Peace and grace in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Luke 4:16-30is about 'Jesus is rejected in Nazareth'.
Why do the people of Nazareth reject Jesus?:
The consequence isthe people of Nazareth are filled with wrath, thrust Him out of the city, and want to throw Him down over the cliff.
Romans 11:25
11:25. For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israeluntil the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
Because a part of Israel rejects Jesus, the opportunity and the mercy of God are opened for us,the Gentiles,to receive Jesus and be saved. It means, the opportunity is opened for the Gentiles to receive faith from God.
For exampleis a widow of Zarephath.
There were many widows in Israel, but the widow of Zarephath was helped by God because she had a handful of flour, that is the practiced Word.
Luke 4:27
4:27. "And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naamanthe Syrian."
The second exampleis Naaman.
There were many lepers in Israel, but Naaman the Syrian was helped.
2 Kings 5:1,5-7,9-14
5:1. Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.
5:5. Then the king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.
5:6. Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.
5:7. And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me."
5:9. Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house.
5:10. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean."
5:11. But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, "Indeed, I said to myself, 'He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’
5:12. "Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage
5:13. And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean’?"
5:14. So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
How great and good the position of the Gentiles in the world is, they have spiritualleprosy.
The meaningsof spiritual leprosyare as follows:
God wants to help us. In the Old Testament, He helps by telling Naaman to wash in the Jordan seven times.
It refers to purification and renewal to reach perfection.
In the New Testament, Jesus helps by being willing to die on the cross to wash usdoubly of water and the Worduntil we are spotless.
Ephesians 5:25-27
5:25. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
5:26. that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
5:27. that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Jesus washes us twice and the process isas follows:
God blesses us.
Luke 4:16-30is about 'Jesus is rejected in Nazareth'.
Why do the people of Nazareth reject Jesus?:
- [verse 16-20] The people of Nazareth do not believe but reject the prophetic Wordtold by prophet Isaiah about the coming of Jesus in the first time.
- [verse 21-22] The people of Nazareth do not believe Jesus as the Son of God. They assume Jesus as as the son of Joseph the carpenter, just a human.
- [verse 23-30] The people of Nazareth do not believe the teaching Wordtold by Jesus.
Luke 4: 23-30
4:23. He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’"
4:24. Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.
4:25. "But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land;
4:26. "but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
4:27. "And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."
4:28. So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
4:29. and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.
4:30. Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.
The consequence isthe people of Nazareth are filled with wrath, thrust Him out of the city, and want to throw Him down over the cliff.
Romans 11:25
11:25. For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israeluntil the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
Because a part of Israel rejects Jesus, the opportunity and the mercy of God are opened for us,the Gentiles,to receive Jesus and be saved. It means, the opportunity is opened for the Gentiles to receive faith from God.
For exampleis a widow of Zarephath.
There were many widows in Israel, but the widow of Zarephath was helped by God because she had a handful of flour, that is the practiced Word.
Luke 4:27
4:27. "And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naamanthe Syrian."
The second exampleis Naaman.
There were many lepers in Israel, but Naaman the Syrian was helped.
2 Kings 5:1,5-7,9-14
5:1. Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.
5:5. Then the king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.
5:6. Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.
5:7. And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me."
5:9. Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house.
5:10. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean."
5:11. But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, "Indeed, I said to myself, 'He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’
5:12. "Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage
5:13. And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean’?"
5:14. So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
How great and good the position of the Gentiles in the world is, they have spiritualleprosy.
The meaningsof spiritual leprosyare as follows:
- Being self-truth.
It means covering sin by blaming others, debating, and blaming God and true teaching Word.
If we have the self-truth, surely we have self-desirethat makes us disobey the Word and self-interestthat we become selfish and always insist the others to follow our own will.
The sign of leprosyis one easily rages, grumbles, rages without reason, and has prejudice. - Impurity.
This is the peak of sin, that is sin of eating-drinking (smoking, getting drunk and drugs abuse) and sin of marrying-giving in marriage. - Impossibility.
It is like to raise the dead.
God wants to help us. In the Old Testament, He helps by telling Naaman to wash in the Jordan seven times.
It refers to purification and renewal to reach perfection.
In the New Testament, Jesus helps by being willing to die on the cross to wash usdoubly of water and the Worduntil we are spotless.
Ephesians 5:25-27
5:25. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
5:26. that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
5:27. that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Jesus washes us twice and the process isas follows:
- Washing of water.
It refers to water baptism.
We need humility to enter into water baptism.
1 Peter 2:1-2
2:1. Therefore, laying aside all malice(1), all deceit(2), hypocrisy(3), envy(4), and all evil speaking(5),
2:2. as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
The term of water baptismis being dead to five sins, which means to repent.
Romans 6:4
6:4. Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
The implementation of the right water baptismis the dead man must be buried.
We have to be baptized like Jesus does.
We are buried with Jesus in the water and raise with Him in newness of life like newborn baby.
The sign of the newbornbabyis life in righteousness.
Living in righteousness means being saved. Not being right means not being saved.
It is useless to do good deeds but not right. It is same as the death of Jesus would have become useless if He had done sin.
The baby will always desire the pure milk of the word, which means true shepherding Word that is preached orderly in regularity.
It means we have to be shepherded. We always exist in the sheepfold, where we make our righteousness and salvation firm and we are spiritually growing to perfection. - Washing of the rain ofthetrue teaching Word.
After diving in the water baptism, we must continue to dive in the rain of the true teaching Word.
The true teaching Wordis the Word sharper than any two-edged sword that sanctifies us from seven wickednesses and uncleannesses
Matthew 15:19
15:19. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts(1), murders(2), adulteries(3), fornications(4), thefts(5), false witness(6), blasphemies(7).
If our heart is purified, our deed and word will be purified too, that we can become like a newborn baby.
Only right and good word comes out of baby's mouth, no more lie.
Baby's mouth is only used to testify and worship God with broken heart.
We just hope to God's mercy. If we testify, the help of God will increase.
Otherwise, if we do not testify, the help of God will be stopped and we will be guilty of blood.
Exodus 2:6
2:6. And when she had opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."
The results are as follows:- There is miraculous God's power of preservation and protection.
Moses should have died, but he could live only by crying as a baby, which means worshiping God with broken heart, trusting and hoping in God's mercy.
The miraculous God's power of helpingtakes away the impossiblities. - The power of use of God.
Moses is used to bring Israel to Canaan.
For now, we are used in the ministry of the revival of the last rain. - The power of lifting up.
Physically, God gives beautiful future.
Spiritually, being lifted up means we are purified and renewed continuously until we become as perfect as Him when He comes a second time.
- There is miraculous God's power of preservation and protection.
God blesses us.