Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 66 – The essence of God – Omnipotence (miracles). Mar 9:14-29; Luke 13:10-17; 14:1-6; 17:11-19.

Title: Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 66 - The essence of God - Omnipotence (miracles). MAR 9:14-29; Luke 13:10-17; 14:1-6; 17:11-19.      

 

29. Healing of the 10 lepers. God’s power will result in thankfulness for the one who has faith, LUK 17:11-19.

 

The flip side of this is the person who is delivered by God but continues in self-absorption and only expects more. You can do a lot for a person and they only come to expect it, while someone else may see the truth resulting in thanksgiving.

 

LUK 17:11 And it came about while He was on the way to Jerusalem, that He was passing between Samaria and Galilee.

 

LUK 17:12 And as He entered a certain village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him;

 

The account begins with ten unclean men, all of whom were lepers. The Jews and Samaritans would not normally live together, but misery loves company and all ten were outcasts. What difference does birth make if you are experiencing a living death? But these men had hope, for Jesus was there, and they cried out for mercy.

 

They knew that Jesus was totally in command of even disease and death, and they trusted Him to help them.

 

LUK 17:13 and they raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"

 

LUK 17:14 And when He saw them, He said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And it came about that as they were going, they were cleansed.

 

Jesus commanded the men to go show, themselves to the priest, which in itself was an act of faith, for they had not yet been cured. When they turned to obey, they were completely healed, for their obedience was evidence of their faith.

 

2KI 5:1 Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master, and highly respected, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man was also a valiant warrior, but he was a leper.

 

2KI 5:2 Now the Arameans had gone out in bands, and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel; and she waited on Naaman's wife.

 

2KI 5:3 And she said to her mistress, "I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy."

 

2KI 5:4 And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, "Thus and thus spoke the girl who is from the land of Israel."

 

2KI 5:5 Then the king of Aram said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel." And he departed and took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold and ten changes of clothes.

 

2KI 5:6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, "And now as this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy."

 

2KI 5:7 And it came about when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? But consider now, and see how he is seeking a quarrel against me."

 

2KI 5:8 And it happened when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent word to the king, saying, "Why have you torn your clothes? Now let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel."

 

2KI 5:9 So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots, and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha.

 

2KI 5:10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you and you shall be clean."

 

2KI 5:11 But Naaman was furious and went away and said, "Behold, I thought, 'He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper.'

 

2KI 5:12 "Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.

 

2KI 5:13 Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, "My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?"

 

2KI 5:14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

 

2KI 5:15 When he returned to the man of God with all his company, and came and stood before him, he said, "Behold now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel; so please take a present from your servant now."

 

 

LUK 17:15 Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice,

 

LUK 17:16 and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.

 

We have to admit that the Samaritan had no real desire to go to the priests because he’s an outcast by birth, but he does return with thankfulness and the other 9 do not.

 

LUK 17:17 And Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine —  where are they?

 

LUK 17:18 "Was no one found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?" 

 

LUK 17:19 And He said to him, "Rise, and go your way; your faith has made you well."

 

But before we judge them too harshly, what is our own "GQ" - "Gratitude Quotient"? How often do we take our blessings for granted and fail to thank the Lord?

 

We are quick to pray but slow to praise.

 

GQ - gratitude quotient. The ratio of thankfulness to the amount of gifts from God.

 

PSA 107:8 [chorus - repeated 4 times]

Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness,

And for His wonders to the sons of men!

 

HEB 13:15

Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

 

Sacrifice of praise is the loss of arrogance and self-absorption and the gain of genuine humility, PSA 51:15-17.

 

PSA 51:15 O Lord, open my lips,

That my mouth may declare Thy praise.

 

PSA 51:16 For Thou dost not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; Thou art not pleased with burnt offering.

 

PSA 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.

 

Instead of going to the priest, the Samaritan became a priest - and he built his altar at the feet of Jesus Christ.

 

PSA 116:12 What shall I render to the Lord

For all His benefits toward me?

 

PSA 116:13 I shall lift up the cup of salvation,

And call upon the name of the Lord.

 

PSA 116:14 I shall pay my vows to the Lord,

Oh may it be in the presence of all His people.

 

PSA 116:15 Precious in the sight of the Lord

Is the death of His godly ones.

 

PSA 116:16 O Lord, surely I am Thy servant,

I am Thy servant, the son of Thy handmaid,

Thou hast loosed my bonds.

 

PSA 116:17 To Thee I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving,

And call upon the name of the Lord.

 

PSA 116:18 I shall pay my vows to the Lord,

Oh may it be in the presence of all His people,

 

PSA 116:19 In the courts of the Lord's house,

In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

 

By coming to Jesus, the man received something greater than physical healing he was also saved from his sins. Jesus said, "your faith has saved you" (literal translation), the same words He spoke to the repentant woman who anointed His feet (Luke 7:50).

 

The Samaritan's nine friends were declared clean by the priest, but he was declared saved by the Son of God!

 

While it is wonderful to experience the miracle of physical healing, it is even more wonderful to experience the miracle of eternal salvation.

 

Every child of God should cultivate the grace of gratitude. It not only opens the heart to further blessings but glorifies and pleases the Father.

 

An unthankful heart is fertile soil for all kinds of sins (ROM 1:21 ff).

 

ROM 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

 

ROM 1:22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

 

ROM 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

 

30. Healing the two blind men at Jericho. God’s power is manifested in the heart of a servant, MAT 20:29-34.

 

We’ve already seen a case of two blind men who were at first ignored by the Lord, but persisted and followed Him into a house. Here we see two blind men calling out to the Lord in the same fashion, referring to Him as Son of David or Messiah, but this time the Lord stops and asks them what they want.

 

MAT 20:29 And as they were going out from Jericho, a great multitude followed Him.

 

Jericho is a cursed city. It was the first city taken by Joshua out of which only Rahab’s family survived and the city was destroyed to its foundation and Joshua pronounced a curse on any who would rebuild it. It’s history is marred by murder, war, poverty, and even an earthquake. The modern city is centered on a different foundation only a mile to the east of the old city and still it is a place of trouble in the West Bank.  

 

MAT 20:30 And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"

 

Mark gives us the name of one of them:

MAR 10:46

a blind beggar named Bartimaeus

 

MAT 20:31 And the multitude sternly told them to be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"

 

MAT 20:32 And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?"

 

This question is slightly different than the first one:

MAT 9:28 And after He had come into the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They  said to Him, "Yes, Lord."

 

MAT 9:29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, "Be it done to you according to your faith." 

 

MAT 9:30 And their eyes were opened.

 

The key to this miracle is what was said to the disciples before it occurred.

 

After James’ and John’s mom asks Jesus to have them sit on His right and left, the other ten became indignant, and the fighting about who is the greatest continues and the Lord responds:

 

MAT 20:25 But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.

 

Rulers who lord it over others have temporal power but not God’s power. God’s power is manifested in the servant of all, vs. 26.

 

The ultimate power grab was satan’s before human history and then again in the garden and for now he is the ruler of this world, temporarily and only as permitted for a time by God, but does he possess divine, eternal power? No. We only need look at his end.

 

MAT 20:26 "It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,

 

MAT 20:27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;

 

MAT 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. "

 

This is the point of this miracle. As the crowd tells these two men to be quiet as they imagine the Messiah too important to even talk to these cursed men, not only does Christ talk to them but He takes the position of a servant.

 

MAT 20:32 And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?"

 

Jesus Christ becomes the servant of two cursed men from a cursed city - “What do you want Me to do for you?”

 

Not, “Let me tell you what you should do for me as the King.” I came to serve not to be served and to lay down my life. This is love and in divine love there is divine power.

 

MAT 20:33 They said to Him, "Lord, we want our eyes to be opened."

 

MAT 20:34 And moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.

 

Again, this healing is based on faith:

 

LUK 18:42

And Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has made you well."

 

The ultimate freedom is to be found in the attitude of the servant of all. He is free from slavery to expectations, rewards, recognition, and the compensation from people.

 

This type of freedom, the ultimate freedom, is not a part of the human fabric. It can only be accomplished by divine power.

 

31. Healing of the man born blind. God’s power gives the believer the capacity to see the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ, JOH 9:1-41.

 

In seeing the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ you also see the error in false traditions, taboos, stumbling blocks, and false accusations designed to remove the credit for all healing of the soul to some explainable, logical, earthly explanation.
 

JOH 9:1 And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.

 

JOH 9:2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?"

 

What do we see the disciples making an issue out of immediately? Sin. What caused the deformity or the problem.

 

Rather than focusing on sin and the problems or analyzing the reasons for the problem, God wants us to focus on the solutions.

 

JOH 9:3 Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.

 

JOH 9:4 "We must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work.

 

The man was not made to be born blind so that Christ could heal him, that seems to be what it says in the NASB because of the punctuation, but there are not punctuation marks in the original manuscripts so we can freely read:

 

“It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but in order that the works of God should be manifest in him, we must work the works of Him who sent me as long as it is day.”

 

All our frailties are a result of the fall, but the fall becomes an opportunity for God to show His works through Christ, specifically the redemption of His cross.

 

JOH 9:5 "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 

 

JOH 9:6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes,

 

JOH 9:7 and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). And so he went away and washed, and came back seeing.

 

In one case He touches the eyes, in another He uses spittle on the eyes, and here He uses spittle and dirt on the eyes. We could analyze these ad nauseam, but the simplest reason is that He doesn’t want us focusing on the manner of healing but on the message of healing, which if you have noticed is always faith.

 

Yet with clay in his eyes we would conclude that there is irritation, which when experienced by anyone, encourages the need to wash it out. At the pool the beggar’s eyes are cleansed.

 

JOH 9:8 The neighbors therefore, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, "Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?"

 

JOH 9:9 Others were saying, "This is he," still others were saying, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the one."

 

JOH 9:10 Therefore they were saying to him, "How then were your eyes opened?"

 

They shouldn’t be asking how but who. He is going to be asked “how” four times in vs. 10, 15, 19, and 26.

 

So often we’re overly concerned with “how” God does His miracles in us instead of just glorifying the Savior who alone can perform them.

 

We’re great analyzers and desirers of seeing the how instead of just having faith in the Whom. We will never be able to ascertain all the details of how God transforms our infirmities into divine power, there are too many and too many are unseen, and therefore we are to walk by faith and not by sight.

 

Think of how often this has occurred in our study of these miracles. Where are we to buy bread, how can we feed so many, by what authority do You forgive sin, how can you heal on the Sabbath, etc. Nicodemus asked how he could re-enter his mother’s womb, the crowd asked how Jesus could give them His flesh to eat, how, how, explain it all to me in detail first and then maybe I’ll believe. No you won’t!

 

HEB 11:1

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.