Ten Miracles in Matthew 8 and 9 (7)—A Woman With an Issue of Blood - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2024

A woman came behind and touched the hem of His garment.
Matthew 9:20

Ten Miracles in Matthew 8 and 9 (7)—A Woman With an Issue of Blood
This story begins with a man whose daughter had died. On His way to the man's house the Lord meets a completely different need—the case of a woman who had bled constantly for twelve years.

His mission to raise up the dead girl comes first, but this mission is not completed until the bleeding woman is healed. This provides a very interesting dispensational illustration. Two miracles are intertwined. He comes for the dead girl first, but she is not brought into blessing until His miracle with the bleeding woman is complete (a picture of Jew and Gentile). The woman is healed through faith. The girl is raised by His touch.

It is almost impossible to avoid noticing these things. Nevertheless, our primary intention here is not to consider dispensational teaching, but to take note of what we learn about ourselves and about Christ. From this woman we learn that by nature we are incurable. No human intervention or administration (symbolized by the number 12—"twelve years") can relieve us of our predicament. As living in sin we are guilty (symbolized by blood). Matthew's previous miracles (the raging sea, the two demoniacs, and the paralytic) remind us of the teaching of Romans—we were sinners, enemies, and without strength. This seventh miracle summarizes that same teaching: we were alive in sin and we were guilty.

The remedy is found in Christ alone, "whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in His blood" (Rom. 3:25). God has set Him forth for our faith. In this seventh miracle of the ten found in Matthew 8 and 9, He is the Object for faith. The woman came to Him. Just a touch. Just the hem. There was nothing great on her side. But He was great in her eyes. This is the only value in faith: the value of the Object in which faith is placed.

Greg Quail