Day 325 - Matthew 8

From: Chapter-A-Day: Volume 2 By: Norman W. Berry

• 2 min. read • grade level: 7

V.1-4 In the days of Moses, if a man were to reach out and touch a leper, he would immediately become unclean. But the Lord Jesus was able to reach out His hand, touch this poor leper and cleanse the leprosy! Each one of us needs to feel the touch of our blessed Lord day by day.

V.5-13 The Lord Jesus heals one who was not a Jew. A lovely reminder that the grace of God would soon go out to us who are Gentiles. The Lord Jesus is able to heal both diseases.

V.17 There are those who would wrongly teach that the Lord Jesus bore these sicknesses and infirmities while He was dying on the cross, and that, therefore, we who know Him as our Savior can have all our illnesses healed. Not true, as we can see from this verse. He participates in our sicknesses.

V.20 This is the first time that Jesus is called “the Son of Man.” This was His title in showing His lowliness. We also see the first intimation of His rejection. This title appears 21 times in Matthew 5:23-27²³Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; ²⁴Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. ²⁵Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. ²⁶Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. ²⁷Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: (Matthew 5:23‑27). The Lord Jesus had power to still the great storm on the sea.

V.28-34 The demons who possessed these men immediately recognized the Lord Jesus and called Him the Son of God. How remarkable this is that even demons recognized who the Lord Jesus was, although many of the scribes and priests refused to recognize Him as the Son of God.

V.34 A very sad ending to this story. The people actually asked Him to depart out of their coasts. That which happened to the swine in verse 32 is probably a picture of that which happened to the proud Jews who rejected the Lord Jesus and refused to own Him as the Son of God.

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