And he could there do no mighty work

Mar 6:5  And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 

What a shame! Here was a great teacher and a great physician but unable to carry on with His works of teaching and healing because of an unappreciative audience. The text says in verse 5 that because of their unbelief Jesus could do no miracles. It is not like He won’t do it or He can’t do it but He was prevented from doing it. It appears that Jesus did not have a choice in the matter. And it is all because of unbelief. Verse 6 says that Jesus ‘marvelled at their unbelief’. It means he was surprised at their state of unbelief. It was a surprise to Christ because they were His very own countrymen, of the same village which is Nazareth, that had seen Him grown up, heard Him teach and preach, saw the miracles He performed, and yet, remained in unbelief, and rejected Him as the Messiah. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11).

How does our unbelief affect God, ourselves, and the church?

Firstly, unbelief prevents God from doing His work of saving men. Jesus could not do miracles in His hometown of Nazareth because of its unbelief. This means that our unbelief can withstand the love and power of God from working through us. It seems that we are far more powerful than we might have thought, though in a negative way. God loves the world and wants all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). Christ, the Son of God, came down from heaven to die on the cross that men can have the hope of eternal life (John 3:16). But men must believe in the Son to have eternal life (John 3:16). But unbelief prevents God from healing us.

Secondly, our unbelief hinders us from going to heaven. The Hebrews who came out of Egypt could not enter the Promised Land because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:16-19). Therefore, the inspired writer of Hebrews exhorts Christians to take heed lest we become like those who came out of Egypt and could not enter into the eternal rest given by God (Hebrews 3:12).

In order to go to heaven one must have faith: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Thirdly, unbelief prevents us from growing spiritually as a Christian. You may think that the church is made up of fully convicted believers. Unfortunately, it is not the case! Unbelief has crept into our midst quietly. Unbelief makes one spiritually weak. During a bible class discussion, one student said he prays but he doesn’t expect anything to happen; that’s a heart of unbelief. God will work miracles on behalf of a person who has faith (Matthew 9:22; Luke 18:42). A sister has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Doctors said there is no hope of curing. Five years later, she is still alive, though she is still under treatment. Do you call it a miracle? I think it is. Each new day is a miracle for such a person. Prayers are not miracles but prayers cause miracles to happen. Every morning when I wake up, the first thing I’ll do is to thank God for another new day.

Lastly, unbelief affects not only the Christian himself but also the whole church. Unbelief retards the works of the church. Unbelief makes a church dead: “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead” (Revelations 3:1). Those words were spoken to the church at Sardis. Unbelief hinders church growth. And, in the end, unbelief kills the church.

Faith can remove mountains but unbelief stops everything. It stops God from healing the sinners. It stops the Christian from growing into spiritual maturity. It stops the church from growing. What is your spiritual temperature today? Is it cold or hot? Or, it is lukewarm? “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12).

Jimmy Lau

Psa 119:97  Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.