A life of light and a life of darkness

A life of light and a life of darkness

Text: Mark 5:21-43.

A GIRL RESTORED TO LIFE = LIGHT.

A WOMAN HEALED = DARKNESS.

          I want to speak about DARKNESS and LIGHT in the lives of two people and how Jesus met their needs in both cases.

1.    One was the LIGHT in her father’s life, she was his beautiful princess, the joy of his life, in her sickness Jairus on her behalf came to Jesus for Him to heal her, to restore her not only her life, but to restore Jairus his LIGHT again.

2.    The other spent her life in DARKNESS and sorry, no one came on her behalf, because sadly her sickness casted her outside, with no family or friends, she was unclean, untouchable, YET all she needed to do was to TOUCH the helm of Jesus.

Jesus TOUCHED both, and both where healed, both entered life and LIGHT again. Both contacted Jesus. One alone, and one during a crowd. This passage includes two cases of uncleanness: a woman with a continual flow of blood and a corpse (see Leviticus 15:19–33; Numbers 19:11–22). Even after the flow stopped, the first woman would be counted unclean for seven days (Leviticus 15:28); the dead girl was even more unclean (Numbers 19:11).

1.    JAIRUS DAUGHTER IS HEALED; SHE WAS A LIGHT FOR 12 YEARS, IN HER FATHER’S LIFE.

²¹ Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea.

Back on the western shore of blue Galilee, the Lord Jesus was soon in the center of “a great multitude” there are many in need of Jesus’ touch in their lives. An upset father came running up to Him. It was Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue. His little daughter was dying.
²² And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet.

Jairus, “one of the rulers of the synagogue,” was a lay leader charged with supervising services at the synagogue. Aware of Jesus’ miraculous powers, Jairus approached Jesus with perhaps the greatest need he had ever faced. He knew that Jesus could meet his need.

²³ and begged Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.”

²⁴ So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.

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³⁵ While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue's house who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”
³⁶ As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.”
³⁷ And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.
³⁸ Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly.
³⁹ When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.”

By this time, messengers had arrived with the news that Jairus’ daughter had died. There was no need to bring the Teacher. The Lord graciously reassured Jairus, and then took Peter, James, and John to the house.

They were met by the unrestrained weeping characteristic of eastern homes in times of sorrow, some of it done by hired mourners. Several professional mourners were required even at the funeral of the poorest person; more mourners would assemble at the death of a member of a prominent family like this one.

⁴⁰ And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying.

When Jesus assured them that the child was not dead but sleeping, their tears turned to scorn. Unconcerned He took the immediate family to the motionless child, and taking her by the hand, said in Aramaic, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” It was her native tongue and I think it could be translated “Little lamb, wake up!” That’s what He said to her and that is a sweet, lovely thing.

Immediately the twelve-year-old girl got up and walked.

⁴¹ Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”
⁴² Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement.
⁴³ But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it and said that something should be given her to eat.

In that culture, at the age of twelve the girl was a virgin probably soon to be married (women were not able to continue in education or public employment as they do today). Young girls usually looked forward eagerly to their wedding day as the most joyous event in their life, and to die unmarried—especially just short of it—was lamented as a particularly great tragedy.

“He ... said that something should be given her to eat.” In spiritual ministry, this would be known as “follow-up work.” Souls that have known the throb of new life need to be fed. One way a disciple can manifest his love for the Saviour is by feeding His sheep.

2.    A WOMAN IS HEALED; SHE HAD BEEN IN DARKNESS FOR 12 YEARS, OUTSIDE OF ANY HOME.

²⁵ Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years,

She had been in this condition for twelve years. Did you notice that the young girl was twelve years old? Twelve years of suffering coming to an end and twelve years light entering darkness, the darkness of death. The father who had come, when he saw our Lord talking to this woman and dealing with her, I am sure thought, Oh, why does not He hurry. Does not He know that my little girl is so sick at home that she will die unless He moves?

Our Lord purposely did not move. He healed this woman, and while He is dealing with her one comes with a message, which is whispered to the father.

This woman’s sickness was reckoned as if she had a menstrual period all month long; it made her continually unclean under the law (Leviticus 15:25–28)—a social and religious problem on top of the physical one. The ailment probably started after puberty; given an average ancient life expectancy of about forty years and the “twelve years” that she had been ill, she may have spent half or all her adult life with this trouble.

If this woman touched anyone or anyone’s clothes, she rendered that person ceremonially unclean for the rest of the day (cf. Leviticus 15:26–27). Some uncleanness was unavoidable, but it was inconvenient to fulfill the required bath, and men avoided uncleanness when they could.

Because she rendered unclean anyone she touched, she should not have even been in this heavy crowd. Thus, she could not touch or be touched, was probably now divorced or had never married, and was unimportant to Jewish society.

²⁶ and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.

This woman had suffered with chronic bleeding for twelve years. The many physicians she went to had apparently used some drastic forms of treatment, drained her finances, and left her worse rather than better. When hope of recovery was all but gone, someone told her about Jesus.

She lost no time in finding Him. Easing her way through the crowd, she touched the border of His garment. Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she felt completely well.

In telling this incident, it is interesting that Luke, who was a physician, said she could not be healed. Mark says that she had suffered many things of the physicians, and she had spent all that she had.

²⁷ When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment.
²⁸ For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”

Her faith motivated her to act.
²⁹ Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.

³⁰ And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”

The word “immediately” is used twice in this context. Both the woman and Jesus at the same time knew what had happened. The woman had no idea that Jesus had consciously healed her. While she sought to disappear into the crowd, Jesus turned and asked, “Who touched My clothes?”

He wanted to correct any mistaken notion she may have had about her healing. It was not any magical quality of His clothing, but His divine will that had made her well. No one else was aware that the healing had happened.

³¹ But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, who touched Me?'” “Who touched My clothes?”

His disciples thought the question was silly. Many people were jostling Him continually. Why ask “Who touched Me?” But there is a difference between the touch of physical nearness, and the touch of desperate faith. It is possible to be ever so near Him without trusting Him, but impossible to touch Him by faith without His knowing it and without being healed.

³² And He looked around to see her who had done this thing.
³³ But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell before Him and told Him the whole truth.

She fell before Him and made her first public confession of Jesus. ³⁴ And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”

 
CONCLUSION:

No situation is so desperate that Jesus cannot work. Disease, delays, and even death are under His control. Jesus goes with you to the place of disappointment and sorrow and meets your needs. No matter how depressing your situation may appear, “Do not be afraid; only believe” verse 36.

FINDING CHRIST IN THE TABERNACLE, PART SIX.

Finding Christ in the Tabernacle, Part 6.

“For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” John 1:17.
The Lampstand (Exodus 25:31)

On the right (north side) is the Table of Showbread, now look to your left (south side) as you enter the Holy Place and you will see this beautiful Lampstand, the Menorah, with SEVEN oil flames illuminating the room. It is described in minute detail, the most striking detail perhaps being that it is made of one solid piece of gold. By today’s standards it would be worth more than 754,800 pounds (3/4 of a million pounds). Based on 1oz=£478, 1lb=£7,648, 100lbs=£754,800. In Hebrew it is known as the 'menorah' and has developed into one of the most commonly used symbols of Judaism.

The menorah within the holy place of the ancient tabernacle was a work of extraordinary beauty and consisted of three main parts: the base, the shaft and the branches. Out of the base a vertical shaft arose and from either side of the shaft there sprang three branches curving outward and upward.

Each of the six branches and the centre shaft ended in a cup made in the form of an open almond flower. At the very top the opened petals of the flower held an oil lamp. The branches and the central shaft were skilfully decorated with that same open-almond blossom design with three on each branch and four on the centre shaft.

The Lampstand was made of solid, pure gold; it was beaten out of one talent of pure gold, weighing about 43 kg. (Over 100 lbs.), and with the hammer alone, bit by bit, the whole wonderful masterpiece was fashioned. First the central stem was beaten out. Then from the central stem the six branches were beaten out.

What a glorious mystery this is! Exodus does not give us either the dimensions of the Lampstand, Jewish tradition assigns it a height of about five feet and width of about three and a half feet, but we do know it had branches and that the bowls were to be formed like almonds in blossom.

As the hammer in the wise and able hand of master maker patiently formed the golden masterpiece, so the Holy Spirit of God is now forming us by His faultless working: the Church of Christ, which is formed out of Him, as well as for Him, grafted into the vine!
The Lampstand was therefore like a tree of gold. “In Him was life and the life was the light of men” John 1:4.

The Lampstand was lit permanently, to give light inside the Holy Place. “The true light which enlightens every man was coming into the world” John 1:9.
Jesus said “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” John 8:12. Therefore, the Lampstand points us to Jesus Christ Himself, the light of the whole world. We not only need to see His light, we need to walk in His light (I John 1:5-7; Ephesians 1:18; 5:5-8).

The bowls in the decorations of the candlestick everywhere were made after the fashion of almonds, with a bud and a flower, the three repeated again and again. The bud, the flower, and the almond suggest life, beauty, and blessing. The arrangement was a bud of the almond, then a flower of the almond, and then the almond itself, the fruit.

Aaron’s rod in the tabernacle budded and bore almonds (Numbers 17:8), which was God’s own evidence of his priesthood. The almond, being the first tree to bud in the spring, is a type of resurrection. The candlestick thus bore the evidences of resurrection, and also of the priesthood of our Lord.
The purpose is to illuminate the Holy Place. There are no windows and no natural light. Each morning and evening the priest would enter and would trim away the burnt part of the wick and adjust it. This is the place of the glory of God, and this light was like a supernatural source, not a natural one.

It is probably the most perfect picture of Jesus of all the tabernacle furnishings. For God is light.
A. GOD IS PHYSICAL LIGHT.
He was that pillar of fire that led them by night. And in heaven there is no need for artificial light. Jesus is the light of heaven.
B. GOD IS INTELLECTUAL LIGHT.
Any knowledge man gains are only because God has allowed ‘the light to come on’. Technology today has exploded and man is so proud of himself, but God is that light.
C. GOD IS MORAL LIGHT.
People live and walk in moral darkness.
John 1:5 “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
The priests in the Tabernacle were responsible, evening and morning, of trimmed the wicks of the lamps in the Lampstand and re-filled the bowls with oil so that the light burned brightly again.

Compare Revelation 1:12-13 “Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.”

The oil that was used was a slower process than the crushing of the olive berries. With a rod, the workman struck the olives one by one, to extract what was best of the oil. First the Lampstand was beaten, now the oil berries were beaten. This speaks of the beatings that Christ bore on Calvary. This is not a candle that could go out, but an everlasting LAMPSTAND.

The oil is the Holy Spirit of God. What is the fuel that keeps this church afire? The Holy Spirit! What is the fuel that will ignite you a burning beacon for God? The Holy Spirit! Our divine power source. Not by might, programs, or man made devices, but by God’s Holy Spirit things are accomplished.

The Lampstand has seven lamps (seven is the number of completion and perfection). Therefore, the Lampstand is composed of multiple lamps (people) having similar experiences: like the local church.
By the time of the apostle John, in the book of Revelation, there are seven churches in Asia (Revelation chapters 1 to 3) that are still the objects of Christ's care and attention. There is one church in each of seven cities (1:20) and it is still God's work: the Son of Man, Jesus, is walking in the midst of the seven churches, which are seven golden lampstands.

Eventually, at the end of the book of Revelation, the New Jerusalem will be one vast golden Lampstand, not requiring any more trimming. There will be no darkness to combat any more, just the flowing of the river of water of life, with the tree of life, from the throne of God and the Lamb (22:1-2).

There where THREE kinds of light within the Tabernacle.
1. Natural light. Sunlight, natural, outward. A light of knowledge that comes from human study and understanding.
2. Inner light. The light of the Golden Lampstand. The light of knowledge that comes by the revelation of the Holy Spirit.
3. Heavenly light. In the Holy of Holies. The light of God’s glory, a light of knowledge that is beyond our understanding.
Do you see Jesus in this Lampstand?
A. The buds like pomegranates speak of His fruitfulness.
B. The flowers remind us He is the Lily of the Valley and the Rose of Sharon.
C. The bowls like almonds with olive oil speak of the resurrection.

IF YOU KNOW NOT THE CHRIST (SAVIOUR) OF THE TABERNACLE, WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU FIND HIM, CONTACT US AT: Internetpreachersforchrist@gmail.com

Part seven coming on site soon!