Gloria Copeland - This same Jesus

This Same Jesus

One of the most wonderful things about Jesus is that He never changes. I love that about Him! He's not kind one day and harsh the next. He's not ready to heal one minute and reluctant the next. He's always "Jesus Christ [the Anointed One] the same yesterday, and today, and for ever " (Hebrews 13:8).

He is always the same as He was in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. There, we see a Jesus Who is easily entreated. We see Him healing and delivering people at every turn. The people who came to Him on the dusty roads of Galilee didn't have to struggle and convince Him to help them. They simply asked, and He answered. It was easy for them to receive from Jesus.

Most outstanding of all, Jesus never said no to the people who came to Him in faith. He always supplied their need.

Religious tradition has taught us that at some time during the past 2,000 years, Jesus changed. He started telling people no when they asked for healing. He told them their sickness was teaching them something. Religious tradition has said the days of Jesus' miracles have passed away.

But that's just not true.

I was reading Acts recently when the Lord strongly reminded me of that. In fact, He used the first few verses of Acts 1 to impress it on my heart in a fresh way. In those verses, we see Jesus preparing to leave the earth to go sit at the Father's right hand. He is speaking to the disciples, saying:

Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven (verses 8-11).

Dont Reason It Away

Consider for a moment what the angel said. I know you've probably heard it many times before, but I want you to let it sink in as a revelation in your heart. He said, "This same Jesus..." is going to come back. This same Jesus!

Let me ask you something. If Jesus was one way when He was on the earth, and He is going to be the same way when He comes back, what do you think He's going to be like during the time in between?

He's going to be the same!

This same Jesus! He's the same right now as He was when He walked the earth. He has the same heart of compassion. He's just as easily moved now as He was then. He's just as quick to heal now as He ever was. He truly is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.

That's such a simple revelation. We ought to just receive it like little children and believe it. But most of us don't. We start reasoning it away in our minds. We think, Well my disease is so serious and Ive had it for such a long time, it just couldnt be that easy for me to be healed.

Thoughts like that are lies of the devil! Jesus healed a number of people who had been sick for a long time. It wasn't hard for Him. Nothing was hard for Him! What we need to do is quit reasoning so much and just believe!

"But Gloria," you may say, "how can Jesus minister to me the way He did to those who walked with Him 2,000 years ago? He isn't here anymore. He's in heaven."

Yes, He is in heaven, but He is still ministering here on the earth through His Word, and through the Holy Spirit Who is working through the Church. That's why He could say to the disciples just before His ascension, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20).

Read through the Gospels and then through Acts and you'll see that Jesus' ministry didn't change after He ascended to heaven. He just continued to do through the Church what He had done personally during His earthly ministry. Through His disciples, He continued to heal, deliver and cast out devils by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Thank God that Holy Ghost power is still in our midst. Thank God the same anointing that was on Jesus is on the Church! This same Jesus is still available to minister to us and through us today!

He Went About Doing Good

With that in mind, we can take a fresh look at what Jesus said and did during His time on earth. Let's start with Luke 4, where we see the foundational message Jesus preached everywhere He went:

The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to send forth delivered those who are oppressedwho are downtrodden, bruised, crushed and broken down by calamity;

To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lordthe day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound (verses 18-19, The Amplified Bible).

Now remember, Jesus is still preaching that message today. So if you fall into any of the categories He listed thereif you're blind, if you're oppressed by sickness, if you're depressed, in bondage to drugs or alcohol, or simply beaten down by the calamity of this worldJesus is here to deliver you. Today is the day of your salvation!

This is the day when the free favors of God profusely abound. Those favors haven't abated. They're still flowing today as freely as they were when Jesus first spoke those words.

If you want to see just how freely those divine favors flow, and how easy it is to obtain them, just read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and watch Jesus in action. Acts 10:38 says of Him, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."

Jesus just went about doing good . He would simply go from one place to another blessing people and healing them and delivering them. It wasn't hard to get Jesus to work miracles. It was easy!

Look at one day in Jesus' life, as recorded in Mark 1, and you can see that for yourself:

On the sabbath day he (Jesus) entered into the synagogue, and taught....And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out...And Jesus rebuked him (the unclean spirit), saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.

And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this ?... for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him (verses 21, 23, 25-27).

Notice what Jesus did there. He came across a man who needed a burden removed and a devil cast out of him, so He simply did it. He didn't stop there, either. The Scripture tells us He went on that day "...into the house of Simon...But Simon's wifes mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her. And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her" (verses 29-31).

Isn't that something? The very next place He went, Jesus ran into another need. What did Jesus do about it? He took care of it! He ministered healing. But His day wasn't over yet.

The next verses tell us that "at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. And all the city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils... " ( verses 32-34).

I love to see Jesus with the eye of my heart, walking around, loving people and ministering to them. I love to see Him go about His day casting out devils, bringing healing and working miracles!