CHAPTER 2 -- The Object of Faith
"For she said, If I but touch His garments I will be made whole." Mark 5: 28.
What a glorious representation of the
Lord Jesus does this woman in her simplicity give to us. She regarded
Him as so filled with the divine power of life, as He in truth is, that
it flowed out on everyone that only touched Him in faith, and streamed
over him. She felt assured that even the slightest fellowship with Him
would be blessed, and that she would experience the healing power of
the life that was in Him. Not for a moment did she have any doubt of
His power and still less of His willingness. Had He not come for the
sick? Why should she still ask, as if she had no claim? No: she knew
the one truth just as certainly as she knew the other -- that in Him
there was healing. This healing is also for her. She should doubt her
right to make use of the light of the sun, sooner than her right to
Jesus. She should fear whether it were indeed open to her to take a
draught of water from a rushing river sooner than cherish the thought
that there was no health for her to be found with Jesus.
O that you, doubting soul, would think of
the Lord Jesus just as this woman thought of Him. It is always the good
pleasure of the Father that in Him all fulness should dwell. All the
fulness of His love and His life has the Father of set purpose made to
dwell in Jesus, the Son of Man, in order that it may be truly visible
and accessible to us. In Him dwells the power of a new and holy life
from the dead, which he obtained by making atonement for our sins. This
life is mighty to impart health to souls sick unto death, and this is
for us sinful, dead, condemned sinners. Pray, do understand what the
woman calls out to you; the blessing and the approval of Jesus are
always the seal of the truth of her words. In Jesus is life, life even
for the most wretched.
What a glorious representation is there
here also of true faith, as the means of our participating in the
fulness of Jesus. The woman knows that she has no work to do; that she
has no great motion of strength to put forth; that she has not to
consider, as is the case in dealing with other professors of the
healing art, whether she is really in a position to pay the fees that
will be demanded. No: she has merely to touch Him, that is, she has
merely to appropriate what is prepared for her; the healing is there as
soon as she stretches out her hand to receive it. Anxious soul, who has
already been so long seeking to prepare and make yourself fit for the
great work of believing, let this poor woman cure you of your error. In
Jesus everything is ready; you have merely to stretch out your hand. O,
do understand it. Here He stands ready for your deliverance; He is also
given to you by the Father; only touch Him with the firm conviction of
the faith: Jesus is for me; with the simple thought, I have a right to
Him; in Him there is deliverance for me also. Touch Him, and, as truly
as His name is Jesus, you will be delivered. This may not be
immediately felt by you; in that case just wait, hold on, say from day
to day: "If I touch Him, I will be made whole." The healing will be
consciously yours.
And what a glorious representation is
there besides of the blessing which Jesus will give to faith. That the
woman was healed was much to begin with; but it speaks of yet richer
blessing that Jesus observed her, the poor trembling believer who would
fain have hid herself for shame, even while others were seeking her in
the crowd. He gives her the assurance of His good pleasure and His
favor; He constrains her to confess Him openly. He praises her faith,
and thus makes her an example and a blessing for thousands. O, all you
who are looking out and yearning for the salvation of the soul, pray
learn to understand what is awaiting you with Jesus, what you may hope
for from Him. It is not only forgiveness of sins and rescue from
destruction that He will make you partakers of: the friendship and love
of the Savior will also be your portion, and by these He will make you
become a blessing to others.
Beloved, what more have you need of to
make you say humbly and with faltering lips, after this woman, "If I
but touch His garments, I will be made whole."