The four cases of healing in chapters one through three are all in the same category, the category of general healings. After chapter four the Lord Jesus goes on to carry out further healings. But these healings are of particular organs: the hearing organ, the speaking organ, and the seeing organ. In order to contact others, we must have these organs. If we are deaf, dumb, and blind, what contact can we have with others? We could not have any contact at all since we would not be able to hear, speak, or see. As our representative, Peter was healed of his fever, leprosy, paralysis, and withered condition; however, still he could not hear, speak, or see.
After the four cases of general healing, we have in Mark four cases of the healing of specific organs. In 7:31-37 we have the healing of a deaf and dumb man; in 8:22-26, the healing of a blind man in Bethsaida; in 9:14-29, the healing of a boy who had a dumb spirit; and in 10:46-52, the healing of blind Bartimaeus. In these four cases three particular organs are healed: the hearing organ, the speaking organ, and the seeing organ.
Let us consider briefly the two cases of the healing of blindness. When they came to Bethsaida, a blind man was brought to the Lord Jesus. “Taking hold of the hand of the blind man, He led him forth outside the village; and having spit in his eyes and laid His hands on him, He asked him, Do you see anything?” (8:23). The man looked up and said, “I behold men; I see them as trees walking” (v. 24). Then the Lord laid His hands upon the man’s eyes again, and “he looked intently and was restored, and he saw all things clearly.” Is this not a picture of our spiritual condition? When we first saw the Lord, we did not see Him clearly. We did not see spiritual things exactly as they are. Then after further contact with the Lord, we began to see all things clearly.
The second case of the healing of blindness is the healing of blind Bartimaeus. When the Lord Jesus asked Bartimaeus what he wanted Him to do for him, the blind man said, “Rabboni, that I may recover my sight!” (10:51). Then Jesus said to him, “Go, your faith has healed you” (v. 52), and immediately Bartimaeus recovered his sight and followed the Lord on the road (v. 52). This is the last case of healing recorded in the Gospel of Mark.
Spiritually speaking, our relationship with God depends upon the hearing organ, the speaking organ, and the seeing organ. If we cannot hear God’s word, if we cannot talk to God, and if we cannot see God’s vision, we cannot have any relationship with Him. If such were our situation, we would be like a dumb idol standing before God. Therefore, we need the healing of our hearing, speaking, and seeing organs.
The New Testament reveals that, spiritually speaking, we were dead, but the Lord Jesus has made us alive. When He came to us and sowed Himself into us, we were enlivened. We were then healed of our fever, leprosy, paralysis, and withered condition.
Praise the Lord that we have been made alive, that we have been regenerated! However, after being regenerated, we may still be deaf, dumb, and blind, in need of the Lord’s particular healing. Was this not your experience with the Lord? I can testify that it was my experience. I was regenerated in 1925, but it was not until 1932 that my ears began to hear God’s voice, my eyes began to see His vision, and my mouth was opened to speak for God. I praise Him that today, through His mercy, I can hear, speak, and see.