Jehovah Rapha Series

Luke 6: 17 – 19

Jehovah Rapha

17 And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, 18 as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. 19 And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.

Now, as you know there were two other documents in circulation and they were the Gospels of Mark and Matthew. As you know, Matthew was an apostle who was with our Lord Jesus Christ for over three years and was an eye witness to all that our Lord said and did. Mark, on the other hand, was probably the young man whom we read about in his gospel who ran away naked during our Lord’s arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. He heard all the information that he recorded from the apostle Peter.

So, to get a full picture let us take a quick look at both Gospels and see if there is any other information that would bless us.

Matthew 4: 24 – 25, “24 Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. 25 Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

Mark 3: 7 – 12, “7 But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him. 9 So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him. 10 For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him. 11 And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, “You are the Son of God.” 12 But He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.

Wow! We start off with Luke’s two verses and by looking at the other two Gospels we obtain more information on what was going on.

Many teachers list verses 17 through 19 in with verses 20 through 26. They comment that this was preparatory information which gets to the main point of our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount.

In our next study we are going to take a look at the ‘Beatitudes’ which are listed in verses 20 through 26. Some teacher’s say that Luke just gives us the condensed version of the Sermon on the Mount which is highlighted in the Gospel of Matthew chapters 5 through 7. It could be a condensed version of the Sermon on the Mount, but this I believe is not so and we will discuss this in more detail in our next study. Yet, I do want to point out a significant difference today. If we turn to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5 we read this in verses 1 and 2, “1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying…” Now look again at verse 17 of chapter 6 of Luke, “17 And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases.” In Matthew we see our Lord go up and here in the Gospel of Luke we see Him coming down.

Our Lord had just picked His 12 men who would receive more teaching and insight than His other disciples. The level place was probably a plateau on the mountain. Here our Lord Is addressing both His disciples and the faithful believers.

You can just imagine the amount of information that was now in circulation regarding the miracles our Lord had done. As a result crowds gathered just to be able to touch Him. For many He was a quick fix to worldly problems. Not that that is bad yet as you know our Lord used His ability to perform miracles to point out more important spiritual truths. He Is more concerned with the eternal not just the temporary.

I have met many great men and women who have changed their lives around from drug and alcohol usage in the Alcoholics [ AA ] and Narcotics [NA] Anonymous programs. Yet, my heart is troubled for they settle in to just accept that their lives are now manageable. They have not really looked and applied all twelve steps which speak of a spiritual awakening. They stay locked in on step one where they are only interested in the outward or visible results like we read here in verse 18 - 18 as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. 19 And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.”