The Balm of Gilead

Jere 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?

These were rhetorical questions. Gilead, on the east bank of the Jordan, was known for the soothing, medicinal balms it produced, and God was the physician in Israel. But the people were not being healed because they were not returning to the only One who could heal them. The “wound” of the people was their “sin-sick” idolatrous soul. If anyone could apply a “balm” to heal the people it was God, but instead of seeking this physician, the people turned to false gods. Speaking through the prophet, God says, “My people do not know the requirements of the Lord” (8:7). But this lack of knowledge was a culpable ignorance, because God also says that they “cling to deceit; they refuse to return”(8:5). Rather than repenting of their sin, the people preferred the lies of their spiritual leaders – the priests, prophets, and scribes – who rejected the word of the Lord and worshipped other gods. God says “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.” Theirs was the deadly congenital disease of sin, which I have written about in earlier meditations, and the remedy being prescribed by their false prophets was only a soothing balm that made them feel better about themselves, while the root cause of the disease raged on.

When Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again,” he gave the only remedy that would “take away the sins of the world,” not just for a while but for all eternity. As Tom Coughlin said in his comment on my Feb. 6 meditation, “A brand new creature must come to life, even as the old terminally diseased nature must be counted dead, and put to death.” Jesus and His Word the Bible is the balm of Gilead, the only remedy for our sin-sick world. God is the invisible wind that blows where it wishes and causes a person to be born again. The visible effects of this invisible transformation within a person are a supernatural love for God and other people. Only God can administer this balm, bringing about the new birth by faith in His word the Bible, but God’s people are His chosen instruments for bringing this good news to our lost and dying world. Telling someone the gospel is the most loving thing any born again person can do.

Born of Water and the Spirit

In the well-known “Nic at Night” passage in the third chapter of John, Jesus tells a Pharisee named Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus doesn’t get it, so Jesus explains more thoroughly in verse 5, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Nicodemus still doesn’t get it. In verse 9 he says to Jesus, “How can these things be?” He doesn’t seem to realize that Jesus is talking about spiritual things – things that cannot be given natural explanations. To be “born again” is a spiritual transaction that results in eternal life. Jesus then shows clearly that he thinks Nicodemus should know about these things. He says, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?” A Pharisee in Jesus’ time should know about things like being born of water and the Spirit because the Pharisees were thoroughly trained in the writings of the prophets, and God had spoken through the prophet Ezekiel, foretelling the coming of the Messiah and the New Covenant. In Ezekiel 36:25-26, God says, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.” This seems to be what Jesus meant by being born of “water.” “Water” stood for spiritual cleansing – forgiveness for ones sins. God had also said, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes…” There is the Spirit part of what Jesus meant by “being born of water and the Spirit.” Jesus was talking about a truly supernatural thing that would be done by God and would have the effect of causing the one to whom God had done these things to walk in His statutes. And what are God’s statutes? Jesus summarized them in Matt 22:36-40. “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” The effect of being born again is a supernatural love for God and for other people. These are the outward signs of an inner transaction between God and a person, when that person becomes “born again.”

How Does Jesus Heal?

My last meditation was on the fact that Jesus did come to heal broken hearts. He came to heal people like King David who said, “A broken and contrite heart God does not despise.” Today I will go farther and ask, “How does Jesus heal?” But my question is not the question of a medical doctor asking Jesus what kind of surgery he performs to heal a particular physical injury, or what drug he prescribes to heal a particular physical illness. No, the question I am asking is about spiritual, not physical healing, and the sickness Jesus came to heal is more devastating than any physical illness that ever infected mankind. Every human being is born with this disease. It’s congenital. Here’s what Jesus says about the awfulness of this deadly disease and the only way it can be healed. Speaking to a Pharisee named Nicodemus, Jesus says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Jesus is saying that the sickness we are born with is so deadly that we must be quarantined. We cannot enter the kingdom of God unless we are first healed. And the only way to be healed is by being “born of water and the Spirit.” With these words Jesus prepares to fulfill a prophecy found in the book of Ezekiel, where God, speaking through the prophet says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean … I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments (Ezek. 36:25-27). Jesus summed up his plan for treating the deadly disease of “sin” with these words “You must be born again.” My next post will continue this meditation on Jesus’ prescription for healing the deadly disease of “sin.”