THE SECOND TOUCH
Mark 8:22-26 “And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.”
Mark is the only writer of the four gospels that records this story. Mark records this healing as taking place in two stages. This provides a clue in the spiritual lesson it teaches.
Conversion is not a growth process. It takes place instantly at the point of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ: Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). No man is ever saved that is not brought to the place of repentance, through the preaching of the Word in some form (it may be in printed form, i.e., like a tract), and convicted by the Holy Spirit. But when we trust in the grace of Christ to save, salvation takes place on the spot.
Initial salvation is not a growth process. One is either converted or unconverted. But our comprehension of what He does for us when He saves us is a growth process. So there is a good lesson in the second touch.
When a person is first saved he immediately begins to see things that he never saw before; the first touch of salvation brings this about. However, every new believer needs a second touch. The second touch brings spiritual things into plain view. We must learn to walk by faith because the Word of God is addressed to faith. The newly saved person looks at the Scriptures and they seem to dimly reveal the will of God. But the second touch will bring them into plain view.
Most of us need a second touch. We read the Scriptures with a 20/60 vision. O Lord give us that second touch that we might behold the things that are ours with a perfect vision.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts today!
In Christ
Bro. White
