Beginning with Moses and the Prophets

Beginning with Moses and the Prophets

The Book of Beginnings - An Intro, Part I

Genesis 1:1; Luke 24:18 - 27; John 1:1-3; 1 John 1:1-3

Introduction

            Going back to last fall, I have been trying to decide which part of the Old Testament best the gives account of the gospel of God. Where to begin; then last Sunday talking with Bro. Gene he made a comment, unrelated to today, concerning the Holy Spirit, then after-wards talking with Bro. Mark on something else, also unrelated, it dawned on me to go back to the beginning.

            Mark this morning read for us from Luke 24, a portion of what occurred on the road to Emmaus – Luke tells us that Jesus talking to two disciples asked what had transpired and that one of them named Cleopas asked Him in words to the effect, “Where have you been that you haven’t heard . . .” Then after Cleopas had finished talking Jesus beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (v27).

            This tells us that the gospel is in the Old Testament. Look, the Law & the Prophets was the only written thing they all had back then. It wasn’t until the mid-2^nd century that pretty much the New Testament was together as we have it now with few exceptions.

            The point here is that the good news of salvation can be found & understood in the Old Testament.

            St. Augustine is credited with coining the phrase – “The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed, the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.”

            Augustine expressed the astonishing way in which the two testaments are so closely interrelated with each other.

            The key to understanding the New Testament in its fullest is to see in it the fulfillment of those things that were revealed in the background of the Old Testament.

            The Old Testament points forward in time, preparing God’s people for the work of Christ in the New Testament.

            For us, believers from all ethnic groups, nations, languages, our redemption is in Christ Jesus. We, believers, have been redeemed, literally, bought-back. Just those who believe? No, everyone has been paid for. Unfortunately not everyone accepts that truth, but rejects it. 

            But, bought-back from what?

            Well, let’s find out; let’s go back to the beginning; the beginning? You mean like Little Foot in the land before time? No, though God was before time when there was nothing, there was a point when time began.

            ‘Bereshith’, “in the beginning” when God created the heavens and the earth; That which was from the beginning; In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

            The Greek equivalent to Bereshith is Genesis, in that the Hebrews titled the first book Bereshith, in the Greek Old Testament is was translated Genesis and the Latin, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese adopted the word letter for letter. The title is perfect because it gives us the genesis, the origin, of the doctrine of God.

            It is said to be the most important book ever written. Now, as a whole, the Bible is considered, (even by those who don’t believe in its inspiration) as the book that has exerted great influence, if not the greatest, on history of any book ever produced.

            By its name, the Bible tells us that it is one book comprised of a compilation of many books, 66 in our Bibles, just to note, there are 73 in the Roman Catholic the Orthodox Church in America—contains 80 books: 39 in its Old Testament, 14 in its Apocrypha, and 27 in its New Testament; the book of Genesis is the foundation of all of them.

            If you remove the Book of Genesis, like some people would like to do, the rest of the Bible would be incomprehensible.

            It would be like a building with no ground floor, a house with no firm foundation. Like the Talmadge Bridge with no suspension supports. You’d have the narration of God’s dealing with Israel to be narrow and sectarian if it isn’t set in the context of God’s developing purpose for all mankind as it is laid down in the early chapters.

            The New Testament when describing the execution & implementation of God’s plan for man’s, ours, redemption, is actually being redundant and antiquated except in light of our, that is man’s, desperate need for salvation. As fixed in the record of man’s primeval history, that’s only recorded in Genesis.

            Vital information on the origin of everything is given to us in Genesis – therefore, the meaning of all things, which would otherwise be forever inaccessible to man, to us.

            The future is bound up in the past.

            What anyone believes about their origin is going to inevitably determine his/hers belief in their purpose & their destiny. People that hold to the naturalistic worldview philosophy, the concept that beginnings specifies a naturalistic program for the future

            If you believe your southern mamma that life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get, then that’s exactly how you’ll live, never knowing you future destiny.

            But on the other hand, an origin in the hands of an Almighty, omnipotent, (I know that's redundant), loving God, predicts a divine purpose in history & an assurance of the consummation of that purpose -

            So, it is important, it's a prerequisite, to an understanding of God & what He means to man, to understand & believe the Book of Genesis.

            Genesis: the word means the origin or coming into being of something; the Book of Genesis gives the only true & reliable account of the origin, the coming into being of all the basic things of the universe & of life.

            The Book of Genesis gives all the following information,

The origin of: 1)- the universe; of order & complexity; the solar system; the atmosphere & hydrosphere (waters of the world);of life; of man; of marriage; of evil; of language; of culture; of government; of nations; of religion; of chosen people -

            In reality, Genesis is the foundation of all true history, true science & true philosophy.

            Above all else it is the foundation of God's revelation, as given in the Bible – No other book of the Bible is quoted more, referred to as frequently as is Genesis.

            The New Testament is dependent on Genesis more so than the Old Testament – There are about 165 passages in Genesis that are referred to or quoted directly in the New Testament. Many of these are alluded to more than once, so you come close to over 200 quotations/allusions to Genesis in the New Testament.

            The first eleven chapters has been the portion of Genesis that has been the object of the greatest attacks of skepticism & unbelief, still, those first eleven chapters is the portion that's had the greatest influence on the New Testament.

            On at least six different occasions Jesus himself referred to or quoted something, or someone from these chapters, inclusive specific reference to each of the first seven chapters -

            Myths? Or Legends?

            There is no evidence at all that the writers regarded the events and-or the persons as myths or allegories – All to the contrary, they viewed Genesis as absolutely historical, true & authoritative.

            It is impossible for anyone to reject the historicity & the Divine authority of the Book of Genesis without undermining,  repudiating, the authority of the entire Bible.

            Listen, if the first Adam is only, as the skeptics & many others claim, an allegory, then by all logical reason, so is the second Adam who is Christ Jesus the Lord.

            If man really did not fall into sin from his state of created innocence, then there is absolutely no reason for him to need a savior. If everything can be accounted for by the natural process of evolution, then there is no reason whatsoever to look forward to a future supernatural consummation of all things.

If Genesis isn't true, neither is the rest of Bible; nor the testimonies of those prophets & apostles who believed it to be true.

            If Genesis isn't true then Jesus Himself becomes a false witness, either a deceiver, (liar) or one who was deceived; the problem than multiplies; If Jesus of Nazareth is not God, then he is a liar. If he is a liar, he then is not a good man but a bad man, “homo malus”. A serious problem arises now in that Jesus has been recognized as being trustworthy, therefore good and wise; if he was not God but sincerely believed that he was then there is the possibility that Jesus was a lunatic. If he really was not God he would not be a good man. He would still be a bad man though a very sincere one. Though people have attested that Jesus was a good and wise man, the issue remains that if he was not really God, Jesus then was a liar. On the other hand if he held to his claim to be God, then he most definitely was a lunatic. It is not a matter of either or; whether he was a lunatic or a liar. Jesus’ character attests to what he claims. A lunatic is opposite of wise, and a liar is opposite of good. (BTW, this was from the paper I wrote handed out Christmas)-

            If all this then results from one book, the first Book not being true, faith then in the gospel of Jesus Christ for one's eternal salvation is just an empty mockery – That means then that when a person dies and the body decomposes back to dust, it is dead and the person might never have ever existed. There was, there is no purpose at all for having existed for such a miniscule period of time.

            An Opposition

            We all must oppose any effort from wherever, to make it a mythology, or an allegory. It's written as sober history, a divinely inspired account of the origin of all things.

            If so, nobody then, can hope to attain, or to be more emphatic, will have a snowball's chance in the 'infierno', of attaining a true & full understanding of anything without a basic acceptance & comprehension/understanding of the origin of everything as it is recorded in Genesis.

Transition

            Genesis is structured in themes; chapters 1-11 cover primeval history; chapters 12-50 the patriarchal history – the history of israel's founding fathers.

            Primeval or universal history relates five stories having the same structure: the fall, Cain, sons of God marrying daughters of man, the flood, & the tower of Babel.

            The pattern is fourfold – 1) sin, its described; 2) Speech: God announcing punishment; 3) Grace: God brings grace to ease the misery due to sin; 4) Punishment: God punishes sin.

            [In your inserts is a chart on this]

            Amazing Grace

            We see amazing grace in these first chapters; and just as John Newton, a licentious man, a recalcitrant, insubordinate while in the Royal Navy, and slave trader -

When in a violent storm off the coast of Ireland, he called out to God for mercy, a moment that marked his spiritual conversion -

            The song, hymn, Amazing Grace which he penned, the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless, I say again, regardless, of sins committed & that the soul can be delivered through the mercy of God -

            God tells us in Hebrews 13:8 that He is the same yesterday, today & tomorrow. We read in Numbers 23:19 that He says that He is not a man that He should lie or change His mind.

            From the very beginning we see this grace, mercy, Amazing Grace of God – We are given a clear view of His purpose. We see in the first stories, accounts that sin is like an avalanche always increasing in size and strength as it cascades down the mountain slopes.   Adam & Eve are punished, they're expelled from paradise, the Garden, but the penalty of death is withheld and He cares fro them, clothing them, covering them, their nakedness their sin;

Cain is banished from his family but God graces him a sign of protection; the flood comes but God saves the human race through Noah – Grace is muted at Babel, but this just sets up the continuation of grace through the Patriarchal history in chapters 12-50.

            Abraham receives the gracious promise that all peoples of the world will be blessed through him – Despite the patriarchs repeated sins, God's promise stands -

            The salvation history of the narrative of the patriarch functions as the gracious answer to the scattering of mankind at Babel.

            The book of Beginnings, the Book of Foundation, the Book of Genesis is all about grace – God's free gift.

            Paul's pithy observation in Romans 5:20b, “. . . but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. Genesis provides us a grandiose revelation of God's faithfulness as it recounts over & over again in the lives of the patriarchs, His fidelity.

            He remains faithful even when the people to whom the promises are made become themselves the greatest threat to the fulfillment of the promise.

            We can shout with praise for that because if it weren't so, we wouldn't be here today worshiping Him.

            The disordered lives with their dysfunctional people & families, cannot abort God's promises, His faithfulness.

            That's how God has always been – The New Testament puts it this way in 2 Timothy 2:13 - if we are faithless, He remains faithful— for He cannot deny himself.

Conclusion

            Regarding man, Genesis is articulate: He is at the same time, truly wonderful & truly awful. Genesis affirms our terrible sinfulness – The best of the patriarch's are helpless, hopeless sinners. Not a single one of them comes to salvation by merit -

            So, from the very beginning we come to understand that salvation comes only through faith -

            Moses makes it clear; that's how Abraham, the greatest of the patriarchs, was saved. Genesis 15:6 -

            Paul alludes to this in the New Testament; Romans 4:11 - He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well

            The only way fallen humanity can be saved is the Genesis way – by faith – There's no other way.

We'll pick up right here next week with “who wrote Genesis?”

            For now, those of you who may sense a tugging on your heart, your consience, of a need of forgiveness for whatever, I pray, as one who know all to well, that He, God, is faithful & just to forgive -

            O hope that you will journey with us, and that you see, that the Lord open your eyes and heart to see and know that He, the Almighty Creator is waiting there for you with open arms, waiting for all those who hear His call and come to Him.

Book of Beginnings

We read in Luke 24:27 where Jesus talking with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus Jesus, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

I invite you this Sunday to join us at Quacco Baptist as we begin to go through the Book of Origin and see the plan of the redemption of all mankind, the Gospel of God. 

An understanding & believing of the Book of Genesis is a prerequisite to an understanding of God & His meaning, what He means to man. Don't let anyone tell you differently, saying that the Old Testament is today irrelevant.

In Genesis, we are given vital information, hence the meaning of all things which would otherwise be inaccessible to mankind forever. The future is bound in the past, and what one believes concerning his/her origin is going to inevitably determine their belief in their purpose & their destiny. If you're going to believe your southern mama who told you that life is like a box of chocolates, "you never know what you're going to get," then that's how you'll live never knowing your purpose & future destiny.

On the other hand, an origin in the hands of a Holy, omnipotent God, predicts a divine purpose in history & an assurance of the consummation of that purpose.

Entering the Kingdom Part 4 Matt, 8 1-3 Feb. 17, 2019

Sermon on the Mount

Entering the Kingdom

Part IV On the Move

Matthew 8: 1-3; Leviticus 13: 45-46

Introduction

Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, named Hansen’s disease after Dr. Gerhard Hansen a Norwegian physician discovered that it is an infection caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. These bacteria grow very slowly and it may take up to 20 years to develop signs of the infection.

The disease can affect the nerves, skin, eyes, and lining of the nose (nasal mucosa). The bacteria attack the nerves, which can become swollen under the skin. This can cause the affected areas to lose the ability to sense touch and pain, which can lead to injuries, like cuts and burns. Usually, the affected skin changes color and either becomes:

·  Lighter or darker, often dry or flaky, with loss of feeling, or

·  Reddish due to inflammation of the skin.

Left untreated, the nerve damage can result in paralysis of hands and feet. In very advanced cases, the person may have multiple injuries due to lack of sensation, and eventually, the body may reabsorb the affected digits over time, resulting in the apparent loss of toes and fingers. Corneal ulcers and blindness can also occur if facial nerves are affected. Other signs of advanced Hansen’s disease may include loss of eyebrows and saddle-nose deformity resulting from damage to the nasal septum, the cartilage that divides the nose cavity in half.

In the past, Hansen’s disease was feared as a highly contagious, devastating disease, but now we know that it’s hard to spread and it’s easily treatable once recognized. Still, a lot of stigma and prejudice remains about the disease, and those suffering from it are isolated and discriminated against in many places where the disease is seen.

Confusion in Translation?

The word Leprosy comes from the ancient Greek word, lepra meaning “a disease that makes the skin scaly.” Many of the English translations translate the Hebrew word tazaraath as leprosy, and the apparent confusion was in that the Talmud refers to various types of lesions occurring on cloth, leather or houses as well as skin.

Transition

            The first verses of Chapter 8 record for us what happened immediately after Jesus descended from the mount after giving His sermon.

            In the beginning,  Jesus' sermon gave the character, the attitudes of the true children of God describing the inner character of the members of His kingdom; going on He described how they live their lives in this world.

            So as to not have the sermon wasted, He gives one illustration of what the character of the kingdom is like; He gives a living illustration by the healing of a leprous man. 

Now the lot of the leper in Israel is summed up in Leviticus chapter 13. Josephus, the Jewish historian summed it up by saying that the lepers were treated as “the walking dead.”

Add to this was the issue that those with leprosy had contacted it because of some great sin. This erroneous thought came about because of the past history people such as Miriam (Moses’ sister, Numbers 12: 6-10), & Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:19) had been judged with leprosy.

In Jesus’ time it was horrible for anyone with leprosy, being barred from society, the leper, sick and rotting and with no hope of healing and made to cry “unclean, unclean.”

The unreasonable strictness of the rabbis and the assumption that the lepers were great sinners made the situation unbearable.

The plight of the leper illustrates the effects of sin, even though the leper was no more a sinner than anyone else. The Greek scholar R. C. Trench says that though the leper was not worse or guiltier than his fellow Jews, the leper was a parable of sin - “an outward and visible sign of innermost spiritual corruption.”

So the leper can be seen as a physical illustration of every human heart. The prophet Jeremiah wrote - “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (17:9). When the Pharisees & scribes asked Jesus why His disciples didn’t wash their hands when they ate, as was the tradition of the elders, He tells them what defiles a person: For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander These are what defile a person.(Matt. 15: 19-20).

Look, if we could see a visible incarnation of ourselves, how we appear to God apart from the cleansing work of Jesus Christ, we’d see ourselves like the “walking dead”  - the Zombies from the TV series - trying to cover ourselves with filthy rags.

Apart from Christ, we are no different than Charles Manson, Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin, Attila the Hun, Leopold II of Belgium, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, no different than Cain. One’s heart can be changed, one can be cleaned.

Jesus’ Healing Touch (vv. 1, 2)

            This had to be quite a scene. Almost like a political rally today; maybe even more so. When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.      The people then were hungry, they were looking for a savior, and I’d go so far as to say that they were desperate. All these people there to hear the greatest sermon ever preached.

            Then, something startling, strange, something disgusting happened. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him. obviously, the noise of the crowd coming down with Jesus was considerable, but above that noise, you could hear the words shouted out with persistence and clarity, unclean, unclean!!

As the man approached imagine the people standing, falling back fearing contamination. I wouldn’t put it past some that they cursed him. Don’t we do the same to those ragged, filthy lost that walk the streets; the vagrants?

The man continued his approach yelling “unclean, unclean” until Jesus was face-to-face with a foul-smelling, decaying leper, full of leprosy from head to toe.

The Three Requirements

Here we are given a glimpse of the first fundamental requirement for obtaining the healing touch of Jesus Christ – being aware of your condition – The man didn’t just say he was unclean, he knew he was unclean. All he had to do was hold his hand in front of his eyes and any illusions to the contrary that he had would vanish right then and there,

            He also saw himself as perfectly hopeless. There wasn’t anything he could do to help himself. Everybody else had more than likely given up on him also. His family, after all the years of this illness, had probably given up and discontinued praying for him. This man exemplified the blessed spiritual awareness found in the very first words of Jesus’ sermon: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matt. 5:3-4).

You have to know that this man spent his years mourning his condition; who wouldn’t? The piteous chorus, unclean, unclean, shaped his innermost self. He acknowledged there was nothing in him that would commend him to God.

            He was in the perfect posture to receive grace; God doesn’t come to the self-sufficient, to those who imagine they can make it on their own. He comes to the bankrupt, those who truly mourn their condition.

            He may have sitting off from the crowd yet close enough to hear Jesus’ opening words and the masterful argument that followed. The Holy Spirit caused truth to pierce his heart & brought him to Jesus as his only hope.

This is the only way we can come to Him – saying unclean, unclean – If we think and say we are only partially clean, He won’t receive us. Have you come to Jesus Christ totally unclean? It is only then that He gives the healing touch that we all need.

 The second requirement we see in verse 2, a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean. Here we worshipful submission. The literal meaning of “bowed” meant to “kiss” as in kissing the earth as one lays prostrate before the gods.

As an aside, one hears a lot of criticism of the Muslim when they have their prayer time and prostrate themselves, but think of why we don’t prostrate ourselves before God when we pray? Are we afraid of what someone may think or say? I know we are not to “show-off” in public, but why do we criticize? They may worship a false god, but they show more devotion than we who worship the true and only God.

            Anyway, Luke tells in 5:12 that the man fell on his face, which enhances the picture. This humble leper put his whole soul into obeisance & adoration as he lay on the ground before Christ. He worshiped Christ as the only source of his healing. The lesson is loud & clear; Jesus’ healing touch doesn’t come with casual, irreverent acknowledgment; I’m cool, I’m saved, Jesus will heal me. It comes as we bow low before Him in the realization that He is our only hope.

And the third is the healing touch of Christ is obtained in faith. The leper demonstrated remarkable faith. a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.

Mark 1:40 indicates that he repeated this several times. How moving this picture is with the prostrate leper repeating in a hoarse voice, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”  He realized that this Jesus was all-powerful & more, the man said to Jesus, You can make me clean. He believed that Jesus could save him. Maybe you fall under the category of persons that when under the convection of sin you secretly think that you are beyond God’s grace. Believe me, you are not alone.

If we’re going to ask for the healing touch of Christ we will recognize our condition, bowing before Him in reverence as the only source of healing & forgiveness.

To Experience that Healing Touch (v3)

            Jesus looked at the leper in a way that he had never been looked at before, Mark 1:41 it says that Jesus was moved with compassion, the ESV says with pity. Jesus felt the man’s pain. Then we see the grand beautiful apex of the encounter, Jesus stretched out His hand & healed him, (v3).

            We don’t have a clue as to how long it had been since a non-leprous hand had touched him. One thing is certain that Jewish law said no one could be closer than six feet from him. But now Christ touched him. This wasn’t just a superficial contact; the word translated “take hold of” meant Jesus placed his hand firmly on the man right there in front of the multitude. Everybody that saw this, including the disciples, was appalled and shocked.

            Jesus, not listen, was by the Jewish law, ceremonially unclean.

            Reaching out to him was the instinct of His loving heart. He wanted the leper to feel His willingness & sympathy. The touch of Jesus’ pure hand on the rotting leper was a parable of the incarnation. He took on our flesh, and then became sin for us, though He Himself never sinned. In the incarnation, He took our sins upon Himself & gave us His cleanliness.

Jesus took on our flesh, our sins, our filth. For our sake he made him be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus lay hold of our flesh & touched us & healed us.

The leper’s healing was dramatic; Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Instantaneous was the healing. Everybody saw it, it wasn’t some mysterious backache going away or restored hearing. The face, the eyebrows, the hair were all instantly restored. The stubs & claw-like hands and feet were completely whole.

Now instead of “unclean, unclean”, his shout would be “I’m clean, I’m clean!!!

Conclusion

            That’s how it is for us when Jesus touched us & took away our sin. That is what God can do for anyone in a split second of belief. Just as the leper who came to Christ and asked. If you come to Him, fully aware of leprosy in your heart, your sin, realizing that He can and will heal you, you will be saved. I know He can, and that He will heal you from your soul’s sin … I am living testimony ….

I pray that you experience His healing touch today and always

If you haven’t, come to Him today and be healed, be made whole, receive the joy of forgiveness, the joy of eternal life.     

Entering the Kingdom Part IV - On The Move

Sermon on the Mount

Entering the Kingdom

Part IV On the Move

Matthew 8: 1-3; Leviticus 13: 45-46

Introduction

Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, named Hansen’s disease after Dr. Gerhard Hansen a Norwegian physician discovered that it is an infection caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. These bacteria grow very slowly and it may take up to 20 years to develop signs of the infection.

The disease can affect the nerves, skin, eyes, and lining of the nose (nasal mucosa). The bacteria attack the nerves, which can become swollen under the skin. This can cause the affected areas to lose the ability to sense touch and pain, which can lead to injuries, like cuts and burns. Usually, the affected skin changes color and either becomes:

• Lighter or darker, often dry or flaky, with loss of feeling, or
• Reddish due to inflammation of the skin.

Left untreated, the nerve damage can result in paralysis of hands and feet. In very advanced cases, the person may have multiple injuries due to lack of sensation, and eventually, the body may reabsorb the affected digits over time, resulting in the apparent loss of toes and fingers. Corneal ulcers and blindness can also occur if facial nerves are affected. Other signs of advanced Hansen’s disease may include loss of eyebrows and saddle-nose deformity resulting from damage to the nasal septum, the cartilage that divides the nose cavity in half.

In the past, Hansen’s disease was feared as a highly contagious, devastating disease, but now we know that it’s hard to spread and it’s easily treatable once recognized. Still, a lot of stigma and prejudice remains about the disease, and those suffering from it are isolated and discriminated against in many places where the disease is seen.

Confusion in Translation?

The word Leprosy comes from the ancient Greek word, lepra meaning “a disease that makes the skin scaly.” Many of the English translations translate the Hebrew word tazaraath as leprosy, and the apparent confusion was in that the Talmud refers to various types of lesions occurring on cloth, leather or houses as well as skin.

Transition

The first verses of Chapter 8 record for us what happened immediately after Jesus descended from the mount after giving His sermon.

In the beginning, His sermon Jesus gave the character, the attitudes of the true children of God describing the inner character of the members of His kingdom; going on He described how they live their lives in this world.

So as to not have the sermon wasted, He gives one illustration of what the character of the kingdom is like; He gives a living illustration by the healing of a leprous man. 

Now the lot of the leper in Israel is summed up in Leviticus chapter 13. Josephus, the Jewish historian summed it up by saying that the lepers were treated as “the walking dead.”

Add to this was the issue that those with leprosy had contacted it because of some great sin. This erroneous thought came about because of the past history people such as Miriam (Moses’ sister, Numbers 12: 6-10), & Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:19) had been judged with leprosy.

In Jesus’ time it was horrible for anyone with leprosy, being barred from society, the leper, sick and rotting and with no hope of healing and made to cry “unclean, unclean.”

The unreasonable strictness of the rabbis and the assumption that the lepers were great sinners made the situation unbearable.

The plight of the leper illustrates the effects of sin, even though the leper was no more a sinner than anyone else. The Greek scholar R. C. Trench says that though the leper was not worse or guiltier than his fellow Jews, the leper was a parable of sin - “an outward and visible sign of innermost spiritual corruption.”

So the leper can be seen as a physical illustration of every human heart. The prophet Jeremiah wrote - “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (17:9). When the Pharisees & scribes asked Jesus why His disciples didn’t wash their hands when they ate, as was the tradition of the elders, He tells them what defiles a person: For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander These are what defile a person.(Matt. 15: 19-20).

Look, if we could see a visible incarnation of ourselves, how we appear to God apart from the cleansing work of Jesus Christ, we’d see ourselves like the “walking dead”  - the Zombies from the TV series - trying to cover ourselves with filthy rags.

Apart from Christ, we are no different than Charles Manson, Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin, Attila the Hun, Leopold II of Belgium, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, no different than Cain. One’s heart can be changed, one can be cleaned.

Jesus’ Healing Touch (vv. 1, 2)

This had to be quite a scene. Almost like a political rally today; maybe even more so. When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. The people then were hungry, they were looking for a savior, and I’d go so far as to say that they were desperate. All these people there to hear the greatest sermon ever preached.

Then, something startling, strange, something disgusting happened. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him. obviously, the noise of the crowd coming down with Jesus was considerable, but above that noise, you could hear the words shouted out with persistence and clarity, unclean, unclean!!

As the man approached imagine the people standing, falling back fearing contamination. I wouldn’t put it past some that they cursed him. Don’t we do the same to those ragged, filthy lost that walk the streets; the vagrants?

The man continued his approach yelling “unclean, unclean” until Jesus was face-to-face with a foul-smelling, decaying leper, full of leprosy from head to toe.

The Three Requirements

Here we are given a glimpse of the first fundamental requirement for obtaining the healing touch of Jesus Christ – being aware of your condition – The man didn’t just say he was unclean, he knew he was unclean. All he had to do was hold his hand in front of his eyes and any illusions to the contrary that he had would vanish right then and there,

He also saw himself as perfectly hopeless. There wasn’t anything he could do to help himself. Everybody else had more than likely given up on him also. His family, after all the years of this illness, had probably given up and discontinued praying for him. This man exemplified the blessed spiritual awareness found in the very first words of Jesus’ sermon: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matt. 5:3-4).

You have to know that this man spent his years mourning his condition; who wouldn’t? The piteous chorus, unclean, unclean, shaped his innermost self. He acknowledged there was nothing in him that would commend him to God.

He was in the perfect posture to receive grace; God doesn’t come to the self-sufficient, to those who imagine they can make it on their own. He comes to the bankrupt, those who truly mourn their condition.

He may have sitting off from the crowd yet close enough to hear Jesus’ opening words and the masterful argument that followed. The Holy Spirit caused truth to pierce his heart & brought him to Jesus as his only hope.

This is the only way we can come to Him – saying unclean, unclean – If we think and say we are only partially clean, He won’t receive us. Have you come to Jesus Christ totally unclean? It is only then that He gives the healing touch that we all need.

The second requirement we see in verse 2, a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean. Here we worshipful submission. The literal meaning of “bowed” meant to “kiss” as in kissing the earth as one lays prostrate before the gods.

As an aside, one hears a lot of criticism of the Muslim when they have their prayer time and prostrate themselves, but think of why we don’t prostrate ourselves before God when we pray? Are we afraid of what someone may think or say? I know we are not to “show-off” in public, but why do we criticize? They may worship a false god, but they show more devotion than we who worship the true and only God.

Anyway, Luke tells in 5:12 that the man fell on his face, which enhances the picture. This humble leper put his whole soul into obeisance & adoration as he lay on the ground before Christ. He worshiped Christ as the only source of his healing. The lesson is loud & clear; Jesus’ healing touch doesn’t come with casual, irreverent acknowledgment; I’m cool, I’m saved, Jesus will heal me. It comes as we bow low before Him in the realization that He is our only hope.

And the third is the healing touch of Christ is obtained in faith. The leper demonstrated remarkable faith. a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.

Mark 1:40 indicates that he repeated this several times. How moving this picture is with the prostrate leper repeating in a hoarse voice, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”  He realized that this Jesus was all-powerful & more, the man said to Jesus, You can make me clean. He believed that Jesus could save him. Maybe you fall under the category of persons that when under the convection of sin you secretly think that you are beyond God’s grace. Believe me, you are not alone.

If we’re going to ask for the healing touch of Christ we will recognize our condition, bowing before Him in reverence as the only source of healing & forgiveness.

To Experience that Healing Touch (v3)

Jesus looked at the leper in a way that he had never been looked at before, Mark 1:41 it says that Jesus was moved with compassion, the ESV says with pity. Jesus felt the man’s pain. Then we see the grand beautiful apex of the encounter, Jesus stretched out His hand & healed him, (v3).

We don’t have a clue as to how long it had been since a non-leprous hand had touched him. One thing is certain that Jewish law said no one could be closer than six feet from him. But now Christ touched him. This wasn’t just a superficial contact; the word translated “take hold of” meant Jesus placed his hand firmly on the man right there in front of the multitude. Everybody that saw this, including the disciples, was appalled and shocked.

Jesus, now listen, was by the Jewish law, ceremonially unclean.

Reaching out to him was the instinct of His loving heart. He wanted the leper to feel His willingness & sympathy. The touch of Jesus’ pure hand on the rotting leper was a parable of the incarnation. He took on our flesh, and then became sin for us, though He Himself never sinned. In the incarnation, He took our sins upon Himself & gave us His cleanliness.

Jesus took on our flesh, our sins, our filth. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus lay hold of our flesh & touched us & healed us.

The leper’s healing was dramatic; Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Instantaneous was the healing. Everybody saw it, it wasn’t some mysterious backache going away or restored hearing. The face, the eyebrows, the hair were all instantly restored. The stubs & claw like hands and feet were completely whole.

Now instead of “unclean, unclean”, his shout would be “I’m clean, I’m clean!!!

Conclusion

That’s how it is for us when Jesus touched us & took away our sin. That is what God can do for anyone in a split second of belief. Just as the leper who came to Christ and asked. If you come to Him, fully aware of leprosy in your heart, your sin, realizing that He can and will heal you, you will be saved. I know He can, and that He will heal you from your soul’s sin … I am living testimony ….

I pray that you experience His healing touch today and always

If you haven’t, come to Him today and be healed, be made whole, receive the joy of forgiveness, the joy of eternal life.