Lucas 4

Lucas 4

Stedman - A Day In The Life Of Jesus) THOUGHT - all...He was healing them - Oh, that he would do that just now! Still is he mighty to save; oh, that he would now display his ancient power, and lay His healing hands on every one of you! What fame He would get if He would do so! What joy there would be if all of you should now be turned to God! And why should it not be? Christ is able to do this; then, let us ask it of Him in earnest believing prayer (C H Spurgeon) In Lk 4:23+ Jesus had used therapeuo in quoting the proverb "Physician, heal yourself!" All (537)(hapas from a = collative ["to bring together" or as a particle of union] or from hama [260] = together + pas = all) means all like pas but even stronger. It is a strengthened from of pas often used with intensive meaning (the whole, everybody). And so Hapas means whole, universally, everybody, absolutely everybody, everything, quite all, the whole, all together (Mk 8:25). Plural = everyone, everything, all things. Mounce says hapas expresses "the wholeness of the object it describes, the fullness of the group." In Lk 3:21 all the people were baptized and in Lk 8:37 "all the people" asked Jesus to leave! As Jesus approached Jerusalem descending the Mount of Olives "the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully." With the negative in Lk 21:15 means "none of your opponents." In Lk 23:1 "the whole body of them got up and brought Him before Pilate." John 4:25 says the Messiah "will declare all things to us." In Acts 2:44 "all (pas) those who had believed were together and had all things (hapas) in common," certainly a challenge to followers of Christ in a world filled with selfish ambition! Are you (am I) willing to part with money and "things" for the common good of the body? In 1 Ti 3:16 "his perfect patience" is literally "the whole (hapas) of his longsuffering." TDNT says that "In Luke hapas is sometimes preferred when something impressive is to be said." BDAG summarized - (1) "the totality of a mass or object, whole, all, (hapas ton laon =) the whole people ("all the people" as opposed to an individual) Lk 3:21; Lk 8:37; 19:37; 23:1; Acts 25:24. Lk 21:4 "all that had happened" = Mt 28:11. "this whole domain" = Lk 4:6. Lk 19:48 (= "all the people"). (2) all, everybody, everything Mt 24:39; Lk 5:26; 7:16 Liddell-Scott - quite all, the whole, and in pl. all together, Homer, etc. 2. with an Adj., all silver, i.e. of massive silver, Od.; altogether evil, Ar. II. in singular everyone, In the Lxx in Ge 19:4 "all the people" surrounded Lot's house in Sodom (they were all depraved!), in Lev 6:22 "entirely offered up (Lxx = hapas = "whole offering') in smoke to the LORD", Hapas - 32x - Usage: all(21), all things(2), everyone(1), everything(4), none*(1), perfect(1), whole(2). Matt. 6:32; Matt. 24:39; Matt. 28:11; Mk. 1:27; Mk. 8:25; Mk. 11:32; Mk. 16:15; Lk. 3:21; Lk. 4:6; Lk. 4:40; Lk. 5:26; Lk. 8:37; Lk. 9:15; Lk. 19:37; Lk. 19:48; Lk. 20:6; Lk. 21:15; Lk. 23:1; Jn. 4:25; Acts 2:44; Acts 4:31; Acts 5:16; Acts 10:8; Acts 11:10; Acts 16:3; Acts 16:28; Acts 16:33; Acts 25:24; Acts 27:33; Eph. 6:13; 1 Tim. 1:16; Jas. 3:2 Hapas - 41x in 39v in the Septuagint - Gen. 19:4; Lev. 6:22; Lev. 8:27; Deut. 22:19; Deut. 22:29; Jos. 6:13; Jos. 6:20; 2 Sam. 3:25; 1 Ki. 2:26; 1 Ki. 12:24; 1 Ki. 13:11; 1 Chr. 10:11; 1 Chr. 16:43; 1 Chr. 17:10; Est. 8:12; Est. 9:28; Ps. 22:23; Prov. 25:4; Jer. 1:18; Jer. 5:19; Jer. 16:10; Jer. 18:23; Jer. 19:15; Jer. 23:8; Jer. 26:2; Jer. 29:1; Jer. 32:23; Jer. 36:11; Jer. 36:16; Jer. 36:32; Jer. 40:4; Jer. 41:12; Jer. 44:1; Jer. 47:2; Ezek. 38:8; Amos 7:10; Zech. 7:5 Sick (770)(astheneo from asthenes = without strength, powerless from a = without + sthenos = strength, bodily vigor) means to be feeble (in any sense), to be diseased, impotent, sick, to lack strength, to be infirm, to be weak. Luke's uses of astheneo - Lk 4:40; Acts 9:37; 19:12; Various (4164)(poikilos) means existence in various kinds or modes, diversified, manifold, variegated, many colored. "Poikilos is a common word in classical literature meaning “many/various/rich colors” along side each other, woven, or embroidered." (Hoehner) The point of this detail is the Jesus' power was not restricted to rebuking fever, but was power that produced positive effects in every shape, size or color (so to speak) of illness. Diseases (3554)(nosos) means a physical malady, disease, illness. BDAG adds it was "frequently viewed in Mediterranean society as socially devaluing." BDAG adds that nosos was also used of moral malady but no uses like that in the NT (secular quote = "the adulterer gives satisfaction to his own diseased inclination"). Liddell-Scott adds the following on nosos - sickness, disease, malady, Hom., etc. II. generally, distress, misery, suffering, sorrow, evil, Hes., Trag. 2. disease of mind, Trag.; i.e. madness, Soph. 3. of states, disorder, sedition, Plat. 4. a plague, bane, of a whirlwind, Soph." All 11 uses of nosos - Mt. 4:23; Mt. 4:24; Mt. 8:17; Mt. 9:35; Mt. 10:1; Mk. 1:34; Lk. 4:40; Lk. 6:18; Lk. 7:21; Lk. 9:1; Acts 19:12 Healing (curing)(2323)(therapeuo from therapon = an attendant, servant) means primarily to care for, to wait upon, minister to. It has two main senses in the NT, one speaking of rendering service (Acts 17:25) and the more common use describing medical aspects such as to take care of the sick, to heal, to cure (Matt. 4:24; 12:10; Mark 1:34+; Luke 6:7; 10:9), to recover health, to restore. Therapeúō means to heal miraculously in Matt. 4:23, 24; 10:1, 8; Acts 4:14. Luke 4:40 uses the picturesque imperfect tense for therapeuo -- the picture is of Jesus continually healing -- one sick person would come and He would lay His hands on him and heal him, then a lame person would come and He would heal him, then a deaf person would come and He would heal him, etc, etc. The imperfect tense then helps us to see the continuing stream of sick and demon possessed coming to Jesus. And quite a scene it was. We don't know how long this scene lasted, but we do know the whole town was there and it was evening. So depending on how many were sick, this scene could have lasted well into the night. Did Jesus pause for dinner? The text does not say. While we do not know how long it lasted, remember that Jesus was fully Man, and here at the end of a long day must have been "fully exhausted!" But remember that Luke 4:14+ tells us Jesus the Man was functioning, not relying on His own divine power (Php 2:7+), but relying on "the power (dunamis) of the Spirit." (cf Acts 10:38+) While a Spirit filled Man is performing spiritual work, he is supernaturally energized. Will He still become fatigued? Of course he will but have we not all had the experience of having to teach or preach after being sick or sleepless and exhausted and yet when we began to minister we experienced "supercharging" from the Spirit? Luke uses therapeuo 18x in the Gospel and Acts - Lk. 4:23; Lk. 4:40; Lk. 5:15; Lk. 6:7; Lk. 6:18; Lk. 7:21; Lk. 8:2; Lk. 8:43; Lk. 9:1; Lk. 9:6; Lk. 10:9; Lk. 13:14; Lk. 14:3; Acts 4:14; Acts 5:16; Acts 8:7; Acts 17:25; Acts 28:9 SIX CHARACTERISTICS OF JESUS' HEALING MINISTRY John MacArthur gives us six characteristics of Jesus' healing ministry which provides us a standard by which we can honestly examine anyone who claims to have a healing ministry (and there sadly are many charlatans out there taking advantage of people by claiming to be able to heal their diseases). (1) Jesus healed with a word or a touch, with a word or a touch. And whenever you study the healings of Jesus, He spoke the healing or He touched someone, on some occasions He did both. And you see this in the many, many healings of Jesus in the New Testament. (2) He healed instantly. It never says, "Jesus healed him and he kept on getting better." There never was any progression. The centurion's servant was healed in Matthew 8:5-13 that very hour (Mt 8:13). The woman with the bleeding problem in Mark 5:25-34 was healed immediately (Mk 5:29). In Luke 17:11-19 Jesus healed ten lepers instantaneously. And He touched another man with leprosy and immediately the leprosy departed from him, Luke 5:12,13. The crippled man at the pool of Bethsaida in John 5:1-9 immediately became well, took up his bed, began to walk (Jn 5:9). The man born blind in John 9:1-7 had to go and wash his eyes. As soon as he washed his eyes was healed instantly (Jn 9:7). People never said, "I've been healed and I know I'm going to get better." Jesus never did progressive healings. He healed instantly. He healed immediately.....There were no natural recovery processes involved, and that's what we saw with this mother-in-law of Peter. She immediately got up, no loss of strength, no diminished energy, and she began to wait on the people and serve the meal. (3) Jesus healed totally. There were no partial healings. I remember a lady telling me, "You know, I believe in healing." I had spoken on this subject somewhere and she said, "You're wrong, I believe in healing. God healed my husband of cancer." I said, "Really, how long ago?" She said, "Two years." I said, "How's he doing now?" She said, "He's dead." That's a rather narrow definition of healing to me. It's amazing people wanting to believe something so badly they'll believe what is obviously not the case. Jesus healed totally and you see that in the case of the healing of Simon Peter's mother-in-law. There was a full and total restoration. No relapse, no recovery time. (4) Jesus healed everybody. Unlike healers today, Jesus didn't leave long lines of disappointed people and wrecked lives. People going back home trying to figure out why it is that they didn't have enough faith, or somewhere along the line they said a negative word and the negative word obviated the positive confession that could have produced their healing. You notice in Lk 4:40 it says, "Laying hands on every one of them, He was healing them." And that is true of the healing of Jesus. He healed everyone. (5) He healed organic disease. He didn't go up and down alleviating low back pain or heart palpitation, or headache, or any kind of invisible ailment that could have been caused by emotional stress or some momentary problem. What Jesus did was not anything short of creative. He replaced crippled legs with legs that functioned fully. He replaced blind eyes with seeing eyes. He replaced deaf ears with hearing ears. He replaced paralysis with full function. His healings were creative, they literally recreated on an organic level. (6) Jesus raised the dead. In Luke 7:11-16 and Mark 5:35-42, He raised dead people. Jesus did all of this and He did it anywhere and everywhere. There wasn't any stage. There wasn't any setting. There wasn't any screening process. He did it all in public before huge crowds in various locations without any artistry involved. And most of the people that He healed exhibited no particular faith in Him and made no confession of faith in Him....His miracles did not necessarily require faith. Furthermore, His miracles happened predominantly to unbelievers, almost always unbelievers who had no faith in Him, no salvation. In fact, He raised dead people and dead people don't believe anything. Dead people are dead. They couldn't have faith. They couldn't acknowledge Jesus. And they couldn't make a positive confession. His miracles were strung out throughout His entire ministry of three years, not in specially controlled environments and circumstances but everywhere all the time during the normal flow of daily activity everywhere He went. In fact, to make it very simple, for all intents and purposes, in three years He banished disease from Palestine. In the three years of His ministry everywhere He went there were massive crowds and the people brought all of the sick people to Him and He healed them all. (Full sermon) A HEALING EXPLOSION IN ISRAEL John MacArthur sums up Jesus' "healing ministry"... Now I want you to understand, as you get into the three-year ministry of Jesus there are nearly ninety New Testament texts in the four gospels about His healings. He did this everywhere through His ministry. It was literally a healing explosion that essentially banished disease from Palestine!...Never in human history was there anything close. And those today who say, "Well, Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever and we ought to expect Him to heal today just as the way He healed then," they don't get it. Listen, the first healing recorded in the Bible was during the time of Abraham. There are no healings recorded in the first 1,600 years of biblical history up to the Flood! And there were billions of people alive when the Flood hit. The first healing is recorded in the time of Abraham, that's about 2200 B.C. So for the first 2200-year history of the world there are no healings recorded. Now listen, from Abraham to Isaiah would be from 2200 B.C. to 750 B.C., OK, so 1,450 years, or 1,500. During that period from Abraham to Isaiah, 1,500 years let's say, there are recorded twenty healings, 1,500 years twenty healings, five of them...from the time of Job and Abraham which would be the patriarchal time, five in Moses' day, two in Samuel's day, eight from David to Isaiah for a total of twenty. Twenty healings in 1,500 years! From Isaiah to Christ 750 years, guess how many healings are recorded in the Bible? Zero; there aren't any, none! This is not something God did willy-nilly all the time. During all that time from Isaiah to Christ there was sickness, there was disease, and there was death and everybody died. But there were no healings. That is why when Jesus began to heal in Matthew 9:33, the people said, "Nothing like this was ever done in Israel." They knew there had never been anything like this. Even the people of Israel had absolutely no expectation of this....They had never seen anything like it. Mark 2:12, "We have never seen anything like this." Never. In Luke 10:23, "Turning to His disciples,” Jesus had been healing, “He said to them, 'Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see. I say to you, many prophets and kings wish to see the things you see and didn't see them.'" Nobody had ever seen this. In the Gospel of John in the 9th chapter when the blind man was healed, this was remarkable. "Since the beginning of time” John 9:32 “it had never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind." How about that? Since the beginning of time nobody ever heard of a blind person healed, nobody! This idea that you have all through the Bible healings....just flooding the world and somehow that should be the way it is today. Just not true! But Jesus comes and how is God going to vindicate His claims? And how is God going to prove that Jesus is the Messiah? By granting Him the privilege to do what His power commanded that He could do and that is to create, and to manifest that creative power in healings. And so when Jesus came into the world there was an explosion of healing that banished illness from Palestine. Jesus gave to the seventy that He sent out and to the twelve Apostles the power to do healing as well because they were preaching Him. They were preaching His Gospel and establishing the Scripture. And at the explosive time in human history when the Messiah came and the Scriptures were penned...the New Testament, healing came to attest to the divinity of Jesus and the divine character of the Gospel and the Scripture. But as you go past that time, what happens? Paul is ill and he doesn't get well. Trophimus is ill later in the New Testament. Timothy is ill. And Epaphroditus is ill. And you come into 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, the epistles for the church, no mention of healing ministry, no promise of healing. The healing explosion had a purpose and John tells us the purpose. John 20:31,"These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and believing you might have life in His name." Now let me close with this. If anybody can do healing, then what was intended to point to Jesus Christ as the Messiah and the apostles as the ministers of the gospel and the writers of Scripture is confused. That was a special power for a very special period in redemptive history. You can see in the New Testament it begins to fade away and certainly we can't expect that today. God may choose to answer your prayers in a wonderful and providential way and heal someone, but that's not the pattern, and you can't expect that. You can know that if we pray and God chooses to hear and answer that prayer, He may choose that a person should get well. It's unlikely that He's going to use some miraculous means to do it. He may providentially allow that person to recover under medical care. He may aid in wonderful ways. But I don't know anybody who has ever seen under any effort of prayer a quadriplegic get up out of a wheelchair and walk away.That's not what God does today. I have never seen such a miracle. I don't know anybody who has. So we know that this is not the norm, but that's okay. We know that Jesus has the power over the physical, doesn't He? How do we know that? Because He demonstrated it, right? I don't frankly need to be fully healed in this life. I just want to know that in the life to come I'm not going to have to deal with this body, right? That's the issue. And Jesus proves to us that He can overpower the fallenness of our body. Philippians 3:20, "Our citizenship is in heaven from which we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." Listen to verse 21, "Who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory." Isn't that what we want? Don't we want an eternal body that can praise God? Don't we want an eternal voice that can praise God? Don't we want eternal limbs that can serve God? Don't we want an eternal mind that can worship God? Isn't that what we want? To look for a Messiah who can do that and that's Jesus and He showed that He could do it by His healing miracles. People always say, "Well isn't there healing in the atonement?" Sure. Matthew 8, and when Jesus had come to Peter's home, here's Matthew's account. "He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her. She arose and waited on Him. And when evening was come they brought in many who were demon-possessed and He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were ill in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled saying, 'He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.'" What a statement. He fulfilled that day in the house of Simon the prophecy of Isaiah that the Messiah when He comes will be able to show that He will remove infirmity and disease. It doesn't mean that you're guaranteed a temporal healing through salvation but it does mean that you are guaranteed an eternal healing. He will take away all our illness, won't He? He will take away all our disease ultimately. Frankly, that's all I need to know. I don't really care about here. I don't particularly want to live forever here, do you? But I do want to be all that God can make me to be, perfect in the resurrected image of Jesus Christ. There is healing in the atonement. He did display the power to take away our infirmities and carry away all our diseases and conquer death for us by the amazing power of His miracles. So when you're looking for who is the Savior and who is the Messiah, find somebody who can overpower the tremendously debilitating, decaying, and deadly power of sin. And Jesus showed that He and He alone had the power to do that. And that's why we believe He is the Redeemer, the Savior, the Messiah, the great Deliverer. (Jesus: The Divine Deliverer, Part 1) Luke 4:41 Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ. NET Demons also came out of many, crying out, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them, and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. KJV And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ (added by the Greek Textus Receptus) the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ. ESV And demons also came out of many, crying, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. shouting: Lu 4:34,35 Mk 1:25,34 3:11 You are the Son of God: Mt 8:29 26:63 Joh 20:31 Ac 16:17,18 Jas 2:19 Luke 4:38-44 Jesus: The Divine Deliverer, Part 1 - John MacArthur Luke 4:38-44 Jesus: The Divine Deliverer, Part 2 - John MacArthur Luke 4:31-44 Jesus—Lord Over All - Steven Cole Luke 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passage: Mark 1:34+ And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons (daimonion) to speak, because they knew who He was. A T Robertson on Mark 1:34 - Various diseases. See Mt. 4:24 about poikilos meaning many-coloured, variegated (“various” like fever, leprosy, blindness. The adjective means literally many colored or variegated like flowers, paintings, jaundice, etc). All sorts of sick folk came and were healed....Devils (daimonia). Demons it should be translated always. Not permitting. Would not allow, imperfect tense of continued refusal. The reason given is “because they knew him”. Whether “to be Christ” is genuine or not, that is the meaning and is a direct reference to Mk 1:24 when in the synagogue the demon recognized and addressed Jesus as the Holy One of God. Testimony from such a source was not calculated to help the cause of Christ with the people. He had told the other demon to be silent. See on Matt. 8:29 for discussion of the word demon. Demons (daimonion) also were coming out of many - Mt 8:16 says He cast out the spirits with a word. Mark 1:34+ has He cast out many demons. Note how Luke distinguishes healing (in Lk 4:40) from casting out demons, emphasizing that the two are not related. Some illness was demonic, but most was not. Imagine the scene for a moment. Not just one demon but many demons coming out and screaming and howling continually! Put yourself in the crowd of witnesses! This was a terrifying scene to the people. It was one they would never forget. And what they clearly witnessed was Jesus' power and authority over the demonic world, a world they feared, but a world that clearly feared Him! This should have been convincing proof that this One in authority was none other than the Messiah in the flesh! But as John says toward the end of His 3 year ministry "though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him." (Jn 12:37). A lot of people in America know Who Jesus is but they do not believe in Him! ESV Study note - Luke clearly distinguishes between the casting out of demons and healing, showing that not all diseases are due to demonic power, though some diseases do have a demonic origin (cf. Lk 13:10-17; note on Mt. 8:16-17). (Borrow ESV study Bible) Matthew 8:16-17+ When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES.” Spurgeon on the demons (daimonion) also were coming out and saying... - Perhaps they thought that their testimony would tend to blacken His character. We are, in a sense, pleased when bad men find fault with us, for that is really the best commendation that they can give us; but when they begin to praise us, we feel suspicious that there is something wrong. We think of how Christ acted when the devils said to Him, “ Thou art Christ, the Son of God,” and we would fain have them hold their tongues. What a vile thing sin is, for it makes even good words to be evil when they come out of sinful lips! Declared by Demons! Denied by most men! Shouting, "You are the Son of God!" - In Mk 1:24+ the demon in the synagogue called Jesus the Holy One of God. Here they call Him the Son of God. In both cases their "theology" is completely orthodox! The present tense is vivid as it pictures them as continually howling, shrieking, and giving testimony to the true identity of Jesus! One has to wonder what went through the minds of the Jews who heard these demons testify to Jesus' divinity! The passage adds that He was not allowing them to speak implying that they may have uttered this one sentence (You are the Son of God) and then He shut their mouths. Life Application - Why didn't Jesus want the demons to reveal who he was? (1) Jesus commanded them to remain silent to show his authority over them. (2) Jesus wanted his listeners to believe he was the Messiah because of his words, not because of the demons' words. (3) Jesus was going to reveal his identity according to God's timetable, and he would not be pushed by Satan's evil plans. The demons called Jesus "Son of God" or "the Holy One sent from God" (Lk 4:34) because they knew he was the Christ. But Jesus was going to show himself to be the suffering servant before he became the great King. To reveal his identity as King too soon would stir up the crowds with the wrong expectations of what he had come to do. John