September 4, Morning

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"I will; be thou clean." — Mark 1:41 · KJV

Primeval darkness heard the Almighty command, "Let there be light," and at once light was; and the word of the Lord Jesus is equal in majesty to that ancient word of power. Redemption, like creation, has its word of might: Jesus speaks, and it is done. Leprosy yielded to no human remedy, but it fled at once at the Lord's "I will." The disease showed no hopeful signs of recovery, and nature contributed nothing to its own healing; but the unaided word did the whole work on the spot and for ever. The sinner is in a worse plight than the leper; let him follow the leper's example and go to Jesus, "beseeching Him, and kneeling down to Him." Let him exercise what little faith he has, even if it goes no further than "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean," and there need be no doubt about the result. Jesus heals all who come and casts out none. In reading the narrative where our morning's text occurs, it is worth devout notice that Jesus touched the leper. This unclean man had broken through the rules of the ceremonial law and pressed into the house; but Jesus, far from rebuking him, broke through the law Himself in order to meet him. He made an exchange with the leper, for while He cleansed him, by that touch He took on a ceremonial defilement. Even so, Jesus Christ was made sin for us — though in Himself He knew no sin — that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Oh, that poor sinners would go to Jesus, believing in the power of His blessed substitutionary work; they would soon learn the power of His gracious touch. That hand which multiplied the loaves, which saved sinking Peter, which upholds afflicted saints, which crowns believers — that same hand will touch every seeking sinner, and in a moment make him clean. The love of Jesus is the source of salvation: He loves, He looks, He touches us — we live.