Jesus Has All Authority!

I was recently asked the following question: "In Luke 8:22-56, what do you think Luke is trying to tell us about Jesus by grouping these stories together?"

In Luke 8:22–56, we find four miracles performed by Jesus. They are reported by Luke in a rapid sequence and in a condensed fashion. Here is a brief list of the four and possibly five miracles performed by Jesus:

1.     Calming the sea (Luke 8:22–25)

2.     Casting out the legion of demons (Luke 8:26–39)

3.     Healing the woman with a hemorrhage (Luke 8:40–48)

4.     Raising the girl from the dead (Luke 8:49–56)

It appears that Luke is detailing the authority of Jesus over several segments of creation and therefore is declaring His Deity while He walked on earth in His humanity.

In the Calming of the sea (Luke 8:22–25), Jesus declares His authority over creation. In this miracle, we see Jesus engage His omnipotence and Kingship over the world.

In the casting out of the legion of demons (Luke 8:26–39), Jesus declares His authority over spiritual world and the forces that disrupt good and promote evil. This is something He had already commanded His disciples to be doing and gave them another teaching on this topic through this example (Mark 3:13–15).

In the healing the woman of her hemorrhage (Luke 8:40–48), Jesus declares His authority over sickness. In this miracle, it seems Jesus engaged His omniscience and His omnipotence while encouraging and teaching His disciples of the importance of faith (Luke 8:48).

In the raising of the synagogue official’s daughter from the dead (Luke 8:49–56), Jesus declared His authority over death.

Jesus did all of these miracles with His disciples watching which would cause them to proclaim His authority, which they saw with their own eyes, to the world.

-->

There may be another nugget in the middle of these stories that also proclaimed Jesus’ authority and genius. Jesus desires and commands for all believers to be about making disciples (Matthew 28:16–20). At the end of the story of the demonized man who was set free from the legion of demons, we find Jesus denying a brand–new believer to spend time with Him and instead sends him away to declare what Jesus had done for him. No formula. No program. No rote presentation. Simply he was to tell the whole cite (ten cities in Mark 5:19) what great things Jesus had done for him. We learn in Mark 5:20 that the results were that everyone in the ten cities marveled. This teaches me that Jesus wants even the newest believer to be proclaiming His good news and that they will be successful simply by obeying.

For more information on your natural ability to share the gospel go to www.wildfiregospel.com