The King’s Dominion

Matthew 8, 9 [8:5–13]

The Sermon on the Mount gave the teaching of Jesus on the nature of the Kingdom of God; Matthew now organizes many of the evidences that Jesus is the King of this Kingdom. Chapters 8 and 9 give instances of Jesus’ power over all kinds of diseases and His perfect immunity to the dangers that they carried. He shows His power over spiritual forces that have been arrayed against His glory since before the creation of Eden. He showed that He has the power over death as well as the forces of nature. Given that, He has the intrinsic right to call people to surrender their lives to Him, while He manifests His compassion over confused and wandering souls.

I. Jesus demonstrated that he possessed all power over everything in this fallen world.

This is in fulfillment of Genesis 3:15, “He will crush your head.”

A. His power over disease.

1. 1. Matthew began the narrative of these chapters (8:1–4) with an event that showed how Jesus still affirmed the ceremonial law (8:4), while personally remaining clean though he had touched a leper. Later, Matthew included a conversation (9:14–17) that shows that soon all the ceremonies will be done away in that all they symbolized has been fulfilled. Jesus confronted the destructive power of leprosy. Leviticus 13, 14 give great detail about the observation of the disease, quarantines for the purpose of observation, declarations of uncleanness, isolation, and lengthy sacrificial rituals for the declaration of healing. Jesus simply reached out his hand, touched the unclean man, healed him completely, and sent him to the priest. See Luke 17:11–19 for Jesus’ cleansing of ten lepers with the same instructions. For those who recognize Jesus’ lordship and the sovereignty of His will (2), full restoration will be their eternal state (1 Corinthians 15:54; Philippians 3:20).
   2. He healed Peter’s mother-in-law who had a fever (8:14), who arose and showed no after-affects and served Jesus. Peter had a wife and a house while Peter’s Lord had neither. Followers of the Savior, even those called to lives of gospel ministry need not take vows of celibacy or poverty. Jesus showed sympathy toward Peter’s extended family by healing his wife’s mother.

• • • In this case, Jesus merely touched her hand. He healed with a variety of attendant circumstances to show that the healing was not dependent on some power in the circumstances but was immediately His (cf. 8:3, 13; 9:6, 29, 33, 35; 10:25).
    • Not only did Jesus heal her fever, but restored her strength and health, He restored her dignity and sense of purpose as a mother-in-law and a hostess. He had served her with healing; now she responded by serving Him. Everyone cured of the much greater sickness of sin should joyfully serve Jesus with every gift He has given them, discerning their specific calling and sphere of influence.
    • This event prompted a flood of ill-persons and demon possessed to come and experience the power and compassion bound up in a word from Jesus (16).
    • Matthew in the quotation of this passage from Isaiah 53:4, shows that sickness and sin are inextricably related as concomitant with man’s fall into sin. When he bore our transgressions, he assured the healing of all our diseases will eventually and certainly take place in the eternal state of glory assured by his being “wounded for our transgressions, ..[and] bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). Indeed, “by His stripes we are healed.” Every healing is a testimony to the reversal of the consequences of the fall.
    • In light of Jesus’ death for transgression, He has sealed for us the “redemption of our body” as a hope, certain, but yet to be realized (Romans 8:23–25).

1. 3. He healed a paralytic whose strength became such as to pick up his own transportable bed and carry it home (9:1–8).

• • • This event illustrates the point that Matthew referenced in 8;17. Jesus performs an act of forgiveness followed by a manifestation of His power to heal. As it will be in the final history of this created order, full healing from the physical ravages of sin follows forgiveness and justification. The latter is done in this life while the former awaits death and resurrection to a state of incorruptibility (1 Corinthians 15: 42–49).
    • Jesus saw that each of these men, those who brought the paralytic and the paralytic himself, had knowledgeable faith in His power and prerogative. Upon His knowledge of their heart of faith—knowing who He was and consenting to what He could do—He proclaimed forgiveness of sins, for the paralytic, and by implication those also who brought him to Jesus.
    • Knowing that forgiveness of sins is a divine prerogative, the scribes concluded, not that Jesus was God, but that He blasphemed. Jesus added a layer to this manifestation of divine prerogative by showing that He knew their thoughts and the evil foundation that prompted them. Jesus had seen the faith of the one group and now sees the sinful disbelief of the other. Both grace and justice are manifested in the relation of Jesus to these two responses.
    • To demonstrate His prerogative of forgiveness, Jesus asked a searching question: “Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk.” It is easier to say the former for none can see the immediate effects, but it is infinitely harder to do. It is harder to proclaim an immediate healing, for the command either will be followed or the command will be seen as empty of power and the person issuing it a mere poser.
    • Jesus, therefore, immediately issued the command, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home” (6). This command of healing was done to verify the former proclamation of forgiveness—“So that you may know.” Forgiveness is the greater of these two events for the paralytic, but the latter shows that Jesus controlled both the spiritual and the physical and has the full power of the eschatological connection between the two.
    • The people, not the scribes who had a contrived theological prejudice against Jesus, recognized that these were acts of divine power, were struck with awe, and glorified God. It was right that they saw the power of God actively demonstrated among men by a man. It is not certain, but it is possible, that some realized that the man was, indeed, also God. This passage serves as scriptural evidence for communication of idioms (communicatio idiomatum) in the person of Christ. As a man—for He is one person—He can manifest those attributes that belong to God only, while also experiencing in His person those attributes that belong to man alone.

1. 4. He healed a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years (9:20–22).
   5. Jesus healed two blind men (9:27–31). They called Him “Son of David,” a recognition of His Messianic status; they confessed His power to heal the blind tying Him to the messianic prediction of Isaiah 35: 5, “The eyes of the blind shall be opened.” They called Him, “Lord.” The next phrase recalls the Isaiah passage, “And their eyes were opened” (30). This passage mentions the blind, the deaf, the lame, and the mute. Jesus healed them all.
   6. Matthew summarized Jesus’ activities of healing by recording that he “healed all who were sick” (8:16 and “healing every disease and every affliction” (9:35). Nothing that was known as a disease of that time was beyond the reach of Jesus’ healing power.
   7. Jesus showed at least three truths about sickness in these healing miracles: (1) disease is real and has a variety of effects on people debilitating them in various areas of their lives. He never ridiculed the perception generated by common observation that sickness really exists. (2) We should have compassion on those who are sick and find ways to bring healing. This gives a strong foundation to the medical profession, to research designed to heal without destroying life in the process. Though the command, “Fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:26) was given before the fall into sin, corruption, estrangement, and disease, its relevance is perhaps more urgent. (3) Jesus did not simply utter a word over the entire world and say, “let disease exist no longer.” It will be with us until the time of the redemption of all things, when some go to the second, and eternal, death, and others receive glorified bodies like the incorruptible body of our Lord Jesus and live without sickness, pain, and all the effects of the Fall.

B. His power over Death (9:18, 24, 25).

Jesus, earlier in this Matthean context, gave a pithy memorable statement that marked clearly the difference between physical death and spiritual death. “Let the dead bury their own dead” (8:22; Luke 9:60). Here He gives another, “The girl is not dead but sleeping.” (9:24). Jesus’ redemptive work transformed the prospect of death and made Him King over both its physical and spiritual manifestations—in His omnipotence resides the intrinsic power to reverse the effects of both, in His wisdom resides the immutable purpose to do what pleases Him, and in the incarnational suffering of Christ the moral path toward the defeat of death was established (Hebrews 2:14, 15; 6:12–20; 7:27). Like sleep, death, for those favored with the grace of Christ, will terminate with a refreshment of the body. In sleep, while the body rests, the mind remains active in dreams in puzzling juxtapositions of experiences, feelings, events, concerns, and even conversation. So in death, for those redeemed, the mind is active, but in a perfect state of truthful perception of the presence of Christ and His glory. Replete with such consciousness. the spirit glows with a joyful expectation of the resurrection of a fully restored body in which to experience all the benefits of a sin-free, death free environment limited only by the illimitable joy, glory, and love of the triune God.

C. Jesus proved His power over Devils (8:28–34)

1. 1. Two demoniacs from Gedara, violent and mighty because of their being possessed of demons, come forth to confront Jesus.

• • • Their habitation was foul indeed, fit for such rebellious angels in the soul of rebellious men. They dwelt among the bodies of the dead in the proximity of pigs. Both of these realities were antithetical to the canons of holiness for Israelites. They were triply unclean: born dead in trespasses and sins, living in forbidden places in a forbidden environment, and indwelt by demons.
    • The demons knew who Jesus was and knew their eventual destination: He was the Son of the Living God and their eventual abode would be in a place where the almighty power of this Person would be shown in their eternal torment (29). Mark 3:11 states that this proclamation was the regular response of demons to the presence of Jesus: “Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, ‘You are the Son of God.’” One wonders if awareness of eventual imprecatory denunciation arouses from profane people a testimony of the satanic within them: “I’ll be damned.” Perhaps a demon speaks the truth in such frivolous use of imprecations through the human mouth.
    • The demons preferred pigs to the presence of Jesus and asked for a dismissal from beings made in His image into a place forbidden to His people. The number of them must have been enormous, for all the pigs were indwelt and the force of evil so agitated them that immediate destruction was their destiny.
    • Matthew records the event, giving note to only one word spoken by Jesus, ”Go,” so absolute is his authority. Luke also records that initially Jesus asked the name of the evil forces (Luke 8:30), recognizing the personal nature of the opposition to his rule as well as to the well-being of his image-bearers.
    • As the demons preferred pigs to divine presence, the owners of the pigs, along with the people, wanted rid of this divine disturber, for they preferred their profit from the pigs to the presence of Jesus on their shore.

1. 2. He cast the demon out of a man who was mute as a result of the presence of the demons (9:32–34). So remarkable was this event that the Pharisees reasoned that Jesus must be in league with Satan himself to be able to have immediate control over these beings. Mark records a detailed reply from Jesus to this irrational accusation, concluding that such convulsed reasoning is of the essence of an “eternal sin” (Mark 3:28–30).

D. Jesus showed His power over natural forces (Matthew 8:23–27).

During a storm when He “rebuked the winds and the sea” He showed the power, as in the case of the demons, of His spoken word. This obviously gives us a link to the creation in which the Creator spoke the world into existence (Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24) and the testimony of Hebrews 1:3 – “He upholds the universe by the word of His power.”

E. The spiritual implications of such power. (9:1–8)

Jesus indicated that the purpose of all these manifestations of power and authority was to support His claim to be able to forgive sins, and to demonstrate that so deep was His compassion and mercy that he would call and could indeed forgive the worst, most corrupt of sinners (9:13).

F. Jesus had the right to command absolute obedience and loyalty, to determine the direction and purpose of one’s life.

He did not coddle those that indicated some fascination with following Him, but put before them His absolute rights, even though He was in a state of humility presently (8:18–22: 9:9).

II. A Gentile’s faith demonstrated these truths and the coming of the New Covenant (8:5–13).

A. He is approached by a Gentile – “A centurion came to Him, imploring Him” (5).

1. 1. The New Testament is called by that name for a good reason. It is the record of the fulfillment of the prophecies contained in Ezekiel 36, Jeremiah 31, and other places about the establishment of a covenant built on the internal principle of faith, a faith that comes from a heart changed by the effectual operations of the Spirit of God. This was the message Jesus gave Nicodemus in John 3:3, 5 and the woman at the well in John 4:23 – “But an hour is coming, and now is.” When the Greeks sought him in John 12:21–24, 32, this served as a sign that His time for dying had come. Also, Jesus’ pressing forward the faith of a Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21–28 was an indication that a “New Testament” was concurrent with His appearance.
   2. This foreshadows one of the most important doctrinal developments under the full light of the gospel—justification by faith apart from works of the Law (Galatians 5:2–6). Jesus slowly sets forth what He had announced in the Sermon on the Mount about His fulfillment of the Law—the ceremonial law as a foreshadowing of His work had been fulfilled and thus removed from the sphere of true worship. His personal answering all the demands of the moral Law constitutes our justification before God, only through faith in Him (Galatians 3:21, 22).

B. This Gentile military official described the situation with a servant showing that he assumed the compassion, wisdom, and power of Jesus (6).

1. 1. Not only had the centurion come to Jesus specifically for the sake of this servant, but the servant was in the home of the centurion, showing his personal concern.
   2. He was empathetic with the condition of the servant, “paralyzed . . ., suffering greatly.”
   3. Clearly, he had heard of Jesus’ teaching with authority and could not have failed to surmise the nature of His person from the multiplicity of reports about His activities. (Matthew 4:23–25; 8:1).

C. Verses 7–10 – Responding to Jesus’ willingness to go to his home to heal him, the centurion showed the depth of his trust and confidence in the majestic authority of Jesus.

1. 1. When Jesus indicated a willingness to come to his home in order to heal his servant, the centurion admitted both his own unworthiness for any favor at all, while at the same time an absolute trust both in the willingness and the authority of Jesus to do this thing.
   2. Given his high position in worldly affairs, this did not affect his true and humble submission in spiritual comprehension. “I am not worthy.” He did not intend for Jesus’ journey to his home to be a mark of his own importance, but he did all that he could to deflect any impression of importance from himself to Jesus.
   3. He was absolutely convinced of the transcendent authority of Jesus as the Creator and Sustainer of all things, and that the well-being of His creatures depended solely on His will. “Only say the word.”
   4. He had absorbed the true meaning of authority in human affairs, both for his position under the authority of others and for his position of authority over others (9). This statement indicated that he was convinced of the absoluteness of Jesus’ authority, that He simply could utter the words expressive of His will and control even the elements that defined the bodily condition of a person in a remote location.

D. On the basis of such faith, not of ethnic origin or ceremonial accuracy, will the kingdom of God be built.

1. 1. “Such faith” – Jesus does not refer to the amount of faith, but to the mature character of it. Already many following him had faith, but the depth of trust is directly proportioned to the perception of the greatness of Jesus. So far, according to Jesus at this point in His ministry of proclaiming the kingdom, Jesus had encountered no one that had submitted himself to Jesus with such a profound grasp of the implications of His teachings, His actions, and His claims.
   2. “East and West” – from all around the globe, from all the nations of the Gentiles, confessing, believing sinners would enter the kingdom to be with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and enjoy the fellowship of all the promises implied in the spiritual covenant Jesus had made with those Patriarchs.
   3. A tragic irony attends this observation by Jesus. Those who had access to the Scriptures and could have immediate knowledge of all that God intended to do in the way of salvation would be left out. To them were revealed the promise of the Messiah, the necessity of an atoning sacrifice, the spiritual qualities of repentance and faith with the necessity of the Spirit’s enablement. They will not understand and will be left outside the kingdom (John 3:9–12; Acts 28:24–28). Jesus gave a more extended narrative of this reality in chapter 10.

E. Spurgeon commented on this passage:

“How sad to think that the descendants of those patriarchs shall be cast out like refuse, thrown behind the wall in the dark, and left in the cold to gnash their teeth in anguish! What a turning of things upside down! The nearest cast out, and the furthest made nigh! How often is this the case! The centurion comes from the camp to Christ, and the Israelite goes from the synagogue to hell. The harlot bows at Jesus’ feet a penitent, while the self-righteous Pharisee rejects the great salvation. Oh, that this incident may sweetly persuade us to believe greatly; and may none of us doubt the power of the incarnate Son of God!”

Sin entered and each misery followed—
War, disease, all things unhallowed.
In unbelief men wallowed.
Evils must be reproved.

From moral evil, we must be cured,
A path to holiness secured,
Law-filled righteousness procured,
Transformed by Heaven’s dove.

Can this groaning earth yet be restored?
Now for relief the world implores.
Our infirmities He bore,
A Savior from above.

Jesus heals all sickness, saves the lost,
Endured God’s wrath to pay the cost,
Cleanses earth of evil’s dross,
Gives sinners Heaven’s trove.

The depth of mercy and compassion
Showed in our Lord’s incarnation
Exceeds imagination.
He meets our need with love.

He came to bear the world’s deep horror,
From the past, today, tomorrow,
Sin, sickness, and our sorrow,
Our life-hope to improve.

He took our nature ‘mid suspicion,
Sympathized with our condition,
For sin to earn remission,
And its effects remove.

Plenteous gratitude to God embrace,
O praise the triune God of grace,
Whose deep mercies heal our race
And calls us His Beloved.