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Matthew 8: 14-15-16 More Healings & The Atonement of God Pastor Ken Freeman examines the next three verses in depth.
Just click the movie to stop it or double click to restart it.This text will be replaced by the flash music player.- LISTEN!As we began Chapter 8 last week, we read the story of how Jesus cleansed a leper who said simply “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
Then, Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, 6 saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” 7 Notice the response of Jesus when He said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
In the next verse we hear that Centurion saying “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. " Now, here we see amazing faith unlike that of most of even the disciples who were questioning, even doubting the LORD.
We read: 10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! 11 And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.
Now this is where the NAME IT AND CLAIM IT preachers will highlight the partial passage and build a entire ministry around it. They will say "AS YOU BELIEVE, GOD WILL DO IT FOR YOU." Instead of faith in God it treats God as if He is a commodity, a magic Genie in a bottle. All I have to do is believe for a Corvette in my garage and God is going to bring it to me. This is essentially the same teaching we hear coming from THE SECRET and THE LAW OF ATTRACTION and OTHERS. Achieve personal wealth, control your own destiny. Its a real stretch to see how far they take such a verse, but it is sad when you really see that it was a deep, heart-felt expression of a Centurion who significantly cared for his worker. Now, I fully believe that as we pray and express our needs to God according to HIS EXPRESSED WILL for our lives, then HE IS ABLE and ABUNDANTLY WILLING to provide our needs, our financies, our health our home and more not that we get something out of it but because this is the very nature of God's love for you as an individual.
My prayer for you is this: that you will have the faith of the Centurion so that you will care for others so much that it causes you to reach to heaven and appeal to God in intercession for the others you know.
Next, we see that Peter’s Mother-in-Law Healed
14 Now when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. 15 So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served them.[a]
If you have ever been deathly ill with a high fever you know how weak you feel. Yet, just the touch of her hand and all disease left, all strength was restored and now what does she do? She pops out of bed and begins to fix food and serve the crowd there to more or less await her death.
Then we come to this next verse that tells us that many were healed in the evening
16 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “ He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.”[b]
Here we learn of the ATONEMENT provided to us through Jesus Christ.
In barely 105 verses, 1 Peter exceedingly explains Jesus' death for our sins in such rich terms. Three gems in particular sparkle from its pages:
I Peter 1:18-19
"You were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers ... with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."
2:24
"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed."
3:18
"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God...."
WOW! isn't this incredible when you really stop and think about it?
Jesus has paid the price not only for our sin, but for our infirmities.
The song of the "Suffering Servant" in Isaiah 53 is a prophetic passage about the Lord Jesus Christ (actually, it begins at 52:13—there were no chapter and verse divisions in the original scroll). Of all the Old Testament prophecies given about the Messiah, this is the one most quoted in the New Testament, for it is a vivid picture of what Jesus did for us—what He bore for us—on the cross.
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Just what did Jesus bear for us? We find part of the answer in verse 4, "Surely He has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains." The NKJV and NASB show these as "griefs" and "sorrows." But the Hebrew word translated "griefs" is choli and literally means "sickness." The Hebrew word rendered "sorrows" is makob and means "pains." We find these same words also in verse 3, where Jesus is described as "a Man of pains [makob] and aquainted with sickness [choli]." These words are primarily talking about physical afflictions —that is, sickness and disease.
That is certainly how Matthew, in the New Testament, understood them. Read his account of what happened after Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law. "When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick." Then Matthew, in trademark fashion, observed how this fulfilled prophecy, and quoted Isaiah 53:4: "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses" (Matthew 8:16-17).
There are four things we should note here: First, Matthew applied Isaiah 53:4 to literal sicknesses. He did not use sickness and infirmity as a metaphor for sin. These people suffered physical afflictions. Second, Matthew also included those who were demonized. In the Gospel accounts, we find that sickness was often the result of demonic oppression. Third, we see that the result of Jesus bearing their sicknesses and pains was that the demonized were delivered, and the sick and diseased were healed. Fourth, all who came to Jesus, or were brought to Him for healing or deliverance, were healed. No one was turned away.
Jesus also bore our sins for us. We find this at the end of Isaiah 53: "My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities .... He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many" (vv. 11-12). Above that, in verse 6 we read, "and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." The Hebrew word for "iniquity" in verses 6 and 11 is the word avon. It refers, not just to sin itself, but also to its consequences. Not only did Jesus bear our transgressions, He bore the penalty for those transgressions, as well. Both sin and the consequences of sin were laid on Him. The result is that we can now be justified, or made right, before God.
There are two Hebrew verbs in this passage that we should note: nasa and sabal. Nasa means to lift up, or bear away. It is used in verse 4, "He has borne [nasa] our sicknesses," and verse 12, "He bore [nasa] the sin of many." Jesus has lifted our sicknesses and sins off of us and has borne them Himself, taking them far away from us.
Sabal means to burden, or to carry. It also is found in verse 4, "He has . . . carried [sabal] our pains," and in verse 11, "He shall bear [sabal] their iniquities." Jesus has burdened Himself with our pains and iniquities.
These are substitutionary acts. Jesus did not simply help us bear our own sicknesses and sins, He bore them completely for us. They were all placed on Him. Consequently, there are none left that we must bear.
Isaiah 53 deals with both sin and sickness because there is a close relationship between them. The apostle Paul said that "through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12). Sickness entered the world as a consequence of sin, and its final harvest is death.
Psalm 103 says, "Bless the LORD, O my soul . . . Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases" (v. 3). This is Hebrew poetry, and uses a device known as "parallelism," where one line amplifies, or expands upon the thought of another. In this case, the second line, "heals all your diseases" amplifies the first line, "forgives all your iniquities." Clearly, the psalmwriter viewed iniquity and disease—sin and sickness—as a related pair. But note the order: "heals all your diseases" comes after "forgives all your iniquities," not before it.
This relationship between sin and sickness is perhaps most prominent in Mark 2, where Jesus healed the paralytic man:
When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the man, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say 'Arise, take up your bed and walk?' But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"—He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." Immediately he arose, took up his bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!" (vv. 5-12).
The greater power is the authority to forgive sins. But notice the way Jesus demonstrated that He possessed that authority: He healed the man's physical affliction. Jesus could take care of the man's sickness because He could take care of the man's sin. And He could take care of the man's sin because of His substitutionary death on the cross.
As we consider Isaiah 53, it is important to recognize that nasa and sabal are related to both our sins and our sicknesses. What they mean in regard to one, they mean in regard to the other. For example, if they portray the atoning work of Jesus upon the cross for us, they are just as much about our sicknesses as they are about our sins. For Jesus bore [nasa] them both and He carried [sabal] them both.
There is also a third Hebrew verb related to both iniquity and sickness. It is daka and is translated as "bruised" or "crushed." It is found in verse 5, "He was bruised [daka] for our iniquities," and in verse 10, "Yet it pleased God to bruise [daka] Him; He has put Him to grief [choli = sickness]." Literally, it pleased God "to bruise Him, to make Him sick." Jesus was bruised, or crushed, both for our sins and our sicknesses.
With this in mind, let's look at the heart of this prophetic hymn (vv. 4-6):
Surely He has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains. Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted [as if for His own transgressions]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Jesus bore all our sicknesses, pains, and iniquities. He took our place and was chastised for the sake of our peace. And by His stripes, we are healed.
The word "peace" is the Hebrew word shalom. It means "wholeness" or "well-being." It refers to our total restoration, both physical and spiritual. In the same way, the healing we have "by His stripes" is for our total restoration, both physical and spiritual. The sicknesses and pains which Jesus bore were our physical afflictions, but the iniquity which the Lord laid on Him was our spiritual disease.
The implications of this are tremendous. Jesus bore our sins for us, therefore, we no longer have to bear them. Jesus bore our sicknesses, therefore, we no longer have to bear them, either.
But how do we receive all this? How do we have our peace with God restored? How do we receive this forgiveness of sins? And how do we receive the healing of our sicknesses and pains?
The answer is the same in every instance. We receive it by faith. We take God at His Word and look to the Lord Jesus Christ. For "by His stripes we are healed." Note the tense: "we are healed," not "we will be healed." Our healing, both physical and spiritual, is available to us now, by faith.
The apostle Paul said, "We walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). That means that we do not pit our senses, our thoughts, or our emotions against what the Word of God says. We do not conform the Word of God to our experiences. That is walking by sight. No, we keep confessing the promises of God, agreeing with them until we see the facts of our experience line up with the truth of God's Word. That is walking by faith.
When we receive the Lord Jesus, God says we are forgiven. We may not feel forgiven. But we are forgiven nonetheless, because God has said it. We may still fall into sin, but God's forgiveness covers us even there: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
In the same way, God says we are healed. The healing of our sicknesses, like the forgiveness of our sins, took place two thousand years ago on the cross. It has already been settled. But if we try to make the Word of God match up with our experience, we will never see it. However, if we will agree with the truth of God's Word, we will begin to see our experience line up with it, and our healing will come forth.
We may still experience illness or disease, but there is a remedy: "Is anyone among you sick," James asks. "Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up" (James 5:14-15).
Long ago, the prophet Isaiah saw that Jesus would take our sicknesses and sins, our pains and iniquities upon Himself. He bore them for us, so that you and I no longer have to.
And this brings us to the closing part of today's study. All of these benefits of the faith are not free. There is a cost and here in verse 18 we read about the cost of Discipleship.
18 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. 19 Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”
20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
21 Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Wind and Wave Obey Jesus
23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. 25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
Four separate times in Jesus' recorded ministry, we find the Lord rebuking His disciples with the stern words, "...O you of little faith..." Each instance is found with unique circumstances, and discussing varying causes for the lack of faith in the disciples. We can benefit greatly by the intermittent shortcomings seen in the apostles, if we will but learn from their error and the Lord's correction.
REGARDING WORRY
In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus admonished His followers not to worry. Our concerns should not rest upon the body and the things we need to subsist, for the Lord knows these and is ready to supply them (6:32). Rather, our focus ought to be on the kingdom of God, and the righteousness of God. Jesus ask, "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?" (6:27) Indeed, we accomplish nothing by worrying, except to distract ourselves from the things which demand our attention.
Notice the statement wherein Jesus examines the faith of a worrier. "Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (6:30). Worry in the child of God is evidence that we do not trust God to do what He has promised. If the Lord gives such wonderful care to the grass, how greater will His concern be for us, who are created in His own image? And indeed, Jesus assures us, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." (6:33)
If we will set the work of the kingdom and the pursuit of righteous living at the forefront of our thoughts and actions, then we can have full assurance that the needs of the body will be met adequately by our loving Father.
REGARDING FEAR
Matthew 8:23-27 records a boat trip across the sea of Galilee. As the ride became rough, the disciples began to panic; but the Lord was fast asleep. They woke Jesus, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" (8:25)
Rather than commend them for waking Him, that He might deal with the peril which had come upon them, Jesus spoke, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" (8:26) Their fear of danger bore witness to their failure to rely upon God. They became the counter-example of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, who being cast to a fiery furnace placed their confidence in God, whether they would be granted life or death (Daniel 3:13-18).
The apostle Paul is exemplary, who endured many hazards and hardships, yet glorified God in these (2 Corinthians 11:23-28; 12:10). Jesus assures us that we need not fear if we are a child of God, "...do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." (Matthew 10:28-31)
REGARDING DOUBT
On another sail across the sea of Galilee, Jesus sent the disciples ahead, and came to them walking on the water (Matthew 14:23-33). Having revealed himself to them (for they thought he was a ghost), Peter sought further confirmation. "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." (14:28) The Lord invited him to walk on water. But, we read, "...when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!'" (14:30) His faith collapsed.
"O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" (14:31) Peter made an amazing display of faith, stepping out over the edge of the boat. He walked on water! One step, two step... And then, rather than walking by faith, Peter walked by sight. And seeing wind and wave, he began to sink.
Paul wrote, "...we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7) Time and again we are told through Hebrews 11, that men and women of the Lord acted "...by faith..." That requires us to look beyond things temporary and at the things which are eternal (Hebrews 11:13-16, 24-26; 2 Corinthians 4:17-18). We need to have the boldness of faith which Peter exhibited, but not fall into the same manner of uncertainty, for God is faithful.
REGARDING HUMAN REASONING
After being tested by the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 16:1-12), Jesus warned His disciples, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." (16:6) In the context, we are told that in their travelling, the disciples "...had forgotten to take bread." (16:5) Thus, having heard the Lord's caution about the leaven of the religious leaders, the disciples "...reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘It is because we have taken no bread.'" (16:7)
What were they thinking? They displayed the same lack of faith which we see in Nicodemus. Jesus tried to teach him about the spiritual birth, but he couldn't get his mind beyond the physical realm (John 3:1-8). Jesus' words to Nicodemus, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?" (3:10) To His disciples, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? ...How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? — but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." (16:8, 11)
The apostle Paul wrote, "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14) To omit spiritual discernment when it comes to the word of God is to completely miss the point. Paul continued with the Corinthians, "...I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ..." (3:1) We are useless to the Lord and to our brethren if our understanding and response to the word is governed by a lack of spiritual sense. Having said such, we must be so careful to let the word mean what it says, not what we want it to say. Some make the Bible jump through illogical intellectual hoops to come up with an interpretation. Such is NOT spiritual understanding!
Friends, let us not be people of little faith. Jesus' rebuke of His disciples these four times was not only for their benefit, but it was recorded that you and I might not falter in the same fashion. Let us be strong in faith, grounded in the Scriptures and in the hope of heaven.
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Source: pastorken
