“Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been
telling you from the
beginning,” Jesus replied.” (John 8:25)
There have always been those
throughout history who have claimed to be the Messiah, but none passed the test
of fulfilled prophecies except Jesus Christ, the very Son of God. He came with solid
proof which He openly displayed before the masses. He fulfilled over 300
prophecies with absolute precision, which is beyond the realm of all
possibility, except it be of God.
Prior to the first century,
during the first century and thereafter, false messiahs have arisen. We have
seen several in our lifetime. Maybe that is one reason the scribes and
Pharisees were honestly asking, “Who are you?” Another is because their pride
and greed stood in the way of believing the Truth. They had allowed Satan to
infiltrate their souls, and their only thought was on their own well-being. No
one had touched the masses as Jesus did, and He was “rocking the boat” of their
comfy positions of power.
All Jesus did, he did openly.
Nothing was hidden, and no one ever found fault in Him, not even Pilate. Jesus
healed the sick, raised the dead and removed demons, all in plain view of
everyone. We can all read of a few instances in the Bible where these miracles
took place, but did you ever wonder how many people were directly affected by
His miracles? The Apostle John said that Jesus’ actions were so numerous during
His 3+ years of ministry all of them could not be written down. The world could
not contain the books.
“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of
them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room
for the books that would be written.” (John 21:25)
Jesus also calmed the storm,
walked on water, changed water to wine, fed roughly 36,000 people (a very, very
conservative estimate) from two small lunches, and even told people what they
were thinking before they said it.
Considering only His healing miracles, let us consider the following Scripture passages:
“News about him spread all over Syria, and people
brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe
pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he
healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the
region across the Jordan followed him.” (Matthew 4:24-25)
Notice that the people
brought all who were ill to Jesus for healing and He healed them ALL.
“Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A
large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill.” (Matthew 12:15)
Again, Jesus healed ALL who
were ill.
“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had
compassion on them and healed their sick.” (Matthew 14:14)
From this large crowd, He
healed their sick, and it doesn’t say “some” of their sick, but “their sick,”
implying ALL of them.
“Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the
blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and
he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the
crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the
God of Israel.” (Matthew 15:30-31)
Once again, great crowds
(plural) came and he healed them, not “some” of them, but he healed them,
implying ALL of them.
“Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.”
(Matthew 19:2)
The Greek word used for
“large” is the same for “great” in the previous verse. He obviously healed ALL
who were sick within these large crowds (plural).
“At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had
various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them.
Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!”
But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was
the Messiah.” (Luke 4:40-41)
We don’t know how many people
in this instance, but Jesus heals ALL the sick among them. Why did He not want
the demons to announce who He was? It was not time, and would not be the time
for this announcement, until Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey.
“Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that
crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.” (Luke
5:15)
The news was getting around
that Jesus could and would heal any and all infirmities, so the crowds kept
coming, and Jesus kept healing them ALL.
“He went down with them and stood on a level place. A
large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all
over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon,
who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by
impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power
was coming from him and healing them all.” (Luke 6:17-19)
In these passages people were
coming to Jesus from all over wanting to be healed. Notice “large crowd” of His
disciples and “great number” of people from all over, and what did Jesus do? He
healed them All.
“Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore
of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of
people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the
sick.” (John 6:1-2)
Now we see a great crowd of
people coming to Him, and if He healed all the others, is there any reason to
doubt that He healed ALL these too?
Obviously, we don’t know how
many people Jesus healed, keeping in mind all the other miracles, but we do
realize that literally thousands had to have been healed by Him.
Have you ever wondered why
Jesus healed them? The Bible does state that Jesus had compassion on them. That
would be one reason, but the key reason is to authenticate that He really was
the true Messiah which Israel had been looking for so many years. He was not
one of the many imposters. He was the real thing (I respectfully say).
So to answer the question of
the scribes and Pharisees, “Who are you?” He is Jesus the Christ (Messiah), the
Son of God.
The Samaritan woman was on
her way to understooding this.
“The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ)
“is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus
declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” “Come, see a
man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” (John
4:25-26, 29)
The temple officers were
close to understanding this.
“No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards
replied.” (John 7:46)
No one, but Jesus, ever
healed thousands of people from all sorts of physical, mental, emotional and
demonic problems. No one, but Jesus, ever raised the dead, walked on water and
even disappeared in the middle of a mob who wanted to kill Him before His time.
No one can match the overwhelming proof that Jesus provided, proving He is God
in the flesh.
Jesus attempted over and over
to get through to these knuckleheads that He was the Messiah, the Son of God,
but their narcissistic spirits always overruled. In my opinion, I believe they
even accused Him of being an illegitimate child as seen in the following
verses.
“Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were
Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is,
you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I
heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your
own father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only
Father we have is God himself.” (John 8:39-41)
When they replied, “We are
not illegitimate children,” is it possible that this was a slur toward Jesus? I
don’t think some of them ever accepted the fact Jesus was conceived of the Holy
Spirit, and was not the biological son of Joseph or another man.
Keep in mind I have only
addressed miracles Jesus performed relating to healings. Examples of which are,
raising the dead, various diseases, severe pain, demon-possession, seizures,
paralyzed, lame, blind, crippled, mute and many others. From what we have seen
in the few Scriptures I have provided, Jesus healed not just 30 or 40 people,
but literally thousands. So many were being healed, they knew if they just
touched His garment, they would be healed, and they were. That reminds us again
of what the apostle John said.
“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of
them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world wound not have room
for the books that would be written.” (John 21:25)
So the scribes and Pharisees
sarcastically asked, “Who are you?” Maybe some
of them were just very puzzled and wanted to know, “Who are you?” I’ll close
with Jesus’ words and the apostle Peter’s response.
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say
I am?” (Matthew 16:15)
“Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that
the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority.
Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” (John 14:10)
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say
I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” (Mark 8:29)
Grant Phillips
Email: grantphillips@windstream.net
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
Rapture Ready: http://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html
