“Thou Canst Make Me Clean”
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sin worthy of death. They said in their hearts, “He blasphemeth: who
can forgive sins but One, even God?”
Mark 2:7
, R. V.
Fixing His glance upon them, beneath which they cowered, and
drew back, Jesus said, “Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For
whether is 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,” He said, turning to the paralytic, “Arise, take up
thy bed, and go unto thine house.”
Then he who had been borne on a litter to Jesus rises to his feet
with the elasticity and strength of youth. The life-giving blood bounds
through his veins. Every organ of his body springs into sudden activity.
The glow of health succeeds the pallor of approaching death. “And
immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all;
insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We
never saw it on this fashion.”
Oh, wondrous love of Christ, stooping to heal the guilty and the
afflicted! Divinity sorrowing over and soothing the ills of suffering
humanity! Oh, marvelous power thus displayed to the children of men!
Who can doubt the message of salvation? Who can slight the mercies
of a compassionate Redeemer?
It required nothing less than creative power to restore health to that
decaying body. The same voice that spoke life to man created from
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the dust of the earth had spoken life to the dying paralytic. And the
same power that gave life to the body had renewed the heart. He who
at the creation “spake, and it was,” who “commanded, and it stood
fast,” (
Psalm 33:9
), had spoken life to the soul dead in trespasses and
sins. The healing of the body was an evidence of the power that had
renewed the heart. Christ bade the paralytic arise and walk, “that ye
may know,” He said, “that the Son of man hath power on earth to
forgive sins.”
The paralytic found in Christ healing for both the soul and the
body. The spiritual healing was followed by physical restoration. This
lesson should not be overlooked. There are today thousands suffering
from physical disease, who, like the paralytic, are longing for the
message, “Thy sins are forgiven.” The burden of sin, with its unrest
and unsatisfied desires, is the foundation of their maladies. They can
find no relief until they come to the Healer of the soul. The peace