“The Seven Sabbath Day Miracles”
Today is Sunday, the Lord’s day, as some say. Now, I think it’s interesting that the bible records seven Sabbath day miracles. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath and for us we celebrate His resurrection on Sundays. So, today is our Sabbath day, if you will. This is a day we can express in a special way our love for God and each other. Completeness or divine perfection is represented by seven in the bible. The book of Revelation deals in a significant way the number seven. There are 7 days in our week. In the book of John, for example, there are the 7 “I Am” statements of Jesus, the 7 sign miracles that He is the Messiah; all in John. Our rainbow consists of 7 colors. There are 7 notes on a music scale. Jews understood the principle of seven. In Matthew 18:21-22, Peter asked the Lord how many times he could forgive a brother. Then Peter, thinking he already knew the answer anyway, quickly blurted out his own perceived answer by saying, “Up to seven times?” Peter automatically assumes seven times was the correct answer. Jesus replies, “I do not say up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” So, we can see that seven means something in the bible about completion. There is great comfort in the name Jesus Christ, He is our Jesus Messiah.
There were rules against working and doing certain things on the Sabbath Day. However, many of these rules restricting folks were added by tradition, not God. Therefore, when Jesus performed a miracle on the Sabbath it greatly bothered the religious leaders. I think these seven miracles were done to teach them that Jesus is God, the long-awaited Messiah, making Him Lord of the Sabbath.
Let’s review these seven miracles.
#1. Jesus heals Simon Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31)
#2. Jesus heals a man with a withered hand (Mark 3:1-6)
#3. Jesus heals a man born blind (John 9:1-16)
#4. Jesus heals a crippled woman (Luke 13:10-17)
#5. Jesus heals a man with dropsy (Luke 14:1-6)
#6. Jesus drives out an evil spirit (Mark 1:21-28)
#7. Jesus heals a lame man by the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-18)
The character of God is that of love. Jesus didn’t come to destroy lives; but to save lives. When we see these healings, be they physical or spiritual, we see God. In the Old Testament there was something special and holy about the Sabbath Day. Jesus is God, and as Lord of the Sabbath He shows us what it looks like to enter into fellowship with Him. It looks wonderful and it is wonderful. Now these physical healings were done that they would recognize His Deity. Today not everyone experiences a physical healing while on this earth. But one day in glory, every single child of God gets a perfect body in heaven. I mean there won’t be any need for make-up or gyms. No heartache or headaches. There will not be any nursing homes or hospitals in glory. These miracles point to fellowship with God. Isn’t that the purpose of the Sabbath? God loves our fellowship with Him and each other.
The first miracle, Peter’s mother-in-law gets healed, then immediately begins serving Jesus. There is a fellowship in serving the Lord from gratitude and love.
The second miracle, there is a man there with a “withered hand.” This man was there because of his faith and need. It was a sacrifice because the Pharisees would consider him lame due to some sin. Their hearts were so hard in this story, and Jesus is angered by it. Jesus heals the humble man’s hand. What a joy this individual must have felt as he found God in that synagogue.
The third miracle, I love this miracle because we can all relate. Here is a man blind from birth. That’s a picture of our sin. In this story, this man couldn’t have fellowship with God without His making the first move of grace. With any salvation God always makes the first move, wooing and drawing us to Himself. The bible says, “as Jesus passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.” That’s how fellowship with God begins, Jesus came and died for sinners born blind spiritually. He sees us in our darkness and intervenes in our lives offering the gospel of salvation that we might see.
The fourth miracle, we have a woman in attendance in the synagogue listening to Jesus. Scripture doesn’t indicate that she sought His healing, but simply His presence and teachings. Yet Jesus sees she is there; He knows her heart and faith. She is bent over from possible scoliosis or some other infirmity. But Jesus sees her and chooses to heal her knowing she will use the healing for His glory. At His Word, she raises up for the first time in 18 years. After he heals her the bible says she “glorified God.” There is a sweet fellowship as we glorify Jesus for all of His saving grace, that raised us up into the heavenly places.
The fifth miracle, we have a man with dropsy, fluid build up somewhere in his body. Possibly his legs or around his heart. This man was in the house of one of the rulers of the pharisees. Perhaps he was a friend or relative of this ruler who hung out there for the help. I think his dropsy was to the point he could barely get around, even if at all. Let me explain why. After Jesus heals him, He “let him go.” That’s what Jesus does when we come into fellowship with Him. He takes whatever fear, anxiety or hinderance we have that chains us down in worry. He then breaks those chains by grace and lets us go in the power of His might.
The sixth miracle, we have a dramatic scene, Jesus is teaching in the synagogue and the scribes are blown away by the authority by which He teaches. In the synagogue is a man who is possessed by demons, those demons go nuts in God’s presence and Jesus with one command casts them out of the man. I believe Jesus saved that man right there. Satan cannot possess a believer, but he can attack the believer. There is a great lesson in this miracle. Here we see the power of God’s presence. The sweetest and most powerful fellowship with God we can have is to be “filled with His Spirit” (Eph.5:18) in His presence to the point that evil has no place. Ephesians 5:18 is rightly positioned just prior to chapter six where Paul deals with spiritual warfare. There is nothing like the presence of God and if your going to walk in victory with your feet shod with the gospel and the helmet of salvation then you better learn to practice His presence. Do you pray and meditate in His presence? The scripture says in James 4:8, “draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” To do that requires action on our part.
The seventh miracle, I love this miracle and enjoy preaching it. Here is a man that for 38 years had some kind of infirmity. Here he is surrounded by others who need healing, too. They wait for the angel to touch the waters as God sent him to do at certain times. But this man could never get to the water to be healed. Jesus asked him a question, it’s a legitimate and very important question. Jesus said, “Do you want to be made well?” Now, Jesus healed him right then. The reason so many people remain lost is not because they haven’t heard the gospel but because they don’t want to be made well. They don’t want to get right with God because they don’t want to get rid of sin. Fellowship with God, means we must first agree with Him that we are spiritually sick and in need of spiritual life. We need to want it, seek it and receive it. My guess, this man healed at that pool, walked away and told everyone he saw about his past with a 38 year infirmity and now his new found Savior.
Hope you have a wonderful Sunday, we may not be together in physical form at the church, but we are together in our hearts and Savior.
Bro. Bruce Rudd