(2 Kings 5)
NAAMAN the Syrian held an exalted position in this world, but one thing marred all his enjoyment of it―he was a leper. He was the victim of a loathsome malady, which, so far as the skill of man was concerned, was incurable. That spoiled everything. But he was an object of the grace and mercy of God. A little captive maid, and a poor, lonely, and despised man of God were His chosen instruments in bringing about the healing of Syria’s mighty captain. Two messages came to him through them, to say how he could be recovered, but Naaman was slow to believe either of them. Brimful of himself and his own glory and importance, he was very slow to avail himself of God’s way of healing. It made nothing of the mighty Naaman, and that was very humiliating for that honorable man’s valorous flesh. The prophet Elisha’s message was unmistakably plain, “Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.” And until Naaman bowed to it, believed it, and acted upon it, he remained unclean―a leper.
As with Naaman physically, so is it with us all morally, in the natural state. Naaman was a leper; each one of us is a sinner before God. We are all without exception suffering from a malady which no human instrumentality can eradicate or heal. We are hopeless incurables. Every soul of man, from the highest to the lowest, is stricken with the same disease. The most renowned and the most obscure are alike sinners, guilty, under judgment, lost. But God is working in grace. And the message of grace to us all, and therefore, my reader, to you today, is, “Wash, and be clean.” You have not to travel to Jordan’s river, but you can be cleansed now on the spot.
But very likely the message of the gospel today finds you, like Naaman, unprepared to receive it. Instead of believing it simply, and getting the eternal benefit of it, you are filled with your own thoughts and ideas. Your poor heart has conceived some other plan, which you consider equally as good, or better. When Naaman received the prophet’s message, instead of rejoicing, he was wroth, and went away. “Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned, and went away in a rage” (2 Kings 5:11,1211But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. (2 Kings 5:11‑12)). But he went away with his leprosy. “I thought.” Poor Naaman, you thought wrong. It was your thought, and, not God’s. Are not Abana and Pharpar better than all the waters of Israel? Oh, yes, no doubt in your eyes, but you do not see as God sees. How strikingly this illustrates the reasonings of men today as to God’s salvation. I thought. Here is where thousands go astray. They will not allow God to think for them. Your thoughts are all wrong. God hates thoughts (Ps. 119:113). His thoughts are not as ours. The state of Christendom today is the fruit of “I thought.” It is surely very far away from God’s thoughts in His Word. Abanas and Pharpars abound, splendid rivers, no doubt, in men’s eyes, but no healing waters are found there.
The human heart dearly loves to plan its own way to heaven. Millions would arrive in glory, if God had said, Travel the way you like. But as He has said otherwise, alas, men who trust in their Abana-and-Pharpar-gospel will surely be grievously disappointed. God has spoken, sinner, and His word is truth. The word to Naaman was, Wash in Jordan, and you shall be clean. And the word to you is, Trust in the precious blood of Christ, shed on Calvary’s cross, and you shall be clean. Ah, you rebel against that. Your proud flesh cannot brook it. It is so humiliating. It makes nothing of you. Yes, friend, that is just it, it does make nothing, absolutely nothing of you, and everything of Christ. And to that you must come, or in your sins you must remain. You may turn, and go off in a rage, like Naaman, but you will carry the leprosy of sin with you. You may repair to an Abana, or a Pharpar, but no human remedy ever put a single sin away from a guilty soul, or ever will. Christ’s death and blood-shedding alone can meet your case. Will you wash then, and be clean? The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). “Without shedding of blood is no remission’ (Heb. 9:2222And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22)).
Now Naaman’s servants were wiser than he. They came near, and spoke unto him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean?” (vs. 13.) That was sound counsel, and it touched Naaman. His conscience told him it was true. Yes, if the prophet had told this great man to do some great thing that would add to his credit and renown in doing it, he would gladly have set to work. But (as another has illustrated the work of God in the soul), if this great man is in for blessing, the great man must collapse. He must take the low place. And so must you. “I thought” must go. Are not Abana and Pharpar better? must go too. Self must go. Naaman must dip in the waters of death. So must you in principle. The way to healing and life is through death.
The gospel does not bid you do some great thing, but a very little thing. No doubt if it pleased God to send an angel this day to men, bidding them do some great thing for salvation that the world had never yet heard of tens of thousands would set to work at once, as it would make something of them, and maybe you would be one of them. But when God says, so to speak, Give yourself up, take your place before Me as a guilty lost one, and believe on My Son, and His precious blood shall wash you whiter than snow; man’s proud heart rebels, and he prefers to go on with his ordinances, and observances, and ritual, and what not, in all of which there is no Christ and no salvation. How terrible will be the awakening day! Sinner, hear while you may, come now to the Saviour, trust now in His all cleansing blood.
“Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan” (vs. 14). Wise Naaman. He gave up his thoughts, his plans, his better way, and bowed to God. He acted “according to the saying of the mean of God.” He went down and dipped. And what was the consequence? His flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. Of course he was. How could it be otherwise? He believed God’s own word through His servant. He was healed through faith. And so may you be. Away with your own thoughts and plans and notions forever; believe God. He has spoken; take Him at His word. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,” &c. “Christ died for us; much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Rom. 5:99Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Romans 5:9)).
Unquestionably, it was a severe test for Naaman. What if it should not be true? Dip seven times. One can picture the scene, the great captain of Syria’s victorious host standing in the bed of Jordan’s river, with the eyes of all his staff, his soldiers (for there was a company with him-verse 15), and possibly a number of the inhabitants round drawn together by so strange a sight, all fastened upon him. How humiliating if it should prove a hoax. Why, he would be the laughing stock of all Israel and Syria! One can well imagine, as he looked upon himself after the sixth dip, and saw no change, not even the removal of a single speck of leprosy, the hesitancy that might arise in his heart, ere he ventured the seventh time. But the prophet said, seven. Six were no good. It must be a perfect dipping, so to speak. Well, it may be true, and if so, what joy to be clear of the leprosy, what joy for himself, his wife, his family, the king, the army, the whole nation! Well, there will be nothing lost, if nothing is gained, so now for it. Every bystander is on the tiptoe of expectation, every eye strains, as for a moment Naaman the leper disappears beneath the wave. Up he comes. Ah, where is the leprosy? Gone. Clean every whit. Clean as a little child. Clean as God by divine power and grace could make him. Naaman believed the word, and he was clean.
Reader, how is it with your soul? Will you believe Gad? Again, we press it upon you, hesitate no longer, trust now simply and only in the precious blood, and you shall be now clear and clean before God, we do not hesitate to say it, as Christ Himself. It could not be otherwise, for it is His blood that will cleanse you, and in Him that you will henceforth be found before God forever.
“Clean every whit, Thou saidst it, Lord,
Shall one suspicion lurk?
Thine surely is a faithful word,
And Thine a finished work.”
Naaman returned home cleansed and happy. If you read on, you will find he became a worshipper of the true God, the God of Israel. He said he knew that there was no other (vs. 15). The truth immediately tested him (vers. 17, 18), but the prophet said, “Go in peace” (vs. 19). Now, before we cease, how are you going to put down this paper? Why not decide? It will be a grand moment for you. Christ is worth having, friend. Every true Christian has proved that. If you die without an interest in His blood, you will surely be eternally damned; but if you trust that precious blood now, you can go on your way rejoicing and in peace, owning a Saviour God, delighting in His Son till you behold and dwell with Him forever. May.it be your blessed portion now to sing: ―
“O gracious Saviour, Thou hast given
My trembling soul to know
That, trusting in Thy precious blood,
I’m washed as white as snow.”
E. H. C.