1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
The Synoptic Gospels describe Jesus’ baptism and wilderness temptation similarly and seem to link them topically. Certainly they signaled the beginning of Christ’s ministry. However, their real significance was far greater in the spiritual realm, for it was then that Satan realized for certain that Jesus was the promised One whose coming he had so long feared. The very seed of the woman that God had said would crush his cunning and evil head (Gen 3:15). Maybe one of Satan’s minions had reported to him the astonishing heavenly declaration when Jesus was baptized: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Mat 3:17). Was it true? Satan would find out for himself, for he must corrupt this human as he had all others and thus wreck God’s prophecy. It seems that Satan himself went to Jesus and subtly asked Him to prove His identity: IF you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread (Mat 4:2).
It is evident from Luke 2:49 that Jesus had known from childhood He was the Son of God. Yet it was not until John baptized Him that He was finally proclaimed to be the Messiah, and the wilderness temptation affirmed that in the spirit-world. Taken together, these two events do fulfil all righteousness (Mat 3:15), for the celestial announcement at Jesus’ baptism prompted Satan to tempt Him, and that resulted in Christ being proven sinless, pure, righteous and triumphant. Satan slunk away, licking his wounds and watching for another opportunity Luke 4:13). All this happened unobserved by humans, being revealed to the Gospel writers years later.
The Spirit had communicated to Jesus that He must go into the wilderness for this crucial event (Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-2), this throwing down of the gauntlet in the great and mighty duel between Michael and the Dragon (Rev 12:7), between the Seed of the woman and the serpent. That battle would end with the crushing of Satan at the Cross (Heb 2:14) and the spoiling of his house (Mat 12:28-29), or the deliverance of blood-bought souls from Satan’s control (Eph 4:8-10). The war between Satan and God continues, but the big battle has been won and Satan knows that he has lost. His time has all but run out, soon he and his wicked ones will be sealed in everlasting chains of darkness forever.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Moses and Elijah had also fasted for forty days (Ex 34:28; 1Kings 19:8). The symbolic meaning of the number forty is testing (see glossary note on Rev 22:21). Matthew implies that Jesus was tempted at the conclusion of His fast, but Luke records that He was tempted throughout the whole 40 days (Luke 4:2; Mark 1:13). Probably the same three temptations came again and again, for that is the typical method of Satanic attack. And as the days went by, they surely became stronger. Did Satan approach Jesus in the form of a man, speaking to him audibly? Or was the “conversation” conducted in the spirit? Did he come as an angel of light (2Cor 11:14), or did he show his worldly, sensual self? The Bible does not say, but some of the interaction involved supernatural transportation and vision. Whether it took place in the mind and spiritual realm or in the physical world, the exchange was thoroughly real.
The three temptations of Christ seem to form three categories of testing. These in turn have correspondences in the Scriptures. The apostle John wrote, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (1John 2:16). Man exists in three parts: body, soul and spirit (1Thes 5:23). Each of these was severely tested. Jesus was tempted in all points just as we are (Heb 4:15).
- The first temptation was a test of the Flesh. His body and its appetites were tempted to sin – the lust of the flesh. This test is overcome by denying self and trusting wholly in God (Mat 16:24).
- The second temptation was a test of Faith, His soul was tempted to force God to honor Jesus’ own will instead of God’s will, thereby tempting God. This is ever our temptation in the lust of the eyes, which is anything that distracts the true faith of the soul from God in favor of creating personal, selfish paths of life. This temptation is overcome by believing and doing all that the Word of God says, just as Jesus did in His temptation.
- The third temptation was a test of Love. His spirit was tempted to worship Satan. This corresponds to the pride of life, a serious sin against the first and greatest commandment of all, Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart (Mat 22:37-38). The way of victory over Pride will follow humility, meekness and obedience.
The three temptations indicate that this was an all-out attempt by Satan to corrupt Jesus and thus make it impossible for Him to be the promised Seed (see note Gen 4:1). First he tried to get Jesus to use His God-powers for selfish reasons, cunningly choosing to exploit his hunger because he knew Jesus had not eaten for 40 days. Failing there, he tested the deep-seated human desire for pride and fame, suggesting that in front of the whole nation Jesus should throw Himself off the Temple and then miraculously save His own life. That would certainly gain the admiration and undying support of all Israel! This temptation was laid before Jesus in an even more tempting situation later on (Luke 23:39). Failing a second time to corrupt Jesus, Satan pulled out all the stops. Realizing that he had not dented Jesus’ spirit, he offered his greatest possession: his own throne to the kingdoms of the world. But Jesus could not be bought or bribed. His last words to Satan were said in such strength that the Devil knew that he had lost this battle.
While it is doubtful that Jesus’ temptation was given as an example of how the Christian should combat temptation, it is nevertheless instructive to note how Jesus met each attack with Scripture (Eph 6:17). His powerful example of meditation, prayer and fasting is just as helpful.
Apparently, the fact that Jesus was actually God by nature did not make it easier for Him to live the human life. For although He was given all the powers of heaven and earth, He still spent much time in prayer and communion with God. Never did He use his God-powers for selfish reasons, but he was tested in that area at the beginning and then all through life. Yet in my opinion, Jesus’ greatest temptation came at the end, when praying alone in dark Gethsemane He sweated as it were great drops of blood. For then Satan came to Jesus when He was at His weakest moment and attacked Him at His weakest points. When hungry, he had tempted Him with food; but when He was lonely and exhausted from many earlier devilish attacks, He tempted Him with saying “no” to God’s plan to lay down His life. Expect the same in your own life experiences!
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
This first temptation was a test of the Body. It must have recurred throughout the 40 long days that Jesus spent in the wilderness with no food. Hunger was surely a constant companion in that time and from stories of others who have experienced it, we know that urge can drive people to terrible acts of insanity, hallucinations and even to killing and eating other humans.
The Tempter. The apostle Paul calls Satan by this name in 1Thes 3:5 and the title reminds of the Accuser in Rev 12:10. In tempting Jesus to turn stones into bread, the Devil sought to exploit His human flesh in several ways:
- He attempts to create doubt: “IF you are God’s son…”
- He attempts to create an attitude of pride: “Show me that you are God’s son; prove it to me by turning these stones to bread.”
- He appeals to His flesh by using the strongest natural human instinct, hunger. If Jesus had satisfied His hunger supernaturally, He would not have been truly human, and that would have disqualified Him as a substitutionary sacrifice (see note on Php 2:8).
- He strikes at that part of a man most dear and precious of all – SELF. If Satan could get Jesus to use His God-powers for SELFish reasons, appeasing His hunger by supernatural means, He could not have been able to understood what it means to suffer as a human. Jesus Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted (Heb 2:18; 4:15).
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Jesus met each temptation with Scripture, sustaining Himself by unshakeable faith in God’s Word (Ps 119:97-110), that sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17). The Word accompanies Prayer as the two greatest offensive weapons at the Christian’s disposal in fighting spiritual battles. Notice that Jesus did not use God’s Word as if it were simply the good advice of some human writers (as liberals do today), but as if it really were the final, argument-ending authority that it is. There is perhaps, no greater proof of the divine inspiration of the Old Testament Scriptures than that Christ quoted it as the revealed word of God to Man. He did not allow Satan to corrupt God’s Word as Eve had allowed Satan to do in the Garden of Eden.
The sin most basic to all three of the temptations that Christ faced was to reject God’s will and providence. This can be seen from the passage Jesus quoted in Deut 8:2-5, which sums up the reason God had led and provided for the Israelites forty years in a desolate, food-less wilderness. In this verse God is essentially saying, “Man should not trust in his own efforts to provide bread, but trust ever in the Word and Purpose of God.” Unfortunately, Israel failed that temptation many times and were denied entrance into the land of Canaan on account of that unbelief (Heb 4:11), which doesn’t mean they did not believe in God, but that they did not trust Him to provide for their needs. The final failure came when, even after God had miraculously provided for them on their long journey from Egypt to the Jordan, they so feared the enemies of the land that they rejected God’s plan and began to organize leaders to take them back to Egypt! If Jesus would have yielded to Satan’s temptation to turn those stones into bread, He would have been repeating the Israelites’ sin. He would have been failing to trust in God’s plan and providence, for remember that the Spirit had led Him into that wilderness. He also would have been rejecting God in favor of making His own way in the world. Jesus did not yield to this temptation! He was not as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright (Heb 12:16). And Esau had been hungry for only about one day.
5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
The second temptation was a test of Faith, which the Devil developed in a very cunning and deceptive way. He came quoting Scripture (Ps 91:11-12), apparently telling the truth. How many Christians have fallen prey to this very trap! Satan specializes in giving false and/or misinterpretations of the Holy Scriptures. It is a grave error to emphasize one passage such that it overturns or cancels another. The Word of God is all Truth (2Tim 3:16), so it is simply not acceptable to select piecemeal the truths that you prefer. The Devil quoted one verse and challenged Christ to act upon it, but Jesus, rightly dividing the Word of Truth, exposed Satan’s misinterpretation in short order. Let us be ever wary of the Devil’s wicked tactics and follow Christ’s example.
Imagine the stir among the crowds to see a man crashing to the ground from the pinnacle of the temple and then rising up unhurt! It would have been the talk of the town. Jesus had known He was the Son of God for quite some time and being human, he surely was tempted to be Messiah the easy way and win the hearts of the people by miraculous demonstrations of personal power. Who better to understand that than Satan? His own pride and self-love had caused his fall from God’s favor. But Jesus was unmoved and probably barely tempted with His human pride and egotism. Even at this early juncture He surely knew that His mission involved humility and lowliness, the rejection of nation and friend to bear the eventual disgrace of a pitiful death on the cross. Though He wished for another way, Jesus knew that He must yield Himself to God’s way (Mat 26:39-42). Satan would later virtually repeat this temptation by speaking through Peter, who rebuked the Lord for saying that He must be killed. Jesus answered, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto Me (Mat 16:21-23).
Again, the heart of Satan’s temptation was to get Jesus to reject God’s will and plan, and to do things his own way. It has ever been Satan’s goal to entice man to follow his own desires rather than God’s desires, or as Jesus said in response to Peter, Thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men (Mat 16:23). Beware that just as Satan came quoting Scripture in tempting Jesus, so he will come to tempt you! It is a favorite tactic of his, to come as an angel of light (2Cor 11:14), with a Bible under one arm and giving honest-sounding and even Scripturally-based advice.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Again Jesus quotes the book of Deuteronomy to repel Satan’s attack. To tempt is “to try, or put on trial, or to attempt proof of.” The Israelites tempted God at the waters of Massah (Deut 6:16) by demanding Moses to give them water or they would go back to Egypt (Ps 78:18). They became so angry and quarrelsome that Moses feared for his life. See the story in Exodus 17:1-7. Essentially, Israel “tempted God” by putting Him on trial. They required Him to act rather than ASKING Him to supply their need and trusting that He would provide.
Satan tempted Christ to act similar to the children of Israel. Throwing Himself off the temple and trusting that God would save Him would seem to be the ultimate act of Faith. False! It would be a SELFISH act, a self-glorifying act, an act based in pride. To presume upon the grace of God is to require Him to deliver us. Who can require God to do anything?
Many are tempting God today too, even while thinking they are demonstrating “great faith.” I have heard people in their prayers “tell” God what He needs to do, essentially demanding that He work a miracle: “Lord, I pray that you heal Tom of his cancer. We believe that You are able, and we have faith that You are going to heal Him.” That is tempting God, it is trying to force Him to do something for personal benefit, such as hinging faith upon an event and making it a test or proof that God exists. We walk by faith, not by sight (2Cor 5:7; Gal 3:11; Hab 2:4).
Another way to tempt God is to willfully allow ourselves to be in an evil or tempting environment and expecting Him to keep us from sin. The apostle Paul warned of the sin of tempting Christ in 1Cor 10:9.
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
The third temptation was a test of Love. Satan transported Christ (in the spirit) where He could see all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time (Luke 4:5). He saw kings and glorious lifestyles, merchants with their riches and ease, famous men honored by adoring crowds. All this could be His for the payment of one simple act: bow down and worship Satan.
If this tactic seems to speak of desperation, let us nevertheless remember that many people have succumbed to it. Some overtly choose Satan over God, but the majority have been deceived into doing so. The first commandment of all is to love God (Deut 6:13; Luke 10:27). Just as is true for every man who is born, two crowns were offered to Jesus. The one was a spectacular jewel of pleasure, pomp and power; it glistened and sparkled as Satan made it to turn this way and that in the light of the sun. The second crown was thorny, difficult and lonely, but the One who held it out was the famous One and Only, the God and King of the Universe, the Good and Honorable Judge of all men.
Life is a test of my love for Jesus!
Do I keep His commandments, obey always His rule?
Am I reading His Word, striving to learn in His school?
Do I consciously deny my will, my Self, my affection?
Am I renouncing my loves, my desires, at His direction?
Do I love Him with all of my heart, my strength, my mind?
Are my actions and words to His true counsel aligned?
"He that loves Me will keep My commandments," He said,
And then taught me submission as He suffered and bled.
Help me, O God, to be meek, to rely always on You,
Help me to never displease He who alone is all-true.
Your blood has redeemed me from Satan and sin,
Thank you, Lord Jesus, I love you, do come in!
-tb
Satan is the prince of this world (John 12:31), the power of the air (Eph 2:2), the god of this world (2Cor 4:4). He sat upon the throne of the wicked kingdoms of the world (Luke 4:6) and it was his ultimate possession. Yet, even his own throne was worth giving up if he could thereby avoid defeat. Clearly Satan realized now that this Man was the one he had feared and expected ever since that day in the Garden of Eden, when God had said that the seed of woman would crush his head. He had long known that by tempting each soul into sin he could destroy that possibility. And for millennia he succeeded in corrupting every single seed of woman that was ever born. But now One had come that he could not corrupt and he realized that desperate measures were required. And so he offered Jesus his entire realm and very throne (not that he actually meant to give it up). Jesus however, was not going to join forces with Satan no matter how enticing the offer. The devil finally had to admit his defeat.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
This is now Jesus’ third quote from the book of Deuteronomy in response to Satan’s temptation (see Deut 6:13; 10:20). It is the first and greatest commandment of both Covenants (Mat 22:36-38) and results in an insurmountable problem for those who do not believe in the deity of Christ. Jehovah’s Witnesses, for instance, maintain that it is a serious sin to worship anyone other than Jehovah-God. Yet Jesus accepted the worship of men many times during His ministry and even as a babe at birth they worshipped Him (Mat 2:11).
11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
After 40 days of lonely and difficult struggle, Jesus was refreshed in body and soul by angels. One can imagine the angels of heaven watching this battle of titans, the champion of Light and the champion of darkness fighting for the rights to Mankind. What immense consequences for the world and every human soul! And though God knew the outcome from the beginning, the fact that angels came and ministered to Jesus illustrates just how exhausting this battle was, for the Devil used every available weapon in his deadly arsenal to get Him to sin. Resist the devil and he shall flee from you (Jam 4:7).
As humans we can easily separate ourselves from Jesus and His wilderness temptations with the thought that He was God, with super-human powers to overcome temptations. Yet it appears that this is not entirely true, for in some way, Jesus the man experienced these temptations. He laid aside His divinity and conquering the Devil anyway. Did Jesus feel pain when they drove the nails in His hands? He didn’t have to; He was God. Did He get tired and hungry, lonely and sad? Did He feel the same temptations that we do? The Scriptures say that He did (Heb 4:14-16); that He lived fully a man, experienced the same feelings and temptations as any man. Otherwise, He could not have been the appropriate sacrifice for Man’s sin. Here in the wilderness He treaded the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with Me (Isa 63:3).
The temptation in the wilderness was the first skirmish in the war between Christ and Satan for the souls of Mankind. Luke says that the devil left Christ only temporarily (Luke 4:13), for this battle was not over until Jesus rose victorious from the grave. Before Christ, Satan owned the souls of every man on account of their sin. And even now, when a person sins he rightfully becomes the property of Satan, destined to spend eternity in Satan’s abode, the Lake of Fire. But when Jesus the perfect and sinless Man died, He earned the right and power to redeem (or buy, ransom) from Satan’s control those souls whom He chooses for Himself. Eph 4:8-10 describes very briefly Satan’s tremendous defeat when Jesus descended into Hades and wrested from Satan’s power the chosen of the Old Covenant. Jesus’ death as a sinless and perfect Man gave Him full and just authority over Satan. The Devil was defeated and Jesus earned the right and authority to spoil his house (Mat 12:29).
It thus greatly behooves us as moral beings to seek, find, and urgently and wholly do whatever is required so that the Saviour Jesus Christ will choose us to be redeemed from the clutches of our rightful master, Satan. For Jesus is not obligated to redeem any man. All have sinned and justly have fallen into the hands of the evil one who enticed them. Yet God has formulated a plan of salvation, a way in which a man might escape the due reward for his guilt and sinfulness. How essential it is that we diligently seek for ourselves and find the one and only way that leads to Life Eternal! But Satan is a terrible adversary, and he has strewn the way with pitfalls, deceptions, counterfeits and false doctrines that can obscure the path and so keep sincere seekers from finding the Way of Escape! Oh how important and consequential are each man’s intelligent and rational choices!
12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
According to the Gospel of John, the Baptist was imprisoned about a year after Christ’s wilderness temptation (sometime between John 3:24 and John 5:33-35). Apparently the Synoptics skip over that year of time and begin just after John the Baptist was cast into prison (see my notes on John 2:1 and John 3:24). The Gospel of John supplies many interesting details of that year, as well as later events the Synoptics had not mentioned.
13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: 14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
Galilee was a region in Palestine to the north of Jerusalem that stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. In the heart of Galilee was the small town of Nazareth, some 70 miles north of Jerusalem in the Valley of Jezreel, famously known also as the valley of Armageddon (see note on Rev 16:12). Born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth, at 30 years of age Jesus moved to Capernaum, a town on the shores of Lake Galilee about 30 miles northeast of Nazareth. Capernaum was one of the chief cities in Galilee (30,000 inhabitants?), with synagogues, Roman soldiers and much commerce. Luke describes in more detail Jesus’ rejection by his hometown of Nazareth and consequent move to Capernaum (Luke 4:14-31).
Zebulun and Naphtali were two rather insignificant neighbor tribes in the regions of Galilee and thus removed some distance from Jerusalem, the center of Judaism. With this quote from Isaiah 9:1-2, Matthew adds yet another prophetic OT evidence that Jesus is the Messiah. It is a striking fulfillment, describing the Great Light coming to these small Galilean tribes. Long a region of war and strife, and also an area popular for Gentile settlers due to its strategic location for the entrance of foreign goods and commerce, this region naturally came to be called, Galilee of the Gentiles. And yet, Galilee would become Jesus’ chief place of residence; His special area of teaching and working miracles. How outrageous it surely sounded to those righteous Pharisees in Jerusalem, for Galileans spoke differently (Mat 26:73) and were denigrated by pure-blooded Jews of “blessed and chosen” Judah (John 1:46).
By darkness is meant a spiritual lethargy and ignorance, and by Light we understand a life-giving illumination of the Truth (John 1:5; 8:12). These definitions are found throughout the Scriptures. The fulfillment of this prophecy is found to be a mixture of the literal and the spiritual. The people and the location are physical, but the Light shining in the darkness concerns the spiritual realm. This is a normal and common conjunction of many OT prophecies.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
As John the Baptist did at the first, Jesus came preaching that the Gospel of the Kingdom was at hand (Mat 4:23). While Christ’s message was in one sense a continuation of the Baptist’s preaching, it contained much new truth that John could only anticipate by pointing people forward to the Messiah’s better ministry (Acts 19:4). The Kingdom of heaven did not come in power until after Christ’s resurrection (Mark 9:1), but it began with John (Mat 11:13).
18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
The sea of Galilee is also called the sea of Gennesaret and the sea of Tiberias. Capernaum was located on the northern shore. Peter and Andrew were working when Jesus called them to service and that seems to be a common occurrence: Saul was looking for his father’s animals when Samuel came to anoint him King of Israel and David was keeping his father’s sheep. Elisha was plowing in the field and Moses was caring for his father-in-law’s sheep.
The brothers did not hesitate, but immediately left their nets and followed Christ. Their response contrasts sharply with that of the rich young ruler, who went away sadly when Christ invited him to come and follow Me (Mat 19:21).
Fishers of men…Jesus loved to use words in thought-provoking and attention-grabbing ways. His parables and metaphorical expressions teach clearly and powerfully, and they are more easily remembered by their simple and fluid structure.
21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
The calling of the four principal Apostles (Peter, Andrew, James and John) was not as anonymous and arbitrary as it may appear at first reading. According to the book of John, these four plus Philip and Nathanael had earlier met and spent time with Jesus immediately following His baptism at the Jordan river by John the Baptist (John 1:35-42). Roughly a year had passed since that moment, when these six men had entertained strong hope that Jesus was the Messiah (John 1:43-49). In that background, it makes sense that they would immediately leave their nets and follow Him at His call. They weren’t following just any man’s call, but One that they knew and trusted.
The manner in which Jesus chose each of the twelve is not exactly described, but it does seem that some were called later on out of the larger group of disciples. We also do not know if they left their families for the entire 3-1/2 years, or if they returned at times. It does appear, however, that the last year or so they stayed with Him almost exclusively.
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. 25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.
Jesus became known throughout the land as a righteous man, a prophet, one who spoke with authority and could even heal the sick. Some believed Him to be the Messiah, others thought not, for everyone knew that Messiah was to be a mighty King who would deliver the people from the Romans with great military skill and terrible acts of war. Jesus the Nazarene had not shown the slightest inclination to fight, or even to motivate the nation to war; no, He could not be the Messiah, these said.
Yet when Messiah came, would He do more miracles than what this Man was doing? (John 7:31). Jesus healed sick people no matter what their illness or disease. Arthritis and chronic pains (torments), paraplegics and those with unusable limbs (palsy), epileptics and sufferers from seizures (lunatick), the blind, deaf and dumb – all were healed at His spoken word or gentle touch. Two of the most stunning examples were His healing a man born blind (John 9:32) and a man paralyzed upon a bed (Mat 9:1-6), but He also could read thoughts, command the weather and multiply food.
Possessed with devils. Better, “the demon-possessed” (daimonizomai), for the word “devil” derives from diabolos. Demons are the fallen angels that followed Satan in his prideful rebellion against God.