Page 50 - That I May Know Him (1964)

Bearer of Our Afflictions, February 11
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet,
saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
Matthew 8:17.
Christ alone was able to bear the afflictions of the many. “In all their
affliction he was afflicted” (Isaiah 63:9). He never bore disease in His own
flesh, but He carried the sickness of others. With tenderest sympathy He
looked upon the suffering ones who pressed about Him. He groaned in
spirit as He saw the work of Satan revealed in all their woe, and He made
every case of need and of sorrow His own. No multiplicity of numbers
distracted Him. No anguish overwhelmed Him. With a power that never
quailed He cast out the evil spirits that possessed mind and body, while the
pain of the sufferers thrilled through His whole being. The power of love
was in all His healing. He identified His interests with suffering humanity.
Christ was health and strength in Himself, and when sufferers were in
His immediate presence, disease was always rebuked. It was for this reason
that He did not go at once to Lazarus. He could not witness his suffering
and not bring him relief. He could not witness disease or death without
combating the power of Satan. The death of Lazarus was permitted that
through his resurrection the last and crowning evidence might be given to
the Jews that Jesus was the Son of God.
And in all this conflict with the power of evil there was ever before
Christ the darkened shadow into which He Himself must enter. Ever before
Him was the means by which He must pay the ransom for these souls....
When He raised Lazarus from the dead He knew that for that life He must
pay the ransom on the cross of Calvary. Every rescue made was to cause
Him the deepest humiliation. He was to taste death for every man.... Of
the suffering multitudes brought to Christ it is said, “He healed them all”
(Matthew 12:15). Thus He expressed His love for the children of men. His
miracles were part of His mission.... He knows how to speak the word
“Be whole,” and when He has healed the sufferer He says, “Go and sin no
more.”15 [49]
15Manuscript 18, 1898.
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