SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/29/2021 10:09 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-4 Intro to “Jesus Power over Death”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 9:18-26
Message of the verses: “18 While He was
saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bowed down
before Him, and said, "My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your
hand on her, and she will live." 19 Jesus got up and began to
follow him, and so did His disciples. 20 And a woman who had been
suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched
the fringe of His cloak; 21 for she was
saying to herself, "If I only touch His garment, I will get well." 22
But Jesus turning and seeing her said, "Daughter, take courage; your faith
has made you well." At once the woman was made well. 23 When Jesus came
into the official’s house, and saw the flute-players and the crowd in noisy
disorder, 24 He said, "Leave; for the girl has not died, but is
asleep." And they began laughing at Him. 25 But when the crowd had
been sent out, He entered and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26 This
news spread throughout all that land.”
I
have mentioned why it is that I understand the gospels better after studying
from the gospel of Matthew for these last 18 months, and that is because it all
has to do with who the person writing the gospel is writing to and what the
theme of the gospel he is writing about.
Matthew is writing to Jewish people and he is writing about Jesus Christ
as King and also about His Kingdom. Now
with that in mind I want to talk about why it was that even though Jesus had
great compassion on the suffering and the afflicted people who came to Him, and
this can be seen in Mark 1:41; Matthew 9:36; and 14:14, that He did not heal
and cleanse them and raise their dead simply for their own sakes. Here is a reason why He did these miracles,
and that was to demonstrate His deity and to establish His credentials as the
Messiah predicted by the Old Testament prophets. “16 When evening came, they brought to Him
many who were
demon-possessed; and He cast out the
spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. 17 This was to fulfill
what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: "HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR
INFIRMITIES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES’ (Matt. 8:16-17).” “Jesus was going through all the cities and
villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the
kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness” (Matt.
9:35). “the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT
and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf
hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL
PREACHED TO THEM” (Matt. 11:5).
We
have been looking at Matthew’s writing of Jesus’ miracles in sets of three
beginning at 8:22 and then 8:23-9:17—a miracle which was actually a double
miracle, a miracle within a miracle. The
miracle we are looking at is His first miracle in the last set of three
miracles that Matthew includes in his gospel and as stated it is a double
miracle as we will see the healing of a woman with an issue of blood which she
had for 12 years and a little girl of twelve years of age who died. Jesus will heal them both and that is why we
state it is a double miracle. In these
miracles He demonstrated His power to restore life to the whole body and to
restore wholeness to any part of the body.
MacArthur
writes “The Canadian scientist G. B. Hardy one time said, ‘When I looked at religion
I said, I have two questions. One, has
anybody ever conquered death, and two, if they have, did they make a way for me
to conquer death? I checked the bomb of
Buddha, and it was occupied, and I checked the tomb of Confucius and it was
occupied, and I checked the tomb of Mohammed and it was occupied, and I came to
the tomb of Jesus and it was empty. And
I said, There is one who conquered death.
And I asked the second question, Did He make a way for me to do it? And I opened the Bible and discovered that He
said, ‘Because I live ye shall live also.’”
Now
as we look at Hardy’s two part question that is the two part question that all
mankind faces. Has anyone conquered
death? And if so, did he provide a way
for others to conquer death? MacArthur
writes “That is the question dealt with in the present passage.
“Within
this text we not only see a miracle within a miracle but also a beautiful picture
of Jesus’ response to people in need. We
see the dual portrayal of His power and His sensitivity, His authority and His
gentleness, His sovereignty and His openness, His majesty and His
loving-kindness. We see in particular that
Jesus was accessible, touchable, and impartial as well as powerful. Of the two principal characters in this
account besides Jesus, one was an influential ruler and the other an
outcast. The one was wealthy and the
other poor. Yet in common they had great
needs and a great Helper.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: The thing that got to me as I read over this
introduction and listened to the first sermon on these two verses is that I can
truly see that Jesus cares for me, and I can see it through the way that while
on earth He had sensitivity and gentleness along with being touchable. That makes a great difference to me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to think about the truths that I
have learned from this introduction into two miracles that Jesus performed.
5/29/2021 10:37 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment