“JESUS
CHRIST - A MAN APPROVED OF GOD (Acts 2:22)”
Miracle #16-
Matt
9:20-22; Mark 5:25-28,29-32,33-34; Luke 8:43-46,47-48
Dear
Reader, Christ must have performed thousands of
miracles while on earth (John 21:25), however only thirty nine of
them
are specifically mentioned in the Bible … each of them
revealing a different
aspect of the Lord Jesus Christ, and each with a particular purpose.
This
miracle reveals the virtue of Christ … the divine
power given to heal … to be partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:3-4) … and in this case the physical.
1.
WHAT IS VIRTUE?
As
Christ’s creation is the expression of himself, it is to
the herbs and plants we resort to in this instance, to get further
understanding of what ‘virtue’ is.
In
the physical, the virtue of a plant is the substance
of a plant that is extracted by boiling it in water, which
is then
used for healing in medicines, drugs and natural remedies.
Indeed,
the virtue of Christ was the healing
substance (Hebrews 11:1) that came out from Christ to heal the
woman.
Q:
How
was Christ ‘boiled’? A:
Everyday with the ‘heat’ from the scribes and Pharisees.
With
his final boiling of the “I thirst” on the cross
(John 19:28), his ‘ultimate’ healing virtue, his blood was shed,
that
the whole world might be healed from sin.
Indeed
Christ’s virtue on the cross, indeed his
whole life, was that of the fruit of the Spirit … love
(John
3:16), joy (Hebrews 12:2), peace (Luke 2:14), longsuffering
(Exodus
34:6; 1 Timothy 1:16), goodness (Romans 2:4), gentleness (2 Corinthians 10:1), faith (Galatians 2:16), meekness (2 Corinthians 10:1) and temperance (2 Peter 1:3-6).
2.
TOUCHING CHRIST
Put
it this way, in the spiritual, there are a lot of
people who touch Christ, but only those, like this woman with total
belief,
will be healed from sin. For Christ, he was touched by many people
looking for
association with him or entertainment, whether spiritual or physical …
but it
makes no difference … he knows who is sincere (Mark 5:27; Mark 5:30).
Many
pretenders touch him spiritually … and
without result.
3.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VIRTUE AND RELIGION
Religion
is the outward practice of moral values from
the motives of convenience, compulsion or from regard to reputation. It
is this
external display that had Jesus call the scribes and the
Pharisees
whited sepulchres (Matthew 23:27).
And
of course, there have always been religious health
practitioners that will bleed you for all you’ve got (Mark 5:26).
4.
THE FALSE PHYSICIANS
She
had spent all her living upon physicians,
suffering many things of the medical specialists of her day; had spent
all
that she had and neither could be healed of any … indeed, she grew
worse
(Mark 5:26). This woman’s life was slowly ebbing away with a continual
issue of
blood.
This
miracle calls our attention to the false
religious physicians who prey on the sinful … for example, Roman
Catholicism a.k.a. Sacerdotalism,
Christian Science, Unity and Faith Healers of the Philippines … to name a few. Each of these false
physicians has
his own ‘sure cure’ remedy for the disease of sin, but not one of them
can heal
by the washing from the stains of sin (Revelation 1:5).
The
origin of the word ‘sacerdotalism’ comes
from the Latin word ‘sacerdos’ meaning ‘priest’. Sacerdotalism is
the
common religious belief that emphasizes the role of priests as the
essential
mediators between God and man (compare 1 Timothy 2:5), involving sacramental
and sacrificial functions, along with the sacerdotal
garments of
the priesthood. Furthermore, sacerdotalism is characterized by the
belief in
the divine authority of the priesthood.
5.
THE FOUR FALSE PHYSICIANS in
the book of Colossians:
Dr
Law,
well described in John
Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, prescribes solid efforts of the flesh to
keep
God’s commandments and thereby heal the sin–sick soul. He directs us to
Mt
Sinai to live in a town called Morality.
Dr
Philosophy, whose
medicine is ‘vain deceit’ after the tradition of men, which turn men’s
thoughts
to their own crude notions (rudiments of the world) and cunning
follies, that
only land them in deeper sin because of their pride and unbelief. This
false
Doctor, using the worldly wisdom of situation ethics (“the end result
is always
justified by any means to obtain it”), minimises and makes excuses for
sin.
Dr
Religion, whose
remedies for sin consist of heavy doses of voluntary humility,
worshipping of
angels, keeping feasts and observing days. These are rounds of piety
that the
flesh enjoys but which never change the heart
nor
arrests the plague of sin. As the reader would know,
this spiritual Doctor, while condemning legalism in all its
manipulating,
dominating and oppressive forms, turns out to be the worst legalist of
all.
Why? He has put aside God’s rules so that he may enforce his rules on
others.
Dr
Ascetic, prescribes
starvations, fasts and the neglecting of the body along with strict
man-made
ordinances and will worship, but which the apostle says are “…not
in any
honour to the satisfying of the flesh.” (Col 2:23). They are of no
avail
against the indulgences of the flesh. The flesh scoffs with scorn
and
derision at these empty and worthless attempts to appease its raging
and
unlimited appetites.
These
false Doctors proselytize, going to great
lengths in trying to convert many, but being unable to heal themselves
… are
one heartbeat from hell (Matthew 23:13-15).
6.
THE WOMAN’S APPROACH (Matthew
9:20)
She
physically came to Jesus from behind,
as being … unclean (‘similar’ to Leviticus 15:19); outcast
as
being outside of Christ’s saving grace; no pretence having had
all
societal facade stripped away; suffering both physically and
spiritually; made penniless by the false doctors of her day; hopeless
and spiritually bankrupted by false physicians (Romans
5:6).
7.
HER FAITH (Mark
5:34)
It
was her faith (Mark
5:34; Habakkuk 2:4) … indeed her 100% belief of being fully
persuaded
(Romans 4:20-21), that Christ could heal.
Unlike
today, it is the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ
that saves us (Galatians 2:20) … we need only to believe, and his faith
is put
into our account (Galatians 2:16).
Her
faith was the substance of things hoped for … the
evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). The substance of
her faith resulted
in the substance called virtue … that came out of Christ.
7.
WHAT IS YOUR VIRTUE?
Dear
Reader, when you are put under the heat and pressure
of daily life, what is the virtue, that you produce? Is it the
fruit of
the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) or the ‘virtues’ of the flesh (Galatians
5:19-21)?
9.
TODAY, WE COME TO JESUS FROM THE FRONT TO
BE HEALED FROM SIN …
As
similar to the woman, we come to Christ as follows …
… humbled, contrite, bowed and desperate …. full of sin and unclean (Romans 3:23); outcast as being outside of Christ’s saving grace (Romans 5:8); having no pretence and spiritually bankrupted by false physicians (Romans 5:6).
Harley
Hitchcock
This
website’s front page is:
www.
Miracle #17-
Matt
9:18, 23-26;
Mark 5:22-25,26-29,30-33,34-37,38-41,42-43;
Luke 8:41-44,45-48,49-52,53-56
This miracle asks the question as to why Christ speaks in Aramaic and not Hebrew …