The Theologian and Overcomer
“After three days they found him in the temple
courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them
questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his
answers” (Luke 2:46-47).
Jesus was sent to earth
to teach people the will of His father as part of His mission. At twelve years
old, Jesus left an impression on the religious leaders of His day, due to the
wisdom that the Holy Spirit had imparted in Him. His parents had lost contact
with Him during a trip to Jerusalem, for the Feast of the Passover, but found
Him three days later in the temple courts. Even as a child, He knew that He had
to be about His Father’s business. The Bible says, “’Why were you searching for me?’
he asked. ‘Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’” (Luke 2:49).
God was always there to guide His Son as He grew up in His fleshly form and
showed Him favor because He was His Father. The Bible says, “And
Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52).
Jesus, at the age of 30,
began His mission on earth. He was baptized by His cousin, John the Baptist,
and went into the wilderness to fast and pray for 40 days and nights. The Bible
says, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the
devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry” (Matthew 4:1-2).
Jesus knew that He was about to encounter many attacks that would be
brought on by the enemy. Therefore, He needed some time with the Father to be
prepared. The devil, nevertheless, saw this as a grand opportunity for him to
tempt the Son of God when He would be at His weakest. Of course, the devil
would never let a spiritual fast go to waste, so he decided to tempt Jesus by deceptively
quoting scriptures. In his attempt, however, he was not expecting the Teacher to
use the Word of God in its proper context to block his evil efforts. The Bible
says, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any
double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and
marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
The devil began by
asking Jesus to prove that He was the Son of God by turning stones into bread.
The devil already knew who Jesus was, for he had once been in Heaven prior to
his fall. Yet, he wanted to set a trap for Jesus just as he had successfully
done with the first man. Jesus, however, being the scholar and theologian that
He was, did not fall for the devil’s scheme. He quoted the Word back to him. The
Bible says, “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but
on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” (Matthew 4:4). Jesus
let the devil know that he was wise to his schemes and would not fall into sin
due to his appetite as Adam and Eve had done.
The devil saw that his
first attempt was unsuccessful, so he took Jesus to the highest point of the
temple and quoted scripture to Him, for the devil knew that the Word of God was
powerful. The Bible says, “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw
yourself down. For it is written: “He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot
against a stone” (Matthew 4:6). The devil seemed to want a battle of
the minds between himself and Jesus. He knew that Jesus thoroughly knew the
scriptures, but in a pitiful attempt, he tried to mix truth with error. The
devil, in his arrogant mind, somehow felt that Jesus needed to prove something
to him. Nevertheless, Jesus used the Word against the devil again. The Bible
says, “Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God
to the test’” (Matthew 4:7).
Nothing seemed to be
working so the devil, in a desperate attempt. decides to take Jesus to the highest
mountain and offer him the world with only one catch. The Bible says, “Again,
the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of
the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will
bow down and worship me” (Matthew 4:8-9). Now the devil had to be
pretty stupid to think that he had anything to offer Jesus that wasn’t already
His for the taking. However, the devil was about to get a rude awakening for he
always envied God and his authority, so his attempt to offer Jesus what already
belonged to God was laughable at best. Jesus at this point was tired of the
devil and did not want to be bothered any longer. The Bible says, “Jesus
said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your
God, and serve him only.’ Then the devil left, and angels came and attended him”
(Matthew 4:10-11).
The devil’s scheming did
not work and he had been ordered to leave at Jesus command. Why did Jesus put
up with him for that length of time? Jesus was teaching us that we too can have
victory and be an overcomer. Jesus was both man and God, so he could have
easily fell into the trap that the devil was trying to set. However, Jesus let
us know by quoting the Word of God back to the devil, that we are able to
overcome and resist the devil’s attempts to make us sin. The Bible says, “Submit
yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James
4:7). There is power in the Word, and just as Jesus used the Word to
fight off the enemy, so can we.
Jesus taught many
lessons throughout His time in ministry on earth because He is the Master
Theologian. We are to take on the mindset of Jesus and the only way to do that
is to be a continuous student of the Word by studying daily. The Bible says, “Let this mind be in you, which is
also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). We must feast on the Word of
God as we do with food in the natural. Studying the Word of God is the only way
to know who He is and take on His very character. Since Jesus teaches us, and
through His Word and has taught us the ways of His Father, we have power
against any demonic forces that come our way. We can successfully understand
TRUTH that only comes through Him. The Bible says, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way
and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’”
(John 14:6).
The Great Physician
“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” (Isaiah 53:5).
Sin brought about consequences far worse than man could have ever
imagined. The perfect bodies that God created became subject to complete
breakdown. In the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life was given for man to enjoy
at his leisure, but due to his disobedience, man could no longer stay there so he
would not be able to live forever in sin. Therefore, man was kicked out of the
garden; he had to suffer the consequences of his actions, with one of them
being the deterioration of his body that would eventually lead to a physical death.
The Bible says, “’And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of
us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and
take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’ So the Lord God
banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been
taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of
Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to
the tree of life’” (Genesis 3:22-24).
When Jesus came on the
scene, He wanted to show people the power of His Father who was in Heaven. He
sought to heal them of the detrimental effects that sin had over their bodies.
Many people flocked to Jesus to receive healing. Some of them had suffered many
years with various ailments, but the news quickly spread of His healing power.
They often came in droves once they heard that there was a Man who could cure
them of all their diseases. The Bible says, “When the sun was setting, the
people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his
hands on each one, he healed them” (Luke 4:40). Jesus was the Master
Physician who could cure any disease and He healed many by laying His hands on
them, but some had faith enough to just touch the hem of His garment and
received instant healing as well such as the case with the woman who had a
blood disorder.
A man by the name of
Jairus came to Jesus to heal his 12-year-old dying daughter who was at home. As
Jesus was getting ready to go to the synagogue ruler’s home, a woman who had an
issue of blood for twelve years touched His garment. Jesus noticed that power
had left from Him as He questioned the disciples as to who had touched him. Due
to the size of the crowd that were pressing up against Jesus, the disciples
were puzzled as to how He could single out one individual when there were so
many. Yet, Jesus knew that someone, with whom he had not spoken to, had
received power from Him. The
Bible says, “Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling
and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had
touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her,
“Daughter your faith has healed you. Go in peace” (Luke 8:47-48). The
woman had been afraid because the Mosaic laws considered her as unclean, and by
law, she was not to even had been among other people. She took a risk even
coming to see Jesus. Nevertheless, she did not let anything stop her, and her faith
made her well.
Right after this, Jairus
received word that his daughter had died. The messenger did not see the need
for Jairus to bother Jesus any longer into coming. Unfortunately, the faith
that the woman with the issue of blood had to receive her healing was lacking
in the messenger who delivered the sad news. Nevertheless, Jesus was not
deterred by the gloomy report. The Bible says, “Hearing that, Jesus said to
Jairus, ‘Don’t be afraid, just believe, and she will be healed’” (Luke 8:50).
Jesus was letting the ruler know that it didn’t matter what the report said,
for He had all authority over both disease and death.
Jesus was not limited by
man’s constraints, for He was the Creator who designated the time of a man’s
departure. As Jesus approached, He saw that there were those who were wailing
over the passing of the child. Jesus, seeing this, told them to stop for the
child was only asleep. The people who were present must have thought that Jesus
had taken a leave of His senses, for everything in the natural told them that
this child was dead. They did not understand that Jesus, the Victor over death,
had arrived and nothing could remain dead in His presence. The Bible says, “Jesus
said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will
live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?’” (John 11:25-26). Jesus raised the child back to
life, and in so doing, He was teaching a
lesson that faith in Him, even though one may die in the natural, would not be
the end, for He had come to give eternal life.
Jesus not only healed
people in the natural, but He healed them spiritually. There were people who
were possessed by demons, and the demonic possession affected them both in the
natural and spiritual realm. The demons feared when they were confronted by Jesus
as was the case with a man who lived in the cemetery because he was possessed. The
Bible says, “When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the
top of his voice, “What do you want with me,” Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come
out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand
and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by
the demon into solitary places” (Luke 8:28-29).
The demons knew that
they would not be able to remain in an individual once they were in the
presence of Jesus. They had to free the individual’s mind and body for Light
and darkness could not reside in the same space. The demons, however, wanted
somewhere else to go and so Jesus drove them out into the pigs and the man
regained his physical and spiritual faculties. The Bible says, “And
the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they
found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet,
dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid” (Luke 8:35). One
would think that the people would have been more afraid when the man was out of
his mind than when he had it. Jesus had successfully shown that He had the
power to heal anyone of anything that ailed them in both the natural and
spiritual, for He is the Great Physician.
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