Mark 1:27-34

January 15, 2023

He Took Her by the Hand

Part 1

Jesus gives us a glimpse of the eternal kingdom of God, as He banishes from His presence all sickness and disease.

One of the greatest reminders of the presence of sin among us, is the continued sickness, and illness, and death that is all around us. And it's been all around us since the very beginning, since Adam left the garden, sickness and illness and death have been all around us, indeed, just at the very door. And this is a great reminder that the depravity of man is here, it's all around us. And sometimes, you know, we live in this age of such medical advancement. And sometimes we can lose perspective a little bit. And we can begin to think that with all the medical advances and surgery techniques, and medicine, and antibiotics and everything, we can begin to think that mankind has gotten so, smart that we're just on the verge of eliminating sickness and disease. Well, you know, medical researchers tell us that there are some 10,000, give or take, some 10,000 known, diagnosed, illnesses in mankind. And anybody want to take a guess out of those 10,000 How many we have either treatments or cures for? Five hundred. Five hundred of the 10,000 known diseases we have treatments or cures for. So, that gives us a little bit of perspective. We are not on the verge of stamping out sickness and illness, indeed, they will remain until Christ returns. However, the Scriptures teach us that when the kingdom of God comes, sickness and disease and death will be banished. And, in addition to that, Jesus Christ came to earth, and for three years, He showed us he demonstrated for us something of what the kingdom of God would look like. And one of the things that Jesus demonstrated for us is how the Kingdom of God will banish sickness and illness from it. And so, Jesus Christ goes around for three years, literally just banishing sickness and disease, and leprosy, and demon possession, just banishing it from his presence. He will heal untold numbers of people. As we read through the Gospels, we read a number of accounts that tell us of Jesus's healing miracles. But so, very few of the healing miracles of Jesus were actually narrated to us in detail. We can start to feel like well, that there's maybe what 20 or 30 people that Jesus healed. But as we read through the Gospels carefully, we will see that Jesus healed untold thousands of people, literally banishing from his presence, sickness, disease, leprosy, demon possession. Look at the notes in Matthew chapter nine, and verse 35. And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease, and every affliction. Or just a few chapters later, in Mark chapter six, and verse 56; and wherever He came in villages, cities or countryside, they lay the sick in the marketplaces and implored Him, that they might touch even the fringe of His garment, and as many as touched it, were made well. Jesus will banish from his presence, sickness and disease. Now, as we said, last week, the healing, the miracles of Jesus are never to be seen as the focus. It might seem that way, particularly in Mark's gospel, because Mark's gospel is the gospel of action. Mark wants to tell us of the things that Jesus did. And so, Mark takes no time in his Gospel to tell us of the substance of Jesus's teaching, he just tells us that Jesus is teaching. And so, particularly in Mark's gospel, we can lose sight of the fact that the preaching, the teaching of Jesus was always the central focus. Now, Matthew, Luke and John, they're going to give us the content of what Jesus taught. But Mark focuses on what Jesus does. But let's just be careful to notice that even Mark's gospel will tell us very clearly that the teaching is always the priority. We saw this last week, we'll be reminded of this again today. And we'll be reminded again next week of this, that the teaching of the word, the teaching of the truth is always the priority in Jesus's ministry. And indeed, that's the first thing that we're going to see this morning because this morning, we're going to pick up in the story. We left off last week, in that we looked at Jesus's time in the synagogue, He goes into the synagogue and gives this authoritative teaching. And people are just flabbergasted at not only the things that Jesus teaches, but the way, the manner in which He teaches them. They've never heard anything like this. They've never heard one who has the heart of God, the mind of God, and also knows the hearts of the people He's teaching. And he's teaching directly into their hearts, the truth of God. They've never heard anything like this. And so, they are stunned at what they hear. But then, this man with the unclean spirit cries out. This demon, this unclean spirit can no longer take the truth that he's hearing proclaimed in the synagogue. And so, he cries out, I know who you are the Holy One of God, are you here to destroy us? And then Jesus rebuked the demon tells him to shut up and get out. And the man is freed from the demon. And the people are even more amazed. However, we left off last week at the reaction of the people to the casting out of the demons. So, that's what we'll pick up this morning. And in doing so,, will be reminded once again, that the teaching is always of preeminent importance. Let's begin from verse 27. And they were all amazed. So, that they question among themselves, saying, what is this a new teaching with authority? He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey Him. So, notice there, you might miss that if you if you read over it too quickly. You might miss the fact that their reaction is a little bit different than what you might would have expected. You might would have expected the people to have said something like this, Mark would say, and they were amazed at the power of Jesus as He cast out this demon. But that's not what Mark says. They were amazed and they say, what is this a new...teaching? A new teaching? Look at Luke's account of the same instance in Luke chapter four, and verse 36. And they were all amazed and said to one another, what is this? What is this word for with authority and power? He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out. What is this word? What is this teaching? So, you see how they the people just connect together, the teaching the authoritative, teaching the authoritative word, and what the word accomplishes. The authoritative word, and what happens when the word is proclaimed. The authoritative word, and the reaction of the demonic to this authoritative word. You see here, the authority, the amazement of the people, if you will, their recognition of Jesus's authority is rooted and grounded in his teaching of the word, his proclamation of the truth. You know, it is the word that Scripture tells us will last forever. It is the word of God, that is unfading, and ever-enduring an everlasting, not the works. The works are evidence of the truth of the Word, the works are a manifestation, that the One who is proclaiming this word is true and right and should be listened to. That's what the Scriptures teach us, that the works, the signs are done in order to affirm, to verify the one preaching and teaching. And so, the works are not what we are told will last forever. It is the word that we are told that will last forever, and the people recognize this, they instinctively know they see the demonic flee from this man. And they instinctively know that the authority that he cast this demon out with is an authority that's rooted and grounded in the Word of God. You know, Satan would be content, I believe, had Jesus come and just spent three years just healing everybody in sight, casting out demons even, cleansing lepers, even calming storms, and multiplying bread and fish. I think Satan would probably have been content had Jesus done that without preaching the word that He preached. In verse 28, and at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. From this point on, from verse 28, on Jesus's life will never be the same again. For the rest of the time that He is here on earth, people will be clamoring for him everywhere he goes, every single day. Whether it be crowds that want to hear him teach, whether it be crowds that want to be healed, lepers that want to be cleansed, demon possessed people that need to be freed from their from their demons, or people that want Jesus to feed them again, people that want him to perform a sign or a miracle, or people that want to argue with him, or people don't want to kill him. So, for one reason or another, from this point on from verse 28, on Jesus will never have peace once again, He'll never have solitude that He doesn't have to actively seek out and get up before dawn in order to find. Instead he will be the center of attention everywhere he goes. And verse 29, and immediately He left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. So, here, once again, we see Mark's favorite word--immediately. So, he leaves the synagogue immediately. He is at the house of Peter and Andrew Peter's brother Andrew here. So, the house that He enters into is the house of Peter and Andrew, and then James and John, we're told are still with him. But then Mark says immediately. So, this house that they enter, we talked a couple of weeks ago about the synagogue in which Jesus was teaching here. We have (or, not 'we', but) historians, archaeologists have discovered the ruins of the synagogue in Capernaum. And we talked a couple of weeks ago about how this synagogue was rebuilt in the fourth century. And on the on top of the rebuilt synagogue, there are the ruins of the original synagogue. And the original synagogue would have been the one in which Jesus taught and cast out this demon. Now this synagogue, very, very close to it, historians tell us that literally within a stone's throw--and I know that's a phrase we often use, just to say something's very close by--but literally within the distance that you could throw a rock is a site that archaeologists tell us is almost certainly the house of Peter. This is one of those biblical archaeological sites that historians tell us, there is a high degree of certainty that that we have actually discovered the actual house of Peter. And this site is literally a stone's throw from the synagogue. And I know we use that word, stone's throw sometimes just to mean a distance is not very far. But literally, the distance that a person could throw a rock from the synagogue is this historical site. And historians tell us that we're almost certain that this was Peter's house. Now this house is a little bit different from most ancient houses in Capernaum, dating to the same timeframe. This house had a door or a gate that opened to the street. But then once you entered into that door, there was a large, open, outdoor courtyard. And the house was sort of circular around the courtyard, and all the rooms opened into the courtyard. And on the walls had been discovered all kinds of Christian paintings, and depictions, as well as Christian sayings and scriptural writings, written in the languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, and Latin. And this site, and they're almost certain that this was used as a church well into the 3rd century. But prior to that is known to be the house of Peter. So, that's quite interesting. So, let's just kind of put into our mind as we begin thinking about this, let's just sort of let our our mind rest on this for a little bit. And just try to picture, just try to create a context in our mind of what this would have looked like. So, Jesus enters into this house just a short ways from the synagogue, he enters into this house of Peter, and his brother Andrew. Now remember--it's also easy to easy to forget--that all of this is taking place in the same day. Everything from verse 21 all the way down to verse 38, from verse 21 to verse 38--all of that takes place, within the same what we would call a day, because the way that we reckoned days are, you know, either from midnight to midnight, or from sunrise to sunrise. But the Jew, of course, they reckoned the day, from the setting of the sun to the setting of the sun. So, in Jewish ways of timekeeping, this actually spanned over into another day. But regardless, it's all one 24-hour period. Most of this is going to take place on the Jewish Sabbath, but all of this, even into next week, is still taking place within this one 24-hour period. So, Jesus here, this is a Sabbath day, He's been at the Sabbath, at the synagogue, Sabbath service. And remember what happened there? He stands up and He reads through the scroll, He sits down and He gives this incredible authoritative teaching. And then after that, there's this encounter with the kingdom of darkness in which He does battle with the kingdom of darkness, and cast out the unclean spirit. Now, imagine, if you will, what would have taken place after the service? You know, when our service here is over on Sundays, our service concludes, and some of us have somewhere to go, maybe a lunch to get to or something to do or whatnot, but many of us we just stay, because we love each other and we stay, we talk, and we just like being with each other, particularly if it was a powerful surface. Many will linger. And my family will affirm for you that many are the Sundays that I get home at two o'clock. So, I imagine if you will, just what would have taken place after this Sabbath service. When the Son of God taught with all of the authority of God Himself--of the One who knows the hearts of man, of the One who knows the mind of God. And He laid open the Scriptures and applied it directly to their bare souls. And then all of that was followed up by this incredible experience of watching the kingdom of darkness be cast out. Do you think that they would have want to linger after that service? Do you think that Jesus would have had a crowd around him at the conclusion of that service? When he finally finished speaking, the demon was cast out, the teaching was concluded, surely Jesus would have been flocked by people who had questions, who want to know more, who maybe didn't quite understand something, He said, and wanted to delve into it even further. Is it safe to say that Jesus would have probably been at synagogue for hours? And would have left completely exhausted? You know, there is one aspect of the story that perhaps of all those in the room, perhaps I can relate to, I don't know, maybe the easiest. And that's just the aspect of Jesus's fatigue. When I get done preaching, there's a type of fatigue that comes over me. And it's not exactly a physical fatigue, although I am physically fatigued, there's not exactly a mental or an emotional fatigue, although that's there is well, but I guess I would call it a spiritual fatigue. Because when you open the Word of God, and the Word of God comes out of you to other people, there is a type of spiritual fatigue that results from that. So, I can relate just a little bit, just a tiny bit to how Jesus must have been fatigued. The human Jesus, as He left the synagogue, tired, hungry, walks just a short distance to Peter's house, enters in, and then immediately--even as they're walking, I can imagine Peter and Andrew are saying to one another; you know, let's tell them about mom. Let's tell them about my mother in law. You know, she's been sick. She's got this really bad fever, maybe He will look at her. Maybe He will do something. So, verse 30, now Simon's mother in law lay ill with a fever. And immediately, they told Him about her. Now, this is at least one thing in the passage that nobody in the room needs a biblical expositor to stand up and point out to you--and that's just simply this. They told Jesus about her. They told the Master, they had this problem, this sickness, this loved one was down with a fever, and they told Jesus about it. First Peter five, verse seven says, to cast your cares upon Him because He cares for you. Or Philippians, four, verses six and seven; Don't be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God. They just tell Jesus. Jesus, we've got to to tell You, my mother in law, she's really sick. Can you look at her?

Part 2

The one who has received mercy from God will have a desire to serve in His name.

Verse 31, and He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. And the fever left her―literally marks as the fever forsook her. The fever fled, sickness and illness are banished from Jesus's presence. And she began to serve them. So, the first thing I see here, just the, what I would just call the divine accessibility of Jesus. Jesus is so, accessible to them. They just simply tell Jesus, they just simply say to Him, can You look at her? She's sick. And despite his fatigue, despite the fact that He's been at synagogue for hours, and done battle with the kingdom of darkness, and answered probably dozens, if not hundreds of questions, and engaged all sorts of people, despite all of that, the Savior is just accessible. He's accessible to his people. Hebrew seven, verse 25 says that He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. So, they just tell Jesus, Jesus, she's sick. He goes in here, and Mark tells us that He takes her by the hand and lifts her up. Matthew says that Jesus touches her. Luke says something similar. He says that He takes her by the hand and raises her up and lifts her up. And so, Jesus lifts her up. And again, the fever forsook her, the fever fled, the fever was evacuated, the fever was absolutely jettison from her body. And she gets up and begins to serve them. You know, this week, I was kind of interested in fevers, and so, I did some reading about fevers, and how fevers work. We probably know mostly how how a fever works. But it's interesting to read exactly what the body does and what a fever is doing, what that is all that is about. You know, God has designed our bodies in such a way that our body senses when an infection is attacking our body, whether it be a bacterial infection, or a viral infection. Our body senses that. And it knows that. And we have this thing in the back of our brain called the hypothalamus gland. And the hypothalamus gland, once it senses that there's an infection in the body, it begins releasing into the bloodstream, these little things called pyrogenes, Pyrogenes are kind of neat, you can even tell by the name there, what they're all about Pyro―fire, heat, and genes. So, it releases these pyrogenes into your bloodstream. And what the pyrogenes do is they tell your body to elevate your body temperature. Because your body―God designed your body to know that your body can withstand the higher temperature better than the infection can withstand the higher temperature. So, your body, in essence, is burning out the infection, it's heating out the infection, it's raising the temperature to such a degree that the infection has to leave, has to die. And then once the infection, once the hypothalamus gland senses that the infection is no longer present, it stops releasing those pyrogenes. But it doesn't extract them out of your bloodstream. They just have to be filtered out over time. So, notice here what happens to Peter's mother-in-law. Notice how we're told that the fever left her, and she began to serve them. The fever forsook her, and she began to serve them. And so, the healing here is just like she was never sick. It's not like there's a period of recovery. We know what it's like to have a fever, don't we? You have a fever, and then the fever finally breaks, and how does it leave you? It leaves you weak as a baby. Yet, this fever doesn't just break, and subside, and then she recovers. The fever leaves her, it forsakes her. And immediately she gets up and begins serving them, as though she were never sick. And that's how all of Jesus's miracles will occur. All of Jesus's healing miracles will be the same. Jesus will heal, He will restore a deformity, He will cleanse a leper. And it's not as though they have a recovery period. It's as though they were never sick, or never deformed, or never leprous. Because you know, Jesus never cures anybody. Jesus heals, and there's a difference between curing people, and healing people. Jesus heals people, He miraculously heals people. And when he does, so,, it's as though they were never sick. When he heals a deformity, it's like the deformity was never there. Remember the paralytic in the next chapter? The paralytic, who's brought in on this stretcher, and Jesus will heal him, and he gets up and carries his bed home. I mean, just moments ago, he wasn't able to walk. So, there's no strengthening of the legs, there's no recovery of balance that has to take place. Think about the miracle in Acts chapter three, where Peter and John healed a beggar on the steps of the temple. We're told that that beggar was born lame. And Peter and John in the name of Jesus, they heal this man. And we're told that he leaps up, and he's clicking his heels, and he's jumping, and he's dancing, and he just two-steps into the temple. It's as though he was never lame. You know that legs that have never walked, cannot walk instantly. There is a process of learning balance. There's a process of strengthening the muscles in the legs, and learning coordination. You know how much coordination it takes for us to walk upright on two legs? Yet, he instantly does this, it's as though he was never lame. Verse 31. And she began to serve them. You know, there's a connection here that we can see, and this is the connection between mercy and service given in the name of Jesus. Service unto Jesus in His Name, or service to others in His name. There is a distinct connection between mercy received, and a heart that desires to serve others in the name of Christ. We see this in Romans chapter 12 and verse one; I appeal to you therefore brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Or Ephesians, two verses eight, through 10. By grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, this is the gift of God. Not a result of work so, that no one may boast, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. The Scriptures teach us that if we have received mercy from God, if we have received grace from God, we will have a heart that truly desires to serve others in His name, and to serve Him, for His sake, for His glory. If we have a heart that has to be cajoled, and guilted and backed into a corner before, we're willing to do anything in the name of Jesus―and I don't mean just click on some link, and go online, and donate some money to some missionary organization―I mean, actual service with our actual hands, actually doing something for the kingdom. If we have a heart that has to be guilted and cajoled into serving the kingdom in that way, then it's right to ask ourselves; has our heart really received mercy from God? Because God tells us if we've received mercy, we all desire to serve. Look at James chapter two, verse 15, through 17; if your brother or sister is poorly clothed, lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, oh, go in peace, bless your heart, Go in peace and be warmed and filled, without giving them the things that they need. What good is that? So, our hearts must be hearts that, at least on some level, are like Peter's mother in law here and desire to serve Jesus, desire to serve in His name, if we've received mercy from him. Now, what are the things that this dear lady does, this mother law of Peter, we don't know her name, but one thing that she does for us, together with another lady in Scripture, another lady by the name of Martha. These two ladies together will come together and they will do something for us, what they will do is they will forever and for eternity, they will dignify domestic service given in the name of Jesus. Notice how she gets up and begins serving them. Now, I don't think that this is any sort of a Sabbath violation here. Because I think that most likely the food is already prepared, the table is set in good Jewish fashion. But nevertheless, the food has to be served out. So, I don't think she's preparing food. I don't think she's violating the Sabbath here. But indeed, she gets up to serve them. And by so, doing, she forever is dignifying service, domestic service, serving others in the home, in the name of Jesus. You know, we live in a culture that has done everything it could, and it continues to do everything it can, to degrade service in the home, to degrade making the home our place of serving others. We live in a culture that teaches us, particularly the women among us, that unless you do something outside the home, unless you have some sort of career, unless you go to some sort of college for this degree, and advance this type of career, then if you've not done anything like that―you've not done anything. And if you are a so,-called stay at home wife, or stay at home mother, then you're somewhat less of those who have gone out and have some sort of career outside the home. And that is something that the Scriptures tell us is not in accordance with the Scriptures. Because this is dignifying for us―serving others in the home in the name of Jesus. And this is what she does here. She gets up and she begins to serve them. Now, verse 32, that evening at sundown, they brought to him all who are sick or oppressed by demons. So, notice this happens at evening―that evening at sundown, so, remember, this is still the Sabbath. And on the Sabbath, of course, there's regulations against travel and of course, traveling while carrying a burden. And so, we're told that they brought, at evening they brought to him all who were sick. So, the sick and the lame and the demon possessed and the lepers aren't coming to Jesus on their own according to Mark they're being brought. So, that of course, points us to this next story coming up in chapter two, of the friends who bring the paralytic to Jesus.

Part 3

The gospel leaves our ears ringing with the compassionate heart of Jesus.

One thing we should be careful about, when we think of Jesus's healing, we should never think of his healing as something that he just sort-of snaps his fingers at sick people or just glances over at somebody sick and, and wishes them to be well, and it's all done, and then just goes on unaffected. We should not think of Jesus healing in that way. When Jesus healed the sick, when he cleansed the lepers, and when He cast out the demons, Jesus, in His Spirit in his soul, was not unaffected by that. Here's what I mean. Look in your notes in Matthew chapter six verse, (I'm sorry), Matthew chapter eight and verse 16, through 17―this is the same instance here. That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and He cast out the spirits with a word and healed (here it is) all who were sick. Verse seventeen; this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah; He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. Now, a few weeks ago, when we were looking at the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, we made note of the fact that Jesus, who will become the sin of the people on the cross, He will become our sin―Second Corinthians 5:21―nevertheless, at his baptism, he has plunged under the waters of the people's confession of sin. So, his identification with the sins of the people, though he himself is sinless, he is identified with their sin, he's plunged under the water of their confession of sin. In a similar sort-of way, here, his connection to, his identification to, not just the sin of the people, but the consequence of the sin of the people, the sickness and illness, his identification with them is so, close and so, intimate, that when he heals the sink, in some sense, he becomes their sickness. He becomes their illness. Now, that is not to say that when Jesus cleansed the leper, he himself became leprous. That's not to say when he healed the blind, he himself became blind. He didn't literally become their sickness. But in some way that the scriptures don't fully explain for us, in some sense, Jesus connected so, closely with their sicknesses and their illnesses, that something about those sicknesses impacted Jesus. Some of the healing miracles show us this. For example, a little later in Mark's gospel, he is going to heal a deaf man by putting his fingers in the deaf man's ears. And we're told in that passage that Jesus groans deeply, he sighs deep in his spirit. Or think about the healing of the woman with the flow of blood, who reaches out and touches the hem of His garment. And we're told to Jesus stops, turns around and says, somebody touched me. And the disciples say, Well, yeah, dozens of people have been touching you. Jesus says, No, for I felt―what? Power go out from me. These instances show us something about the impact that Jesus received through the healing miracles, something about these healing miracles took something from Jesus. They extracted some type of energy, they fatigued him in some sort-of way. He groaned in himself, he sensed power going out from him. And here he is healing, not just dozens, hundreds of people who are sick and lame and leprous and possessed of demons. And in this, we see something else of the Master. We see the limitless, bottomless fathomless compassion of Jesus. You know, the Gospels tell us that Jesus came to show us the Father. That's what Jesus himself says to Phillip; I came to show you the Father. And so, Jesus is a visible manifestation of everything that it means to be God. All of the attributes of the Godhead are in Jesus, completely, totally. All of his justice, all of his power, all of his wisdom are in Jesus. Nevertheless, the picture that the Gospels paint for us of this man Jesus, when we finish reading the Gospel accounts of Jesus, the one thing that's just, first and foremost, the aspect of Jesus that's really ringing in our ears, is his compassion, is it not? If nothing else, the Gospel writers want to show us a Jesus who is full of compassion for his people. Mark chapter two and verse five. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven. In other words, when the paralytic is lowered through the roof, Jesus―they don't even have to ask Jesus to do anything. They don't even have to say, Jesus, can you can you take a look at our friend here? Jesus sees the man and acts. Mark six, verse 34, when he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And look at what His compassion leads him to do; and he began to teach them many things. Jesus, if anything, he is a man, that the scripture show us, when he sees the sick, he just can't help himself, he must go to them. When he sees the lame, he just can't help himself, he must go to them. Because he is so, filled with compassion. Two times the scriptures will tell us that Jesus broke down and wept, and both times the weeping was for someone else. Look at Luke chapter four and verse 40. This is the same incident here in Luke's gospel. Luke writes this; Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him. And he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. In other words, Jesus is going through this crowd. And he's laying his hands, He's touching every single one. You know, I think if Jesus wanted to, he could have come to the door of Peter's house, raised his arms and declared everyone healed. And it would have been so,. Remember the story of the Centurion? If, in fact, in Capernaum, the Capernaum, Centurion, remember, he comes to Jesus and says, My servant is ill. And Jesus says, Alright, take me to him. And the Centurion says, You don't have to go. Because I understand the authority, and understand power, you need only speak the word and he'll be healed. And Jesus says, Wow, what faith! So, Jesus didn't have to touch them to heal them. He wanted to. He wanted to touch them. He didn't want to heal them from across the room, he didn't want to heal them from the other side of the street. He wanted to touch, them each and every one. You know, if the Gospels are giving me an accurate picture of Jesus, then what I picture Jesus doing here is not just walking down a row of people sitting on the ground and touching them for a half of a second each and healing them. Rather, I see Jesus touching them, and the touch lingering. And Jesus kneeling down on their level and looking into their eyes, and just talking to them. Finding out their name and what's wrong, where they're from. And if nothing else, I think Jesus would have said something to them like this; you know, I'm gonna heal your body. But your real problem is not your body. Your real problem is not your legs. Your real problem is not this fever. Your real problem is your heart. Your real problem is that you don't love God. with all your heart, soul mind strength. Your real problem is that you love yourself. I think that Jesus would have spent some time with each one―hundreds of people. Is it hard to imagine that this whole process spills over into midnight, on AM, Two AM? The limitless compassion of Jesus. Dane Ortlund writes this, he says; it is impossible for the affectionate heart of Christ to be over celebrated, made too much of, or exaggerated. In other words, one thing that will never happen is no one will ever say to you rightly, you know, you make too much out of Jesus' compassion. You know, you sort-of exaggerate Jesus' affection. You sort-of make too much out of this whole compassion, empathy sort-of thing―can't be done. It cannot be exaggerated because the gospels show us a Master, a Rescuer, who is limitless in his compassion What we see here is just such a clear picture isn't such a clear contrast between his power and our weakness, because if anything, this is a scene, these streets that are packed with people, nothing else is true about them more than the fact that they are weak, and helpless, and cannot heal themselves. And here's Jesus, who can heal every one of them. His power, our weakness. His compassion, our need. His affection, our lack. You see the contrast here? Now, lastly, verse 34. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. So, already in chapter one, we've seen this twice, now. Jesus rebuking demons, and telling the demons who recognize Him, and who He is, and what His authority is, and will profess that they will explain that however, Jesus will not let them. He commands them to be silent. We've seen that twice already. So, what are we make this commanding of silence from the demons? As long as they're going to testify of who He rightly is, why doesn't Jesus just let them testify? Well, I think that there's at least three good reasons that the Scriptures teach us why Jesus will not allow the demons to testify of his identity. And that's because the confession of the demons is contrary to God's plan of revealing Himself. God reveals Himself to mankind, but he has a specific way, a specific plan of how He will reveal Himself. And the testimony of demons is contrary to that plan. It's contrary in at least three ways. First of all, it's contrary to God's design of His revealing of Himself. Because you see, God has designed that He will reveal Himself, not through the testimony of unclean demons, but through the testimony of His words, and the affirmation of His actions. The affirmation of the signs and wonders that He commits, and the words that He speaks, that's what will reveal the Son of man to us. Look at Matthew chapter 16, and verse 17, Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah, for what flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. You see? The revealing of Me to you, Simon has taken place, not by the means of earthly means of flesh and blood, but by the means of my Father. My Father has revealed to you who I am. That's God's design. His design is that the revealing of Himself to mankind is done by His words, and by His actions, not by the testimony of demons. You know, whenever Jesus is asked in the scriptures, Are you the Christ? Are you the One that we're waiting for? Whenever He's asked that, you know what He never did? He never denied it. He never denied it. But nevertheless, the revealing of who He is, will always come by His words, not the words of a demonic fallen angel. Number two, the revealing of Christ through demons is contrary to God's plan because it's contrary to God's timetable. It's contrary to God's timing of when He will reveal Himself. Because Jesus, though He never denied when He was asked directly, He never denied it, nevertheless, He had a certain timetable a certain timeframe for which He wanted the revealing of himself to take place. And this is too early in that timetable. He does not want to be revealed as the Son of Man, the one who is the Messiah, because He does not want the attention from the Roman Empire, who would begin saying, Now wait a minute, there's somebody in Capernaum going around saying that He's the new king. We need to look into this. So, Jesus, Jesus doesn't want that yet. He wants this revealing to take place on his timetable. You remember in John chapter six, and verse 15, you remember when they're going to come to Jesus, and they're going to―John tells us―take him by force and make him king. But Jesus withdraws, because He doesn't want that yet. So, this is contrary to God's timing of his revealing of himself. Thirdly, it's contrary to God's method, to God's ways of revealing Himself. God will reveal Himself to all of mankind. And He will do so, in such a way that all of mankind who has ever lived, will recognize who He is. Philippians chapter two, verse 10, and 11 tell us of that day, when every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. But that will be a day in which the identity of Jesus is revealed in terror. For it will be terrifying. Those who have his identity revealed to him on that day, and they have not confessed allegiance to Christ prior to that day, it will be revealed to them in a moment of terror, of sheer, eternal terror. God doesn't want that now. In the age of the church, He wants to reveal Himself, not in terror, but in love. Not in despair, but in compassion and affection. And so, Jesus, most emphatically does not want His name on the lips of these unclean demons. He will reveal Himself through His words, through His actions, in His time.