Naaman the Leper

2 Kings 5:1-18 tells the story of Naaman the leper. Naaman was a foreigner of wealth and prestige, commander of the army of the king of his land. But Naaman had leprosy, which completely ruined all his chances for a happy life.

Naaman's wife had a young, poor, Jewish maid who told her that Naaman should go to Israel, where there was a prophet of God who could heal him. Naaman went with a great show of pomp--fine clothes, gold, silver, horses and chariot.

But the man of God, the prophet Elisha, merely told him to go bathe seven times in the river, and he would be healed. This was too much for Naaman, who, already extremely ashamed of his leprosy, did not wish to publicly strip himself naked, as it were, to go bathe in what appeared to him to be a small, muddied stream. His servants prevailed upon him, however; and having bathed seven times, he came out healed.

God placed this story in His Word as a type, a model of what is required for salvation in Jesus Christ. Leprosy is sin; and the stream is the river of Christ's blood which flowed from His body on the cross. When we come to Christ, we must strip ourselves naked of all that we are by birth, by upbringing, by education, by our own accomplishment and achievements, and we must plunge ourselves into the cleansing flood of Christ's blood.

We come by faith, drawn by the testimonies of others. We hear the Word preached; God speaks His commandment into our hearts. We either obey the inner prompting, or we shove it aside and return to our land of sin unhealed. Pride is the greatest of obstacles. In the case of Naaman, though his pride was great, his abhorrence of his leprosy and his desire to become clean were the motivating factors in what appeared to him to be an act of great humiliation.

But he obeyed, and by faith bathed himself in the river. All his sins were washed away, and he became a new man, as it were, with a new life, hope for a future, but most of all, with great love and gratitude in his heart toward Israel and Israel's God. He even took some of the dirt of the land with him, to hold near his heart as a strong reminder to him.

Belief and eternal life are free in Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself paid the price for our freedom. However, as the song says, "Naked came I from the womb", and that is the way we must appear before God in the final judgment. The only clothing God will permit at that time will be the robe of righteousness, the blood of Christ, provided by His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave.

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Heavenly Father, thank You for the story of Naaman in Your Word outlining for us in story form how we must obtain the only righteousness that You acknowldege. Lord, we pray for our friends and loved ones who have this leprosy of sin, with which we are all born, but have not yet bathed in Your cleansing stream. May they do so this day. In Jesus' name. Amen.