Section: The True Medical Missionary (Chapters 1-6)

Section: The True Medical Missionary 

(Chapters 1-6)

Our Lord Jesus Christ came to this world as the unwearied servant of man's necessity. He "took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses," that He might minister to every need of humanity. Matthew 8:17. The burden of disease and wretchedness and sin He came to remove. It was His mission to bring to men complete restoration; He came to give them health and peace and perfection of character. 

*By sin we have been severed from the life of God.*

*Our souls are palsied.*

--He knew that unless there was a decided change in the principles and purposes of the human race, all would be lost.
--He was represented by the sacrificial lamb, "without blemish and without spot." 1 Peter 1:19. In body as in soul He was an example of what God designed all humanity to be through obedience to His laws.
--During His ministry, 

Jesus devoted more time 

to healing the sick than to preaching.

--The Savior made each work of healing an occasion for implanting divine principles in the mind and soul.
--His voice was heard explaining the Scriptures. So unlike the explanations of Scripture given by the scribes and Pharisees was Christ's teaching, that the attention of the people was arrested. The rabbis dwelt upon tradition, upon human theory and speculation. He banished from the soul unrest and doubt, changing enmity to love, and unbelief to confidence.
--Never was there such an evangelist as Christ. He was the Majesty of heaven, but He humbled Himself to take our nature, that He might meet men where they were. To all people, rich and poor, free and bond, Christ, the Messenger of the covenant, brought the tidings of

salvation. His fame as the Great Healer spread throughout Palestine.
--He attended the great yearly festivals of the nation, and to the multitude absorbed in outward ceremony He spoke of heavenly things, bringing eternity within their view.
--Christ came to the earth and stood before the children of men with the hoarded love of eternity, and this is the treasure that, through our connection with Him, we are to receive, to reveal, and to impart.
--The prince of teachers, He sought access to the people by the pathway of their most familiar associations. He presented the truth in such a way that ever after it was to His hearers intertwined with their most hallowed recollections and sympathies.
--Christ recognized no distinction of nationality or rank or creed. The life of Christ established a religion in which there is no caste, a religion by which Jew and Gentile, free and bond, are linked in a common brotherhood, equal before God.
*The Sun of Righteousness did not burst upon the world in splendor, to dazzle the senses with His glory. It is written of Christ, "His going forth is prepared as the morning." Hosea 6:3. So did the Sun of Righteousness arise, "with healing in His wings." Malachi 4:2.
--The works of Christ not only declared Him to be the Messiah, but showed in what manner His kingdom was to be established.
--God can use every person just in proportion as He can put His Spirit into the soul temple. The work that He will accept is the work that reflects His image.
--The gospel invitation is not to be narrowed down and presented only to a select few, who, we suppose, will do us honor if they accept it. The message is to be given to all.
--The missionary can not only relieve physical maladies, but he can lead the sinner to the Great Physician, who can cleanse the soul from the leprosy of sin.
--Do not speak of religion as something that children cannot understand, or act as if they were not expected to accept Christ in their childhood. Do not give them the false impression that the religion of Christ is a religion of gloom. As the Holy Spirit moves upon the hearts of the children, co-operate with His work.
--The miracle of the loaves teaches dependence upon God. When Christ fed the five thousand, the food was not nigh at hand. Apparently He had no means at His command. There He was, with five thousand men, besides women and children, in the wilderness. Many of them were without means to purchase food. He who for their sake had fasted forty days in the wilderness, would not suffer them to return fasting to their homes. The providence of God had placed Jesus where He was, and He depended on His heavenly Father for means to relieve the necessity. When we are brought into strait places, we are to depend on God. In every emergency we are to seek help from Him who has infinite resources at His command. If men today were simple in their habits, living in harmony with nature's laws, as did Adam and Eve in the beginning, there would be an abundant supply for the needs of the human family. But selfishness and the indulgence of appetite have brought sin and misery, from excess on the one hand, and from want on the other.
--All who are under the training of God need the quiet hour for communion with their own hearts, with nature, and with God. He bids us, "Be still, and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10.
--"If I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole." Matthew 9:21. It was a poor woman who spoke these words—a woman who for twelve years had suffered from a disease that made her life a burden. She had spent all her means upon physicians and remedies, only to be pronounced incurable. But as she heard of the Great Healer, her hopes revived. She thought, "If only I could get near enough to speak to Him, I might be healed." ; for the crowd pressed Christ on every side. In making His way through the multitude, the

Savior came near to where the afflicted woman was standing. 

Again and again she had tried in vain to get near Him. Now her opportunity had come. She could see no way of speaking to Him. But she had heard that healing came from a touch of His garments; and, fearful of losing her one chance for relief, she pressed forward, saying to herself, "If I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole."
As He was passing, she reached forward and succeeded in barely touching the border of His garment. That moment she knew that she was healed. In that one touch was concentrated the faith of her life, and instantly her pain and feebleness disappeared. "She felt in her body that she was healed of that plague." Verse 29. Suddenly Jesus stopped, and looking round He asked, "Who touched Me?" Looking at Him in amazement, Peter answered, "Master, the multitude throng Thee and press Thee, and sayest Thou, Who touched Me?" Luke 8:45. "Somebody hath touched Me," Jesus said; "for I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me." Verse 46. He could distinguish the touch of faith from the casual touch of the careless throng. Christ did not ask the question for His own information. He had a lesson for the people, for His disciples, and for the woman. He wished to inspire the afflicted with hope.
--In working for the victims of evil habits, instead of pointing them to the despair and ruin toward which they are hastening, turn their eyes away to Jesus. "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8.
--Whatever may be the evil practice, the master passion which through long indulgence binds both soul and body, Christ is able and longs to deliver. He will impart life to the soul that is "dead in trespasses." Ephesians 2:1. The omnipotent power of the Holy Spirit is the defense of every contrite soul. No one who in penitence and faith has claimed His protection will Christ permit to pass under the enemy's power. "I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in its season; there shall be showers of blessing." Ezekiel 34:26. The love of Christ, manifested in unselfish ministry, will be more effective in reforming the evildoer than will the sword or the court of justice.
--Jesus knows the circumstances of every soul. The greater the sinner's guilt, the more he needs the Savior. His heart of divine love and sympathy is drawn out most of all for the one who is the most hopelessly entangled in the snares of the enemy. With His own blood He has signed the emancipation papers of the race.
-*-All may find something to do. None need feel that there is no place where they can labor for Christ.

Human love may change, 

but Christ's love knows no change. 

When we cry to Him for help, 

His hand is stretched out to save.