Luke 9:37-45
37-
There are the disciples who are in the presence of God on the transfigured mountain in contrast with the disciples who are face to face with the powers of darkness just below on the plain.
The supremacy of Jesus will soon become evident in both places.
Jesus and the disciples descend from the Mount “the next day” which implies that the Transfiguration would possibly have taken place at night. The night time would have made the event even more majestic as Christ would have shined bright against the night sky and Luke is drawing out that point to show that the very next day Christ and the disciples would need to descend to the land of illness, evil and unbelief.
*** How many of us would have loved to witness the glory of the transcended Christ? Imagine being upon that mountaintop as Jesus was praying and his face had become altered with the glory of the living God? Imagine seeing his clothing become dazzling white. Centered between Moses and Elijah the voice of God cries out saying this is my son, listen to him! And after the voice had spoken Jesus was found alone.
Leaving the glories of the Mountaintop, the disciples descend to the bottom hearing the cries of a man, but not just any cries, the begging cries of a man who has nowhere else to turn.
Read 38- 40
1. God employs many avenues to gather his children into his kingdom and in this case it is suffering.
1. There could not be a worse condition for a boy than what is described here
a. seized by a demonic spirit
b. causing him to cry out
c. it causes him to convulse
d. it brings forth foam from his mouth
e. it shatters him or breaks him
f. it will not go away
Marks description
a. Throws him down
b. Grinds his teeth
This is more than likely a demonic attack of some form of epilepsy
In this devastating case, the situation is utterly hopeless.
συντρῖβον- to break into pieces, to crush, to overcome completely
Romans 16:20 uses this word to describe the devestating blow that God will deliver to Satan.
The word is also used in describing the crushing of the alabaster jar that a certain woman shattered in order to annoint Jesus’ head.
Utter ruin
This is the condition many of us find ourselves in.
-If it couldn’t get any worse, the man begged even the disciples to cast out the demons but they were unable and helpless.
It appears that in the midst of suffering, there is no one there to come to or aid. There may be no one who is willing to listen or sympathize with out condition. When the doctors cannot help us, and friends just offer random advice, it appears that we have no other option but to give up hope.
But this was not an individual; this is the case of a loving father who refuses to give up on his son. However, despite his refusal to give up, there is no other option but to fall into utter despair.
A disease so strong and powerful that it withstood all efforts of the Twelve even after their successful preaching, healing, and exorcising mission tour
As we experience out own trials we can fill in the blanks as to what our suffering does to us.
It may be physical, emotional, spiritual, financial, family related, job related, a breaking marriage, the loss of a loved one, un forgiveness, hatred, estranged family members.
We can name the symptoms of hurt, pain, discomfort, frustration and countless tears. It appears as though the night will never lift, the day will never break, the boy will never stop convulsing and the problem will never be fixed, the boy had been utterly
συντρῖβον- Shattered.
1. It is the man’s son’s sickness that causes him to seek after Jesus, if it were not so, the man would have no reason to seek the Savior.
2. The very worst of our sufferings do not go unnoticed and are not far from the touch of Jesus.
a. If there was ever a sickness that could knock the divine out it would have been this one. This is the state that we fall into when we suffer. I have been praying, I have been begging, have been seeking but he is not there.
3. Jesus is there.
“I will never leave you or forsake you” Heb 13:5
“I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19
God’s Sovereignty
Whatever you are facing has crossed over God’s desk first. He is sovereign over your condition and he is aware that it is your concern.
- Jesus had come down from the mountain at just the time to heal the boy. Not the next week, not 40 days and 40 nights later, but that very day. He was at the right place at the right time in order to deal with this ailment, IN HIS TIMING.
Read 41 –
The disciples fail to understand the meaning of the passion; they were unable suffering runs deep through this entire passage. We cannot fully comprehend our suffering just as these disciples did not comprehend that the end result of their beloved Jesus would have been his suffering and death. And they were part of a faithless generation just as we seem to be today. We are helpless and weak.
Even after Christ mentions his deliverence into the hands of evil men the disciples begin arguing over who is the greatest. Totally in the dark about what is going on. They did not perceive it at all. We are helpless and weak as they were without the spirit.
Read 42
The demon throws him down- the problem presents itself to Jesus
Jesus rebuked the spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
“many of whom all men said, they have fallen, never more to stand, Have risen, though they seemed as dead, When Jesus took them by the hand.”
Luke once again pointed out Jesus’ greatness and uniqueness.
- Faced with a plight the disciples could not remedy, Jesus healed with no difficulty even though the child had been continually plagued by the evil spirit. The demon had to obey him. Jesus’ authority is such that all were amazed at his manifestation of God’s greatness. There is also an allusion to humanity’s sinfulness and depravity in 9:41. In its unbelief and perversity this “generation” was not able to heal. It was powerless against the demonic. This generation’s unbelief and perversity (9:44) were such that the Son of Man would soon be delivered into their hands.
Read 43-45 ( Jesus again foretells his death )
Matthew 27:27-31
“Then the soldiers of the governer took Jesus into the Praetorium, and they gathered the whole battalion before him, and they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, a twisted together a crown of thorns, and they put it on his head and put a staff in his right hand. And kneeling before him they mocked him screaming, Hail, King of the Jews, and they spit on him and took the staff and struck him on the head. And after they mocked him they stripped him down and led him away to be crucified.”
We looked at the suffering of the father and his only son
There is another father who witnessed his only son suffer
Nightmare situations, a suffering that seems we may never wake up from.
The nightmare of the cross
- Luke is deliberate in mentioning the fact that this boy was the only son of his father. After a time of suffering, the boy was healed and restored. As we look at the wretched condition of the boy let us be reminded of the wretched condition of Christ on our behalf.
- This man stood and watched as his son convulsed and fought against the powers of darkness and hell. And although we have compassion on this little boy we are reminded that he is a sinner.
- There is a father who stood and watched his sinless son convulse and fight against the powers of hell itself. He fought and remained sinless.
I asked the question earlier, Who would like to have been present to see the Transfiguration?
***Instead of the appearance of his face altering in glory, it had now been altered with the beatings of the Roman guards, and instead of wearing dazzling white, crimson red was rolling down his beaten back. Instead of being centered between Moses and Elijah, he was now centered between two thieves, and Jesus was found alone on both mountains, this time, forsaken by God.
Read v. 43. And they were all astonished at the majesty of God.
1. On the Mount of Transfiguration
2. At the power of Christ over demonic possessions and evil
3. At the majesty of the cross
4. At the Resurrection
The supper and salvation is a result, God has a majestic plan for us as well.
The crowds here have seen what was visible to only the three on the mount of transfiguration, the healing and compassionate power of Jesus. And the world has seen something greater than the transfiguration, something more glorious and that is the ____________crucifixion.
God has not forgotten your circumstance. He is with us in our suffering and he will work it together for our good.
1 Corinthians 12:9- “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made great in your weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more in my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak then I am strong.
Regarding Paul’s thorn
1 Peter 8- “In this you rejoice, if now for a little while you have been grieved by various trials. So the tested genuiness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though tested by fire may result to be found in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Let me encourage you to preserver for just a little while ……
And what about the elements before us?
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