Jesus Restores Life

Transcript

GR 681
9/2/1984
Jesus Restores Life
Matthew 9:18-26
Gil Rugh

After using two object lessons to show that the gospel of Christ cannot be mixed with other religious ideas and systems, Matthew returns to the record of the miracles he is offering to show the total uniqueness of Christ in His message and ministry. Two miracles are recorded in Matthew 9:18-26 which are also recorded by both Mark and Luke. Matthew’s goal is to drive home the point that in the midst of a serious affliction, Christ had the sovereign power to overrule it and to bring healing and life. Matthew is not concerned with the details, so in order to pick up more of those details, we will also be looking at the other accounts.
The miracles Matthew records show the great diversity of people to whom Jesus is ministering. In these two miracles, Jesus will minister to a wealthy, respected synagogue official in Israel, his twelve-year-old daughter and a woman who is an outcast in the nation. All of these will be brought into contact with Jesus Christ and will have their lives transformed by Him.
This is a good reminder that no matter what a person’s station in life, no matter what the influence of the person, no matter what a person has in wealth or lack of wealth, the need is the same for every individual in every walk of life. Each person must be brought face to face with Jesus Christ and confronted with the glorious gospel of His death and resurrection in order to believe and have life.
Matthew 9:18 describes the circumstances of the first miracle: “While He was saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, ‘My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.’” A synagogue official was a very important person in Israel. The synagogues were governed by a group of elders who elected from among themselves a ruler. This synagogue official did not do the teaching in the synagogue, but he was responsible for the general activities there. He appointed the one to read the Scripture and invited those who would do the teaching. Mark and Luke say that the name of this man was Jairus.
Matthew follows his practice of condensing things as he simply says, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live”(v. 18). In the other gospel accounts it is clear that Jairus’ daughter was not dead when he first came to Jesus. Mark and Luke both tell that when Jairus came to Jesus, he said his daughter was on the verge of dying. But while he was talking with Christ, he received word that his daughter had died. It is interesting to note at the end of verse 18 that this synagogue official has the faith to believe that Christ can intervene and meet the need of his daughter.
As is so often the case, it took a great tragedy to bring this official to the point of recognizing how great his need was before he would turn to Christ. In the face of the death of his daughter, he was driven to consider who on all the earth could meet that tremendous need. This consideration led him to conclude that the only possibility was Jesus Christ.

You may be one who can bear testimony to that. You may have been sure that everything was all right until you were brought to your knees and made to recognize your hopeless situation. With nowhere else to turn, you cast yourself in faith on the mercy of Jesus Christ and experience His forgiveness. Praise God for the tragedies and trials that come into our lives, because it is often those experiences that drive us to our knees to the recognition that only Jesus Christ is adequate!

That is a reminder that believers ought always to be ready to assist people who are going through trials. Many people around us are busy, not really open to consider the claims of Christ. But let difficulty come into their lives, and they flock to Him in droves. We should take advantage of this tremendous opportunity to introduce them to the One who is adequate to meet every situation.
The willingness of Christ to respond is always encouraging. This point is made clear in verse 19: “Jesus got up and began to follow him, and so did His disciples.” How would you have responded if you had been Jesus Christ in that situation? Have you ever been in a situation where people have mistreated you, lied about you or hindered you in some way, then a difficulty comes into their lives, and you find those very same people asking for your assistance? Does it ever run through your mind that after what they have done to you, they must have a lot of nerve to ask for your help now? We sometimes find it hard to respond helpfully in such circumstances, but Jesus Christ was available immediately.
After this synagogue official’s request, Jesus could have replied with sarcasm. “Oh great! You are here now because your daughter is dying. Where were you three months ago ? Why weren ’t you following Me then ? That was when you should have acknowledged Me. What are you doing here today? ” But Jesus does not respond with such a rebuke. When people come to Jesus Christ in faith, He never turns them away or rejects them. It doesn’t matter what their past has been, He is immediately ready to respond as He did to this Jewish official. As he acknowledges Jesus Christ and bows down before Him indicating His faith, Jesus immediately rises and goes with him. This is a good reminder that no matter what people have done to us, when they are looking for help, that is no time for us to bear grudges.
At this point the story is interrupted. This interruption will result in some major things happening. “And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve yours, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; for she was saying to herself, ‘If I only touch His garment, I will get well’” (vs. 20,21).
Matthew again condenses the event because all he wants to do is give the highlights. But in Mark 5, Mark provides more details which help to understand the situation more completely. “A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse, after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. For she thought, ‘If I just touch His garments, I will get well’” (vs. 25-28). Not only had this woman been hemorrhaging for twelve years, but she had sought the help of physicians who were powerless to help her. During this time she had spent all she had materially seeking a cure from one person after another. The end result after twelve years was that she was growing worse, not better.
This affliction would have been tragic simply from the physical point of view, but it is important to understand what it meant in Israel socially to be in this situation. Leviticus 15:25-27 tells that as long as a woman had an issue of blood, she was unclean. That means she was cut off from all association with other people in Israel. In addition to social contacts, she was also cut off from all religious activities. Anyone who touched her was viewed as defiled and unclean. That means you could not have this woman into your home; she would defile it and make it unclean. You could not walk up to her and shake hands with her or put your hand on her to comfort her, because the moment you did, you were defiled. This may be the reason that she sought to touch Christ secretly.
Her desire was just to touch the hem or tassel on His garment. Mark 5:27 says, “After hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak.” The other gospels indicate that she was touching merely the fringe of His outer garment. This cloak, worn like a shawl today, went over the shoulders and down to the waist. On each of the four corners of that garment, tassels were sewn to remind the Jews of their need to obey the commandments of God in the Law.

The instructions regarding this garment are found in Numbers 15:37-40: “The Lord also spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue. It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot, in order that you may remember to do all My commandments and be holy to your God.’” This lady is convinced that if she can just reach out and touch one of those tassels, she will be made well. This indicates the great faith she has, although her faith is not perfect.
Mark continues his report of this event in Mark 5:29: “Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.” When she touched Him, the hemorrhaging stopped immediately. At the same moment she knew she had been healed.
Jesus responded in verse 30: “Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched My garments?’” The response of the disciples is recorded in verse 31: “And His disciples said to Him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, “Who touched me?”’” The disciples did not understand the reason for His question. There is a crowd around Christ and everyone is bumping into Him. But not everyone who touched Christ had reached out in faith believing that He could heal them.
That is what makes the difference today. Many people are exposed to the gospel and hear the truth that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on a cross to pay the penalty for their sins. But not everyone benefits from that. Only those who reach out by faith and believe that message for themselves personally experience the power of God in their lives.
Why did Christ bring this lady to public attention? His reason has to be more than simply to embarrass her. I believe it serves as a confrontation point to remove any doubt that she has been healed by faith. “And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction’” (vs. 32-34). It was important for her to know that it was her faith that had made her well. If she did not know that, she might have opened up a tassel stand in Jerusalem! But there is no doubt after Jesus’ statement that she was healed by her faith.
Many people today are going to supposedly magical places because that is where they think the power is. But Jesus wants to draw attention in this passage that there is no power in the tassels. The power is in Him. He felt the power go out from Himself. This woman was healed because she had faith in Him, not because she touched the tassel on His garment. Many people had touched the tassels on His garment who were not healed, but the power of Christ went out to the one who reached out to Him in faith. So He clarifies this in order to remove any questions.
The basis for salvation is the same for people today. All you need to know is that you are a sinner, unclean before God because of your sin, but if you will believe in Him, He will cleanse and forgive you. If you are saved, you were saved by faith, not by faith plus doing something else. Salvation is available only by believing in Jesus Christ’s death for you.
This event also serves to bring the attention of the people to the mighty miracle which had happened. It was a public event in Israel. Since this woman had been unclean, the miracle is significant for everyone. Now that she has been cured, she is welcomed back into society as a well person and has a chance to demonstrate her faith.
Do not lose sight of all that is going on here. Remember that the synagogue official has told Jesus that his daughter is at the point of dying. As Jesus started to his house, He was interrupted by this hemorrhaging lady, and all of the events surrounding her occurred while the synagogue official was waiting for Jesus to go to his home to heal his daughter.
What do you suppose has been going on in his mind all this time? After all, his daughter was dying, and Jesus was stopping to carry on a conversation with this woman and to heal her. The man could have said, “Couldn’t we do this on the way back? My need is important! This woman won’t die soon, but my daughter may! ”
The tragedy, humanly speaking, is the fact that the daughter did die before Jesus got to her house. Mark 5:35, “While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, ‘Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?’”
Can you imagine the blow this was to the synagogue official? It seemed like he had finally gotten to Christ who was willing to come to his house. But Christ was delayed along the way, and in the meantime, his daughter had died. The gospel accounts indicate that this was his only child. While she was still living, there was hope that Jesus would come and lay His hand on her and she would be healed. But now she is dead. The attitude of those who came bearing the news was “Why trouble the Teacher anymore?” (v. 35). They were assuming that at this point, nothing else could be done.
This situation brings to mind the comment of Martha in John 11:21 where Jesus delayed His coming to Lazarus for a few days until after Lazarus died. She said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Martha had faith that Christ could have prevented Lazarus’ death, but her faith stopped short. After he is dead, she thinks that it is too late and that nothing can be done.
Have you ever experienced those kinds of feelings? “Oh Lord, ” we sometimes pray, “why don’tyou hurry up? Don’t you understand that this is serious? We could stop here on the way back. Lord, just close your ears to everybody else’s prayers for a minute and listen to me. Do you understand how serious this is? This has reached the breaking point.”
Do you ever get the feeling that the Lord is taking too long? If He does not do something soon, you think it will be too late. We may not say these things, but we often think them. We wonder if God has any sense of priority.
This synagogue official probably thought the same thing. My daughter is dying, but Jesus stops to have a conversation with this woman. Since the woman has endured for twelve years, surely another hour cannot hurt anything! Why didn ’t He tell her to wait at the corner and He would meet her when He came back? He doesn ’t seem to have any grasp of the seriousness of my twelve-year-old’s condition, so He stops, and she dies!
Dr. S. Lewis Johnson made a comment much to this point when he said, “God’s delays are not denials. ” Just because Christ delayed on the way did not mean that He was denying the man’s request. Just because He delayed in coming to see Lazarus did not mean that He was not going to intervene in Lazarus’ condition. It simply meant that His power was going to be all the more clearly evidenced.
We must realize that if we can trust Him in the situation as it is now, before we get to the breaking point, we can trust Him after the breaking point as well. He can handle it in both circumstances. Even though He is taking His time and seems to be going slowly, He has it all under control. We do not have to worry that if He has not done it by now, He will not be able to do it later. His power is sovereign in every situation. We often limit the Lord’s power. We think that if He does it next year, it will be too late. But when He delays His answer, He gives us the opportunity to trust Him more.
Do not overlook verse 36: “But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, ‘Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.’” Jesus’ statement could also be translated, “Stop being afraid, only believe.” Isn’t that tremendously reassuring? He is saying, “I have it all under control. Trust Me.”
Jesus could have had an argument on His hands from this synagogue official. “What do you mean, trust You? Do You mind if I say You blew it? You didn’t get there, did You? Now you say, ‘Trust Me.’ I did trust You. Didn’t I come to You and ask You to see her? ‘Trust Me’? Don’t You think that is asking a little too much? ” But looking back on the completed story, Jesus’ instructions make complete sense.
The most logical, sensible thing to do is to trust Him. But I must remind myself of that. “I was trusting Him yesterday, ” you say, “but He didn’t come through the way I expected. ” That is all right, do not be afraid, only believe.
“Yes, but I did believe. I have been believing all week. ” That is all right, do not be afraid, only believe. “But it has been a year!” That is all right. Do not be afraid, only believe. Trust Him.
The details as recorded by Mark are not essential to Matthew’s purpose. He simply wants to make the point of the seriousness of the woman’s illness, the seriousness of the little girl’s situation and the power of Christ in both. Matthew continues, “When Jesus came into the official’s house, and saw the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder, He said, ‘Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep.’ And they began laughing at Him” (Matt. 9:23,24). Professional mourners from Israel would come into the homes at times of death in order to lead the mourning. By the time Jesus arrives, the official mourning has already begun. Professional mourners may seem a bit artificial today, but they were engaged to emphasize the greatness of the sadness. The mourners would be informed of the details of the situation so they could tell the sad story to everyone who came.
You may have been to funerals where after hearing a few stories, everyone was caught up in the sorrow of it all. In order to help express their sorrow, the Jews had the professional mourners lead in the expression of their sadness. Along with these mourners were flute players. Flutes were an essential part of mourning. In fact, they were viewed as so emotionally exciting and intense that Roman law limited funeral events to ten flute players lest it be too overpowering.
Into this tremendous commotion comes Jesus Christ in complete control. He walks in saying, “Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep” (v. 24). The people begin to laugh, mocking Jesus. Doesn’t He even know a dead person when He sees one? Their statements indicate total ridicule of Him. They have no understanding of the One who is standing in their midst.
When Jesus says that she is not dead, He is not denying the reality of her physical death. Rather, He is using sleep as a synonym for death. In her situation, her physical inactivity is only temporary. Her body is going to be brought back to life very shortly. Therefore, He uses sleep as a synonym for death emphasizing the fact that she is about to rise. However, she is actually physically dead, a point which the other gospel writers make clear.
Death described as sleep is common in the New Testament. It is always used in the context of those who are going to experience resurrection. Believers are the ones with the hope of a glorious resurrection. This passage is the only place where this particular word for sleep is used, but the idea is used with a different word in other passages. In fact, the English word “cemetery” comes from the Greek word for sleep. So the cemetery is viewed as a sleeping place or as a resting place. Sometimes it is referred to as a final resting place. But the Bible says it is only a temporary resting place. The final resting place will be either in the glory of God’s presence or in the suffering of hell, and the latter would surely not be referred to as a resting place.
This concept is used in other passages in the New Testament as well. Jesus told His disciples in John 11:11, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep.” He was actually telling them that Lazarus had died.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (vs. 51,52). Not all believers will undergo physical death where the body becomes temporarily inactive. First Thessalonians 4:13-15 says: “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.” Paul uses the expression of being asleep three times in these three verses as a reference to the death of a believer who is going to be brought back to life. The believer’s body is viewed as temporarily inactive, just as when you sleep at night. While sleeping, your body is basically unused. But when you are awakened, your body begins its normal activity again.
The use of the word “sleep ” when related to physical death has nothing to do with the unbiblical doctrine of soul sleep. That teaching is a heresy because it is contrary to the Word of God and is a distortion of His Word. After death, the
person himself is never asleep, but the body is asleep from the standpoint that it is not being used. The Bible clearly teaches that upon death, the person leaves the body and goes either into the presence of God in glory or into the place of torment called Hades.
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5 about the death of Christians. In the first verses of chapter 5, he compared our physical bodies to tents, temporary dwelling places. After you use a tent, you move out of it and the tent is folded up and set aside; it is not being used. However, the person who has been living in the tent continues to live somewhere else. Paul used this analogy to refer to the death of believers, saying that when they die, they move out of their tents, their earthly bodies. He wrote in verse 6, “Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.” While you are living in this physical body, you cannot be with God in glory. Paul continues in verse 8, “We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” When you move out of this body as a believer in Jesus Christ, you move into the presence of God in glory. Paul says he would far rather move out of his body and be in the presence of God; that is his preference.
Believers are the only people on earth who have the privilege of looking forward to death as a great opportunity, as a promotion, if you will. We will have the opportunity to move out of this fragile, frail dwelling place into the glorious presence of God Himself. That does not mean that I am looking forward to the process of death. If Christ does not come first, I will die; but the moment I die, I will be in the presence of God in glory. Luke 16:19-31 gives the account of two men who died. One went to Hades to suffer torment, but the other to a place of comfort and glory. The point is that in death, you leave your body and are immediately in a place of blessing or in a place of suffering. The Scriptures are absolutely clear on this point. The idea of soul sleep is foreign to Scripture and is really antibiblical.
Matthew 9:25 indicates that Jesus put the crowd out of the room. The other gospels say that Peter, James and John were privileged to go into the room with Christ and observe this miracle. Notice the simplicity of verse 25: “But when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and took her by the hand; and the girl got up.”
Luke’s account says, “He, however, took her by the hand and called, saying, ‘Child, arise!’” (Luke 8:54). It is just like going into the bedroom and waking one of your children after a night’s rest. You take their hand and say, “It’s time to get up. ” This miracle is just that simple. Jesus is in the presence of this twelve-year-old girl who is dead. He simply walks over, takes her hand and says, “Child, arise!”
Verse 55 continues, “And her spirit returned.” That is a good indication of what happens in physical death. James 2:26 says, “The body without the spirit is dead.” People sometimes try to describe what physical death is. It is sometimes said to be when the brain waves cease or when the heart stops. All of those things are involved, but physical death occurs when the person moves out of the body.
When I die, I will move out of my body, and in connection with that, my heart will stop beating because I will not need it any longer. I will not be using this body for a while. That is what physical death is, the person moves out of the body. When Jesus raised this girl to life again, her spirit returned to her body to take up residence in that body and give it life.
In the resurrections that are recorded in the Bible, it seems that the people who are raised do not remember what went on while they were dead. The twelve-year-old girl does not give lectures in Galilee on life after death. Nor does Lazarus go on the lecture tour or write a book about life after death. As they were brought back to life, apparently they did not have any awareness of what had gone on during the time they were dead.
This makes it clear that when one wants to know something about life after death, it is necessary to come to God for the information. He tells us in the Bible what He wants us to know. Unfortunately, there are many hucksters going around with their books today who want to tell you what it is like after death. We believers have God’s Word on the subject. We do not need someone’s speculations.
These truths are tremendously encouraging to believers. If God calls some of my loved ones to glory, there will be sorrow if they are called before Jesus Christ comes. But that sorrow is muted by the fact that we know that those who are believers in Jesus Christ are going to immediately leave their bodies and go into the presence of the Lord. We will miss seeing them, but it is a great comfort knowing where they are. It is also a great joy to know that we are going to meet them there some day. That is the hope we have as believers. It is a transforming hope.

Matthew has been demonstrating that sin, so clearly pictured by the uncleanness of the woman with the hemorrhage, is cleansed by Christ. He is the One who brings life, not only physical life but spiritual life, to those who are dead in their trespasses and sins as found in Ephesians 2.
John writes of the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead as Jesus speaks to Martha in John 11:25 and 26: “Jesus said to her, „I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.’” In this passage, both the physical resurrection and the spiritual life are brought together. If you believe in Jesus Christ, He will give you life and you will never die. You are brought into a personal relationship with God which will go on unendingly.
I have believed in Jesus Christ as my Savior and have spiritual life. As a result, I will never experience spiritual death. When I experience physical death, it will merely be a transition from walking with God in this life to enjoying the glory of His presence. Even if I do die physically, He promises in verse 25, “He who believes in Me will live even if he dies.”
I have spiritual life, but I am also promised the resurrection of my body. That is why the body is said to be asleep when one dies. In its present condition, the body is not fit for God’s presence in glory. So upon my physical death, He will take me into His presence personally and leave my body here for a time. Then at a future time, He will raise that body and transform it into a body of glory. At that time I will move back into my body, which will be glorified, to enjoy the glory of His presence forever.
Where else in the entire universe could you go to find One who can give life to the dead except to Jesus Christ? You are sadly mistaken if you think you can find life for the dead in a church, in baptism or in a preacher. The only place you can find life for the dead is in the One who Himself is life, Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 5:21, “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.” He said further in verse 24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” The issue is personal faith in Jesus Christ. The one who hears His Word and believes has eternal life as his present, permanent possession.
You are a sinner and Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for your sins. He was raised because the account had been paid. The issue is whether you have believed that. Unless you reach out in faith, like the woman in the crowd, and believe in Him, His power cannot become operative in you to give you eternal life.
Jesus continues to speak of the coming resurrection of the body in succeeding verses: “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself” (vs. 25,26). Life is found in God the Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ. It is not found in a church, in the sacraments or in religious activities. It is found in the person of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It is by believing in Him that He gives you newness of life.
Note the association of the spiritual life and the physical life in verses 27 through 29: “And He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” The children of God and the children of the Devil are destined for bodily resurrections. Some are destined to a resurrection of life to enjoy His presence in glory forever while others will be resurrected to suffering and condemnation forever. It all depends on a relationship with Jesus Christ.

The miracles recorded by Matthew are the record of historical events that can have a tremendous impact on our lives today because they testify to the fact that Jesus Christ is who He claims to be. He is the eternal Son of God, the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world. They declare just as clearly today as they did two thousand years ago that He is the One who can cleanse and forgive your spiritual uncleanness and sinfulness. He is the One who can take people who are spiritually dead, separated from God, and give them life eternal.
Have you recognized your tremendous need of Him? If not, I hope God brings your world caving in on you, that tragedy upon tragedy, sorrow upon sorrow and grief upon grief become characteristic of your life until you recognize your need of Christ. “Oh, that’s terrible, ” you say. “I wish you hadn’t said that.” But it will be worth it all, if it brings you to Jesus Christ, because the greatest tragedy would be for you to go through life and fail to believe in Him. But if after tragedy and grief, you are finally brought to realize your hopeless and helpless condition apart from Christ, it will be worth it. Then you, too, will agree that all the tragedy and grief was worth it because it transformed your life for eternity.
Those of us who have believed in Christ need to be reminded of the power of the God we serve. Do not be discouraged and do not let your faith fail or lag because He seems to delay. He may not be doing what seems so urgent to you at the time, but do not be afraid, just believe. He has everything under control.