Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] All right, let's go back to Matthew 9, 18 and kind of pick up where we left off. Finish up this passage in Matthew 9 here.
[00:00:15] We will reread the passage starting in verse number 18 down to verse number 26 of Matthew chapter 9.
[00:00:25] Verse number 18 says this. While he yet spake these things unto them. Behold, there came a certain ruler and worshiped him, saying, my daughter is even now dead, but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. And Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his disciples. And behold, a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood 12 years came behind him and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within herself, I may but touch his garment. If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. And Jesus turned him about. And when he saw her, he said, daughter, be of good comfort.
[00:01:06] I'm sorry I lost my place here. Be of good comfort.
[00:01:10] Where are we at 22. Thank you. There we go. Middle of. Okay, there we go. Thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, he said unto them, give place, for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when the people were put forth, he went in and took her by the hand. And the maid arose. And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land. Would you pray with me, Lord in heaven? We thank you for this passage of scripture and these great works that you did that show your power, but also show pictures of spiritual truths that we desire to see. And we see examples of faith and multiple layers of good things in this passage of Scripture. So, Lord, help us now as we look into your word, please, once again, even as this morning, so tonight we ask you to be our teacher and to give us help and instruction and knowledge and understanding. Help us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. Lord, we just look to you and that you would help us be our teacher in Jesus name. Amen. So we saw the ruler of the synagogue.
[00:02:27] And we saw how that a man who is likely averse to approaching Jesus because of the dynamic of that religious society, and yet he did, as a result of the extremity, the desperation, having a daughter who is very sick unto death.
[00:02:46] And it opened his heart enough so that he sought the Lord Jesus in faith. And then in verse number 20, we saw this woman who was diseased with an issue of blood. And we saw how that brought a great deal of sorrow into her life, both socially, personally, ceremonially, as it related to God, God's people, the temple and all these other things that would have affected, been affected by her, by this illness that she had. And we saw that the power of Christ healed her. And we saw that as a picture of a sinner whose sin, which is incurable, has brought so much damage, so much harm to their lives.
[00:03:33] And then we kind of, we just kind of stopped there. But I want to kind of pick up where we left off with this woman because in verse 23 we continue into the ruler's house. So when we look at the woman who had the issue of blood, we see, as I said, we see a picture of, you know, of a person who is, who seeks, who seeks the Lord Jesus. Because again, this is a picture, right? This is an illustration, if you will, of a person whose life has been wrecked by sin. But they seek the Lord Jesus and immediately they're healed. And the effects of that reverberate in the life in such a way that that person is made much more joyous and the suffering and the misery of sin is taken away. Maybe not entirely, but to a large degree. Now what we see with this girl, however, this young girl of 12 years old, we also see a picture of a sinner, but we see a different kind of picture of a sinner. You think about this woman who has the issue of blood. She's of course, she's alive and she's living and she's, you know, she's doing her thing. It's just that we see in her a picture of someone who is, who is the condition that that sin has brought her to. But in the picture of the, in other words, you would say the effects of sin in a person's life. But this young girl, this 12 year old girl is a picture of sin in a different aspect.
[00:05:13] It's an illustration of a sin in its another effect. Notice we know that the wages of sin, the ultimate effect of sin is death, we know that, but we don't see the lady with the issue of blood dead.
[00:05:28] So that's why you kind of have to compartmentalize these little illustrations and they'll show you different aspects of the same thing. So this girl, this 12 year old girl pictures someone who is dead in trespasses and sins. We don't see a person who is a, in other words, who remember a young girl. And that's, that kind of, kind of reminds us that younger people, people who, you know, young children and things, although they are sinners, just like you and just like me as adults. Yet they do not have, often they do not have the misery, the long standing misery that comes from sin like older people do, where sin has taken its toll on them and has wrecked their lives, like I was talking about this morning. But yet we still see in this younger girl, this 12 year old girl, the ultimate end of sin. That's what we see in this girl. And it's a biblical truth that we're going to look at now. I want to remind you of something that of course, when we look at this girl, we know that this girl literally and physically died. And so we're using that as a picture now. But remember that you got to keep in mind. And we see death and we see the effects of death, funerals and things like that. And sometimes we get this idea that death is and only that. But that's actually not true. Scripturally speaking. The first mention of death in scripture was not the death of the body. It was not Adam and Eve's death or even Cain, Cain's murder of Abel, which was also death. That was not the first mention of death in scripture. The first mention of death in scripture is actually the death of the soul as it relates to God.
[00:07:25] That's a key factor we have to take away. Now remember, the principle of first mention in scripture tells us that the first mention of something often will tell us certain defining characteristics of it that help us to understand how the nature of that thing, and in this case death is not just about the body. I mean, we have this idea that as long as my body is well, then that means somehow I'm okay with the Lord. But that's not the case at all. That's not the case at all. Death of the body was an effect of true original spiritual death right when Adam and Eve were first created. In fact, let's just go ahead and go right back there. Let's go back to Genesis chapter two. We're going to look at several verses tonight.
[00:08:17] Genesis chapter two. I want to show you the first mention of death in Scripture.
[00:08:25] Genesis 2, verse number 17. The Bible says this the Lord, verse 16 says, the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the Nile, every tree of the garden rather, thou mayest free eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. This is the first mention of death. Now we know that Adam and Eve did not die on that day. In fact, Adam lived some, you know, several centuries after this. And some people think, well, Adam didn't die because of the covering. But there's nothing in Scripture that says that Adam continued to live as a result of that. In fact, you find the reverse because you see in chapter three, what do you see? You see this verse six. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired, to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And then, of course, they ran from God. They had a conscience. All of these things are kind of effects of death, Right of this. Again, death originally has to do with a relation to God. That is what has been affected in chapter three.
[00:09:52] The God whose voice they once heard and were happy to hear when he came to them in the garden, now they were afraid of him.
[00:10:02] Whereas before they had no shame, now they were ashamed, which is why they hid themselves.
[00:10:08] And so you can see the effect of death, spiritual death, in these verses. Let's look at Exodus, chapter. I'm sorry, Ezekiel, chapter 18, Ezekiel 18.
[00:10:22] Look there, if you would. I just want to show you this aspect of death.
[00:10:30] It would only be later, after Adam and Eve had sinned and the Lord had confronted them with their sin. It would only be later that he would pass a judgment that would mean that their physical life would end.
[00:10:43] And this is scattered throughout scripture. Ezekiel 18, verse number four.
[00:10:48] The Lord says, behold, all souls are mine, as the soul of the Father, so also the soul of the Son is mine. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. See that? And what's funny is it's not clear what the Lord is referring to in this passage, whether it's referring to a spiritual or physical. In other words, it goes for both. That's the beauty of ambiguity in the Bible. And there are many places in the Scripture where it goes for both, because it's not exactly clear what it's referring to. Look at Romans chapter six. You know, these, these verses, but we'll just go ahead and look at them anyway. Romans 6, Romans 6, verse number 23.
[00:11:37] Another verse that is slightly ambiguous. Right for the wages of sin, verse 23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Because in this passage, we could say that this is referring to physical death. But we don't really know because sin as a wage of sin as a fruit of sin is also physical death as well as spiritual. But then we get a little bit of information from the end of verse 23 because it says eternal life. So that hints that we're talking about eternal death in comparison to eternal life. Look at James, chapter one, James one, right after the book of Hebrews.
[00:12:26] James one, verse number 15.
[00:12:33] James one 15 says this starting in verse 14 to pick up the context. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth lust, sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
[00:12:56] Again, the association of sin with death. Now going Back to Matthew 9, think about it with me.
[00:13:04] This lady, this young lady, this 12 year old girl is dead. Now I know Jesus, when he gets to the house, he says, she's not dead, but she's sleeping. But everybody knows she's dead. In fact, the fact that Jesus says that shows that he knows that she's dead. She's gone. Okay? Now when the man first meets Jesus, he doesn't know that she's dead, but people come and say she's dead. And I read this, this is quite morbid, I must say, but I read this in a commentary that said that the custom in that time actually, I think it was actually a modern custom. Well, this is modern to the 1800s anyway, that when a person was near death, that a group of people would stand over them waiting for the person to finally expire so that they would know the very moment that the person died. Which I thought was.
[00:13:59] I just got to say, I'm just glad we don't practice that here in our culture. That's not biblical, that's just something they did.
[00:14:09] But so when those people came from the house, they knew she was dead, let's put it like that, they knew she was dead.
[00:14:17] So, but as compared to the lady that had the issue of blood who came after Jesus from behind him and touched the hem of his garment, in other words, she took action for relief, right? She exercised her faith by reaching out to the Lord, even though he wasn't really dealing with her at all. She kind of snuck up behind him and she touched the hem of his garment and was healed. Not so with this young lady. She's dead. She's not getting up and going to Jesus.
[00:14:49] Am I right? She's not getting up and going to Jesus as a result of her condition. What she needed is an intercessor Even though she apparently had no faith, obviously she needed the faith of an intercessor who would go to Jesus on her behalf and go to the one who had the ability to raise her from the dead. So she did not seek the Lord herself and that she hadn't. She needed an intercessor. And that intercessor was her father. And so when. So when we see Jesus enter the house in Matthew 9, he comes into the house and he goes to. And goes up to her deathbed. She's dead.
[00:15:33] Now, I want to look through several verses because this young lady pictures. We saw some verses dealing with spiritual death. There's more in the Bible about that.
[00:15:47] As I said this morning, in one capacity, one way that you can understand sin is what we talked about this morning. But another way you can understand sin is the matter of death.
[00:16:00] You know, when someone does not know the Lord Jesus Christ, as I said this morning, they're not just somebody who has faults.
[00:16:09] To be a person without God is not just a matter of you have snafus or you have some things you're working through or you make mistakes. No, the scripture describes it as death, right? Both in literal terms, spiritual death, but also picture is pictured by a corpse. So the idea of death.
[00:16:37] So when we say a person without God, indeed myself, yourself, before you knew the Lord Jesus, it was not that there was good in you and bad in you. It was not that there was a lot of good and just a few little stains. No, you are a corpse.
[00:16:54] You are a living, breathing, spiritual corpse. Does that make sense?
[00:17:02] That's not a nice view of mankind, but that is what the Bible says. Let's look at a few verses on this. Look at Romans, chapter 8.
[00:17:10] What does it mean to be a spiritual corpse? What does it mean to be dead? In trespasses and sins. Go to Romans 8, Romans 8. 6.
[00:17:29] Now, I'm going to just go ahead and say this and then we'll circle back around and we'll see why it's not the case immediately. Every time, every time some people talk about spiritual death, what they say is, you know, they're dead like a corpse. And so can a corpse believe? Can a corpse talk? Can a corpse listen to the gospel? You've all heard this, right? This line of reasoning, right? Well, a corpse can't do anything.
[00:17:57] Well, the problem is that's not a scriptural understanding of spiritual death. Spiritual death is not about what you can and cannot do. Spiritual death deals with your moral nature and your relationship to God. In Romans 8. 6, look what it says.
[00:18:15] For to be carnally minded is what?
[00:18:20] Death.
[00:18:21] But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Let me ask you a question. Does a person without the spirit of God, a person who only has a carnal nature. This deals with the very nature of man, like we were talking about this morning. Does a person who only has a carnal a fleshly nature. That is the kind we're born with, right? Born fleshly. That's what we are. Does a person who is that. Do they have a spiritual nature? Do they have the ability to be spiritually minded? Well, no, because they have no spiritual nature. That's. And so what do they have? They have carnal. They have a carnal mind. And so that means death.
[00:18:59] Okay, keep reading.
[00:19:02] Because now, remembering what we just read, carnally mindedness, that's a description of the way a person without Christ thinks. Okay? Carnally minded. And the Lord says, that's death. All right? So he's going to give us an explanation. Verse 7. Because the carnal mind is enmity with God. There's your first hint, Death.
[00:19:28] To be at enmity with God.
[00:19:32] For it is not. The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. And there's that word, can. You guys know that, have done any study, you get hung up on that word. Can. Can. This verse doesn't say a person that is spiritually dead cannot believe the gospel or hear the gospel or. No, it says they're not sub. They cannot be subject to the law of God. And to that we give a hearty amen.
[00:20:01] This is why it's so stupid and foolish for us to think that people who do not know the Lord Jesus can follow the law of God.
[00:20:10] They can't. Why not? They're carnally minded, right? They're dead. That's what this being described here. They do not have the spiritual nature and the capacity to be subject to the law of God, to obey him, to follow his law. They can't. That's what it says there, right? That's what it says. They can't follow his law.
[00:20:35] And indeed the only reason that we as God's children can is because we've received, as we might say, virtue, right? That power of Christ has been passed to us and we've been made alive. So we have a spiritual mind. And therefore we can. We're alive to God and so we can be subject to his law. Do you understand? This is what this is saying. All right, look at Romans 7 to see it a little bit more clearly.
[00:21:04] Romans 7, verse number 6. Look at what it says. And listen to these words carefully.
[00:21:11] But now we are delivered from the law that, being dead. There's that word again. Wherein we were held that we should serve in newness of spirit. And not in the oldness of the letter. Notice the word dead. Keep reading. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law. For I had not known lust. Except the law had said. Thou shalt not covet but sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me. All manner of concupiscence. You love that word, right? All manner of concupiscence.
[00:21:48] For without the law, sin was dead, but for I was alive. Notice. That's the opposite of dead without the law once. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. That's spiritual death.
[00:22:07] Okay, keep reading. And the commandment which was ordained to life. I found to be unto death. Why is that?
[00:22:17] Because he couldn't keep it. Right. He couldn't do it.
[00:22:22] For sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy. And the commandment holy and just and good was then that which is good made death unto me. God forbid. But sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good. That sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal. This is describing spiritual death sold under sin. What is he saying here? He's saying I'm dead in trespasses and sins. What hope do I have to keep God's law?
[00:23:00] None.
[00:23:02] I cannot be subject to God's law. This is what we're talking about, spiritual death. It has nothing to do with whether someone can respond to the Gospel.
[00:23:10] It has to do with being subject to being God's law. Which speaks to our corrupt nature and our love for sin. Right.
[00:23:19] Now go to Ephesians, chapter two.
[00:23:23] Ephesians, chapter two.
[00:23:30] And you know these verses. Verse one says this and you hath he quickened. Who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past. Now notice the description of those who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world. According to the prince of the power of the air. The Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past. In the lust of our flesh. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And were by nature children of wrath. Even as others. Again, the description of being dead has to do with our moral corruption.
[00:24:15] We would not do, could not do what God said in the law.
[00:24:22] We could not do it.
[00:24:25] That's why it's so stupid for an idea, for someone to think, well, if you can do good works to be saved, no, you can't. You need a miracle. You need an act of God in your life. You need to be raised from the dead. That's the only hope you got. Me too.
[00:24:42] But it also shows us this is the reason why believers, those who have professed to know the Lord Jesus Christ, ought to be different and ought to actually have a life that is distinct and it is characterized by obedience to God. Because we are alive and we can be subject to God's law and to God's will. So we should be. So we should be.
[00:25:12] Look at Same Book, chapter 4, Ephesians 4, verse number 18 says this, verse 17. To pick up the context. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind. You notice. This is a description of their walk, their life, the corruption of sin that they're involved in. Notice having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God. What happens if you don't have life of God?
[00:25:55] You're dead. Right? So that's what we're talking about here. Through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who, being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness as sexual immorality, to work all uncleanness with greediness. See this once again.
[00:26:14] Spiritual death is not related to our inability to believe. And it is so often hastened to that definition. It has to do with our corrupt nature.
[00:26:25] Right.
[00:26:27] One more. Colossians, chapter 1, just a couple books over. Colossians, chapter 1. Verse number 21 says this. Colossians 1:21. And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, notice alienated, that's death.
[00:26:55] Alienated from God. No life of God, no predilection or disposition toward God and his will and his law, but only enemies to it against it, would not, indeed could not, do what God said. That's our corrupt nature. Dead.
[00:27:17] So you see this young lady, she's dead.
[00:27:27] She pictures someone who is spiritually dead, which is a description of every person before they know the Lord Jesus. But in this way, this young lady and this woman are similar.
[00:27:38] Because in both cases an act, a miraculous act of Christ's power was needed.
[00:27:47] And when Jesus exercised that power, be it by the hem of his garment, or be it by laying his hands upon this young lady that immediately and instantly reversed their condition, just like we saw this morning. And this is, as I said, the nature of salvation. And I know we sang the song, but hey, I have to say it because I love this verse.
[00:28:15] Thine eyes diffused, a quickening ray. I woke just like this young lady. That's what happened to her, right? Jesus laid her hands on her and said, talitha cumi, which is to say, damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And she woke. She that was dead was alive, right? He says, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, My heart was free. And here's the kick, because we're alive. I rose like this damsel, like this young lady, went forth and followed thee.
[00:28:48] But there's one other thing I want to show you tonight that I think is an interesting fact. So go back to Matthew, chapter nine, and we're going to look at a few other verses. I want to show you what this event, this. Because this is a unique instance, because it is a miracle within a miracle, right?
[00:29:13] This girl's about to die. She's indeed just. She's right on the cusp of death. The Father comes to him. Jesus says, I'll go and heal her. While he's going, this lady comes from behind him and sneaks a touch and is healed. And then he continues on to complete the healing of the young lady. You understand that that's just an. That's an interesting. That's just an interesting dynamic, kind of a unique. It's not just one miracle. There's a miracle with a parenthesis in the middle.
[00:29:50] And just like these events, although real events, they picture spiritual truths, I think there's a spiritual truth here that's worthy of us seeing. And that's a picture of the Jew and of the Gentile.
[00:30:03] Now, first, hold your place in Matthew. Look back at Isaiah 37, Isaiah 37.
[00:30:16] Now, just be aware that when we look at Scriptures from the perspective of a picture, we're not drawing grand doctrinal truth based upon what is a picture. The doctrinal truth comes from the clear scriptural teaching in the Scripture. But sometimes when you have clear scriptural teaching that you know is there, you see it illustrated and pictured in unexpected places in other parts of Scripture. And that's kind of what we're looking at. So I'm not. I'm not trying to be too dogmatic about all the little nitty gritty details of this picture. But it does seem to illustrate something which I think is a neat illustration. Isaiah 37, verse number 22. Notice how Israel is referred to. Isaiah 37. 22. This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him. The virgin.
[00:31:07] The daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at thee. Have you ever noticed in your Bible reading how often the Bible refers to Israel as the daughter, daughter, virgin daughter of Zion? That's kind of a weird way to put it, ain't it? I mean, I have wondered for a long time, and I still don't really have a satisfactory answer why the Lord refers to Israel as a virgin daughter, the virgin daughter of Zion. But I do see a parallel here. This man is a ruler of the synagogue. He is a Jew.
[00:31:48] He is a Jew's Jew, right? He is a. He's the pastor of the Jewish church, if you want to think of it like that, the synagogue.
[00:31:58] So this man is a Jew of a Jew. And this is his only daughter.
[00:32:03] She's a daughter of Zion, if you will, in literal form, right? Of course, this is a reference to Israel. But she's a daughter of Zion. She is a virgin daughter of Zion. She's 12. So she's this. A pure young lady, a young maiden, right? We put it like that. And look at. Look at her age. Is it not interesting? I mean, none of the words of the Lord just fall to the earth, right? She's 12.
[00:32:32] That's a special number, is it? Not again. You can't hang too many hats on this. We admit we can go kind of off, you know, once you start multiplying and dividing biblical numerology, you start getting kind of crazy, you know, Bilo bonus cards or this mark of the beast and all this stuff. How many of you heard that before? My wife always talks about that. A bilo bonus card.
[00:32:53] I'm glad they got rid of that thing. They didn't though, did it? They don't have bilo anymore. Bilo's gone.
[00:33:00] So this young lady, who is 12, the number of the tribes of Israel, she is the only daughter of this ruler of the synagogue. So I think this young lady. Pictures.
[00:33:12] Pictures the Jew, right? And this young lady was. As you turn, I want to turn to a couple passages. First of all, look at Ecclesiastes chapter 9. I want to show you this truth. Ecclesiastes 9. And verse number.
[00:33:29] Verse number 4.
[00:33:33] Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 4, says this.
[00:33:38] For to him that is joined to all the living There is hope for a living dog is better than a dead lion. That's a weird statement, right? You think of a lion and a dog. Quite a difference. You think of a lion as a. You know, especially in the. In the Hebrew mind, a lion is a far more majestic and powerful and respectable creature than a dog. A dog is the lowest, right? But if the lion is dead, what good is it? A living dog is better than that because it's alive. The idea being to him that is joined to all the living, there is hope. In other words, as long as somebody's alive, there's hope, right? That's sort of like the motto of South Carolina, right?
[00:34:32] Come on, say it out loud so we can hear. While I breathe. I hope this is. It's this principle, is it not? It's pretty feel biblical now, right? Ecclesiastes 9:4.
[00:34:42] But this girl is beyond that.
[00:34:45] She's dead.
[00:34:46] In other words, she is beyond hope, right? This verse, she's past that because she's dead. She's in a case of utter hopelessness.
[00:34:57] While she was alive, there was hope, but this is not that case. And you know what? This is the description of Israel. You know that in scripture. Look at Ezekiel 37, if you would. Ezekiel 37.
[00:35:12] Ezekiel 37 is one that people have abused a lot too. So just you got to look at the context. Ezekiel 37. This is the vision of the valley of dry bones, verse 11. In verse 11, the Lord gives the interpretation of Ezekiel's vision to Ezekiel so that he knows just exactly what God is talking about in the valley of dry Bones. This is not talking about the church. This is talking about Israel. Be careful of that verse 11. Then he said unto me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.
[00:35:51] Behold, they say our bones are dried. What's it say? Our hope is lost. Why dead?
[00:35:59] They're bones. That means they're dead, right?
[00:36:04] Our hope is lost. We are cut off for our parts.
[00:36:09] Therefore prophesy and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God. Behold, O my people. Now listen. Now this. This is amazing. Now God is speaking to Israel corporately. Okay, we know he's not speaking to an individual, he's speaking to Israel. But he's speaking to people. Who? The Lord says, you're dead.
[00:36:27] Hope is over.
[00:36:30] You're dead. And God still speaks to them and says, oh, my people.
[00:36:36] That doesn't prevent him. Notice what he says in verse 12. O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. This is why this is not the church. You know why? I know some people have interpreted it like that and said, this is spiritual Israel. And this is. Listen, this is why. This can't be that. Because of the frequent mentions of the land.
[00:37:04] The land. This is the same land consistently described in history. And the way some. Some people explain this is. Well, this is actually the church. And the church is going to inherit the land in as much as they inherit the whole. All the earth. Okay, well, the church will inherit all the earth, but this is a specific promise to the house of Israel. That's Jacob, right? Here's what he says.
[00:37:32] And ye shall know. Now follow the words. Ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves and shall put my spirit in you. And ye shall live, and I shall. You know, that reminds me of that reminds me of when Jesus put his hands on that young lady and the virtue, that power passed from him to her.
[00:37:58] She woke up.
[00:38:00] He says, I'm going to put my spirit in you. I'm going to give you something of mine, to you, and it'll make you alive, right?
[00:38:15] And he says this, and I shall place you in your own land for the second time. Then shall you know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, saith the Lord.
[00:38:29] So this is prophetically, because this hasn't happened yet. This hasn't happened yet. Scripturally, prophetically. Israel is dead.
[00:38:41] They've been snapped off like the wild. The branch of the wild olive tree, right? Romans 11. Snapped off, cast away.
[00:38:50] Right? But one day, Israel that is dead now, because of their rejection of Christ, will be made alive.
[00:39:01] When they're made alive, they would be brought into their land. Right? Okay. That's not all.
[00:39:11] This is just something to think about. Again, don't hang your hat too firmly on this, but think about it. This girl was 12 years old, recently picked up an illness, we assume, and has died.
[00:39:26] The woman with the issue of blood has been sick for how long?
[00:39:31] 12 years. So she's been sick since this little girl was born. So the entire life of this little girl, this woman has been suffering with this issue of blood. That's an interesting fact, isn't it?
[00:39:49] So no doubt this woman was much older than the girl, which I think is an interesting fact.
[00:39:56] So while the whole time that this girl was alive, this woman, the older woman, had been ill. You think of this young girl, the daughter of Zion.
[00:40:06] She's, you know, up until recently, she Was alive. You think about the relationship Israel had had with God, right? They had a relationship with the Lord. They really did. And they followed him all the way up until they rejected the Lord Jesus.
[00:40:22] And there was a distinct rejection, not only of the individuals, but not everybody, but especially of the leadership of Israel rejected Christ and the Lord. The Bible says he broke them off, right? In unbelief.
[00:40:39] But now, so you see, they had a relationship, but that relationship has ended. She's dead.
[00:40:47] But all the while that Israel was having relationship. Think Mount Sinai, you think Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all that, while that Israel had a relationship to God, the Gentiles were languishing in sin, were they not?
[00:41:00] They were.
[00:41:03] They were languishing in sin. And so the Lord says to this father, he says, I will heal her, picturing the daughter of Zion.
[00:41:14] And so the Lord goes after this father to his house, follows him to his house.
[00:41:20] So when the Lord Jesus came, what does the Bible say? The Bible says that the Lord Jesus came.
[00:41:25] He said, I am not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That's what he said, right? That was his mission. So the Lord came and he came into this world, saved sinners. And primarily, and originally, his eye was on the Jew, right? His eye was on the Jew. That's who he was coming to save.
[00:41:54] He was. That's what he said.
[00:41:57] All of those promises related to forgiveness of sin, Isaiah 53, burying sinners, all that. All that happens in the Jewish context, does it not? All of the prophecies about Messiah and about his suffering and death, all of it was Jew. Every bit of it, every word of it.
[00:42:16] And so Jesus came to save sinners. And I know we think of that as everyone, and indeed it is everyone. But originally and primarily, that was to the Jew.
[00:42:28] So Jesus is following this man, going to the daughter of Zion to heal her. What happens?
[00:42:35] This other lady who's been sick 12 years. 12, interestingly enough, there's another 12 in the Bible related to the church, is there not? The twelve apostles. Again, just to note, you can have a different interpretation of that. Don't get too crazy with it. But while he's going to heal the Jew, what happens? This other lady comes up behind him. That was not his original intent. Indeed, no, it wasn't.
[00:43:04] Brother Rob, she snuck up on him. That's what I was thinking about earlier.
[00:43:10] But the same power that would raise that girl, which was his original intention, is the same power that left him virtue, that would heal that woman.
[00:43:28] Same power, same person, same power.
[00:43:33] But it wasn't his. You say original intent, but you know what I'm saying. He was going his intention to heal the daughter of Zion. And when Jesus came into the world, his original intention as described in Scripture was for the Jews provide salvation for the Jews. Let me show that to you.
[00:43:53] Look at Jeremiah 31, Jeremiah 31. This is where we'll end today.
[00:44:06] You know these verses, but just pick up on them.
[00:44:10] Jeremiah 31, verse number 31.
[00:44:18] Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant, right? See that new covenant. This is the New Testament, the new covenant. But what do the next few words say?
[00:44:38] With the house of Israel.
[00:44:43] So what it says right, When Jesus took the cup, we're going to do the Lord's Supper next week, and he took the cup and said, this is my blood of the New Testament. This is what he's talking about right now. What is this test? What does this new covenant describe? Look what it says.
[00:45:02] And with the house of Judah, verse 32. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although I was a husband to them, saith the Lord. All Jewish. This is all Jewish language. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel.
[00:45:21] Notice again with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and will write it in their hearts, and will be their God. And they shall be my people.
[00:45:35] And they shall teach no more. Every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. This is a Jewish promise. This is a covenant with the house of Israel. But what do we find? As Jesus was going to heal the daughter of Zion, this 12 year old girl, someone else got in on that same power.
[00:46:07] Because this same new covenant, although it was a covenant God made with Israel extended to everyone.
[00:46:16] So this lady who wasn't the original target, you know, we know in the mind of God it was obviously, but it wasn't the original target. And yet she sneaks up behind the Lord and takes part in that power, in that forgiveness, which is exactly what the Gentiles did you look at Hebrews, where this is clearly described the new covenant. He'll remember our sins no more. That is solid, firm New Testament doctrine.
[00:46:48] The fact that we are forgiven of our sin by the blood of Christ. Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter two. That is a direct result of this covenant. And we're not even Jews. How is it that we didn't have any part of that? How is it that a covenant God was going to make with the Jews, we took part in it? Well, it's illustrated kind of like this. This lady comes up behind and says, just a touch.
[00:47:11] So what you have here is, you have this picture of the Lord came to, as we read in Jeremiah 31, he came to save Israel. He died for Israel, which is true, he did.
[00:47:24] He died for Israel, but he also died for sinners in general. Right.
[00:47:31] And while he's going to heal Israel, which is what he says, I will do this, I will do that. Ezekiel 37 as well. I will raise him from the dead while he's going to do it. Parenthetically, in time, we as the church are able to take part in these gospel, we might say gospel blessings.
[00:47:54] And then once he's done with us and we're healed, he's going to continue to fulfill what he promised Israel. Raise them from the dead, set them in their land and forgive their sin. Put his law in their hearts. You know there's going to come a time when the whole nation of Israel going to be believers, born again believers. You know that they will all at once believe in Christ when they shall look upon him whom they pierce right before his second advent. You know that the whole nation, the whole nation will believe in him. And they will go into the kingdom, the kingdom, the thousand year reign of Christ. They'll go into that kingdom as we are right now. What does that mean as a born again believer?
[00:48:44] They'll go into that kingdom and will live in their land and have children. It's all described clearly in the Old Testament.
[00:48:54] And so really what's illustrated here is the parenthetical kind of nature of the church's blessings in the gospel. Because we got in Christ, we got all of these other blessings that the Lord originally intended for Israel. But of course, in his mind, we were in his mind as well. Let's pray.
