p. 3 | The Power of the Word

Pacific Press Publishing Association

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 49.

The Power of the Word

JESUS CHRIST wrought many miracles which were not recorded. We read repeatedly of many coming to Him variously afflicted and "He healed them all." Those left on record, in which details were given, were cases typical of many others, and containing great lessons for His children. One of these, the healing of the leper, is recorded in Matt. 8:1-4.

WE will not quarrel with the artist Bida in his painting of the scene. It may not have been at all as he has pictured it. Surely the leper did not stand by a wall when our Lord touched him, and there were doubtless many more people about the Master. The leper may have been old and bent, or he may have been younger. These are details which matter little. In the beautiful picture the artist has given us his conception of the scene; we will thank him for that.

THE story is very brief, and reads as follows:

"When He was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

"And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them."

THE miracle occurred, according to Matthew, just after Jesus came down from the mountain where He had delivered His wonderful instruction known as the Sermon on the Mount. There is nothing in the detached accounts of Mark or Luke contrary to this. A great multitude followed and thronged Him. But as He passes along the street, probably near the city gate, in the poor leper's heart a new hope is born. Before this his case had been hopeless. With others similarly afflicted, he had mingled with none save his kind for years. When he neared others he must raise the mournful, despairing cry, "Unclean, unclean." Did he forget it at this time in his eagerness to reach the Healer? We can readily imagine the consternation in the crowd as the loathsome object approached. We can see them flee and fall back, and jostle one another to give the leper room as he presses on toward the Central Figure of that throng, who stands and awaits the leper's coming. He does not flee. He does not turn away. He does not repulse the fearfully, loathsomely afflicted man, the picture of a living death. The attitude of Jesus adds to the few rays of hope kindling in the heart of the afflicted one. Would Jesus turn from Him? Men had done it so long, so often, that he had become hardened against rebuffs. He could only be turned away. And so he comes on, and, according to Luke, falls at the feet of Jesus, and cries from the very depths of his soul,— "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean."

He believed that the great Teacher had the power; but would He condescend to do it?—Yes. His Spirit it was which kindled the hope in the poor leper's breast, and He will not disappoint the longing heart. As He has the power, so has He the love. Jesus "put forth His hand, and touched" the prostrate man, saying, "I will; be thou clean."

THERE was sympathy in the touch; there was life in the word; for "immediately his leprosy was cleansed." Every fiber of his being felt the thrill of the life-current of God; for he was "full of leprosy," according to Luke; but after the touch of Jesus he was full of health. In one moment of time he had been changed from death to life, from misery to happiness, by a word, by a touch of the Master of righteousness and life.

JESUS instructs him to still comply with the law. He should show himself to the priest as a cleansed man, according to the instructions given in Leviticus 14. Thus doing would show that the Healer did not dishonor the law, and it would be a testimony to the priests of the power and mission of Jesus.

BUT the greater lesson is designed for the sinner's heart; for there is no better

type of sin than leprosy. Stealthy in its approach, slow-working but deadly in its action, when it once lays hold of its victim, no human remedy can heal. The victim is doomed to die. Even so with sin. It benumbs the faculties, nerves, senses; it smites every fiber of its devotee with the disease of death, and leaves its victim hopeless, despairing. But Jesus can cleanse the sinner. He is not only willing that the sinner should come and be cleansed; He invites the weary and sin-sick to come. He declares, "Him that cometh unto Me, I will in nowise cast out." He says with infinite heartiness, "Come on now, and let us plead together [before God's court]; tho your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; tho they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. 1:18, Lowth's rendering. Then come, sinner, come. Do not wait a more convenient time. Delay is dangerous. You will never grow better. You can not heal yourself. All the panaceas of human devisings can not heal you. But Jesus Christ can heal, will heal, if you will come as did the leper. Sing the song,— "Plenteous grace with Thee is found, Grace to cover all my sin; Let the healing streams abound, Make me, keep me, pure within." And He will. He is Jesus, Saviour, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.