DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 14, 1878,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And,
behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen
years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift herself up.
And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman,
you are loosed from your infirmity. And He laid His hands on her: and
immediately she was made straight, and glorified God." Luke 13:10-13.
I BELIEVE that the infirmity of this woman was not only physical but
spiritual. Her outward appearance was the index of her deep and
long-continued depression of mind. She was bent double as to her body
and she was bowed down by sadness as to her mind. There is always a
sympathy between body and soul, but it is not always so plainly seen as
in her case. Many sad sights would meet us on all hands if it were so.
Imagine for a moment what would be the result upon the present
congregation if our outward forms were to set forth our inward states.
If someone having an eye like that of the Savior could gaze upon us,
now, and could see the inward in the outward, what would be the
appearance of this crowd?
Very deplorable sights would be seen, for in many a pew dead persons
would be sitting, looking forth from the glassy eyes of death, bearing
the semblance of life and a name to live, but all the while being dead
as to spiritual things! My Friend, you would shudder as you found
yourself placed next to a corpse! Alas, the corpse would not shudder,
but would remain as insensible as ungodly persons usually are, though
the precious Truth of the Gospel rings in their ears–ears which hear
but hear in vain. A large number of souls will be found in all
congregations, "dead in trespasses and sins," and yet sitting as God's
people sit and not to be discerned from the living in Zion!
Even in those cases in which there is spiritual life, the aspect would
not be altogether lovely. Here we should see a man blind and there,
another maimed, and a third twisted from perfect uprightness. Spiritual
deformity assumes many forms and each form is painful to look upon. A
paralyzed man with a trembling faith, set forth by a trembling body,
would be an uncomfortable neighbor. A person subject to fits of passion
or despair would be equally undesirable if his body also suffered from
fits. How sad it would be to have around us persons with a fever upon
them, or shivering with malaria, hot and cold by turns, burning almost
to fanaticism at one moment and then chilled as with a northern wind
with utter indifference.
I will not try to sketch in further detail the crippled, lame, blind
and impotent folks who are assembled in this Bethesda. Surely if the
flesh were shaped according to the spirit, this Tabernacle would be
turned into an hospital and each man would flee from his fellow and
wish to run from himself! If to any one of us our inward ailments were
to be set forth upon our brow, I guarantee you we should not linger
long at the mirror, nor scarcely dare to think upon the wretched
objects which our eyes would behold there. Let us quit the imaginary
scene with this consoling thought–Jesus is among us, notwithstanding
that we are sick! And although He sees nothing to delight His eyes if
He judges us according to the Law, yet, since His mercy delights to
relieve human misery, there is abundant scope for Him here in the midst
of these thousands of ailing souls!
In that synagogue on the Sabbath, this poor woman described in the text
must have been one of the least observed. Her particular disease would
render her very short in stature. She was dwarfed to almost half her
original height and, in consequence, like other very short persons, she
would be almost lost in a standing crowd. A person so bent down as she
was might have come in and gone out and not have been noticed by anyone
standing upon the floor of the meeting place. But I can imagine that
our Lord occupied a somewhat elevated position, as He was teaching in
the synagogue, for He had
probably gone to one of the higher places for the greater convenience
of being seen and heard. And for this reason He could more readily see
her than others could.
Jesus always occupies a place from which He can spy out those who are
bowed down. His quick eyes did not miss its mark. She, poor soul, was
naturally the least observed of all the people in the company, yet she
was the most observed, for our Lord's gracious eyes glanced over all
the rest and lighted upon her with fixed regard. There His tender look
remained till He had worked the deed of love. Perhaps there is someone
in the crowd, this morning, the least observed of anybody, who is yet
noticed by the Savior! Remember, He sees not as man sees, but observes
most those whom man passes over as beneath his regard. Nobody knows
you, nobody cares for you. Your peculiar trouble is quite unknown and
you would not reveal it for the world. You feel quite alone! There is
no solitude like that which is to be found in a dense throng and you
are in that solitude now.
Be not, however, quite despairing, for you have a Friend left. The
preacher's heart is going after you, but that will little help
you–there is far more joy in the fact that as our Master observed
most, the least observed one on that Sabbath in the synagogue, so we
trust He will do, this day, and His eyes shall light on you, even you!
He will not pass you by, but will deal out a special Sabbath blessing
to your weary heart. Though by yourself accounted to be among the last,
you shall now be put upon the first by the Lord's working a notable
miracle of love upon you! In the hope that this may be so, we will
proceed, by the help of the Holy Spirit, to look into the gracious deed
which was done to this poor woman.
I. Our first subject for consideration is THE BOWING DOWN OF THE
AFFLICTED. We read of this woman, "she had a spirit of infirmity and
was bowed together, and could in no wise lift herself up." Upon which
we remark, first, that she had lost all her natural brightness. I can
imagine that when she was a girl she was light of foot as a young roe,
that her face was dimpled with many a smile and that her eyes flashed
with childish glee. She had her share of the brightness and beauty of
youth and walked erect like others of her race, looking up to the sun
by day and to the sparkling stars at night, rejoicing in all around her
and feeling life to be a joy.
But there gradually crept over her an infirmity which dragged her down,
probably a weakness of the spine–either the muscles and ligatures
began to tighten so that she was bound together and drawn more and more
towards herself and towards the earth–or else the muscles commenced to
relax, so that she could not retain the perpendicular position and her
body dropped forward more and more. I suppose either of these causes
might cause her to be bowed together, so that she could in nowise lift
herself up. At any rate, for 18 years she had not gazed upon the sun!
For 18 years no star of night had gladdened her eyes! Her face was
drawn downward towards the dust and all the light of her life was dim.
She walked about as if she were searching for a grave and I do not
doubt she often felt that it would have been gladness to have found
one! She was as truly fettered as if bound in iron and as much in
prison as if surrounded by stone walls.
Alas, we know certain of the children of God who are at this moment in
much the same condition! They are perpetually bowed down and though
they remember happier days, the memory only serves to deepen their
present gloom. They sometimes sing in the minor key–
"Where is the blessedness I knew When first I sa w the Lord? Where is
the sweet refreshing view Of Jesus and His Word? What blissful hours I
then enjoyed! How sweet their memory still! But they have left an
aching void The world can never fill."
They seldom enter into communion with God–seldom or never behold the
face of the Well-Beloved. They try to hold on by believing and they
succeed. But they have little peace, little comfort, little joy–they
have lost the crown and flower of spiritual life, though that life
still remains.
I feel certain that I am addressing more than two or three who are in
such a plight at this moment and I pray the Comforter to bless my
discourse to them. This poor woman was bowed towards herself and
towards that which was depressing. She seemed to grow downwards–her
life was stooping! She bent lower and lower and lower, as the weight of
years pressed upon her. Her looks were all earthward–nothing heavenly,
nothing bright could come before her eyes–her views were narrowed to
the dust and to the grave. So are there some of God's people whose
thoughts sink
always like lead and their feelings run in a deep groove, always
cutting a lower channel. You cannot give them delight, but you can
readily cause them alarm! By a strange art they squeeze the juice of
sorrow from the clusters of Eshcol. Where others would leap for joy,
they stoop for very grief, for they draw the unhappy inference that
joyous things are not meant for the likes of them.
Cordials expressly prepared for mourners, they dare not accept and the
more comforting they are, the more are they afraid to appropriate them.
If there is a dark passage in the Word of God, they are sure to read it
and say, "That applies to me." If there is a thundering portion in a
sermon, they remember every syllable of it and although they wonder how
the preacher knows them so well, yet they are sure that he aimed every
word at them! If anything occurs in Providence, either adverse or
propitious, instead of reading it as a token for good, whether they
might rationally do so or not, they manage to translate it into a sign
of evil. "All these things are against me," they say, for they can see
nothing but the earth and can imagine nothing but fear and distress.
We have known certain prudent, but somewhat unfeeling persons blame
these people and chide them for being low spirited. And that brings us
to notice, next, that she could not lift herself up. There was no use
in blaming her. There may have been a time, perhaps, when her older
sisters said, "Sister, you should keep yourself more upright! You
should not be so round shouldered. You are getting quite out of
figure–you must be careful or you will become deformed." Dear me, what
good advice some people can give! Advice is usually given free and this
is very proper since in most cases that is its full value! Advice given
to persons who become depressed in spirit is usually unwise and causes
pain and aggravation of spirit. I sometimes wish that those who are so
ready with their advice had themselves suffered a little, for then,
perhaps, they would have the wisdom to hold their tongues. Of what use
is it to advise a blind person to see, or to tell one who cannot lift
herself up that she ought to be upright and should not look so much
upon the earth? This is a needless increase of misery! Some persons who
pretend to be comforters might more fitly be classed with tormentors.
A spiritual infirmity is as real as a physical one. When Satan binds a
soul it is as truly bound as when a man binds an ox or an ass. It
cannot get free. It is of necessity in bondage and that was the
condition of this poor woman. I may be speaking to some who have
bravely attempted to rally their spirits–they have tried change of
scenery, they have gone into godly company, they have asked Christian
people to comfort them–they have frequented the House of God and read
consoling books. But they are still bound and there is no disputing it.
As one that pours vinegar upon niter, so is he that sings songs to a
sad heart–there is an incongruity about the choicest joys when forced
upon broken spirits.
Some distressed souls are so sick that they abhor all manner of meat
and draw near unto the gates of death. Yet, if any one of my hearers is
in this plight, he need not despair, for Jesus can lift up those who
are most bowed down! The worst point, perhaps, about the poor woman's
case was that she had borne her trouble for 18 years and, therefore,
her disease was chronic and her illness confirmed. Eighteen years! It
is a long, long time! Eighteen years of happiness!–the years fly like
Mercuries with wings on their heels–they come and they are gone!
Eighteen years of happy life–how short a span!
But eighteen years of pain! Eighteen years of being bowed down to the
earth. Eighteen years in which the body approximated rather to the
fashion of a brute than to that of a man–what a period this must be!
Eighteen long years– each with 12 dreary months dragging like a chain
behind it! She had been 18 years under the bond of the devil–what a
woe was this! Can a child of God be 18 years in despondency? I am bound
to answer, "yes!" There is one instance, that of Mr. Timothy Rogers,
who has written a book upon Religious Melancholy, a very wonderful
book, too, who was, I think, 28 years in despondency. He tells the
story himself and there can be no question as to his accuracy. Similar
instances are well known to those familiar with religious biographies.
Individuals have been locked up for many years in the gloomy den of
despair and yet, after all, have been singularly brought out into joy
and comfort.
Eighteen years' despondency must be a frightful affliction and yet
there is an escape out of it, for though the devil may take 18 years to
forge a chain, it does not take our blessed Lord 18 minutes to break
it! He can soon set the captive free! Build, build your dungeons, O
Fiend of Hell, and lay the foundations deep and place the courses of
granite so fast together that none can stir a stone of your fabric–but
when HE comes, your Master who will destroy all your works– HE does
but speak and like the unsubstantial fabric of a vision, your Bastille
vanishes into thin air! Eighteen years of melancholy do not prove that
Jesus cannot set the captive free–they only offer Him an opportunity
for displaying His gracious power!
Note further about this poor woman, that bowed down as she was, both in
mind and body, she yet frequented the House of Prayer. Our Lord was in
the synagogue and there was she! She might very well have said, "It is
very painful for me to go into a public place. I ought to be excused."
But no, there she was! Dear child of God, the devil has sometimes
suggested to you that it is vain for you to go anymore to hear the Word
of God. Go just the same! He knows you are likely to escape from his
hands so long as you hear the Word and, therefore, if he can keep you
away, he will do so. It was while in the House of Prayer that this
woman found her liberty! And there you may find it! Therefore continue
to go up to the House of the Lord, come what may.
All this while, too, she was a daughter of Abraham. The devil had tied
her up like an ox or an ass, but he could not take away her privileged
character. She was still a daughter of Abraham, still a believing soul
trusting in God by humble faith. When the Savior healed her, He did not
say, "Your sins are forgiven you." There was no particular sin in the
case. He did not address her as He did those whose infirmity had been
caused by sin, for, notwithstanding her being thus bowed down, all she
needed was comfort, not rebuke. Her heart was right with God. I know it
was, for the moment she was healed she began to glorify God, which
showed that she was ready for it and that the praise was waiting in her
spirit for the glad opportunity!
In going up to the House of God, she felt some measure of comfort,
though for 18 years she was bowed down. Where else could she have gone?
What good could she have gained by staying at home? A sick child is
best in its father's house and she was best where prayer was known to
be made. Here, then, is a picture of what may still be seen among the
sons of men and may possibly be your case, dear Hearer. May the Holy
Spirit bless this description to your hearts' encouragement.
II. I invite you, secondly, to notice THE HAND OF SATAN IN THIS
BONDAGE. We should not have known it if
our Lord had not told us, that it was Satan who had bound this poor
woman for 18 years! He must have bound her very cunningly to make the
knot hold all that time, for he does not appear to have possessed her.
You notice, in reading the Evangelists, that our Lord never laid His
hand on a person possessed with a devil! Satan had not possessed her,
but he had fallen upon her once upon a time 18 years before and bound
her up as men tie a beast in its stable. And she had not been able to
get free all that while. The devil can tie, in a moment, a knot which
you and I cannot unloose in 18 years!
He had, in this case, so securely fastened his victim that no power of
herself or others could help–in the same way, when permitted, he can
tie up any one of God's own people in a very short time and by almost
any means. Perhaps one word from a preacher, which was never meant to
cause sadness, may make a heart wretched. One single sentence out of a
good book, or one misunderstood passage of Scripture may be quite
enough, in Satan's cunning hand, to fasten up a child of God in a long
bondage. Satan had bound the woman to herself and to the earth.
There is a cruel way of tying a beast which is somewhat after the same
fashion–I have seen a poor animal's head fastened to its knee or
foot–and somewhat after that fashion Satan had bound the woman
downward to herself. So there are some children of God whose thoughts
are all about themselves–they have turned their eyes so that they look
inside and see only the transactions of the little world within
themselves. They are always lamenting their own infirmities, always
mourning their own corruptions, always watching their own emotions. The
one and only subject of their thoughts is their own condition! If they
ever change the scene and turn to another subject, it is only to gaze
upon the earth beneath them, to groan over this poor world with its
sorrows, its miseries, its sins and its disappointments. Thus they are
tied to themselves and to the earth and cannot look up to Christ as
they should, nor let the sunlight of His love shine fully upon them.
They go mourning without the sun, pressed down with cares and burdens.
Our Lord uses the figure of an ox or an ass tied up and He says that
even on the Sabbath its owner could loose it for watering. This poor
woman was restrained from what her soul needed. She was like an ass or
an ox which cannot get to the trough to drink. She knew the promises,
she heard them read every Sabbath. She went to the synagogue and heard
of Him who comes to loose the captives, but she could not rejoice in
the promise or enter into liberty. So are there multitudes of God's
dear people who are fastened to themselves and cannot get to watering,
cannot drink from the River of Life, nor find consolation in the
Scriptures. They know how precious the Gospel is and how consolatory
are the blessings of the Covenant, but they cannot enjoy the
consolations or the blessings. Oh that they could! They sigh and cry,
but they feel themselves to be bound.
There is a saving clause here. Satan had done a good deal to the poor
woman, but he had done all he could do. You may rest assured that
whenever Satan smites a child of God, he never spares his strength. He
knows nothing of mercy, neither does any other consideration restrain
him. When the Lord delivered Job into Satan's hand for a time, what
destruction and havoc he made with Job's property! He did not save him
chick or child, or sheep, or goat, or camel, or ox. He smote him right
and left and caused ruin to Job's whole estate. When, under a second
permit, he came to touch him in his bone and in his flesh, nothing
would satisfy the devil but covering Job from the sole of his feet to
the crown of his head with boils and blisters.
He might have pained him quite sufficiently by torturing one part of
his body, but this would not suffice. He must glut himself with
vengeance! The devil would do all he could and, therefore, he covered
him with running sores. Yet, as in Job's case, there was a limit, so
was there here–Satan had bound this woman, but he had not killed her.
He might bend her towards the grave, but he could not bend her into it.
He might make her droop over till she was bent double, but he could not
take away her poor feeble life! With all his infernal craft, he could
not make her die before her time! Moreover, she was still a woman and
he could not make a beast of her, notwithstanding that she was thus
bowed down into the form of a brute.
Even so the devil cannot destroy you, O child of God! He can smite you,
but he cannot slay you. He worries those whom he cannot destroy and
feels a malicious joy in doing so. He knows there is no hope of your
destruction, for you are beyond shot of his gun, but if he cannot wound
you with the shot, he will frighten you with the powder if he can! If
he cannot slay, he will bind, as if for the slaughter–yes, and he
knows how to make a poor soul feel a thousand deaths in fearing one!
But all this while, Satan was quite unable to touch this poor woman as
to her true standing–she was a daughter of Abraham 18 years before,
when the devil first attacked her and she was a daughter of Abraham 18
years afterwards, when the fiend had done his worst!
And you, dear heart, if you should never have a comfortable sense of
the Lord's love for 18 years, are still His beloved! And if never once
He should give you any token of His love which you could sensibly enjoy
and, if by reason of bewilderment and distraction, you should keep on
writing bitter things against yourself all this while, yet still your
name is on the hands of Christ where none can erase it! You belong to
Jesus and none shall pluck you out of His hands! The devil may bind you
fast, but Christ has bound you faster, still, with cords of everlasting
love which must and shall hold you to the end!
That poor woman was being prepared, even by the agency of the devil, to
glorify God! Nobody in the synagogue could glorify God as she could
when she was, at last, set free! Every year out of the 18 gave emphasis
to the utterance of her thanksgiving! The deeper her sorrow the sweeter
her song! I should like to have been there that morning, to have heard
her tell the story of the emancipating power of the Christ of God! The
devil must have felt that he had lost all his trouble and he must have
regretted that he had not let her alone all the 18 years, since he had
only been qualifying her, thereby, to tell out more sweetly the story
of Jesus' wondrous power!
III. I want you to notice, in the third place, THE LIBERATOR AT HIS
WORK. We have seen the woman bound by the devil, but here comes the
Liberator! And the first thing we read of Him is that He saw her. His
eyes looked round, reading every heart as He glanced from one to
another. At last He saw the woman! Yes, that was the very one He was
seeking! We are not to think that He saw her in the same common way as
I see one of you, but He read every line of her character and history,
every thought of her heart, every desire of her soul! Nobody had told
Him that she had been bound 18 years, but He knew all about it–how she
came to be bound, what she had suffered during the time, how she had
prayed for healing and how the infirmity still pressed upon her.
In one minute He had read her history and understood her case. He saw
her and oh, what meaning there was in His searching glance! Our Lord
had wonderful eyes! All the painters in the world will never be able to
produce a satisfactory picture of Christ because they cannot copy those
expressive eyes! Heaven lay calmly reposing in His eyes–they were not
only bright and penetrating, but they were full of a melting power–a
tenderness irresistible, a strength which secured confidence. As He
looked at the poor woman I doubt not the tears started from our Lord's
eyes, but they were not tears of unmingled sorrow, for He knew that He
could heal her and He anticipated the joy of doing so!
When He had gazed upon her, He called her to Him. Did He know her name?
Oh, yes, He knows all our names and His calling is therefore personal
and unmistakable. "I have called you by your name," says He, "you are
Mine." Look,
there is the poor creature coming up the aisle! That pitiful mass of
sorrow, though bowed to the earth, is moving! Is it a woman? You can
hardly see that she has a face, but she is coming towards Him who
called her. She could not stand upright, but she could come as she
was–bent and infirm as she was! I rejoice in my Master's way of
healing people, for He comes to them where they are. He does not
propose to them that if they will do something He will do the rest, but
He begins and ends!
He bids them approach Him as they are and does not ask them to mend or
prepare. May my blessed Master, this morning, look on some of you till
you feel, "The preacher means me, the preacher's Master means me!" And
then may there sound a voice in your ears saying, "Come to Jesus just
as you are." Then may you have Grace to reply–
"Just as I am–poor, wretched, blind,
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yes, all I need, in You to find,
O Lamb of God, I come."
When the woman came, the great Liberator said to her, "Woman, you are
loosed from your infirmity." How could that be true? She was still as
bent as she was before! He meant that the spell of Satan was taken off
from her, that the power which had made her thus to bow herself was
broken. This she believed in her inmost soul, even as Jesus said it,
though as yet she was not at all different in appearance from her
former state.
Oh, that some of you who are God's dear people would have power to
believe this morning that the end of your gloom has come–power to
believe that your 18 years are over–and that you're time of doubt and
despondency is ended! I pray that God may give you Grace to know that
when this morning's sun first gilded, the east light was ordained for
you! Behold, I come today to publish the glad message from the Lord!
Come forth, you prisoners! Leap you captives, for Jesus comes to set
you free today! The woman was liberated, but she could not actually
enjoy the liberty and I will tell you why directly. Our Lord proceeded
to give her full enlargement in His own way–He laid His hands on her.
She suffered from lack of strength and by putting His hands upon her, I
conceive that the Lord poured His life into her.
The warm stream of His own infinite power and vitality came into
contact with the lethargic stream of her painful existence and so
quickened it that she lifted herself up! The deed of love was
done–Jesus Himself had done it! Beloved mourners, if we could get you
away, this morning, from thinking about yourselves to thinking about
our Lord Jesus. If we could get you away from looking down upon your
cares to thinking of Him–what a change would come over you! If His
hands could be laid upon you, those dear pierced hands which bought
you, those mighty hands which rule Heaven and earth on your
behalf–those blessed hands which are outstretched to plead for
sinners, those dear hands which will press you to His bosom forever–if
you could feel these by thinking of Him, then would you soon recover
your early joy and renew the elasticity of your spirit and the bowing
down of your soul would pass away like a night dream, to be forgotten
forever!
O Spirit of the Lord, make it so!
IV. I will not linger there, but invite you, now, to notice THE LOOSING
OF THE BOUND. We are told she was made straight at once! Now, what I
want you to notice is this–she must have lifted herself up–that was
her own act and deed. No pressure or force was put upon her–she lifted
herself up –and yet she was "made straight." She was passive, in so
munch as a miracle was worked upon her, but she was active, too, and,
being enabled, she lifted herself up. What a wonderful meeting there is
here of the active and the passive in the salvation of men!
The Arminian says to the sinner, "Now, Sinner, you are a responsible
being! You must do this and do that." The Calvinist says, "Truly,
Sinner, you are responsible enough, but you are also unable to do
anything of yourself. God must work in you both to will and to do."
What shall we do with these two teachers? They fell to fighting a
hundred years ago most frightfully! We will not let them fight now, but
what shall we do with them? We will let both speak and believe what is
true in both their testimonies. Is it true what the Arminian says, that
there must be an effort on the sinner's part or he will never be saved?
Unquestionably it is! As soon as the Lord gives spiritual life there is
spiritual activity. Nobody is ever lugged into Heaven by his ears, or
carried there asleep on a feather bed! God deals with us as with
responsible, intelligent beings. That is true and what is the use of
denying it?
Now, what has the Calvinist to say? He says that the sinner is bound by
the infirmity of sin and cannot lift himself up and when he does so, it
is God that does it all and the Lord must have all the glory of it. Is
not that true, too? "Oh," says the Arminian, "I never denied that the
Lord is to have the glory! I will sing a hymn with you to the Divine
honor and I
will pray the same prayer with you for the Divine power." All
Christians are thorough Calvinists when they come to singing and
praying! But it is a pity to doubt as a doctrine what we profess on our
knees and in our songs! It is most true that Jesus, alone, saves the
sinner and equally true that the sinner believes unto salvation. The
Holy Spirit never believed on behalf of anybody–a man must believe for
himself and repent for himself or be lost!
But yet there was never a grain of true faith or true repentance in
this world unless it was produced by the Holy Spirit. I am not going to
explain these difficulties, because they are not difficulties, except
in theory. They are plain facts of practical everyday life. The poor
woman knew, at any rate, where to put the crown. She did not say, "I
straightened myself," no, but she glorified God and attributed all the
work to His gracious power. The most remarkable fact is that she was
made straight immediately, for there was something beyond her infirmity
to be overcome. Suppose that any person had been diseased of the spine,
or of the nerves and muscles for 18 years–even if the disease which
occasioned his being deformed could be entirely removed, what would be
the effect? Why, the result of the disease would still remain, for the
body would have become set through long continuance in one posture!
You have doubtless heard of the fakirs and others in India–a man will
hold his hand up for years in pursuance of a vow, but when the years of
his penance are over, he cannot bring his hand down–it has become
fixed and immovable. In this case the bond which held the poor bowed
body was taken away and, at the same time, the consequent rigidity was
removed and she, in a moment stood up straight! This was a double
display of miraculous power! O my poor tried Friend, if the Lord will
visit you this morning He will not only take away the first and
greatest cause of your sadness, but the very tendency to melancholy
shall depart! The long grooves which you have worn shall be smoothed!
The ruts in the road of sorrow which you have worn by long continuance
in sadness shall be filled up and you shall be strong in the Lord and
in the power of His might!
The cure being thus perfect, the woman rose up to glorify God! I wish I
had been there! I have been wishing so all the morning. I would have
liked to have seen that hypocritical ruler of the synagogue when he
made his angry speech! I would have liked to have seen him when the
Master so thoroughly silenced him! But especially I would have rejoiced
to have seen this poor woman standing upright and to have heard her
praise the Lord! What did she say? It is not recorded, but we can well
imagine. It was something like this–"I have been 18 years in and out
among you. You have seen me and know what a poor, miserable, wretched
object I was! But God has lifted me up all in a moment. Blessed be His
name, I have been made straight!"
What she spoke with her mouth was not half of what she expressed! No
reporter could have taken it down! She spoke with her eyes, she spoke
with her hands, she spoke with every limb of her body! I suppose she
moved about to see if she was really straight and to make sure that it
was not all a delusion. She must have been, all over, a living mass of
pleasure and by every movement she praised God from the sole of her
feet to the crown of her head! Never was there a more eloquent woman in
the universe! She was like one new-born, delivered from a long death,
joyous with all the novelty of a fresh life! Well might she glorify
God!
She made no mistake as to how the cure was worked–she traced it to a
Divine power–and that Divine power she extolled. Brother, Sister, can
you glorify Christ, this morning, that He has set you free? Though
bound so long, you need not be bound any longer! Christ is able to
deliver you! Trust Him, believe Him, be made straight and then go and
tell your kinsfolk and acquaintances, "You knew how depressed I was,
for you cheered me in my sorrow as best you could, but now I have to
tell you what the Lord has done for my soul."
V. Fifthly, let us reflect upon OUR REASON FOR EXPECTING THE LORD JESUS
TO DO THE SAME THING TODAY as He did 1,800 years and more, ago. What
was His reason for setting this woman free? According to His own
statement it was, first of all, human kindness. He says, "When you have
your ox, or your ass tied up and you see that it is thirsty, you untie
the knot and lead the poor creature away down to the river, or the
tank, to water. None of you would leave an ox tied up to famish." This
is good reasoning and leads us to believe that Jesus will help
sorrowing ones!
Tried Soul, would you not loose an ox or an ass if you saw it
suffering? "Yes," you say. And do you think the Lord will not loose
you? Have you more heart of mercy than the Christ of God? Come, come,
think not so meanly of my Master! If your heart would lead you to pity
an ass, do you think His heart will not lead Him to pity you? He has
not forgotten you–He still remembers you. His tender humanity moves
Him to set you free! More than that, there was a special relationship.
He tells this master of the synagogue that a man would loose his ox or
his ass. Perhaps he might not
think it his business to go and loose that which belonged to another
man, but if it is his own ass, his own ox–he will loose him.
And do you think, dear Heart, that the Lord Jesus will not loose you?
He bought you with His blood! His Father gave you to Him! He has loved
you with an everlasting love–will He not loose you? You are His
property! Do you not know that He sweeps His house to find His lost
coin? He runs over hill and dale to find His lost sheep? And will He
not come and loose His poor tied-up ox or ass? Will He not liberate His
captive daughter? Assuredly He will! Are you a daughter of Abraham, a
child of faith, and will He not set you free? Depend upon it, He will!
Next, there was a point of antagonism which moved the Savior to act
promptly. He says, "This woman being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan
has bound." Now, if I knew the devil had tied anything up, I am sure I
would try to unloose it, wouldn't you? We may be sure some mischief is
brewing when the devil is working and, therefore, it must be a good
deed to undo his work. But Jesus Christ came into the world on purpose
to destroy the works of the devil! And so when He saw the woman like a
tied-up ox, He said, "I will unloose her if for nothing else than I may
undo what the devil has done." Now, dear tried Friend, inasmuch as your
sorrow may be traced to Satanic influence, Jesus Christ will prove, in
your case, more than a match for the devil and He will set you free!
Then think of her sorrowful condition. An ox or an ass tied up to the
manger without water would soon be in a very sad plight. Pity it, poor
thing. Hear the lowing of the ox, as hour after hour its thirst gnaws
upon it. Would you not pity it? And do you think the Lord does not pity
His poor, tried, tempted, afflicted children? Those tears–shall they
fall for nothing? Those sleepless nights–shall they be disregarded?
That broken heart which gladly would, but cannot believe the promise,
shall that forever be denied a hearing? Has the Lord forgotten to be
gracious? Has He in anger shut up the heart of His mercy? Ah, no! He
will remember your sorrowful estate and hear your groans for He puts
your tears into His bottle!
Last of all, there was this reason to move the heart of Christ, that
she had been 18 years in that state. "Then," said He, "she shall be
loosed at once." The master of the synagogue would have said, "She has
been bound 18 years and she may well wait till tomorrow, for it is only
one day." "No," says Christ, "if she has been bound 18 years, she shall
not wait a minute! She has had too much of it already. She shall be set
free at once." Do not, therefore, argue from the length of your
despondency that it shall not come to an end, but rather argue from it
that release is near! The night has been so long, it must be so much
nearer the dawn! You have been scourged so long that it must be so much
nearer the last stroke, for the Lord does not afflict willingly, nor
grieve the children of men. Therefore take heart and be of a good
courage!
Oh, that my Divine Master would now come and do what I gladly would do
but cannot, namely, make every child of God here leap for joy! I know
what this being bound by Satan means. The devil has not tied me up for
18 years at a stretch and I do not think he ever will, but he has
brought me into sad bondage many a time. Still, my Master comes and
sets me free and leads me out to water–and what a drink I get at such
times! I seem as if I could drink up the Jordan at a draught when I get
to His promises and quaff my fill of His sweet love!
I know by this that He will lead other poor souls out to the water and
when He does so to any of you, I pray you drink like an ox! You may be
tied up again–therefore drink as much as you can of His Grace and
rejoice while you may! Eat that which is good and let your soul delight
in fatness. Be glad in the Lord, you righteous, and shout for joy all
you that are upright in heart, for the Lord looses the prisoners. May
He loose many now! Amen.