Joseph Prince - Discovering Capernaum, The City of Jesus
Here we are now in Capernaum, the town of Jesus. In Hebrew which is the town of comfort. Nahum is also the name of a prophet in the Old Testament. Nehemiah which is the comfort of Yah or Yahweh comforts. And that’s the title of our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the titles in Hebrew is he’s a comforter. We know he was to send us another comforter which is the Holy Spirit but that’s the name of Jesus. This name here probably after the prophet, but the Lord made this his town. Let’s see what the Lord has for us here. This young generation under my righteousness, not your own righteousness, but my righteousness, arise from your death.
The stone has been replaced by grace. He took their hands and he said… But the moment she put her trust in his righteousness and she receive it, when she touched the robe of his righteousness, hallelujah, she was healed. Here we are at the synagogue in Capernaum, and this ancient synagogue was built over the synagogue that Jesus would have been in and probably we are right at the spot where the ancient synagogue was and where Jesus cast the demon out of a man who was in the synagogue.
So here in Capernaum, there’s something very interesting some years ago when I came here. The doors were open back there and I started walking through and the Lord began to show me the events that happened here in order and there’s something the Lord wants us to see here. First of all, the Lord Jesus just cast the demons out of the most demonized man in the gospel, the demoniac. So on his way back, Jesus was heading towards this direction of Capernaum. He would have docked his boat there with all the disciples, and immediately the Bible says when he came on shore, Jairus the ruler of this synagogue, he came to Jesus and he fell before him and pleaded with Jesus, my daughter is lying at the point of death. Please come. Lay your hands on her and she shall live.
So Jesus started walking with Jairus all the way down, and along this pathway here all the way to the house of Jairus, and I believe that I have discovered the house of Jairus being that Jairus the Bible says he’s the ruler of the synagogue, so most likely the ruler of the synagogue would have a large house like a parsonage and this house back here has a large gate. It’s the largest house of any here that I’ve seen so I would assume that his house is just behind the synagogue. It makes sense. And there’s a direct path to the port where Jesus would have landed, okay.
So here Jesus is walking down this ancient path together with Jairus and his disciples, and along the way the woman with the issue of blood came and there was a multitude following Jesus as well and she it touched the hem of his garment and the Bible says should woman was suffering from a bleeding hemorrhage and according to the law such cannot be seen in public let alone touch anyone. And the Bible said she pressed through the crowd because she said this to herself, if I may but touch his clothes, I shall be whole.
Now, the Bible says she touched the hem of his garment. That would be the tassel. In Hebrew, the blue tassel is called… Very interesting, it’s from the word… Which means finished, complete. So she could say she touched the finished or the complete work of Jesus. In fact, that’s the one word cry of Jesus in Hebrew on the cross. He would have cried, from this word, finished. So she touched the finished work of Jesus and what 12 years of suffering from this disease, all the doctors cannot do, Jesus did it in an instant. She received from the Lord.
You see, according to the law the law says this, numbers 5, it says very clearly that God says to Moses command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse. It’s almost if the Lord, the father anticipated his son walking through here and there will be a leper, and he cleansed the leper not far from here on his way into Capernaum. And then everyone who has a discharge, there’s a woman who touched him. And then someone who has been defiled by the dead, and that’s Jairus' daughter who died. And what the law cannot do, the law says put them all out. There’s no answer.
According to the law, there’s no answer for them. But what the law cannot do, grace did. And what did Jesus do for the woman with the issue of blood? First of all, he cleansed the leper. The first group is the leper. He cleansed the leper just at the mount of beatitudes on his way down here, okay, and then he cast the demons out. And then he walked by this way, and the Bible says everyone who has a discharge must be put out of the camp, but instead of that, the woman touched the hem of his garment and instantly she was made whole. What did Jesus do with this discharge? He staunched it. He cleansed the leper. He staunched the discharge, and then he came to Jairus' house. What did he do with the dead? He raised the dead. Amen.
Grace fulfills what the law can never do. The law has no answer for people with addictions, with problems, with sin in their life. They cannot help but have the discharge of sin, uncleanness in their life, and it’s just the fact that you’re born into sin. But what the law cannot do grace did. Jesus cleansed the leper. He staunched the discharge, and he raised the dead. And his grace available for you today. Amen. There’s something very interesting about the number 12. It’s used twice in this one passage. That woman was suffering for 12 years when she touched the hem of his garment. Jairus' daughter was about 12 years of age. And there’s no insignificant details in the Bible. It means there is a dispensation to talk about.
Like 12 disciples, 12 tribes of Israel, 12, the number of dispensation referring to the law so I believe that woman who came and touched the hem of his garment is like the church, the church age whereas Jairus' daughter was sick about Israel that was dead when Jesus came, but the woman came, notice Jesus was on his way to resurrect Israel from its spiritual death but along the way came the gentile, came the woman whose a picture, she might be Jewish but the picture there is of a church that’s predominantly gentile. The church has been hemorrhaging, and as long as the church is hemorrhaging, the church cannot be fruitful. And the Word of God in Isaiah 65 tells us that all our righteousness, not our sins but all our righteousness are as filthy rags.
Now I don’t mean to be crude but «Filthy rags» in Hebrew is actually soiled sanitary napkin. All our righteousness is like that. And as long as that woman has that discharge, all these 12 years suffering from that disease, she needs to have those napkins. It’s a picture of a church suffering from self-righteousness and thinking that she can be fruitful by being self-righteous because all our righteousness are as filthy rags. But Jesus came and that tassel is his righteousness. When she touched the robe of his righteousness, hallelujah, she was healed. Amen.
And that’s what we need to receive from the Lord, not pursuing our own righteousness. The Bible says in Romans chapter ten, for they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, which is a gift, and going about to establish their own righteousness, self- righteousness, have not submitted to the gift of righteousness, the righteousness of God. And that’s why the church is not fruitful today, and that’s why the church is not seeing results today because she’s trusting in her own righteousness.
The moment she put her trust in his righteousness and she received it, she was healed. And immediately some people came from Jairus' house to where Jesus was and said trouble the master no longer. Your daughter is dead. The moment Jesus heard that, Jesus said to Jairus, be not afraid, only believe. Maybe you have received some bad news recently, and I believe the Word of God for you today is don’t be afraid. Only believe. And the Bible says he went all the way here and there was unprofessional mourners, and Jesus went in and he took Peter, James and John.
Have you noticed these three were a special group of people among the twelve because Jesus always brought them to special areas where he wanted them to see something like raising the dead here. He brought Peter, James and John and put all the mourners out. What is Peter, James and John? These three names are mentioned again in transfiguration as well as in the Garden of Gethsemane. Well Peter means stone. James means to replace, supplant. John is grace. God’s grace.
So in other words, Peter, James and John tells us the stone, the commandments, the law, the stone has been replaced by grace. Hallelujah! Only when we realize that, that we are under grace and we depend on his grace and not by our self-effort, we are not under law, only then can we see the grace through life, hallelujah. We see the church come alive and become fruitful and productive and the dead will be raised. So he put all the professional mourners I believe somewhere in that area outside the gate. You can see a large gate here. And he would have proceeded in with the parents, Jairus and his wife. By the way, Jairus name in Hebrew means the enlightened one.
So I believe in the end times, here we’ll see a beautiful picture of the dispensation, the woman with the issue of blood, the picture of the church healed before he comes again. And then he comes to Israel and in those days Israel is young Israel. The Israel of the end times will be a young generation that does not know the Messiah. Amen. And he’s gonna raise her from the dead. He walked right in and this is what he said. He took the girl’s hand, and only the parents Jairus and his wife and Peter, James and John were there. The stone has been replaced by grace. He took her hands and he says «Talitha cumi». Why is it left untranslated in the Bible? If you read it you find it, talitha cumi. Because the talit is the tassel, that blue tassel that a woman with the issue of blood touched. It is his righteousness.
There’s nothing magical about the healing properties of tassel because the pharisees had large tassels, nothing happens. But Jesus' tassel speaks of his righteousness. And the whole prayer shawl that he would have worn is called the talit in Hebrew. So when he says talitha cumi, in essence he was actually putting his righteousness upon the dead body, and it says talitha cumi, cumi is arise. Girl under the talit, this young generation under my righteousness, not your old righteousness but my righteousness, arise from your death, arise! Amen.
The Lord is speaking to some of you right now. You feel like that what is coming just for you to come out of your depression, come out of your addictions, come out of your bondage into his liberty, and how do you do that? By receiving his righteousness. The talit, Jesus' talit. Not pharisees talits but Jesus' talit. His righteousness. And when we begin to receive his righteous, the Bible tells us in Romans 5:17, by one man’s offense, death reigned by one. We see how death reigns. It is total. By Adam’s sin, death reigned by one. Much more, hallelujah for the much more. Grace is always much more. Much more those who receive what? Abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by Jesus Christ. So you need to receive these two things, abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.
Now the devil would do his very best to cloud these two gifts from God because they are the ones when you receive these two gifts through the blood of Jesus, you will reign in life. So if the devil wants to stop you from reigning, what does he do? He tries to give you that sin consciousness, bring back the law because the strength of sin is the law. The law is holy, my friends. Don’t misunderstand me. I am for the law, for the reason God gave the law, and God never gave the law to justify man by. God gave the law so that all of us can see that we are sinners, amen. And then we’ll see our need for our Lord Jesus. Amen.
So here you find that woman with the issue of blood when she touched Jesus, now under the law she would have been condemned. She’s not supposed to be out in public, let alone, touch anyone else. In those days when the unclean touch the clean, the clean become unclean. But when the woman touched Jesus, hallelujah, grace is amazing, he make her clean. Amen. Under the law, sin is contageous. Under grace, righteousness is much more. It will infect you. Amen, I pray that you’ve been infected with his righteousness. Amen. Be more conscience of it because the devil wants you to be sin conscious, am I measuring up? Or even if you’re doing something right, am I doing this enough? Have I prayed long enough? Have I studied the Bible long enough?
Enough, nothing is ever enough when you’re under the law. But when you’re under grace, you realize he’s done it all. You rest in him. And my friend, when you rest in him, you are being transformed supernaturally from glory to glory, even by the spirit of the Lord. And this is what we find here, the beautiful story and the twelve years suffering, twelve years of age, Jairus daughter, speaks of the dispensation when he comes again, and he’s coming back soon my friend. And the church will be healed, and Israel will be raised from the dead. Hallelujah! Even so, come Lord Jesus.