Back in the days of Elizabeth and Mary, people got married at a younger age than people do today, often when they were teenagers. Mary may have been only sixteen or so when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and told her she would have a child. Imagine God coming to the earth through a teenager!

Because she was not married to Joseph yet, Mary wondered out loud how she would be able to have a baby. Gabriel explained to her that although the baby would be her son, the child would not be Joseph’s son. He would be God’s son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. He would be the first and only God-man, 100% human and 100% God.

Gabriel told Mary that her son would be given the throne of His ancestor David and that He would “reign over Israel forever” (Luke 1:33). His kingdom would have no end. David was a great king who had ruled over the nation of Israel about one thousand years before the time of Jesus. When David was still alive God had promised him, “When you die, I will raise up one of your descendants….and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son….Your dynasty and your kingdom will continue for all time before me, and your throne will be secure forever” (2 Samuel 7:12-16). After David died, his descendants did rule after him for about five hundred years, but since then there has been no descendant of David ruling over Israel.

When Jesus lived on the earth He never did rule over Israel. In fact, the people of Israel killed Him. But God’s promises are true. The Bible tells us that Jesus will one day live in Jerusalem, and from there He will rule the entire world! There won’t be any United States of America then or any other countries—Jesus’ kingdom will be the only kingdom. And His kingdom will never end! Everyone should want to be in that kingdom.

Gabriel told Mary that her relative Elizabeth had also experienced a miracle: she was pregnant in her old age. So Mary journeyed to Elizabeth’s house and stayed with her for three months, probably until John was born. Elizabeth probably appreciated having someone to chat with during those three months since her husband couldn’t talk!

When Mary arrived at Elizabeth’s house, John, who was probably already filled with the Holy Spirit (see Luke 1:15), “jumped for joy” inside his mother. The Holy Spirit in John knew who was inside Mary, and was quite happy about it! So what is the key to being joyful? Being close to Jesus!

Elizabeth may have heard about what Gabriel had told Mary, because when Mary arrived at her door she already knew that Mary was pregnant with a very special child. Or it’s possible that the Holy Spirit inspired her with a gift of prophecy, because we read that she was filled with the Holy Spirit upon Mary’s arrival. Regardless, Elizabeth knew that Mary’s baby was even more special than her own. She called Mary “the mother of [her] Lord” (Luke 1:43), so she knew that God was living inside Mary’s womb.

It seems that Mary was suddenly filled with the Holy Spirit then as well, because she responded to Elizabeth’s greeting by speaking a beautiful poem. It was all about God’s goodness toward her and to everyone who fears Him. The best thing God did for us was to send Jesus! Like Mary, we’re blessed!

Q. Because Mary and Elizabeth were somehow related, we know that Jesus and John the Baptist were distant relatives. Do you know of anyone who is alive today who is related to Jesus?

A. Everyone who believes and follows Jesus is a brother or sister of Jesus!

Q. Jesus lived inside of Mary for nine months. Has He ever lived inside of anyone else?

A. Yes! If you believe in Him, Jesus lives inside of you! He doesn’t live inside you physically, like a baby inside its mother, but spiritually, because the Holy Spirit lives in everyone who believes in Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is just like Jesus and the Father. That is why Jesus once promised everyone who loves Him that both He and His Father would come to live inside them (see John 14:23).

Application: Since Jesus lives in us by the Holy Spirit, we should always remember that He is with us to direct our thoughts, words and deeds.

Rather than rejoicing over the healing of a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years, the Jewish leaders found fault with the man who had been healed, claiming that he was breaking the fourth commandment by carrying his pallet on the Sabbath. They also began harassing Jesus, accusing Him of also breaking the Sabbath by healing someone that day.

Jesus responded by truthfully and clearly stating that God was His Father, thus He was God’s Son. Although God is perfect in holiness, some of the commandments He’s given to human beings don’t apply to Himself. For example, your parents might have a rule that you be in bed by nine o’clock each night, but you can’t accuse them of doing wrong if they go to bed later than nine! Some of their rules apply only to you, and not to them.

The same is true of God. He commanded the Israelites to offer animal sacrifices on a regular basis, but that is not something God does! And no one can rightfully accuse Him of sinning because He doesn’t offer sacrifices. By the same token, although God commanded the Israelites not to work on the Sabbath, that didn’t mean it would be a sin for God to work that day! Because Jesus was God, He could work on any Sabbath He chose. That’s why He responded to the Jewish leaders by saying, “My Father never stops working, so why should I?” Although God rested on the seventh day after the six days of creation, perhaps He hasn’t rested since!

The Jewish leaders recognized that Jesus, in calling God His Father, was claiming to be equal with God, and hated Him all the more. But Jesus didn’t back down from His claim. Rather, He expanded on it, showing that He had a unique relationship with God the Father that no one else ever had or ever will have.

Unlike any other person who had ever lived, Jesus perfectly obeyed God the Father. He was acting as the Father’s perfect representative on earth, and they shared an intimate relationship. It was the Father who gave Jesus the ability to teach with amazing wisdom and work miracles, and those signs proved to all that He was God’s Son.

God the Father, who is the only one who can give physical or spiritual life, determined and decreed that it would be only through Jesus that anyone could receive new physical life and be resurrected after he had died. Jesus will one day exercise His God-given authority to raise the dead by resurrecting everyone who has ever lived. Also, by the Father’s decision, only through Jesus can anyone receive spiritual life and be born again. And just as physically dead people will one day be resurrected when Jesus speaks, so spiritually dead people are hearing Jesus’ words and being spiritually reborn.

The Father has also appointed Jesus as judge of all people, and one day everyone will stand before Him to give an account of his or her life. He will determine who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. His judgment will be perfectly just because it will be in perfect accordance with the Father’s judgment. Obviously, as Jesus said, God the Father wants Jesus to be equally honored with Himself. In light of such incredible claims, we can only conclude that Jesus was either God’s divine Son or He was a very deranged and evil man.

In light of His amazing teaching and the miracles that God did through Him, however, the only intelligent choice of the two alternatives is that Jesus was indeed God’s only Son!

Q. Jesus said that the Scriptures pointed to Him (see John 5:39), and specifically referred to the writings of Moses (see John 5:46). Can you think of any scriptures in the first five books of the Bible that speak of Jesus?

A. First, the entire system of sacrificing animals to atone for sins pointed to Jesus’ sacrificial accomplishment on the cross as the Lamb of God. Second, the establishment of a high priest who stood between God and man, interceding on behalf of sinners, points to Jesus as our High Priest who reconciled us to God by His death. Third, God promised in the first books of the Bible that the Messiah would be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Judah. And fourth, referring to the Messiah, Moses spoke prophetically of another prophet of great authority whom God would raise up (see Deuteronomy 18:18-19; John 1:21; Acts 3:22-23).

Application: Jesus plainly stated that anyone who listens to His message and believes that God sent Him has eternal life. When people do believe, they will pass from the realm of death into the realm of life, and will not be condemned for their sins (see John 5:24-25). That’s good news! Does it apply to you?

Praise God for what Jesus did for this lame man at the pool of Bethesda! He had been suffering for thirty-eight years from his sickness, and perhaps had been unable to walk all that time. But he still had hope of being healed. He’d heard that an angel of the Lord would occasionally stir the waters at the pool of Bethesda. Afterwards, whoever stepped into the water first was healed of whatever ailed him. So the lame man joined many other sick people who sat around the pool each day, watching and waiting for the troubling of the waters. He had been present a number of times when the waters were previously stirred, but others who had more mobility reached the water before he did. So he kept on waiting for another opportunity, and hoped that the next time the waters were stirred, someone would care enough to help him be the first to get in.

Angels, of course, don’t work independently of the Lord, and so we can be sure that the only time an angel stirred the Bethesda waters was when God sent him. So why didn’t God send an angel every five minutes to stir the water so that everyone could be healed? Can we conclude from this story that it wasn’t God’s will for everyone there to be healed?

Actually, all the sick people at Bethesda could have been healed without ever stepping into the pool of Bethesda, because God promised health for every obedient Israelite in His covenant with them. God said in Exodus 23:25 (NASB), “But you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will remove sickness from your midst.” In Deuteronomy 7:12-15, God promised the Israelites that, if they obeyed Him faithfully, He would remove all sickness from them. If any of the sick people at Bethesda had believed what God had promised, acting in faith, they would have been healed. Even if they had been disobedient to the Lord, thus not meeting the conditions of their covenant with God, they could have repented, received forgiveness, and then received healing. Anyone who disagrees with that is saying that God is a liar, and that His promises can’t be trusted. It’s true: He promised health to obedient Israelites!

By occasionally sending an angel to stir the waters of the pool of Bethesda, perhaps God was also trying to stir up His people by way of reminder that He was still in the healing business. Every time someone was healed, God was sending a message to all Israel that He’d spoken centuries earlier to their ancestors: “I am the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15:26). Surely God didn’t want all those sick people waiting at the pool to think His mercy was limited, or that His love was greater for sick people who were more watchful and mobile than other sick people. Surely He wasn’t trying to encourage a selfish competition that would make the majority of suffering people continual losers. No, the God whom the Bible says shows no partiality (see Deut. 10:17; Rom. 2:11; Gal. 2:6) wanted His covenant people to know that He was their healer. And He was not choosing to heal specific ones and choosing not to heal specific others, because anyone who got into the water first was healed. Individual responsibility was a factor.

The same God who occasionally sent an angel, sent His Son one day to the same pool. And just as when the angel visited, only one person was healed that day as well. Did Jesus want to convey to the sick people present that He loved only one person enough to heal him? No, like His Father, He was trying to show them that He had the power to heal them all, hoping that all would trust Him for their healing. Numerous times in the four Gospels, we can read about Jesus healing everyone who came to Him requesting healing. This healing at the pool of Bethesda was an advertisement for Jesus and an encouragement for the rest to trust Him and be healed. This healing should encourage us today, because the Bible says that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Q. Was this lame man at the pool of Bethesda healed through his faith?

A. No, this man, unlike so many others whom Jesus healed, was not healed through his faith. Here is the evidence: First, the man was not seeking Jesus, rather, Jesus found him. Second, Jesus said nothing to him about his faith healing him as He often did with others. And third, the lame man had no idea who Jesus was, even after he’d been healed. When he first conversed with Jesus, he wasn’t looking to Him as someone who could heal him. In his mind, Jesus was no different than any other person present.

This healing, then, is an example of a “gift of healing” working through Jesus. Gifts of healings operate as the Holy Spirit wills (see 1 Cor. 12:11), and faith is not necessarily a requirement for the sick person to be healed. It is a sovereign act of God.

Q. Jesus later told the man He’d healed, “Stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you” (John 5:14). What can we learn from that statement?

A. We can learn that sin can lead to God’s judgment. If the healed man didn’t repent and quit sinning, there was the possibility that he might wind up worse than he previously was. God is a loving God, but He is also holy. He will punish evildoers. We must be careful, however, that we don’t conclude that all sick people are being punished for their sins. Then we would be guilty of passing judgment.

Application: The people of the world often need signs from God to open their hearts to the gospel. Let’s pray today that God would mercifully grant that more signs and wonders would be shown to the unbelieving world. Also that even people who have no faith would be healed, that more attention would be given to the good news of Jesus Christ.

After reading the past two days about people who received miracles from Jesus through their faith, today we read about an entire town that, for the most part, missed out on receiving any miracles from Jesus because of their lack of faith. This once again proves that God’s will coming to pass in our lives is dependent on our faith. Naturally, Jesus wanted to bring blessings to the people in the town where He had spent most of His life. The Bible, however, said that He couldn’t do any mighty miracles there because of the people’s unbelief (see Mark 6:5). This clearly indicates that He desired to do mighty miracles there. Notice also that the Bible said Jesus couldn’t , not wouldn’t do any mighty miracles there. It wasn’t because He didn’t want to perform mighty miracles for them, it was because He was actually limited by their unbelief.

All Christians know this is true concerning salvation, so why don’t they realize that it’s true concerning anything else we receive from God? It is God’s will for everyone to be saved, but God’s will doesn’t come to pass in a person’s life unless that person believes the gospel. That means there are people in hell right now whom God wanted to be in heaven. Likewise, if a person is ill, we should not conclude that it’s God’s will for that person to remain ill. God expects us to believe His Word, but so few do when it comes to healing because they’ve been wrongly taught that it may not be God’s will for them to be healed. Thus they have no faith for healing, and Jesus is hindered by their unbelief.

Even when they pray for healing, many Christians confess their unbelief, saying, “Lord, if it is Your will, please heal me.” They are admitting that they aren’t sure what God’s will is, which makes it impossible for them to have faith. Faith can only be born from God’s promises. Only when God’s will is not revealed is it appropriate to say, “If it is Your will.” Otherwise, we’re saying to God, “Lord, I know what You’ve promised, but in case You were lying about it, I don’t want to hold You to what You said.” The Bible says, “Are any among you sick?…prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make them well” (James 5:14-15). How can any Bible-believing Christian argue with that?

The reason the majority of people in Nazareth didn’t believe in Jesus was because they had known Him and His family for decades. They knew He was a very good person, but they had no idea that He was God’s Son. They refused to believe in Him, even though they had heard about His miracles in other places and heard Him speak before them with great wisdom. Thankfully, however, there were a few people in Nazareth who apparently had some faith, but who, as the original Greek indicates, had only minor ailments. Jesus laid His hands on them and healed them. But for the majority of people in Nazareth, Jesus was “amazed at their unbelief” (Mark 6:6).

Q. How do you think Jesus feels about the lack of faith in people today?

A. He is probably amazed at everyone who doesn’t believe in Him because of the overwhelming evidence that He was a historical person whose life story is accurately recorded in the Bible. However, Jesus once wondered if anyone would have any faith when He returns, saying, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8, NASB).

Application: Could it be that you may have hindered Jesus from working more in your life by your unbelief? In prayer today, ask the Lord is this is so, and if it is, ask Him to help you grow in faith.

In both of the healing stories we read today, faith was a factor. Jairus believed that if Jesus would lay His hands upon his dying daughter, she would live. His faith was evident from his actions. First, he journeyed to Jesus who was by the seashore. And second, he made his way through a crowd, fell at Jesus’ feet, and publicly begged Him to come and lay His hands on his daughter, stating that she would live if He would. Only someone who had faith would do what Jairus did.

Also, when messengers from Jairus’ house told him that his daughter had died, we read, “Jesus ignored their comments and said to Jairus, O Don’t be afraid. Just trust me'” (Mark 5:36). Luke’s Gospel records Jesus saying, “Don’t be afraid. Just trust me, and she will be all right” (Luke 8:50). Naturally, Jairus was tempted to be afraid that his daughter would not be raised, but Jesus encouraged him to keep on believing. Obviously, Jairus’ faith played a key part in his daughter’s being raised from the dead.

The faith of the woman who had suffered for twelve years with internal bleeding also played an important role in her healing. Jesus plainly told her that it was her faith that had made her well (see Mark 5:34). Her faith was also evident by her actions. She, too, pressed through a crowd in order to touch Jesus. She had been thinking to herself, “If I can just touch his clothing, I will be healed” (Mark 5:28).

This helps us to understand better why more people aren’t divinely healed today. If more of us truly believed, more of us would be healed. But we have been brain-washed (or better said, “brain-dirtied”) to believe that God only chooses to heal some and not others. As a result, we doubt that we are among those whom God wants to heal, and our lack of faith stops our healing.

But this idea is proven to be biblically unsound by what we’ve just read. Obviously, healing is available to all who will believe, because the woman with internal bleeding was healed by Jesus even before He knew who had touched Him . He realized that power had gone out of Him for healing, but didn’t know who had been healed. Faith drew His healing power out, and it was available for anyone and everyone! The reason that woman believed Jesus would heal her was because she heard He never turned anyone away who came to Him requesting healing. She had heard that everyone who touched Him was healed.

This same story also disproves the idea that if it is God’s will for someone to be healed, He will automatically heal that person. It was obviously God’s will for the woman we just read about to be healed, but she wasn’t healed until she did something: she put her faith into action. It was and is Jesus’ will for everyone to be healed, but they have to do something. They have to put faith into action. It is just the same as salvation. God wants everyone to be saved, but not everyone is automatically saved. People have to believe the gospel.

One reason more preachers in America don’t teach this truth is because they know it offends proud people who refuse to acknowledge that their lack of faith stops them from being healed. They would rather put the blame on God and His supposed will not to heal everyone.

Even people who believe that God wants them to be healed aren’t always healed, because their faith is often very weak. I’ve personally experienced weak faith. But I would rather admit my weakness than say that God wants me to remain sick, contradicting His many healing promises. And I would rather have a weak faith that can grow stronger than be stuck with no faith for the rest of my life. And finally, I’m sure God would prefer weak or wavering faith over no faith at all!

Divine healing is a subject upon which we need to remain balanced. We shouldn’t think that God condemns us for our lack of faith, or that He is opposed to our seeking a doctor’s help. Jesus didn’t condemn the sick woman in today’s story for previously going to a doctor. But praise God that Jesus can fix anything doctors can’t! Let’s trust Him more!

Q. According to something we’ve read today, is there any time when we should ignore people’s comments?

A. Jesus ignored the negative reports that the messengers brought from Jairus’ home. When anyone says something that contradicts what God has said, it’s good to ignore it. We don’t want to be influenced to doubt. Perhaps that is also the reason why Jesus cleared all the mourners from Jairus’ house before He raised Jairus’ daughter. Their weeping and wailing could have influenced Jairus and his wife to doubt, drawing their attention away from Jesus’ promise to change their sad situation.

Q. Why do you suppose that Jesus commanded Jairus and his wife not to tell anyone what had happened?

A. Because Jesus already had more publicity than He needed. This also indicates that Jesus didn’t raise and heal the little girl to prove that He was God’s Son. He did it because He loved that family and wanted to help them.

Q. Why did Jesus instruct the parents to give their daughter some food?

A. Because her body needed nourishment, and Jesus was concerned that her parents, in their excitement, might overlook her need. Jesus really cares about people.

Application: Today we read about a man who had something restored that he’d cherished for twelve years (see Luke 8:42) but lost. And we read about a woman who had something removed that she wanted to be rid of for twelve years. Jesus intervened in both situations at the same time, restoring and removing, according to the need. He is wonderful!

According to Matthew’s Gospel, these two miracles occurred right after the miracles we read about yesterday. Perhaps within the space of only one hour, Jesus healed a woman who had bled internally for twelve years, raised a young girl from the dead, opened the eyes of two blind men and cast a demon out of a man who had previously been unable to speak! No wonder the crowds who were with Him that day marveled. Yet the Pharisees, unable to improve upon their old explanation, continued to accuse Jesus of using Satan’s power to cast out demons.

As we read yesterday’s two miracles, we learned that faith was a key ingredient in both instances. Today’s first miracle, the instant healing of two blind men, was also credited to faith. Jesus asked the blind men, “Do you believe I can make you see?” and they responded, “Yes, Lord, we do” (Matthew 9:28). What do you think would have happened if they had said, “No, Lord, we doubt it”? Obviously they would not have been healed, because Jesus then said, ” Because of your faith , it will happen” (Matthew 9:29, emphasis added). If they had not had faith, they would not have been healed, even though it was obviously God’s will for them to be healed, because they were healed.

This proves again that God’s will doesn’t always automatically come to pass. As I mentioned yesterday, this truth makes proud people angry, because they would rather put the blame on God, claiming that it’s not His will for them to be healed, rather than admit that their faith is weak or nonexistent. However, Jesus said, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” (Matthew 21:22). There are scores of examples in the Bible of people doing just that and receiving healing.

The faith of the two blind men was not only evident by what they said, it was evident by what they did. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they followed along behind Him, shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on us!” It wouldn’t have been easy to follow along behind Jesus without sight. Perhaps someone was guiding them. Notice also that, before crowds of people, they kept shouting to Jesus for mercy. They were obviously convinced He could open their eyes, and weren’t ashamed to publicly and repeatedly ask Him. They were bold and persistent in their faith, to the point of going right inside the house where Jesus was staying! They would not be denied! True faith is always determined, and when people have strong faith, they don’t quit.

Q. Nothing is mentioned in today’s reading about the man who was mute having any faith. Is there any indication of his faith in the story?

A. Yes. The man must have possessed some amount of faith, or he wouldn’t have cooperated with his friends who brought him to Jesus. It is also true that Jesus did sometimes heal people who apparently didn’t demonstrate any outward signs of faith. Those cases could be categorized as “gifts of healing” mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:9 (NASB). They operate as the Holy Spirit wills, and are sovereign acts of healing by God that don’t necessarily require faith on the part of the person being healed.

Application: You may not need to receive healing, but perhaps you are facing some other difficulty in which you could apply faith in God’s Word. If so, imitate the faith of the two blind men we just read about. Be bold and persistent, and your faith will bring the miracle you need!

As we read yesterday, not only did Jesus have authority over the wind, commanding it to stop, He also had authority over evil spirits. Remember John the Baptist said that God had given Jesus “authority over everything” (John 3:35). The demons that possessed the man we’ve just read about were obviously very powerful, to the point of being able to empower the man with the strength to break chains. However, they were no match for Jesus. In fact, all the evil spirits in the world together don’t have a fraction of the power that God has.

The demons who inhabited this man drove him to do strange things. He lived in a cemetery, wandering through the tombs night and day without any clothes, screaming and cutting himself with stones. That shows us how wicked the devil and his evil spirits are. Because people are created in God’s image, Satan loves to see that image marred. If you’ve ever had an enemy draw a mustache on a photograph of yourself, you have some idea what I mean. Satan would love it if every person would become demon-possessed and act like that man did.

Notice how afraid the demons were of Jesus. When Jesus came ashore, the demon-possessed man ran to meet Him and fell down before Him. Was that act the man’s own doing or was he being motivated by the demons? Probably it was the demons, because it’s unlikely the man had any idea of who Jesus was. The main demon, however, named Legion, knew Jesus was the Son of God, and confessed it through the man’s shrieking voice, begging Jesus not to torture him. Later, all the demons repeatedly begged Jesus not to send them “to some distant place” (Mark 5:10). Those demons were scared to death of Jesus, because they knew who He was and what He could do! They were bowing before Him hoping for some mercy!

Also notice that Jesus asked the main demon inside the man what his name was. This is another indication that although Jesus was God, when He became a man He laid aside His attribute of omniscience, or knowing everything. God the Father, of course, knew what the demon’s name was.

I don’t know why Jesus gave the demons permission to go into the nearby herd of pigs. Perhaps it was just to display God’s great power. Can you imagine seeing a herd of 2,000 serenely grazing pigs suddenly going crazy, stampeding to their deaths down a hill into a lake? This also seems to indicate that at least 2,000 demons were previously living inside one man. Either demons can squash really close together, or, more likely, there is no such thing as space in the spiritual realm.

This story should fill us with awe at the mercy, goodness and power of the Lord. One day in heaven we’ll meet the man who was delivered, and rejoice with him for all that God has done for us. Not all of us were demon-possessed before our salvation, but all of us have been delivered from Satan’s power over our lives.

Q. Should Christians be afraid of demons?

A. Absolutely not, because demons are afraid of Jesus who lives in all Christians.

Q. Wasn’t it wrong of Jesus to allow the demons to go into someone else’s pigs? Surely the owners were upset over the loss of 2,000 pigs.

A. Actually, Jesus’ allowing the demons to enter the pigs serves as another proof that He was God, because God owns everything, including those 2,000 pigs. God can do anything He desires with people’s private property, because it’s more His property than theirs! Additionally, the Jews were forbidden in the Law to eat pork, and so perhaps the owners of those pigs were breaking God’s law, and what Jesus allowed was an act of judgment.

Finally, this story also teaches us the value that God places on people, who are created in His image, compared to animals, who are not. One man is worth much more than 2,000 pigs! This is a message to our perverted society, which allows the killing of baby humans but forbids the killing of certain animals.

Application: The people of the region who saw the formerly-possessed man were filled with fear, and rather than bowing before the Son of God and requesting forgiveness for their sins, they begged Him to leave them alone. Jesus sadly granted them their request, but instructed the delivered man to return to his friends with his testimony. This is a picture of the whole world today. They really don’t want Jesus around, but Jesus, hoping that they will soften, has sent us, those He’s delivered from Satan’s power, to tell others what God has done for us.

This story is a good illustration of what it means to trust God’s Word. Jesus told His disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake” (Mark 4:35), speaking of the Sea of Galilee. At that point, they knew it was His will to go to the other side, and Jesus expected them to believe what He said. However, after they launched out, they soon found themselves in a fierce storm, and waves were breaking over the edge of the boat, filling it with water. Amazingly, Jesus was taking a nap! He obviously believed, unlike His disciples, that they were going to make it to the other side of the lake.

Little children are often scared over things that their parents, who have a higher knowledge, aren’t the least bit concerned about. We are often like those fearful little children and God is always like the confident parent. Like little children, we should look at our Father’s confidence and have faith. When we trust Him, we can sleep even when things are going badly, because we know God has everything under control. Fear and anxiety are what keep people up all night long.

Jesus’ disciples should have followed His example, believing His Word in spite of their predicament. They should have realized that if Jesus was asleep, He must not have been worried, and so there was no cause for them to be concerned either. They were, however, petrified over what was happening to them, and finally woke Jesus, who immediately calmed the wind and waves with a rebuke. Can you imagine seeing such a violent storm immediately stop?

After rebuking the wind and waves, Jesus then rebuked His disciples, asking why they were so afraid and why they had no faith in Him. God expects us to trust Him.

Jesus’ disciples were too stunned by what they’d just seen to attempt to answer Him, and probably missed what He was hoping they’d learn. But they would soon have another chance to use their faith against some wind out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, only next time, Jesus wouldn’t be in the boat with them! God is a great teacher!

Q. Certainly Jesus was always in the center of His Father’s will, and was surely led by the Holy Spirit to cross over the Sea of Galilee that evening. And certainly God knew there would be a violent storm that would threaten their lives as Jesus and His disciples crossed. So why do you suppose God led Jesus to cross the Sea of Galilee when He did?

A. We don’t know for sure, because the Bible doesn’t say. However, we can read other stories in the Bible where God led His own people into difficulties with the purpose of delivering them. He wants us to learn to trust Him, and times of trial are great times to trust God! God may have been teaching the disciples a lesson about faith, as well as glorifying His Son before them.

Q. When you face difficulties that you can’t control, what do you think God would want you to do?

A. He wants us to trust Him, taking Him at His Word. Of course, unless we know what He has said, we have nothing to trust. That is why it is so worthwhile to know the Bible. That is the only place we can find God’s promises.

Application: The only time we should worry about our circumstances is when God is worried about them. But since God never worries, we should never worry either!

In the ancient land of Israel where Jesus lived and taught, on occasion, people accidentally found hidden treasures that had been buried hundreds of years beforehand by some wealthy member of a forgotten civilization. Naturally, if the fortunate finder didn’t own the land where he found the treasure, he would attempt to buy it, thus gaining the land and, more importantly, the treasure. If the purchaser thought the treasure was valuable enough, he might sell everything he owned to have enough money to purchase the field. It would be worth it, however, because he would regain all he sold and more, once the treasure was in his hands.

A place in the kingdom of heaven is like that because it is the most valuable thing anyone could possess, and it would be worth giving up anything and everything else to gain it. People who truly believe the gospel, who believe there is a place in heaven to gain, value their salvation above all else, and it shows in their lives. They repent of their sins and will give up anything that they know might keep them out of heaven. Their relationship with Jesus is the most important thing. It is their hidden treasure and their priceless pearl!

I’m sure you easily understood the parable of the fishing net, so there’s no need for my explanation. However, this would be a good time to learn something about interpreting Jesus’ parables. Usually, each parable serves to illustrate one primary point, and to try to find spiritual significance in every detail of a parable is dangerous. The point of the parable of the fishing net is that there are two categories of people in the world: the wicked and the godly. One day they will be separated, and the wicked will be cast into hell. That’s what Jesus wanted to teach through this parable. There is no spiritual significance to the net, the beach or the crates mentioned by Jesus, and we shouldn’t look for any.

Q. What would you be willing to take as a trade for your salvation?

A. If you answered, “A billion dollars,” or named anything else, you probably don’t really believe the gospel. True believers value their salvation above all else. There is nothing they would take in trade for it.

Application: When the men of the first two parables realized what could be theirs, they did whatever it took to gain their desire. Following Jesus does cost us something, and many people decide not to follow Jesus because they value other things more highly than eternal life, like respect from other people, or their wealth that they don’t want to share. We should value what God values, because He knows what is truly valuable.

The best way to teach is to take what a person already understands and relate it to what he needs to understand. For example, if a person didn’t know what a donut was, you could explain it by saying that donuts are round with holes in the middle, like car tires, but small enough to hold with one hand. They taste something like bread, and often have sweet-tasting icing on top, and so on.

Jesus wanted His followers to understand certain spiritual principles, and He explained those principles using parables, stories that compared natural things with spiritual things. Jesus’ parables were not only meant to help His followers understand spiritual concepts, they were also designed to hide those same truths from those who were not His followers. Jesus, of course, wants everyone to be His follower, but only those who decide to become His followers receive certain privileges, such as going to heaven in the future and understanding spiritual truths right now. Jesus said, “To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge” (Matthew 13:12). But those people who weren’t open to His teaching would be cursed to remain ignorant of wonderful spiritual truths.

This particular parable we just read explains why so many people who hear God’s truth are not changed by it. Speaking to people who understood about planting seeds, growing plants and harvesting a crop, Jesus compared God’s Word to seeds and people to four different types of soil. Just as a seed planted in good soil sprouts, grows and bears fruit, so God’s Word planted in a receptive heart will produce a changed life. But the same seed planted in poor soil will never produce fruit. It’s important to realize that in Jesus’ story, the seed and the sower, unlike the soils, didn’t change. The reason that some people are never saved has nothing to do with God and everything to do with people’s receptivity.

Jesus first spoke of seeds falling on a footpath. The soil there was packed hard from people always walking on it, so the seeds couldn’t penetrate. Jesus said that this soil represents people who don’t understand the good news. The reason they don’t understand it is not because they can’t understand it, but because they don’t want to understand it. Anyone, even a child, can understand that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross for his sins. And God certainly wouldn’t hold someone responsible to understand something that is impossible for him to understand.

God’s Word can’t penetrate hardened hearts, and like the exposed seed that is quickly eaten by birds, so God’s Word is snatched from hardened hearts by the devil. When that happens, a person who could have been born again remains unchanged.

The second type of soil Jesus spoke of was a shallow, thin layer over rocks. If you’ve ever planted anything in shallow soil, you can understand exactly what Jesus was talking about. The seed sprouts and the plant begins to grow, but when the sun shines, the shallow soil quickly dries, and the young plant withers and dies. This soil represents the person who enthusiastically receives the gospel at first, but when he faces trouble or persecution because of his new belief, his faith quickly dies. Most pastors and evangelists have seen a lot of people like that. Saving faith is a faith that perseveres no matter what. Every Christian will have his faith tested in difficulties and persecution, so hold fast to your faith.

In Jesus’ third example, the seed fell on ground where thorn seeds had also been sown. The thorns ultimately dominated, and the little shoots from the good seeds were choked by the thorns and died. This represents a person who receives God’s Word but doesn’t make it his highest priority. Other things become more important, like making money. The good news about Jesus demands our utmost attention, because through it, Jesus calls us to be His devoted followers. You can’t have a casual relationship with the Lord.

Finally, Jesus talked about the good soil where the seed sprouts, grows and produces fruit. Of the four types of soil, only this kind represents a person who is saved in the end. Only this kind produces fruit. Those fruits would include the fruit of the Spirit listed in the book of Galatians: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (see Galatians 5:22). It would also include the fruit of obedience.

If you’ve become a true follower of Jesus, you can rejoice that you are good soil! Aren’t you glad you are?

Q. According to this parable, will every Christian produce the same amount of fruit?

A. No, some produce thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred fold. Additionally, fruit is something that gradually ripens, and every Christian can grow in the fruit of the Spirit. Some of us still have some green apples, but at least they’re apples!

It is also important to understand that if a person has no fruit at all, he is not really saved. Every true Christian will bear some fruit.

Q. Even though all true Christians could be classified as good soil, do you think there’s any possibility of our soil becoming like any of the other three kinds?

A. Yes, there is that possibility, and we should guard ourselves from allowing it to happen. The writer of the book of Hebrews said, “Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12, NASB). This warns us that good soil can become bad soil.

Application: The most wonderful thing is when we meet an unsaved person who is receptive, like the good soil of this parable. Let’s pray today for God to direct us to encounter people like that, so we can share the good news with them.