“They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”—Mark 16:18

This world is a vast lazar house, but Christ came to heal the sick, to proclaim deliverance to the captives of Satan. He was in Himself health and strength. He imparted His life to the sick, the afflicted, those possessed of demons. He turned away none who came to receive His healing power. He knew that those who petitioned Him for help had brought disease upon themselves; yet He did not refuse to heal them. And when virtue from Christ entered into these poor souls, they were convicted of sin, and many were healed of their spiritual disease, as well as of their physical maladies. The gospel still possesses the same power, and why should we not today witness the same results?

Christ feels the woes of every sufferer. When evil spirits rend a human frame, Christ feels the curse. When fever is burning up the life current, He feels the agony. And He is just as willing to heal the sick now as when He was personally on earth. Christ’s servants are His representatives, the channels for His working. He desires through them to exercise His healing power.

In the Saviour’s manner of healing there were lessons for His disciples. On one occasion He anointed the eyes of a blind man with clay, and bade him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam…. He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing” (John 9:7). The cure could be wrought only by the power of the Great Healer, yet Christ made use of the simple agencies of nature. While He did not give countenance to drug medication, He sanctioned the use of simple and natural remedies.

To many of the afflicted ones who received healing, Christ said, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee” (John 5:14). Thus He taught that disease is the result of violating God’s laws, both natural and spiritual. The great misery in the world would not exist did human beings but live in harmony with the Creator’s plan.

Christ had been the guide and teacher of ancient Israel, and He taught them that health is the reward of obedience to the laws of God.—The Desire of Ages, 823, 824.

Further Reflection: How does Christ feel the pains of billions of suffering human beings, yet respond to each as though they were the only one on earth?

From Jesus, Name Above All Names

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”—Matthew 9:2

There are today thousands suffering from physical disease, who, like the paralytic, are longing for the message, “Thy sins are forgiven.” The burden of sin, with its unrest and unsatisfied desires, is the foundation of their maladies. They can find no relief until they come to the Healer of the soul. The peace which He alone can give, would impart vigor to the mind, and health to the body.

Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil.” “In Him was life,” and He says, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” He is “a quickening spirit” (1 John 3:8; John 1:4; 10:10; 1 Corinthians 15:45). And He still has the same life-giving power as when on earth He healed the sick, and spoke forgiveness to the sinner….

The effect produced upon the people by the healing of the paralytic was as if heaven had opened, and revealed the glories of the better world. As the man who had been cured passed through the multitude, blessing God at every step, and bearing his burden as if it were a feather’s weight, the people fell back to give him room, and with awe-stricken faces gazed upon him, whispering softly among themselves, “We have seen strange things today.”

The Pharisees were dumb with amazement and overwhelmed with defeat. They saw that here was no opportunity for their jealousy to inflame the multitude. The wonderful work wrought upon the man whom they had given over to the wrath of God had so impressed the people that the rabbis were for the time forgotten. They saw that Christ possessed a power which they had ascribed to God alone; yet the gentle dignity of His manner was in marked contrast to their own haughty bearing. They were disconcerted and abashed, recognizing, but not confessing, the presence of a superior being. The stronger the evidence that Jesus had power on earth to forgive sins, the more firmly they entrenched themselves in unbelief. From the home of Peter, where they had seen the paralytic restored by His word, they went away to invent new schemes for silencing the Son of God.—The Desire of Ages, 270, 271.

Further Reflection: How do I feel when Jesus does something miraculous for someone other than me?

From Jesus, Name Above All Names

“The sower sows the word.”—Mark 4:14

The prophet Isaiah bears striking testimony to Christ: “Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” …

Christ reproached His disciples with their slowness of comprehension. They were influenced by maxims and traditionary lore, so that the truths spoken by the greatest Teacher the world has ever known were often lost truths to them. Christ led them to realize that He had put them in possession of truth of which they little suspected the value. After His resurrection, as He was walking to Emmaus with two of the disciples, He opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, so explaining the Old Testament to them that they saw in its teaching a meaning that the writers themselves had not seen.

Christ’s words are represented as being bread from heaven. As the disciples ate the words of Christ, their understanding was quickened. As they diligently sought for the truth as for hidden treasure, they understood better the value of the grace and righteousness of Christ. In their comprehension of His teaching, they stepped from the obscurity of dawn to the radiance of noon.

The work of no human author is perfect. The depth of human intellect may be measured. The richest mines of human production are not inexhaustible. But the highest, deepest, broadest flight of the imagination cannot find out God. There is infinity beyond all that we in our own strength can comprehend; the Holy Spirit must reveal Him to us. Many are too well satisfied with the surface truths of revelation. Precious gems of truth are passed by because their value is not seen. Let the Bible student tax his mind as he studies God’s Word; for the meaning often lies hidden beneath the surface. The knowledge thus gained will be like heavenly seed planted by the divine Sower.—The Signs of the Times, December 22, 1898.

Further Reflection: If the Holy Spirit is required to help me process the seed sown by the Divine Sower, how often do I pray for this mind-opening Gift?

From Jesus, Name Above All Names

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”—John 10:27

As the shepherd leads his flock over the rocky hills, through forest and wild ravines, to grassy nooks by the riverside; as he watches them on the mountains through the lonely night, shielding from robbers, caring tenderly for the sickly and feeble, his life comes to be one with theirs. A strong and tender attachment unites him to the objects of his care. However large the flock, the shepherd knows every sheep. Every one has its name, and responds to the name at the shepherd’s call.

As an earthly shepherd knows his sheep, so does the Divine Shepherd know His flock that are scattered throughout the world. “Ye My flock, the flock of My pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God.” Jesus says, “I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.” “I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands” (Ezekiel 34:31; Isaiah 43:1; 49:16).

Jesus knows us individually, and is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows us all by name. He knows the very house in which we live, the name of each occupant. He has at times given directions to His servants to go to a certain street in a certain city, to such a house, to find one of His sheep.

Every soul is as fully known to Jesus as if he were the only one for whom the Saviour died. The distress of every one touches His heart. The cry for aid reaches His ear. He came to draw all men and women unto Himself. He bids them, “Follow Me,” and His Spirit moves upon their hearts to draw them to come to Him. Many refuse to be drawn. Jesus knows who they are. He also knows who gladly hear His call, and are ready to come under His pastoral care. He says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” He cares for each one as if there were not another on the face of the earth.

“He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out…. And the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice.” The Eastern shepherd does not drive his sheep. He depends not upon force or fear; but going before, he calls them. They know his voice, and obey the call. So does the Saviour-Shepherd with His sheep.—The Desire of Ages, 479, 480.

Further Reflection: When Jesus calls me, do I come to Him? When He asks me to do something, do I hasten or hesitate to obey?

From Jesus, Name Above All Names

But made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.—Philippians 2:7

By coming to dwell with us, Jesus was to reveal God both to humans and to angels. He was the Word of God—God’s thought made audible. In His prayer for His disciples He says, “I have declared unto them Thy name,”—“merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,”—“that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” But not alone for His earth-born children was this revelation given. Our little world is the lesson book of the universe. God’s wonderful purpose of grace, the mystery of redeeming love, is the theme into which “angels desire to look,” and it will be their study throughout endless ages. Both the redeemed and the unfallen beings will find in the cross of Christ their science and their song. It will be seen that the glory shining in the face of Jesus is the glory of self-sacrificing love. In the light from Calvary it will be seen that the law of self-renouncing love is the law of life for earth and heaven; that the love which “seeketh not her own” has its source in the heart of God; and that in the meek and lowly One is manifested the character of Him who dwelleth in the light which no person can approach unto.

In the beginning, God was revealed in all the works of creation. It was Christ that spread the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth. It was His hand that hung the worlds in space, and fashioned the flowers of the field. “His strength setteth fast the mountains.” “The sea is His, and He made it” (Psalm 65:6; 95:5). It was He that filled the earth with beauty, and the air with song. And upon all things in earth, and air, and sky, He wrote the message of the Father’s love.

Now sin has marred God’s perfect work, yet that handwriting remains. Even now all created things declare the glory of His excellence…. There is no leaf of the forest, or lowly blade of grass, but has its ministry. Every tree and shrub and leaf pours forth that element of life without which neither human beings nor animal could live; and human and animal, in turn, minister to the life of tree and shrub and leaf. The flowers breathe fragrance and unfold their beauty in blessing to the world.—The Desire of Ages, 19-21.

Further Reflection: In today’s world, meekness is seen as weakness. How can I exemplify the meekness of Christ in today’s hardscrabble world and not become a doormat?

From Jesus, Name Above All Names