Transcript

Carl Allen told the following.  While living in Germany, I had the fortune of going camping in the black forest.  I found out quickly why they call it the black forest.  When the sun goes down it is pitch black and you can barely see your hand in front of your face.

We had just finished setting up camp and I had to run back out to the car to grab my backpack, which was about a mile away.  As soon as I started to trek back to the campsite the sun went down and before I knew it, I had no idea which way was what.  I was lost.

After a small panic attack, I calmed myself and started to walk very slowly in the direction of where I thought camp and my friends were at.  Just a few moments later, I noticed a very small light peering out into the dark.  It was like a lighthouse for me.

I set my course to walk directly toward the light.  The closer I got the brighter the light, and before I knew it, I walked back into the campground to see that my friends had set a large lantern in a large tree that covered our tents.

That lantern not only expelled the darkness from where we were in the forest, but it also gave us safety from the dark and a lighthouse to find our way back.

Without Christ, people are spiritually blind and in darkness, and in that fearsome darkness they are lost and wander aimlessly.

But Christ said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”  Christ, the Light, drives darkness away.  In Him is light, deliverance, safety, and guidance for our walk in life.

Luke 13:10-11: “And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.  And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.”

The account before us takes place “in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath,” but the town and place are not revealed for us.

The Lord often taught in the synagogues and in many different locations.  Mark 1:39 states, “And He preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils.”

Christ used the synagogue and its services as a place to teach and reach Israel with the gospel of the kingdom.  The Apostle Paul later did the same to reach people with the gospel of the grace of God.

As Christ taught in the synagogue, we know what He taught.  Luke 4:43,44 records how the Lord said, “I must preach the kingdom of God…for therefore am I sent.  And He preached in the synagogues of Galilee.”

The Lord preached the gospel of the kingdom and the earthly kingdom hope for Israel.

Even after His resurrection, before His ascension, for those 40 days it says He spoke to them “of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).

Christ’s message in His preaching and teaching was always about God’s kingdom on the earth, and how to enter His earthly kingdom, which was “at hand” at that time.

The Lord taught Israel the kingdom truths that believing Israel was to live by then and will live by when that kingdom is established in the future. 

What Christ taught and is recorded in the Gospels is what Israel will live by during the 7-year Tribulation and the 1000-year kingdom.

In a Jewish synagogue on a Sabbath, Israelites gathered and listened to Christ teach about the kingdom of God.  In that future kingdom, Christ will reign over Israel as her King and Messiah.  And this foreshadows how He will teach Israel during the kingdom as well.

When the kingdom was temporarily suspended due to Israel’s fall and unbelief, and the dispensation of grace was ushered in, today we are called to live by the faith and the message of grace that Christ revealed to Paul for the Church today.

While Christ was teaching in this synagogue, the Lord saw a woman suffering the physical effects of the darkness due to a demon.

Verse 11 says, “And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.”

“A spirit of infirmity,” or an evil spirit, a demon, caused a physical condition that compromised this woman’s dignity as a human.  She had a demon spirit, which had taken possession of her and had held her bound.

We know this spirit of infirmity was a demon because of the Lord’s words later in the account, “And ought not this woman…whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” (v. 16).

Because of the demon, she “was bowed together,” or bent double, bent forward, as though straining to carry a burden.  She had a severe curvature of the spine.  And she suffered this affliction due to a demon for 18 years.

This had taken place about 15 years after our Lord’s birth.  With His coming, Satan had unleashed an all-out assault in Israel, and this woman had been one of the casualties from one of Satan’s angels.

Her condition was more than just a case of osteoporosis.  She was so bent over and her body was so deformed due to the demon that she could not look up and see the sky. 

She was constantly facing down.  The woman would have had to contort her body to see anything in front or above her.  She lived in this posture of forced humiliation with her face always toward the ground.

Charles Spurgeon explained her state this way, “For eighteen years she had not gazed upon the sun; for eighteen years no star of night had gladdened her eye; her face was drawn downward towards the dust, and all the light of her life was dim…”

Eating and drinking would have been extremely difficult and challenging and she could only rest and sleep curled up in a fetal position. 

When Luke states that she “could in no wise lift up herself,” it means she was unable to straighten herself up.  She could not bend herself up and stand erect. 

This would have made it difficult for her to go to place to place.  She would have slowly and painfully shuffled and moved along.  Every day was a struggle for her.  She could not, by her own power, overcome her condition.  For 18 years she was in this condition. 

Luke, the writer of the Gospel, is a doctor.  The Apostle Paul called him “the beloved physician.”  And in calling it “a spirit of infirmity,” Dr. Luke used a Greek word that does not mean a sickness caused by disease, but instead it means weakness.

Her weakness was caused by a demon, an evil spirit.  And the demon kept her hunched over, pressing her face down by this physical weakness.

Again, in verse 16, the Lord said she was “bound by Satan” and for 18 years she had been his slave: bound, fettered and a prisoner to this infirmity and weakness. 

Satan had her bent, bowed and bound.  This woman symbolized the spiritual condition of Israel.  In her unbelief and spiritual darkness, she was so weak spiritually that she was unable to stand up straight.  Israel was spiritually bent, bowed, and in bondage to Satan because of sin, tradition, and error.

Luke 13:12-13: “And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.  And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.”

As Christ was teaching in the synagogue, He stopped in the middle of his message.  He saw this woman in the crowd.  The sight of her and her condition interrupted His lesson.  The fact that He “saw her” is significant, because He sees us in our suffering too.

And then “He called her to Him.”  Rather than going to her, Christ called her to the front and put her front and center so everyone present would see what He would do.  He made her the focal point of the synagogue service.

Unlike most of His other miracles, Christ initiated the encounter and He performed this miracle without even being asked.

The account doesn’t say anything about her faith.  She had just shuffled to the synagogue like she probably always did as a Jewish woman on the Sabbath.

In the miracles our Lord performed, He healed people sometimes who had faith and sometimes people who didn’t.  He healed people who asked for it and some who didn’t.  It was never always just one way for all the miracles.

The other thing that’s important to note here is that the devil goes to church.  That woman was in that synagogue with a demon possessing her. 

Demons still go to church seeking through their influence and subtilty to promote false teaching, error, and “doctrines of demons” as 1 Timothy 4:1 says.  There’s a lot going on in the spiritual realm in every church and at every church service.

That demon in this woman was doing the devil’s work and Christ wanted to defeat him and release the woman, and demonstrate where true freedom from Satan’s bondage is found.

After Christ “called her to Him,” and she made her way to the front of the synagogue, with authority the Lord spoke, and He said, “Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity,” and simultaneously as He spoke, “He laid His hands on her”

“And immediately” for the first time in 18 years, “she was made straight,” or she lifted herself up, she straightened up, stood up straight, and she looked straight into another person’s face, and the face she saw was the face of the Son of God.

The Lord restored to her former dignity, and she stood upright, and was able to walk normally and could look up and see the sky.  She was freed from the devil’s power.  This was a synagogue service the people never forgot!

Christ had spoken words of freedom to her, “Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity,” or you are freed from your infirmity, you are released from your weakness.

The Lord did not confront or speak to the “spirit of infirmity,” or the demon; He didn’t even acknowledge him.  He just dispelled the demon with this command, broke its power, cast it out, ended her infirmity and set her free from this weakness and the demon that caused it.

Christ performed both a physical and spiritual miracle in an instant, freeing her from both the demon and the physical consequence of its presence.

Christ, as God and Creator, has complete power and authority over the realm of darkness and demons.  In His earthly ministry, He cast demons out at will.  Anytime and every time He was confronted with a demon-possessed person, He cast the demon or demons out.  His authority over the kingdom of darkness is complete.

A couple chapters earlier, Luke spoke of women who, like this woman, had been healed and delivered from a demon.  Luke 8:2-3 states, “And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others…”

The Lord’s command, “Thou art loosed,” means to loose from or release from another’s custody.  And this woman was released from the demon’s custody and being bound by Satan.  And the tense of the command in the original Greek, means she was freed and would remain in a state of freedom.

In other words, her freedom was permanent.  It was abiding.  She was freed from her bondage and would remain free from then on. 

And that’s what Christ says to us when we believe that He died for our sins and rose again.  The instant we place our faith in the gospel, Christ says, “You are loosed.”  “You are free.” 

We are free from our sins, free from our spiritual bondage, and it is permanent!  We are freed from the penalty of our sins, and we remain free for all eternity.

Christ had spoken a command of both compassion and authority to the woman, and at the same time, He had given her a touch of compassion and care.

He didn’t need to touch her to deliver her from the demon and her infirmity.  His word alone was sufficient for that.  But verse 13 says, “And he laid his hands on her.” 

She had experienced 18 years of suffering at the hands of a cruel demon.  Thus, the Lord not only delivered her by His word, but He also touched her with a compassionate touch which revealed His kindness and care for her.

True kindness from the One Who is the Light was in stark contrast to the treatment of this woman from the powers of darkness.

After the woman had been delivered and she stood up straight, verse 13 tells us that her reaction was that she “glorified God.”

She immediately stood up straight and gave glory to God.  And in doing so, I imagine her lifting her face up, stretching her arms to the sky in praise to God.

Eighteen years of bondage was over and done.  In an instant, she was standing upright and the very next instant, she began glorifying God.

She glorified God, because it was plain and obvious to her that her deliverance had come from Him.  She knew it was a miracle of God, that it was because of His power and mercy that she was set free, and she gave thanks to Him for delivering her.

And as Psalm 107:20-21 says, “He sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.  Oh that men would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!”

Luke 13:14-17: “And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.

“The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?

“And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

“And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.”

In the account, we hear her praises to God from one ear and in the other you hear indignation and complaining. 

One would think that any person would naturally rejoice to see evil defeated and be sympathetic and glad for the fact that a member of one’s community had just been released and healed from an 18-year physical infirmity.  

Instead, “the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day.”

The woman was crying out in gratitude glorifying God, while the ruler of the synagogue was indignant and angry at a perceived breaking of a rule. 

The ruler did not have the courage to express his anger to Christ, but rather he turned and “said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day” (v. 14).

You would have thought this ruler of a synagogue would have turned to the people and said “Let’s all give glory to God,” and had everyone join in the chorus of praise to Him. 

Instead, in his rigid legalism and keeping of rules, he was outraged and displeased that Christ had healed a woman on the Sabbath.  He shows how religion and legalism can be harsh, merciless, and loveless.

I’ve always liked this statement by Charles Swindoll, “A relaxed, easygoing Christian who enjoys his freedom in Christ is miles more attractive and effective than the rigid, uptight brother who squeaks when he walks and whines when he talks.”

This ruler of the synagogue was whining when he talked.  And he indignantly told the people that they should come for healing on the first six days of the week, but not on the seventh, not on Saturday.  He is saying, “Get healed on Sunday or Thursday or whatever; there’s all kinds of days for this, but not the Sabbath.” 

There is humor in his response too, because getting healed like this woman did does not normally take place any day of the week.  It was only because Christ was there that it had.

If the ruler had had this physical deformity by demon possession for eighteen years, I’m sure he would not have minded on which day he was healed and delivered.

But the ruler was a stickler about the law and the commandments concerning the Sabbath.  However, he overlooked the law when it said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Lev. 19:18).  But there was no love in his heart for this woman.

The bondage of the ruler of the synagogue was worse than that of the woman.  Her bondage affected her body; his bondage shackled his heart and mind.  He was so bound by his tradition and religion that he even opposed the working of the Son of God.

There were two people who were bent out of shape here: the woman who was physically bent by the demon, and the other was this religious ruler who was spiritually bent out of shape by his religious traditions.

The woman was crippled by a spirit of weakness and the ruler was crippled by a spirit of legalism.  One was delivered in this account, but the other stayed bent out of shape.

By Christ’s miracles, He demonstrated the power of God, but He also showed the heart of God.  God’s heart is full of mercy, compassion, kindness, and love.

In contrast to God, we see how the deadening effect that religion can have on people.  We see here how mankind can love rule-keeping more than people who are in need.

The ruler quotes Scripture, “There are six days in which men ought to work” making reference to Exodus 20:9, “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work.”  But it is one thing to quote Scripture, it is another to interpret and apply it correctly.

He was accusing the Lord of a violation of the law as he interpreted it.  He believed that healing and an act of mercy was a work that violated the Sabbath.

But he overlooked the fact that the woman’s healing came FROM GOD.  Christ, the Son of God, only did the will of the Father.  And if it was God’s will to heal on the Sabbath, it showed that there was nothing wrong with healing on the Sabbath!

But the ruler was making up his own rules: no healing, no defeating evil, no kind deeds on the Sabbath!

The Sabbath had been established by God for Israel’s rest and enjoyment and worship of Him.  But as you can see by this account, the Jewish leaders had made it so strict that the Sabbath became a day that paralyzed the people.

Christ responded to the ruler and said, “Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?”

The Lord reminded them of their inconsistency in the fact that they didn’t hesitate at all to loose an ox or donkey from the stall on the Sabbath and lead it to a water source.  They did kind deeds for animals on the Sabbath.

If they showed this consideration and basic kindness for animals on the Sabbath, the Lord said, “ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?”

If kindness could be showed to animals on the Sabbath, was it not right for Christ to loose this Jewish woman from her satanic bondage of eighteen years, and extend her kindness and deliver her from her suffering on the Sabbath.

Verses 15-16 have been paraphrased this way: “You frauds!  Each Sabbath every one of you unties your ox or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water and thinks nothing of it.  So why isn’t it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the place where Satan has had her tied these eighteen years?”

Christ was showing the ruler that he treated his animals better than he treated this woman, that he had more care for oxen and donkeys, than for this daughter of Abraham.

The ruler’s compassion was selective and hypocritical.  The Lord pointed out how much more precious this poor woman was whom He had loosed from her satanic bonds on the Sabbath, in comparison to a mere animal that the ruler showed kindness to on the Sabbath.

Verse 17 provides the result of the Lord’s wise response.  “And when He had said these things, all His adversaries were ashamed.”  The critics had been unmasked.  They looked foolish.  They were put to shame.  Christ left them so ashamed that they said nothing. 

But the rest of verse 17 tells us, “and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.”  The rest of the people in the synagogue were blown away by what happened.  They were stunned and rejoiced in this glorious miracle as well as all things that were being done by Him.

And in the middle of it all was a woman who had been miraculously delivered from darkness, rejoicing and glorifying God.

In light of the parable preceding this account, the woman is a picture of Israel and what Christ could do for Israel if she received Him.  The Lord had been ministering for 3 years.  The Father had sought fruit and found none, because of the nation’s rejection of His Son.

But if Israel would receive Christ, by this miracle, He showed that He would immediately loose her from her spiritual weakness and bring her to a position of uprightness, made to stand before Him.

This woman is a picture of our salvation.  She pictures the enslaved sinner under the burden of sin and in bondage to Satan.

Bill Gaither once wrote a little testimony song that includes the words, “Shackled by a heavy burden, beneath a load of guilt and shame, then the hands of Jesus touched me, and now I am no longer the same.”

In our sins, we are spiritually weak, spiritually bent, crooked, and distorted, and in spiritual bondage to Satan.  Acts 26:18 shows that salvation is about being turned “from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.”

When we trust Christ as our Savior, and we believe that Christ died for our sins personally and rose again, He immediately delivers, straightens up the spiritually bent, crooked and distorted, and releases and frees us from our sins and the power of Satan.

And those who were bent and in bondage to Satan are made to stand upright in Christ, made new by Him, and like this woman, we glorify God for our deliverance and freedom.