An Industrious Preacher
Matthew 4:23-25
Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. The grace and glory of the kingdom that is to come was forcefully preached by Jesus. It shall survive and surpass all the kingdoms of the earth. The gospel is the charter of that kingdom, containing the King’s coronation oath, by which He has graciously obliged Himself to pardon, protect, and save the subjects of that kingdom; it contains also their oath of allegiance, by which subjects obligate themselves to observe His statutes and seek His honor; this is good news of the kingdom. The Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ was Himself the Preacher of the good news that our faith in it might be confirmed.
Jesus preached the good news not only in the synagogues, but chiefly there because they were the places where the people gathered for religious worship, and there, it was to be hoped, the minds of the people would be prepared to receive the gospel. They were the places where the scriptures were read and the exposition of the scriptures could be used to introduce the gospel of the kingdom.
Jesus might have issued out a proclamation to summon all to come to Him; but, to show His humility, and the condescension’s of His grace, He goes to them; for He wants to be gracious and comes to seek and save. It is believed there were above two hundred cities and towns in Galilee, and all, or most of them, Jesus visited. Never was there such an itinerant preacher, such an inexhaustible, tireless, weariless preacher as Jesus was. He went from town to town, imploring poor sinners to be reconciled to God. This is an example to ministers, to lay themselves out to do good, and to be prepared to preach the good news in season and out of season. Jesus went about not only preaching, and teaching but healing every kind of disease and sickness. He healed all without exception. None were too bad or too hard for Jesus to heal because He is the sovereign Physician both of soul and body, and has command of all diseases.
The news about Him spread not only throughout Galilee but Jerusalem, Judah, and Syria. What we hear about Jesus from others, should invite us to Him. The queen of Sheba was induced, by the fame of Solomon, to pay him a visit. The voice of fame is "come and see.’’
Jesus both taught and healed. Those who came for cures, met with instruction concerning their salvation. It is a good thing no matter painful if it brings people to Jesus. Those who come to Him will find more in Him than they expected. Those who came to Jesus to be healed of their diseases, many of them became converts. There were those who, who like today come to Jesus to be healed and rejoice in Him as Healer but forgot Him as a Teacher.
The miracle of the healings was a revealing of a divine and supernatural power and God’s seal on Jesus’ commission. Nature could not do these things it was the God of nature and not the knowledge of physicians. The people who came to Jesus were strangers, of all ages and conditions. Their healing was witnessed in mixed companies of persons that would have denied the healing if they had not seen it. Unlike the faith healers of this age no healing by Jesus failed or was afterwards called in question. They were speedily, and not as cures by natural causes gradually. They were perfect and wrought with the speaking of words which proved Jesus a Teacher come from God. No one could do the works that Jesus did (John 3:2). He appealed to these as His credentials He is the Messiah (Matthew 11:4- 5; John 5:36). It was expected that the Messiah should work miracles (John 7:31). The miracles Jesus performed were indisputable proof of His being the Messiah. There never was any man that did what He did and therefore His healing and His preaching generally went together, for the former confirmed the latter.
Miracles that Moses performed were to prove his mission. Most of them involved plagues and judgments, to intimate the enemies of God and His people. The miracles Jesus performed were mostly cures and all of them, except the cursing of the barren fig tree, blessings and favors. They were founded on love and grace, and mercy. Their purpose was to draw people to the Lord and plant His doctrine into their minds. The miracle of them proved His doctrine a faithful saying. The mercy of them proved His doctrine worthy of acceptance by all who heard Him. They were not only great works, but good works that showed they came from His Father. This goodness was intended to lead men to repentance and show that kindness and doing good to all, to the utmost of our power and opportunity, are essential branches of the religion which Jesus came into the world to establish.
Jesus’ curing bodily was meant to show that His great purpose for coming into this world was to cure spiritual infirmities. Prove He is the Sun of righteousness that arises with healing under His wings. As the Converter of sinners He is the Physician of souls. Sin is the sickness, disease and torment of the soul. Jesus came to take the sickness, disease, and torment of the soul and heal the souls of men. The accounts of the cures may not only be applied spiritually, by way of allusion and illustration but are intended to reveal to us spiritual things, and to set before us the way and method of Christ’s dealing with souls, in their conversion and sanctification; and those cures are recorded, that were most significant and instructive. They are to be explained and used to the honor and praise of that glorious Redeemer forgives all iniquities and so the healing of all diseases.
