Matthew 17 Face to Face With Jesus, A Little Faith, Fasting & Provision

Matthew 17 – Face to Face with Jesus, A Little Faith, Fasting & Provision

Text: Read Matthew 17

May 19, 2020

Face to Face with Jesus Vs. 1-4

God chose these 3 men who followed closely after Jesus to reveal His Son’s glory to them – face to face! What an experience. What a privilege. What an honor to be able to see Jesus – the transformed Jesus in that way at that time. This reminds me of a prophet who spoke on You Tube just last night. He explained how he had experienced face to face encounters with the Lord.

Isn’t this every Christian’s desire? To see Jesus for who He really is? That day on the mountain, those 3 chosen men had the opportunity to do just that. In my heart, I can hear Holy Spirit asking, “Do you think this would have changed their lives forever after that?” To that I responded, “Yes.”

As we move along in our Christian walk, the goal should always be to seek to know Him more. We discussed this in yesterday’s study of Matthew 16. Jesus asked Peter who he thought He was. Peter had spent enough time with the Lord to have the correct answer.

As we move forward into today’s chapter, it’s as if the Lord is taking us to a deeper level of knowing Him and seeing Him for who He really is. This is a privilege and honor that only a few will ever experience compared to the number of people alive on the planet. Why? Desire. It’s all about loving Jesus enough to want to be close to Him above all else.

It doesn’t mean that we don’t carry out our duties and responsibilities. What it means is that we take time to be with Him as much as we can and trust Him to multiply the time to achieve other things that need to be done. Frankly, there are a lot of things that aren’t really that important at the moment. This experience was to be one that created in them a  strong desire  to be with the Lord and to carry out His plans for their lives to spread the gospel to the known world in that day.

Is it any different for us today? I would think not. Personally wanting to get closer to Jesus, I have experienced some of the greatest opposition from Satan’s camp. He will do anything to get in the way of our closeness to Jesus. It can be busyness and a host of other distractions, but they will come.

Here is a verse the Lord brought to my mind this morning.

James 1:2-4

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,  knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Hearing the Voice of God Vs. 5

While they were on that mountain with the glorified Savior, they experienced yet another great event – hearing the audible voice of God. Maybe some of you have heard the voice of Holy Spirit speak so profoundly to you that it almost felt like it was coming from outside of you audibly. I know I have. When it has happened, it has really blessed me.

That day God the Father had a profound message for the disciples to hear. One was to confirm to them that Jesus is indeed the Son of the Most High God. And two, that what He would say to them was important and they  should pay very close attention to what He says. What can we take out of this? When God speaks, we should listen. How does He speak to us? Though it can happen in a number of ways, though it is not usually the audible voice like that day, He will mostly speak into our spirit and through His word.

He will also speak to us through prophets, preachers, and Bible teachers. He can use a friend to speak to us, or even our spouse. God can also use a circumstance to teach and show us things. He can use nature and many other amazing ways, like a special song that just grabs our heart at the moment, as if God Himself was singing it to us – just what we needed to hear at that very moment.  

As we proceed through this daily Bible study on Monday through Friday, God will speak to each one of us. As we read the chapter and meditate on it slowly, He will teach us from the entire chapter. Each chapter will have a special something that will highlight what we each personally need  to hear in that day and season of our lives. Stay connected to His word and keep praying, praising, and worshipping. His voice will come through loud and clear to all of us if we are willing to take the time to listen.

There’s Nothing to Fear in the Presence of Jesus Vs. 6-9

When the disciples heard God’s voice, they dropped to the ground immediately in fear. It must have been overwhelming to them. We can only imagine. Jesus is frequently telling His frightened disciples not to fear – it is Him. The Bible is full of verses where God is telling us not to fear. Fear is a big problem in the world and certainly, however unfortunately, in the church as well.

Matthew 14:27

But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

There is a song which is titled, “In Your Presence”. In the lyrics it says that when we are in His presence, that’s where we belong and that’s where we are strong. Who wouldn’t want that? Yet many are afraid to enter into that holy presence. Even the Israelites were afraid to come close to God, so they were content to let Moses be the one to talk face to face with God.

Exodus 34:29-30

Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.

I believe today, with all that’s going on in the world with viruses and attacks from the evil one on every side, we need to get into the presence of the Lord more than ever before. That’s where He can speak to us face to face. Even though we can’t see Him physically, He can certainly communicate to us through His Holy Spirit who lives in us as born again believers. 

What an honor we have today that the disciples didn’t have. We can be with Jesus every moment of every day. He said He would never leave us or forsake us, so we can enter into His throne room by His grace to find help and fellowship at any time of the day or night.

Answering Questions & Preparing for Things to Come Vs. 13, 22-23

In these verses, we see how asking questions is a good thing. The Lord wants to teach us many things. But we must first ask. The disciples certainly did. They would see and experience things in their walk with the Lord and then later, in a more private setting, they could approach Him with their questions.

A lot of people, and many religions do not think they can approach the Lord or ask Him anything. But that’s not what God says. He wants to hear our questions, and He wants to answer them. Look at these verses that describe this.

Matthew 7:7

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Jeramiah 3:33

‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

Now more than ever, I have a lot more questions than I do answers. I think the older we get, the more we realize how much we don’t know and the more we realize that we need to hear from God. No matter what age we are, we should always seek to hear from the Lord. He wants to tell us about anything and everything concerning our lives.

In these passages Jesus was using the opportunity to show the disciples of things to come so they would be prepared. Can it be said any differently for us today? We all need this. It goes back to entering into His presence to get the information, the wisdom and help that we so desperately need to succeed in our lives.

James 1:5

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 

Casting Out Demons  - Some Cases are More Difficult Vs. 14-18, 21

Here is an example of the power and authority of Jesus. When a troubled man approaches him with a son who needed deliverance, He immediately took authority and got that wicked thing out of the boy. The disciples had tried to do it, but didn’t have any success. It left them wondering why. They had probably cast out demons from other people by that time and had seen results. This time was different. Why?

In studying deliverance, I understand that some devils are more stubborn. It would take more effort to seek the Lord on the part of the disciples. The level of the furiousness and intensity the boy was experiencing required seeking the Lord on a deeper level about how to deal with such a matter.   The effort – prayer, fasting and taking authority; all of it takes faith. That day, Jesus told them they were a faithless generation. He was addressing 2 issues. One was the intensity of the situation, and the other was the need to depend heavily on God to bring wisdom on how  to pray for the young lad.

All It Takes Is Just A Little Faith Vs. 19-20

Jesus addressed their lack of faith and showed them that great big things can happen with even a tiny bit of faith. When we think of moving a mountain, we think of something very big, right? I believe that’s exactly why Jesus chose that word picture to describe the situation they were dealing with in the demon possessed boy. It was also to teach them about the level of faith that it would take to get it out.

The good news in these 2 verses is that Jesus was saying that all they needed, and us too, is a little bit of real genuine faith to get some really big results. That’s what they needed that day. How many of us have some mountains to move in our lives? I would venture to say that most who are reading this study would have some mountains to get moved in their lives. I know I do.

When we see the power of God demonstrated throughout the Bible, why do we ever doubt His power to deliver us and help us to get those mountains out of the way so we can proceed on? Maybe this is a good time to start setting apart some time to skip a meal or two so we can be face to face with Jesus and hear the voice of God regarding the matters that matter to us. All it takes is a little genuine faith in who He is and what He can do. Isn’t that what getting to know Him is all about? The more time we spend with Him, the better we will know Him – amen?

God Will Provide – Right on Time Vs. 24-27

In discussing knowing Jesus, this chapter wraps up with a great display of God’s right on time provisions. Seeing a need to pay a tax in Capernaum, Jesus uses this scenario to show Peter how God can and will always provide what is needed in a given situation. Since Peter was a fisherman by trade, I find it interesting that the Lord chose to use a fish to bring him the needed money. It reminds me of the boat sinking harvest God had provided after Peter allowed his boat to be used for kingdom purposes.

Luke 5:1-11

So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken;  and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

Looking at this, it’s as if the Holy Spirit is bringing a summary of the entire chapter in these last verses today. Here is Peter who was just getting to know Jesus and what He could do for him. He was a fisherman and needed to make his money from fishing. But after a full night of working, he was tired and ready to just go home to sleep. But God had another plan. He knew what Peter needed and He knew what the people on the beach needed that day.

Peter needed money and the people needed to know Jesus. Peter allowed Jesus to use his equipment for God’s kingdom purposes, and God brought him a harvest so big he could not contain it. What was the result for Peter? Not only did he have a right on time and much needed provision, but he saw Jesus in a whole new light. It caused him to see his own sinfulness and need for a Savior. I wonder how many others experienced the same thing that day.

Peter was able to see Jesus, hear Him speak and watch God bring a supernatural harvest to his business. We can imagine his faith grew from a mustard seed to an even bigger seed that day, amen? That experience gave Peter the faith to drop it all and go follow Jesus to accept His assignment for his life. Just like the day on the mountain when he saw Jesus transformed in glory, he saw enough of Jesus to cause Him to want to go further with Him.

Reflection

I really had no idea whatsoever how this study would go today. I barely got into it this morning before my personal devotion time was ending and I had to take care of some other duties. What unfolded as I went was nothing short of a miracle. I have been dealing with a very big mountain in my life this year. It seems it all started last year when I made a decision to get closer than ever to Jesus. As soon as I decided to do that, I faced a trial bigger than I ever could have imagined.

I needed to have greater faith than I did to face the trial than I did. This brings me to this chapter where we see how getting face to face with Jesus can increase our faith, as well as our passion to follow Him more closely. We can see that He will help us through prayer and fasting to get rid of the big obstacles that we face, and I have certainly faced them over this past year.

Studying this today has helped me to see how much closer I need to get. As I listened to my spirit and the song, “In His Presence”, I realize that more Jesus time will equal less time for the devil to mess with me. After all, doesn’t God commend us to draw near to Him? If we aren’t, what is stopping us? Is it fear? If so, what exactly are we afraid of?

I know I have had a fear of lack for a long  time in my life. Though I have done a whole lot of fasting and then coming back around to eat and move on, I believe I could do a lot more praying while I’m skipping the food. Fasting is a part of the Christian life. Why?  It doesn’t change God. It changes us. It removes distractions and keeps our body in subjection so we can have a more concentrated focus on Jesus. He did say we did not have to be afraid, right?

How About You?

How do you feel you can use the principles in this study to help you grow in your relationship with Jesus? Will you take the time to bring it before the Lord in prayer and listen to what He has to say? You’ll be glad you did.

Questions or Comments?

Email me at: Hannylynn05@gmail.com