PT-2 "Conformed to God's Plan" (Matt. 12:15-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/22/2022 11:05 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                          Focus:  PT-2 “Conformed to God’s Plan”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 12:15-17

 

            Message of the verses:  “15 But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed Him, and He healed them all, 16 and warned them not to make Him known, 17 in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, might be fulfilled, saying,”

 

            We see in verse fifteen that after Jesus left the synagogue that “many followed Him, and He healed them all.”  Jesus healed many people who did not believe in Him for salvation.  Remember the story about the ten lepers that Jesus healed and only one of them returned, and the one who returned was a Samaritan.  Jesus said to that Samaritan “your faith has made you well” and I believe that this refers to the man’s spiritual healing through salvation, and not to his physical healing, which had already taken place while he was walking away.  All ten lepers were physically healed, but only one was healed spiritually as seen in the story from Luke 17:11-19.  I have heard that while Jesus was on the earth that in the places where He was healing that there could not have been many people with illness left.  I think the point of this is that this will picture what will happen in the millennial kingdom when Jesus sits on the throne of King David.

 

            The miracles that Jesus did demonstrated His divine power, but they also demonstrated His divine love and His great compassion for suffering people, something that all believers should be demonstrating, and I am talking about compassion for suffering people.  The people that Jesus healed were mostly the down and outers who were despised and neglected by the scribes and Pharisees, as well as the priesthood.  These are all the ones who thought that they were better than anyone else in Israel.  We have recently talked about the man with the withered hand and one of the things that came out of that story was the disgust that the Pharisees had for this man.  MacArthur writes “Not only were they oppressed by the Romans but by their own religious leaders, those who should have been their shepherds.  Those leaders were wolves dressed like shepherds, and instead of feeding the sheep they devoured them (Matt. 7:15; 23-14).  They were like the wicked shepherd spoken of by Zechariah who devoured the flesh of the fat sheep and tore off their hooves (Zech. 11:16.”  “"For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs” (Zech. 11:16).

 

            There was a great difference when the true shepherd came to Israel as we have been seeing, as He had great compassion for His suffering people and He lovingly healed them of every kind of disease and affliction.  Remember what our Lord said in Matthew 11:28-30 “28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.’”  MacArthur adds “False shepherds impose burdens, but the true Shepherd lifts them.  That is why Peter tells us to cast our burdens and anxieties on the ‘Chief Shepherd,’ because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:4, 7).

            “Christ feels the pain that hurts us and the weight of burdens that grind us down; and in His gracious loving-kindness He heals our hurts and lifts our burdens.”

 

            Lord will we willing continue to look at these verses in our next SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have been experiencing some similar things with the people of the small Bible study that I have been teaching at a friend’s house as there are two of the people that have come who have had problems with either drugs or alcohol.  One has had the great love of her father for so many years and now she lives with him, taking care of him in his old age.  He never gave up on her, and now she is a believer who is growing in the Lord.  One man gave his heart to the Lord a month or so ago as God graciously gave me the opportunity of leading him to faith in Christ, and he also seems to be growing.  His son was coming but now is in rehab for his drinking issues, and we prayed for him after the study yesterday.  His dad, the new believer is hurting over this.  If you desire, please pray for Steve. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord to continue to give me wisdom and compassion for the people in this Bible Study that I have been teaching.

 

1/22/2022 11:44 AM