November 21 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Luke 17:11–16

Devotional

Christ sees the ten lepers who come to Him in their distress. He sees them in their misery and has compassion on them. He cares for them, for they receive an answer: “Go, shew yourselves unto the priests.” Is this not noteworthy? The Lord does not use resources to cure them. He does not even use words to cure them. He only gives a command, and in that command lays the promise of healing. Remarkably, He tells them to go show themselves to the priests, to receive a declaration of healing. This was according to Jewish law. The priest had to confirm and declare those cured who had received healing.

The ten lepers stood there just as leprous as when they had come to Jesus. And yet He tells them to go to the priests. Would they go? Would they go to the priests in their condition? If they were to appear before the priest like this, then they would sooner hear that they are possessed than that they are healed. The people would throw stones at them and drive them from the temple because they had dared to enter the holy temple of God in such a state. Do they really have to go like this?

They went. What great faith! Faith was needed to go in their condition. They went with leprous bodies to hear the declaration that they were healed. They did this only at Christ’s command. This was indeed an act of faith. They were blind to the outcome. They went in blind faith, not knowing what the results would be. They showed an obedience of faith to the word of Christ. They went away from Jesus just as leprous as they had come, and yet in faith, they believed they would be healed just as He had said.

In Scripture we also read of Naaman the leper who was healed by God. His flesh came again to him as the flesh of a little child. The same thing happened to these ten men. As they were on their way to the temple, a miracle happened to them. Their flesh became healthy again, without spots. The abscesses disappeared while they were on their way to the priest. A miracle occurred.

The healing of the leprosy itself was exceptional. It seldom happened that lepers were healed of their leprosy; most were given up to die. Now these ten are delivered from this deadly disease, and they could feel their strength renewed. They were, in fact, delivered from death. The ten lepers would not even have been able to recognize one another, for they were healed and restored to normalcy. What joy they must have felt when the priest gave them the declaration and the assurance that they were healed. They were allowed to return into the company of men. A miracle occurred because of the faith of these ten lepers. They faithfully obeyed the words of Jesus the Christ. What rich deliverance Jesus gives to poor and needy people!

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.