No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15)
Jesus Christ has offered His friendship to all of us. Through His death for us, the Lord Jesus has given us the love of a dearest friend. The Bible says, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13).
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. (Mat 9:35)
Matthew used ten miracles to illustrate the power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew Chapter 8 and 9. He summarizes Jesus’ ministry by three things in Matthew 9:35: Jesus was teaching, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness.
People came to Jesus or brought to Jesus the sick and demon possessed for His healing. The Bible said that “He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.’” (Mat 8:16-17)
Jesus is the great physician. He said that “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick… For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” This language connects Jesus’ healing of sinners to His healing of physical sickness. He identified Himself as the one who calls people to Him and the healer of souls. We can come to Jesus to seek for the healing of any “disease”, whether it is physical illness, emotional distress, or the burden of sin.
We can pray for the sick and know that God will heal them. Facing financial turmoil or other challenges and difficulties of life, we may have fear or other negative emotions. If we believe in God’s sovereignty and ultimate control, we exchange our fear and worry for peace and contentment. When painful memories surface, we can bring them to Jesus for healing and restoration, allowing Him to remove the shame and sorrow that have been linked to those memories.
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:15-16)
Jesus knows by experience all our trials and temptations. Yet, He never failed or sinned. Jesus Christ is able to understand our weaknesses and miseries, for He Himself has experienced these very things. We are encouraged to approach God boldly with faith and seek His healing of any kind of “disease” – physically, emotionally, socially, or spiritually.
Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.’ (John 11:25)
Jesus is the Lord of life. What does it mean to us that Jesus is the resurrection and the life? On the day before His crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples, “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19). After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His believers several times. By proving to them that He had risen from the dead, He gave them confidence in their own resurrection. Because Jesus arose from the dead, He has the power to raise us from the dead. This gives us hope for our own resurrection and eternal life.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)
From the time a person believes in Jesus Christ, he embarks on a journey of faith. For the rest of his life, he lives with the hope that when his life comes to the end, he will enter heaven to be with God forever. In our life journey, while we walk the pilgrim pathway, we definitely want to think of returning to our heavenly home. We all know what the way is for returning to our heavenly home as Jesus said it very clearly in the Bible. The way to heaven is through Jesus Christ Himself. How do we walk on the way of Jesus?
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
Jesus Christ is the true vine; the Father is the vinedresser, and we are the branches. This is an apt analogy of our relationship with the Lord Jesus. How does this relationship affect us? What does our Father expect of us who are believers of Christ? How can we live up to His expectations?