Mark 3:11-15

Mark 3:11 (KJB)
And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.

Then among those who had diseases were those who were possessed with devils. As soon as the devils had seen Jesus they had caused the people possessed with them to fall down and confess to who He was. They had called Him the Son of God because they were up in Heaven with Him before the rebellion of Satan but here they confessed Him as the Son of God hoping to gain some kind of advantage over Him. In ancient times, when a person knew another person’s name, it normally meant the person had some type of mastery over the person and if they could keep calling Jesus by His divine title, then that would show the people around Him that they have mastery over Him thus fulfilling the accusation of the Pharisees that Jesus was casting out devils by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. (Mat 12:24 KJV) But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

Mark 3:12 (KJB)
And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known.

Then Jesus immediately rebuked them that they were to be silent and not make Him known because they were not going to affect the timetable Jesus had for His ministry. Jesus would be made known by His disciples and by the works He would do in due time and according to His plan. Jesus also would not accept any approval by any devil nor does He accept any praise from unbelievers, those who are spiritually dead. Jesus would accept praise and adoration from His chosen followers.

Mark 3:13 (KJB)
And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.

Jesus now calls the twelve disciples to Himself. It seems He was able to remove Himself from the crowds temporarily. We are not told which mountain this was although the mountain was known by them. Here we see Jesus calling unto Himself those whom He specifically wanted which means those in the crowds would have to stay away for now.

Mark 3:14 (KJB)
And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,

Jesus was now officially calling together the twelve who would become His disciples. The word “ordained” means appointed. So these twelve were appointed by the Lord to be with Him throughout His earthly ministry. They were to serve two functions at this time. The first was to learn from Jesus those things which must be proclaimed and secondly, they were to take what they learned and preach wherever the Lord sent them as they would be the beginning of world evangelism. The word “preach” in the Greek means to “proclaim or herald forth.”

Mark 3:15 (KJB)
And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:

Just as there were twelve initial tribes of Israel, there are now twelve Apostles representing the new Israel, that is the body of believers. Just as Israel expanded to 14 tribes with the addition of Ephraim and Manasseh, the band of Apostles will expand to 14 with the addition of Paul and Barnabas. (Acts 14:14) Jesus had the disciples with Him but now He is commissioning them to go out with the Gospel and He is giving them the power over devils and all types of diseases. By Jesus doing this He is now preparing the disciples to be leaders as this is also training for them when the time comes for them to begin the task of world evangelism. Just as Jesus had been doing previously, the disciples will now do and that is to heal all manner of diseases and to cast out devils from devil possessed people. The power He gives them is the authority to perform these functions.

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