8 rebukes of Jesus 1. The first rebuke of Jesus as recorded in the NIV Bible was just after Jesus went to live in Capernaum and had called Simon Peter and his brother Andrew as well as James and his brother John to follow Him. They went with Him to the synagogue at Capernaum and He preached there and commanded a demon to leave a man. Then Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So He bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. [Luke 4.38-39 (also Mark 1.29-30)] When Jesus rebuked the fever in Simon’s mother-in-law, the tone of His rebuke was mild as it was against a sickness, for sickness is a direct result of Adam’s disobedience. And as it was for the Israelites, so it is for us who have believed in Jesus and eaten His flesh and drunk His blood, a fever is what we receive when we do not listen to Jesus and if we reject His decrees and abhor His laws and fail to carry out all His commands and so violate His covenant. [Leviticus 26.15-16] 2. The second rebuke of Jesus was to demons on the evening of that day. When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying His hands on each one, He healed them. Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But He rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew He was the Christ. [Luke 4.40-41 (also Mark 1.32-34)] With this rebuke, Jesus dealt with the product of the sin of the fallen angels who took and mated with the daughters of men as they chose – their offspring, the Nephilim. After the flood wiped out mankind including the half-breeds called the Nephilim, the spirits of the Nephilim were left to roam on the Earth, for they do not belong to God as they were not created by God. And as such, this rebuke was harsher than that for the fever against the disobedience of Adam. 3. The third rebuke was to the elements on His first trip across to the Gadarenes: Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. [Matthew 8.26] These were the winds and the waves that no longer behaved as they were designed to and as they had done so before the flood. Winds that were generated when the windows of the Heavens released their waters and the waters of the deep came forth during the first 40 days of the flood. [Genesis 7.17] 4. The fourth rebuke was again to the elements: He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” [The Testimony – Mark 4.39; Luke 8.24] This time the elements were when this particular singular wind was sent to sweep the waters to the north and the south of the Earth, which generated raging waters as they were swept back to form the north and south poles. [Genesis 8.1] Likewise, these were behaving out of order and as such, the rebukes to the elements were sharper in order than the rebuke to the demons. 5. The fifth rebuke was to a man who did not have in mind the things of God, a man who in so doing brought shame to his Father as it is written when Jesus rebuked Simon Peter: “Get behind Me, Satan!” He said. ”You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” [The Testimony – Matthew 16.23; Mark 8.33] This rebuke, which rose again in severity to that given to the elements, related to Ham who in Genesis 9.22 shamed his father Noah by telling his brothers about his father’s nakedness rather than covering his father up and keeping this knowledge to himself. 6. The sixth rebuke was to a deaf and mute spirit after Jesus’ transfiguration when He came down the mountain the next day: He rebuked the evil spirit, the demon. “You deaf and mute spirit,” He said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” [The Testimony – Matthew 17.18; Mark 9.25-27; Luke 9.42b] This rebuke was correlated with Israel who was deaf to God and thus did not speak what God had commanded them to speak. The sternness of this rebuke again rose in its sharpness. 7. The seventh rebuke was to two of His disciples, James and John, when they offered to call down fire from Heaven onto the Samaritans who had refused to welcome Jesus because He was heading to Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do You want us to call fire down from Heaven to destroy them [even as Elijah did]?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them. And He said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” [Luke 9.54-55] This rebuke, which again increased in level of sternness, was related to the fear Elijah showed after he had experienced the might and power of God when fire came down from Heaven and licked up his offering that had been drowned in water. Yet despite this, he ran in fear of Jezebel when he heard her threats against him. [1 Kings 18–19.3] Whilst experiencing the power and might of God, Elijah manifested a spirit of fear when persecution came. Likewise James and John manifested a spirit of fear despite having been given the authority to drive out demons and to heal every disease and sickness [Matthew 10.1; Mark 6.7; Luke 9.1-2] as well as being witnesses to the many miracles done by Jesus. 8. The eighth rebuke was on the evening of the day of Jesus’ resurrection when He had to return to the disciples because they had not gone to meet Him in Galilee. They had not believed nor obeyed His instructions for them through the angels to the women, nor had they believed the messages He personally gave the women to tell them. Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; He rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. [Mark 16.14] This time when He rebuked them, He was furious… so furious that He first asked for something to eat to calm Himself down, otherwise such power would have come from Him that could have destroyed them. First He came and said to them, “Peace be with you,” [Luke 24.36] in the same manner as the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the cave: ”What are you doing here, Elijah?” [1 Kings 19.9] Then Jesus asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?“ [Luke 21.41] just as the Lord said to Elijah, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” [1 Kings 19.11] Then as the Holy Spirit came and tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks followed by an earthquake and a fire, [1 Kings 19.11-12] so likewise power came out from Jesus that demonstrated the severity of His rebuke as a warning for them to listen to and obey His next instructions most carefully when He told them, “…stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” And as the Holy Spirit then controlled Himself to speak in a gentle whisper, so also did Jesus, for Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you!” [John 20.21] This rebuke corresponded as it increased in its severity with the rebuke given to Israel when the Holy Spirit sent Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem. [2 Chronicles 36.12-21] For, if the disciples did not receive and apply the rebuke, they would miss that new appointment, which Jesus had set up for them with the Holy Spirit at Jerusalem. We know that they still did not adhere to His strict instruction as some of them went back to Galilee to go fishing, and we now know the severity of the devastation of the church from what it was intended to be and should have been. For just as Israel was meant to be a light to the world of its day, a nation that so lived by the blessings of God and His miraculous provision that it drew all other nations to come to worship the Lord God Almighty, so likewise the church was meant to be the Kingdom of God on Earth, a light to the world, which as it protected and provided for the world with the power of God and the joy, peace and righteousness in the Holy Spirit, would bring all men to repentance and the knowledge of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. So, as Jesus said, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me.” [Revelation 3.19-20] For if the eighth rebuke signaled in such devastation, what would the ninth rebuke do?
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 06:44:53 +0000
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