MATTHEW LESSON 18

     We will pick up at Matthew 8:18 "Now when Jesus saw great
multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other
side."

     The people thronged Him so greatly, that He was pressed from every
side. Every so often, He went aside to rest and pray. This multitude,
it seems, had followed Him from the time He had given the Sermon on
the Mount. He needed some time alone. His Spirit was always ready, but
His body got tired; just like ours do.

     Matthew 8:19 "And a certain scribe came, and said unto him,
Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest."

     Scribes were the keepers and registrars of all public documents.
The "scribe" mentioned, here, was learned in the law. These men
technically knew the rules in the Bible. Very few recognized Jesus for
who He really was (the Messiah). This "scribe" had, probably, been among
the multitude who heard Him preach the Sermon on the Mount and who saw
Him do many miracles. Just as many Jewish people do even today, this
scribe recognized Him as a great teacher and as a prophet of God who
could perform miracles. The question is, did he recognize Jesus as
God manifest in the flesh? Scribes were teachers of the law.  It is so
strange, to me, that they could not see that Jesus fulfilled the law in
every aspect.  This "Scribe" was like so many new Christians.  They
promise to follow no matter where or how hard the road gets, but when
trouble come, they fall away.

     Matthew 8:20 "And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and
the birds of the air [have] nests; but the Son of man hath not where
to lay [his] head."

     Jesus told this scribe just right off, if you follow me, it would
not be easy. You might have to sleep outside and may not even know where
your next meal would come from. Jesus does not promise an easy life
even today to His followers. He just promises to take care of our
needs, not our wants.

     Matthew 8:21 "And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord,
suffer me first to go and bury my father."

     From this statement above, It seems that this disciple, mentioned
here, was not one of the 12, but, probably, part of the 120 who followed
Jesus for a while. He was asking Jesus to let him tend to his business at
home, and he would answer the call to the ministry later.  We cannot
put off the call of God for any reason. Even though this seems to be
good enough excuse, we will see that God will not wait while we tend
to earthly things.

     Matthew 8:22  "But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the
dead bury their dead."

     Here we must understand the religious significance of this
statement. He was speaking of the spiritually dead. He was saying, you
cannot do anything for him now. It was too late. Salvation is offered
to the living only. He told the man, go minister to others before
they, too, die physically not knowing salvation. He, too, was saying,
time is running out. Hurry!

     Matthew 8:23 "And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples
followed him."

     This was, probably, a ship on the sea of Galilee. It, possibly,
belonged to some of the disciples, who were fishermen before Jesus
called them.

     Matthew 8:24 "And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the
sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was
asleep."

     Jesus' body was tired. He was sleeping right on through the
storm. The Sea of Galilee is well known for the heavy wind and
boisterous waves. These storms come up suddenly and drown many
fishermen. These disciples, who had fished on this see, knew how
dangerous it could be.

     Matthew 8:25 "And his disciples came to [him], and awoke him,
saying, Lord, save us: we perish."

     They knew where the help was. They knew Jesus could save them.
The cry of mankind should be, "Lord, save us: we perish." Jesus is the
only one who can save us, but we must cry out for His help. Jesus
always listens to our cries, as He did these disciples.

     Matthew 8:26 "And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of
little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and
there was a great calm."

     Fear is not of God. Jesus rebuked them for being fearful.  Fear
is the opposite of faith. Probably all this happened to make them
realize they should act in faith, not fear. Nevertheless, He spoke to
the "wind and the sea", and they both immediately obeyed the Word. Jesus
has all power over everything, even the elements. We too, have power
through the name of Jesus to speak to the elements. We must use the
Word and command the weather to obey in Jesus' name.

     Matthew 8:27  "But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man
is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!"

     The amazing thing, to me, in all of this, is the fact that they
were amazed. Jesus has been doing all these fantastic miracles, and
they still did not know that He had power over the entire universe.
They were right, truly he was not "man". He was God housed in the body
of a man.

     Matthew 8:28 "And when he was come to the other side into the
country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils,
coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass
by that way."

     This area, that was on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, is
today the Golan Heights controlled by the Arabs. In Bible times, it
was a very evil area. There were three accounts of men in tombs who
were possessed of devils in three of the gospels. It appears that
these were three men telling the same account of what happened. It 
appears that this was three men tellling the same account of what 
happened. The only real difference in all three accounts, was one man 
telling the event said that there were two demoniac men. The others said
that there was one man.  Really it does not matter. It is a fantastic 
miracle, regardless of whether, one or two, men were involved. A legion 
can run from 1,000 to 5,000. One of the Scriptures states that in this particular instance, it was about 2,000. So you see, the number of devil spirits were so overwhelming, even for two men to have, that that was incidental. For that matter, this could be three different happenings. All 
we need to concern ourselves with, is the lesson we can learn from this.

     Matthew 8:29 "And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we
to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to
torment us before the time?"

     There are several things we need to take notice of here. These devils
recognized Jesus. They had been in heaven with Jesus before they
followed Lucifer. Devil spirits, or demons, are really fallen angels.
When God threw Lucifer out of heaven, one third of the angels followed
Lucifer, and became his demons. These demons were well aware that there
is coming a day when they would be thrown into the lake of fire with
Lucifer. That was why they asked Jesus, if He was going to torment them
before the time. These spirits need a body to dwell in. If they cannot
get a human, then they will settle for an animal.

     Matthew 8:30 "And there was a good way off from them an herd of
many swine feeding."  Matthew 8:31 "So the devils besought him,
saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of
swine."

     You see, the devils did not want to be disembodied. Being a spirit,
they have to inhabit a person or an animal, because they did not have a
body of their own.

     Matthew 8:32 "And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come
out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of
swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in
the waters."

     One word and they obeyed. Jesus just said, "go". The swine were
driven mad by these devils, and rather than live with them, they
committed hog suicide.

     Matthew 8:33 "And they that kept them fled, and went their ways
into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the
possessed of the devils."

     Can you imagine how frightening it would be to be herding hogs,
and suddenly, they ran and drowned themselves in the sea? Not only were
they frightened, but think of the financial loss.

     Matthew 8:34 "And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus:
and when they saw him, they besought [him] that he would depart out of
their coasts."

     You would think the people would be tickled to have someone as
powerful as Jesus in their midst, but instead, they did not want Him
and stopped him at the edge of town. The only reason that makes any
sense at all would be, that this was a very evil city. Probably many
demon possessed people lived in this city, and you can easily see why
they would not want Jesus (the Deliverer) in their city. In St. Mark
chapter 5, we read the same account  (or at least a similar) beginning
with verse 2.

     Mark 5:2 "And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there
met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,"  Mark 5:3 "Who
had [his] dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not
with chains:" Mark 5:4 "Because that he had been often bound with
fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him,
and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any [man] tame him."
Mark 5:5 "And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in
the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones." Mark 5:6 "But
when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him," Mark 5:7 "And
cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus,
[thou] Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou
torment me not."  Mark 5:8 "For he said unto him, Come out of the man,
[thou] unclean spirit."  Mark 5:9 "And he asked him, What [is] thy
name? And he answered, saying, My name [is] Legion: for we are many."
Mark 5:10 "And he besought him much that he would not send them away
out of the country." Mark 5:11 "Now there was there nigh unto the
mountains a great herd of swine feeding." Mark 5:12 "And all the
devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter
into them." Mark 5:13 "And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the
unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran
violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two
thousand;) and were choked in the sea."

     This same report is in St. Luke 8:26-39

     These three could be separate deliverances, because of so many
similar details, I believe they are accounts of the sane incident.

     Next lesson, study Matthew  chapter 9.








                      Matthew Questions 18


1.  Why did Jesus say, to depart to the other side of the sea?
2.  What promise did the scribe make Jesus?
3.  What job for the community did the scribe do?
4.  What did scribes have to do with the law?
5.  What did Jesus tell the scribe about his living conditions?
6.  The disciple that wanted to go and bury his father was probably
    from what group?
7.  What does the statement "Let the dead bury their dead" mean?
8.  Salvation is for whom?
9.  How did Jesus get to the other side of the sea?
10. When the storm was raging, where was Jesus?
11. What did the disciples say to Jesus about the storm?
12. What did Jesus do?
13. Why did Jesus rebuke them?
14. What is wrong with fear?
15. What should we do, if we are caught in a storm?
16. How many accounts of the demon possessed, whose demons went into
    the hogs, are in the Bible?
17. What difference is in the stories?
18. Is it important?
19. What amount is a legion?
20. Name at least two things we need to remember about these devil
    spirits.
21. Where were the devil spirits asked to go?
22. What did the swine do?
23. How did the people of the town feel?
24. What does St. Mark 5:4 show us about demon possession?
25. What was the name of the demons?