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Overcoming storms without
and storms within; overcoming sickness and death!
The universe
has fallen. It is broken. It is damaged. When
Adam and Eve, who were real people, joined the
rebellion of the fallen angels, who are real beings,
planet Earth and the rest of the entire universe
were dramatically and negatively affected. When
Adam, the new lord of the Earth fell, Earth and
everything on it fell too. The Earth was cursed;
nature was changed; thorns and thistles, earthquakes
and hurricanes, droughts and fires and floods,
sickness and death became part of the fallen fabric
of nature.
Adam and
his descendants lost the right to rule the Earth.
Satan became the god of this world. We became
subject to Satan, sin, sickness and death; to
chaotic and deadly storms from without and from
within. These dangerous, deadly forces are too
powerful for fallen humanity to overcome on our
own. We need help from Another Source!
God, being
merciful, did not want to leave mankind, made
in His image, and the rest of creation, in this
fallen, chaotic, dying state. He promised that
the Seed of the Woman, the Messiah, the Savior
and Redeemer, would come and undo all of the damage
that had been done, and bring mankind and the
rest of creation back into Edenic harmony.
Rabbi
Yeshua of Nazareth is that Seed of the Woman.
He is the Messiah! He proved that He is the One
who alone can save, redeem, bring peace to, restore
and renew humanity and the universe! We must know
this. We must zealously and enthusiastically believe
in Him in order to experience the salvation, redemption
and blessing that He alone is able to bring.
Let’s
consider Luke 8:22-25: Yeshua overcomes storms
that threaten to destroy us from without.
Messiah and His followers were in northern Israel
on the western side of the Kinneret (the Sea of
Galilee). The Rabbi from Nazareth and His disciples
wanted to go to the eastern shore of the lake,
and they got into a boat and headed east. The
lake is only 8 miles wide, so a small sailing
boat with a decent wind would only take an hour
or two to cross.
Due to
its low-lying position in a valley surrounded
by hills, the lake can experience sudden violent
storms. While they were sailing across, one of
those storms developed over the lake, and their
small boat began to take on water and was in danger
of sinking.
The disciples
were afraid that the boat was going to sink and
they were going to drown in the stormy waters.
What to do? The lest they could do was wake their
great sleeping Rabbi and let Him know what was
happening. They did, letting them know that the
situation was very bad and they were about to
die.
Yeshua
woke up, and knew that they were not about to
drown. He knew God’s plan for His life, and that
He was going to die in Jerusalem on a cross as
the final sacrifice to atone for the sins of the
world - not drown in this lake. He must have prayed
to His God and Father, who enabled His Son to
rebuke the winds and raging waters, which instantly
and miraculously became calm!
Yeshua
rebuked the unruly winds and the waves, and then
He rebuked His disciples for not having more understanding,
more knowledge, more faith. They should have known
that He and they could not die at this time and
in this way, and that God would rescue them.
Yeshua’s
followers had seen their Rabbi do many great things,
but Yeshua’s ability to command the forces of
nature - the mighty winds and waters, left them
in fear and amazement! This was something no ordinary
man, no ordinary Rabbi, no ordinary prophet, was
used by God to do.
God the
Father working through Messiah His Son was able
to control the out-of-control forces of nature.
This foreshadows the ultimate restoration of creation,
when God and Messiah will restore the lost harmony
of creation, and the vision of Isaiah will be
fulfilled, and the wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf
and the lion together; and a little child will
lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, and
the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant
will play near the hole of the cobra, and the
young child put his hand into the viper's nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all of the
Lord’s holy mountain, for the Earth will be full
of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover
the sea!
God the
Father, working through Yeshua His Son, was able
to still the deadly storm from without. Now, God
will use Messiah to still what is perhaps an even
worse storm - a chaotic and deadly storm from
within (8:26-39).
Rabbi
Yeshua and His disciples successfully completed
their journey to the eastern shore of the lake,
where they encountered a man who was possessed
by an army of demons. God working though Yeshua
had removed evils spirits from many people before,
but this man’s situation seems to have been even
worse. The fallen angels were in the process of
completely destroying this man. They were dehumanizing
and de-civilizing him. He was naked. He would
not wear clothes. He lost the sense of shame and
social appropriateness. He would not live in a
house in the city among the living. He preferred
to live in tombs among the dead.
Yeshua
understood exactly what was happening to this
poor man, and came to his rescue, and began to
remove these unclean, dirty spirits, commanding
them to end their possession of this poor man
and leave him.
And, these
evils spirits knew exactly who Yeshua was - the
Son of God who had the authority to send them
into the Abyss, a deep place where demons can
be sent and perhaps restrained, prior to their
final destination - the Lake of Fire.
And the
demons knew that Rabbi Yeshua was superior to
them in power and authority, were asking permission
of Yeshua to not be sent to the deep Abyss, but
into a nearby herd of pigs - which means that
demons can live in animals as well as human beings.
Yeshua
gave them permission. After all, it was better
for unclean spirits to live in unclean animals
than a human being made in the image of God. And,
what were a herd of pigs doing in what is part
of the holy land?
Yeshua
gave this entire army of unclean spirits permission,
and the legion of demons left the demon-possessed
man, freeing him from their destructive, dehumanizing,
decivilizing control, and they entered the pigs,
who panicked at the entrance of the demons, and
rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
Fewer
unclean animals in the holy land! Fantastic! No
army of unclean spirits remained in the man! He
was able to become more human. He was able to
think clearly. He got dressed. He was able to
be among people once again, and sat at the feet
of the Greatest Human - Rabbi Yeshua, learning
from Him. Wonderful! Amazing. God be praised!
Righteous people would want to see more of this!
God, working
through Yeshua, was able to free one man from
an entire army of demons, foreshadowing the ultimate
liberation of humanity from the god of this world,
and his kingdom of darkness. What a great deliverer
Yeshua is! All those who love God, love Messiah,
love the truth, love salvation, love redemption,
should be thrilled!
But, not
everyone was thrilled. The people of the area
who found out what happen became afraid. Maybe
they were afraid that they would suffer more financial
losses if the young Rabbi from the other side
of the lake remained in their region and did more
things, and so they asked Him to leave.
They seemed
to have preferred pigs more than peace, riches
more than redemption, swine more than salvation!
How sad for them. What a great opportunity they
lost to know more about Immanuel - God With Us,
and what He could have done for them to give them
the greatest kind of help that only He could and
can give.
But, Yeshua,
even though rejected by them, ever gracious as
He is, did not leave them without a witness. Refusing
the request of the formerly demon-possessed man
to return with Him to the western side of the
lake, He instructed him to remain in this area,
and go home and describe to the people there the
great things God had done for him. And the man
did, proclaiming throughout the whole city what
great things that God, working through Yeshua,
had done for him.
And, isn’t
this a principle for each one of us? Shouldn’t
each one of us, after we have been rescued from
the demonic storms from within, be like this man,
and return to our home and family and friends
and without shame, and without embarrassment,
boldly proclaim what God and Messiah have done
for us?
Yeshua
is able to overcome storms that threaten to destroy
from without and also storms that threaten to
destroy from within; He is able to overcome storms
of wind and rain that can destroy the body and
storms of mind and emotion that can destroy the
soul. Next Luke tells us that He is able to overcome
other forces that can destroy us - sickness, even
death (40-56)!
When Yeshua
returned to the western side of the Kinneret,
a huge crowd was waiting for the very popular
young, miracle-working Rabbi who was giving such
great messages and teaching such profound truths.
Among
the multitude was Ya’ir, a leader in one of the
synagogues. He had a problem that was bigger than
his ability to overcome. He had an only child,
a 12 year old daughter, and she was dying. It
is a terrible thing for a parent to watch a child
die, especially an only child, especially a girl
who is just about to become a woman, who will
miss living a full life.
This upset
father approached Yeshua, and humbly fell at the
Rabbi’s feet, acknowledging Yeshua’s superiority;
having confidence in Yeshua, Ya’ir asked the Rabbi
to come to his house and help his little girl.
But, before
He could do that, something else happened. A woman
who had been bleeding for twelve long years, who
couldn’t be healed by anyone, making her weak
and sick and probably ceremonially unclean (see
Leviticus 15:25-27), so that she couldn’t touch
or be touched by a man, and couldn’t worship at
the Temple and probably was excluded from the
synagogues too, and so couldn’t get as close to
God as she may have wanted to, was in that crowd.
She knew
things about Yeshua, and had confidence in Him,
that if she could touch the holy Rabbi she could
be healed and after so many years, finally get
well. She managed to get close to Him, and touch
the tzit-tzit, the fringes of the holy man’s garments,
symbolic of God’s Word. And instantly the power
of God emanated from the Rabbi, and the woman
was instantly and completely healed! God the Father
and God the Spirit, working through Messiah the
Son, healed that woman.
Yeshua
was aware that someone in the crowd had faith
in Him and touched Him and had been miraculously
healed and demanded to know who it was. The woman,
knowing that she had been found out, and afraid
that she might be in trouble for touching the
holy man, came trembling to Yeshua and fell down
before Him acknowledging His superiority.
But even
though she may have broken a law of the Torah
by touching Him, Messiah was not angry with her.
Yeshua had not been made unclean by this woman.
In fact, quite the opposite thing occurred. She
had been made well.
Messiah
didn’t correct her or reject her. He commended
her. He complimented her for her knowledge about
Him, and her faith in Him that led her to get
closer to Him and make contact with Him. Her faith
in Him caused Him to feel affection for her and
He called her the intimate and affectionate term
“daughter” and told her to go, enjoying being
in a state of peace with Almighty God.
Meanwhile,
someone came from the house of the leader of the
synagogue, and told him it was too late for the
Rabbi to help. Ya’ir’s 12 year old daughter had
died.
But Yeshua,
close to God, and hearing from God, knew what
should happen next. He told Ya’ir, who must have
been very upset by the news of his daughter’s
death, to not be afraid. He told him to trust
Him, and if Ya’ir did, his little girl would be
made well.
And, Ya’ir
had the faith to believe Rabbi Yeshua, and went
home with Yeshua and the Rabbi’s disciples. The
One who can overcome even the great enemy, death,
entered the home with Ya’ir and his wife, and
with His three disciples who formed the inner
core - Peter, James and John. Others were in the
home weeping because of this tragic loss of the
life of this girl. Messiah told them to stop crying,
because the girl wasn’t really dead - she was
merely asleep. Oh, she was actually dead, and
those in the house knew it, and started laughing
at the Son of God. But they should not have laughed
at Him. No one is wiser than Rabbi Yeshua. No
human being understands anything better than the
One through whom the universe was made and is
sustained. Yeshua knew what was about to happen
- that God was about to use Him to bring her back
to life, and so her “death” was more like sleep
- temporary unawareness that results in a return
to consciousness.
Messiah
took her by the hand, and spoke two simple words,
yet powerful words coming from the mouth of this
man: “Child, arise”. And at the words of the One
who is able to call all of the dead to life, and
will one day, her spirit returned to her body,
and she immediately got up, having overcome the
powerful force of death, healthy and ready to
eat and continue with her life! Wow! That is powerful!
That has tremendous implications! That is full
of Good News!
Yeshua
instructed those present not to communicate this
to others. This was not done for the crowds, but
for the family.
What is
the Holy Spirit, the author of the book, communicating
to us through Luke, trying to tell us?
Humanity
is a lot like this 12 year old girl - sick and
on the verge of dying a tragic death. We desperately
need to overcome the death that we will surely
experience - the First Death - Physical Death,
followed by the even worse Second Death - the
final death of the Lake of Fire. Only God the
Father working through Yeshua the Son can overcome
death.
Humanity
is a lot like this demon-possessed man - controlled
by an army of demons, leaving us decivilized and
dehumanized.
Humanity
is a lot like this woman - sick and unable to
be healed by other human beings.
Humanity
is a lot like the disciples - in a storm that
threatens to drown them, with the Savior in the
boat with them, but lacking knowledge and faith.
Yeshua
of Nazareth is the Messiah who is able to help
the worst off of humanity, a man like the demon-possessed
Gerasene, and the best of humanity, a man like
Ya’ir, an official in the synagogue of the Chosen
People. He is able to help a sick older woman,
and a young dying girl. He is able to overcome
storms and winds and waves and waters that threaten
to destroy.
He is
able to overcome the storms without and the storms
within; He is able to overcome Satan, sickness
and even death! He will completely end the rebellion
of Satan and the demons one day. He will bring
complete harmony to creation one day. He will
restore the lost peace of Eden. He will restore
health to the entire universe. He will raise the
dead one day, and give eternal life to those who
have known Him, loved Him and served Him. May
that be you!
And if
that is you, won’t you commit your life to telling
the rest of the world, starting with the Jewish
people, the Good News about the One who alone
can overcome all the powerful and negative and
destructive and deadly forces that resulted from
the Fall?
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