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Luke has
been telling us that Yeshua of Nazareth was and
is the Most Amazing Person who has ever lived!
He is the Most Unique Person Who Ever Lived! He
is the Most Important Person who has ever lived!
He is the Person every human being should know
the most about and get to know the best!
Through
words spoken by angels, God the Father, holy men
and women, and through Yeshua Himself, Luke wants
us to know that Yeshua is the Son of the Most
High. He is fully God and fully Man. He is the
unique God-Man. He is God’s beloved Son who was
and is very pleasing to God. He is the long awaited
Lord Messiah. He is the Son of David. He is that
Most Special Human Being who was and is anointed
and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be the ultimate
Prophet, Priest and King. He will rule over the
Jewish people forever. His kingdom will have no
end.
He is
the Savior. He will provide salvation for the
Jewish people in particular, and also for the
rest of the world. He will bring redemption to
the world, setting us free from the dark, destructive
and deadly forces of Satan and his demons, sin
and death.
After
centuries spent in chaotic darkness, the King’s
arrival was like a glorious, magnificent Sunrise
From On High, like the rising sun whose light
came to us from Heaven, shining on those living
in darkness and in the shadow of death, bringing
us peace and well-being. He is a light bringing
revelation and truth and salvation to the Gentiles,
and the source of greatest honor and glory for
God’s special people Israel.
The One
Anointed and Empowered and Full of the Holy Spirit
is able to give the Holy Spirit to human beings
who welcome Him, and receive Him, and know Him,
and trust Him, and honor Him. The Holy Spirit
will save them and transform them and eternalize
them.
Yeshua
is not to be messed with, ignored or taken lightly.
He will greatly reward those who follow and love
and serve Him and He will punish those who reject
and oppose Him.
But,
not all will welcome the light. He is appointed
for the fall and rise of many in Israel. He is
a sign that will be opposed. Those who come to
Him will rise. Those who reject Him, no matter
how powerful, well-educated in Torah, will fall.
Yeshua
was and is perfect, righteous, holy. He was and
is the only Human Being never to sin. He was able
to resist all of the temptations of the Evil One
himself. He never sinned, never yielded to any
temptation.
Yeshua
is Israel’s Supreme Teacher. He is the wisest
of the wise. He is the Greatest Teacher of the
Torah. He is the world’s Greatest Teacher.
He was
and is full of the Holy Spirit and power. He was
and is the greatest miracle worker. God the Father
and God the Spirit worked through Him to do great
miracles of healing - healing many many of the
Jewish people of all kinds of physical illnesses,
and healing many of our enslavement and control
of the dark demonic forces. His great healing
ministry was a taste of the greater healing that
He will bring to sick and dying humanity. His
casting out of demons foreshadowed Him crushing
the head of the serpent, and undoing all the evil
that Satan has brought us, and ending all satanic
control over humanity.
He is
wonderful! He is Amazing! He is so very very important
to us! He is so necessary for our salvation from
the deadly forces that have ruined us; our redemption
from Satan, sin and death; our peace, our well-being,
our healing, our restoration to health, our spiritual
recovery, our liberation, our reconciliation to
God, our welcoming acceptance by the good Creator
from whom the whole world is estranged, our eternal
life.
Even
though He was and is so special, and so uniquely
heralded, and did such great miracles, not all
recognized the One through Whom The Universe Was
Made. Most of the people of His home-town of Nazareth
rejected Him and tried to kill Him.
Even
though many ordinary Israelis liked Him, and wanted
to get closer to Him, and hear Him teach, and
come to Him for help with physical and spiritual
problems, the majority of the leaders of the Chosen
People rejected Him. Their hostility increased
more and more - especially as His influence spread
throughout Israel and beyond; and because of the
unique claims He and others made about Him; and
because He didn’t follow all of their interpretations
and traditions.
Part
of the problem of some of the leaders was the
legalism of the Pharisees, particularly their
misunderstanding of what is true Sabbath observance
and what isn’t. Now it happened that He was
passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath;
and His disciples were picking the heads of grain,
rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain.
But some of the Pharisees said, “Why do You do
what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
Even
though the Torah does not teach that picking the
heads of grain violates the Sabbath, the Pharisees
taught that this kind of activity was harvesting,
and therefore work, and therefore forbidden on
the day of rest. But, Yeshua knew better. He knew
that picking some grain and eating them or picking
and eating a piece of fruit from a tree was permissible.
He knew that the Pharisees were being legalistic
and wrong. And so the Supreme Rabbi graciously
tried to teach them and correct their misunderstanding:
And
Yeshua answering them said, “Have you not even
read what David did when he was hungry, he and
those who were with him, how he entered the house
of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread
which is not lawful for any to eat except the
priests alone, and gave it to his companions?”
Rabbi
Yeshua was teaching these religious leaders several
things. First, that some laws and principles are
more important than others. Meeting human needs
so that human lives are preserved is more important
than observing ceremonial kinds of laws. Here
is what Rabbi Yeshua pointed out: If King David
violated a command of the Torah, but did so to
meet the needs of his men to keep them alive,
and David was not judged for it, neither should
David’s Descendant be criticized for allowing
His followers to satisfy their hunger in the way
they did - especially since the Torah didn’t forbid
it.
Then
Yeshua made another point - that His was the authoritative
position because He is the Supreme Authority.
And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man
is Lord of the Sabbath.” The Sabbath was and
is one of the most important times and observances
among the Jewish people. The Sabbath is very special.
It was created by the Lord of time and eternity.
Then the Lord set the seventh day apart from the
other days and blessed it. Later He made it a
sign of Israel’s special relationship to Him.
The Sabbath was such an important and serious
thing between God and Israel that the penalty
for violating it was death.
And yet,
Yeshua claimed that He was even more important!
He claimed to be Lord of the Sabbath - which means
that He is greater than the Sabbath. As the Lord
of the Sabbath, He has the right to decide what
is legitimate to do or not to do on the Sabbath,
what is in keeping with Sabbath observance and
what isn’t.
No ordinary
rabbi should ever place Himself above the Sabbath
and dare claim to be the Lord of the Sabbath!
But Rabbi Yeshua did, because He knew that He
is far greater than an ordinary rabbi.
But,
the Pharisees rejected Yeshua’s claim that He
was the Lord of the Sabbath whose declarations
were authoritative. They were unwilling to recognize
the wisdom and authority of Israel’s Supreme Rabbi
Yeshua, and that He was able to understand and
correct that which was right and what was wrong
in the Judaism of His day. And so their hostility
toward Yeshua increased. The conflict intensified.
Luke
gives us another incident that took place on the
Sabbath that further intensified their anti-Yeshua
sentiments. On another Sabbath He entered the
synagogue and was teaching; and there was a man
there whose right hand was withered. The scribes
and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to
see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they
might find reason to accuse Him. Just as the
so-called experts in the Torah and the Pharisees
were wrong about picking grain on the Sabbath,
so they were wrong about miraculous healing taking
place on the Sabbath. Being used to do supernatural
healing wasn’t a violation of the Sabbath. How
could it be? It was the power of God that was
working through Yeshua to heal people - even on
the Sabbath. Therefore this was legitimate divine
activity. Yeshua knew this. He knew He was right.
He knew that it was right for a miracle of healing
to take place on the Sabbath. He knew that the
Pharisees and the Torah teachers and experts in
the Torah were wrong.
But
He knew what they were thinking, and He said to
the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come
forward!” And he got up and came forward. And
Yeshua said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful
to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save
a life or to destroy it?” The right answer
to these questions of the Lord of the Sabbath
is that it is in keeping with the nature of the
blessed Sabbath to do good and to save a life
on that day. A healing miracle brought restoration
and refreshment to human life, and restored peace
and rest to an individual. Isn’t that what the
Sabbath is all about? Therefore Yeshua’s Sabbath
healings were in keeping with the nature of the
Sabbath, and were permissible and blessed and
very welcome!
But,
these religious leaders would not submit to the
authority and wisdom of Chief Rabbi Yeshua. They
disagreed with Him and clung to their wrong understanding
of Scriptures. But, instead of being intimidated
by their rejection, or compromising with their
error, Yeshua boldly went ahead and did what God
wanted Him to do. After looking around at them
all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!”
And he did so; and his hand was restored.
Yeshua
did not compromise with the opposition. He did
not back down before error. Nor should we. Having
trust in God, and love for the truth, the Spirit
of God worked through Yeshua to miraculously and
instantly and fully heal this man. The man’s life
was blessed. God and the Sabbath were honored.
The truth was taught to Israel.
But,
the Pharisees and experts in Torah didn’t use
this God-approved miracle as an opportunity to
reassess their position about what was permissible
on the Sabbath. They didn’t change their minds
about Supreme Rabbi and Prophet Yeshua. Instead,
they became more entrenched in their wrong positions,
and their dislike of Yeshua grew. But they
themselves were filled with rage, and discussed
together what they might do to Yeshua - to
oppose Him, to render His influence ineffective
among the Jewish people, and eventually to kill
Him.
But,
their rejection and plotting will only advance
the plans of God! What they meant for evil, God
will turn into the greatest good! The anger and
sin of man will be incorporated by God to accomplish
His plan for our salvation. Their rage, their
discussions to eliminate Yeshua will be part of
the way that Yeshua’s great mission will be fulfilled!
To advance His good plans for our salvation, God
will use the schemes and deeds of the wicked and
the good works and words and service of the righteous.
How cool is that?
The opposition
was intensifying. Now, the leadership of the new
community of the faithful remnant of Israel needed
to be organized. Messiah’s foundational disciples,
His special emissaries and leaders needed to be
chosen. Yeshua knew that it was time for Him to
chose those men. But, before He made that very
important decision, He went off to the mountain
to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer
to God.
Yeshua
was always close to God, and always heard from
God, and was always able to talk to God. Yet,
He often went away and isolated Himself so He
could concentrate on prayer. If Yeshua did this,
how much more might we need to? Before this huge
decision, that will affect the history of the
world, and eternity, Yeshua spent extra time in
prayer. The lesson for us: We need to pray much
before our big decisions too. We really need to
get close to God, and talk to Him, and listen
to Him, and get the direction from Him that we
need, especially for our big decisions.
And
when day came, He called His disciples to Him
and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as
apostles: Simon, whom He also named Peter, and
Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip
and Bartholomew; and Matthew and Thomas; James
the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called
the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas
Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Over
the centuries, the Lord has had millions of students
who have followed the Master. And among the disciples,
there are some very special ones, who were chosen
by God and Yeshua to help in this great mission
of redemption and the recreation of a new and
eternal humanity.
These
eleven men did not start off as professional religious
leaders. Maybe that is because the vast majority
of Israel’s religious leaders had been mistrained
and mistaught. Yeshua specifically chose regular
men who worked regular jobs and who were willing
to learn from Him to be His leaders. That’s good
new for you and me!
These
regular kind of men heard about the young Rabbi
from Nazareth, and were interested in Him, and
got closer to Him, and the closer they got the
more they liked! The closer they got, the more
they learned. The closer they got, the more they
were transformed and became more like Him. The
closer they got to Yeshua, the more able and useful
they became. The closer they got, the more willing
they were to leave everything else, and help Yeshua
accomplish His great mission of human salvation.
Get closer to Yeshua!
And,
what was true for them is true for us today. Become
a disciple, a follower, a student of Rabbi Yeshua!
Get closer to Him. Learn from Him! Implement the
things He teaches. Then go and teach others!
These
eleven men, with the later addition of Matthias,
become twelve of the most important men who ever
lived and ever will live. They have been very
important in the history of this world, and they
will be important in the ages to come. They led
the early Messianic movement. They brought the
good news to Israel. They wrote much of the New
Covenant Scriptures. One day they will sit on
twelve thrones ruling the twelve tribes of Israel.
The beautiful wall of the New and Eternal Jerusalem
has twelve foundation stones, and on them are
the names of these twelve emissaries that Messiah
sent to teach us and lead us. God knows how to
reward those who follow Him, and faithfully serve
Him, and those who sacrifice for Him!
He had
many disciples, and they were growing in number.
And, Yeshua now had His foundational leaders in
place.
At the
same time, the majority of the religious leaders
were firmly opposed to Him, and their opposition
was also growing.
At the
same time, many of the regular Jewish people all
over Israel, and even beyond Israel’s borders,
were coming to Yeshua, and listening to His great
teaching, and experiencing His great healing ministry.
Yeshua
came down with them and stood on a level place;
and there was a large crowd of His disciples,
and a great throng of people from all Judea and
Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon,
who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their
diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean
spirits were being cured. And all the people were
trying to touch Him, for power was coming from
Him and healing them all.
Luke
again tells us that God was using His Son to heal
human beings of all kinds of physical diseases,
and to heal them of the spiritual disease caused
by demons having influence over them. And, Yeshua
was not healing a few. He was healing all! Yeshua’s
great healing ministry foreshadows what He will
do when He returns one day. He will heal all of
humanity, physically and spiritually! My friends,
each one of us, and all of us, need the Great
Healer, the Savior of body and soul, so very much!
Rabbi
Yeshua is the greatest teacher who ever taught.
He is far greater than all the teachers of the
nations, and all the prophets and rabbis and sages
and wise men of Israel. Next Luke gives us some
of Rabbi Yeshua’s powerful, anointed, God-inspired
teaching.
Lord
willing, we will continue our study of this great
teaching by the greatest of teachers - in a couple
of weeks.
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