Matthew 8:1-17 Three Healings In Fulfillment of Prophecy

A Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 04 December 2011
Adapted from sermons by Matthew Henry on this passage.(Unattributed quotes are from him.) Sermon Audio mp3 available here: www.ctrchurch-mhk.org/sermons/ctr120411.mp3

Translation by Brian Zachary and Nate Wilson

8:1 And after he came down from the mountain, many crowds followed Him.

8:2 And look, a leper came and was bowing before Him, saying,

            “Lord, if you are willing, you are able to cleanse me.”

8:3 Then, after reaching out His hand, He touched[1] him, saying,

            “I am willing; be cleansed.”

And immediately the leprosy was cleansed from him.

8:4 Then Jesus said to him,

            “See [that] you speak to no one, but rather depart,

            show yourself to the priest, and present the offering[2] which Moses commanded,

                        for a witness to them.”

8:5 Now upon His entering into Capernaum, a centurion came up to Him, calling Him aside

            8:6 and saying, “Lord, my servant[3] is bedridden in my house, paralyzed – suffering terribly.”

8:7 And Jesus[4] said to him, “Once I get [there], I will heal him.”

8:8 And the centurion, answering, said,

            “Lord, I am not worthy that for my sake you would enter under my roof,

            but rather only say the word, and my servant will be healed.

                        8:9 For I myself am also[5] a man under authority[6], having under myself soldiers,

                                    and I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes,

                                    and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes,

                                    and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does.

8:10 And when Jesus heard, He marveled and said His followers,

            “So be it! I tell you, such great faith have I found with no one in Israel.

            8:11 And I tell you that many from East and West will come

                        and will be pulled up to the table[7] with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob

                        in the kingdom of heaven.

            8:12 But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness.

                        Weeping and the gnashing of teeth will be there.”

8:13 And Jesus said to the centurion, “Depart, and[8] as you believed, let it be done to you.” And his servant was healed in that hour.

8:14 Then after Jesus came into the house of Peter[9], He saw his mother-in-law laid down and feverish.

8:15 So He touched her hand, and the fever released her, and she was raised up,

            and she began serving Him.

8:16 Now, after evening came, they[10] carried to Him many who were demonized,

and He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who had illness.

8:17 In this way, what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet may be fulfilled, when he said,

            “He Himself took our infirmities, and lifted the sicknesses.”

The Key to understanding these 3 healings is in v.17

As we see from comparing the different Gospel writers’ accounts, each writer laid out the order of events a little differently. In the next couple of chapters Mathew clearly lays out:

·         3 healing events, then records a comment that this fulfilled prophecy,

·         then 3 discipleship-related events and another comment,

·         then 3 more miraculous events followed by a comment on Jesus’ authority.

I think what we have is not merely a historical chronology, but several points Matthew is making about who Jesus is and what He desires of us, each with a set of stories as supporting evidence.

Today I want to cover the three healings, but I believe the key to these three stories is in the final paragraph where Matthew quotes Isaiah 53:4 “He Himself took our infirmities, and lifted the sicknesses,” and says that in these healings, Jesus fulfilled prophecy.

But let’s start at the beginning of the chapter:

 

I)     The effect of the Sermon on the Mount: People followed! (v.1)

A)    In fulfillment of Jacob’s prophecy: Gen 49:10 “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

B)    People gathered to Him, even through He was a “strict Lawgiver and a faithful Reprover”
Have you found the sermon on the mount as challenging as I have?

C)    We also should keep following Jesus that we might know Him more!
Don’t be satisfied with the sermon on the Mount. Don’t let Him move on without you!

II)  Healing of the leper (vs. 2-4)

A)    Britannica Concise Encyclopedia defines leprosy as a Chronic disease of the skin, peripheral nerves, and mucous membranes of the nose, throat, and eyes, caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. In tuberculoid leprosy, cells of the immune system crowd into infected areas of the skin, forming hard nodules, or tubercles, that spread along nerve fibres. This type of reaction commonly leads to claw hand, gross deformity of the foot, and paralysis of muscles of the face, eye, and neck. In the lepromatous type, bacilli multiply freely in deep layers of the skin and spread widely through lymphatic channels and along nerve fibres, causing thickening and corrugation of the skin, raising soft nodules on the ears, nose, and cheeks, and sometimes destroying the septum of the nose and the palate.

B)    In the Bible, leprosy symbolizes Sin, b/c (1) loathsome, (2) spreading, (3) incurable ~JFB

1.      The king of Israel in Elisha’s time said, “Am I God, that I am asked to recover a man of a leprosy? (2 Kings 5:7)

2.      “[T]hough every disease is both the fruit of sin, and a figure of it, as the disorder of the soul, yet the leprosy was in a special manner so; for it contracted such a pollution, and obliged to such a separation from holy things, as no other disease did… (Lev. 13 and 14)”

3.      So it is fitting that “Christ, to show that he came to turn away the wrath of God, by taking away sin, began with the cure of a leper.”

C)     The leper’s request (v.2)

1.      The leper must have heard something about Jesus – or heard enough of Jesus’ teaching on the mountain (did he live there away from people?) – that he was utterly convinced that Jesus could heal him.

(a)    He broke the Levitical law by approaching Jesus instead of warning people away with “unclean” – presuming it would be o.k. as long as he ended up healed. (JFB)

(b)   He “worshipped” that is, he knelt/bowed down and addressed Jesus as “Lord.”

2.      What he remained unsure of was whether Jesus would be willing.

(a)    “If you’re willing, you could make me clean”

(b)   Christian, if you believe that God is sovereign, then the only reason your prayer would go unanswered is not because He is not able, but that He is not willing.

(c)    “Men more easily believe in miraculous power than in miraculous love.” (Bruce)

(d)   Do you believe that Jesus loves you? That Jesus would want to show kindness to you?

3.      Application

(a)    We can ask for healing today; Jesus’ power to heal is the same.

(b)   “When we cannot be sure of His will, we may be sure of His wisdom and mercy, to which we may cheerfully refer ourselves; ‘Thy will be done.’”

(c)    Likewise, we can and should ask for Jesus to heal us from our sin. “Sin is the leprosy of the soul which shuts us out from communion with God.”

(d)   Just as Jesus has the power to heal disease, we must believe that He is fully able to deal with sin. “No guilt is so great but that there is a sufficiency in His righteousness to atone for it; no corruption so strong, but there is a sufficiency in His grace to subdue it.”

D)    Christ’s answer (v.3)

1.      It starts with Him reaching out toward the leper and touching him – making physical contact.

(a)    Jesus has no fear of catching leprosy or being defiled by it.

2.      Then His words are “I am willing; be cleansed.”

(a)    “They who by faith apply themselves to Christ for mercy and grace, may be sure that he is willing, freely willing, to give them the mercy and grace they come to him for.”

(b)   The command to “be cleansed” implies a new life of walking in cleanness. The leper had to be willing to leave his buddies in the leper colony and enter life as a clean man.

(i)     But no amount of wanting to live a clean life could make that leper clean. He was not able to heal himself. Only the power of Jesus could make it happen.

(ii)   Likewise we cannot heal ourselves of the uncleanness of our sin. Our desire to be free of it must be accompanied by the will of God to make it happen, and then it will!

3.      Application:

(a)    Note that Jesus did not respond with horror that such a sick man should come near Him. He does not give a snippy reply with a lecture on asking properly. We also need to trust that Jesus will welcome us when we come to Him in our brokenness and that He will not make fun of us or be rude back.

(b)   Note also that Jesus did not ask for money or any favor in return (as though He needed anything). He prefers that we come to Him in prayer with empty hands. It is an insult to His grace for us to offer some good work for an answer to prayer.

E)    Christ’s command as the Leper’s “Lord” (v.4)

1.      If we would be healed by Jesus, we had better be willing to follow His commands.

2.      Jesus’ command was to tell no one until he had shown himself to the priest and followed the Biblical laws for ceremonial cleansing in Leviticus. (Not to hide forever what happened.)

(a)    This would provide proof of healing so his testimony would not be suspect of fraud.

(b)   This would fulfill the law of Leviticus regarding lepers (14:2); important to Jesus as the Word of God.

(c)    This would spread the good news of the arrival of the Messiah through the ideal channel of the religious leaders “as a testimony/proof/witness to them.” The priests at the temple would be set to thinking about this healing and what it meant.

(d)   But, according to Levitical law, there would be a week or so in which he would have to keep it to himself and prove that he was healed, and during that week, he would have to exercise self-control not to blab about how he was healed.

III)         The curing of the centurion’s servant of palsy (vs. 5-13)

A)     The setting:

1.      Gentile Roman officer over 100 soldiers.

2.      Symbolized the foreign oppressor, yet Jesus teaches us by example to “to do good to our enemies, and not needlessly to interest ourselves in national enmities”

3.      Not a likely candidate for Jesus’ entourage of low-class Jews, but “where grace conquers the unlikely, it is more than a conqueror.”

4.      In this way Jesus begins to fulfill Simeon’s prophecy that Jesus was a “light to lighten the Gentiles, as well as the glory of his people Israel” (Luke 2:32)

5.      The patient: literally “My boy” – Luke’s account calls him a “dearly-loved servant.” Perhaps the child of slaves, born in his household. He is lying in bed paralyzed, unable to move, and tortured by grievous^KJV/ dreadful^NKJ/ fearful^NAS/ terrible^NIV suffering.

6.      The parallel passage in Luke 7 says that the centurion had built a synagogue for the Jews in Capernaum and had friends among the Jewish elders of the city, so he asked his Jewish elder friends if they could convince Jesus to heal his boy, and it is this delegation which meets Jesus coming into his residence in Capernaum. The request to heal the boy is nevertheless an appeal from the centurion himself.

B)    The centurion’s request

1.      Even though he was “comptroller’ of the town, he humbly calls Jesus “Lord” and explains his problem without making a single demand, just putting himself at the mercy of Jesus.

2.      We can learn a lot from this man: “A humble confession of our spiritual wants and diseases shall not fail of an answer of peace. Pour out your complaint, and mercy shall be poured out.”

3.      Note also the concern this centurion has for one of the least important members of his household. We can learn from him to care for even the lowliest under our employment.

4.      Jesus responds readily in v.7, “I will go and heal him.” This is of course because He felt it was appropriate to step into public healing ministry at this point in time, but was also perhaps in response to the respect, faith, and compassion evidenced by this centurion’s message, and also the fact that the centurion asked. “You have not because you ask not!”

C)     The request is adjusted (v.8-9)

1.      In the parallel account, the centurion, upon discovering that Jesus is on His way to his house, sends another delegation of friends with a second message to the effect that he’s not worthy/not deserving for a personal visit from Jesus, but that an authoritative word to heal at a distance would be fine.

2.      This kind of humility is staggering, coming from a powerful army captain to a poor homeless philosopher! But remember that Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in heart, and this centurion’s heart is in the right place.

(a)    “The more humility the more faith; the more diffident we are of ourselves, the stronger will be our confidence in Jesus Christ.”

3.      The centurion’s faith is also staggering: He believed that Jesus’ power was such that He had command over every kind of sickness and disease. Furthermore, he believed that Jesus would not even have to see or touch His patient, and needed no medicine or magic charm for His cure. A mere word would suffice. He understood that “the power of Christ knows no limits!” Wow, is this something we believe as confidently as he did?

4.      The centurion’s understanding of well-ordered authority gives us a window into the precision and scope of God’s authority. It’s easy to think of spiritual things as kind-of mushy and not very sharply-defined, but the centurion was on the mark; mere words from God govern everything that happens in this world from the turning of the largest galaxies to the motion of the smallest subatomic particles, all precisely according to His will. And He requires no less than that same responsiveness from us. Viewed in this exacting light we can see that our slowness to fully obey Him is truly offensive. No wonder this Army captain felt unworthy for Christ to set foot under his roof!

D)    Jesus’ astonished reply (v.10ff)

1.      This is the kind of humility and faith God dreams of seeing, but seldom sees in humans, and Jesus marvels at it.

(a)    One reason why He takes the time to marvel and express astonishment is that He wanted “to teach us what to admire; not worldly pomp and decorations, but the beauty of holiness” – faith and humility.

(b)   “Note, The thing that Christ seeks is faith, and wherever it is, he finds it, though but as a grain of mustard-seed.” If that is what He is looking for, then let us accordingly exercise uncommon faith that brings such delight to our Lord Jesus!

2.      That this faith should be found in a Gentile army captain is all the more astounding, but it should reassure us that we Gentiles have a place in the kingdom of heaven through faith in Jesus.

(a)    There will be “many” of us from the East and West in heaven (Heb. 2:10, Jude 1:14, Rev. 7:9, Rev. 21:24, Mal. 1:11, Matt. 24:31, Isa. 60:3-4)

(b)   The Old Testament patriarchs who believed in the Messiah to come will be there in heaven, and we will get to make friends with them. Heaven will be a very social place, and it will be pleasant because nobody will have any sin to make them unpleasant company!

(c)    The Greek verb translated “sit down^KJV/recline at table^NAS/take their places at the feast^NIV” is a compound of the preposition “up” and the word for “couch,” and it is passive, so it could literally be translated “they will be couched up.” In Jesus’ day, and still today in many places in Asia, when people eat, they recline on a couch rather than sitting up in chairs like we do. To translate the idea into our culture, it’s like having your chair pulled up to the table where you can eat and enjoy fellowship.

3.      There is a flip side to all this: some people will not be able to pull up to this table in heaven. They will be thrown out, cast into hell, far away from the camaraderie and conversation of heaven. To be an outsider is terribly lonely, isn’t it?

(a)    What’s worse, they will be in such pain in their loneliness that all they can do is grind their teeth and cry. That’s a picture of hell.

(b)   What kind of people will be in this terrifying position? (v.12) “Children of the kingdom.”

(c)    There will be others who had no association with the kingdom of God in the first place, but this is a special warning to Jesus’ Jewish listeners. Just because you were born of a Jewish mother doesn’t mean you will automatically go to heaven. (Rom. 11:20; 9:31)

(d)   It is the same way in Christian families today: “Being born of professing parents denominates us children of the kingdom; but if we rest in that, and have nothing else to show for heaven but that, we shall be cast out.” When we die, we can’t get into heaven by merely saying, “I went to church with my Mom and Dad.”

(e)    Every son and daughter in this room needs that one thing Jesus is looking for, and that is faith/trust in Him.

E)    The servant is cured (v.13)

1.      Jesus decides to grant this request on the basis of the centurion’s faith. “as you have believed, let it be done”

2.      And it is an immediate, miraculous cure.

IV)         The healing of Peter’s mother-in-law and others (vs. 14-17)

A)    The setting:

1.      Peter owned a house with his brother Andrew in Capernaum – possibly bought it to live near Jesus. (PHOTO: Ruins over the spot where tradition holds that Peter’s house was.)

2.      Peter was married and living with his wife, and they were taking care of her mother in their home.

3.      The parallel passage tells us that Jesus was retiring with Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John, after speaking at the synagogue on a Sabbath day.

4.      They come home and find mother-in-law literally “burning up” with a fever, and, according to the parallel account, Peter and his brother ask Jesus to heal her!

B)    Jesus took care to notice and show kindness to his friends’ mother: If we put together all three parallel Gospel accounts, He “looked at” her, “stood over her,” “touched her hand” (heedless of getting the fever Himself), “rebuked the fever” and “lifted her up by the hand” (In Matthew’s account, the word is passive, she did not “rise up;” she “was raised up”). This is the tenderness and kindness of our Great Shepherd!

C)    Mother-in-law was immediately so well that she began serving Jesus and His friends as her guests. Fevers don’t naturally disappear immediately; this was a supernatural healing.

D)    “It is very fit that they whom Christ has healed should minister unto Him, as His humble servants, all their days.” Once again, we see an acknowledgement of Jesus as Master and Lord.

E)     Once evening came, (v.16) people began bringing every sick person in town to the door to be healed:

1.      Perhaps word got out about Peter’s wife’s mother. “He healed her mom, why not mine??” and so they brought their sick friends.

2.      It’s possible that this happened after sunset because there were traditions about how to rest on the Sabbath day, and one of them was that you couldn’t carry anything heavier than a fig. But once the sun set, Sabbath was over, and they could carry their friends to Jesus without breaking the Pharisee’s rules.

F)     And Jesus healed them all!

1.      Matthew Henry sees this as a fulfillment of Revelation 12, a divine battle with Satan who had been let loose to do his worst for a short time, only to be utterly foiled, disarmed, and dispossessed by Jesus in the healing of so many people!

V) The fulfillment of scripture (v.17)

A)    Matthew cites this as a fulfillment of  Isa 53:4 “He took our infirmities and lifted our diseases” The NASB translation of the Hebrew text of Isa 53:4 reads “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried...”[11]  

B)    The words “took” (lambanw) and “lifted/bore/carried” (bastaw) can mean “removed” as in “took away... lifted off” or they can mean “carried”, as in “took upon Himself... lifted onto His shoulders.” In other words, this can be interpreted that Jesus has removed our sickness, or that He has experienced our sickness.

1.      In the context of Matthew, it seems to mean the former, since He was healing sick people.

2.      Isaiah, however, was not exclusively speaking of healing from physical ailments. He was including it in something bigger – the removal of our sin by taking our sin and the punishment for our sin upon Himself, (which will ultimately lead to the end of all physical disease in the world to come).

3.      Thus, the Septuagint translates the Hebrew word in Isa 53:4 “infirmities” as “sins” and when Peter quotes Isa. 53:4, he uses the word “sins” instead of the word “infirmities” 1 Pet. 2:24 “He bore our sins in His body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness!”

4.      But the two are related; it is fair for Matthew to cite this as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, for “our sins make our sicknesses our griefs… sin is both the cause and the sting of sickness.”

C)    Application:

1.      Believe that Jesus took your record of rebellion against God upon Himself in order to free you from bondage to that rebellion.

2.      Know from His healings of physical illnesses that He has power to heal all ills and come to Him with requests for healing.

3.      Know that just as He inaugurated freedom from disease in a limited audience, He will finish the job at His second coming, and there will come a day when, through His healing power there will be no more sickness: Revelation 21:4 NASB  “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

4.      Know that our Lord has felt our pain and “bears it with us in compassion, being touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and thus He bears them off from us and makes them sit light that we may be comforted even now.”

APPENDIX 1: Leviticus on Leprosy

"But if on the bald head or the bald forehead, there occurs a reddish-white infection, it is leprosy breaking out on his bald head or on his bald forehead. "Then the priest shall look at him; and if the swelling of the infection is reddish-white on his bald head or on his bald forehead, like the appearance of leprosy in the skin of the body, he is a leprous man, he is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him unclean; his infection is on his head. "As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall be uncovered, and he shall cover his mustache and cry, 'Unclean! Unclean!' "He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp. (Leviticus 13:42-46 NASB)

"Now on the eighth day he is to take two male lambs without defect, and a yearling ewe lamb without defect, and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and one log of oil; and the priest who pronounces him clean shall present the man to be cleansed and the aforesaid before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting. "Then the priest shall take the one male lamb and bring it for a guilt offering, with the log of oil, and present them as a wave offering before the LORD. "Next he shall slaughter the male lamb in the place where they slaughter the sin offering and the burnt offering, at the place of the sanctuary--for the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy. "The priest shall then take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. "The priest shall also take some of the log of oil, and pour it into his left palm; the priest shall then dip his right-hand finger into the oil that is in his left palm, and with his finger sprinkle some of the oil seven times before the LORD. "Of the remaining oil which is in his palm, the priest shall put some on the right ear lobe of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the blood of the guilt offering; while the rest of the oil that is in the priest's palm, he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf before the LORD. "The priest shall next offer the sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Then afterward, he shall slaughter the burnt offering. "The priest shall offer up the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be clean. (Leviticus 14:10-20 NASB)

APPENDIX 2: Three Word Studies related to Matt. 8:17 from the Septuagint

1. Bastasw εβαστασεν^G941 carry/lift off (NASB)

·         Ruth 2:16 "Also you shall purposely pull out for her some grain from the bundles and leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her."

·         2 Kings 18:14 Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong. Withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear." So the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

·         Matthew 3:11 "As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

·         Matthew 8:17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: "HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES."

·         Matthew 20:12 saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.'

·         Mark 14:13 And He *sent two of His disciples and *said to them, "Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him;

·         Luke 7:14 And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise!"

·         Luke 10:4 "Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way.

·         Luke 11:27 While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed."

·         Luke 14:27 "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

·         Luke 22:10 And He said to them, "When you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house that he enters.

·         John 10:31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.

·         John 12:6 Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.

·         John 16:12 "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

·         John 19:17 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.

·         John 20:15 Jesus *said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she *said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away."

·         Acts 3:2 And a man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.

·         Acts 9:15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;

·         Acts 15:10 "Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

·         Acts 21:35 When he got to the stairs, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob;

·         Romans 11:18 do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.

·         Romans 15:1 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.

·         Galatians 5:10 I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view; but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.

·         Galatians 6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

·         Galatians 6:5 For each one will bear his own load.

·         Galatians 6:17 From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus.

·         Revelation 2:2 'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;

·         Revelation 2:3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary.

·         Revelation 17:7 And the angel said to me, "Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.

2. Asthenias “weakness/infirmity” in the LXX

·         Job 37:7 "He seals the hand of every man, That all men may know His work.

·         Psalms 16:4 The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied; I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood, Nor will I take their names upon my lips.

·         Ecclesiastes 12:4 and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly.

·         Jeremiah 6:21 Therefore, thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people. And they will stumble against them, Fathers and sons together; Neighbor and friend will perish."

·         Jeremiah 18:23 Yet You, O LORD, know All their deadly designs against me; Do not forgive their iniquity Or blot out their sin from Your sight. But may they be overthrown before You; Deal with them in the time of Your anger!

·         Matthew 8:17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: "HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES."

·         Luke 5:15 But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

·         Luke 8:2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,

·         Luke 13:11 And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all.

·         Luke 13:12 When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your sickness."

·         John 5:5 A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.

·         John 11:4 But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it."

·         Acts 28:9 After this had happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to him and getting cured.

·         Romans 6:19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

·         Romans 8:26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;

·         1 Corinthians 2:3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,

·         1 Corinthians 15:43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;

·         2 Corinthians 11:30 If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.

·         2 Corinthians 12:5 On behalf of such a man I will boast; but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses.

·         2 Corinthians 12:9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

·         2 Corinthians 12:10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

·         2 Corinthians 13:4 For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you.

·         Galatians 4:13 but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time;

·         1 Timothy 5:23 No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.

·         Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

·         Hebrews 5:2 he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness;

·         Hebrews 7:28 For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.

·         Hebrews 11:34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

3. Nosos νοσους^G3554 sickness/disease in the LXX

·         Exodus 15:26 And He said, "If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer."

·         Deuteronomy 7:15 "The LORD will remove from you all sickness; and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will lay them on all who hate you.

·         Deuteronomy 28:59 then the LORD will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.

·         Deuteronomy 29:22 "Now the generation to come, your sons who rise up after you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it, will say,

·         2 Chronicles 21:15 and you will suffer severe sickness, a disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the sickness, day by day.'"

·         2 Chronicles 21:19 Now it came about in the course of time, at the end of two years, that his bowels came out because of his sickness and he died in great pain. And his people made no fire for him like the fire for his fathers.

·         Job 24:23 "He provides them with security, and they are supported; And His eyes are on their ways.

·         Psalms 103:3 Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases;

·         Hosea 5:13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb. But he is unable to heal you, Or to cure you of your wound.

·         Matthew 4:23 Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

·         Matthew 4:24 The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.

·         Matthew 8:17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: "HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES."

·         Matthew 9:35 Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

·         Matthew 10:1 Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

·         Mark 1:34 And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.

·         Luke 4:40 While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them.

·         Luke 6:17 Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon,

·         Luke 7:21 At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind.

·         Luke 9:1 And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases.

·         Acts 19:12 so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.