Matthew 8
COMMENTARY:
: 4 And Jesus said to him, See you tell no man; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony to them. (1435 “gift” [doron] means offering, present, of sacrifices and other gifts offered to God, an offering to a deity, offering box, sacrifice or contributed.)
DEVOTION: Jesus wasn’t in this world to gain glory for HIMSELF. HE wants the people to understand that HE came to give glory to the Father. HE wanted the Israelites to understand that HE was come to fulfill the Law of Moses not to give another law for them to follow. HE commanded him to go to the priest for the official examination to see if the leprosy was gone and then to offer the sacrifice that God required through HIS instructions to Moses for him to offer.
HE wanted the man who was healed to give a public testimony to the truth that he had been cleansed by Jesus.
We are to give a public testimony to all that Jesus is doing for us today. During testimony times in many churches there are few that really realize all the LORD is doing for them on a daily basis. When asked to stand up and give a testimony many will just pick a hymn rather than make any statement to the work of God in their life.
We need to be willing to give a testimony in church each time we have an opportunity. I thought recently that after a time of testimony our family was going to go forward to dedicate our granddaughter that we would have a opportunity to give a testimony regarding the joy we had to see one of our grandchildren dedicated to the LORD. So I waited until after testimony time to give a testimony but was never given an opportunity to give one. I was wrong for waiting. We need to never wait to give a testimony for the LORD.
Once we are in the habit of giving a testimony in church we should feel free to give one in public. That means on an airplane or at work or anywhere we are together with another person who needs to know the LORD.
CHALLENGE: Are you giving testimonies on a regular basis to those around you?
: 10 When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. (2296 “marveled” [thaumazo] means amazed, wonder, have in admiration, be surprised, or have respect for.)
DEVOTION: Jesus was impressed at the faith of the Centurion. As a Roman soldier he was a man of authority. He was used to people taking orders when he gave a command. He was a man of power. Here he finds himself in a position of a servant. He feels that he us unworthy of the LORD Jesus Christ even entering his home. He understands the power of faith. He understood the power that was available to Jesus.
He asked Jesus not to come to his home but to just say the word and his servant would be healed. It had “great faith” according to Jesus. HE had not seen this type of faith anywhere in the hearts of the children of Israel. It was not even in the hearts of HIS disciples yet. HE complimented this Roman soldier.
Jesus used this occasion to show the difference between those who were chosen and those who were not chosen. The children of the kingdom of Israel had many who were not obedient to the Word of God. They were not chosen, so they would spend eternity where there was outer darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth. That only describes one place which is the lake of fire where all those who reject Jesus Christ will spend eternity with the devil and his angels.
Jesus was a teacher with no fear of what HE had to say to get the attention of those who pretended they wanted to follow HIM. HE wanted people to understand that there were only two locations for eternity. There was no middle ground where people could go to suffer for a little while and then enter heaven. It was either heaven or hell.
HE was the only way to enter heaven.
CHALLENGE: When the LORD looks at our faith what does HE see? Trust or doubt in HIS ability to work in our world.
: 14 And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, HE saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick with a fever. (3994 “wife’s mother” [penthera] means mother-in-law, or the mother of a person’s spouse.)
DEVOTION: Healing is one part of the ministry of Jesus. HE preached the good news of the gospel to all those who would listen to HIS preaching. HE gave them a choice to make regarding where they would spend eternity. HE also taught the people. HE taught them the difference between the use of the Ten Commandments and what the Pharisees were teaching. HE wanted them to know the difference between being religious and being a true follower of HIM. It was more than just an outward appearance, it was a change of heart which affected the inner man to the point that he wanted to change to be more like Christ.
When we come to Christ HE accepts us just as we are but also wants us to realize that we are going to change over time if we are true followers. That change will be evident to us and to those around us. They will see a difference. We are not to be the same man or woman we were when we first became believers.
Now we face the issue of interpreting Scripture as a believer who wants to grow in the LORD. This passage helps us understand that first of all Peter was married. He had a mother-in-law that needed healing from the LORD.
Second we have to realize that the LORD didn’t heal everyone who was alive while HE walked this earth. HE healed all those who came to HIM for the purpose of showing that HE was the Son of God. Does this mean that God will heal everyone today that asks HIM? Is divine healing a part of the ministry today for all believers? We would like all those around us to be healed of whatever is happening in their life. Paul had a servant that almost died because he was so busy serving the LORD. Some people today are not healed. Does that mean that God has lost HIM power to heal? NO!! HE can still heal but James instructs us to call the elders and have them pray over the sick. We need to watch that we don’t think that because someone is not healed they have sinned and deserve what is happening to them. Sometimes God uses those who have an ailment to be a good witness for the LORD before HE takes them home to heaven.
We are presently praying for a healing of a fifteen year old girl that had a gymnastic accident that has left her paralyzed from the shoulders down. We want her healed. God is in control and HE might want to use her just the way she is for now. I wish all those who are paralyzed that are believers could be healed. It is not happening because that is not God’s plan for everyone.
Don’t let anyone tell you that because your faith is weak you are not healed. It is not Biblical. It usually hurts the faith of those who want to be healed.
CHALLENGE: Pray for healing but accept HIS answer.
: 29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, YOU Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? (928 “torment” [basanizo] means to question by applying torture, to vex with grievous pain, suffer, be in pain, harass, vex, experience anguish or to be harassed.)
DEVOTION: Jesus is coming down out of the mountain from teaching HIS disciples. HE is met with a leper, a soldier, and Peter’s mother-in-law’s fever. HE heals them all. That evening HE is met with a large group that needs healing and HE does it. WOW! What a day to be around the LORD. However, the next verses have some of HIS disciples coming to HIM with excuses of why they didn’t want to follow HIM right away. Would we have done that after a great day of healing?
After a day like that, it would seem good to have a day of sleep. Jesus entered into a boat with the disciples and went to sleep. However, a storm came up and the disciples thought they were going to die. They woke up Jesus to have HIM do something about the storm. HE did and they were amazed. Now they had just witnessed HIM heal many people of sicknesses.
Now HE lands on the other side of the lake and two men greet HIM that are possessed of an evil spirit or a fallen angel. This happens today as well. Jesus tells the demons to leave the men alone. They are afraid of Jesus and ask if HE would ALLOW them to go into a herd of swine. HE does. The swine die. The swine keepers run to the city to tell the owners what has happened. The come out and tell Jesus to leave their town. What gratitude!!!
The evil demons are presented in this passage as those who know the LORD and the future. Remember that there is only ONE devil called Satan in Scripture. He has an army of fallen angels called demons. Some of the fallen angels want to possess human bodies. Some of the fallen angels are in chains. Some of the fallen angels have other responsibilities. None of the fallen angels, including the devil, are presently in hell or the lake of fire.
In this verse we find that the demons are possessing men in an area that Jesus was traveling. Jesus wants to cast the demons out. The demons don’t want to be cast out by Jesus. They know HIS proper name: Son of God. They know that there is going to be a future time when there is only going to be a place of grievous pain waiting for them. They don’t want to go to that place until they have too. Remember that they were causing grievous pain to these two men before the demons left them. They wanted to dish it out but they didn’t want to take it.
If the demons know that there is a future place of torture, should those outside of Christ realize it too? In the back of every human mind there is the thought of an afterlife. Some try to hide it but it is there. We need to share the truth of the Word of God with all that we meet. There is only ONE WAY to heaven and that is through Jesus Christ.
CHALLENGE: We have the message. Share it!!! Many books say that it takes over 80 Christians to win one to the LORD. Let’s be one of the eighty. One other stat that is out there is that only five (5) percent of those who claim to be Christians try to win someone to Christ.
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