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The Ministry of Healing
And to them that sat in the region and shadow of death,
To them did light spring up.”
Matthew 4:15, 16, A.R.V.,
margin.
The Saviour made each work of healing an occasion for implant-
ing divine principles in the mind and soul. This was the purpose of
His work. He imparted earthly blessings, that He might incline the
hearts of men to receive the gospel of His grace.
Christ might have occupied the highest place among the teachers
of the Jewish nation, but He preferred rather to take the gospel to
the poor. He went from place to place, that those in the highways
and byways might hear the words of truth. By the sea, on the
mountainside, in the streets of the city, in
“I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and
will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee
for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from
the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house. ... And I will bring the blind by a way that they
knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not
known: I will make darkness light before them, and
crooked things straight.”
Isaiah 42:6-20
.
[21]
the synagogue, His voice was heard explaining the Scriptures. Often
He taught in the outer court of the temple, that the Gentiles might
hear His words.
So unlike the explanations of Scripture given by the scribes and
Pharisees was Christ’s teaching, that the attention of the people was
arrested. The rabbis dwelt upon tradition, upon human theory and
speculation. Often that which men had taught and written about the
Scripture was put in place of the Scripture itself. The subject of
Christ’s teaching was the word of God. He met questioners with
a plain, “It is written,” “What saith the Scripture?” “How readest
thou?” At every opportunity when an interest was awakened by
either friend or foe, He presented the word. With clearness and
power He proclaimed the gospel message. His words shed a flood of