The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: I am so convinced that right now God's heart is moved with compassion. He's looking at you and he's seeing the chaos just as the Holy Spirit brooded over the chaotic condition in the Old Testament. God's Holy Spirit wants to spread his wings over your house today.

God's Holy Spirit wants to spread his wings over your house today that you might and your family, your spouse, your children might abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Right now, you're under storm clouds, but the shadow of the Almighty, let him put his peace over you today.

Guest (Male): The miracles of Jesus were more than acts of compassion. They were signs pointing to his identity. Today, Pastor Morris is here and begins to explore how these mighty works reveal Jesus as the Son of God.

Pastor Jack Morris: Following his baptism, you remember he called disciples and then he began his public ministry. His public ministry consisted of two things: message and miracle. His words were taught and his miracles were points of emphasis that amplified his word. Jesus taught with words, but he also taught with miracles.

Both the message and the miracle presented the kingdom of God. He said there's going to be a different rule. He was long, long tired of sickness ruling, of sin ruling, of demons ruling, of confusion ruling. He said, "My beautiful world has been turned into a mess and it is ruined. My world is ruined because there's another kingdom at work in my world." But he came with his ministry to bring a kingdom rule and this is what he did.

He presented his message with words and with miracles. Jesus' teaching was miracle in words. His miracles were teachings in deeds done. Everything he did, whether he talked or whether he performed a miracle, he said, "You're coming under a new rule. You don't have to live this way anymore. I'm going to turn ugliness into beauty. I'm going to do something wonderful. I'm going to bring in a new kingdom." And he brought it in with words and with miracles, with message and with miracle.

We're first going to consider the fact of miracles. There's possibly nothing in the life of Jesus Christ that creates more debate than his miracles. There are many and varied opinions concerning the miracles of Jesus. People will accept Jesus and almost everything about Jesus, but when it comes to his miracles, they have opinions. We're going to seek today to understand what the Bible says and what the contemporaries in Jesus' time said concerning his miracles.

Jesus' enemies did not deny his miracles. This is one of the reasons we accept the miracles as historically true. I want you to write down the word "enemies." Jesus' enemies did not deny his miracles. That's so important. They could have come along and said, "It's just trickery. It's just magic. It's just sorcery." Not one time did one of his enemies ever try to come away and explain away his miracles.

Not one time did any of the Pharisees try to convince the people that didn't happen. They were happening so quickly and one miracle after another and the miracles were so beautiful and had done so many wonderful things. The enemies knew that it's just undeniable what Jesus was doing. So what they did instead of trying to say they didn't happen, they said they happened not by the power of God, but by the power of Satan. They just turned the emphasis away, but they did not deny the miracles of Jesus.

Is there external evidence, extra-biblical evidence that the miracles actually happened? Are there external sources outside the Bible? Isn't it something? We will tend to believe what the secular historians write maybe even quicker than we would what the Christian writers wrote. Well, I have good news for you. There were historians 2,000 years ago in Jesus' day who believed in the miracles of Jesus, that they actually happened.

One of them was Josephus. He was a Jewish historian of that time and he no doubt wrote the reflections of his contemporaries. He said of Jesus that this mighty man did wonderful deeds, simply meaning he did things that caused the general public to stop and wonder what's going on here. This is a secular historian. We have this in print even to this day. In the *Antiquities of the Jews*, his remarks about Jesus and the miracles are recorded. Josephus was not and never was a Christian. He was a secular Jewish historian.

The *Babylonian Talmud*, far from denying that the miracles happened, went along with the Pharisees and wrote down that these miracles are the result of demonic power. But get this, nobody denied that they happened. History says they happened. You can take a Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and open it up and find some of the names that I'm giving you right now. Look up Josephus.

You remember that Rome was governing Israel at that time. There were Latin historians who saw the results of the miracles and wrote them down. Here are three names: Tacitus, Suetonius, and Pliny the Younger. Three Roman or Latin historians that wrote about the miracles of Jesus. The Latins were followers of false gods, they were considered heathen, but they could not deny the fact that something miraculous, something supernatural was taking place. There are plenty of external, extra-biblical sources that say that miracles actually happened when Jesus was here.

Thirdly, we have the writers of the Gospel. These writers of the Gospel were highly selective. There are approximately 36 supernatural miracles that are recorded in the Gospels. These miracles tell of Jesus Christ's deity. These writers could have written many, many stories about Jesus. They could have recorded many miracles, but these writers were highly, highly selective.

John chapter 21, verse 25, John was speaking in hyperbole and said, "I suppose if all the things that Jesus did were written down and put in a book, the world itself could not contain the books." So the disciples only wrote down—Matthew wrote, Mark wrote, Luke wrote, John wrote. Here are four biblical writers. There were other writers who wrote about the miracles of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. They only chose 36 to be put into print.

We have the enemies not denying the miracles, matter of fact, only trying to give a new source to where they were coming from. We have the historians of that day, both Latin and Jewish historians. And then we have the Greek historians and the Christian historians and we have it in the form of the Bible, the New Testament. No one in that century denied that miracles were taking place.

The word miracle comes from a Greek word that is translated into three English words. These words are used synonymously and interchangeably with the word miracle: mighty works, referring to the supernatural. This was not something that was just a lot of human effort put into it and a great achievement was done. It was supernatural mighty works.

The other word is "wonders." It means that the people stood back and looked and wondered in amazement. This is unexplainable in human language, what has happened to this person, what is going on in the realm of nature. The third word is "signs." Signs speaks of the purpose of the miracles. Signs are exactly what it says, a sign like you see a sign on a highway, a one-way street sign. These were signs not pointing to the miracle but pointing away from the miracle to the person who was doing the miracle, saying, "Look at him."

There are two general categories of miracles: healings and also in the realm of nature. When he performed a healing is when he opened the eyes of the blind or he touched somebody and a withered limb was healed. In the realm of nature, there were times that he would speak to the winds and to the waves and say, "Peace be still," or he walked on the water. There's approximately 17 physical healing miracles. The rest of them are in the realm of nature.

Let's look at the purpose of miracles. Number one: to establish Jesus as the Messiah. In Acts chapter 2, we read that the church was born on the Day of Pentecost. There was a great outpouring of the Spirit of God. The people of Jerusalem gathered around and Peter, along with the eleven, stood up to explain to the people what had taken place—these tongues of fire, this supernatural phenomenon. He spoke that this was to authenticate Jesus Christ. These miracles were to bring authenticity to Jesus as the Christ, as the Messiah.

Acts chapter 2, verse 22 says, "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth, that man that came from that little town, the carpenter shop, Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did among you through him as you yourselves know." He said, "You know it," and not one of them stood up to deny it. He said, "You know it," and they did indeed know it.

The second purpose was to communicate truth. God was lifting up Jesus, extolling Jesus, bringing the Messiah, the Savior of the world, to the people of the world, particularly the Jewish people. Miracles were emphasis points along the way. Jesus would teach, then he would perform a miracle. He would teach about the great and mighty power of God and then he would back it up. He was impressing and instilling truth in the people and he was using miracles to do it.

The third reason he performed miracles was to demonstrate compassion. He wanted the people to know that God is a tender-hearted God. He is a heavenly Father, he cares for the people, and the Scripture clearly says in the presence of need, Jesus was moved with compassion. Wherever there's need, Jesus reaches out. His heart is stirred when that need is brought into his presence. Think of your own need today. He can't do anything until you bring that need visibly into his presence. When you bring it to him, then he's moved with compassion to do something about that need.

Number four: the purpose of miracles was a foretaste of the believer's inheritance. Let's think realistically. We are not going to enjoy perfect, uninterrupted health in this life. There is sickness, there is disease, there is the aging process. All the prayers that you pray will not stop you from getting older. You're going to get older, that's part of life. So these miracles that Jesus did then and the miracles that he does now will not totally eradicate all sickness and disease and stop the aging process.

The miracles that he performed then and the miracles that he does now is to point to a day when the supernatural kingdom of God will come and it will be uninterrupted. What we're praying for every Sunday morning when we pray the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come," we're praying for that day that the kingdom will be totally under him and he will be King totally. Even now he sits upon the throne of our heart and he rules our lives provided we give our lives to him.

There is coming a day when this world will be completely changed. There will be a new heaven and a new earth and you will be completely new. The kingdom of God will have completely come. This is a foretaste whenever there's a prayer answered or a supernatural intervention of God in your life. This is a foretaste of something that is greater to happen.

It is very clear in the Scripture that Jesus didn't heal everybody. He would go to a place where there were a lot of people. At the pool of Bethesda, he healed one and he left the rest of them sick. I don't have the answers for all of this. All I can say is that what Jesus did, he did by the will of God. Not everybody's going to be healed now, not everybody was healed then when he was here in bodily form on this earth. This is not heaven! This is a foretaste or a down payment of heaven to come.

The Lord is telling you that this is a day of wickedness and sin, and he is moving in with a new kingdom. He is beginning within your heart and he's moving you to that next life where there will be complete healing. We will eat of the Tree of Life, its leaves will always be green, the river will always flow, there will always be newness and refreshment. This is a foretaste. You and I are experiencing it now and we look forward with great anticipation to that day when it will come.

In his brief life here on this earth, Jesus did many things. In his brief ministry, the Scripture tells us that there were times that he uttered a word and a person was healed. There were times that he would stretch forth his hand and people received healing. There was one in particular that a woman with a hemorrhage reached through the crowd, touched the hem of his garment, and she was healed. There were no two miracles replicated. The writers put down these miracles and show the various sides.

The Scripture tells us that when he was here, he did miracles in nature. He spoke to the howling storm and with a word, he said, "Peace be still," and a peace came. This is why I truly believe when the word of God is being read, when the word of God is being sung, when the word of God is being preached, if you are listening right then, immediately, some of you will be hit with supernatural miracles. Revelations will take place, healings will take place, encouragement will take place, insight will take place.

I'm not up here trying to inform your mind. Jesus is speaking. He is speaking his word and I'm speaking his word. It is not my word, it's his word and he wants to say, "Peace be still." Some of you in your house today, you need to hear him say, "Peace be still." The storm may rage, but in your heart, in your heart, in your heart, you will have the evidence that God sees, that God knows, and that God's going to move in in some supernatural way.

The God of the Word wants to intervene to the healing of my household, to the healing of the confusion in my life, to the healing of the conflict and strife at where I work. Someone says, "I want to go to church to hear a sermon today." No, go to church so you can hear Jesus speak! He wants to speak. I have a feeling right now that some of you have heard enough that will increase your faith. Faith cometh by hearing. You're hearing, let your faith start going up. It goes up and the healings will come, the answers will come, the revelations will come.

There is something supernatural and spiritual going on when the preacher is preaching, when you're reading the word, or when the choir is singing, or whatever it is that is projecting forth the word of God. There is the God of the word. Where the word is, God is. Where God is, there is his word. Ignore his word, you've ignored him. Turn to his word, you've turned to him. Can you say, "Praise the Lord"?

There are some here this morning. I am so convinced that right now God's heart is moved with compassion. He's looking at you and he's seeing the chaos just as the Holy Spirit brooded over the chaotic condition in the Old Testament. God's Holy Spirit wants to spread his wings over your house today that you and your family, your spouse, your children might abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Right now, you're under storm clouds, but the shadow of the Almighty, let him put his peace over you today.

He comes today, this is a foretaste. There were the miracles when he multiplied the loaves and the fish to feed the people. There was the miracle when the man who had all of these mental disorders was healed. He was insane, he was possessed by demons. He lived among the tombs. He didn't wear clothes. They couldn't bind him with chains. He was a maniac of maniacs, a crazy man of crazy men. He had some kind of supernatural strength about him.

Jesus spoke to the man and we read of this man now clothed, in his right mind, sitting peacefully. That's what Jesus can do with mental disorders and with confusion. Whatever your need is, he's already addressed it. Whatever it is, it's past tense as far as he's concerned. You are healed, you are blessed. You have but to reach out and experience it and take it into yourself right now.

The Scripture says he returned sight to the blind. He healed a man with a withered limb just by the touch. We're living in the shadow of it right now and miracles. There has been approximately 2,000 years since these miracles were recorded. His miracles now come to us, shouting to us. Why are his miracles here? If you will open your ears, we will hear those miracles shouting across the ages, across the span of time.

What are those miracles shouting to me? God's trying to shout something. Are you listening? What does he say? These miracles are shouting to us: "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." That's the whole thing. That's the whole purpose. He's trying to shout into our ear. We say, "I know that." No, you don't! You wouldn't be so hurt and in a state of unrest. He is saying, "There's a Savior here. There's a Savior."

For 2,000 years, he's been trying to say, "There's a Savior." This Savior is divine. This Savior is the Messiah. This Savior is the Son of God. This Savior is the one who spoke the worlds into existence. You think he can't do something for you and your little problem today? That's what those miracles are saying to us in the 21st century. Yes, those miracles are so relevant to us today, perhaps even more so today than ever before.

Guest (Male): Every miracle pointed beyond itself to Jesus as the Savior and the source of life. You can explore more teachings like this at thehealingword.com, where resources are available to help you grow in your understanding of Christ. If you would like to support this ministry, your gift helps us continue sharing the Gospel. Next time, we'll continue with part two and discover what these miracles are still saying to us today.