Lesson
6
The
Miracles of Jesus
V. The Miracles
of Jesus Christ
A. Jesus Baptized
The next recorded
event in the Life of Christ is His baptism by John the Baptist (Matthew
3:13-17). John was reluctant to baptize Christ, but submitted when Jesus told
him that it was necessary to fulfil all righteousness (Law). As Jesus came up
out of the water, John saw the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descending
like a dove and lighting upon Jesus. He also heard a voice which said,
"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." This was a sign from God to John that Jesus was the Messiah
(John 1:32-34).
B. Jesus'
Temptation
Following His baptism,
Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
A complete account of this is found in Matthew 4:1-11. After forty days and
nights of fasting, the tempter came to Jesus. First, he appealed to the natural
hunger that Jesus suffered, and tempted Him to use His supernatural powers, to
turn stones into bread. It is important to note that Satan's actual attack was
directed toward the divinity of Jesus. He said, "If thou be the Son of
God...." Evidently the devil's major focus at this point was to
attempt to cause Jesus to doubt His own divinity. Jesus wisely would not debate
this point with the devil. It was not debatable. Satan always tries this first; he
endeavors to cause a person to doubt God's Word. That was also his approach in
the Garden of Eden. Jesus responded to the enemy with the sword of the
Spirit, the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). He began by saying, "It is
written."
The devil then took
Jesus into the city of Jerusalem to the pinnacle of the temple, and again
tempted Him to question His deity. This time Satan attempted to use the Word of
God to justify his temptation. He did not quote the pure Word of God as found
in Psalm 91:11-12, but rather his own distorted version of it. Again, Jesus
responded only with the pure Word of God. Finally, the devil
took Jesus into a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the
world and the glory of them. He claimed that he would give them to Jesus, if He
would fall down and worship him. Jesus quoted the Word of God and commanded the
devil to leave. The devil left Jesus for a period of time (Luke 4:13). Angels
came and ministered to Jesus. Following the temptation, Jesus
entered into His ministry, calling disciples unto Himself, and fulfilling the
prophecy of Isaiah 61.
"And he came
to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into
the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was
delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the
book, he found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent
me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To
preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it
again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the
synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this
scripture fulfilled in your ears" (Luke 4:16-21).
C. The Miraculous
Ministry of Jesus
Jesus' miraculous
ministry was in direct fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. He gave sight to
the blind (Matthew 9:27-31). He raised the dead (John 11:41-44). At His touch
lepers were cleansed. (Matthew 8:2-4). The lame walked (John 5:1-9). The deaf
heard, and the dumb could speak (Mark 7:35-37). In the
meantime, John the Baptist had been placed in prison for his condemnation of
Herod's sin. John told Herod that it was unlawful for him to have his brother's
wife (Matthew 14:3-4). While in prison, John heard of Christ's ministry, and
sent two of his disciples to ask, "Art thou he that should come, or do we
look for another?" (Matthew 11:3). Jesus answered:
"Go
and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive
their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the
dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached unto them. And
blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me" (Matthew 11:4-6).
D. The Heart of
Jesus' Ministry
Some of the Jewish people
were confused, because they had expected their Messiah to be born in a palace,
of a noble family, and to free them from Roman oppression. They had
misunderstood the prophecies of the prophets.
Jesus came to minister
to all men, not just the rich. He came to establish a kingdom which was not of
this world (John 18:36). His message was not one of revolution, but repentance
(Mark 1:15). And when questioned by John's followers concerning whether or not
He really was the Messiah, Jesus offered as proof His ministry to the blind,
the lame, the lepers, the deaf, the dead and the poor! Clearly, He did not come
for the express purpose of aligning Himself with the so-called dignitaries of
this world, but to teach and reach people at their point of greatest need. This
is recorded in Hebrews 4:15-16.
"For we have
not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace
to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:15-16).
Jesus never refused
anyone. He never turned any away. His invitation was universal:
"In
the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If
any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as
the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should
receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet
glorified.)" (John 7:37-39).
Once a little band of Christians were forced to meet
in secret to worship their Lord. A spy betrayed them to the secret police. An
officer and several men surprised them one night at their time in prayer.
Looking about him in anger and contempt, the officer ordered one of his men to
count all who were present and to take down their names. When he had done so he
reported to the officer that there were thirty men and women there. An old man stepped
forward and said, "Officer, there is one whom you have missed. There is
one more here." The officer looked at him in scorn and said,
"What do you mean? We have counted them carefully. There are just thirty
here." "No," the old man insisted, "There is another
here whom you have missed." "Very well," said the officer, "we will
count them again." Again he counted them and again the count was thirty.
"There," he said, "it is just as I told you, there are only
thirty. Thirty of you miserable Christians. Thirty and no more!" "Yes,"
said the old man "but there is one more here, one whom you
missed—and that one is our Lord Jesus Christ!"