How Jesus taught – part 2
How he used demonstrations of God’s power to drive home his message
Healing and other Biblical miracles teach us that Yahweh is the one true God, and Yeshua the Messiah. The following examples of the Lord’s triumph over the powers of darkness result in many people placing their faith in the Lord.
In 1 Kings chapter 18, God’s faithful prophet Elijah challenges evil King Ahab’s priests of Baal and Ashtoreth to a showdown on Mount Carmel to reveal Yahweh as Lord. An offering is placed on an altar and the challenge given to the respective deities to call down fire. The priests of Baal and Ashtoreth go first, and despite their strenuous efforts, nothing happens. Elijah now insists that the altar and offering be deluged with water to make it impossible for them to catch fire. He then humbly petitions the Lord to show His power. Fire immediately descends from heaven, consuming the offering. Elijah then commands the people to put the false prophets to death.
One of Yeshua’s most dramatic triumphs over demonic powers is recorded in Mark chapter 5. An extremely violent, demonpossessed man brings fear to a locality. Yet it is Yeshua who brings terror to the demons, who beg Him to be sent into a herd of pigs. He agrees to their request and the pigs rush to their death in the lake. The delivered man, restored to sanity and freedom, travels throughout the region glorifying Yeshua.
Living by example
Yeshua’s unique reputation is based not just on His wisdom and miracles, but the extraordinary life He lived. Probably the most striking revelation of His goodness, compassion and generosity is the prayer He uttered whilst dying on the cross for His Father to forgive those crucifying Him.
Despite his human failings, we see similar qualities in David, who represents Messiah in type. David was “a man after God’s own heart” and appointed “ruler of his people” (1 Samuel 13:14). Like Yeshua, David first had to suffer persecution and rejection, only to become king later.
David’s kindness to an enemy is recorded in 1 Samuel chapter 24. Pursued with lethal intent by King Saul, David refuses to take Saul’s life when he comes across him relieving himself in the cave where he is hiding. In rejecting his soldiers’ calls to kill Saul, David reminds us of Yeshua, in the agony of crucifixion, resisting the temptation to call on legions of angels to deliver Him from His tormentors.
Discipleship
Yeshua did not just teach His followers theology and how to live, He also empowered them to heal the sick and cast out demons. This apprenticeship, which like all true learning, involved mistakes as well as success, as shown when the disciples failed to drive out the demon from the young boy (Mark 9:29). With the exception of Judas, they went on to become His apostles or messengers, their lives full of His grace, truth, power and sacrificial love. The original disciples had come to resemble their master and fulfil the Lord’s calling on their lives.
In Tanach, one of the best examples of discipleship is Elijah taking Elisha under his wing as his servant. Just as Yeshua personally chose His followers, who gave up their day jobs, so Elijah picked Elisha (1 Kings 19:19-21). In the same way as Yeshua and Elijah performed several great miracles including healing and the multiplication of food, so did Elisha once Elijah’s anointing was passed on to him (2 Kings chapter 2). Elisha’s miracles were not only in the pattern of Elijah’s, but also in greater measure – a “double anointing”. Yeshua’s statement that His followers would do “even greater things than these” (John 14:12) most likely refers to the collective empowerment of His body, the church, after Yeshua also passed on His anointing in the Holy Spirit.
Summary: Comparison of Teaching Methods used by Tanach and Yeshua
(You may wish to review Part 1 of this series in the previous issue – 14:5).
Looking at how Yeshua taught and how the Lord teaches in Tanach, we see a remarkable similarity, confirming once again the truth and unity of Scripture, as summarised below:
