Page 9 - Preacher of Righteousness Magazine | Mark Barclay Ministries

Jesus responded with mercy and healing grace. His instructions were clear. In fact, they are just as clear today to you and me. He told them to go show themselves to the priest. It was the priest of the day who had the authority to pronounce someone cleansed from leprosy so they could leave the colony and return to their family.
my first pastor who helped me learn how to be a Christian disciple, which I wanted desperately. Without a good church and a strong pastor, I might still be bound— cleansed but not made whole.
It took a tremendous amount of faith and trust in the words of Christ for these lepers to start walking, when there was not yet any change in their body at all.
“Cleansed but not made whole” is what happened to nine of these ten lepers. They were all cleansed of leprosy, for sure. The disease (leprosy) had been killed by the power of Jesus Christ. They were leprosy free. However, there still must have been a sign, a scar, or missing body parts this wicked disease left behind—a noticeable path where it had once lived and moved throughout each leper’s body. Spiritually, it is the same for us. We were cleansed from the killer element of sin, but there were plenty of signs that it once existed in our lives.
These lepers were cleansed of the disease as they obeyed the words of Christ. This is just like us. Our help and our miracles come when we obey the Word of God.
This cleansed leper who returned was an unusual one, a stranger. It was that stranger (non-religious one) who showed the most gratitude. His expression of thanks was public, and it was loud.
This one leper who returned to worship and give thanks was “made whole.” When Jesus pronounced him whole, something more (in addition to cleansing) must have taken place. Bringing this spiritual thought into our everyday lives, I can surely see how one can be born again but not yet made whole—cleansed but not made whole.
When Jesus asked him where the other nine were, He was really asking him this question: “Don’t they want Me to finish My work in them? Are they satisfied with a cleansing, when I could complete them?”
The reason Jesus asked about the other nine is because He wanted to finish His work in them. It’s like the man Jesus ministered to who was blind. After praying over him, He asked him how he saw. The man explained that he could see, but men looked like trees walking. Jesus admin- istered healing to him a second time. That’s right, it didn’t all happen on the very first application, not even by Jesus Himself. After the Lord ministered to him the second time, he saw all men clearly (Mark 8:22-25).
Check this out:
LUKE 17:19
“And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.”
When I first read this (as a baby Christian many years ago), I rejoiced! It said so much to me then, and it means so much to me now. This man was actually made whole. The other nine were cleansed but not made whole.
Jesus surely cleansed these ten lepers—all ten of them. But He finished the complete restoration in the one who came back to worship and give thanks.
When I was a baby Christian, I had many issues. I needed deliverance from some life-robbing habits. I wanted to be a Christian and a servant of the Most High God with all my heart. I was bound. I was a total sinner (and lived like it), saved by grace. I know that scripturally, by “default,” we were all like sheep gone astray until Jesus came to save us. Thank God! But I actually lived the life of a sinner. Many times I say that I mastered “sinship,” and now I am master- ing “sonship.”
I truly believe this is the same in our life today. I can honestly testify that this is how it worked in Mark Barclay’s life. The minute I was born again, my heart was regenerated; and I became alive in Christ Jesus on the inside. I still had a long way to go in order to fully pursue Him; but a season at a time the old nature began to submit to the new nature, and I was no longer a partaker of the fallen nature of man but a partaker of His divine nature. This is the wonderful work of Jesus Christ. We are first cleansed, and then we are made whole.
I was truly born again but not yet fixed. You see, religion is “outside-in.” Christianity is inside-out. In other words, once the Lord Jesus comes and enters into your heart, things begin to change on the inside—things like your motives, your desires, and your priorities. It was a deep love for Jesus that instantly grew within me, as well as a great desire to please Him and say thank you to Him for the rest of my life. I finally felt alive and had a reason to stay alive.
Many people who have met my Jesus and are truly born again never seem to continue to come back to Him time and again until they are totally made whole. They just seem to be satisfied with being born again only. I challenge you today to chase Jesus, and allow Him to complete His work in you.
It was this powerful living force inside of me that helped me get rid of all the evil thoughts, hatred, unforgiveness, and desire for the world. Yes, it was my local church and
BE CLEANSED AND MADE WHOLE.