I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord.
God’s love in restoration
Most times in Scripture the voice of God is the voice of love. The sterner words come forth as of necessity, on compulsion. How wonderful in the text is the tenderness with which God speaks, what marvellous considerateness for natural human feelings, for the peculiarities, if I may so speak, of human feelings, when, in promising to renew and to restore, He speaks not only of restoration, but of restoration on the very spot, restoration with the least possible loss, the least possible wrench to natural feeling,--restoration of the city on the ruinous heap, on the old foundation; not merely life again, but life where they had lived of old, the hearth to be raised where the hearth had burned of old, and home where home had been, not one joy or sorrow of association being lost, no change of place, no severance of old ties and thoughts, but all the round of life to begin again on the very site where the days had gone round before. Great mercy would it have been, if the decayed city, with its palaces and homes, had been rebuilt at all, and on other spots, in other places not known or loved before; but as there would have been a certain sorrow in changing the place of habitation, in making a new home, and on looking back on the bare desert plots where the city had once stood, so God, promising restoration, so promises it, that there should not be one cloud upon the heart in seeing the walls again built, not one touch of sorrow and regret to mingle with the joy. And how has it been with the Church of Christ, of which these words of the prophet, in a second and a spiritual sense, doubtless speak? There is no branch of the Church, alas! which has not failed at times in its high part, which has not at times sunk down into listlessness and sloth, which has not at times had an evil activity and an unwise zeal, which has not at times wasted its high gifts, spilt them as it were like water on the ground, suffered its lamp to burn low or to glare with an unhealthy light, which has not at times grudged alms, or been faint in prayer, or worshipped the world, or dressed itself out in gorgeous robes of worldly greatness, or been self-indulgent, or lax in its view of Christian verities. And yet no branch of the Church has been without its calls and recalls, its revival, whether of its spiritual life or of its form and order, its gracious renewings, its waterings from on high with the heavenly dew, that it might again look strong, again battle with the world, again bear noble witness, again do noble deeds, again shew the power of a living faith, again unite itself with heaven by its warm and frequent prayers, again preach Christ crucified by its own crucifixion of all earthly affections, and the manifestation of all saintly ways and tempers. (Bishop Armstrong.)
Blessed promises for dying outcasts
The promises of this verse will be exceedingly sweet to those who feel their personal need of them; but those who boast that they are neither sick nor wounded will take no interest in this comfortable word.
I. Taken in connection with the verses which precede it, our text describes a class of men and women who are in a serious plight. These people suffer under two evils. They are afflicted with the distemper of evil, and also by dismal disquietude of conscience. They have broken God’s commandments, and now their own bones are broken. They have grieved their God, and their God is grieving them.
1. They are sick with sin, and that disease is one which, according to the fifth and sixth verses, brings great pain and trouble into men’s minds when they come to their senses, and know their condition before God. Sin felt and known is a terrible kill-joy: as the simoom of the desert smites the caravan with death, and as the sirocco withers every herb of the field, so does a sense of sin dry up peace, blast hope, and utterly kill delight. This disease, moreover, is not only exceedingly painful when the conscience is smarting, but it is altogether incurable, so far as any human skill is concerned. Neither body, soul, nor spirit is free from its taint. At all hours it is our curse and plague; over all places it casts its defiling influence; in all duties it injures and hinders us. To those who know this there is a music sweeter than marriage-bells in these words,--“I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds” The incurable shall be cured; the insatiable malady shall be stayed. How gracious is it on God’s part to pity a creature infected with this vile distemper! How good of Him to regard our iniquity rather as a sickness to be healed than as a crime to be punished!
2. I told you of a double mischief in this plight, and the second mischief is that this person has been wounded for his sin. His wounds are of no common sort, for we are told in the fourteenth verse that God Himself has wounded him. There is such a thing as cruel kindness, and the opposite to it is a loving cruelty, a gracious severity. When the Lord brings sin to remembrance, and makes the soul to see what an evil it has committed in transgressing against God, then the wound bleeds, and the heart breaks. The smart is sharp, but salutary. The Lord wounds that He may heal, He kills that He may make alive. His storms wreck us upon the rock of salvation, and His tempests drive us into the fair havens of lowly faith. Happy are the men who are thus made unhappy; but this for the present they know not, and therefore they need the promise, “I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord.” The blows are not only on the conscience, but when God is in earnest to make men flee from their sins, He will smite them anywhere and everywhere. He takes away the delight of their eyes with a stroke; the child, the husband, the wife, or the friend is laid low; for the Lord will fill our houses with mourning sooner than leave us in carnal security.
II. A special interference. The poor creature is in desperate dolour; but the God of pitying love comes in, and I beg you to notice the result.
1. This interference is, first of all Divine. The infinite Jehovah alone can speak with that grand Ego, and say, “I will,” and again, “I will.” No human physician who was worthy of the name would speak thus. He would humbly say, “I will attempt to give you health; I will endeavour to heal your wounds”; but the Lord speaks with the positiveness of omnipotence, for He has the power to make good His words.
2. Note, that since this interference is Divine it is effectual. What can baffle the Lord? Can anything perplex infinite wisdom? Is anything difficult to almighty power? He speaks, and it is done; He commands, and it stands fast. When therefore God says, I will restore health unto thee,” health will visit the wretch who lies pining at death’s door. When He says, “I will heal thee of thy wounds,” the deep cuts and gashes are closed up at once.
3. Observe that this interposition performs a work which is most complete, for it meets the two-fold mischief. He will heal both disease and wound.
4. Notice, too, how sovereignly free this promise is. It does not say, “I will restore health unto thee if”--No, there is no “if”; and there is no mention of a fee. Here is healing for nothing. Jesus comes to give us health without money and without price, without pence or penance, without labour or merit.
5. Notice that, although it be thus free and unconditional, yet it is now a matter of covenant certainly, for God has made the promise, and He cannot turn from it. To every guilty sinner, conscious of his guilt, who will come and confess it before God, this promise is made to-day, “I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds.”
III. A singular reason. He says, not “Because you were holy,” or “Because you had good desires”; but “Because they called thee an outcast.” Who were they? Why, the mockers and blasphemers: the Lord actually transforms the venom of asps, which was under the tongues of the malicious, into a reason for His mercy. This clearly shows how God hates the very notion of merit; but it also shows that He will find a reason for mercy somewhere.
1. This roused the Lord’s pity. “Oh,” He said, “has it come to this? Have they dared to call My Beloved ‘an outcast,’ and say that no man seeketh after her! I will seek her, and heal her, and restore her, for I cannot endure such tauntings.” Now, if there is a poor sinner in the world, upon whom other sinners, who are just as bad in their heart, begin to vent their scorn, and say, “She is an outcast”; then the God of mercy seems to say, Who are you that you should talk like this? You are as vile yourselves, and yet you dare to look down upon this poor, selected one, as if she were so much worse than you. Therefore, I will save that despised one, and will have mercy upon the rejected.”
2. God’s jealousy is aroused against those who despise His people and speak ill of them. It is one thing for a father to chasten his boy; but if, when he is out in the streets, a stranger begins to kick him, his father declares that it shall not be. He arouses himself to defend his child, the same child that just now he smote so heavily. That is a fair parallel to the case of our God. He will chasten His people in measure, but the moment that their enemies call them outcasts He turns His anger another way and releases His people. Oh, how blessedly does good come out of evil! How graciously He causes the wrath of man to praise Him. He restores health to Zion, and heals her wounds because she is called an outcast.
IV. A little suitable advice. I will suppose that I have those before me who have felt their disease and their wound, and have been healed by the God of mercy. I would recommend them to attend to certain matters.
1. Take care that you live very near your Physician. I notice that patients come up from the country when they are suffering with serious complaints, and they take lodgings near a medical man who is in high esteem for such cases as theirs. Now, the Lord has healed your wound, and restored health to you, therefore abide in Him; never leave Him, nor live far away from Him, for this old disease of yours may break out on a sudden, and it will be well to have the Healer close at hand. It will be best to entertain Him constantly beneath your roof, and within your heart; for His presence is the wellspring of health to the soul.
2. I recommend you often to put yourself under His searching examination. Go to this great Physician, and ask Him to look into your hidden parts, to search you, and try you, and see what wicked way may be in you, that He may lead you in the way everlasting.
3. I recommend you from personal experience to consult with this Doctor every day. It is a wise thing before you go downstairs into the world’s tainted atmosphere to take a draught of His Elixir vitae, in the form of renewed faith in Him. I am sure at night it is an admirable thing to purge the soul of all the perilous stuff which has accumulated through the day by full confession and renewed confidence.
4. Lay bare your case before Him; conceal nothing; beg of Him to deal with you according to His knowledge of your case. Make a clean breast that Christ may make a sure cure.
5. Then I should very strongly recommend you always to obey the prescriptions of the great Healer. “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.” The Lord Jesus must be received as a whole, or not at all
6. Take care also to exercise great confidence in this Physician. Your cure is working wondrously when you trust in Jesus heartily. Distrust is what you have to fear; faith is your strength.
7. When you are healed, as I trust you are already, speak well of your Benefactor. When you were restored from sickness the other day, you were quite able to inform your friends as to that new medicine which acted like a charm, and you found a tongue to speak well of your doctor; and I am sure you have ability enough to declare the wonderful works of the Lord in your case. “Oh, but I could not embellish the tale!” Do not attempt to embellish it; for that would only spoil it. Tell the story as simply as possible. I think it is of Mr. Cecil that I have read the following incident. A friend came from some distance to inform him of a medicine which was to relieve him of his disorder. This friend told him all about it, and having done so, entered into conversation upon the current matters of the day. The result was that Mr. Cecil was greatly interested in the talk, and when his friend was gone, he quite forgot every ingredient of the wonderful medicine. Beware of allowing the many things to drive the one thing needful out of your friend’s mind. (C. H. Spurgeon.)