WE LOOK AT NAAMAN AND WE HAVE A PICTURE OF THE SINNER BEFORE HE COMES TO GOD.
“So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean” (2 Kings 5:14).
Naaman was a captain and conqueror of the people of Syria. He was also a castaway because he was a leper and separated from the people. No one wanted to trade places with him—not even the slaves. As sinners, men are castaway’s from the presence of God – see John 3:36. You may feel fine today, but if you are lost in your sins, you are a “spiritual leper” regardless of your greatness, you are headed for Hell! Naaman had a very real wrong perception as to where he found himself. Naaman thought his way was superior to God’s. He found fault with God’s plan—an important person like him dipping seven times in a dirty river—how absurd! Millions every day make the same mistakes that Naaman made. They think they can work it out, do it better, get there on their own, and can formulate a better plan than what God has for them. Of course, this way of thinking is the entire devil’s lie.
Eventually, Naaman decided to do what the prophet Elisha had told him to do in order to be healed. He went to the Jordan River and did 7 dips and on the 7th dip he changed (see 2 Cor. 5:17). It actually wasn’t the dipping, nor was it the Jordan River—it was the power of Almighty God that changed this leper into a clean, whole man. When Naaman did it God’s way, he got more than his health. He got a spiritual dip also!
You know, all that separates the sinner from eternal life in Jesus Christ is a willingness to do things God’s way! When we become willing to come the way God has laid out for us, then we will receive eternal life through Jesus Christ. Naaman was changed because he did it the Lord’s way. If you will come, that is the way it will work for you also—see Proverbs 9:12.
God is the best one to heal the broken and He can put all broken pieces back together. The name Naaman means “pleasantness.” He was well liked by the King of Syria who he worked for. However, he had leprosy and was an outcast—nobody wanted to catch the disease by spending time with Naaman. God had a plan to bring Naaman to Himself and having leprosy would lead him to God. What a parable of spiritual truth.
Naaman’s pride got in the way of him being healed. He went looking for priests ridden and filled with hocus pocus. He sought out major workers and the miracle doers and the sorcerer’s and the incantator’s standing in their robes and professing to do all kinds of miraculous things. God does things in a simple way. Elisha stayed in the background like he should have so the attention was what God was going to do. Naaman was accustomed to the fawning on his subjects. Was he not a great man? The great commander of God was an insult to the pride of Naaman. Elisha wanted to show that God is not respecter of persons or stations or rags or wealth. We are all alike in His sight.
Elisha told Naaman to go down to the river and wash in the muddy Jordan and you will be cured. The message of Elisha fell upon the ears of Naaman at an angle of an incident that started him and amazed him. And he turned red hot—an insult to his nobility and to his dignity and to his station as a commander in chief. And he wheeled and turned and went away in rage. I would rather keep my pride with my leprosy than to bow and to heel and be healed that way. Naaman thought he could save himself. He wanted to be healed but God had a different plan for him. Beyond anything a man could do for himself, or learn forever, is that highest holiest wisdom of giving himself in the simple, humble yielded submissive appeal of the Lord God. This is the gospel of salvation: Look and live, believe and be saved, wash and be clean.
Naaman’s healing is a reminder to us of how all mean must be saved. Men cannot come to God in their pride and position and demand. They must see themselves to be spiritually as unclean and wretched as Naaman was physically (and spiritually). They cannot demand a, “have it your way” kind of salvation; instead, they must humbly submit to that salvation which God has provided. The gospel does not seek to flutter our egos, but to humble us with the knowledge of our sin and condemnation. The gospel does not allow us to delude ourselves about how good and great we are, but it does declare to us that there is only one man who was ever truly good—Jesus Christ. He was good because He was both God and man. He gave His life on the cross of Calvary, to bear the penalty for our sins. It is by trusting in Him that lost sinners like ourselves can be cleansed from our sins and be assured of eternal life. I urge you to follow Naaman’s example and to accept God’s only means of cleansing and salvation—faith in Jesus Christ.
In Scripture, leprosy is a portrait of sin and man’s true spiritual condition without the saving grace of God’s salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Regardless of how men may see us or how we may see ourselves, in God’s Holy eyes, we are leprous without the righteousness of Christ imputed to us through faith in the person and work of the Savior. This one word gives us God’s perspective of the true condition of this man regardless of how he was seen and thought of by man. Here we see a holy God’s perspective of man without Jesus Christ and the ravages of sin.
The principle we need to see is that many today are perishing from the loathsome leprosy of sin. One may be great, successful, wealthy, honorable and mighty, but spiritually lost. To realize one’s lost condition before God and to desire to escape from it are the first steps toward salvation. Naaman discovered this.
Naaman held a high position, but had a very great problem. We need to understand that God often uses the personal failures, sicknesses, and problems of men as a means to bring them to the end of themselves and to knowledge of the Lord and His salvation. God uses problems in life to force us to face our deeper problem, the problem of sin, and the need of God’s forgiveness and salvation in Jesus Christ.
