice John for a minute or two. He does not include the account we have just finished examining, that of the healing of blind Bartimaeus.

But the fourth Gospel, in many ways the best known, is nonetheless loaded with many other “eyewitness” recordings.

It even contains a literary device, a double “inclusio”, that surely reveals to the discerning heart … and eye … a clear indicator of its eyewitness nature.

Like Mark, John in His account of Jesus often refers to Peter. Twelve times as “Peter,” that name alone, just “Peter.” Four more times as “Simon,” again all alone. Then additionally another seventeen times as "Simon Peter," the twofold name.

No doubt Peter was an eyewitness to the things of Christ. He even claims such in His Epistles, specifically naming himself an “eyewitness of Jesus’ majesty” in 2nd Peter 1:16.

John the Apostle, as he crafts His Gospel, carefully and obediently following the nudges of God the Holy Spirit, word for word writes miraculously and inerrantly.

He significantly mentions this key eyewitness, Peter, in his opening chapter, then again in chapter 21, the last chapter of the Book. Again, that’s called an “inclusio,” when a writer “brackets” all his information between an opening and closing “common” word or theme.

Watch now. John 1:40-42. mentions Peter or Simon. “One of the two which heard John (the Baptist) speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.”

 Then in chapter 21 Peter is recommissioned after His threefold denial of the Lord. Verse 17 is typical: “He (Jesus) saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”

Peter thus has been critically positioned as one who gives credence and accuracy to the Gospel of John. He is one of the witnesses!

But then John does something more, something surprising for his character I believe.

He seems to mention himself just before Peter in chapter 1 and just after Peter in chapter 21, thus forming a double inclusio, a compound set of brackets or parentheses or bookends.

 Early in John 1 we read of John the Baptist identifying Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah! “Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.” One of those two was Andrew. We now know the other was John himself!

 Then in chapter 21 after Peter is out of the spotlight, “Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.” John 21:20-24

 Enter John again!

 A secondary witness to the facts presented in the fourth Gospel, John I mean, is no doubt Peter.

 But the primary source, the human author, is John himself. And he leaves us a "not too subtle" clue to that truth with his own pen.

 Yes, John! Still quiet and reserved and nearly shy in some ways, yet equally as clearly including himself as an “eyewitness” to the things of Christ Jesus.

 Do not misunderstand me. Had there been no witness whatsoever, the Holy Spirit still could have and would have written His Own Gospel, completely independent of human aid whatsoever. After all, God is omnipotent!

 But He chose men to help!

 John here in particular!

 Oh, you no doubt noticed that John is not named in either of the Texts I cited. That’s his way of writing! But terms like “the Disciple whom Jesus loved” locks him in with certainty! Or the fact of his being first a Disciple of John the Baptist … until the Messiah came!

 John saw Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the feeding of the thousands, the woman taken in adultery, the man born blind, the raising of Lazarus, and so much more! John heard the sermons! John walked by Jesus’ side for three years, even observing His Death on the Cross!

 How very reliable is our Gospel Message!

 Eyewitness testimony, inspired of God!

                                                                                     --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

WE TRUST AND PRAY THAT THESE TEN LESSONS HAVE BEEN HELPFUL IN BETTER UNDERSTANDING THE LOVELY MIRACLE NOW CALLED "THE HEALING OF BLIND BARTIMAEUS." WHAT A BLESSING THIS TEXT, MARK 10:46-52, HAS BEEN!