Galilee

Matthew 4: 23-24. “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching. . . .preaching. . . .healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. . .diverse diseases and torments. . .possessed with devils. . .lunatick. . .palsy. . .”

  

Someday I want to go to see the places where Jesus walked.  

Galilee is beautiful.  You can see lots of pictures if you google “Galilee” and then click on “images.”  The Sea of Galilee (Kinneret) itself is in a lovely setting.  It is easy to imagine the crowds of people enjoying the breeze off the water as they sat and stood on the hillsides to watch Him heal the sick and to hear Him preach. When Jesus was teaching, it was in the synagogues  along the way, where He expounded the scriptures, the law and the prophets. Guest teachers were usually made welcome, and it was no different with Jesus.  How magnetic He must have been, explaining the scriptures which He Himself had inspired through the Holy Spirit.  Who better to teach God’s Word than the Author? 

When He preached, it was to the crowds who followed Him, and  it was the Gospel of the Kingdom that He presented. As I mentioned last time, the healings of diseases were always connected with the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom, because  they were signs that the King is Jehovah and that the Kingdom had drawn nigh. 

But where did all these diseases come from?  It sounds as if there were just so many who were stricken in some way; and even more than physical disease, there were those who were “lunatick” and demon-possessed.  What was going on?  (By the way, the word lunatic comes from the idea that people who suffered this condition were affected by the cycles of the moon. It’s a fascinating word to research, if you enjoy that sort of thing.)

Consider that this period of time was of extreme importance to Satan.  At long last, God was fulfilling His promise of a Savior Who would die for the sin of all mankind, and rise again to give us victory over sin and death–and over Satan.  Did he want this to happen?  No, not by any means.  He was using every bit of power he had to prevent Jesus from going to the cross, and we’ll see some specific instances of that effort later on. 

In the meantime, Satan was busy exerting his power over the very land that in which Jesus first chose to minister. He knew that Christ had come to end his power; therefore, he brought terrible diseases on the people over whom he already had such a strong hold. Not only did they suffer terrible physical diseases; they also suffered diseases of the mind, and some were even demon-possessed. Jesus healed them all.  Every one of them. Satan must have been foaming at the mouth.

Satan has not given up. Satanism spreads throughout the world, and America is experiencing the horrible results of that spread.  Because we have turned our backs, on a national level, toward God and godliness, Satan is having a holiday.  Shootings,  sexual crime, drugs, horrible mental disorders and all manner of other evil grows daily in our land as we become more and more focused on self and  less and less focused on God. 

During the Tribulation years, after the Church has been removed from the earth, Satan’s power will consume the earth for a short time, but then Christ will come again with power, bringing healing in His wings, and Satan will be defeated finally and forever. 

The darkest hour is just before the dawn.  Joy comes in the morning.