miracles

[a.baker]

When Jesus did a miracle in the NT He always told them to not tell anyone. How could they not tell anyone, it was way to obvious to people standing outside or people that knew the person that a miracle took place.

I also think of the scripture "only a perverse generation asks for a sign." Thinking of this line shows faith is gone. Also even with all the miracles so many thick and stubborn still didn't believe and even plotted His death. Hmm I see the connection today.

[Jessie]

they still would'nt believe if they had a full fledged miricle happen so they could see it.

[Willy]

A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief ... knowing what was in man, He still loved us to the end. Spirit was not yet given ... victory had not yet been established.

Even those closest to Him did not comprehend that He was here to die ... except for one woman.

[CoreIssue]

He held things back until the appropriate times. Toward the end he was openly doing miracles and stating he was the Messiah.

[Willy]

When Jesus did a miracle in the NT He always told them to not tell anyone. How could they not tell anyone, it was way to obvious to people standing outside or people that knew the person that a miracle took place.

I also think of the scripture "only a perverse generation asks for a sign." Thinking of this line shows faith is gone. Also even with all the miracles so many thick and stubborn still didn't believe and even plotted His death. Hmm I see the connection today.

There was always "tension" between "healing" "casting out demons" and "forgiveness of sin". People accepted healing and casting out of demons, but were not aware of the cost.

You can pick it up in His responses below. He knew the cost.



Mark 1:33-45

33 The whole town gathered at the door,

34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

36 Simon and his companions went to look for him,

37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else–to the nearby villages–so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”

42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning:

44 “See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
The Lord Jesus spent a lot of time alone, in solitary places; away from the throng to be with His Father in prayer. At times He seemed overwhelmed by people who desired His company because He was a novelty to them. He healed them, but His preaching was more important.


Verse 44 of Mark 1 completes the thought of "tell no one" and Leviticus 14 defines what the healed leper was asked to do. I wonder if anyone, ever, had gone to a priest having been healed of leprosy? This leper was not just healed, he was cleansed.

Leviticus 14:1-32

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:
3 And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, [if] the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;
4 Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive [and] clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
5 And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water:
6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird [that was] killed over the running water:
7 And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.
8 And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days.
9 But it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean.
10 And on the eighth day he shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour [for] a meat offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil.
11 And the priest that maketh [him] clean shall present the man that is to be made clean, and those things, before the LORD, [at] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:
12 And the priest shall take one he lamb, and offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them [for] a wave offering before the LORD:
13 And he shall slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place: for as the sin offering [is] the priest's, [so is] the trespass offering: it [is] most holy:
14 And the priest shall take [some] of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put [it] upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:
15 And the priest shall take [some] of the log of oil, and pour [it] into the palm of his own left hand:
16 And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that [is] in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD:
17 And of the rest of the oil that [is] in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering:
18 And the remnant of the oil that [is] in the priest's hand he shall pour upon the head of him that is to be cleansed: and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD.
19 And the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the burnt offering:
20 And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meat offering upon the altar: and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and he shall be clean.
21 And if he poor, and cannot get so much; then he shall take one lamb [for] a trespass offering to be waved, to make an atonement for him, and one tenth deal of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering, and a log of oil;
[B]22 And two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get; and the one shall be a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering.
23 And he shall bring them on the eighth day for his cleansing unto the priest, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the LORD.
24 And the priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them [for] a wave offering before the LORD:
25 And he shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering, and the priest shall take [some] of the blood of the trespass offering, and put [it] upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:
26 And the priest shall pour of the oil into the palm of his own left hand:
27 And the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger [some] of the oil that [is] in his left hand seven times before the LORD:
28 And the priest shall put of the oil that [is] in his hand upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the place of the blood of the trespass offering:
29 And the rest of the oil that [is] in the priest's hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, to make an atonement for him before the LORD.
30 And he shall offer the one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can get;
31 [Even] such as he is able to get, the one [for] a sin offering, and the other [for] a burnt offering, with the meat offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed before the LORD.
32 This [is] the law [of him] in whom [is] the plague of leprosy, whose hand is not able to get [that which pertaineth] to his cleansing.
I think overall we tend to take the healing for granted just like the leper mentioned here. We are more than happy to accept a person that can deal with an immediate temporal problem but not that ready to accept His teaching that the sin that He forgave and the "cleansing" He performed; the cost would have to be taken upon Himself.

Mark 2:9

Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?
Which was easier to say?

The healing of the disease and the forgiveness of sin are upon the same “Sacrifice”. Jesus.

As stated in Isaiah "He took up our infirmities" "by His wounds we are healed"

Isaiah 53:4-6

4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.You are right Amanda, it is the same today ... evil man has not changed. We are more than willing to recite miracle after miracle, including pieces of toast that resemble human forms, following whoever will cure our physical infirmities but we are willfully ignorant of how we got into this position in the first place and quick to reject One that say's "there is a price to pay for all this" and then say's "I am here to pay it".
As you well know ... it is the difference between true "Life" and "death.":nod:

[a.baker]

Very well put Willy :)