Luke 18:18-43:  “         Jesus Meets The Rich Young Ruler / Jesus Again Predicts His Death / The Healing Of Blind Bartimaeus”

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1.     INTRO:

 

1.1.         In our last study, we looked at verses 1-17 of chapter 18.

 

1.1.1.        We saw that Jesus taught about the importance of persevering in prayer as He taught the parable of the Importunate Widow And The Unrighteous Judge.

 

1.1.2.        Jesus taught about a Pharisee and a tax gatherer who both went up to the temple to pray, however it was the tax gatherer’s prayer that was heard and who had his sins pardoned for he was humble and contrite in heart and seeking God’s mercy.

 

1.1.3.        Jesus’ disciples were rebuked by Him for disallowing some people from bringing their children to Him.

 

1.2.         In our study today, we are going to look at verses 18-43 of chapter 18.

 

1.2.1.        We will see that Jesus meets a rich young ruler who asks him what good thing that he might be able to do to ensure that he will have eternal life.

 

1.2.2.        Jesus yet again will predict His rejection, humiliation, suffering, death, and resurrection to His disciples.

 

1.2.3.        Jesus heals a man beside the road who is blind and calls out to Him for mercy.

 

2.     VS 18:18-27  - “18 A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 “You know the commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ” 21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 23 But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 And Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! 25 “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 But He said, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.”” -  A rich young ruler comes to Jesus asking what he might be able to do in order to inherit eternal life

 

2.1.         Here in this story we see that there was a ruler, and Matt. 19:20 tells us that he was a “young man.”  Since the Sanhedrin could not be occupied by those who were young, this man was probably some sort of an influential civic leader in Israel.

 

2.2.         This man’s question was a good one, and it dealt with the afterlife.  The man wants to know if there is any good work that he might be able to perform to guarantee that in the final resurrection that he would be in God’s kingdom.  In essence, this man wants to know how to be saved and gain eternal life.

 

2.3.         Mark 10:17 tells us that the man knelt when he asked the question. 

 

2.4.         The man addresses Jesus in an interesting way calling Him, ‘Good teacher.’  We wonder if by posing this question in this way that the young man is trying to flatter or butter up to Jesus.  However, what is even more intriguing is Jesus’ reply to the man, for He tells the man, ‘Why do you call Me good?  No one is good except God alone.’  What did Jesus mean by this?

 

2.4.1.        First of all, lets look at what Jesus is NOT saying in this statement:

 

2.4.1.1.         That He (Jesus) is really not ‘good.’

 

2.4.1.1.1.        There are numerous passages in the scriptures which teach that Jesus never sinned and that He was completely holy and ‘good,’ including:

 

2.4.1.1.1.1.         2 Corinthians 5:21, “21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

 

2.4.1.1.1.2.         Acts 3:14, “14 “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.” 

 

2.4.1.1.1.3.         Hebrews 4:15, “15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” 

 

2.4.1.1.1.4.         Hebrews 7:26, “26 For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens.” 

 

2.4.1.1.1.5.         1 Peter 2:22, “22 who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth.”

 

2.4.1.2.         That He is really not ‘God.’

 

2.4.1.2.1.        Again, there are numerous passages in the scriptures that tell us that Jesus was in fact God from all eternity before coming to this earth and being miraculously conceived in the virgin Mary, including:

 

2.4.1.2.1.1.         John 5:17-18, “17 But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.” 18 For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” 

 

2.4.1.2.1.2.         Hebrews 1:8, “8 But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.” 

 

2.4.1.2.1.3.         Titus 2:13, “13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” 

 

2.4.1.2.1.4.         2 Peter 1:1, “1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. “

 

2.4.2.        Here are some possible reasons that Jesus may have said this to the rich young ruler when the man called Him, ‘Good teacher’ :

 

2.4.2.1.         Because the man was self-righteous and blind to his own sins to the point we will see that he states that he has kept all of God’s commandments all of his life.  

 

2.4.2.1.1.        We know that no man is able to keep all of God’s commandments no matter how hard he tries, and even if he keeps them on the external he still will lust after that which is wrong and break them.  The point of God’s giving us of His law was to show us that we were unable to keep the law and thus needed His mercy and grace in order to be saved.

 

2.4.2.2.         To deflect the man’s flattery and get him to concentrate upon himself and where his heart was truly at.

 

2.4.2.3.         Jesus attempts to shock the man to cause him to think realistically about his own life.  The man has called Jesus a ‘good teacher’ and if he really believes Jesus is good then he should take Jesus’ advice that He is going to give, while realizing that only God is good.

 

2.4.2.4.         Jesus tells the man that if he truly thinks that Jesus is good, and only God is good, then the man must also agree that Jesus must be God.

 

2.5.         Since no one can keep God’s commandments and thus the New Testament tells us that the Law of Moses is our tutor to lead us to Christ, Jesus points this rich young ruler to the commandments in order that he might realize that he is a sinner and breaking God’s commandments, and thus, if he shall be saved it can only come about because of God’s mercy and grace.  In pointing this man to the Law of Moses, Jesus quotes several of the Ten Commandments.  Interestingly, Jesus mentions to this man only commandments which deal with how we treat others, ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’  Jesus’ use of these commandments is fitting however because how a person treats others is a direct barometer of how much he loves and serves the Lord.

 

2.6.         Incredibly this rich young ruler is so blind to his own actions that he tells Jesus that he has kept all of those commandments from his youth up?!  Such blindness and darkness as this is hard to fathom. 

 

2.6.1.  I am amazed though when I have done marriage counseling how blind people often are in relation to their own life.  In counseling, it has happened over and over that one or both spouses see all of the faults of the other spouse and yet none of their own, or they minimize and rationalize their own faults to such a degree that it is as if they are faultless.

 

2.7.         A person has to realize his own sin and inability to keep God’s laws before he can recognize his need for a Savior in Jesus.  In this young man’s life, Jesus knew that there was an issue that was really at the heart of him, something that was bringing about his blindness and hardness of heart toward the Lord.  This man loved riches more than he loved the Lord.  This is the reason that Jesus tells the man that there was one thing that he lacked and that he needed to go and to sell all of his possessions, distribute them to the poor, and then he would have eternal life and could come and be a follower of Jesus.

 

2.8.         Jesus did not require of everyone who followed him that they give up all of their own possessions in order to come to salvation.  Yet again, we will see this truth clearly in the life of Zaccheus when in our next study he will come to Jesus for salvation yet not be required to give away all his possessions.

 

2.9.         Mark 10:21 tells us that as Jesus was looking at the young man that “He felt a love for him” and then He told the young man that he lacked one thing and that he must go and give all of his possessions to the poor that as.

 

2.10.      Unfortunately, the rich young ruler was not willing to turn over his wealth to the Lord in order to inherit eternal life and thus we read that, ‘he became very sad.’   Matt. 19:22 tells us that the man walked away grieving.  The reason why this rich young ruler wouldn’t give all of his possessions away in order to be saved is given here, it says that, ‘he was extremely rich.’

 

2.11.    Jesus now begins to tell His disciples about how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  He tells them that, ‘it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’  There have been a couple of different things that commentators have speculated that Jesus may have been referring to in this statement, however those notions don’t really fit the facts.   For instance, some have said that there was a gate called “The Needle” in Jerusalem and that if a camel wanted to go through the gate that it would have to get down on its knees and crawl through, however the existence of this gate has never been proven.  The most likely interpretation of this statement is to take it literally.  The camel was the largest land animal in Israel and the eye of a needle is very small.  Without divine intervention there would be no possible way that a camel could go through the eye of a needle.  In the same way, without divine intervention there is just no way that a rich person is going to humble himself/herself, turn over control of his/her life to Jesus, and believe upon Jesus and His work upon the cross alone for salvation.

 

2.12.    Riches were coveted by virtually everyone in Israel in Jesus’ day and thus we see that at Jesus’ explanation about how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God that Jesus’ disciples ask, ‘Then who can be saved?’

 

2.13.    Jesus responds to His disciples here that in fact rich men can come to be saved for the things that are impossible for man to do are possible for God.  In the scriptures there were several rich men who were God’s people and served Him with all of their hearts, including:  Abraham, David, Hezekiah, Jehoshaphat, Josiah, Job, and Daniel.  God must draw any person (not only the rich) to Himself if they are to be saved!

 

2.14.    We do not know if the rich young ruler ever came to know Christ as his Lord and Savior for we never hear of him again after this incident.

 

3.     VS 18:28-30  - “28 Peter said, “Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You.” 29 And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life.”” -  Jesus tells Peter and the rest of his disciples that whatever we may give up in this life for following Jesus we will receive many times as much of in this life, plus eternal life in the age to come

 

3.1.         After Jesus tells His disciples that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, then explains that it is possible for God to bring a rich person to salvation, Peter speaks for all the disciples as He tells the Lord that he and the rest of the twelve have left their own homes (and all possessions) in order to follow Jesus.

 

3.2.         Jesus now proceeds to respond to Peter and the twelve by telling them that whatever a person gives up or leaves in this life in order to follow Jesus that he/she will receive by many times more here in this present life, plus that person shall also inherit eternal life.

 

3.3.         In Mark 10:29-30, Jesus teaches that whatever a person loses as a result of following Him that he shall receive “a hundred times” as much in this life.

 

3.4.         This saying of Jesus must be spiritualized to some extent and thus it most probably refers to the spiritual blessings that a person receives as a result of following Jesus in this life.  This promise has been realized over and over again by God’s people throughout the ages.  When a person begins to follow Jesus the Lord so enriches his life that it is like he had never really started to live until he found Jesus and began to follow Him.

 

3.4.1.         Isn’t it wonderful to know that when we look at life with the eyes of faith in God and His word that we will know that will really never lose out on anything that this world has to offer us because of following Jesus.  We can know that anything that the world can tempt us with is merely something that the Lord will give us in return a hundred fold if we will just commit ourselves completely to Him and flee the temptation.

 

3.5.         Sadly, if only the rich young ruler could have understood this truth he would have gladly given every last cent he had to the poor and followed Jesus, for God would have more than compensated him for all that he gave up for Jesus.

 

4.     VS 18:31-34  - “31 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. 32 “For He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, 33 and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again.” 34 But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said.” -  Jesus takes the twelve aside and yet again tells them of His impending death, and that He will be mocked, mistreated, spit upon, scourged, and killed, but, that He will rise again on the 3rd day

 

4.1.         Jesus yet again predicts for His disciples the fact that He is soon to be killed by the religious authorities in Israel but that on the third He will rise again.  Because Jesus repeated this saying over and over again for His disciples we see its importance to Him.  In fact, Jesus repeating this so many times for His disciples indicates to us the fact that what was most central to Jesus coming to the earth in the first place was His death upon Calvary’s cross for the sins of mankind.

 

4.2.         Jesus tells His disciples here that the things that He was predicting concerning His rejection, suffering, shame, crucifixion, and resurrection are those ‘which are written.’  In other words, Jesus is referring to the fact that the Old Testament scriptures predicted that the Messiah would experience all of these things.  There are several Old Testament scriptures which prophesy that these things would happen to Jesus, including:

 

4.2.1.           Psalm 22, “1 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. 2 O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest. 3 Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel. 4 In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You delivered them. 5 To You they cried out and were delivered; In You they trusted and were not disappointed. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people. 7 All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, 8 “Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.” 9 Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts. 10 Upon You I was cast from birth; You have been my God from my mother’s womb. 11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near; For there is none to help. 12 Many bulls have surrounded me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. 13 They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening and a roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; 18 They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots. 19 But You, O Lord, be not far off; O You my help, hasten to my assistance. 20 Deliver my soul from the sword, My only life from the power of the dog. 21 Save me from the lion’s mouth; From the horns of the wild oxen You answer me. 22 I will tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. 23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him; All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel. 24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He heard. 25 From You comes my praise in the great assembly; I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him. 26 The afflicted will eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations will worship before You. 28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s And He rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship, All those who go down to the dust will bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep his soul alive. 30 Posterity will serve Him; It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation. 31 They will come and will declare His righteousness To a people who will be born, that He has performed it.” 

 

4.2.2.           Isaiah 52:13-53:12, “13 Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. 14 Just as many were astonished at you, My people, So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men. 15 Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand. 1 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.” 

4.2.3.           Daniel 9:26, “26 “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.”

 

4.2.4.           As we continue in this gospel we will see that the gospel accounts verify that all of these details prophesied by Jesus about the day of His own crucifixion did occur just as He said that they would.

 

4.3.         Notice here that we are told that Jesus’ disciples did not understand anything that He was saying as He foretold His impending suffering, humiliation, death, and resurrection.  It would take the Lord opening their comprehension in order for Jesus’ disciples to understand these sayings because the sayings were going against everything that they were constantly seeing Jesus say and do.

 

5.     VS 18:35-43  - “35 As Jesus was approaching Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging. 36 Now hearing a crowd going by, he began to inquire what this was. 37 They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. 38 And he called out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 Those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet; but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 And Jesus stopped and commanded that he be brought to Him; and when he came near, He questioned him, 41 “What do you want Me to do for you?” And he said, “Lord, I want to regain my sight!” 42 And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” 43 Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him, glorifying God; and when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God.” -  On the road as He was approaching Jericho Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus of his blindness

 

5.1.         Here we have the very last of Jesus’ healings as included by Luke in his gospel, and as could be said of each one of them, it is a very remarkable and complete miracle.

 

5.2.         In Mark chapter 10 we learn that the name of this blind man was “Bartimaeus.”

 

5.3.         Jericho is located 6 miles west of the Jordan River and just north of the Dead Sea.

 

5.4.         Matthew 20:29 tells us that there were actually two blind men beside the road on this day.  Only one of these men seemed significant enough to Luke and Mark to include in their narratives of this story.

 

5.5.         There are a few very interesting details in this story. 

 

5.5.1.        Bartimaeus was so intent upon coming to Jesus in order that he might be healed of his blindness that he just kept on crying out to Jesus even though the people around him were telling him to shut up.

 

5.5.1.1.         The people there had little compassion on blind Bartimaeus and like most in Israel they probably believed that this man’s sin had brought on his blindness.  They thought Bartimaeus was wasting Jesus’ time crying out to Him.

 

5.5.1.2.         We Christians ought to be like a Bartimaeus in our seeking Jesus.  We should desire more than anything in life that we should spend time with Jesus, hear His voice, and have Him as the object of our thoughts and affections.   We should not let anything deter us from being with Jesus.

 

5.5.2.        When Bartimaeus was calling out to Jesus, he was calling Jesus by a title that was reserved for the Messiah Himself, he was calling Him, ‘Son of David.’

 

5.5.2.1.         There are several places in the Old Testament where it was prophesied that the Messiah would be a descendant of King David and sit upon David’s throne for eternity, including :

 

5.5.2.1.1.        2 Samuel 7:11-16, “11 even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. 12 “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, 15 but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ”” 

 

5.5.2.1.2.        Isaiah 9:6-7, “6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.” 

 

5.5.2.1.3.        Isaiah 11:1-4, “1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.” 

 

5.5.2.1.4.        Jeremiah 23:5-6, “5 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. 6 “In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness.’”

 

5.5.2.2.         Even the Pharisees when questioned by Jesus in Matt. 22:41-45 admitted that the Messiah would be a descendant of David, “41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: 42 “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?” They said to Him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “Then how does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying, 44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Until I put Your enemies beneath Your feet” ’? 45 “If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?””

 

5.5.3.        Jesus revealed yet again that He would always show compassion to those who cried out or came to Him for help in their time of need.

 

5.5.4.        Jesus asks Bartimaeus what he wants Jesus to do him, and Bartimaeus tells Jesus that he wants to regain his sight.

 

5.6.         Jesus tells Bartimaeus that it is his faith that has caused him to be made whole.  Bartimaeus’ faith caused him to cry out to Jesus even when all of those around him were telling him to shut up, and it was his faith which led him to call Jesus the Messianic title, ‘Son of David.’

 

5.7.         Bartimaeus showed his gratitude to Jesus for healing him by beginning to follow Jesus on this day.

 

5.8.         As we mentioned beginning with the very first of Jesus’ miracles, each of them draws a picture of how the Lord heals us of our sin problems.  In the case of Bartimaeus being healed of his blindness, when a person comes to salvation the blinders are taken off of his eyes and he begins to see things as they really are and to understand spiritual truth and the ultimate realities that lie behind all that happens in life.  Truly all who have come to salvation through Jesus can say in honesty that once they were blind but that now they see.

 

5.9.         Not only did Bartimaeus’ faith enable him to be healed of his physical blindness, his faith also caused him to inherit eternal life, which caused him to be healed of his spiritual blindness.

 

5.9.1.        The faith In Jesus that Bartimaeus had which also enable him to be healed of blindness by Jesus is the same faith that is required for anyone to have their spiritual blindness removed by Jesus.

 

6.     CONCLUSIONS:

 

6.1.         As we consider the events of this study and how they apply to our own life, we need to realize that since we will be recompensed even in this life a hundredfold for anything that we give up because of following Jesus, lets be wise and commit our all to the Lord.  Lets place ourselves so completely in His hands that we won’t miss out on any of the great and awesome blessings God has in store for us.

 

6.2.         Lets desire to seek the Lord every bit as much as blind Bartimaeus.  Lets call out to Jesus in our time of need for whenever we do we will see that He will likewise have compassion upon us and we will receive of His mercy.

 

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