“JESUS CHRIST - A MAN APPROVED OF GOD (Acts 2:22)”
  Miracle #16-   “THE WOMAN WITH THE ISSUE OF BLOOD”
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
April 2023

www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com

  Miracle #17-   “JAIRUS RULER WITH 12 YEAR OLD DYING DAUGHTER”

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 …

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