45 But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.
Although this healed leper disobeys he receives no rebuke for he is spreading news of the Lord Jesus and what He has done for him. The crowds press the Lord Jesus Christ. They do this because He is offering them something physical, tangible and something that they can see clearly in this world. People are impressed when a prayer seems to be answered, healing happens, or a disaster is avoided.
The problem isn’t that people can’t acknowledge the good that religion can do in a person’s life. Many of our country’s Founders would praise the Bible for its moral value and called themselves Christian because they followed its moral principles. Even Thomas Jefferson proclaimed that he was a firm believer in the doctrines of Jesus. It is when you begin publishing abroad and blazing the matter, that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, that Christ is Jehovah in physical, visible form, that you get into hot water. Unitarians will acknowledge that Jesus was a great teacher but turn their noses up when you show that the Bible says Jesus is God in the flesh. Hindus will acknowledge that Jesus was a great teacher. Muslims will call Him a Messenger of God and the Messiah called to lead the Jews. New Agers will call Him an avatar sent to benefit mankind like Buddha or Lao-Tze. Masons will call Him the Master Builder and Chief Architect.
But, when you declare that, as the Bible says, Jesus Christ is THE Lord, Jehovah in the flesh, people will flinch, squint, stutter, and snort. Some will even get violent.
Compare these verses from the Old and the New Testaments.
Isaiah 43:3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
Philippians 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
It is when you point out that Jesus Himself said that He was the only path to God and when Peter proclaimed that there was no other name under heaven by which we could be saved that the aforementioned will turn their backs or close their minds, or even fire you from your job or try to kill you. Proclaim this abroad. Blaze this matter and watch the fur fly.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
If you have read this and still rejected Christ, when and if you don’t receive Him as your Saviour, too, then when you wake up in a burning Hell, in agony and torment, knowing that you have only an eternity of endless suffering ahead of you, in mankind’s natural destination, you will have only yourself to blame.
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