WWUTT 2006 Jesus Heals a Withered Man’s Hand (Matthew 12:9-21)

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Jesus continues to demonstrate that He is the Lord of the Sabbath.

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He heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, showing the love and compassion that He has for people when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the Word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

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Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www.utt.com.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky.

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In our study of the Gospel of Matthew, we've been in chapter 12, and I'll be picking up where we left off last week.

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So starting in verse 9 and reading through verse 21 out of the Legacy Standard Bible, hear the word of the Lord.

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And departing from there he went into their synagogue, and behold, a man was there whose hand was withered.

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And they questioned Jesus, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him? And he said to them, What man is there among you who has a sheep? And if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep? So then it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

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Then he said to the man, Stretch out your hand.

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He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal like the other.

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But going out, the Pharisees took counsel together against him as to how they might destroy him.

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But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there.

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Many followed him, and he healed them all, and warned them not to make him known, in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, saying, Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased.

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I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

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He will not quarrel, nor cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.

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A battered reed he will not break off, and a smoldering wick he will not put out, until he leads justice to victory.

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And in his name the Gentiles will hope.

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So we continue to read about Jesus being Lord of the Sabbath.

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That was the last thing that we read last week when we were in chapter 12, verses one through eight.

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Remember, Jesus and his disciples were walking through the grain fields.

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His disciples became hungry, plucked the heads of grain, and began to eat them.

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And the Pharisees protested that.

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Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.

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And Jesus gives them some references from the Old Testament about how they're actually being legalistic regarding the Sabbath.

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There are other people in the Old Testament that did more than the disciples were doing, but you don't see them as being lawbreakers, that they're breaking the Sabbath.

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You wouldn't say that of David.

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You wouldn't say that of the priests that were still offering sacrifices in the temple.

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And so Jesus said, had you known what this means, I desire compassion and not a sacrifice.

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You would not have condemned the innocent, saying that his disciples were not guilty of anything.

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And so then Jesus says in verse eight, for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

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As though to say, I'm the one who wrote these Sabbath laws.

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So my disciples are with me.

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If I say that they're innocent, then they're innocent.

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And so we go from there, from that declaration in verses one through eight, to Jesus healing a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath.

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So he goes into their synagogue, and we might expect that this is still the same Sabbath, because it says in verse nine, departing from there, he went into their synagogue.

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So this is after they walked through the grain fields.

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He comes into the town.

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He goes into the synagogue to teach.

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And behold, a man was there whose hand was withered.

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And they questioned Jesus, saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him? It's almost like they're daring him to do this.

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Go ahead.

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We know that you're a healer.

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We know that people have been following you around because you're able to do these miraculous things.

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So do it right here.

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Heal this man's hand.

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Let's see you do it.

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Let's see you do this work on the Sabbath.

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That's what they want to accuse him of.

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But before he does it, he doesn't just turn around and heal the man.

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He says to them, what man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? Of course he would.

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That is the answer to that question.

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Yes, I wouldn't leave my animal in a pit.

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He's going to be dead the next day.

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I would pull him out, even if it's the Sabbath.

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So Jesus says in verse 12, how much more valuable then is a man than a sheep? So then it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

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Now who's going to argue with that? Jesus has just responded to the Pharisees in such a way, the people that are around hearing him say this, who's going to protest that and go, no, you shouldn't show a man kindness on the Sabbath.

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Would they let the Pharisees get away with accusing Jesus of wrong when he turns around and heals this man's hand? And so Jesus said to the man, stretch out your hand, and he stretched it out and it was restored to normal like the other one.

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We might expect this is probably a birth defect or something like that, a man with a withered hand.

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It's not a complete hand.

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It doesn't look like a normal human hand.

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Maybe there was some catastrophic accident or something that happened to his hand as well.

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Maybe it was aged or some kind of a disease that could have caused the withered hand.

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It could have been any of these things, but you know what a withered hand looks like.

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And you know that there is no miracle even of modern medicine that can restore such a hand.

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You could cut the hand off and you could give the person some kind of a prosthetic.

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There are some pretty incredible robotic arms that I've seen people with these days.

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It is amazing what we have accomplished as far as technological advancements go, but you still can't restore a person's hand to normal like that.

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I don't know if you're familiar with the cessationist documentary that just recently released.

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The debut of the documentary was at G3 just a couple of weeks ago, and we had that opportunity to preview cessationist on the Thursday evening of G3.

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There's a scene in that documentary, and so extremely well done, the filmmakers, the way that they did this.

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Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath.

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He heals the man with a withered hand.

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And they show the man and him stretch out his hand, and it's clearly a deformed hand.

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You're looking at that man's hand going, that hand may never have been normal at any point in the man's life.

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And then the way they do the shot, they don't show Jesus, no second commandment violations, in case anybody would view such a depiction to be that way.

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They don't show Jesus doing anything.

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They just show the man stretch his hand out, and then when he draws his hand back, it's a normal hand.

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It's just really well done, the way that they depict that.

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But that's this scene, exactly this scene that we're reading about here in Matthew 12, that's depicted in that documentary.

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The man stretches out his hand, and when he pulls it back in, it's restored.

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It's a normal hand.

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That's a miracle.

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That could not have happened any other way.

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Even our modern technological advancements cannot do that for a man's hand.

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And yet I've heard some faith healers out there desire to see that kind of a miracle.

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I remember there was an interview with Todd White, who has a lifestyle church in the Dallas area, not far from where we're living now.

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So he was interviewed and was asked if he'd ever seen miraculous signs like this, if he's ever seen the paralyzed get up and walk, the kinds of signs that Jesus was doing.

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Has he ever seen somebody with legs that were completely dysfunctional, just have restored legs and were able to get up and walk again? Or somebody whose hand had even been amputated, so it would qualify as like a withered hand, or you just have stubby fingers on the end, or something like that.

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Have you ever been able to pray over a man's hand and it would be restored like that? And Todd White was at least honest.

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This is a man who uses these tricks and gags, making people think that he's growing a leg out and extending it out to be even with the other one.

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You know, if you've ever seen Todd White's videos, I've done a couple of video responses to this parlor trick that he does.

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But anyway, you know, he's done things like this claim to have added inches to a person's leg by the miraculous power of the Spirit.

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So he's asked in this interview, have you ever seen the Spirit restore a man's withered hand? And White was at least honest, as much of a liar as he is, in the kinds of things he claims that he does that are miracles that are really not miracles.

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But he was at least honest to say that he's never seen that before, but he wants to.

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He wants to see it.

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And I believe it was the very same interview where he was with somebody else, somebody that was deformed, on the street.

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He just went up to the person and prayed over them and prayed that God would restore their arm or their leg or whatever it was.

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I can't remember exactly, but it didn't happen.

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And Todd White turned around to the interviewer and said, yeah, it wasn't going to be today, but I still desire to see it.

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I know that the Holy Spirit will do it.

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He's done it before.

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Maybe he will bless me to be the one to do it, that I might restore a person's withered hand or something to that effect.

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This is a miracle that was clearly done by Christ.

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It is not a miracle that is manifest anywhere today.

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The kinds of miracles, quote unquote miracles, that the Charismatics claim that they are doing are not really miraculous.

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And you don't see outward manifestations of genuine miraculous healing taking place.

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Have you ever seen a man's withered hand be restored? No.

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There is nothing that is chronicled about this anywhere.

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Nobody's written it down.

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Nobody has attested to this kind of miracle taking place, where a man's withered hand is suddenly restored.

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An arm that he didn't have anymore is somehow an arm again.

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This is what Jesus did for this man.

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And it is not a kind of a miracle that you see manifest anywhere in the Charismatic movement.

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And so it's restored like the other.

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Jesus shows compassion on this man, heals his hand, gives a what for to the Pharisees in the process as well.

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And then verse 14, going out, the Pharisees took counsel together against him as to how they might destroy him, because that's all they can do here.

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They can't stop him from doing these miraculous things that are gaining the favor of the people.

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People are listening to his teaching, and his teaching goes against our teaching.

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And so the only way that they can do anything about this is to destroy Jesus.

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That's what they begin plotting to do.

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Which is just like Cain, isn't it? That's one of the lessons that I've got coming up pretty soon in my Sunday school class is Cain and Abel, because we're going through Genesis, the first 11 chapters of Genesis this semester.

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So I've got Cain and Abel coming up.

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Abel offered a sacrifice to God, and he had the favor of God.

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God approved of Abel and of his sacrifice.

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But Cain offered a sacrifice, and God did not approve of Cain or his sacrifice.

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And so Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

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He hated Abel, because Abel was righteous.

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God's favor was on Abel and not on Cain.

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And so Cain thought, if I can take out Abel, I can get rid of the righteous guy, then maybe I would be righteous.

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I'm speculating there, because it doesn't exactly say what Cain was thinking, but his hatred was for righteousness.

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He hated righteousness and sought to kill the man who was righteous.

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And so this is what the Pharisees are doing here.

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Same sort of a thing.

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Same spirit that was in Cain is in them to want to destroy Christ.

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But Jesus, aware of this, it says in verse 15, withdrew from there.

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Many followed him, and he healed them all, thwarting the Pharisees' plans.

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And he warned them not to make him known in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, saying.

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And then what we have here in verses 18 to 21, this is a reference back to Isaiah 42.

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So let me read Isaiah 42 verses 1 through 4.

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Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom my soul is well pleased.

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I have put my spirit upon him.

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He will bring forth justice to the nations.

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Now what is the, what's the word that's used here specifically in Matthew? I'm reading from Isaiah 42, but what's the word in Matthew 12? It's not nations, but Gentiles.

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Same thing.

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The words are synonymous.

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But you understand better this reference to Gentiles when you come back to the original text even in Isaiah 42.

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He will bring forth justice to the nations.

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Verse 2, he will not cry out or raise his voice, nor make his voice heard in the street.

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A crushed reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not extinguish.

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He will bring forth justice in truth.

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He will not be faint or crushed until he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands will wait expectantly for his law.

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So Matthew is showing here that this is a fulfillment of what Isaiah had prophesied in chapter 42.

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So coming back to Matthew 12, beginning of verse 18, behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased, I will put my spirit upon him and he shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

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That's the way it comes out in the New Testament because the New Testament is drawing from the Septuagint or the Greek translation of the Old Testament.

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So that word for nations comes out Gentiles in the New, but it still means the same thing.

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Jesus is bringing forth justice to the nations.

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They know God's way, they know God's will through Christ so that this has been proclaimed not just to Jews, but even to other ethnicities, nationalities, backgrounds, the nations.

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He will not cry out or raise his voice, nor make his voice heard in the street.

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That's verse two.

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Well, here in Matthew 12, it's verse 19.

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He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.

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It is not the time for Jesus to make these kinds of judgments or retaliate against those who hate him.

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Jesus will come with vengeance later.

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He comes this time with peace, but later when he returns, Christ's second coming, he will bring his recompense with him.

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As he says in the book of Revelation, he will render to each person according to their works.

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He will bring vengeance upon his enemies.

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He will strike down the nations with a rod of iron.

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But here the gospel is being proclaimed.

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Good news is being testified to the nations, to the Gentiles.

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Christ is not quarreling.

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He is not warring with those who hate him and seek to do him harm, which is certainly what the Pharisees are out to do.

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Jesus withdraws himself from them and he is healing those who come to him.

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Verse 20, a battered reed he will not break off and a smoldering wick he will not put out until he leads justice to victory.

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And in his name, the Gentiles will hope.

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That's what's happening right now with people in the nations putting their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

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And then as it says in Revelation 11, when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel will be saved.

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And we're talking about true Israel in this sense.

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All who are in Christ Jesus are true Israel.

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Really what Matthew is demonstrating here and he has been doing throughout the gospel is that the true Israel has come.

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We kind of had this sightseeing tour in the very beginning of Matthew with Jesus coming to all these different places where Israel failed, but Christ succeeded.

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Remember the fulfillment of Hosea 11, one out of Egypt.

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I have called my son, Jesus comes out of Egypt just as the Israelites, just as the Hebrews were called out of Egypt.

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But then they came into the wilderness and failed.

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Christ succeeded.

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He goes into the wilderness for 40 days, fast and praise is tempted by the devil, succeeds at every temptation in resisting Satan.

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Whereas Israel fell to the tempter and they did not enter into God's rest.

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They did not receive the promised land.

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It was the later generation that God had mercy on and brought them into the promised land.

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So again, all these places where Israel failed, this was where Christ succeeded, showing himself to be true Israel, to be faithful Israel.

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And so all who are in Christ are Israel.

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And when we read a statement like Hebrews 11.26, so all Israel will be saved, that can't possibly be in reference to ethnic Israel, because all Israel won't be saved.

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All of ethnic Israel will not be saved.

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There are ethnic Jews, those who have been born in an ethnic line of Israel, that are not being saved today.

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They are perishing.

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So this reference in Romans 11.26 can only be in reference to one of two things.

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Either it's referring to some future state of Israel in which the entire nation will come to repentance and faith in Christ, or it's referring to Jews and Gentiles together who are indeed true Israel.

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And when you're looking at the illustration of the cultivated olive tree there in Romans 11, then that makes sense.

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It's all who are in Christ will be saved.

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Now why even bring that up? We're reading about Jesus healing a withered hand on the Sabbath.

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Why bring up this whole thing about all who are in Christ will be saved? Well, that's what this is pointing us toward, even here in Matthew 12.

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It is Christ's love for the nations.

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Not just for the Jews, but people from all over the world that he would go to, that he would give his justice to.

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Justice in the sense that all who believe in Christ, our sins are atoned for.

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He paid the price for us so that all who believe in Jesus will be saved.

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In verses one through eight, we see how he's the Lord of the Sabbath, and it's even there that he says to the Pharisees, you need to know what this means.

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I desire compassion and not a sacrifice.

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And then when he's healing the man's hand on the Sabbath, he says, how much more valuable is a man than a sheep? So then it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

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Jesus showing how he fulfills the law, how he is our Sabbath rest, and how it is in him that men are saved, whether Jew or Gentile.

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And in his name, the Gentiles, the nations will hope.

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Consider this word from 1 Peter 2, beginning in verse 22, he did no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth.

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He being reviled was not reviling in return, while suffering he was uttering no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously.

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We see that right here in Matthew 12, with Jesus getting away from the Pharisees, going to the people and healing them.

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Verse 24, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that having died to sin, we might live to righteousness.

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By his wounds you were healed, for you were continually straying like sheep.

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But now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read here today, and may it continue to draw us near to Christ, knowing that it is in him that our sins have been forgiven.

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The love that you have shown to us, we are saved.

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And so may we extend this same love to others, that they may hear the gospel and be saved, that they may turn from their sin to the Lord Jesus Christ, and they too would be grafted in and become part of this wonderful kingdom under Christ our King, who gives us eternal life.

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It's in his name we pray, amen.

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Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www.wutt.com, and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.

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Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study when we understand the text.