When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David have mercy on us!” And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying “According to your faith, let it be to you. And their eyes were opened.” Matthew 9:27-29
According to Jewish scholars, Jesus fulfilled at least 324 Old Testament prophecies about the promised Messiah. Starting in Genesis 3:15 where God promised the serpent, “And I will out enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel.” God has made His plan of redemption known to the fallen world. Eve believed God when He promised that her seed would crush the serpent, in Genesis 4:1 after she had Cain, her response was, “I have required a man from the Lord.” Even though she did not understand the prophecy, she understood the significance of giving birth and that God promised to use her seed as a weapon against the enemy. I can imagine her devastation when Cain killed Abel and God banished Cain form being around people. One of her seeds was killed by a jealous brother and now the brother who acted so foolishly was banished to be a vagabond and a fugitive for the rest of his life. Oh, but God promised in Isaiah 55:11 “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth, it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please!” God told Jeremiah in verse 1:12 “For I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it.” Eve did not have the written promises of the Word to stand on, she just had to stand on what God promised her personally. One can see her tenacity to hold on to the promise of God in Genesis 4:25 “She bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel whom Cain killed.” From that time on, people looked forward to the Messiah who would deliver them from sin and oppression. Scripture is full of the prophecies surrounding the birth of Jesus, The Messiah would be born of a virgin ( Isaiah 7:14), born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), star in the heaven would point to Him (Numbers 24:7), He would be worship[ped by shepherds “Psalm 72:9), great sorrow would surround the time of His birth as “a voice was heard morning and weeping was heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children,” as Herod tried to destroy the Messiah by killing all the baby boys, and numerous other prophesies concerning the time of the Messiah’s birth. The Jews handed down their belief systems from one generation to the next and it was expected of them to know the law as they eagerly awaited the birth of their Messiah and they still did not see what was in front of them.. When Mary and Joseph took Jesus to temple to be dedicated, they were met by Simeon, a righteous man God promised that he would not die until he saw the Messiah and Anna the prophet who lived in the temple. It is interesting to me that these were the only two “religious” people who recognized the baby Jesus. After Jesus started His earthly ministry, most of the religious leaders of the time did not see Jesus for who He was. Instead of honoring Him, they accused Him of blasphemy, casting out demons by the power of Satan.
There are many instances throughout the gospels where “religion” refused to see the very Messiah they had been waiting almost 4,000 years for. Instead of being led by the Spirit, they allowed their manmade doctrine to supersede the inspired Word of God. Matthew 8-9 Jesus spends the first day healing the leper, the centurion’s servant and Peters motherin- law, and all who were brought to Him that evening. After He healed all those who were there, Jesus and the twelve climbed into a boat and start to the other side of the lake. Jesus, being tired from ministry got in the bottom of the boat and fell asleep. The storm tossed the boat and scared the disciples so they went and woke Jesus up for help. Jesus rebuked the wind and waves and the sea was clam again. Then next morning they arrived on the other side of the lake and meet two men coming out of the tombs and Jesus casting out the demons commanded them to go into the swine nearby. The swine went crazy and ran off the steep place and drown in the water. The people in the city were upset about losing their herd and asked Jesus to leave. The took the boat back across the lake and when they arrived, a paralytic was there waiting to be healed. The scribes there accused Him of blasphemy even though the paralyzed man was able to walk. Jesus was criticized for eating with the sinners who need to hear the good news of the gospel. As he headed to pray for Jairus’s daughter, a woman with an issue of blood for 12 years crawled to touch the hem of His garment and received her healing. They mourners and others present at Jairus’ house ridiculed Jesus when He told them that the dead girl was sleeping. After sending them out of the room, Jesus brought her back to life. As Jesus left Jairus; house, two blind men, men that could not see followed Him and began to cry out asking Jesus to have mercy on them. Jesus turned into their house and simply asked them “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” When they answered yes, Jesus touched their eyes and they were opened. Jesus interacted with all these different people in a two-day period, getting a plethora of response. Some received their healing or brought others to healed, some asked Him to leave because it affected their finances, all the religious leaders criticized the people Jesus hung out with, questioned why they did not fast, and mocked Him when He was ready to heal, knowing full well the scriptures pertaining to the Messiah and His ministry. He was fulfilling Old Testament prophecies.
I believe we are living in the prophetic end of times, and the religious spirit is alive and well today. It is busy protecting the traditions of man not only ignoring the many great things God is doing, but trying to strangle the life oput of those who are being led of the Spirit. A few years ago, the Amesbury revival and many like it swept across out college campuses. The religious leaders shut down the move of God because school needed to go on. Charlie Kirk started a movement 13 years ago that gained momentum and until last week was reaching about 3,000 young adults in each event all across our country and engaged them with the truth of the gospel, family and love our country. Charlie taught then critical thinking skills and how to exercise their God given Constitutional freedoms, like freedom of speech, the right to assemble, and freedom of religions. Just this week someone who I thought was very liberal gave Charlie credit for changing his world views and correcting his extreme left ideologies. The decade of 2020 is the decade of the mouth and it started out with the government making and using the excuse of COVID to take our rights and blindly the church marched right along to the beat of that drum allowing the government to take our freedom to assemble and religion. The churches were shut down and in some states for close to a year while big box stores were allowed to stay open to steal and dominate the economy as mom and pop stores were forced to shut down for months, churches were deemed unnecessary while the liquor stores remained opened and encouraged people to use alcohol to medicate trying to keep people from finding Jesus, and government pushed an untested vaccine on people that has wrecked the health and ended the life of so many American citizens. Once again, the enemy is trying to shut the mouth of free speech and the Biblical discussion of religion, family and conservative politics. Charlie Kirk was assassinated for his unashamed belief in Jesus and for fighting for his core values. What the enemy meant for evil, God has turned for good. The Turning Point USA worked hard to form the 900 college campuses and the 1,200 chapters around the USA. After his assassination last week, there have been 54,000 requests to start new Turning Point chapters on high school and college campuses all around the USA. God gave Charlie a clear strategy to evangelize our campuses again (like Billy Graham through his ministry. Seems like everywhere you go, people are still talking about Charlie, his beliefs, and the movement he started but the church. The national statistics say about 50% of pastors did not speak about the modern Jesus movement Charlie started or the battle that is going on for the soul of our nation on Sunday?. Are we seeing Jesus separating the sheep from the goats? The true followers of Jesus from those who just show up in an organized religion around once a week? Pastors who are led the sheep to follow Jesus and win their world for Him and those who are happy resting safely in the four walls of a church building. Jesus commanded us to go and preach the gospel around the world. How can we preach the gospel if our shadow government is successful in taking our free speech? The founding Fathers believed in basic American freedoms and understood the importance of everyday people having those rights. I find it interesting that the rights of the First Amendment are: Freedom of Religion, Free Speech, Freedom of the Press, Peoples right to peacefully assemble and the right to petition the Government. The Black Coat Regimen, the clergy left their pulpits and lead their congregation onto war and eventually securing the United States of America a sovereign nation under God! We are in a battle for peoples souls and the soul of our nation and many people refuse to see what is going on around them, The old English proverb, “there are none so blind as those who will not see,” still accurately describes many people in our churches today. They do not see the miracles that are happening all around them or the part they play in the end time harvest. They just want a motivational talk that does not confront sin and wrong lifestyles and to go back home to their easy chares and Sunday ball games.