I am beginning to think again about the events that lead up to the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus as this coming Sunday is Palm Sunday. To be perfectly honest, I am saddened that we will not be able to have our typical Maundy Thursday evening together as a church due to the social distancing we are maintaining; but I am not going to let that dampen my wonder and amazement at the great things that God has done to bring about my reconcilliation with himself! I am praying that the Lord will help you maintain the same kind of awe! 

So, as a part of my devotional reading today I was reading from John Piper’s little booklet, “Fifty Reasons Jesus Came to Die”, and reason number 18 was: To Heal Us from Moral and Physical Sickness. Those are timely thoughts for us as we face the Covid virus, aren’t they? He opened the chapter with the fact that Jesus suffered and died so that disease would one day be utterly destroyed. Doctor Piper referenced Matthew 8:16-17 as he opened his article. Let me take you with me into that account of Jesus’ healing ministry. 

14 And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. 16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” 

Jesus arrived in Peter’s house and found that Peter’s mother-in-law had a fever. (Evidently, Peter had kindly taken in his mother-in-law, who was apparently a widow.) Jesus did not wait for anyone to ask for help. He touched her hand, the fever left, and she rose and served them (8:14–15). It is a sweet little picture of discipleship. Young or old, male or female: When Jesus touches us and raises us, we rise and serve him. That night, Matthew reports, the healing continued. Jesus cast out demons with a word and healed everyone who was sick (8:16). The cures were simple and complete. There are reports of other healers who operated during this era, but their methods were quite different, attempting exorcism or using potions and incantations. 

Jesus’ methodology was entirely different, and for a specific purpose. He healed by his powerful word. He healed all who came to him (though he performed fewer miracles at times; Mark 6:5–6). He never tried and hoped for the best. He fulfilled all his purposes. That is why the people flocked to him. 

Still, Jesus never intended to heal every sick person in Israel. Indeed, during this very season, Luke says Jesus once walked away from a crowd that sought healing and explained, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (Luke 4:43). 

But both Jesus and Matthew want us to see that miracles point beyond themselves. Matthew therefore says Jesus “healed all the sick … to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases’ ” (Matt. 8:16–17; Isa. 53:4). 

This is what makes me sit in open mouthed awe of my Father’s love for us in sending His Son to bear my sin on the cursed tree as Galatians 3:13 says: 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for 

us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Isaiah and Matthew point to the larger reason that Jesus did the miracles and the healing that He did… it was to point you and me toward the truth that “When Christ came into the world, he was on a mission to accomplish global redemption. He signaled his purpose by healing many people in his lifetime… This was a preview of what was coming at the end of history when “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 

Matthew wants us to see the concepts of grief and disease almost interchangeably. We may not think that way, but the Bible says grief and sickness are related, directly or indirectly, to sin. Sin, grief, and sickness are a complex; God would deliver us from all three. 

Some disease is directly related to sin. For example, alcoholics suffer cirrhosis of the liver. Yet most illness is indirectly caused by sin. Congenital diseases are ordinarily a result of the fall and the curse; only in rare occasions do they directly result from the sins of the parents. If Adam and Eve had never sinned, there would be no disease or death. 

Likewise, some sorrows are directly caused by sin. Habitual liars find that no one believes them. When they say they repent of their lies, no one believes that either, even if they have truly repented. Liars bring that sorrow on themselves. But many sorrows are indirect results of sin—the sins of others. For example, the people of all totalitarian regimes suffer indirectly, due to the sins of their leaders. 

Sadly, almost everyone suffers grief this way. The sin of a teacher, a boss, a political leader, or a relative causes us sorrow. We suffer when a friend or even a spouse betrays or abandons us. 

The Bible stresses that Jesus bears our sins. It also says he bore our griefs and diseases because they are all connected. Sin is the root of all grief, disease, and brokenness. Therefore, when Jesus bore our sin, he granted us complete healing, in principle. The way Christ defeated death and disease was by taking them on Himself and carrying them with him to the grave. God’s judgment on the sin that brought disease was endured by Jesus when He suffered and died. The horrible flogging of our Savior Jesus bought a world to come without disease. 

One day all disease, Covid 19 and all, will be banished from God’s redeemed creation. There will be a new earth. We will have new bodies. Death will be swallowed up by everlasting life. All who love Christ will sing songs of thanksgiving to the Lamb who was slain to redeem us from sin and death and disease. 

Love Pastor Richard Burguet

Piper, John (2006) Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. 

Doriani, D. M. (2008). Matthew & 2. (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.) (Vol. 1, p. 337). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing. 

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mt 8:14–17). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. 

The Valley of Vision

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,

You have brought me too the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see you in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold your glory.

Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime the stars can be seen from the deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter your stars shine; 

Let me find in your light my darkness, your life in my death, your joy in my sorrow, your grace in my sin, your riches in my poverty, your glory in my valley. Amen.

Dear New Hope,

This is the first devotion that we will be sending out over the next little while, as we practice “social separation” to try and slow the advance of the Corona virus.  The prayer above is the opening prayer in a little book that I often go to personally to help guide my heart into prayer, (especially if I find that I am struggling or distracted).  It is from a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions by men like Thomas Watson, Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, Isaac Watts, David Brainerd and others. [If you don’t have a copy of this book, you ought to consider it!  Amazon gives me no percentage of sales!] My point in sharing this gem of a prayer today is that it is a great perspective on the life of a Christian as we struggle to live in God’s grace in this fallen world.  I am reminded that God’s ways, and God’s values are far too often not the ways and values that my heart is drawn toward, so I appreciate this prayer’s perspective as a correction to my self-centered heart and affections.  Let me encourage you to pray the words above out-loud as you read them.  Sometimes I think hearing my own voice speak these truths helps cement them into my own thinking.

So, as I thought about what direction I would point us for today’s thoughts I scanned the shelves in my library here at the church, just sort of looking for something that would spark my interest and be encouraging for you.  I almost don’t want to tell you that on one of my shelves the books are pretty unorganized.  Here is a sequential list of titles: 101 Portraits of Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures, 52 Children’s Sermons, Master’s Secrets of Turkey Hunting (how did that book land there?), The Spirit of Revival, Respectable Sins, What do Presbyterians Believe and Mere Christianity.  There are more, but you get the point… unorganized, random titles.  It sort of represents the way I think sometimes.  Reflecting on the random clutter on my shelves I was again pointed to the fact that I often see life in the same kind of way.  And sometimes not at all from the perspective of grace!  One of the men who mentored me as a young pastor, Paul Settle published a short book called Changeless Truths in a Changing World wherein he takes the chapters of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and using anecdotes and application teaches the truths those chapters contain.  There!  That’s it!  That’s what we need… changeless truths in a changing world!

In the third chapter of the WCOF the writers look at the Scriptures and what they have to say about the decrees of God.  That chapter of the confession, as much as any other one, helps us to see that life is not just a jumbled conglomeration of unconnected events that have no design, meaning or purpose.  The truth is that sometimes we look at life like that because we cannot see the whole picture.  We don’t have the drone’s eye view from our GoPro cameras.  We see less of the world than the ants on our driveway sees of our front yard! (Yes, the ants are bad in my yard again, this spring.)  This has always and will always be one of man’s problems, until we are in Glory.  We just don’t see and know all of God’s design and decree.

The Westminster Confession tells us that there is a big picture, and that God is now wringing His hands and trying to figure out how He is going to deal with this situation.  There is a real world order out there.  All that happens in it has been wisely and lovingly determined by a sovereign Creator who is shaping everything into an overall masterpiece for His glory!    The opening statement in the chapter on God’s Decrees says: God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.  These wise preachers and Biblical scholars have made a strong and true summary of what the Bible teaches are the “purposes of God’s heart”.  God’s plan stands firm forever!  The entire history of the world (even the outbreak of Covid -19 we endure now) are part of our Heavenly Father’s unchangeable sovereign plan.  Psalm 33:10 reminds us: The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! 

Maybe the most encouraging words I can share with you come from the pen of the writer to the Hebrews, where in Chapter 6 he says: 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. 

Consider this thought that is so familiar to us that we just let it pass by us… Even the crucifixion of Jesus Christ occurred according to God’s plan. God is working all things and events and circumstances with the purpose of His will.  Acts 4:27ff  for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. 

Do you know that only a sovereign God could make the promise that He is working all things for our good and His glory, and keep it! Only a child of God could believe it, and live in its strength and victory.  Maybe we really are in what the Puritan prayer called “The Valley of Vision”!

Love, Pastor Richard Burguet