Daily Bread – August 10, 2023 (The Fifth Day – Genesis 1:20-23) Matthew 8:17 – In this way, He fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah saying, “He removed our sicknesses and carried away our diseases.” The Ministry Of Jesus The ministry of Jesus cannot be more perfectly described than what is expressed in these two verses of Scripture (Matthew 8:16-17). Jesus, the Healer of the spirit, soul, and body of man, is the One Who removes our sicknesses (Greek- astheneias; Hebrew-chalayenu) and carries away our diseases (Greek- nosous; Hebrew- makh’ov). Matthew does not limit the saying of Isaiah to the final act of the cross, but makes it active in the day-to-day ministry of Jesus. In fact, we may say that every time Jesus heals the sick and delivers men from the control and influence of the devil, He is fulfilling that which was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. There are those who insist the prophecy of Isaiah is limited to the one event when Jesus bore our sins in His Own body on the tree, but Matthew plainly reveals to us how God does not see it that way. Scripturally, we may be so bold as to say Matthew solely relates this passage in Isaiah to the healing ministry of Jesus by the use of the word “fulfilled.” Every time Jesus cast out a devil or healed the sick, He not only revealed God’s will and plan for mankind, but also demonstrated His liberating power from the fall of Adam and the works of the devil. Through the power to heal, Jesus demonstrates how He alone possesses the power and authority to break every yoke of bondage imposed on man by the curse of sin. The use of those words, which may be translated “removed” and “bore”, denote the power of Jesus to reach out and pull the sickness and the pain off of those who have it – and free them from all of their afflictions. The Hebrew words used in Isaiah may be understood as “to lift off” (nasa) and “to pick up the load and carry it away” (saval). The lengthy discussions as to what these words actually meant are very simply resolved in the fact that those who were once demon possessed were set free, and those who were sick and diseased were cured by the power and authority, which Jesus possessed Blessings, Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
Daily Bread 8/10/2023
