Matthew 4:23-25 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
For the Good News to spread throughout Israel and the world, Jesus had to perform many miracles in his lifetime. He had to do what no other man from the beginning of time had done. Even today, Jesus’ name is expressed daily in every land, by every people, in every community. Unfortunately, oftentimes the name Jesus is used as an invective, but sometimes his lovely name is used in reverence. People either curse him or praise and serve him. He and his feats and teachings are known by many people in this contemporary world of seven-and-half billion people. Jesus is the best known name and personality in the world over 2,000 years after his time on Earth. To be known as He is, Jesus had to be different from all other people. He had to bring about phenomenal acts that were witnessed and recorded by others. From an insignificant part of the world, minuscule in nature, came this man, Jesus, born of a virgin. His miraculous actions opened the eyes and ears of many to his teachings. In the above focus we see him in Galilee, performing magnificent acts that penetrated the culture and the society of the Jews. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him. He greatly impacted the religious culture of the Jews. His ideas began to turn their world upside down. His teaching that people could find God directly, that they could be changed into eternal beings through faith in God assaulted the religious leaders’ position and status within Jewish society. The Jewish elite did not want to hear that God sent his Son to save his people by faith in him. (See John 3:16) By going directly to God, the people did not need the temple nor the sacrifices within it to please God. The priests and the teachers of the law used this idea of desecration of the temple as justification for killing Jesus. The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’” (Matthew 26: 59-61) Jesus did not answer this accusation by these false witnesses, making the leaders of the religious community excessively angry, wishing now to kill Jesus immediately. They did kill Jesus that day, but they could not rid the world of his teachings, his testimony about the Father God, and his concomitant miracles. Today, Jesus’ teachings are still taught everywhere. Even though Jesus called himself the Son of Man, the perfect image of man, his teachings and miracles expressed explicitly that He was truly the Son of God. Of course, Jesus was killed for many reasons; yet his life was designed by God, for He always did the will of God. The purpose of his life and the miracles He performed was to release the people of the world from slavery to sin and darkness. As the prophet foretold, The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. (Isaiah 9:2)
In Moses’ time, we see God delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt by miraculous events. The plagues Egypt experienced by God’s hand brought Pharaoh to his knees, finally releasing the Jewish people from slavery. If the plagues would not have happened, if God would not have intervened in a supernatural way, the people of Israel might have disappeared, absorbed into the culture of Egypt. They might today still be considered second class inhabitants of Egypt. But God did not allow this to happen. He heard the complaints of his chosen and consequently came to their aide by releasing one plague after another on Egypt. Finally, the miraculous events provided a strong enough impetus for their freedom from Egypt, just as Jesus’ miracles identified a way of escape from captivity to sin. The Israelites could have been identified as slaves to the Egyptians all through the chronicles of history, but God set them free. Not only were the Israelites free from the land of the Pharaohs, but they were free to establish their own land, to live according to their own dictates under God. This story of the release of the Jews from slavery is repeated often to the Israelites by the Patriarchs and prophets of Israel, never to be forgotten by the Jewish people—the divine intervention of God into their lives as his chosen people. And the people answered and said, “Far be it from us that we would forsake Yahweh to serve other gods, for Yahweh our God brought us and our ancestors from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, and did these great signs before our eyes. He protected us along the entire way that we went, and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. And Yahweh drove out all the people before us, the Amorites who live in the land. We will serve Yahweh, for he is our God.” (Joshua 24:16-18) This story of the Jewish people being released from slavery and their subsequent history of establishing their own nation is analogous to the people of the world being released from slavery to the devil and all his ways by the acts of Jesus. Jesus’ miracles, his life, his sacrifice, his teachings, his resurrection have paved the way to freedom for all people, anywhere in this world. This world is no longer our home. We who are alive IN CHRIST are going to a new land, an eternal dwelling place, one of bliss and happiness forever. Jesus said, Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12:25)
Now we are in the wilderness, needing the constant companionship of the Holy Spirit to comfort, lead, and guide us. The day of Pentecost was necessary: we live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Just as Jesus lived, so do we abide in this land of wilderness, this alien land that cannot sustain our spiritual souls. When tempted by Satan, Jesus said, It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) Jesus performed miracles to provide us with an avenue out of slavery. We crossed the Red Sea, and God destroyed the powers that were restraining us in slavery. Now we must take our lives away from the authority of others, whoever the “Egyptians” are in our situations, and accept the authority of God in our lives. He gave us the Spirit to lead us to the Holy Land, heaven itself. Each of us is known as the temple of God where the Spirit dwells deeply in our souls. We are to participate with God by listening to his Spirit. That is why every day we should go to the Lord first, seeking his sustaining food, asking him for directions for the day. Our lives have been cut loose from Egypt, but we are still under authority, and now it is God himself. He wants us to reveal his magnificence to the world. We are the light of the world, but light requires a generator; the Holy Spirit is that dynamo within us. Do not go back to the ways of Egypt: do not go back just because those ways are comfortable or familiar to you. This was a constant temptation for the Jews who were in the wilderness. They often complained about their circumstances as they wandered. But the Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night were leading them to the Promised Land. The Spirit of God is leading us to the Promised Land. If we follow his direction, He will also protect us from our enemies. When the Jews were in danger of Pharaoh and his army recapturing them into slavery, the Holy Spirit’s cloud descended between the Egyptians and the Israelites, stopping the Egyptian army from decimating the fleeing Jews. Otherwise, the Spirit of God was there not only to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land but to protect them from their enemies. We who are alive in Jesus Christ have the Spirit of God as our protection. He leads and protects us. How do we know all of this? We know this is our inheritance and privilege because Jesus performed miracles. His deeds surpassed science just as the plagues surpassed science. As surely as the Israelites were protected in the wilderness so are we, for we are God’s children. We might experience some starvation, some thirst, even some searing heat, but the Cloud is always there, the Pillar sets down at night to calm our fears. His presence is everywhere within our homes; He resides in our temples. God is real, the Holy Spirit is real, and our destination is real. He will work out all things to our betterment if we will only believe in his words and works and not our own awareness. We know that is true because Jesus went about doing good, healing everyone. Our new life has been created by him and not ourselves. Praise God, we have been healed, made new, and we have life forever. Our life in Christ is the fulfillment of an oft quoted proverb: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6) Amen!
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