Spiritual Senses - TOUCH
Hebrews 5:12-14
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who through use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
The author of Hebrews is saying that the Christians here should be more mature than they were. They received the “milk”, the principles and foundations of the faith. But, they were supposed to now be at the phase of eating “solid food”. Those who have been Christians for a while should be skilled in the word of righteousness. Their senses should be exercised to discern both good and evil. Exercised means that the believer is using their senses to discern what is right and wrong.
When we hear the word “senses”, the first thing we think of is the 5 physical human senses. But, there are also spiritual counterparts to these senses. In the next few posts, we’ll discuss our spiritual senses - Taste, Hearing, Sight, Smell, Touch.
TOUCH
In this post, we’ll discuss the sense of touch. The word touch comes from the Old French word ‘tochier’ and the Latin word ‘toccare’. It means to make deliberate contact with, touch, hit, knock, mention, deal with, or strike.
There are many ways that we can feel physical touch - an embrace, a hit, etc. Sometimes these touches do not help us, they harm us. But when we look at the spiritual sense of touch, it is always for our good. In the verses mentioned below, we can see how God touches His people and the effect it has.
1 Samuel 10:26 - And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and valiant men went with him, whose hearts God had touched.
In this chapter, Saul was anointed as king. He didn’t have a palace or a capital to go back to since nothing had been established. But, God knew that Saul needed men that would work with him and accepted that God had chosen him. God touched their hearts to make them brave and valiant enough to do that.
In the next verse, there is a mention of rebels who despised Saul. But God had touched the hearts of men that would hold strong and stand in opposition to the rebels. The touch of God in these men’s hearts caused them to fear God and have allegiance to God’s chosen king. They had a duty to serve Saul which only came about after God touched their hearts.
Isaiah 6:7 - And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.”
In this chapter, the prophet Isaiah felt like he was undone because he had seen the seraphim and the vision from God. When he saw the vision, he was reminded of how lowly he was compared to God and the angels. After this, one of the seraphim took a live coal from the altar and touched Isaiah’s mouth with it.
Though having hot coal placed on your mouth must have been painful, there is no mention of Isaiah moving away or feeling that pain. The fire from that hot coal burned away his sin. This was a representation of how our sins were taken away with Christ’s work on the cross. When our sins were placed on Him and He bore the fire of God’s judgment, our sins were purged.
In this instance, we can see that this touch, though it may have been painful, was for the greater good. God’s touch in our lives can be to strengthen us, encourage us, admonish us, or direct us. In any case, it is always for our greater good.
Mark 1: 41,42 - Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.
Here we see that Christ was moved with compassion for the leper. Leprosy was a repulsive disease. It completely altered the physical appearance of a person and many wouldn’t go near one. But Christ was compassionate and loving towards the leper and healed him.
As we have seen throughout scripture, Jesus could have healed the man with a word or a thought. But, He chose to touch him. It would have been so long since that leper had felt a loving touch and Christ gave it to him.
Leprosy has been used as a metaphor for sinfulness and unholiness. Christ’s touch to the leper shows us that we, being separated from God because of our sin, are still able to be touched by Christ. He reaches out His hand to us to make us clean.
Christ’s touch was loving and compassionate. It shows us that there is nothing that separates us from His love. This spiritual touch shows us how God works for the good of His children.
