December 20, 2015
Scripture:
Scripture:
Read Isaiah 53:11. Our brother read this verse earlier and I was struck by the wondrous work that was accomplished. He was wounded and we were healed. In this verse, we find that those wounds were more than just physical, they were emotional. And it was bearing that painful labour that brought forth fruit. God will see that fruit, and not just say “it was good” as in the days of creation, but more. He is satisfied because He does all things well.
Hymn 326 - To Israel’s land, when Israel sinned
We’ve been talking about “When Jesus was here…” Last time, Jesus was in Nazareth when He turned the water to wine. Today we are going to look at the first of two miracles.
Luke 5:12 - 14
Leviticus 13:44 - 46
This man had a big problem. He had leprosy, which was not good. Leprosy is a sickness that can kill you. There is no cure for it. It is very serious. In the Old Testament, if a white spot of any kind appeared on your skin, you had to have a priest examine it.
In the beginning, God did something tremendous. He made the world, the galaxies, creatures, plants, and then man. These are amazing things, and it is all covered in one chapter. But in Leviticus it takes three chapters to cover the topic of leprosy.
Leprosy is a picture of sin. When one continues to sin, it continues to grow and they end up dying with no hope.
In our song, we sang about a man with leprosy who was made clean again. What medicine did he use? None at all actually: Elijah, with instructions from God, told him to go wash in the Jordan River. It is an example of the waters of death, and the newness of life.
In Leviticus, we read the law of the leper. How would you like to go to the doctor and have him tell you, “You are unclean. You must put a cloth over you mouth, and cry ‘unclean, unclean’ wherever you go.” People were not allowed to touch you at all. You couldn’t go home. You had to stay separated from family, and you couldn’t go to the synagogue. This man had come to Jesus and he was in this sad condition.
This man was in a certain city. He was full of leprosy and he saw Jesus. He had been watching Jesus. He had blessed the children and was healing the blind, lame, and dumb. He saw that Jesus had the power to cure every problem that was brought to Him. The man thought that if He could cure everyone else, He could heal his leprosy.
He approached Jesus on his face. He was not like proud Naamann who came with chariots and horses. He was humble, and was crying to the Lord and not demanding. He says, “If Thou wilt…” It is as though He was saying, “I know You have the power to heal me; I don’t know if you have the heart to do it for me.” Jesus did to him what no one was supposed to do: He touched him. But it was healing that went from Jesus to the man, not defilement from the man to Jesus.
Jesus didn’t touch him and then say, “By next week you will be a lot better.” It was instant healing. He has done the same for us. We were unclean, but through calvary we can be made whole.
You can imagine that man going home. He returns to his family saying, “I’ve been made well.” He wasn’t supposed to talk about it, but he was to go to the priest, just as Moses had commanded.
There was power in the midst of Israel now. A leper could be cleansed, and sinners could be saved. Jesus was in a certain city for a leper who knew nothing about the power of God, but found out about it that day.
Next time, we will take a look at another healing. But right now we can remember that “when Jesus was here” He healed a leper.
Ephesians 6:17-24
First in the armour of God came the truth that covers our loins. We then looked at the shield of faith and trust in God and a breastplate, both of which protect us from Satan’s darts. Also, we had the sandals of peace that we get from the gospel of God.
Now we have the helmet of salvation, which speaks to our minds and thoughts. Salvation has brought us into many marvelous privileges that we can occupy our minds with. We’ve seen many of them in this book. Meditation on these things helps us when we need to stand strong in a world against God. The Lord has provided salvation for our souls, but this refers to the salvation of our lives. It’s sad to see Christians waste their lives in ways that bring no eternal reward. The Lord has given us all that is necessary to live in the joy and power of our salvation.
Next is the Sword of the Spirit—the Word of God. It’s marvellous that God wanted to write us a book. Atheists miss so much; how do you have bed-rock truth without the Word? Hebrews 4:12 tells us that it is a double edged sword: it bears on others, but it bears on us as well. It’s important to know the Bible, and how to use it. It contains God’s answers on many different topics: temporal, spiritual, ecclesiastical, and so on. May we turn to it for help and encouragement!
The greatest example of the use of Scripture is in Jesus’ temptation. He used the Word, guided by the Spirit, fitted specifically for that moment. The Devil had nothing to say to it.
Verse 18 gives us the other side of the word: prayer. God has given us this armour, but we are still dependent on Him. We need to live in the spirit of prayer. We can have confidence, though: the One that we pray to makes the difference.
What Paul calls prayer here is supplication. It’s not opening a prayer book and reading a prayer; no, we can bring our problems and requests, guided by the Holy Spirit. We might think that we should pray for ourselves; after all, we’re the ones in conflict. That is good, but we need to also pray for “all saints” and bear one another up in prayer.
It’s marvelous to have the word of God—where would we get a spiritual reference, or divine instruction, without it?—but Paul gives prayer much attention, too. He even gave the Ephesians his specific prayer requests. It’s often said that the two pence the Good Samaritan gave the innkeeper represent the Word of God and prayer. They are so needful, and God knows our weakness and has provided accordingly. Now we need to learn and take advantage of our privileges.
Paul preached a spiritual mystery. A spiritual mystery is something that God hid in the past, but has now revealed. They didn’t have the gospel in the Old Testament, but we in this time of grace do.
Hymn 350 - I will make you fishers of men
Prayer