Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the NET, netbible.org, all rights reserved)

In this way what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah was fulfilled: “He took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.”
Matthew 8:17 (emphasis added)

How aggressive can Yahweh get? Well … He can make hail like baseballs fall, He can turn dust into pestilency insects. He can send darkness so thick you can’t see. He can break apart prison buildings. He can send angels to kill 185,000 troops in a military camp. He can make an enemy force blind to what’s around them, leading them into captivity. He can rain fire down from the sky. He can flood areas small and large. He can divide water. He can strike dead. Yahweh can be really aggressive. The Greek for ‘He took’ is lambanó (lam-ban’-o) which means to receive, take hold of and to lay hold by aggressively and actively accepting what is available or offered. To accept with initiative – emphasising the assertiveness of the receiver. This is how Jesus laid hold of what Matthew, Isaiah, and Peter called sickness, weakness, and disease.

‘Diseases’ covers a disease, malady, or sickness. A chronic or persisting disease, typically an incurable ailment. It can be a malady (rarely figuratively, of moral disability) — disease, infirmity, sickness. Which rides right on into ‘infirmities’ which we learned yesterday means want of strength, weakness, illness, suffering, calamity, frailty. An ailment that deprives someone of enjoying or accomplishing what they would like to do. Even a focus on the handicaps that go with the weakness. It also particularly expresses the weakening influences of the illness or a particular problem. Jesus TOOK all that. Jesus ALSO bore them. ‘Bore’ is bastazó (bas-tad’-zo), which means to take up and carry. Very much an I take up or I carry away. To take up in order to carry or bear or to put upon oneself something to be carried. To take up with your hands. To lift – literally or figuratively – or endure, declare, sustain, or even receive. Jesus bore all that too.

Jesus learned to take up and to bear from His Father. Look at that list of aggressive occurrences. Yahweh moved MIGHTILY to get His children out of Egypt where they were being unjustly used (Exodus 1-15). Not serving the nation, but being oppressed by it. Yahweh sent a deliverer and got His people out with signs and wonders so that no one could say He wasn’t involved. So that no one could claim moral, military, or political failure. Yahweh got them out with a pillar of fire, a pillar of cloud, a parting of a waterway they couldn’t physically cross, blood, frogs, lice or gnats, flies, livestock, boils, hail, locust, darkness, and the death of firstborn sons. He systematically destroyed those things ruled over by an Egyptian deity, destroyed a portion of the nation, killed a Pharaoh, and broke the economy of the country. Why? They were abusing His kids. He gets aggressive about that. Serving? That’s fine. Teaches humility and work ethic. But oppression? No, sir. He got His kids out. They came out rich (Exodus 12:35-36) and they came out not ONE of them sick (Psalm 105:37).

Paul and Silas were in prison. Unjustly and illegally beaten, they were tossed into the darkest of the dankest and left to rot until the bosses figured out what the endgame was (Acts 16:16-40). They praised Adonai. Sang songs of thanksgiving and worship. Yahweh ripped the prison apart (Acts 16:25-26). Not only Paul and Silas but EVERYONE imprisoned could have gotten out. No one did. They stuck to Paul. I think I’d stick to the guy who from MY point of view just broke the prison with a rousing chorus of How Great Thou Art Jewish Edition (Psalms. They were Jews, they loved Adonai, they WOULD have been singing the Psalms). Paul and Silas ended up converting the jailer and his whole family. Getting escorted out by the bosses instead of slinking away in shame. Making things better for the local church. Yahweh takes care of His kids.

One of the greatest military groups of all time was threatening Judah (2 Kings 18:13-19:37). The king turned to Adonai. Sought Him, got a word, and stood on it firmly. Instructed the nation to do the same. Imagine being one of the invading soldiers. You wake up the next day. It’s quiet in the tent. You yawn. Stretch. You glance over at your tent buddy and … he’s dead. All throughout the camp. 185,000 dead. They left. Don’t blame them. Adonai protects His kids, especially the obedient ones.

These are the kinds of things He does. Elijah called down fire and got protected from groups of soldiers who meant him harm as they dragged him to see the king (2 Kings 1:9-15). Yahweh protected Elijah. Another king sent an army to capture and kill Elisha (2 Kings 6:15-23). There were a lot. They got blinded. Elisha led them into the capital where they were easily captured. Yahweh supernaturally helped Elisha. Yahweh cares for His kids. The world was suffering from a demonic infection. Evil was everywhere. Humanity (males and females) were given over totally to physical pleasure of good and twisted ways – to excess (Genesis 6:9-9:17). There was a righteous man – Noah (Genesis 6:8-9) – and Yahweh saved him, his kids, their spouses, and the animals to start over again. Yahweh cares about His kids. This saddened him. But it was necessary to save everyone. Yahweh cares about his Kids.

Adonai lifts us because He loves us. He delivers us because He delights in us. He LOVES us SO MUCH. He did all those amazing things to protect His children, to deliver His children, to get His children to a safe place. Did you know that Adonai doesn’t change? He GROWS but He doesn’t change. He isn’t different, but He is always MORE of what HE IS. Why do we downplay these verses? We’ve jumped around, but do you remember today’s verse? “He took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.” Do you think He is any LESS aggressive in defending His children today? The answer is He is not. He is MORE aggressive.

How aggressive? He DESTROYED sin. He DESTROYED the curse. He took away COMPLETELY and UTTERLY anything and EVERYTHING that would keep us down, unhealthy, less than whole, anything but peaceful, anything but joyful, and He did NOT do this because we deserved it. He did it because He LOVES us. He did it out of MERCY. He extended it to us by GRACE. He gave us His TRUST so that we COULD trust Him on the truthfulness of this love, mercy, and grace. He did it ALL and all we need to do is ACCEPT IT! That’s the Word of Faith that we preach all over this world (Romans 10:8-9). Why do we settle for less than ALL?

All is a Greek and Hebrew word meaning ALL. It plays in every language. From Afrikaans to Zulu, ALL means the whole quantity or extent. Jesus took ALL our weaknesses. Jesus carried ALL our diseases. Remember what those two words mean. Look back at the top and see what categories are included in ALL. Our chronic diseases. Our mental diseases. Our physical diseases. Our weaknesses of character. Our spiritual weakness. Our anxiety. Our depression. Our worries. Our stresses. Our coping mechanisms. Our underlying conditions. Our things that we think are fine, but actually are causing us harm. Our addictions. Our bad memories. Our trauma. Our nightmares. Our desperations. Every single negative thing. Our ALL. Jesus took it.

He didn’t quietly and surreptitiously sneak it out of our hand. He actively and aggressively took it. He wrestled it from us. He pried it out of our spiritually dead fingers. He took from us what weakens us and bore it. He took it up and carried it. He was lifted with it all over Him. He was lifted and He died. All that STUFF died too. It went into the grave. But we have a hand out from Him who came here first. Hand out ready to TAKE US. To BEAR US UP. To LIFT US. To bring us out into HIS resurrection, HIS covenant with the Father, into HIS freedom from fear, into HIS overcoming of the world. Into HIS all. He doesn’t leave us where He found us. He doesn’t leave us where we think we deserve to be. He doesn’t leave us where others think we deserve to be. He doesn’t leave us. Period.

He lifts us. Because He loves us. He DELIVERS us. Because He delights in us. He loves us SO MUCH. TOO much to leave sick in ANY way. It is ALL covered by His sacrifice. We’re free from ALL of it. EVERY NEGATIVE THING. We do NOT need to cope. We do NOT need to manage. We are NOT broken. Adonai CAN renew us to factory fresh. He can wipe away the bad. Leave ONLY the good. He can TAKE IT. He can BEAR IT. Let Him. Let Him do it today. You DESERVE to be clean and whole. Nothing missing and nothing broken. Shalom.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 42:1 & 6

““Here is my servant whom I support, my chosen one in whom I take pleasure. I have placed my Spirit on him; he will make just decrees for the nations. . . . “I, the Lord, officially commission you; I take hold of your hand. I protect you and make you a covenant mediator for people and a light to the nations,” The Messiah would be a worldwide compassion. Sent to the Jewish nations, the children of Yahweh, He would extend far more than that. He would cover the globe. “My servant is truly blind, my messenger is truly deaf. My covenant partner, the servant of the Lord, is truly blind. You see many things, but don’t comprehend; their ears are open, but do not hear” (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus is the light we need to see. Jesus is the mediator we are desperate for. He lets us into His covenant with the Father and in HIM we experience all good things. Jesus IS the Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16b