The invisible miracle

Luke 5:17-25 And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.

Here we see two miracles which Jesus performed on this person. The first miracle happened when Jesus saw the sins of this person and forgave him of all his sins by his grace. As a result, his relationship with God was restored. He forgave him so that this person would not come into judgment, for his sins would have brought him into damnation.

Jesus did the most important thing first. “A person sees what is before him, but God looks at the heart.” This is something which we cannot see with our visible eyes. How true that is! Even here, as Jesus said to the lame man, Your sins are forgiven, the others doubted his word. “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” they said to one another. They did not see the miracle which took place when the sins had to depart from this individual and be cast into God’s cup. The cup which would be poured out over Jesus on the cross. Because they did not see this, they could not believe. They were so faraway from God that they did not recognize their God, even though they heard his voice.

However, the man with palsy whose sins had just been forgiven was suddenly aware that, he had been released from his burden of sin. His sickness which was visible on the outside was still there. Now Jesus says: Luke 5:23+25, “Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?” And in that same moment, he stood up in front of them, took the bed upon which he had been laying, and went home and praised God.

Jesus does not do things half finished. The friends of the lame man came for healing. Jesus rewarded their faith, giving them his blessing in addition – the most important thing is the forgiveness of sins. The first miracle of receiving forgiveness of sins cannot be seen by us, and it happens to be the most important one , thereafter follows healing. For it is a bad thing for a person to still be in his sin when standing before God; considering that God gave him the opportunity to receive forgiveness of sins through the gospel!

God has a plan for the forgiveness of sins which you can also follow; it is written down in his Word and is revealed through the gospel. Have you already received forgiveness of sins ? It is necessary that you do so before the time of grace is over. The way which leads to the right end can only be chosen by you yourself whilst on this earth. God’s plan has been given by HIM to his church.Obey it, repent and wash your sins away in the water baptism in Jesus’ name. There are enough examples of it (Read Acts 2:38; 8:12+6; 9:18; 10:48 etc.). rw