March - the Free Presbyterian church of Scotland

TheFree Presbyterian MagazineVol 115 March 2010 No 3The Saviour’s Powerful HandWhen the Lord Jesus was in this world, He went about doing good. Inparticular, He healed large numbers of people who were suffering fromevery kind of illness and disability. Even when “great multitudes followedHim”, “He healed them all ” (Mt 12:15). Reports of these miracles spreadeverywhere and, as Jairus watched his 12-year-old daughter becoming seriouslyweaker, these reports must have spurred him to go to ask Jesus to heal hisdaughter. Even although she was at the point of death, he left her to make hisrequest to Jesus: “Come and lay Thy hand upon her, and she shall live” (Mt9:18). Jairus did not question Jesus’ willingness to go with him; he believedthat Jesus was able to restore her to health. He was not discouraged by themessage telling him that his daughter had now died. Nor did the unbelievingquestion: “Why troublest thou the Master any further?” distract him from hispurpose. And his faith was vindicated; the Saviour went to the room wherethe girl’s dead body lay and brought her back to life.Jesus’ miracles of healing represent His power to heal the diseases of thesoul. By nature we are spiritually blind; our souls cannot see spiritual truthand we are completely unable to look by faith to Jesus Christ. But, workingthrough the Holy Spirit, the Saviour is able take away our blindness and togive us spiritual eyesight so that we may look to Him by faith and discernthe spiritual truths revealed in the Word of God. This corresponds to Jesushealing people like Bartimaeus and making their sightless eyes able to see.Again, by nature we are spiritually lame; indeed the legs of our souls suffer,metaphorically speaking, from a total paralysis. We are unable to come toChrist; we cannot walk in the paths of righteousness. But the Saviour is ableto give power to the legs of our souls, so that we may obey His call andcome to Him, and begin to walk in the paths of new obedience. Thus Jesushealed those who, in varying degrees, suffered from problems with their legs– including the paralysed man who had to be let down through the roof intothe room where Jesus was.But death is an even grimmer picture of what is wrong with the humansoul while still in a state of nature. When we see Jesus raising Jairus’ daughter