May the Spirit of Christ enable us to consider two verses of scripture and personally apply them to our own case. The first is Mark 5:36. Jairus' little and only daughter was gravely ill. She died of her illness. Her death was especially troubling to her father for several reasons. First, because she was his only daughter. Second, because she was young, only about twelve years of age. Third, because she died after Jesus began to go with Jairus to his home where she lay sick, which would cast doubt on Jesus' power over death (John 11:25-26). And fourth, because besides the fears within, Jairus faced the disheartening words of an unbelieving messenger and the hypocritical mourning of unbelieving comforters.
While Jesus journeyed with Jairus, a messenger brought the sad news of his daughter’s death. The messenger’s words seemed especially gruff: "Why troublest thou the Master? Thy daughter is dead." The Lord had just cast a legion of devils out of the tormented, untameable, crying, naked, self-destroying tomb-dwelling man. Shortly thereafter, and just before the dour messenger brought his evil report, virtue went from our Savior to heal the woman who had been plagued for twelve years with an unclean issue of blood. She pressed behind Him in the crowd and touched his clothes. She believed that if she could only touch His clothes, she would be healed. So everyone taught of God believes that to lay hold of Christ as all of my righteousness, is to have eternal life. Jesus spoke to her. He said, “Thy faith hath made thee whole” (Mark 5:34). But while Jesus spoke to this woman about faith, the messenger from Jairus’ house came bearing the sad news of his daughter’s death. It was an evil report with the evil advice of unbelief: “Why troublest thou the Master?” The Master, Jesus, stood near the ruler when the messenger broke the news to him. That news fell like an anvil of grief and sorrow on the poor father’s heart. Despair must have immediately combined weight to the father’s sorrow to sink his mind and body into shock. Therefore, as soon as the messenger finished speaking, the Master, touched with the feeling of our infirmities, interposed Himself with words to uphold the poor father in his grief (1 Pet. 5:7; Heb. 4:15-16). “He Himself bore our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isa. 54:3; Matt. 8:17)! To lift that weight from off the grieving father and bear it in Himself, Jesus spoke these immeasurably comforting words to him and to us, indeed, to every helpless, hopeless sinner under the reign of sin and death: "Be not afraid; only believe" (Mark 5:36; Rom. 5:21). Jesus’ words ring in my own ears. Do you draw near to God by them? Do you draw comfort from them? Everything seems opposed to my salvation. Everything casts dark forebodings against the promises of God and the success of the Gospel. Yet into this temptation of despair our Master's words are immeasurably soothing, calming, comforting, strengthening: "Be not afraid; only believe!"
In the second scripture, the Spirit of God paints another scene for us. In John 14:1, Peter was about to bear the most bitter grief a man on earth could know: he would betray His beloved Master. All of the disciples were about to face the greatest trial sinners on earth could ever face. Their beloved Master, whom they trusted (John 6:68-69), was about to be taken from them, bound, accused, beaten, crowned with thorns, mocked, hit on the head and in the face, spit upon, stripped, condemned to death, led to die, and hung between thieves. His cross on which they would nail Him was laid upon His own back. They required Him to carry it in shame through the crowd, to publicly bear His curse and die under it by their wicked hands (Gal. 3:13; Acts 2:23; 2 Cor. 5:21). The soldiers pierced his hands and his feet with nails, thinking to hold Him fast to that cross. But He who is the Son of God and Son of Man, could be held by His love alone (Gal. 2:20; 1 John 3:16; 4:9-10). The disciples all forsook Him and fled. The soldiers divided the spoils: His garment at the foot of His cross, as if to make the mockery complete. Their Master, whom they thought would rule over their enemies, now seemed powerless. Did evil triumph? Was wrong on the throne?! The sun refused to shine. The midday sky grew dark over the whole earth. A dolorous cry was heard out of the darkness from the cross, a cry of utmost agony and pain: "My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken me!!" It was the fulfillment of the ages, the salvation of God’s elect by the sufferings of our Substitute!
Now, Jesus anticipated the unspeakable trouble His sufferings and cries would cause His disciples. Before He suffered, He thought of them. When soldiers came to take Him, He stood as Surety for them. “If you seek Me; let these go their way” (John 18:8). While He suffered, He prayed for them. What He did, He did to God for them (Heb. 5:1). Before He entered the holiest of all to appear in the presence of God for us, to stand before God as our peacemaking Mediator -- before all of this, He spoke these words to His disciples, even before the trouble began: “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in Me!”
Here we have it again! Our Master tells the father of the dying daughter and His disciples the same thing when they faced the greatest possible trial of faith: "Only believe; believe also in Me!" Is it any coincidence? Remember Sarah? She heard the LORD Himself speak in promise that she would bear a son within the year. She laughed in unbelief. She considered her lifelong barrenness. She considered her age. She considered what she knew about herself, that it ceased to be with her after the manner of women. But though she laughed in disbelief, The LORD graciously spoke to her, because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The LORD said: "Is anything too hard for the LORD" (Gen. 18:14)? She therefore “judged Him faithful who had promised” (Heb. 11:11).
Thus, to every sinner humbled by His grace, to every believer perplexed and troubled, the Master speaks His word, "Be not afraid; only believe." "Let not your heart be troubled; ...believe also in Me."
We believe God. We know He is holy. We know He is sovereign. We know He is eternal. We know He is unchanging, that He is all-knowing, everywhere present and almighty. We know He is unfailing. We know He is the Judge of all the earth and that He is just. But comfort under the crushing weight of sin, and strength in the endless war between our flesh and spirit, comes only when we believe also in Christ our Mediator. "You believe in God; believe also in Me!" Comfort is to be found in our Savior- Mediator. When we believe Him, then we receive comfort from God our Father (2 Cor. 1:3).
Unbelief sees its giant enemies and looks upon itself through their eyes. But faith sees Christ and the promises of God in Him. Faith hears the sentence of heaven’s court that received His obedience and blood, and now receives His intercession as our Advocate (Rom. 8:34; 1 John 2:1-2; Heb. 7:25). Faith sees God in the eyes of our Savior (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:6; John 14:9). And faith hears the glad report from our enthroned Savior, "Thou art all fair my love; I see no spot in thee" (Song 4:7; Jer. 50:20; Isa. 43:25; Num. 23:21; Rom. 8:34)!
Therefore, in all of our grief, in every sorrow, in every trouble, in weakness and in strength, "Only believe!" This is my warrant to take virtue from Christ. This is my warrant to come to God by His precious blood (Heb. 78:25; 10:19-23). This is my warrant to trust His obedience and death as all of my righteousness (Rom. 5:9). This is Christ’s promise that I shall behold His face in righteousness (Rom. 10:4; Ps. 17:15; Rom. 5:10; Heb. 7:25; Jude 1:24). “Only believe. Believe also in Me.”
Dear frightful, fainting, sin-burdened, helpless sinner: believe that Christ joyfully took the body His Father prepared for Him and sacrificed Himself for your salvation (Heb. 10:5-23). Believe He became man to save you from so great a death (Heb. 2:9-10; 5:7-9; 2 Cor. 1:10). Believe that your sins were washed from your account before God and are remembered no more because Christ’s sacrifice of Himself was accepted (Heb. 1:3; Lev. 16:29-30). Believe with the full persuasion of faith that His shed blood was accepted in heaven, and all for whom He offered Himself were accepted with Him (Heb. 9:26; 10:5-23). Believe that His obedience in life and death is all of your righteousness. Believe that He fulfilled and put into force the New Covenant by His own blood, and that the sure mercies of that covenant are His and yours in Him (Isa. 55:1-3; 2 Sam. 23:5; Matt. 26:28; Heb. 13:20). Believe that faith in Christ crucified and risen again is the evidence of being born of God, as His son, by His Spirit (John 1:12-13; 3:14-16). Believe that God appointed and hears His Son as our Mediator. Believe that He lives and intercedes at God’s right hand to save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him. Believe that all things work together to conform you to the image of God’s dear Son. Believe that you shall see His face in righteousness, and that when you do, you will be like Him. Believe that it is God who is at work in you both to will and do of His good pleasure. Believe that He will finish the work He started, to save you, to save His people, to bring them, to have them, to present them in the presence of His glory with exceeding great joy (Zep. 3:17). Believe that He will sanctify you wholly because Faithful is He who called you, who also will do it (1 Thess. 5:23-24; Heb. 13:20-21). Believe that every enemy has been conquered and will be despoiled and subdued (Col. 2:14-15; Rom. 16:20). Believe that Christ will be glorified in His saints, in their salvation and in their lives (Eph. 2:7; Ps. 50:15). It must be so, because He has spoken it and because the work is all His (Isa. 45:17; 46:10-11; Heb. 1:3; Lev. 16:30). The glory must therefore be all His. Believe that we will be with Him. And believe that He is with His people always, even to the end of the age (Ps. 139:1-18; Matt. 28:20; John 14:18; Heb. 13:5). Only believe. This is Christ’s word. He delights in sinners who depend upon Him for all. This is therefore your warrant to believe Him. Look (Isa. 45:22). Call (Joel 2:32; Acts. 2:21; Ps. 50:15). Come (Matt. 11:28; Rev. 22:17). Take (Rev. 22:17). Eat (John 6:35, 37-40). Drink (Jer. 2:13; John 4:10; Rev. 22:17). Live upon His word (Gal. 2:20; Heb. 10:38). Draw virtue from Him; partake of His divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4; Heb. 3:14). Draw the life you need to live from Him by faith (Gal. 2:20). Receive your all from Him that you might return to Him what is His. And know that in every anxious thought, we can and must go to Him with supplications and prayers and thanksgiving, making your requests known to God by Christ. In so doing, He has promised that His peace will keep our hearts and minds by Christ Jesus (Php. 4:5-6; Isa. 26:1-3).
Rick Warta
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