HE CARETH
FOR US.
BY W. L. G.
In reading of
God’s loving care of His people of old, we are struck with the many promises of
temporal good to those who obey Him.
In Exodus
xxiii:22,25, we read: “If thou shalt indeed obey His voice, and do all that I
speak, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine
adversaries. And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread
and thy water, and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.” Again, in
Psalm xci:9, 10, we see these gracious words: “Because thou hast made the Lord,
which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil
befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”
Can it be that
our Heavenly Father has changed His thoughts and purposes toward His trusting
children, or are these promises for us to-day?
In the
introduction of the new dispensation our Saviour’s works of mercy embraced temporal
and physical blessing, and in His commission to the twelve apostles we see that
the preaching of the Gospel was enjoined in connection with the casting out of
evil spirits and the healing of the sick. “And they went out and preached that
men should repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many
that were sick, and healed them.”-(St. Mark vi:12, 13.) Again, in Christ’s
commission to the seventy, He bids them to “heal the sick,” and “say unto them,
the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.”-(St. Luke x:9.)
In His last charge
to His disciples when He was about to leave the world, Jesus gave them unbound
assurance of His continued power on earth. “All
power is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations… teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you,
and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”-(St. Matt.
xxxviii:18-20.)
Again, in St.
Mark xvi: 15-18, the promises of spiritual and physical healing stand side by
side: “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved… and these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name… they
shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Is the promise of
salvation to him “that believeth” any stronger here than the promise of the
gift of healing to “them to that believe?”
In our Lord’s
establishing of the Christian Church, what minute and ample provision is made
for our temporal as well as spiritual needs! His language to His children is: “Are
not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the
ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear ye not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.”
When we read of
Christ that “His own self bare our sin in His own body on the tree,” and again
that “Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses,” we see that the
spiritual and physical healing were united in the great plan of redemption.
O, what a mine
of wealth has been hidden from our eyes through unbelief! How we have failed to
appropriate these wonderful blessings to ourselves! Although “He bare our sins
in His own body,” yet this can not avail for us unless we appropriate this
spiritual healing by faith, and, in like manner, His “bearing our sickness”
cannot avail for our physical healing were united in the great plan of
redemption.
O, what a mine of
wealth has been hidden from our eyes through unbelief! How we have failed to
appropriate these wonderful blessings to ourselves! Although “He bare our sins
in His own body,” yet this can not avail for us unless we appropriate this
spiritual healing by faith, and, in like manner, His “bearing our sicknesses”
cannot avail for our physical healing unless we believe that the work is done, and that the benefit of that
work is ours.
Christ is
represented as the stone cut out of the mountain and filling the whole earth,
and when by faith we seize this great truth, sickness will vanish away. We read
much in the Bible about our Lord’s compassion. Is He less compassionate today?
Surely not; and would that we might rust him for a manifestation of His tender
love in relieving our physical suffering!
God required of
His ancient people that their offerings should be without blemish, and let us,
today, who would offer ourselves as a “living sacrifice” unto God, render our
bodies as well as our souls to be made “holy, acceptable” unto Him.
And may our “whole
spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ.”
