Preaching (Matt. 9:35c)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/1/2021 10:05 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  “Preaching” & “Healing”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 9:35c-35d

 

            Message of the verse:  “and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.”

 

            Today’s SD will have two different sub-sections to it, the first being a bit longer than the second, the first “Preaching” and the second “Healing.”

 

            We first want to look at the word “proclaiming.”  It comes from kerusso, and according to John MacArthur it is often translated “to preach” which can be seen in Matt. 4:17; 10:7; and Mark 16:15).  He goes on to write “The basic meaning is to herald a message, to make a public announcement for everyone to hear.”

 

            We have been talking about the beginning and the use of synagogues in the history of the Jewish people, and stated that Jesus taught in different synagogues throughout His time on earth, however He also proclaimed the gospel message wherever He went as seen in this verse (35c).  In our country and I suppose in other countries this happened as I remember a story written by J. Edwin Orr when he began his ministry in Ireland at a very young age as he and some friends went out on the street corners to “proclaim” the good news of the gospel, and in a similar way that is what Jesus did too.  Jesus taught about the “gospel of the kingdom, and when He did this he was not expounding the Old Testament, as He did when teaching in the synagogues, but He was “proclaiming” the New Testament, the new covenant that He would seal with His own blood as seen in Matthew 26:28 “for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”  Jesus was unfolding the mysteries that were mentioned, however not explained in the OT, as they were hidden even from the most faithful believers of previous times.  Thus He was giving new revelation about God’s plan of redemption.

 

            Let us now look at the familiar word “gospel.”  Euagelion in the Greek which means “good news,” and in the NT it is used in particular of the good news of the “kingdom of God,” which Jesus not only proclaimed but of which He was both the entrance and the Rule of it as seen in a number of verses like Matthew 16:28; 18:3; Luke 22:29-30; John 14:6; and 18:36).

 

            We have talked in the past about what the Bible calls the millennial and also eternal kingdom, and even a bit about what could be described as the “invisible kingdom” which is what is going on right now as Jesus is in heaven ruling from His Father’s right hand, and rules this kingdom which will end at the rapture of the church, hopefully very soon.  MacArthur writes “Every Christian is a citizen of God’s kingdom in this present life.  Christ is the King, the Lord, of every believer.  He rules our lives, supplies our needs, guarantees our salvation, and in every way is sovereign over us.  ‘The kingdom’ is the rule and reign of Christ—now in and over His saints on earth, eventually over all the earth during the millennium, and ultimately and eternally over the new heavens and the new earth.

 

            “The dual tasks of teaching the Word and proclaiming the gospel are still the primary ministry of the church today.  Our first calling is to teach men the truth of God’s Word and to lead them to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ (Matt. 38:19-20).”

 

Healing:  “healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness” (Matt. 9:35d).

 

            In this very short sub-section MacArthur quotes from the book “Counterfeit Miracles, by B. B. Warfield, who wrote “When our Lord came down to earth, He drew heaven with Him.  The signs which accompanied His ministry were but the trailing clouds of glory which He brought from heaven, which is His home.”  The book this came from was written in 1918 and republished in 1983.

 

            The miracles that Jesus did along with His preaching and teaching were verified as divine and true by the display of supernatural power in His ministry of miracles, manifested especially through healings as He healed countless numbers of people which are for the most part not even mentioned in the gospel records.  The three activities, preaching, teaching and healing, which we have been going over for the last few days, summarize the public ministry of our Lord.

 

            I once heard a friend of mine state this about healings:  “Jesus heals you every time except the last time.”  I think the last time will be the best healing as a believer immediately goes into the present of our Lord.

 

7/1/2021 10:37 AM