This study is incomplete as posted here. Lord willing I will finish it and make the notes known under the same study title in the future. But do read the passage yourself and compare that which I've written here with what God shows you personally, hopefully some of the spiritual truths I've found will be a blessing to you.

Jesus is teaching in the synagogue, as usual on the day of rest, the Sabbath. He sees a woman with an infirmity that prevented her from lifting herself to an upright position. He then calls her to himself, lays his hands upon her and she is cured. At this point the ruler of the synagogue becomes furious because Jesus has broken the Sabbath by doing a work. Jesus corrects this thinking on the ruler's part, this was not a work but mercy. This woman was really ill, yet some people were always upset when Jesus cured people on the Sabbath day, why?

First off we see a valuable lesson in this teaching. The OT church (synagogue), was no different from our modern church. True there was the sacrificing of animals and other things that we no longer do today. But the salvation program was the same for the Jew as it is now for the gentile. God saved His elect then, just as He does today with the blood of Christ. Those animal sacrifices pointed to the shed blood of Christ for the atonement of sins. It was the forerunner of our NT Gospel message that states Christ is the lamb sacrificed.

Christ taught in the synagogue, we are taught in the church. He did so on the Sabbath day just as we gather together today to be taught on the Sabbath. There were saved and unsaved people in the synagogue, the woman as we shall see later in this study becomes saved by Christ, she was unsaved when she entered the synagogue. We can rest assured that even in this day, that there are plenty of unsaved people in the church. We also believe that the pastor or Sunday school teacher is led by God; that is; God teaches us through this person. So we can truthfully say that Jesus is still teaching on the Sabbath day today.

Could this be God's way of showing us how the Gospel works? God's word is preached and people become healed. Certainly we should be able to find Christ being preached in the church on the Sabbath day today. It should be the Gospel of the Bible that we hear, nothing else (Acts 13:27).

God explains salvation to us in the NT as something that happens to our soul first, then the body will become renewed in eternity. The Romans 8:16-23 passage confirms this. The soul of man has been redeemed already, this happens upon salvation but the body is going to have to wait until the end of time to be redeemed. The woman in Luke 13 was an example of this. In Lu 13:12 Jesus forgives her sin, she is now saved, but this is only dealing with her soul. In verse 13 - after - he has cleansed her soul, he now heals her physical body. Pay attention to this detail. There are two stages of salvation, salvation came to her soul first, then God shows that the body will be next, saving the soul happens now, then in eternity we get a "new" sin free body. This ties right in with the Romans 8 passage I mentioned previously.

So we see that this woman was bound by Satan, is as a slave to him but Christ loosed her. The word loosed in verse 12 is the Greek word apoluo and is also translated as, forgive, release and set at liberty. In Mt 27:21, Mk 15:11, Lu 23:18 and Jn 18:40 we read about Barabbas who is sentenced to die. However, he is released or "loosed" because a substitute is found, Jesus Christ. This word released is the same Greek word loosed. We are set at liberty as the Bible states, because Christ died in our place for us, He is the substitute. In this parable, Barabbas is a picture of you and me on our way to Hell for our sins, but Jesus becomes his substitute and pays for all his crimes. So too is Christ our sin substitute and he goes to Hell in our place paying for our sins so we do not have to. But notice that once again God uses a real life incident physical in nature to teach us a spiritual truth, a parable, a similitude, an analogy if you will.

The word loosed that we find in verse 16 is a slightly different word, luo. We can get an idea of what this word means by looking at the places that it's used in the Bible. In Mt 16:19 we see that sins are removed (luo) and we know that this is both permanent and forever. Luo is also used in the following passages.

Jn 2:19 Destroy 2 Pe 3:11, 12 Dissolved 2 Pe 3:10 Melt 1 Jn 3:8 Destroy Mt 16:19; 18:18 Loose. The usage of the word in these passages helps to get the meaning across very clearly. To use luo in Luke 13 in connection with sin, means the sin is totally removed, Col 2:13.

We find that this woman cannot in any way lift herself up, she is bowed together. Bowed together is the Greek word sugkupto. It is from the words sun, which means together, union, very close, and the word kupto, which means to stoop forward. It seems to imply that she was tightly bent together, hunched forward. The word kupto is found in Lu 24:12 where Peter "stoops" to look into the tomb of the risen Lord. Also in Jn 20:5, here it is the word parakupto which means to stoop down near to, close to, or besides, but it's not as close together as sugkupto.

Jesus calls to her, personally, one on one. This is how God will deal with us. God calls us out by name (Ex 33:12), He even has names for the stars as numerous as they are (Ps 147:4). How much more important are we to Him?

Jesus says that it was necessary; it must be this way; that this woman be loosed. But now He calls her a daughter of Abraham! This is a phrase of salvation in the Bible. Look at Lu 19:9 which refers to Zacchaeus who is spoken of just previous to this. "This day (Christ is the day) is salvation come to this house forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham". The next verse tells us that it was Christ who came to Zacchaeus, not the other way around. Rom 8:14, 1 Jn 3:1, 2, Ph'p 2:15 tell us who we are to God. 2 Cor 6:14-18, God will be our Father and we are His sons and daughters. Gal 3:26, 29 tells us that we are Christ's and Abraham's seed and thereby heirs to everlasting life. Tie all this in with Gal 4:5-7, here we see that we are to be redeemed, then we become sons by adoption.

She is to be loosed from this bond, chain (desmos) that Satan has on her. This is to happen on the sabbath day. Jesus does just the opposite of what the ruler wanted him to do, he heals her on the Sabbath, not on the other 6 days. If we look to Lu 14:5 we find Jesus again asking the same question about mercy. Here he states that we would get our ass or ox out of the pit into which it had fallen even if it was the Sabbath.

We are the ass or ox that has fallen from grace, we have fallen into the pit. Every time that the words "bottomless pit" are used in the book of Revelation, it's the words abussos (bottomless) phrear (pit). The word "pit" (phrear) used here can also be translated as "well". In light of what we've seen so far, I think Jesus used phrear here to point to the fact that we are headed to hell if we die unsaved. If that ass or ox is not removed from the pit, it will certainly die. Jesus pulls us out, mercy and grace.

Jesus healed a woman who had a very real physical infirmity, he did so on the Sabbath day. God uses the everyday world around us to teach us something very spiritual in nature. Our sins are an infirmity to us, they make it impossible for us to reach out to God. It's only when healing comes that we can resume the relationship we once had with God. Isa 59:2 tells us this is so, a reading of all 21 verses also shows that there is hope for us in God. This is expressed in her now "arising" and giving praise to the God who healed her, just as we do once saved.

The word "work" that the ruler used means, to toil or labour. But in Mt 11:28 we read, "come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest". We're told to come to God for rest and verse 29 tells us that this rest is for the soul. God is not talking about a physical work but He relates this teaching to such. This makes it easier for us to understand. The word "labour" used here means, to feel fatigued, hardwork, toil or wearied. It certainly drives the point home. "Burdened" means, overburdened, to load up a vessel or animal. It's also used in Lu 11:46 and there we see how God states that trying to keep the laws are a burden.

Lets look at another very beautiful passage that is quite clear in its' spiritual meaning, it's Jn 4:6-29. Notice that it is at the 6th hour that Jesus sits on the well. The seventh hour is in view. Also, if he sits on the well, how can anyone get to the water? He is blocking the way. To get at this water we must first deal with Jesus. Remember that Jesus is the "door", Jn 10:9. He opens to whom he wills, no one can enter unless Jesus allows it. Also, if he gives us the water, he must bring it up from this well or "pit" as the Greek word "phrear" used here means. And indeed, Jesus decended into the pit of Hell and by his sacrifice, his atonement for sin, the Gospel flows forth, the living waters of life eternal.

This Samaritan woman has come for water, how come she is told by Jesus to bring her husband? She has had 5 husbands so far. The 6th man she is with is not her husband, they aren't married. What does the Bible tell us about the #5. It is the number God assigns to grace, the grace that God saves us with. In Nu 18:16 we're told that 5 shekels was used in connection with redemption. Of course in the spiritual realm, God means the redemption of our souls. The world understands this. Look at Lu 16:6, 7 for the clue. Here the unjust steward reduces a debtor's bill by 1/2 or 50% and he reduces the next bill by 20% or 1/5. The reason why is clearly explained in verse 4. He wanted these debtors to show their grace to him later when he was no longer steward.

Jesus who is the water of life, prevents her from getting at the water. It's God who cursed us in the Garden and threw us out. He prevents us from getting back in unless we go through Him. He can allow us back in. The Cherubims in Gen 3:24 are a representation of Christ and the direction "east" in the garden refers to Christ (Mal 4:2 Sun = Son). And the flaming sword is Christ, he keeps us out or he allows us in.

He has drawn her, he created her, he created the need for water. Literally we need water but spiritually God says we will die without the water of life. God gives all of us a thirst. In His love and grace we thirst. This tells us that there is a need. He uses this to draw us. Even if we aren't drawn to Him for salvation, we still search simply because of that God created need this is why so many peoples seek "a God" even if it's not the one of the Bible, we need to seek, it's in our nature. Psalm 19:1-3, there is no one on this earth who does not know.

The 6 days work are behind, she failed. Now God redeems her on the 7th day, the Sabbath. It ties right in with what the ruler truly said, we work 6 days. Then God takes our burden away on the 7th day. Without going into detail here, God calls time, the time we work to get saved, 6 days. He saves us on the 7th, that's one week. We now rejoice and go and tell others of His grace.

The time we spend unsaved is the 6 days before the Sabbath. It is on the perfect day, #7 that God comes to us (He draws us to Himself just like the woman at the well) and He saves us. We have no say in the matter. Remember what God said in Exodus 31:14,15, any work toward salvation will bring about our death. In Heb 3:7-19 we read there was a day to hear God's voice but a hardened heart prevented this. Therefore we cannot (of our own) enter into His rest. Col 3:3 tells us that we are hid in God, this works out very well with the idea that Christ is the Sabbath day, we enter into His rest.

Jesus saves the woman in Luke 13, she is a picture of all who become saved, God seeks us out and draws us to Himself. Her sins are forgiven and she now becomes a daughter/child of God, no longer a slave to Satan. The parable is rich in the salvation message, we are sinners, cannot save ourselves, cannot bring about our own healing, but it's God who seeks us out, has mercy on us and saves us. A picture of what happens on the spiritual 7th day, the true Sabbath day of the Bible, God allowing our 6 days of work and the Sunday of rest that make up our literal work week to mirror the spiritual. It is indeed true that no one will be able to say they never knew of the Gospel or salvation, even the very week itself testifies of God's grace toward us.

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