And Jesus entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into His own city. And, behold, they brought to Him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.
And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?
But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith He to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
And he arose, and departed to his house.
When the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. (Matthew 9:1-8, KJV)
Cheer up! Your sins are forgiven
I want you to understand what Jesus was saying to the man sick of the palsy: cheer up, stop being miserable, your sin is forgiven! No matter our present circumstances, all of us have a reason to rejoice; Jesus has saved and delivered us from the kingdom of darkness into His marvellous light. We have a sure hope of eternity with Jesus. The Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, ‘Therefore we do not loose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’ (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
Why did Jesus say, ‘Cheer up, your sins are forgiven’? Jesus saw a man who was dying, whose friends had brought him into this building. They came in faith. They understood something which I want the world to know today. They knew Jesus had power to work miracles. This incident only happened for one reason. Jesus wanted to demonstrate that He had power here on earth to forgive sin.
The reason God sent His Son into the world - He didn’t come as a military officer; He didn’t come to forcibly conquer the world; He didn’t come with a big army. Jesus was alone. He was born in a stable. He had no home of His own. He was despised and rejected by men. The Bible calls Him a man of sorrows. At the end of 33 years, they put Him on a cross. He died a public death. A death of dishonour. On either side of Him was a criminal. Yet, Jesus, the Son of God, had so much power, not just in heaven but also on earth. Why did God send His Son alone into a world which would kill Him? He sent Him to demonstrate two things, firstly, that He had power on earth, and secondly, that He could forgive sin. Healing this man was the physical demonstration of a spiritual miracle.
I consider our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are… All creation anticipates the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. (Romans 8:18-21)
‘Our God Reigns’ used by kind permission of www.vinesong.com