Text: Matthew 4: 23-25 – “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.”
We will look at verses 18 – 21 in our next lesson. We are not skipping the.
We are looking at the start of Jesus’ ministry to those in spiritual darkness and those with physical disabilities. We considered the ministry to those in spiritual darkness yesterday. Today, look at His ministry to the physically disabled.
This is the first of three ministry tours of Jesus in the region of Galilee. On this tour, he takes 4 fishermen with Him – Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Three of these will become what is called the inner circle of the disciples. We will discuss this later.
The second tour included all 12 of the disciples. And in the third He sent the 12 disciples ahead in pairs and He then followed later.
He went throughout Galilee teaching – instructing in the truth of the good news of the kingdom. We are told that He also healed those He came into contact with. The Greek word for healing is the same word we get our word therapy from. It means to cure or heal. The words sicknesses and diseases used here in the Greek carry to different concepts. The word used for sickness means illnesses or diseases, while the word used here for a disease means maladies. A malady here is an illness that is chronic or deep-seated. any undesirable or disordered condition. It didn’t matter how minor or how severe the illness – He healed them.
We are told that His fame (reports about Him) spread quickly
throughout the region. No one had ever down what He was doing. The people in
the area begin to bring many for Him to minister to. They were:
- ·
The sick – wretched, ill
- ·
Diseases – infirmities
- ·
Torments – Pains
- ·
Demon-possessed – under the power of
a Demon
- ·
Epileptics – in KJV – lunatic –
means to be moon-struck. It was believed
that the seizures were caused by the phases of the moon.
- · Paralytics (KJV – palsy) – paralyzed
He had compassion for them and healed, or ministered to them. And because of this, large crowds joined with those who were traveling with Jesus. They came from the areas of Galilee, Decapolis (“the ten cities” – According to Church Elder Pliny, these cities were: Damascus, Opoton, Philadelphia, Raphana, Scythopolis, Gadara, Hippondion, Pella, Galasa, and Canatha), Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond Jordon. We see that Jesus drew large crowds of diverse people to listen to His teachings. Matthew is showing how that Jesus’ healings were used to draw people to Him, that they might hear and believe in Him.
We are challenged by the Great Commission to share this truth with a world that is getting darker and darker day by day. Jesus touched the dichotomist parts of man – both body and soul. We must understand that God is concerned with both our Spiritual health and our physical health.
But, His primary concern is with our Spiritual Health. How is your
Spiritual Health today?
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