Our Lord Jesus invites everyone to come unto him and take
rest and peace. Where is rest and peace? Nowhere on earth is found peace and
rest as we face it daily in the bustling and busy times. No freedom is found in
this roller coaster like life experience. However, here is a man who invites
everyone to give true rest and peace. There was a woman who was bound in
infirmity for eighteen years in a synagogue while our Lord Jesus was teaching.
Jesus stretched out the long suffering invitation of the Father in heaven to
her and liberated her by his words of truth because she responded to the divine
invitation with repentance.
“On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,
and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She
was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called
her forward and said to her, ‘Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.’
Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised
God.” (Luke 13:11-13)
This woman is an example of being enslaved by the evil
spirit. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all for eighteen
years. This is a picture of natural humanity. Man in Adam is dead in sins and
transgressions (Ephesians 2:1). Jesus says in the previous passage that anyone
who does not repent shall perish. No repentance, no life. Those who refuse to
accept the invitation of none other than the Son of God for eternal life are in
the bondage of the evil spirit until they accept it by faith with repentance. Our
God is unconditionally and faithfully gracious and merciful and loving. He
draws people to accept the loving kindness and long suffering to repent and
have life.
Jesus saw the woman and called her forward when he was
teaching in a synagogue. How awkward it might have been for her to move forward
with this kind of disfigured appearance? However, when she listened to the
voice of the Son of God she obeyed and moved forward. Our Lord Jesus then gave
her the most powerful words, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Jesus
is stronger than the evil spirit who is the prince of this world. The devil is
so cunning and crafty that he deceives and enslaves the people and put them
under the iron grip of darkness and confusion. However, we’ll never forget that
the devil is not an independent agent who uses the force of delusion and
illusion without God. He is a fallen angel who was made by the hand of God. So,
he still is the servant of God and works only within the perimeter of God’s
sovereign rule. Jesus tells a small parable in which why he can deliver the
spoils of the devil in the Gospel of Luke.
“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his
possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he
takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder.”
(Luke 11:21-22)
Jesus has power to set man free because he is able to attack
and overpower the enemy and take away the armor of lie and deception. Christ is
the power source to release the captives locked in the dungeon. Christ is the
way out of the enslavement in the wild pit. The way is to listen to the voice
of loving kindness and long patience and to repent in Christ Jesus. The power
releasing demonstration has been manifested in the cross of Calvary when the
Son of God was sacrificed as the Promised Lamb through the Law and the
Prophets. The evil inside humanity can only be released by means of death.
There is no other way than putting it to death. That’s why our Lord Jesus must
have died so violently in order to destroy the power of evil.
So, when Jesus says, “Woman, you are set free from your
infirmity,” he means his death in her place on the rugged cross. With the
precious price of his life with blood, Jesus has delivered true freedom and liberation
for humanity. Through his death Christ has snatched the captives into the
heavens with him. Those like this woman who respond to the loving and enduring
invitation of the Son of God shall be liberated and the captives of the
righteousness of God, the indwelling place of Holy God.
“When you
ascended on high,
you took
many captives;
you received
gifts from people,
even from
the rebellious—
that you, Lord God, might dwell there.” (Psalm 68:18)
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and
my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
“Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the
synagogue leader said to the people, ‘There are six days for work. So come and
be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.’” (Luke 13:14)
But the stubborn people of Israel did not appreciate the
work of Jesus which delivered the woman who was suffering by a spirit for
eighteen years. To our surprise, they were indignant because Jesus healed on
the Sabbath. They devalued the work of the Father through the Son of Man and
sneered at him, saying “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on
those days, not on the Sabbath.” They did not even try to investigate what it
was and how could such a thing happen by Jesus of Nazareth. They were ferocious
and formidable to resist the work of none other than the Creator and Maker of
the universe. Those rebellious people never understand who God is for their
stubbornness and obstinateness.
“Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the
vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do
right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.” (Revelation 22:11)
Look how our Lord Jesus responds to the stubborn resistance
against God who sent the deliverer for the lost race.
“The Lord answered him, ‘You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you
on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give
it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has
kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what
bound her?’ When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people
were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.” (Luke 13:15-17)
Jesus calls them hypocrites for they took care of their
animals by leading out to give it water on the Sabbath and yet accused of the
good work which enabled to set free the woman, a daughter of Abraham from the
eighteen long years of Satan’s enslavement. At the words of the Creator all the
opponents were humiliated for they couldn’t find any ground of defense. However,
the people who responded to the loving kindness and long patience of God were
delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing. Jesus Christ was the Word
in the beginning and was with God. He was God and nothing was made what has
been made without him.
Here is the warning by the unknown author of Hebrews that it
is incomparably far better to fall into the bruised and wounded hands of
crucified Jesus Christ than into the hands of the living God who will avenge
and repay against all the godlessness and wickedness of man. It is a dreadful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God who does not want anyone to
perish but to be saved.
“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received
the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful
expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of
God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony
of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves
to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an
unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted
the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’
and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a dreadful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:26-31)
Prayer: Our heavenly Father, Thank you for your loving
kindness and long suffering for the lost race to accept the divine invitation
of our Lord Jesus Christ for true peace and rest in mind and heart. Thank you
for your faithfulness to take anyone who repents and responds to your kindness
into the heavens with you as the captive to the righteousness of God. In Christ’s
name. Amen.
September 25, 2015
© 2015 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.
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