2 Kings 5:1-19 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable… There is much modern application in these Old Testament circumstances. There is so much humaneness in the Bible which makes it always a new book. Principles know nothing of years. Truth is not hampered by time. The Scriptures are as old as eternity, and yet as new as every morning. The Gospel in the narrative may thus be developed. I. THE GOSPEL APPEALS TO THE MAN, NOT HIS ACCIDENTS. The prophet's message was to the leper, not to the courtier. Naaman came with his horses and with his pageantry. He came in a lordly air, but the prophet did not even meet him. The true man is never moved by glitter. Some of us would have bowed as sycophants; it would have been the reddest-letter day of our lives, if the premier of Syria had stood at our door. Even if a trinket, or a book, be given to us by a royal hand, we transmit it as an heirloom. There is a nobility of office, but there is a higher nobility of character. There is a kingliness of name, but there is also a kingliness of nature. We should not judge by appearance, but judge by righteous judgment. The prophet saw through all the haughtiness of Naaman, leprous man. God sees through all life's accidents — all our intelligence, parade, wealth, and respectability — a heart of corruption and sorrow. He sees that the "imagination of the thoughts of man are evil continually." The message is to man, not to his circumstances. It speaks to us as sinners. It speaks, not to contingencies, but to the human nature that is in us all. It was man that fell, and to man the message is sent. "He came to seek and to save that which was lost." II. THE GOSPEL MESSAGE AND CONDITIONS ARE ALWAYS SIMPLE. It speaks in a language all can understand. It speaks to the heart, and the heart has but one language, the wide world over. The tongue speaks many a vernacular, and the lips chatter many dialects, but the heart's voice never varies. The great universal heart beats in us all. The Gospel sees us fallen, and it sends forth the common message and a universal welcome. "Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden." The message is one, but its emphasis is varied according to our deafness, and its strokes to our hardness. The stone is hard, and the sculptor's mallet must be heavy, and his chisels sharp. The wound is deep, and the corrosive must burn, and the instrument probe deeply. The jewel is encased in adamant, and the lapidary must select his instruments accordingly. Our prejudices are great, our hearts are haughty, and the conditions are adapted. Christianity is to us what we are. Loving in disposition, it "speaks in a still small voice." Impenitent in heart, it speaks in thunder-tones. Some are so deaf that they can only hear thunder; others are so divinely sensitive, they can hear angels' whispers, and God's steps on the wind. According to our heart-life, God is either a Father, or a consuming fire. A revengeful God is the creation of a wicked life. The Gospel speaks to the heart, and of necessity must temper its voice to its disposition and difficulties. It is a message so simple that a child can understand it, and yet its inexhaustibleness challenges the highest mind. So plain, that the "wayfaring man" need not Stumble; and yet its sublimity creates a sensation new in angel bosom. Its simplicity reveals its wonders, as its stoop manifests its height. III. THE GOSPEL CONDITIONS ARE REPULSIVE TO HUMAN PREJUDICES. We might swear that it is night when the sun shines, but the light would only prove our insanity. We may curse the Book, but its truth is inviolable. We may blaspheme the Gospel, but the loudness of our voice may only reveal the perfectness of our idiocy. How presumptuous is man? 1. How we presume on God's ways? "I thought he would surely come out to me," etc. 2. How we presume on God's means? "Are not Abana and Pharpar... better than all the waters of Israel?" 3. How we presume on God's patience? "And he turned away in a rage." 4. How we presume on self-sufficiency? "Some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it?" The conditions of the Gospel may arouse our resentment, but to resist is to be blind to our best interests. The prophet said: "Wash and be clean"; and Naaman turned away in a rage. Christ says: "Sell all thou hast and give to the poor"; and the young man went away sorrowing. The Gospel says: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved"; and we are disgusted with the conditions. The Cross to the "Jew may be a stumbling-block," and to the "Greek, foolishness," but to as many as believe, it is the "power of God unto salvation." The answer to all our prejudices is, that it is God's appointed way. There is no royal road. The conditions are, believe and live, and the authority is, "he that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." Our prejudices may recoil, and we may turn away in wrath. But we turn our face from the sun only to see our shadow. (W. Mincher.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper. |
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