When God gave His Son, the people were…

God is the ever-working God. Man, who is meant to work as His precious co- workers, remains in a dire state of condition because of sin. God sent Jesus Christ into the world as the only remaining hope for man who was perishing in ignorance and unbelief. Yet instead of welcoming Jesus, the people scorned Him when He came to the earth. Even though John the Baptist recognized Jesus as Christ and testified about Him to his disciples saying, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29), most of the people did not accept Jesus.

Jesus had no presence about Him or a fine appearance that man should desire Him (Isa 53:2), nor was He in a position or from a background that people looked up to. He had led a poor life in a lowly environment but ever since He began His ministry, He cared for the poor and the oppressed, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom to them. Above all, He healed many who were sick (Matt 4:23). However the Jews still rejected Him in spite of His many good deeds. From the beginning they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (John 6:42) and they spurned Him.

When Jesus spoke of the reality that His flesh and blood are the spiritual food and drink from Heaven, many people could not understand what He meant. Though Jesus tried to further explain the meaning of His words, many of His disciples left Him saying, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” (John 6:60). Out of the disciples that did remain, one even thought of betraying Jesus.

Jesus steered clear from the Jews as they were trying to take His life wherever He went. In the same way, His own brothers did not receive Him and even suggested Jesus to leave the region of Galilee where He was staying (John 7:3). It would have caused Him great distress to be unwelcomed in His own home. That was not all; the people of Nazareth where Jesus grew up, drove Him out of the town and tried to push Him off a cliff to kill Him (Luke 4:29). The situation was in no way different in Jerusalem. Jesus did holy and good deeds there also but people were still trying to kill Him. On one occasion, Jesus asked them ‘why are you trying to kill me?’ But as if nothing had happened, they ridiculed Him saying, ‘You are demon-possessed! Who is trying to kill you?’

When people scorned Him, He…

Even in such situations, what Jesus did was give grace to the people. When He met a woman caught in the act of adultery He said, ‘I do not condemn you. Go and sin no more’, and Jesus saved her (John 8:11). The Pharisees asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Matt 9:11) Jesus told them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Matt 9:12). On another occasion, the people asked Jesus, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” (Matt 12:10) in order to find a reason to accuse Him. Jesus appealed to them and answered, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?” (Matt 12:11).

As Jesus went throughout the whole region of Judea, He taught in the synagogues, preached the good news of the Kingdom, and especially devoted much of His time healing various diseases and infirmities (Matt 9:35). There were always many

sick persons in the multitudes that followed Him. Jesus was moved with compassion when He saw them weary and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd (Matt 9:35). Once, as Jesus entered a city called Nain, He saw a widow going out to bury her dead son and had compassion and her, that He raised her son to life (Luke 7:11-16).

When it was almost time to finish His work in Jerusalem, Jesus said, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come” (John 8:21). Then the Jews reacted insolently, ‘Maybe He will kill Himself, because He says, “Where I go you cannot come”?’ (John 8:22). Jesus was despised by the people, and sometimes He had to hide Himself so that He would not be stoned. In spite of all this, Jesus said ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for His sheep’ (John 10:11). But instead of listening to His words, the people scorned Him and said,
“ He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?” (John 10:20).

When Lazarus died, his younger sister Mary fell at Jesus’ feet and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:32). Jesus groaned in the spirit and was troubled that He wept when He saw her and the people with her weeping. As it says, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35), He also cried in tears when He saw the people weeping.

The entire city of Jerusalem rejected and despised Jesus and tried to kill Him. At that time, some Pharisees pretended to care about Jesus and said, “Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill you”, but they had intended to drive Jesus out of Jerusalem. However Jesus answered them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected’” (Luke 13:32). When a certain woman came before Jesus and poured perfume on Him, the people were indignant and reproached the woman saying, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor” (Mark 14:5), and they put Jesus in a difficult position.

Amid such an arduous journey, once Jesus even said His disciples moanfully, “My soul is troubled, and what shall I say?” Even though He had asked God, “Father, save Me from this hour”, Jesus immediately bowed His head in submission and said, “But for this purpose I came to this hour” (John 12:27). He then told His disciples, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18) and comforted them saying, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

While Jesus was giving vehement cries and praying at Gethsemane because of what was going to happen to Him imminently, one of His disciples sold Him away for a price. Jesus was arrested after He finished praying, and His disciples all deserted Him. The disciple who swore, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble” (Matt 26:33) not only abandoned Jesus but denied Him before the people saying, “I do not know the Man!” (Matt 26:74).

All alone, Jesus had to face the judge under false accusations. The priests and elders accused Him with various words, but Jesus did not say anything. When Pilate said, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” (Matt 27:13) Jesus remained silent like a person determined to die, and Pilate was greatly astonished (Matt 27:14). The people formed a mob and demanded Jesus to be crucified. Pilate was concerned as to who would take the responsibility if he crucified Jesus. At that moment the Jews said, “His blood be on us and on our children” (Matt 27:25) and accepted the curse. So Pilate had no choice but to release the prisoner Barabbas and handed Jesus over to be crucified (Matt 27:26).

The soldiers put a scarlet robe on Jesus, a crown of thorns on His head, and a staff in His hand and mocked Him saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Matt 27:29). Then they spat on Him and struck Him on the head with the staff. When He was crucified, the people had no pity on him and instead shook their heads and hurled insults at Him (Matt 27:39). Even the robbers who were crucified with Him mocked Him and said, “He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God’” (Matt 27:43).

From up on the cross, Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing by and said, “Woman, behold your son”. Then He said to His disciple, “Behold your mother” and entrusted His mother (John 19:26-27). Even while He was hung on the cross, in order to fulfil the Scriptures Jesus drank the sour wine and after He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30) He passed away. Jesus had to be buried in a tomb that someone else just bought for Him since He could not afford it, and His funeral was held hurriedly without due formality.

The Reason Jesus Came to the Earth

Jesus came into the world not to be served but to serve mankind. However, the world feels uncomfortable about God and does not want Him to come near them. This is true even for some of the people who attend the church. People come to church at first eagerly seeking God’s help. As time passes, they gradually keep a distance with God and become cautious of God, not wanting to lose anything to Him. They are only interested in what is profitable for them, thinking, “There’s nothing to lose since I’ve secured my way to Heaven.” Perhaps they have become so accustomed to calculating profit and loss in this world that they take on such an attitude before God.

People become overly cautious of God perhaps because they are used to being afraid of the gods (spirits) of this world. The spirits that the unbelievers worship, namely demons cause fear upon the people in order to be worshipped. A typical characteristic of demons is to take revenge and harass the person who does not worship them, and perhaps the only way for the unbelievers to pacify those demons is ancestral rites. It is possible that Christians today are worshipping God in a similar manner.

What we need to know for certain is that God is not a fearful God. God delivered us from curse and adversities, and wants to give us happiness. Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10), and revealed the purpose of His coming. God sending His Son is in itself the love of God for us manifested. 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” When we receive God’s love, fear from punishment, curse and retribution vanish and pure love only remains.

It was not for His own sins that Jesus Christ died on the Christ, rather He carried man’s curse upon Himself. He wanted to put an end to man suffering as the Devil’s slaves and going to hell eventually. Sinners must go to hell. However hell is such a dreadful place that He wanted to prevent even the vilest person from going to hell. He sternly warned, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire— where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’ “For everyone will be seasoned with fire” (Mark 9:43-49).

Jesus does not want us to suffer in sickness. Once, John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus and asked, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” Jesus answered, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Matt 11:3-5). This coincides with the words in Acts 10:38 – “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil, for God was with Him”; it is also in line with the works of Jesus throughout His ministry, as well as with the words He gave to His disciples, “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17-18).

Sin, sickness and demons

The Lord came to the earth and destroyed our sin and healed our diseases. Sin and diseases are indivisibly related just like the two faces of a coin. For example, when Jesus healed a paralytic at a pool in Bethesda He said, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you” (John 5:14); and when He healed a paralytic He said, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” (Matt 9:2). The disciples also associated sin and sickness together when they saw a blind man and asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2).

According to the Old Testament sickness is a result of sin. For example, Deuteronomy 28:58-61 says, “If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses. Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed”, where it is clear that disobeying God’s word is a cause of sickness.

Finally when Jesus came, it was revealed that sickness is caused by demons. Jesus cast out demons wherever He went, and the people were healed of their diseases as a result. The command Jesus gave equally to His disciples and all of His believers was not “Go and tell the people to stop sinning!” instead it was, “Go and drive out the demons and heal the sick!” Jesus was emphasising that we should no longer dwell on sin but engage in the spiritual battle before us, once He is glorified and the Holy Spirit comes to the believers. He was proclaiming that soon He will destroy man’s sin on the cross and therefore we should not worry about the link between sickness and sin anymore, but with faith and power drive out the demons.

Man is ultimately set free when God’s glory shines on him. A person suffers from illness because he has not received the light of God’s glory, which is blocked by sin. We received the forgiveness of sins through repentance when we received in Jesus Christ. After receiving such great grace we should never sin again, however it is very difficult not to sin while we live in this world. The Lord who knows this has opened a way for us to confess our sins receive forgiveness. Therefore if we have sinned, we must quickly repent.

If we consider how all of our sins can be forgiven after we believe in Jesus Christ, Christians should never be sick but in reality Christians do become sick. However that sickness does not belong to the Christian. Such sickness can enter when he has committed personal sin but has not repented. In other words, the demons can enter and afflict a person who has sinned but has not repented. However, we do not need to worry for if we confess our sins to Jesus, whatever that may be, we can be forgiven through Him who speaks in our defence. We must keep our spirit clean so that the weaknesses resulting from sin will not penetrate through us.

If a person is still suffering in illness despite leading a spiritual life and repenting, it is probably because he is doubtful that the Lord would forgive. The Devil and the demons deceive people to believe that the sin still remains in their spirit. They cause people to forget about the grace of Jesus Christ, undervalue His precious blood, and deny God’s love. They then seize the opportunity to enter the person’s body and make him/her ill. We have to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to stand firm in the faith and not fall into this scheme.

When the believers fall into temptation, they are providing the grounds for the demons to attack. As they lose the joy and passion in their faith life, they naturally do the things contrary to God’s will. When they fall into temptation and their hearts are snatched away by the Devil, suddenly they have no spiritual sense, their mindset is tainted by the world, and they are overcome by violent emotions, and become distant from God and the church. This is like giving the demons many chances to attack freely. Thus it is very dangerous to be deceived or fall into temptation.

The Lord who carries our burdens

As we live in this world, we should not misunderstand the Lord but trust Him and draw nearer to Him. The Lord does not load us with burdens. Instead He carries our burdens to give us eternal happiness; He did not treat us as the Most High would the lowliest one, instead He came to this lowly earth and taking the same appearance as us, He served us with all of His truth, tears, heart and passion. We absolutely need the Lord’s service. Therefore we must have the Lord with us in our hearts and in our families at all times. And working together with the saints, we must have the Lord listen to the prayers offered up by the saints as one.

The Lord had to fight, suffer affliction and work to the point of utter exhaustion, in order to carry our burdens. The only way to destroy man’s sin was for Him to die together with that sin. Since He bore our sin and died on the cross two thousand years ago until now, man’s sin has never come back to life. People are afraid that the Lord will take away something from them, but what He took away was our pain, troubles, suffering, sickness, despair, fear and adversities. The Lord paid a hefty price to remove the obstacles that stood before us who are advancing towards Him. Hence we must entrust all of our heavy burdens to the Lord and let Him carry our load.

If we, wearied of life, have complaints towards God and distance ourselves from Him as the Israelites did in the desert, it is no different to scourging the Lord’s heart and crucifying Him all over again. Every day, we surely need the Lord who carries our burdens. The Lord is still at work to expel the work of the Devil that interferes with our happiness, and give prosperity to our flesh, which is the Lord’s holy co-workers and instruments. In other words, He is taking care of both our spirit and body. Therefore we must receive the Lord into the center of our hearts and our families. We also need to have the Lord listen to the cries and petitions of the saints given with one heart.

We are currently living in a spiritually dark place. However this place is not the end of our journey. Our spirit and our families must rely on the blood of Jesus Christ and be freed from curse, and strengthen our feeble legs and rise up again, as we listen to the sound of His scourging. When the saints are gathered together, they must cry out in prayer for the sick and cast out the demons, just as the Lord supplicated in tears for our spirit and flesh. The sun of righteousness of the Lord who carries our burdens, ought to rise daily and shine upon our spirits, families and church.