Comfort for the 2020 World in Need of a Spiritual Physician

Belonging to Jesus Christ does not mean that we are free in the sense of being able to do whatever pleases us. We are not our own. We are free from the grip of the devil, and we belong to Christ.  Satan once ruled us, but now we are ruled by Christ. He rules us by His Word and Spirit. Now we must do what He tells us to do. We must obey Him. He is our Lord, our Master, (cf. Romans 6:15- 23).

Of ourselves we are not willing to do what Christ tells us to do. By nature we are rebellious and we want to do our own will. And our sinful nature can alarm us. Will we submit ourselves to Christ’s rule? But here, too, we are comforted. For Christ promises to work in our hearts with His Holy Spirit, so that we are heartily willing and ready to obey Him. As Paul wrote, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do [or work] for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

In order to experience the comfort of belonging to Christ, it is necessary for us to know three things. We must first come to know how great our sins and misery are. There is no comfort in the knowledge of our sin and misery itself. It only makes us feel very bad about ourselves. The knowledge of our sin and misery only serves to frighten us. Yet this knowledge is necessary, for it motivates us to look for healing. The coronavirus is deceptive because many don’t know that they are sick.  Likewise, many do not know they are sin-sick.  Unless we know that we are sick, we will rarely go to a doctor. In like manner, no one will look for redemption from sin and misery unless he first comes to know his sin and misery.

We have to learn how great our sins and misery are. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we did not go running to a doctor if we had some minor sickness. We would only go if we had something quite serious, and something that wouldn’t go away by itself. This is what the Bible teaches us: that our sin is very great. It will lead to eternal death. Furthermore, the Bible teaches us that our “sickness” will not go away by itself, or by our own remedies. We need a spiritual physician.

It is no comfort to know that we are horribly sick and are going to die. This pandemic virus has brought home this reality.  In fact, some government leaders and doctors are reluctant to tell their citizens and patients how serious their illness is since currently there is no cure.  For this knowledge won’t benefit them. In some ways, ignorance is bliss. The only time that such knowledge would really be of any benefit is when there is a cure.

It is the same with our knowledge of our sin and misery. If there was no forgiveness of sins and no redemption, then we could just as well remain ignorant about our spiritual condition. Yet if there is a cure, we want to be told about our disease so that we might go to the physician who can heal us. 

Thus the knowledge of how great our sins and misery are will only be of comfort to us if we at the same time are told of the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Thus the second aspect of that knowledge, which is necessary to have as comfort, is the knowledge of the deliverance, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.