Subject Seventy-three

THE SALVATION OF TWO DIFFICULT CASES

Scripture: Mark 5:21-43
The outstanding feature in this passage of the Bible is that the two women who were healed were related to the number twelve. The older one had been sick for twelve years, and the younger one was twelve years old. The older woman had the sickness from the time the young girl was born. Thus the Holy Spirit signifies here that both had the same problem. The two were one. At first it was the father of the young girl seeking for healing, and then on the way the older woman came also seeking healing. At the time the older one was healed, the younger one was also healed.

1. Jesus came to the seashore
   Stories such as this one as mentioned in the Gospel of Mark almost always occurred at the seashore. (See Section I of Subject 70 regarding the seashore.)
   1. Petitioned by others. The girl was in serious sickness, and her father petitioned the Lord Jesus for her.
   2. Petitioned for one’s self. The older woman came to petition the Lord for herself. This point is to explain that both the older and the younger women refer to the same sinner. The reason is that the older woman began to have her sickness when the girl was born. The older woman had been sick for twelve years when the girl was twelve. So the two are actually one. The Holy Spirit put them together to show that they refer to one person: on one hand it is others who petition for you, and on the other hand you petition for yourself.
   3. You must break through the crowd. Today in the midst of the crowd there are many Christians, as well as many who listen to the gospel. All are crowding Jesus and surrounding Him. If you want the Lord Jesus, you must break through the crowd.
   4. You need to touch Jesus. Repeat the difference between crowding Jesus and touching Him. To touch is to contact. To crowd Jesus is to be close to Him without making contact with Him. Today even many pastors and Christian leaders are not contacting Jesus; they are only crowding Him.
   5. Here there is something quite hard to explain, and that is the matter of touching Jesus’ garment. Strictly speaking, she did not contact Jesus Himself directly; she only touched Jesus’ garment.
      1. A garment is something to hide a person within. Today when you touch a person who is clothed, you can only touch his clothing.
      2. The spiritual meaning of the garment refers to man’s work. So when the woman touched the Lord, although you might say that she touched the Lord, strictly speaking she was touching the Lord’s garment. To touch the Lord’s garment is to touch the Lord’s work. The stories in the Gospels can be considered as the Lord’s work, because all these stories contain what the Lord has done. When you touch these stories, you touch Jesus. It is enough to touch the Lord’s garment; you do not need to touch the Lord Himself directly. Just touch what the Lord has done and you will be healed. Just touch these stories and you will be saved.
2. The two women symbolize one person
   1. Man’s position before God is a woman’s position.
   2. The two women here actually symbolize one person. The reasons:
      1. Their problems involved twelve years.
      2. The Scripture put them together in the same passage.
   3. The young girl was sick, at the point of death. The scripture does not mention what kind of sickness she had. If the two women refer to one person, then the sickness is the issuing of blood. This is to tell us that man has the problem of issuing blood. Blood issuing is something leaking from within a person. Whatever comes out of a man is no good. Blood issuing is a deadly sickness. One who is recovered from the issuing of blood is one who is brought back to life from the point of death.
3. The saving power
   1. Point out that the saving power is the Lord’s saving, not man’s improvement in behavior. The teaching and the help of men are altogether useless. The physicians symbolize men’s help and teaching. The fact that she “spent all that she had” means that she paid the full price to improve her behavior, but the end result was “suffering many things,” and nothing helped her a bit. The philosophers are physicians. Your parents and teachers are physicians, but they are of no help to you.
   2. The saving power is supernatural. When the woman touched the Lord, right away a supernatural power came out of the Lord’s body. To receive the Lord and be saved is not that you just receive some message, but that a supernatural power, which is the power of God, comes upon you and causes you to be saved.
   3. The saving power depends upon your touching Jesus. You do not have to see Jesus with your own eyes; neither do you have to touch Him with your own hands. Just touch what He has done, and you will be healed. To touch how He was incarnated in the flesh, how He was crucified on the cross for you, and how He resurrected from the dead is to touch what He has done, and is to touch His garment. Just touch His garment, and you will be saved.
4. The result of salvation
   1. Delivered from sin. The two women symbolize one person healed from the issuing of blood, which means delivered from sin. The issuing of blood means that man is born in sin, and what comes out of a man is nothing but sins. Now because of touching Christ, a power comes out of Christ, and causes us to be delivered from sin.
   2. Made alive. The young girl was made alive after the older woman was healed. This symbolizes that after we are delivered from sin, we are made alive.
   Note:
   You may insert “People’s mocking” into this message, depending upon the time allowable, to say that when you believe in the Lord Jesus, the people will come and laugh at you.