No. 3.
WHEN the Lord came down from the mount, He was approached by a leper. A sad disclosure of the degraded state of the nation. Why was not his upper lip tied up, and he crying, “Unclean, unclean?” Or, why was he not cleansed by the priest according to the prescribed ordinance? (See Leviticus 13, 14.) But this sad state of things served to show that One was there who was Jehovah, who could touch a leper without being defiled, and heal him immediately by His word; while it brought out also the grace of His heart, and the readiness in Him to heal the nation, however sunken in uncleanness and moral degradation. When Jesus healed his leprosy, He sent him to show himself to the priest, who, being a kind of prime minister, was the true medium of appeal to the nation. But there was no answer; and this silence only further manifested their sad condition.
The Lord then turns to a needy Gentile, a centurion’s servant, whom He heals at once, and declares that He “had not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” This appears to intimate that, though Israel refuse Immanuel, His blessing would flow out to the Gentiles; and He declares that the children of the kingdom, the natural heirs, will be cast out, and the Gentiles enjoy millennial blessings with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (chapter 8:11, 12.)
The healing of Peter’s wife’s mother, the rebuking of the winds and the sea, and the casting out of devils, were further proofs of His Messiaship as able to set up the kingdom, although He felt so rejected that He said He had not where to lay His head. (chapter 8)
In the ninth chapter, the palsied man sets forth the helplessness of the nation, as the leper had declared its uncleanness. But here again the power of His Messiaship was set forth. The prophet Isaiah had connected Israel’s future blessings with forgiveness of sins, and healing of diseases (chapter 33:24); and in Psalms 103 millennial glory is celebrated with thanksgivings to Jehovah for healing all diseases, and forgiving all iniquities. These two blessings are combined in our Lord’s dealings with this palsied man. He said, “Whether is it easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. And he arose, and departed to his house.” This was a remarkable testimony to the presence of Jehovah Jesus, the true Messiah, and they ought to have known Him; but “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” However, “the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” Still, He did not come to mend a ruined nation, but to bring in what was new. The garment was too old and rotten to be merely patched, and the bottle must be new to receive and retain the new wine. That the nation of Israel will be revived by and by, according to the divine purpose, was most true, even though it be dead like Jairus’ daughter, and the true Messiah be “laughed to scorn;” but before that, a needy, helpless woman (like the church), has faith in Him as a present Saviour and Deliverer. When the nation knows their true Messiah, and are blessed by Him, they will be like the blind who receive sight, and blessings will flow largely and abundantly to those around.