Bible Commentaries
Luke 8

Verses 1-3

Who Follow the Lord

After the Lord had let the woman go away in peace, we see Him travelling from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God. Here it is about His service with the Word. There is no mentioning of wonders and signs, but of the Word. The Lord preaches and proclaims the good news of the kingdom of God, that is to say that through His preaching He wants to form people who submit to His authority. With Him are also the twelve. They are with Him in training and hear how He proclaims and preaches. They will have to do the same in the future.

He has chosen the twelve to be with Him, but not only they are with Him. After the woman from the previous chapter we hear here from even more women who have found peace. They are also children of wisdom and of the kingdom, and follow and serve Him out of love. The kingdom consists of people who serve Him out of love, for it is the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love (Colossians 1:13). Women often have a better sense of Who the Lord is than men. The fact that the Lord has so many women in His retinue also makes it clear how important He considers them to be.

Rabbis held women inferior, incapable of receiving religious education. For example, they had made a law prohibiting a man from speaking to a woman in public. The Lord is totally different with regard to women. He appreciates their love and service.

Some women are mentioned by name. First Mary Magdalene. She is very grateful to the Lord. She loves Him, for He has delivered her from seven demons. She is now free from bondage and only wants to be with her Liberator. There are also distinguished women, such as Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward. As wife of Herod’s steward, she will regularly be at his court. She has seen the emptiness of the worldly splendor and has found the sought peace in the Lord. She now belongs to Him, as does Susanna, of whom we know nothing more than her name, and many more women of whom we do not even know the name. The Lord knows each of them personally. Their service to Him is that they make their possessions available to Him. That could be, for example, by providing a meal regularly.

Verses 4-8

The Parable of the Sower

Through His journeys, the Lord has gained much fame. A large crowd gathers with Him from all the cities in the vicinity. That is the opportunity for Him to tell the parable of the sower. In this parable He is the sower. In the picture of the sower He shows that He is no longer looking for fruit among His people, but as the Sower sows the seed of the Word of God in the hearts to produce fruit.

The picture of the sower is an everyday picture for the crowd. They are familiar with the work of a sower. They also know that not all seed actually produce fruit. Thus there is seed that falls beside the road. That seed is trampled under foot and eaten by the birds of the air. There is also seed that falls on rocky soil. It does grow there, but that is only for a moment. It withers away quickly because rocky soil cannot absorb moisture. Yet other seed ends up between the thorns. The seed does grow up, but the thorns grow up with it and are the cause of the seed choked out. There is also seed that falls into good soil. When it grows up, it produces abundant fruit.

When the Lord has spoken the parable, He calls out to the crowd to find out the meaning of the parable and to take it to heart.

Verses 9-10

Why Parables?

His disciples appear to have ears to hear, for they want to know the meaning. The Lord answers that they may know the mysteries of the kingdom. It has been ”granted” to them, that is to say, it is God’s grace that reveals to them what the mysteries mean.

These mysteries have to do with the fact that Christ reigns over His kingdom according to the thoughts of God. But now that Christ has been rejected, that kingdom cannot be established in public and in power. The mystery is that the kingdom is established despite the rejection of Christ, but invisible to the world, but visible to faith. For the kingdom is everywhere where the Word of God is sown in the hearts to produce fruit.

To understand the mysteries, one must have accepted the Lord Himself. Because the disciples have followed Him and committed themselves to Him, they can understand what the mysteries are. They do not yet understand its full extent, but they will understand it when the Lord Jesus is in heaven and they will have received the Holy Spirit as a result. In the disciples we see the faithful remnant, which is clearly distinguished from the unbelieving people.

Verses 11-15

Explanation of the Parable of the Sower

The Lord Jesus sows the Word of God. He travels around to preach and proclaim it. Wherever He speaks, the seed of the Word ends up in a certain kind of ground. We read of all kinds of ground that they ‘hear’ the Word. Yet it does not produce fruit in all cases. The seed reveals the character of the soil in which it falls. The seed is identified with the listener.

The Lord speaks the Word of God. Those who are sown beside the road are those who hear. They hear, but the devil comes and takes away the Word from their heart. As a result, they do not believe and are not saved. These hearers are not fruit for the kingdom. Such a seed, that is to say such a hearer, is Simon from the previous chapter (Luke 7:36-2 Corinthians :).

The second type of seed are those sown on the rocky soil. These hearers are not fruit for the kingdom either. For a moment it seems as if it is. They hear the Word and receive it with joy. However, the Word of God does not first bring joy, but sadness. It first does the work of the plow in the conscience and reveals sin to man.

If that work does not happen, there is no root. Then there is faith for a while, but when faith is tested it turns out not to be there. The trial can be by oppression, but also by temptation. They fall away from their initial confession. There has never been an inner work of life-giving faith. It has only been an outer affair.

The third kind of seed are those who hear, but grow up among the thorns. The thorns overgrow the seed. For a while they too seem to bear fruit, but it is not fruit to maturity or ripe fruit. The Lord mentions three reasons why the seed cannot really germinate and bring fruit to maturity. First of all, there are worries. Someone may perish in his cares, while he could have brought them to the Lord. That would have been proof that the seed had brought fruit to maturity.

In contrast to the worries, there are riches. Someone can also be so preoccupated by it that the Word does not bring fruit to maturity. He has not given his riches to the Lord. Thirdly, the pleasures of this life can be a cause that the Word brings no fruit to maturity. People hear the Word, think it sounds good, but are absorbed in everything life offers. They do not find true pleasure in the life of and for the Lord.

Finally, there is the good soil. These are those who hear the Word, and by whom it is absorbed and preserved by the heart. The Lord calls such a heart “an honest and good heart”. That heart is convinced of Who the Lord is and of the truth of His Word. That hearer has created a life connection between his heart and the Lord.

In the parable, the Lord speaks of producing a crop a hundred times as great (Luke 8:8). It is about the Word of God here. Then it is only for or against, all or nothing, a crop a hundred times as great or no fruit. Wherever the Word is received in an honest or excellent or convinced heart, there will be and remain fruit. The fruit corresponds to the seed.

The fruit that is borne with perseverance is the love for God and the Lord Jesus. Those who hear and keep the Word will persevere, for the motivation for their actions is Christ. If there are difficulties, if there is disappointment, even of fellow believers, they continue, for they look at Christ.

Verses 16-18

The Light Must Be Able to Shine Freely

Fruit is there for God, light is there for the neighborhood. Hence the Lord after the fruit now speaks of the light. The light is a public testimony. Every true conversion as fruit of the sown Word is the lighting of a new lamp in this dark world. But just as worries and riches choke out the seed of the Word, the light will not shine when it is covered. This happens when we give our body, presented in a “container”, excessive attention or when we seek our convenience, presented in a “bed”. The ‘container’ can also speak of the daily activities. We can be so absorbed by them that nothing of our testimony is seen.

That someone receives a new nature through the working of the Word of God is not enough. God establishes a testimony for Himself. Where a lampstand is lit, it is not intended to be covered. He must give light “so that those who come in may see the light”. God wants the light to shine clearly. After all, it is there to be able to see.

The Word also reveals everything. Anything we want to keep hidden or secret will one day be revealed and made know. If we do not reveal the light, the Lord will do it in His time. Therefore, a fruit of the Word is that we not only shine for others, but the light also be ourselves in the light.

“How” we listen has to do with our mind. “What” we listen to (Mark 4:24) has to do with the content of what we listen to, for there is much mixture of truth and error. Luke looks at the heart of man. It is not only important what I hear from someone else, but also how I hear myself. Because of my own condition I may be in danger of accepting an error and rejecting the truth. The mistake is not always in what I hear, but can also be within myself. If we don’t listen carefully because we are in a bad mind, we will lose what we already thought we had. Then we are not good soil and there is no fruit.

For example, one hears a speech about the truth of Christ’s coming for the church and he sees that he is part of the bride of Christ. If he does not take this into his heart and speak about it with God, he will not look forward to the coming of Christ. He will forget that he does not belong to the world, and the truth that Christ is coming soon will lose its power to him. The consequence is that he will merge into the world because he does not keep that truth in his heart in communion with God.

Verses 19-21

The Relatives of the Lord Jesus

After the Lord has given His teaching about the Word of God and its effects, His family members come to Him. But he is so much surrounded by a crowd that they cannot reach him. Natural relations are no guarantee that anyone has access to the Lord.

Before, four men with a paralyzed friend and with faith did not allow themselves to be stopped by the crowd, but sought a way to come to Him, and they succeeded (Luke 5:19). The relatives of the Lord do not make that effort. They let Him deliver a message and if He just wants to make sure that they can come to Him. The Lord makes it clear that His true familial relationships are not based on natural kinship, but on hearing and doing the Word of God.

When we do hear well, it brings us into connection with Christ Himself. The Word, received in faith, which bears fruit for God and radiates light to people, brings us into a close relationship with Christ.

Verses 22-25

The Storm on the Lake

We see in the history of the storm on the lake that the Lord is united with His disciples in the difficulties and storms that surround them. These storms and difficulties are the share of the disciples because they have entered into His service. Herein He is with them, even though He does not seem to pay attention to these difficulties. God allows this exercise of faith. The disciples are for Christ’ sake and with Him in this situation, therefore He is with them. He, because of Whom they are in the storm, is present with His power to protect them. They are with Him in the same boat.

It is again something that Luke mentions that “now on one of [those] days“. These are the days of the Son of Man on earth. The Son of Man goes into a boat. He uses the means of transport that all people use. He does not move miraculously, as He does after His resurrection.

Luke also emphatically mentions the connection between Him and His disciples when he says “Jesus and His disciples”. This connection is also expressed in the Lord’s command: “Let us go over”. He connects them to Himself and speaks of “us”. That’s how they launch out together.

The Lord is so truly Man, that He falls asleep on board. He is tired. He also is trusting His God that much that He sleeps quietly, even though they are overtaken by fierce gale of wind and are swamped. They are in danger, but He sleeps. If the disciples were wise, they would see that all their blessings rest in the Master and that all their safety depends on Him. Therefore, there is no reason for faith to be afraid. He falls asleep and allows things to run their course. Whatever happens, the ship in which the Lord Jesus is, cannot be an unsafe place for those who are with Him.

But the disciples can’t endure. They go to Him. That is a good thing. Then they wake Him up. That was not necessary. They could have quietly sought protection from the Lord in the certainty that He would offer a solution. Later Peter did so when he was in prison and slept (Acts 12:6). Sometimes insomnia is the result of a lack of trust in the Lord, a lack of trust that He is in charge and that He will not let it get out of control.

Now they wake Him up because they are afraid they will perish. They say “we are perishing”, as if He could drown. Because this is not possible, and they are with Him, they will not perish. In addition, He has said: “Let us go over to the other side.” Could something He said be prevented by a storm? If He says something, it’s the guarantee that it will happen. He thinks about the end of the journey, we look at the way to get there.

Their calls make it clear that they have no idea Who they have on board. They do not realize that He, Who lies asleep, is the One Who will “neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalms 121:4). How understandable is their reaction to us and at the same time a lesson in trusting the Lord when we know we are on our way with Him.

The Lord comes into action at the call of His disciples. He could also have rebuked the wind and the surging waves while lying down, but He stands up. God stands up. Then something happens! He gets up and rebukes the wind and the surging waves. That means that satan is behind this storm. Just as diseases and demons disappear when He rebukes them, so do the elements of nature disappear and cease their rages against Him and His own. The result is calmness. The silence that is always in His heart, He establishes in creation and also in the hearts of His own.

The Lord reprimands them with His question about their faith. That is what it is all about for followers of the Lord. Is there faith in Him wherever He leads us and whatever happens? If He has the circumstances in His power, what is there to fear? The disciples are respectful of His majesty and amazed about Him. Thus the Lord makes us amazed more than once about His miraculous outcome in situations where we saw none.

Verses 26-29

A Demon-Possessed Man Meets the Lord

They continue their boat trip and arrive in the country of the Gerasenes. The location is specified as the country “which is opposite Galilee”. The Lord goes there to seek and deliver a poor demon-possessed man. After the need of the disciples and the salvation by Him we see in this history the need of one individual person and the liberation from it by Him.

The disciples’ need had to do with their service to Him. They had Him with them in their need. It was only about trusting Him. The need of the man in the next history is totally different. He is completely distanced from the Lord and completely in the power of satan. When the disciples were in need, they called to the Lord’s help; the man cried that he had nothing to do with Him. In both cases, the Lord shows His power and outcome.

When they have left the ship and come out onto the land, He and His disciples are not exactly warmly welcomed. For the disciples it does mean further teaching. After having experienced the power of the natural elements in the ship, they now enter an area where satan is lord and master. A man from the city meets Him. It is not just any man. Luke describes a man who is completely in the power of satan.

The man walks around without any self-respect, naked and without any shame. Nor does he live in a house, but in the tombs, the terrain of death. There is no normal talking either. When he sees the Lord, he falls down before Him. Loudly he says that there is no connection between him and the Lord. But he does acknowledge His power to judge him. He asks the Lord not to torment him because he knows that this is the judgment that awaits him.

The voice of the man is the voice of the demons. The demons have taken such full possession of this man that the words they express are attributed to him. The Lord has come here to deliver men from the power of satan. He commanded the unclean spirit, which is one of the causes of the man walking around shamelessly naked, to come out of him. The evil spirit is not only unclean, but also violent and powerful. It is a spirit that cannot be tamed by people and cannot be bound by any human power. Many times it has been tried to control the man by tying him with chains and shackles. It was all in vain because he broke the bonds. Restlessly he is driven by the demon into the desert.

Verses 30-33

The Demons Enter the Swine

The Lord wants the demon to make himself known and asks for his name. The demon answers that his name is “Legion”, because he is not alone, but with him many demons have entered the man. How it came thus far, isn’t mentioned. It is a warning that we should not open up for anything originating from satan. Once he has a point of entry in a person, he will try to gain full control over that person. An unclean spirit can slowly but surely take possession of someone if he, for example, engages in pornography. Every impure thought or unclean image must be judged as soon as it arises, otherwise satan has an opening.

The demons know that the Lord has the power to send them into the abyss. Therefore they beg Him not to do that. They suggest to Him to send them into the swine. He allows that. That is not indulgence from His side, but he uses the demons to judge the evil of the inhabitants of that country. They are as unclean as the swine they keep. In addition, the demons reveal their desire to destroy.

Just as the wind and the sea obeyed Him, so do the demons. What happens to the swine is a picture of what will happen to the Jews. Later, when heathen powers will come to take possession of their holy city, they will throw themselves into battle in an incomprehensible blindness to let themselves be slaughtered. This is the result of their rejection of the Lord Jesus.

Verses 34-37

Reaction of the People in Gerasa

Those who had herded the swine run away. They have completely lost control of the herd. Everywhere in the area, both in the city and in the country, they tell what has happened. They do an eyewitness account because they have seen it with their own eyes. Their story leads all who hear it to go and see what has happened.

When they come to the Lord, they find there the man who had always made their area unsafe, sitting at His feet in complete peace. He is no longer naked and insane. He is physically dressed and mentally healthy. Here we see a picture of what grace is capable of working in a human being who, shortly before, was still completely in the power of satan. That should touch their hearts. The grace of God in Christ has done what they couldn’t achieve with their chains and shackles.

But the effect on the people who see this, is fear. Then the witnesses report of the salvation of the demon-possessed. They have seen how the demons were expelled from him by the Lord, and went into their herd, and how their herd had perished. Instead of being impressed by the healing of the possessed, they are impressed by the loss of their herd. The Lord had destroyed their herd. They rather get rid of such a Person Who had taken their possessions. They don’t want Him. They have tolerated the company of a demon-possessed, they do not tolerate the Lord’s company. If He would please leave them. Without saying a word, the Lord goes into a boat again and returns to Galilee.

Verses 38-39

The Commission

It is understandable that the man, freed by the Lord, wants to stay with Him. But the Lord send him away. At the same time he gives him a commission. He tells the man to go to his house, where he has not been since he was demon-possessed and lived in the tombs. There he can show his family how he has changed and tell them what happened to him. That is the simplest thing that everyone who has been freed by the Lord from the power of satan can do. This commission also applies to us.

The Lord says to the man that he must tell “what great things God has done” to him. However, the man tells “what great things Jesus had done for him“. It is clear to him that the Lord Jesus is God. He tells his story not only at home, but throughout the whole city. They did not want the Lord to be with them, but in His great grace He sends them a witness. This is what has been happening since His rejection. We have been sent into the world from which He left because it rejected Him, to testify of what He did to us.

Verses 40-42

Jairus Begs the Lord for His Daughter

When the Lord returns, a hearty welcome awaits Him. All are looking forward to Him. Thus will the Lord in the future be received by His people in truth. Now it is still because of His blessings and not because of the need of their sins, but the attitude is beautiful. Do we also look forward to Him? He can come any moment, for he has said: “I am coming soon.”

A man comes forward out of the crowd. It is Jairus, an official of the synagogue. As an official of the synagogue, Jairus is a prominent and distinguished Jew who is closely connected to the law. He is not an opponent of the Lord. On the contrary, he appeals to Him in his distress while he falls at His feet.

Everyone sees this attitude, but he is not ashamed of it. He implores the Lord to come to his house. This is the way a Jew expects healing. He expects the Messiah to come to the place where he lives. With the Gentile centurion we have seen a greater faith, for he believed in the power of the Lord’s word (Luke 7:7).

Jairus’ only daughter is in need. She is twelve years old and is dying. She was brought up in the atmosphere of the law, but that did not prevent her from dying now. The appeal that Jairus makes to the Lord is not in vain. Surrounded by the crowd, he sets off for the house of Jaïrus. The condition of the girl represents the condition of the people. The people are dying and the Lord has come to heal the people.

Verses 43-48

The Woman Who Had a Hemorrhage

In the crowd is still someone with a need. It is a woman who has suffered blood loss for twelve years. She has remained hidden. Her hemorrhage made her unclean (Leviticus 15:19-Daniel :) and also unfit for worship. The woman was not allowed to eat from the peace offering. She had been not allowed to, already for twelve years.

In connection with the age of Jairus’s daughter – she was twelve years old after all – it shows that the people have been unclean throughout their history, from the very beginning. The daughter represents the state of all the people of Israel, to which the Lord is on His way to give them life. The woman represents the individual of the people of Israel, who frees herself from the crowd to find healing already now on the basis of personal faith.

Life slowly flowed out of her. She had spent everything she had to live on, to be cured of her ailment. All the doctors she had visited and payed to be cured had not been able to cure her. She has no more money and no hope of recovery. There remains only one possibility for her: Christ.

That is how it has been with countless people who have tried everything to get peace in their hearts. They have spent a capital, but it has not given them inner peace. They have done all kinds of things, but instead of finding peace and quiet, the lack of peace and quiet has only increased. Until they came into contact with the Lord Jesus in their need. When they entrusted their lives to Him, they found peace and quiet.

The woman stays in the crowd, but she manages to get so close to the Lord that she can touch the fringe of His cloak. Once she has done that, she notices that she has been healed. The hemorrhage stops immediately. It is only a touch and that at the lower part of His cloak, but she receives the full blessing because she has done it in faith. The fringe means the tassels at the bottom of the cloak in which the blue cord is woven (Numbers 15:38). She has bowed herself deeply to appeal to heaven, of which the blue cord speaks.

She touched the Lord from behind, but He wants to bring her into His presence, face to face. He wants to let her know that He wholeheartedly agrees with her healing. It now seems as if she has stolen that healing, but in reality the cause lies in the touch of faith. So He says: “Who is the one who touched Me?”

As all deny it, Peter and others try to show the Lord the illogicalness of His question. How can He ask that anyway! The people are crowding and pressing in on Him. Many have touched Him. It is indeed true that everyone in His direct surrounding has touched Him, but these are not touches done in faith.

The Lord does not ask any further, but then states that someone has touched Him. It was not the crowds pressing in on Him. That happened completely unintentionally. The touch he noticed was a conscious touch, a touch in faith in Who He is. Someone has resorted to Him in true faith, however weak that faith may have been.

The pressing in of the crowds did not make power gone out of Him. That way, the Lord did not heal. Such pressing in is of no use to get a blessing from Him. But the believer who is in His presence and touching Him, however modest and shy, always receives a blessing from Him.

Then the woman makes herself known. Trembling she comes to the Lord. She falls down before Him and, as all the people hear it, she tells them why she touched Him and that she has been healed immediately. The woman gives a great testimony of faith to the people about the Lord Jesus and His power.

After having openly told the “whole truth” (Mark 5:33), she receives from the Lord the assurance of forgiveness of her sins. He deliberately uses the word “daughter” because it expresses His affection for her to take away her fear and anxiety. Then He gives for her soul what only He can give: peace. What a joy it will be for her to remember the words He spoke to her. He gave her His guarantee by comforting her when she was so fearful. He acknowledged her faith, weak as it was, and finally sent her away with a message of peace. This is worth more than the healing of the body.

Verses 49-50

Jairus’ Daughter Has Died

Jairus, who came to the Lord first, does not receive the blessing first. It is for the woman who has appealed to the Lord along the way. That is how it is with Israel, of whom Jairus is a picture, and the believers from the nations, of whom we can see a picture in the woman. The Lord was on the way to heal Israel, but He was rejected by the people. That has made the way free to bless the nations. That is the time in which we live now.

The Lord also has healing for Israel, even if life has totally disappeared from it. After the period of blessing for the nations, He returns to bring Israel to life. That shows the continuation of history, where we see the real state of Israel. Israel is not only sick, but dead, but Christ possesses in Himself resurrection life.

Happiness and salvation are only obtained through faith in His Person, in the Godly power in Him, in the grace that comes to exercise this power. The Jews have been rebellious in their unbelief for so long. They have tried for so long to eradicate the Name of Him, Who by certain statements made Himself equal to God. Nevertheless they will recognize their rejected Messiah as their Lord and their God and their dry bones will come to live (Ezekiel 37:1-2 Samuel :).

All Israel – that is to say, the faithful remnant – will finally be saved (Romans 11:25-Ezekiel :). The people will blossom and outgrow and fill the surface of the earth with fruits! That promise is enclosed in the resurrection of the deceased girl. He Who commanded the girl’s father not to fear but to believe, will fulfill the promise He once gave.

This history also contains much that encourages us in our personal lives of faith. The Lord is on earth to make known the grace of God to all people. We too may drink from this grace by applying the lessons from these histories to ourselves.

While the Lord is still speaking, someone from the official of the synagogue comes with a message to the official. His daughter has died. The communication is followed by the resigned statement that the Teacher no longer needs to be troubled. As if we trouble Him when we think there is nothing left to save. If, according to our assessment of the situation, there is nothing left to be saved, it is faith that matters. That is also what the Lord answers when He hears the message.

He went to Jairus’ house to heal his daughter. Then it is not possible that a ‘coincidental’ delay should cause a hindrance to heal. The Lord knows the weakness of faith and first reassures Jairus with the encouragement: “Do not be afraid.”

In this way He also meets our weak faith. What seems to be an obstacle to the weak faith, that He cannot do what He promised, He will use to show His power of grace more clearly. The power of His grace is shown the most when the situation is most hopeless.

After the encouragement not to be afraid, the Lord says that Jairus must do what remains if the situation is completely hopeless: “Only believe.” With this He says: ‘Put your trust completely on Me’.

Verses 51-56

The Daughter of Jairus Resurrected

The Lord comes to the house. He only allows the three disciples who were with him on the mountain to enter with the girl’s father and mother. They may witness how He brings her to life. For the three disciples it will again be a special encouragement with a view to their later service for the Lord. The father and mother may also be there, because He wants to give the child back to their care immediately. They have shown their concern by calling on His help.

There are also people present who only see death, but they are standing outside the door. He tells them that they can stop weeping because the girl has not died, but is asleep. For Him, death is a sleep from which He can awaken someone. Where He is, death must depart. Nor has anyone ever died in the Lord’s direct surroundings. The people who are weeping and lamenting for the girl when hearing His words change immediately their attitude and start laughing at Him. So little do these people understand the power of God. They have no eye for the power of life in Him.

The Lord does not answer them, but takes the hand of the child. Then He calls the words: “Child, arise!” He calls because she has to wake up. He calls “saying”, for unto his saying she will be brought to life. The girl hears the voice of the Son of God and her spirit returns to her and she becomes alive (John 5:25). Just as the blood flow stopped “immediately” (Luke 8:44-2 Corinthians :), so here too the result is “immediately”. There is no process of waking up. She gets up immediately.

The care of the Lord goes beyond giving her life. He gives orders to give her to eat. She has suffered a lot and needs to regain her strength. This is also important with anyone who receives new life that he gets to eat. The new life must be fed with healthy spiritual food. That is God’s Word in the first place.

The parents who have so lived in the atmosphere of the law and had raised their child with the law, are deeply impressed by the grace of the Lord. All their good intentions were aimed at making their child live, but they had to state that the only result was death. Now they have appealed to Someone Who proves grace and they have gotten the life of their daughter.

Grace is always a matter that causes amazement to those who live in a lawful atmosphere. In connection with His service, the Lord wants this miracle to remain hidden, for He must be accepted on the basis of the testimony He gives to the conscience and the heart. The resurrection of the daughter of Jairus is a transient act, although full of life power. It is an incidental event. The time that will be characterized by a general blessing, is not yet there. Therefore the Lord commands them not to tell anyone what has happened. If He Himself is not accepted, if one refuses to accept His word, it is in vain to make His power generally public.