Things Only God Can Do
We’re studying a larger passage of scripture today because of the common theme among the various stories that are recorded here. Jesus did things only God can do.
He rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, Lk 8:22-25
Jesus and the disciples got caught in a bad storm on the lake of Gennesaret (the Sea of Galilee). Jesus had commanded them to go to the other side, v.22. After he fell asleep, a storm of wind came down on the lake. This was probably a bomb cyclone that occurs when the atmospheric pressure drops extremely rapidly. Their boat filled with water and they were in jeopardy (danger, loss and injury were imminent). The disciples, some of whom had spent their lives on the water, thought they were going to die.
When they woke Jesus up, he rebuked the wind and raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. This is something only God can do, Ps 65:7, 89:9, 107:28-29. By this, Jesus, once again, showed his disciples that he was God. This is why he asked, “Where is your faith”? They should have seen enough by now to know who he was and that he and they were not going to die in that storm. He came to die, but not this way. He was going to the other side.
He cast many devils out of a possessed man, Lk 8:26-40
When they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, a man met him which had devils a long time. This naked man abode in the tombs and couldn’t be restrained with chains and fetters. He just broke them.
He said, “What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not”. The devils knew him; but the Pharisees, whom the devils deceived, didn’t know who he was. When Jesus asked his name, he replied, “Legion”, because there were many devils in him. Legion is a very large number, by definition.
They besought Jesus that he would not command them to go out into the deep. “The deep” in the Bible is three things. It is the deep above, Ps 104:6; it is the deep sea, 2 Cor 11:25; and it is the deep below, Jon 2:2-3, Rom 10:7. Mk 5:10 says they besought him that he would not send them away out of the country. So it appears they meant the deep sea when they said, the deep.
When the devils departed out of the man they entered into a herd of swine that ran violently down into the lake where they were choked. The herdsman ran away and spread the news in the city and country. When the people they told came to see, they saw the man sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind. They were very afraid.
The multitude besought him to depart. So, he went back to the ship and to sail back to the other side. The man who had been possessed asked to go with him. But Jesus sent him away to his own house and told him to shew them the great things God had done for him. This was something only God can do. The man published what Jesus had done throughout the whole city.
When they arrived at the other side, the people gladly received him; they were all waiting for him.
He healed a woman of an incurable issue of blood, Lk 8:43-48
While on the way to Jairus’s house, a woman with an issue of blood came behind Jesus. She had been sick for twelve years and had spent all that she had on physicians. But they couldn’t heal her. When she touched the border of his garment, her issue of blood immediately stanched (stopped the flow of blood). Perhaps she was encouraged because the people who touched him in Lk 6:19 had been healed.
Jesus knew that virtue had gone out of him to heal her, so he asked who had touched him. The disciples said he could never discern who it was in that crowd. Yet, when the woman knew she couldn’t be hid, she fell down before him and declared why she touched and what transpired.
No doubt she was afraid because, according to Lev 15:19, she should have never touched him. Rather than rebuke her, Jesus comforted her and declared that her faith had made her whole. He did something only God can do.
He raised a twelve year old dead girl, Lk 8:41-56
Jairus besought Jesus to come to his house and heal his daughter who was dying. Because the people thronged him and the woman with the issue of blood delayed him, Jairus’s daughter died before Jesus could get to her.
When news arrived that his daughter was dead, Jesus told Jairus, “Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole”.
The scene at the house went from weeping and wailing to scornful laughter when Jesus announced that the girl was not dead, but sleeping. Nevertheless, Jesus put them all out and told the girl to rise. Her spirit came again, she arose, and he commanded to give her something to eat. Once again, Jesus did something only God can do.
Conclusion: Jesus calmed a raging storm, cast many devils out of a man, cured a woman with an incurable issue of blood, and raised a dead girl to life. These are things only God can do. And the disciples needed to see him do these things. They needed to know that he is God.
To study the previous lesson, see A Candle on a Candlestick.