St. Matthew 8

8:1 When he [Jesus] was come down from the mountain, great multitudes [Great crowds of people] followed Him.

2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if thou [You] wilt, [Will] thou [You] canst [Can] make me clean.

[This man had faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.]

3 And Jesus put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will; [I am willing] be thou [You] clean. And immediately [Instantly] his leprosy was cleansed.

4 And Jesus saith [Said] unto [To] him, See thou [You] tell no man; but go thy [Your] way, shew [Show] thyself [Yourself] to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

[Jesus is referring to Leviticus 14:3.]

5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, [The city of consolation] there came unto him a centurion, beseeching [Looking for] Him,

[A centurion is a captain of 100 men in the roman army. He is a Gentile.]

6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth [Lays] at home sick of the palsy, [Palsy meaning paralyzed] grievously [Terribly, excessively] tormented. [Tortured]

7 And Jesus saith [Said] unto [To] him, I will come and heal him.

8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou [You] shouldest [Should] come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

[The centurion is a humble man with great faith in Jesus Christ.]

9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; [Goes] and to another, Come, and he cometh; [Comes] and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth [Does] it.

[Actually the centurion is saying he knows Jesus Christ has the power of healing his servant just by speaking. He has great faith in Jesus Christ.]

10 When Jesus heard it, He marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily [Truly] I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. [Not in the twelve tribes of Israel.]

11 And I say unto you, That many [Many Gentiles] shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

[Gentiles meaning nations. All people other then people of the twelve tribes of Israel are Gentiles.]

[Verse twelve has to do with the end times that are not far in the future.]

12 But the children of the kingdom [Of the King and His dominion] shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

13 And Jesus said unto [To] the centurion, Go thy [Your] way; and as thou [You] hast [Have] believed, [If you are sincere] so be it done unto thee. [You] And his servant was healed in the selfsame [Same] hour.

[The centurion believed; he had faith and Jesus healed his servant.]

14 And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, He saw his [Peter’s] wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.

[The word laid meaning laid out to die. She was very sick.]

[This verse documents Peter had a wife.]

15 And He touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.

[In other words she waited on them. She most likely fixed them something to eat.]

16 When the even [Evening] was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils: [Evil spirits] and He [Jesus] cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick:

[Being possessed by evil spirits and being sick are two different things. A seizure is a medical condition.]

[People have evil spirits today that can be cast out by the word of Yahveh [God] in the name of Jesus Christ.]

17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias [Isaiah] the prophet, saying, Himself [Jesus Christ] took our infirmities, [Feebleness of mind and body] and bare our sicknesses.

[This was spoken by Isaiah approximately seven hundred years before the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ telling us of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ approximately seven hundred years before it happened. It is written in Isaiah chapter fifty three. Let’s go there.

Isaiah 53

1 Who hath [Has] believed our report? [The report about the first and second coming of Jesus Christ written of in verses 13-15 in chapter 52.] and to whom is the arm [Power] of the LORD revealed? [Who can see it?]

[The power of the LORD will be revealed to people who His cup of wrath is poured out on, and to people [Souls] He protects, His Elect.]

2 For He [Jesus Christ] shall grow up before Him [Before Yahveh] as a tender plant, [As a baby] and as a root out of a dry ground: [In other words it wasn’t a good place to grow.] He hath [Has] no form nor comeliness; [He was silent and submissive.] and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.

[Jesus Christ would be Emmanuel, Yahveh [God] with us in a flesh body.]

3 He [Jesus Christ] is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

[Most people didn’t care about Jesus. He was beaten, spit upon, judged and criticized by man.]

4 Surely He hath [Has] borne our griefs, [Our spiritual sickness] and carried our sorrows: [Our pain from our spiritual sickness if we believe in Him.] yet [But] we did esteem [Regard] Him stricken, smitten of God, [Yahveh [God] allowed Him to be smitten.] and afflicted.

[He was persecuted, and crucified, and afflicted with punishment unto death.]

5 But He was wounded [He was pierced on the cross] for our transgressions, [Transgressions are our sins against Yahveh.] He was bruised for our iniquities: [Iniquities meaning sins and wickedness.] the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.

[We are healed because He died on the cross for mankind, defeating death. People who put Him first in their lives by doing His will can repent of their sins and ask Yahveh [God] for forgiveness in His name, and be forgiven for their sins unto eternal life.]

[Let’s return to St. Matthew 8:18.]

18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes [Crowds of people] about Him, He gave commandment to depart unto [To] the other side.

19 And a certain scribe [Writer, scripture lawyer, town clerk] came, and said unto [To] Him, Master, I will follow thee [You] whithersoever [Wherever] thou [You] goest. [Go]

[The scribes were sometimes scripture lawyers. In St. Matthew chapter twenty three we will learn they took over the seat of Moses. In other words they consider their selves to be lawyers concerning Yahveh’s [God’s] law.]

[Jesus Christ can read a persons mind so He knew what kind of person He was talking to so He said.]

20 And Jesus saith [Said] unto [To] him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath [Has] not [No] where to lay His head.

[The word foxes meaning a shrewd, cunning, and prideful person. In a sense Jesus was telling the scribe he was cunning and prideful and didn’t have any place in his heart [Mind] for Him.]

[Jesus wants people who are humble and will love Him and love people so that they will love and lead people in His word.]

21 And another of His disciples [Learner’s of Yahveh’s [God’s] word] said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

[Actually the disciple’s father is in the process of dying and the disciple is saying after my father dies I want to go and help bury him.]

22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow Me; and let the dead [The spiritually dead] bury their dead.

[Verse twenty three takes us back to verse eighteen where Jesus gave commandment to depart to the other side.]

23 And when He was entered into a ship, His disciples [Learner’s of Yahveh’s [God’s] word.] followed Him.

24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest [Gale] in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but He [Jesus] was asleep.

[In other words the ship was rocking and rolling and water was coming into the ship and Jesus was asleep.]

25 And His disciples came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

[In other words Lord save us, we are going to die.]

[Yahshua [Jesus Christ] is the only one that can save you. If you put Him first in your life by doing His will He will save you unto eternal life. Yahveh’s/Jesus Christ’s will is for you to learn and become a doer of His word. If you learn and become a doer of His word while you are still in your flesh body you will have blessings and rewards in Heaven. If you fail to put Yahveh/Jesus Christ first in your life before The Great White Throne Judgment you will most likely die. Your first death is the death of your flesh body; your second death is the death of your soul. You will cease to exist if you are judged to suffer the second death at The Great White Throne Judgment.]

26 And He saith [Said] unto [To] them, Why are ye [You] fearful, O ye [You] of little faith? [Remember Jesus said we are going over. This is symbolic of the storms of our flesh lives.] Then He [Jesus] arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

[In other words the storm vanished.]

[If you put Jesus Christ first in your life He will help you through the problems of this flesh life and give you peace of mind.]

27 But the men marvelled, [Looked at and admired Jesus] saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him!

[Yahshua [Jesus Christ] has the power and the authority to control anything and everything.]

28 And when He was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

29 And, behold, [When they saw Jesus Christ] they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, [You] Jesus, thou [You] Son of God? Art [Are] thou [You] come hither [Here] to torment us before the time? [Before the end time.]

[The devils knew who He was and why He was there.]

30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine [Pigs] feeding.

31 So the devils besought [Called out to] Him, saying, If thou [You] cast us out, [Out of the two men] suffer [Allow] us to go away into the herd of swine.

[Pigs are the lowest carnal flesh. The evil spirits knew if Yahshua [Jesus] sent them back to Yahveh [God] it would be death for them therefore they were not very particular.]

32 And He [Jesus] said unto [To] them, Go. And when they were come out, [Out of the two men] they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished [Died] in the waters.

33 And they that kept them [The swine] fled, [They ran] and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen [Happened] to the [Two men] possessed of the devils.

34 And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw Him, they besought [Called for] Him that He would depart out of their coasts.

[The people were not happy because Jesus had cost them money. They did not accept Him just as many places and people in the world today will not accept Him.]