Jesus’ Early Teaching and Healing

MATTHEW gives us a very comprehensive summary of Jesus’ activity, saying that he “went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” (Matt. 4:23) One cannot read a statement of this kind without being impressed with the fact that Jesus conducted a very vigorous ministry, allowing little time for rest, and no time at all for things other than those which pertained directly or indirectly to the kingdom of God.

Regardless of the standpoint from which we view the Master; we find in him those traits of character which reveal the closeness of his walk with God, and the whole-hearted manner in which he endeavored to do the will of God. His activity in preaching the Gospel and in healing the sick is no exception to this.

Paul tells us that the Gospel was preached beforehand unto Abraham when the Lord said to him that through his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed. (Gal. 3:8,16) This theme song of good news was very prominent in the messages God gave through his holy prophets of the Old Testament. And Jesus was so thoroughly in accord with the divine plan expressed through this Gospel that it was his meat and drink to proclaim it to all who had a hearing ear.

Nor should we, as followers of the Master, overlook this important element of his character, for we cannot be truly like him unless we too are actively interested in making known the glad tidings. We should not assume that it is our privilege to select those traits of the Master’s character which we would like to copy and emulate him merely in these things. Paul speaks of growing up into Christ in “all things,” and these all things include his self-sacrificing zeal in bearing witness to the truth.—Eph. 4:15

MARK 1:14, 15—This passage indicates that Jesus centered his activity in Galilee when he learned that John the Baptist had been put in prison. He preached “the Gospel of the kingdom of God,” and stressed the fact that the “time” was “fulfilled,” and that the “kingdom of God” was “at hand.” Prof. Wilson translates this expression, “God’s royal majesty has approached.” This seems to be the correct thought for it indicates, not that the kingdom of God was established at that time, but rather that the One who was to be King in that kingdom was present among the people.

For centuries God had been promising to send the Messiah and King, and now he had come. Even so, he had not then come to establish a kingdom in power and great glory, but to die as the Redeemer of the people. It is at the second coming of Christ that the long-promised kingdom of God is established.

MARK 1:32-39—“They brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils.” Higher critics of the Bible would like to have us believe that the New Testament references to those who were possessed with devils indicate that the people merely thought these unfortunate ones were possessed with devils, while actually they were only mentally sick. However, in this passage a clear distinction is made between those who were sick, and those who “were possessed with devils.”

Granting that it might have been possible for the general public of that day to believe superstitiously that those who were merely mentally unbalanced were in reality possessed with devils, we cannot concede that Jesus’ viewpoint was based on superstition. Our lesson tells us that Jesus “suffered not the devils to speak.” This indicates that in his mind these “devils” were real beings who could take possession of men’s minds.

The account also indicates that these “devils” were acquainted with Jesus. This is quite in harmony with the testimony given us by Peter and Jude (I Pet. 3:19,20; II Pet. 2:4,5; Jude 6) which reveals that the “devils” of Jesus’ day were none other than the “angels which kept not their first estate” at the time of the flood. On account of their sin at that time they were restrained from the free intercourse with the human race which was theirs before the flood, but were, and still are able to take possession of the minds of those who will surrender to them. It is these same “devils” who constitute the background of spiritualism today.

The experience recorded in this lesson seemed to have occurred in the home of Simon’s wife’s mother. It was after the sun went down that they began to bring many to Jesus who were sick and possessed with devils. It would appear that he had a long evening of tiring service, yet we read that he arose early the next morning and “departed into a solitary place” to pray. Jesus realized that if he was to continue his active ministry, he needed strength from his Heavenly Father—strength which was available through the privilege of prayer. Jesus did not make prayer the end of his association with God, but a means to the end.

When his disciples found him where he had retreated for prayer, he said to them, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth.” “For therefore came I forth”—this expression is very much in harmony with a statement Jesus made to Pilate when he said, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.” (John 18:37) It was not merely that he had gone into Galilee to preach the Gospel, but rather that this was one of the main purposes of his coming into the world.

It was because of Jesus’ faithfulness in bearing witness to the truth that he was “the light of the world.” (John 9:5) Not only did he preach the Gospel—the good news—by word of mouth, but by his miracles as well. God’s promised blessing of all the families of the earth will mean the destruction of sickness and death. The good news of the Kingdom would lose its real meaning if it were robbed of this comforting fact. So, in order to give more weight to his oral message of glad tidings, Jesus used the power of God granted to him for this purpose to give practical demonstrations of what the “Gospel” really meant. True, he healed only a few of the people, but we know that when the promises of God are fulfilled all the families of the earth are thus to be blessed.

LUKE 4:16-21—The main point of this passage of Scripture is that it reveals the source of the Master’s authority for preaching the Gospel. It was shortly after his baptism, when the Holy Spirit had come upon him, and here the Master is explaining the practical meaning of the Spirit’s anointing, that it was his commission to lay down his life proclaiming the glad tidings. And here it is well to remember that every Spirit-filled life will be one that is devoted to bearing witness to the truth. Any Christian who is not thus impelled to lay down his life for the witness of Jesus may seriously question whether or not he is actuated by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit’s commission for service, as quoted by Jesus, is that of Isaiah 61:1-3. There is a slight variation in the New Testament wording of this commission from that of the Old Testament account, but the meaning is the same. The account in Isaiah states, “The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.” Jesus speaks of this as preaching the Gospel to the poor. Both renderings indicate that the Gospel is not for the self-satisfied of this world, but only for those who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Jesus was not commissioned to convert the world by preaching the Gospel, nor are his followers; but we are to sow the seeds of truth beside all waters, knowing that the Lord will direct that those who are “meek,” will hear and be blessed by it.

It is the sweet and consoling influence of the Gospel that serves to bind up the brokenhearted. No words could have been more potent to comfort the heart of Martha than those spoken by Jesus when he said to her, “Thy brother shall rise again.” (John 11:23) And no message we can give to the brokenhearted of today will do more to dry their tears than to assure them that all in their graves are to come forth.

The Holy Spirit’s commission for service speaks of setting captives free and of opening prisons to them who are bound. It seems reasonable to suppose that one of these expressions refers to those who are bound by chains of darkness and superstition, and that we set them free through the power of the truth; while the other is a reference to those who are held prisoners in the great prison house of death.

Jesus was able literally to set some of these free, and we can all, even as Jesus did, proclaim to the people that the power of God is yet to be used for setting free all the captives of death—that Jesus has the “keys of hell” and will unlock its gates and set its prisoners free. What a glorious message, and what a blessed privilege is ours of proclaiming it, of telling the whole world these wondrous tidings of great joy!

Jesus added a point to the Holy Spirit’s commission which does not appear in Isaiah’s outline of it—the recovering of sight to the blind. While the prophet Isaiah in chapter 35 forecasts this, and our Lord carried it out literally, here it might well be merely an elaboration on the thought of preaching deliverance to the captives, that is, those who are bound by ignorance and superstition. To give these the light of truth and thus free them from the enslaving cords of darkness has much the same thought, symbolically speaking, as giving sight to the blind.

The whole world is blinded by Satan’s deceptions, and while the Gospel does not open many blind eyes today, the time is coming when, through the ministration of Jesus and his church in glory, all the blind eyes will be open and all the deaf ears shall be unstopped. It is well to remember in this connection, that in some respects this commission for service embraces the work of the millennial age as well as that of the Gospel age.

“To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”—here is a dispensational truth, a reference to the plan of God for the present Gospel age. It is a reference to the work of sacrifice which began with Jesus and will be completed with the full end of the Gospel age, showing that this is the “acceptable year” or time, for those sacrifices to be made.

This particular part of the Gospel which Jesus was commissioned to preach, and which we too, as members of his body are commissioned to preach, has to do with the chief work of the Gospel age; namely, the sacrificial work of The Christ. And it is still our privilege today to “proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,” for the privilege of sacrifice is still open for all who hear the call to follow in the footsteps of the Master.

Jesus did not quote the entire commission of the Holy Spirit as it is recorded in Isaiah 61:1-3. He omitted that part which speaks of the “day of vengeance of our God.” He recognized that the commission to proclaim a message of this kind could not apply until this end of the age, when the day of God’s vengeance would be upon the world, so he did not apply this to himself. As the “feet” members of his body, however, this part of the divine commission for service has a special application to us.

And how should the “day of vengeance” be proclaimed? Does it mean that we are commissioned to pronounce vengeance upon the people? Certainly not! God’s vengeance is already upon the world, and we stand merely as the interpreters of what it means. The expression, “To comfort all that mourn,” is associated with proclaiming the day of vengeance, and the thought we get from it is that by properly explaining to those who have an ear to hear the meaning of present world distress, we comfort them.

This seems to be the thought of Isaiah 35:4, where we are admonished to “say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you.” How sweet is the privilege to assure all who will listen, that just beyond this day of vengeance, the salvation of God, even life for evermore, will be given to the people. Let us seek more diligently to emulate Christ by being faithful to this commission of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel of the kingdom.

QUESTIONS

Quote the words of Matthew by which he sums up the activity of Jesus in Galilee.

How do we know that the “devils” which possessed people in Jesus’ day were real beings? Who were they?

Did Jesus consider preaching the Gospel an incidental part of his mission to earth?

What Old Testament scripture did Jesus use as authority for his ministry? Does this commission apply to his followers?

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