THE gospel narrative furnishes two vivid pictures of man’s position Godward―the leper (Luke 17:1212And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: (Luke 17:12)) and the demoniac (Luke 8:2828When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. (Luke 8:28)). One is a figure of his uncleanness, the other of his enmity. On the ground of Levitical restriction, laid down by God Himself, the leper could not come near if he would, and because of man’s enmity through the devil’s deception the demoniac would not come near if he could. Yet how blessed the result of that almighty grace which was seen in the person of Jesus here below― grace which came down to reach man at his lowest, cleanse away his defilement, remove his bitter enmity, and set him down at perfect rest in the presence of his Deliverer! Behold that once devil-possessed sinner who cried, “What have I to do with Thee?” now “sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind,” his one desire being now to be with Him. See that once filthy leper falling down at the feet of Him who had cleansed him, a grateful worshipper. What a triumph―a double triumph!
Thank God, His enemies are still being reconciled to Him by the death of His Son, and the filthy washed from their sins in the Saviour’s precious blood.
Reader, has your heart been set right with God? Has the conscious removal of your sins from before His all-seeing eye left you a cleansed worshipper in His holy presence? If not, look to it, lest that “certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries,” overtake you unawares, and you be branded as the foe of God and His Christ for eternity. Think of unforgiven Cain, driven out as a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth with God’s “mark” upon him, and as you hear his bitter cry, “My punishment is greater than I can bear,” ask yourself, If conscious expulsion from God’s presence on earth involved so much anguish, what will it be to be driven into hell? That such a doom may never be yours, we plead with you to resist no longer but be reconciled to God.