Christ has no sooner cured the two blind men, than He meets with a dumb and demon-possessed man whom some believers brought to Him. It is most probable that this man’s dumbness was because he searched for help by contacting spirits and sorcerers.
See how unwearied Christ was in doing good. How closely one good work followed another! Treasures of mercy, wondrous mercy, are hid in Him, which are continually communicated, but can never be exhausted.
This man was under the power of the devil, so that he was unable to speak. See the calamitous state of this world, and how various the afflictions of the afflicted are! Christ has no sooner dismissed two blind men, but He met with a dumb man. How thankful should we be to God for our sight and speech! See the malice of Satan against mankind, and in how many ways He initiates it. When the devil gets possession of a soul, it becomes silent to any thing that is good.
This poor creature they brought to Christ, who received not only those that came themselves in their own faith, but those that were brought to Him by friends whom had faith for them.
When a believer or a church accepts the spirit of the age, liberal theology, or the boastful worldly ideas, the testimony for the Savior will come to an end. When we read newspapers, modern books and philosophical opinions more than we ponder the Word of God, we should not be surprised if these spirits can occupy our thoughts. The Spirit of Christ desires to be the focus of our hearts through our pondering of His words. That is why you should discern the spirits and to be on your guard. Submitting to any spirit other than the Spirit of Christ will destroy your love for Jesus.
The faithful petition of the believers who brought the dumb demoniac moved Christ’s heart towards him. So he cast out the evil spirit from him and loosened the hindrance of his tongue. When persistent prayer for your church begins, Christ will loosen the tongues of the people of your church and society. He drives out the modern spirit, pride and self-conceit, that they will testify of the salvation of Jesus with clarity and exemplary behavior. Cleave to Jesus and never leave Him, that He may heal many dumb people in our days and make them holy witnesses of Christ’s redemption.
Some guess that a dumb person is like an animal, but this is wrong. He is, like every one of us, invited into the salvation in Christ. In Christ, there is no difference between this and that. They are all equal. Therefore, we should look after them and respect them just as Christ looked at them and loved them most sincerely.
Do not be astonished at the contradicting result of what Christ has done. The harmless praised Christ for He purified the believers and manifested His power in them. But the teachers of society and theology became angry, for, without them, many people experienced revival and help that was not in conformity with their traditional teaching. They became angry and claimed that Jesus would be the head of the demons. Thus, those hateful and spiteful scribes lost their spiritual sight for the miracles.
The objector said that Chapter 9 according to Matthew included the story of the dumb demoniac, and Chapter 10 explained the empowering of the disciples to cast out demons and to cure the sick, also sending them out to do other miracles. Then the transfiguration is mentioned only in Chapter 17. Luke, however, brings the empowering of the disciples execute miracles in Chapter 9, then the transfiguration, and in Chapter 10 and the first part of Chapter 11 he mentions other miracles. After this he testifies to the miracle of the dumb demoniac. When we compare between the two gospels, we do not find the same succession of events.
We reply that one of the evangelists observed specially the miracles that Christ did for the Jews. He mentioned them first and delayed the instructional sayings, as Matthew did. The other evangelist records the teachings and the divine speeches before the miracles. Irrespective of that, Christ wrought many miracles before and after His transfiguration and cast out many more demons than that of the dumb man. You cannot find all the miracles of Christ in each gospel, for that would require too many books.