Luke 7:11-17
11 Soon afterwards He went to a city
called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, accompanied by a
large crowd. 12 Now as He approached the gate of
the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she
was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. 13 When
the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “Do not
weep.” 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!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to
speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. 16 Fear
gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A
great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!” 17 This
report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding
district.
Not only were the teachings of Jesus unlike the teachings of
the religious leaders of that day; but the miracles He performed were unlike
anything that had been seen in the past.
Sickness and death were never intended to inflict mankind. The blight of sin brought these curses into
existence. Jesus came into the world to
be able to deliver us from the effects of the curse of sin. He death frees us from the penalty of sin and
gives the assurance to all who believe that we will be completely free from all
the effect of sin for all eternity. Only
Jesus has the ability to conquer death and sin.
He demonstrated this while He was on earth and we can be assured that He
will accomplish this in masse at the resurrection of the dead.
THE COMPASSION OF JESUS: As Jesus came into the city there
was a crowd of people following Him and He met a crowd of people who were a
prat of a funeral procession for a young man who was the only son of a
widow. When Jesus saw the plight of this
poor woman who had lost both her husband and her son; He was moved with compassion. In the midst of the crowds Jesus cared about
this one woman and determined to meet her needs. The majority of the people would not have
known that she was a widow but Jesus did.
He has an intimate knowledge of each one of us and all our needs. He knows everything about us and cares for
each one of us individually. We may feel
like we are lost in the crowds within the oceans of humanity that surround us;
but God knows exactly who we are, what we are facing and all our needs. We pour our hearts out to Jesus and be
assured of His attention and compassion.
THE POWER OF JESUS: Not only does Jesus know and care about
our needs; He also has the power to meet each of our needs. He walked over to the young man’s casket and
caused the procession to stop. He then
told the young man to arise and He came back to life. The man sat up in his casket and began to
talk. This must have been quite the
shock for all the people around them.
Death has not power in comparison with the power of Jesus. He is able to command anyone to do anything
he wishes. The power of Jesus has no
limits. He does not always do what we
expect or may ask of Him to do; but we and be assured that it is because it is
not because He does not have the power to do what we ask but because He knows
that what we have asked for is not what is best for us in light of
eternity. No matter what happens in our
life or what circumstance we face; He is able to provide all of our needs
according to His will.
THE FEAR OF JESUS: When the crowds saw the miracle that
Jesus performed, they were gripped with fear.
The realized that God had visited them and they declared that He was a
great prophet. However, they did not
believe He was the Son of God. They
praised God for the miracle of raising the man from the dead but they did not
go so far as to believe who He said He was.
There are many who fear God and are curious about He power but these are
not the ingredients for being welcomed into the presence of God. His power to do miracles may not always show
up in our lives in the time or way we want or expect; but we must trust that He
is able help us. We must learn to stand
in awe of Who Jesus is and our greatest fear but be that of living to please
Him. The fame of Jesus spread; and the
message of love, and hope was poured out on the people of that day and
continues to flow through us until the He calls us home where we will be like
Him.
APPLICATION: We can rest assured of the care of God in each
of our lives. We are never lost in the crowd when it comes to Jesus. He knows our needs more fully that we do so
we can trust Him to care for us. He has the power to do whatever he wants. We must spread the knowledge of the Lord so
all men everywhere can join their voices with ours and singing praise to God.
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