08/06/2018
Have you ever realized that Jesus provides the life force that powers your soul, that he takes the current that flows from God, and transforms it into just the right wattage, and amperage for the spiritual motor that drives us? Certainly there have been those people that God has interacted with directly, but His current far exceeds our limited mortal capability. Jesus on the other hand provides for us all day long, every day, without overpowering our spiritual senses. He is the transformer that adjusts the power of God to supply our spiritual engines... our daily lives.
“When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me." Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.”
John 5:6-9 ESV
I was reading Andrew Murray this morning, and he brought an interesting thought to my attention that I found more than wonderful about Jesus. He made a very basic point regarding the difference in Jesus’ healing and the healing that doctors perform. Doctors heal us so that we will hopefully be independent of them, while Jesus performs healings so that we will believe in who He is, and come into a greater faith, and closer dependence on God... a permanent, and eternal, relationship with the Father.
I thought about this for a while, and the more I did so the more I realized that everything God does, whether it is of Himself, by way of angels, His Holy Spirit, or through Jesus Christ, is meant to bring us into a closer, and lasting, relationship with Him. The only self-serving desire that God has in dealing with us is that he desperately wants our love, and for it to be complete.
“And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
Matthew 22:37-38 ESV
We can’t look on the face of God without dying. He is like grabbing ahold of a lightning bolt, so Jesus steps down that power through His humanity which allows us to safely and continuously receive the flow of life from God. He takes the full force of life that is God, and gives it to us in a manner that will sustain us without toasting us to a crisp. Moses had to deal with this reality... listen...
“But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live." And the Lord said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen."”
Exodus 33:20-23 ESV
When I think about one day looking upon the face of Christ it reminds me of the scripture that says that He is in God, and God in Him, and furthermore we are told that we are in Jesus. This is a rather mysterious, and complicated way of saying that through Jesus we can come into a close relationship with God... whose unshielded glory would otherwise overpower us. Jesus makes this intimacy possible.
“Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
John 14:11, 20 ESV
This thought is further promoted by an earlier, and equally wonderful passage of scripture...
“Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."”
John 14:6-7 ESV
So we see God through Jesus, He is our welder’s mask, our step-down transformer... He makes it possible for us to see God’s face by safely looking at His.
So what about the comparison between the healing of doctors and Jesus that captured my attention? Well, doctors, when they can heal us at all, do so once. Their healing is for the right now, the transient, and regardless of their skill in easing the suffering in our immediate lifetimes, we will ultimately end our lives in death. Jesus on the other hand heals to bring us into a deeper faith in God which not only repairs us physically in the moment, but spiritually brings us into an eternal relationship with the Father. In our relationship with God through Jesus Christ there is no death... only life eternal.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV
Through the healing of Jesus we gain faith in God, and through our faith we love, and through our love we live eternally. Are you ready for that transformation?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who allows me to see you, and who brings me into a close and loving relationship with you. Thank you for what you allow doctors to do as they relieve the immediate suffering of your children, but Holy Father, I thank you, and praise you endlessly for allowing Jesus to heal not only my body, but my spirit, and soul. I thank you for His bringing me into eternal companionship with you, and for plugging me into the glory and power that is manifest within you. Help me Lord to see you clearly each and every day as I perfect my faith through your Word, your Son Jesus, and your Holy Spirit. Let nothing come between us that you have not placed there by your goodness and will. Your hand shields me Father, and your Son, whom you placed between us, allows me to see you through Him. In my most decrepit you sooth me, and in my darkest hour I see your light; as Jesus heals, and His life abounds within me, through Him I am redeemed, and come closer to the light that is you. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you the light upon my path, and the love that strengthens me for the journey.
Rich Forbes