The holy spirit binds up the brokenhearted

THE HOLY SPIRIT BINDS UP THE BROKENHEARTED
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
NOTE. Jesus was anointed to do this, and the Holy Spirit continues to work through the
body of Christ to continue this ministry to the brokenhearted. Jesus is our ultimate
example of what the Holy Spirit wills for us to do. We have studied some of these examples
of Jesus, but in this study we are going to forcus on to bind up the brokenhearted.
Isaiah61:1-3 1The Spirit of the SovereignLORD is on
me, because the LORD has anointedme to proclaim
good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaimfreedom for the captives
and releasefrom darkness for the prisoners, 2to
proclaimthe year of the LORD's favorand the day of
vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3and
providefor those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on
them a crown of beauty insteadof ashes, the oil of joy
insteadof mourning, and a garment of praiseinstead
of a spiritof despair. They will be calledoaks of
righteousness, a plantingof the LORD for the display
of his splendor.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES

Jesus and the Broken-Hearted
J. Vaughan, M. A.
Isaiah61:1-8
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on me; because the LORD has anointed me to
preach goodtidings to the meek…
I. THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF BROKEN HEARTS — THE NATURAL
AND THE SPIRITUAL. They may be united. Often they are divided. Every
broken heart becomes the subjectof Jesus'care, andis dear to Him, if for no
other reasonin the world but for this — because it is unhappy.
II. CHRIST WAS HIMSELF WELL TRAINED IN THE SCHOOL OF
SUFFERING HEARTS, THAT HE MIGHT LEARN TO BIND THE
MOURNERS. All which goes to break men's hearts He felt. No wonder, then,
that the bindings are what they are.
1. Delicate.
2. Very wise.
3. Sure and thorough.There is no such thing as a half-cure in that treatment.
No heart which has not known a breaking knows, indeed, what strength is.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Jesus binds up the broken-hearted
T. Boston.
I. INQUIRE WHAT IS THAT BROKENNESS OF HEART WHICH IS
HERE MEANT. The broken-heartedness is of two kinds.

1. Natural, arising from natural and carnalcauses merely, which worketh
death (2 Corinthians 7:10). Many who arc very whole-heartedin respectof
sin, complain that their hearts and spirits are brokenby their crosses,
afflictions, and ill-usage which they meet with in the world. Thus Ahab,
Haman, and Nabal, their hearts were broken with their respective crosses.
2. Religious, whicharises from religious causes, namely, sin and its
consequences. There is a twofold religious breaking of heart.(1) A mere legal
one (Jeremiah23:29). When the heart is brokenby the mere force of the law,
it is broken as a rock in pieces by a hammer, eachpart remaining hard and
rockystill. This breaks the heart for sin, but not from it.(2) An evangelical
one, when not only the law does its part, but the Gospelalso breaks the
sinner's heart (Zechariah 12:10).
II. INQUIRE WHAT IT IS IN AND ABOUT SIN WHICH BREAKS THE
MAN'S HEART, WHO IS THUS EVANGELICALLY BROKEN-
HEARTED. There is —
1. The guilt of sin, by which he is bound over to the wrath of God.
2. The domineering powerof sin, or its tyranny, by which he is led captive to
3. The contrariety which is in sin to the holy nature and law of God.
4. The indwelling of sin, and, its cleaving so close to a person that he cannot
shake it off (Romans 7:24).
5. Sin's mixing itself with all he does, even with his best duties (Romans 7:21).
6. Frequent backslidings (Jeremiah31:18).
7. Desertions,hiding of the Lord's face, and interruptions of the soul's
communion with God (Isaiah 54:6; Lamentaions 3:18, 44).
8. A Christian's sinfulness, with the bitter fruits springing from his sin
(Romans 7:19).
III. SHOW WHAT SORT OF A HEART A BROKEN HEART IS.

1. It is a contrite or bruised heart (Psalm 51:17). Not only brokenin pieces like
a rock, but broken to powder, and so fit to receive any impression. The heart
is now kindly brokenand bruised betwixt the upper and nether mill-stones;
the upper mill-stone of the law, a sense ofGod's wrath againstsin; and the
nether millstone of the Gospel, ofDivine love, mercy, and favour, manifested
in word and providences.
2. An aching heart (Acts 2:37).
3. A shameful heart (Ezra 9:6; Psalm 40:12).
4. A tender heart (Ezekiel36:26).
5. A rent heart (Joel2:13).
6. A pliable heart.
7. A humble heart (Isaiah 57:15).
IV. SHOW HOW THE LORD CHRIST BINDS UP AND HEALS THE
BROKEN-HEARTED.The greatPhysicianuses two sorts of bands for a
broken heart: He binds them up with inner and with outward bands.
1. With inner bands, which go nearestthe sore, the pained broken heart. And
these are two.
(1)The Spirit of adoption.
(2)Faith in Christ (the band of the covenant), which He works in the heart by
His Spirit. Faith is a healing band, for it knits the soul.
2. Outward bands. There are also two.
(1)His own word, especiallythe promises of the Gospel.
(2)His own seals of the covenant(Acts 2:38).
(T. Boston.)
Jesus and the broken-hearted

J. Vaughan, M. A.
I. THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF BROKEN HEARTS — THE NATURAL
AND THE SPIRITUAL. They may be united. Often they are divided. Every
broken heart becomes the subjectof Jesus'care, andis dear to Him, if for no
other reasonin the world but for this — because it is unhappy.
II. CHRIST WAS HIMSELF WELL TRAINED IN THE SCHOOL OF
SUFFERING HEARTS, THAT HE MIGHT LEARN TO BIND THE
MOURNERS. All which goes to break men's hearts He felt. No wonder, then,
that the bindings are what they are.
1. Delicate.
2. Very wise.
3. Sure and thorough.There is no such thing as a half-cure in that treatment.
No heart which has not known a breaking knows, indeed, what strength is.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
A broken heart
R. Macculloch.
Many things are valuable when whole, which, being broken, are little worth;
but it is otherwise with the human heart.
(R. Macculloch.)
Psalm147:3 He heals the brokenheartedand binds up their wounds.
God's Help For The Suffering Ones

Psalm147:3
R. Tuck
It takes a brave soulto bear all this so grandly, said a tender-hearteddoctor,
stooping over his suffering patient. She lifted her heavy eyelids, and, looking
into the doctor's face, replied, "It is not the brave soul at all; God does it all
for me." "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds." The
secondclause ofthis sentence may but repeatthe first with a slight variety,
according to the Hebrew fashion of compositionwhich we have had several
times to observe. But we may meditatively recognize a distinction betweenthe
clauses, referring the first to the heart-sphere, and the secondto the bodily.
I. MAN'S SUFFERINGS BELONGTO TWO SPHERES. Answering to man
as a dual being. He's a spirit. He has a body. So he has the possibility of
suffering in the spirit that he is and in the body that he has. Bodily wounds
bring before us the whole sphere of sufferings which relate to the bodily
organizationand relations. It may be true that bodily pain directly affects the
spirit, but it is equally true, if more subtle, that pain in the spirit affects the
body. Still we can keepthe two separate in thought. What an accumulation
and variety of pains and woes canaffectthe human body! How tempted we
are to think that these are the supreme woes!They are not. The broken heart
is the woe of woes. The distressesofthe spirit are the supreme distresses.
Afflict a man's body, and body-sphere, even as Jobwas afflicted, the man does
not know what suffering is until he suffers in his soul. This is impressively
seenon Calvary, where was the very height of bodily woe. There we see the
transcendentwoe of the suffering soul.
II. GOD'S HELP BELONGS TO THE TWO SPHERES, "Who forgivethall
our iniquities, and healeth all our diseases;" "He healeththe broken in heart,
and bindeth up their wounds." This is no less true, because forhis healings in
the bodily sphere God uses agenciesthatwe canrecognize. He uses agencies
also for his healings in the spirit-sphere, though they often are such as we
cannot recognize. Evenwhen we are willing to pray to God for the healing of
our bodily pains, we are mournfully unwilling - or it may be we do not think it

right - to seek God's help in our suffering mental and spiritual states. Godfor
our woes offeeling we all but very imperfectly realize. - R.T.
He healeth the broken in heart.
Psalm147:3, 4
God's relation to sorrowing souls and to starry systems
Homilist.
: —
I. HIS RELATION TO SORROWING SOULS. "He healeth the broken in
heart." There are broken hearts and wounded souls in this world. The whole
human creationis groaning. God works here to heal and restore. Christianity
is the restorative elementHe applies — the Balm of Gilead— the tree whose
fruit is for the healing of the nations.
II. HIS RELATION TO STARRYSYSTEMS. "He telleth the number of the
stars."
1. Those who deny God's active relation to both souls and stars. These
comprehend those who deny the existence ofGod altogether, and those who
admit His existence, but deny His superintendence in the universe; the latter
regard all the phenomena and changes of nature as taking place not by the
agencyof God, but by the principles or laws which He impressedupon it at
first. The universe is to them like a plant,: all the vital forces ofaction are in
itself, and it will go on until they exhaust and die.
2. Those who admit God's active relation to stars, but, deny it to souls. They
say that it is derogatoryto Infinite Majestyto suppose His taking any notice of
broken hearts. He has to do with the great, but not with the little. There are
two or three thoughts which make this objectionappear very childish.(1) One
is that man's great and small are but notions. When I saythat a thing is great,
all I mean is that it is greatto me. To God there is nothing greatnor small(2)
Another is that what we considersmall are influential parts of the whole.

Science proves that the motion of an atom must propagate an influence to
remotestorbs; that all createdbeing is but one greatchain, of which the
corpuscle is a link, which, if touched, will send its vibration to the ultimate
points. In the moral system facts show that the solitarythought of an obscure
man can shake empires, produce revolutions, and reform society.(3)Another
thought is that — even on the assumption of our conceptionof magnitudes
being correct — we have as much evidence to believe that God is as truly at
work in the Small as the great.(4)Human souls, though in suffering, are
greaterthan the stars in all their splendour.(5) There is higher evidence to
believe that God restores souls than that He takes care ofstars. The highest
proof is consciousness. I infer, from my understanding, that God governs the
heavenly bodies, but I feel that "He healeth the brokenin heart, and bindeth
up their wounds." This thought gives to its objectiona contemptible
insignificance.
3. Those who profess faith in God's active relation to both, but who are
destitute of the suitable spiritual feeling. Antecedently, we should infer that,
whereverthere could be found a thinking moral nature like man's fully
believing in this twofold relation of God — His connectionwith the heavenly
bodies, and with all pertaining to the history of itself — there would be
developed in that nature, as the necessaryconsequence ofthat faith, life,
humility, and devotion. It is said that "an undevout astronomeris mad"; but
an undevout believer in God's connectionwith the universe and man is
impossible. Wherever, then, we find apathetic, proud, undevout men
professing this belief, we find hypocrites.
4. To what class, in relation to this subject, dost thou belong? Thou wouldst
probably revolt at the idea of belonging to either of the former two; but the
latter, for many reasons, is worse than either: it is to play the hypocrite, and
disgrace religion. Get, then, the true faith in the subject — the faith that will
produce this true quickening, humbling, devotionalizing effect — and thou
shalt catchthe true meaning of life.
(Homilist.)

Healing for the wounded
I. A GREAT ILL — a broken heart. The heart brokennot by distress or
disappointment, but on accountof sin, is the heart which Godpeculiarly
delights to heal. All other sufferings may find a fearful centre in one breast,
and yet the subject of them may be unpardoned and unsaved; but if the heart
be broken by the Holy Ghost for sin, salvationwill be ire ultimate issue, and
heaven its result. A broken heart implies —
1. A very deep and poignant sorrow on accountof sin.
2. Utter inability to get rid of it.
II. A GREAT MERCY. "He healeth The broken in heart."
1. He alone does it.
2. He alone can do it.
3. He alone may do it.
4. He will do it. Did Saul of Tarsus rejoice afterthree days of blindness?Yes,
and you shall be delivered also. Oh, it is a theme for eternal gratitude, that the
same God who in His loftiness and omnipotence stoopeddown in olden times
to soothe, cherish, relieve, and bless the mourner, is even now taking His
journeys of mercy among the penitent sons of men. Oh, I beseechHim to come
where thou art sitting, and put His hand inside thy soul, and, if He finds there
a broken heart, to bind it up.
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ's hospital
: —
I. THE PATIENTS AND THEIR SICKNESS.
1. Those whose hearts are brokenthrough sorrow. The text does not say"the
spiritually brokenin heart," therefore I will not insert an adverb where there

is none in the passage. Come hither, ye that are burdened, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden; come hither, all ye that sorrow, be your sorrow whatit
may; come hither, all ye whose hearts are broken, be the heart-break what it
may, for He healeththe broken in heart.
2. Those whose hearts are brokenfor sin.
3. Hearts that are brokenfrom sin. When you and sin have quarrelled, never
let the quarrel be made up again.
II. THE PHYSICIAN AND HIS MEDICINE.
1. Jesus was anointedof God for this work.
2. Jesus was sentof God on purpose to do this work.
3. He was educatedfor this work. He had a brokenheart Himself.
4. He is experiencedin this work.
5. His medicine is His own flesh and blood. There is no cure like it.
III. THE TESTIMONIALTO THE GREAT PHYSICIAN which is
emblazoned in the text. I understand it to mean this.
1. He does it effectually.
2. He does it constantly.
3. He does it invariably.
4. He glories in doing it.
IV. WHAT WE OUGHT TO DO.
1. Resortto Him.
2. Trust Him.
3. Praise Him.
( C. H. Spurgeon.)

Powerand tenderness
J. Morlais Jones.
: — A great dealof what we call the scepticismof the present day is merely
the protestof the human mind for unity. The spiritual world has so often been
describedas being so utterly unlike this, its laws have been so persistently
spokenof as contradictory to the laws of this; warring continually againstit,
that you could almostthink sometimes that if these two worlds are governed
at all they must be governedby two different, contradictory, and even
antagonistic deities. Mandoes not like this. It perplexes him. His allegiance
becomes divided. He does not like to feelthat he belongs to one world, and
that he lives with one setof facts, whilst he is working and thinking and
studying, and that he is in another world and with another set of facts when
he worships and prays. Now, these words start from the fullest recognitionof
both. The reality of both is implied.
I. THE SAME GOD HOLDS SWAY IN BOTHWORLDS. "He healeththe
broken in heart. He telleth the number of the stars." The revelation of God is
twofold. There is the revelationthat He gives in the spirits of men — the
revelation that comes to us of God's handling of the souls of men; and there is
the revelationwhich Godgives in this material creationoutside. Now, let me
ask you, shall we not understand God better by keeping the two together? Is it
not a loss to separate them? Let me say that the best commentary upon the
Bible is science, andthe best commentary upon science is the Bible. There are
scientific questions being discussedin England at this presentmoment that
never will be settled until people approach them from the spiritual standpoint.
And, let me add, our religious conceptions wouldbe strengthened, would rest
upon a firmer foundation, and would be healthier and sweeter, ifwe always
remembered the things that have come to us through the physiologist, through
the biologist, through the geologist, and through all the men of science.The
complete, true understanding of God comes through remembering that He
who telleth the stars is also the same who healeth the broken in heart.

II. THERE ARE CERTAIN GREAT PRINCIPLES THAT PREVAIL IN
BOTH WORLDS. Oh, there is a difference!There is plenty of difference.
Why, I have only to read my text again. Brokenhearts belong only to one
sphere. The shadow of a greatdisasteris upon our souls. There is nothing like
it elsewhere. "The sunshine has a heart of care," saidthe greatEnglish
novelist who tried to write poetry and failed; but the care was in her own
heart. "The whole creationgroaneth and travaileth togetherin pain until
now," said the Apostle Paul. The song of creationis setin the minor key.
There is a little bit of something there besides poetry. Suffering is everywhere.
Ask the doctor, and he will tell you that pathologyis as broad as physiology.
One is the shadow of the other. But let us steadyour hearts. The same hand
that keeps and helps and soothes the poor, bewildered, sorrowing creature, is
the Hand that keeps the stars. If we could impress upon ourselves that the soul
is as much under law as the body, that the well-being of the soul is determined
by conditions as fixed and inexorable as the conditions that determine the
well-being of the body, we could command spiritual influences with the same
absolute certainty that we could command physical influences. "There is a law
of gravitation," you say; "there is a law of the combination of chemical
elements." Do not talk nonsense in a church. There is a law of pardon, there is
a law of prayer, there is a law of spiritual health and sanctification. In an
instant this morning you can, if you like, bring yourself into the current of
help which will carry you up to the feet of God. Oh, if we but believed that all
spiritual felicity is as much within our reachas the nearestlaw of nature!
"Wilt thou be made whole?" I saw a young boy, the other day, making
experiments with an electric battery. The place was full of electricity; but the
connectionwas not established. Just one thing, and the current was complete.
"Wilt thou be made whole?" "Yes."Thenthe current is complete. Cast
yourself on the promises of God like a strong man casting himself into the
tide. As truly as God leads the stars, canHe, will He, heal the brokenhearted.
(J. Morlais Jones.)
END OF BIBLEHUB RESOURCES

BINDING UP BROKEN HEARTS NO. 3104
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 1908, DELIVERED
BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE,
NEWINGTON, ON LORD’S-DAYEVENING, JULY 19, 1874.
“He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted.” Isaiah61:1.
[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeonupon this text, is #1604, Volume 27—
HEART DISEASE CURABLE— Read/downloadthe entire sermon, free of
charge, at http://www.spurgeongems.org.] THESE are some of the words of
the Lord Jesus, the Christ of God, the Messiah, whichHe read in the
synagogue atNazarethand then said, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in
your ears.” One of the worstcalamities that can happen to anyone is to have
his spirit broken. “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a
wounded spirit, who can bear?” All the waterin the sea will not hurt the
vesselone thousandth part as much as that which comes into it. When trouble
gets into the heart, every other trouble seems to be magnified and it is hard to
bear up againsteven the ordinary trials of daily life. Save us, O God, if
possible, from the terrible affliction of being entirely brokendown in life’s
battle! Yet, very closelyallied to this greatcalamity is one of the greatest
spiritual blessings, namely, a spiritually broken heart, brokenon accountof
sin and, sometimes, the brokenness ofspirit which arises from physical
sorrow, mental anxiety, or temporal trouble leads up to the contrition of heart
which is most acceptable to God. Oftentimes He sanctifies a lowerform of
affliction and makes it conducive to the higher form of brokenness ofspirit. I
am not going to give you any descriptions of spiritual brokenness of heart—I
want rather to address myself to broken hearts of any sortand of every sort.
There is no particular description of brokenhearts given in the text, but
simply Christ’s declaration, “He has sentMe to bind up the brokenhearted.”

There is no descriptive epithet limiting the declarationto the spiritually
brokenhearted—andwhat is not in the text I will not put into it. I am the
more glad not to make these distinctions and discriminations because they
would only lead the troubled ones to look within to see whethertheir hearts
were spiritually brokenand that is just where I do not want them to look!I
want them to look away from themselves to Jesus Christthe healerof broken
hearts. Descriptions of spiritual experience and characterare sometimes
useful, but I fearthat quite as often, they turn the poor sinner’s eyes upon
himself, whereas his hope lies in his eyes being turned towards Him who was
lifted up upon the cross!To look at self is likely to humble us, but when that
humbling has already takenplace, then is the time for the Lord’s command,
“Look unto Him and be you saved, all the ends of the earth.” I. So, making
no distinction, but speaking to all the brokenhearted, my first remark is that
GOD HAS PRACTICALLY REMEMBERED THE BROKENHEARTED,
FOR HE HAS SENT A SAVIOR TO HEAL THEM. This simple remark
ought to be a greatcomfort to those who are broken in spirit and desponding,
because they are generally very apt to say, “No one cares for us. Now that we
are in trouble, everybody avoids us. They were merry enough with us in our
merriment, but they have no sympathy with us in our sorrow. They could
dance with us in our days of joy, but they will not go with us to the grave of
our hopes to weepthere. They are like the swallows thatare with us in
summer and forsake us in winter. And like the leaves that are green and
plentiful when the sun is with us, but fade and wither when winter is
approaching.” Still, my brokenheartedfriend, suppose that all men forsake or
forgetyou? God does not! His eyes see you, His heart feels for you and His
hand is able to deliver you. You are not friendless, nor will you be till the God
of all consolationdies—andthat can never be. Christ’s declarationshould
cheerthe brokenhearted, again, because theyoften conclude that their case is
beyond all help. “Ah,” says one, “evenif I had a friend, he could not help me,
for my case is beyond all succor. If I had 50 friends, they would not know how
to minister to such mental disease as mine. I am too far gone for relief.” But
listen, my brokenheartedfriend! You dare not say that anything is too hard
for the Lord! Though your despair would make you go a long way, yet it
would not make you go so far as to saythat God cannot help you! He it is that
turns the night into morning that stills the

2 Binding Up BrokenHearts Sermon #3104
2 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ. Volume 54
roaring of the sea that puts a bit into the mouth of the tempest. Then what can
He not do? You cannotbe in so forlorn a condition that God cannot help you!
To omnipotence nothing canbe a difficulty, much less an impossibility! So,
then, let me whisperin your earthat there is still hope for you, for you have a
true friend who is both able and willing to help you. This ought still further
to comfort the poor desponding one because he often concludes that certainly
God is againsthim. “I would not be in this sad state of mind,” says one, “if I
were not abhorred by the MostHigh. He has setme as a target for His arrows
and He shoots at me, and grievously does He wound me. He has filled my cup
with sorrow mingled with galland put it to my mouth that I may drink it to
the dregs. Godhas utterly abhorred me and castme awayfrom His presence.”
It is not so!If it were, then might the greatbell toll out your knell—but my
text says that the Lord has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to bind up the
brokenhearted. He is no enemy to you, or He would not have sentHis Son to
heal you! Do you not remember what Manoah’s wife said to him? Her
husband said to her, “We shall surely die because we have seenGod,” but she
was wiser, so she answered, “Ifthe Lord were pleasedto kill us, He would not
have receiveda burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither
would He have showedus all these things, nor would He at this time have told
us such things as these.” So saywe to you, poor brokenheartedone! If the
Lord meant to destroy you, why did He send His Sonto heal the
brokenhearted? And to what end is the gospelsentand why are you here to be
tenderly wooedand assuredthat the Lord has deep designs of love toward just
such troubled souls as you are? I believe that you will yet dance for joy of
heart! That you will yet take down your harp from the willows and, like
Miriam with her timbrel, that you will yet rejoice overthe Egyptians whom
you have feared, but whom you shall see no more forever! II. There is much
consolation, also,in the secondtruth of God which we find in the text, which is
that GOD HAS SENT A SUITABLE HELPER FOR BROKENHEARTED
PEOPLE. Christ says, “He has sentME to bind up the brokenhearted.” See,
then, dear troubled one, what a suitable helper God has sent to you, for He
has sentyou one who was wellacquainted with sorrow of all kinds. There are

some people who cannotcomfort others, even though they try to do so,
because they never had any troubles themselves. It is a difficult thing for a
man who has had a life of uninterrupted prosperity to sympathize with
another whose path has been exceedinglyrough. Even though that successful
man should try to sympathize, he does it very awkwardly. He is like a person
who never was trained as a nurse, yet who tries to make up a pillow for a sick
man. Such people always make harsh lumps in our pillows, especiallyif they
have not themselves beenill. But when you have suffered from the very
complaint with which your friend is afflicted, it is amazing what sympathy
that gives you with him. “Stuff and nonsense!” says a strong man to some
poor suffering one—“youare too nervous! Try and exert yourself.” That is
often one of the cruelestthings that canbe said to the sufferer. But if the man
has been through a similar experience, he uses another tone of voice
altogether. He knows that even if it is nonsense to the strong, it is not so to the
weak—andhe so adapts his remarks that he cheers where the other only
inflicts additional pain. Brokenheartedone, Jesus Christknows all your
troubles, for similar troubles were His portion. Thorns are found in your
pillow, but sharper thorns pierced His blessedbrow. More than this, He
knows your temptations as well as your sorrows, andthe temptations which
are peculiar to your sorrow and which very often cause greatsin. Bestof all,
as the healerof brokenhearts, God has chosenone whose own heart was
broken. I think it is conclusivelyproven that Jesus died of a broken heart. The
most careful investigationof the symptoms preceding His death appears to
lead to that conclusion. He could say, with an emphasis that was not possible
even with David, “Reproachhas broken My heart and I am full of heaviness.”
The brokenheartedSavioris the healerof brokenheartedsinners! Christ will
not allow sorrow to abide in His presence without attempting to relieve it. You
must have noticed how often He used to say, when here upon earth, “Be of
goodcheer,” or, “Be of goodcomfort.” He could not pass by a sorrow stricken
heart—He must stand still and put forth His powerto heal it. And He is the
same now as He was then! He still cares for those who have brokenhearts and
contrite spirits—and even in our common, ordinary sorrows, He sympathizes
with us. Let me also tell you, O you brokenheartedones, that Godhas sent
one to heal your hearts who has already healedmultitudes of others. We like
an experienceddoctor. I knew a very cleversurgeonwho could not, for a long

while, getmany patients because he lookedso young. People like a man of
experience for the healing of the body and experience is just as valuable for
the healing of the soul. Jesus Christhas bound up millions of broken hearts,
so He knows how to heal yours! He knows preciselywhere the malady is and
what remedy to apply.
Sermon #3104 Binding Up BrokenHearts 3
Volume 54 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ. 3
The Lord has also sent one who will not be discouragedor getirritated in His
work of comforting you. Sometimes when we try to comfort a mourner and he
will not be comforted, we get impatient and do more hurt than good. There is
many a man who has gone with the best intentions to try and cheera diseased
mind, who has inflicted fresh wounds through his own impatience with the
patient. But Jesus Christ “canhave compassiononthe ignorant and on them
that are out of the way.” He bears and forbears and is as gentle as a nurse
with the children under her charge, and far more so. He will drive your sin
out of you and then He will take your sorrow awayfrom you, or else give you
the grace to enable you to bearit. There never was anyone else who was like
Jesus as the healer of the brokenhearted!There are some people whom other
people always like to trust. But it is a very serious matter to be a man in whom
other folk believe a gooddeal because your heart has to become a kind of
common receiving office for the troubles of all who are round about you. And
the heart of Jesus is like this on the largestpossible scale.If you could see Him
here, in bodily presence, you would say, “Thatis the one to whom I can tell all
my troubles.” You know how it is recordedof Him that He “healedall that
were sick;that it might be fulfilled which was spokenby Isaiahthe prophet,
saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses.”You may
always come to Jesus—He willalways be willing to hear your sad story,
always be able to solve your difficulties and always be able to relieve your
distresses.This ought to comfort you, but I cannotmake it do so. I am not sent
to bind up the brokenheartedin the same sense in which Christ was—Iam

sent to be an instrument in His hands—He must do the work— for only He
can do it! III. This fact brings me to the third reflectionfrom the text which
is that THIS SUITABLE HELPER IS COMMISSIONED BYGOD,
HIMSELF, TO “BIND UP THE BROKENHEARTED.” He is not sent to tell
you how your heart gotbroken and to scoldyou about it, like the
schoolmasterwho saw the boy drowning and lectured him upon his
imprudence in getting out of his depth. There are many who actlike that. If a
man is very poor, they say, “Ah, you always were extravagant.” Or, “You
should not have gone into that speculation. You should not have put your
hand to that bill to oblige your friend—you must now pay for your folly.”
There are many who are quite able to tell you that you ought not to have
fallen into the ditch, but I think that their homilies had better be savedup till
we have helped you to get out of the ditch! The Apostle James tells us that
God “gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not,” and it is a blessing for the
brokenheartedthat Jesus heals them freely and does not upbraid them for
their sin and folly! Notice, also, thatChrist is not sentto bring to broken
hearts remedies that we are to apply. If a man has a bad wound and there is
an ointment that will heal his wound, he has to put it on. But suppose the
wound is in some part that he cannot reach? He says, “Here is the ointment,
but what is the good of it? How can I put it on?” He has brokenhis arm and it
is to be strapped up. “Here is the strapping,” says he, “but how am I to strap
my arm up? I need somebody to do it for me.” I remember once being with an
old sea captainwho was in trouble of mind. I was telling him of the promises
of God and he said, “Yes, those promises are something like the great posts by
the side of the river to which you canmoor your vessel. You have got a rope
with a loop to it, but the job is to get it over the post. It will hold your vesselif
you can, but,” he said, “I cannot getthe loop overthe post. There are the
promises, but I cannotget a hold of them.” We are so weak and feeble that the
Lord Jesus has not merely come to bring the ointment, but He has come “to
bind up the brokenhearted.” I think that one of the grandest passagesin the
whole Word of God is Psalm147:3, 4—“He heals the broken in heart, and
binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars;He calls them all
by their names.” Does it not seemto be a greatstoop from marshalling the
stars to bending down overpoor brokenhearts and closing up their wounds?
Yet God delights as much in displaying His grace as in displaying His power!

So you see dear brokenheartedones that Jesus Christ has come to bind up the
broken in heart—that is, to bring to you the consolationsofHis grace, and to
apply them to you. And for this purpose we read in the verse in which our text
is found, that the Spirit of the Lord God is upon Him because it is the Spirit of
God who applies the word to the heart and, therefore, the Spirit is put upon
the Lord Jesus Christso that when He speaks, the word may be with power.
So, dear friends, we have a Saviorsent, upon whom the Spirit of God has been
poured out and who, therefore, speaks effectually—notto ears that are closed,
for He opens the ears and conveys the truth through the earright into the
soul—and so makes us know the blessing and power of it!
I will not enlarge further upon this very important point except to saythat
when the Lord Jesus binds up the brokenhearted, He does it so gloriouslythat
the more trouble there was before, the more joy there is afterwards. Perhaps
there are no people in the world so happy as those who were once most sad.
Find me those who have the most joy and I think you will find that they are
those who have been brought up out of the horrible pit and out of the miry
clay—whose feetare now upon a rock and whose goings are established—and
in whose mouths a new song has been put, “even praise unto our God.” IV.
My fourth remark is that THE LINIMENTS WHICH JESUS USES ARE
SUCH AS SUIT EACH BROKENHEARTEDONE. I will take eachcase
briefly. There are some brokenhearts that are the hearts of saints who have
fallen into gross sin, as David did. God save me, God save you, my brothers!
God save you, my sisters, from ever being allowedto sin a greatsin againstthe
living God! But if we ever do so sin, we shall be, of all men, most miserable,
for having sinned againstdivine love and mercy, and so much of it—and
againstdivine light—and that light so clearand abundant! There may have
come into this place, tonight, someone who is a child of God, but who has been
suddenly overthrown by a greattemptation to which he has yielded. Brother,
I know that you do not excuse yourselfand that you do not want me to make
an excuse for you. Sin is an exceedinglybitter thing and you may have to taste
the bitterness of it as long as you live. But, for all that, do not despair! The

Lord may sorelychastenyou, but He will not give you over to death. The Lord
Jesus knows how to setyour broken bones and you may now pray, as David
did in the 51stPsalm, “Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation;and uphold
me with Your free Spirit. Then will I teachtransgressorsYour ways;and
sinners shall be converted unto You.” The usual liniment that the Lord Jesus
applies to such a broken heart as that is this—“I have blotted out, as a thick
cloud, your transgressions, andas a cloud, your sins: return unto Me, for I
have redeemedyou.” He assures the penitent soul that, notwithstanding all its
faults and follies, He still loves it with an everlasting love that will not give it
up! This is a blessedbalm to a heart that is wounded through having fallen
into greatsin. There are others who have not gone into any one gross sin, but
they have done what is perhaps worse—theyhave gradually backsliddenuntil
they have come to neglectdivine things altogether. Theyare not easyabout it,
for the Spirit of God has made them realize the misery of the state into which
they have fallen. Some of you used to live in the country where you were
members of little village churches and very earnestin the Lord’s service. But
you have come to this wickedLondon and you find that your neighbors do not
go to a place of worship, so many of you seldom attend the house of God.
There are goodwomen who have ungodly husbands and, to please those
husbands they have, by degrees, gotweanedawayfrom outward ordinances—
and though there is a little love to God still left in them, so that they cannot
quite give up private prayer and the reading of the word—they have fallen
very low. I do not wonder, when the Holy Spirit convinces them of their sinful
state, that they get broken hearts!They ought to have broken hearts and to
repent bitterly for having so grieved the Lord and backsliddenfrom His ways.
If I am now addressing any backslider, let me remind him or her that the
Lord Jesus has been sent “to bind up the brokenhearted.” Return to your first
love, poor backslider, forit was better with you, then, than it is now! There
are other broken hearts besides these. There are sinners who were never
converted, but who have brokenhearts on accountof a sense of sin. They
never were, consciously, children of God, but they are now awakenedto see
their danger and their lostcondition. I wish that all in this congregationwho
are not converted, had broken hearts—itwould be worthwhile to stay up all
night to preach to a congregationofbroken down sinners! When the Lord has
broken their hearts, it is an easytask to preachthe gospelto them—it is like

feeding people who have healthy appetites! They are not very particular about
the carving, or the pattern of the plates on which their dinners are brought to
them—and they are not squeamish about the food that is setbefore them, for
“to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.”O you greatsinners, Jesus
Christ knows how to pardon you! He knows how to lay home to your hearts
such texts as these—“Allmanner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto
men.” “Come now, and let us reasontogether, says the Lord: though your sins
are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like
crimson, they shall be as wool.” “Believe onthe Lord Jesus Christ, and you
shall be saved,” even you, O you greatestofsinners! There are, also, broken
hearts that are causedby greattrouble. I have known men who have been
living simply to make money, but there has come a sudden panic, or a turn in
the market, and they have losteverything. Now, if there is such a man here, I
charge you, my friend, before the living God, not to despair, for Christ still
lives “to bind up the brokenhearted.” If you will but trust in Jesus, the day
will come when you will bless God for permitting you to become a bankrupt—
and you will say, “WhenI was rich, I lived for this world alone, but I was
brought down to poverty, and then I lookedto Christ as
Sermon #3104 Binding Up BrokenHearts 5
my Savior, and in Him I have found untold riches that will be mine forever.”
It would be a greatmercy for some rich people if they had their gods of gold
all broken and were made to look to the living God, and put their trust in
Him! Further, some hearts are broken through severe bereavements. “Ah,”
says one, “I shall never be able to look up again, for I have lost the husband
whom I loved with all my heart—and my dear child is gone, too.” “Ah,” says
another, “the darling of my heart has been takenfrom me! All my earthly
hopes have been buried beneath the sod. I shall never rejoice anymore.”
Won’t you? There is one who heals just such brokenhearts as yours, for He
once wept at a graveside and comforted the mourners there. And He will let

you see that even your bereavementshall be for your good. Whoeverthey may
have been whom you have lost, the Lord is teaching you that these losses are
meant to bring you nearerto Himself, that you may find all your heart’s love
centeredupon the only one who deserves to have it all! Oftentimes the Lord
Jesus Christ loves His people so much that He gets jealous of them—and when
they love others more than they ought, He takes awaythose whom they thus
love so that He may have all their hearts for Himself! And we ought to think it
a high honor that Christ should think so much of us as to want to have the
whole of our hearts for Himself. Besides that, there are some broken hearts
that are broken through poverty and oppression. Womenwork very hard for
a very small wage and what they get seems as if it would hardly keepbody
and soul together. Theyhave to stitch, stitch, stitch, from morning to night, till
their brain whirls with their constanttoil amid the daily pinch of poverty.
Well, dear friend, the Lord knows how to make you spiritually rich and to
give you such fullness of joy in your soul that you shall be content even in your
poverty—and sing God’s praises even though you are clothedin rags!
Perhaps I am speaking to one whose brokennessofheart consists in being
utterly forsakenand forlorn through a false step takenin life. Strange people
come into this Tabernacle andstrangely does God guide my words to them. I
sometimes feelas if my hair must stand on end when I am told, after a service,
of remarks which I have made which have laid bare the secrets ofmen’s
hearts and made them see their own history as clearly as though a prophet
spoke to them, though I am no prophet nor the son of a prophet! There may
be someone here who has come to London to try to hide awayin this crowded
city. The young man never wants to be seenat his home again. He says, “I
only hope I may be forgottenby everybody. I would go to the ends of the earth
if I could.” Go back, my dear young friend! Go back to your father and
mother and make glad their aching hearts, for there is hope for you yet! You
are brought down very low, but you will get up yet—you will be a man yet
and, what is better, you will be a Christian and you will serve the Lord! There
is hope for you, for there is one who can heal your broken heart. And you,
poor fallen woman, whereveryou may be, though nobody gives you a good
word and though all pass by you in the streets for very shame, there is one
who binds up even harlots’broken hearts and has mercy upon them!
Therefore be not driven utterly to despair. Above all, do not lay violent hands

upon yourself, for I am sent as a messengerfrom God to declare to you that
Christ heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds! O sons of misery,
you need not be any longer in misery! Your sins are the roots of your sorrows,
so if you do but go to Jesus to have your sins forgiven, your sorrows will
quickly vanish! There will still be burdens for you to bear, but if you are
forgiven they will sit lightly upon your shoulders and then turn to wings which
will help you to mount to your God! Even though you have made a covenant
with death, and a league with Hell, the Lord says, “Your covenant with death
shall be disannulled, and your agreementwith hell shall not stand.” Though
you are in Giant Despair’s deepestdungeon, Jesus will cut the bars of iron in
sunder and set the prisoners at liberty! Only believe in Him, the Son of Man,
your brother and yet the Son of the Highest. Fall at His feet, for they were
pierced for you! Look up to His almighty hands, for they were once nailed to
the cross foryou! Bring your poor brokenheart to the heart that was once
pierced by the soldier’s spearand find sweetestrestin Jesus!I know what
despair means. I knew something of its bitterness in my early days, when I
was under conviction of sin, but since the day when I saw the star of
Bethlehem amidst the black darkness and tempest of my soul, and especially
since I lookedto the Christ of Calvary, all has been well with me! So I sayto
you poor waifs and strays upon the dark and stormy sea of life, look up, for
there shines “the bright and morning star.” “This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners,” even the very chief of them! Look to Him, poor
storm-tossedmariner, and He will guide you safelyto the Port of Peace. God
bless you, for Jesus’sake!Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON:EZEKIEL 37.

Verse 1. The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the
Spirit of the LORD. God’s servants learn nothing until they have an
experience similar to that of Ezekiel. Theymust be led by the Spirit of the
Lord and they must have their eyes and mouths opened by Him—and then
they can both see the vision and tell the vision to others. 1. And setme down
in the midst of the valley which was full of bones. Like a huge grave, or
morgue, or battlefield where the slain had not been buried. No servantof God
would go without being sent to such a place, yet it was necessarythat Ezekiel
should be there in order that he might understand and speak the messageof
God. 2. And causedme to pass by them round about. He had to make a
thorough survey of this grim and ghastlyplace. 2. And, behold, there were
very many in the open valley; and lo, they were very dry. They had lain there
so long that the wind had dried up the juices of the bones, and they were
turned to dust. 3. And He said unto me, Son of man, canthese bones live?
God did not ask this question for His own information, but for the prophet’s.
The Lord wanted him to realize the difficulties of the work to which he was
calledthat he might be driven the more completely to rely upon God and not
upon himself! 3,4. And I answered, O Lord GOD, You know. Again He said
unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and sayunto them, O you dry bones,
hear the word of the LORD. We have heard of a Romanistwho had, as a
penance from his priest, to go and watera dry stick. Ezekiel’s task of
preaching to dry bones seemedto be as useless as that, yet if God bids us do
the same, we need no other justification for doing it. What is foolishin the
sight of reason, is wisdom in the judgment of faith. 5, 6. Thus says the Lord
GOD unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you
shall live: and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you,
and coveryou with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you
shall know that I am the LORD. He had to tell these bones the unconditional
purposes and promises of God—“Iwill” and, “you shall.” This is the way in
which God works out His eternal purposes concerning the sons of men. He
bids His servants proclaim His messageandthen He fulfills His own purposes
and promises. 7. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied,
there was a noise. A rustle— 7. And behold a shaking, and the bones came
together, bone to his bone. Here was divine powerbringing the bones to their
proper position in the various bodies and forcing the separatedanatomyto

reform itself. 8. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up
upon them, and the skin coveredthem above: but there was no breath in
them. So there was no very great improvement so far—there were only dead
bodies insteadof dry bones! There was something more to look at, but nothing
more agreeable—andreally no more of life than there was before. 9. Then
said He unto me, Prophesyunto the wind, prophesy, son of man, “Prophesy
unto the wind.” That seems a very absurd thing to do, but there are no
absurdities where God gives His commands. 9, 10. And say to the wind, Thus
says the Lord GOD, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon
these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as He commanded me. Ezekiel
was very obedient. He only needed to know his Lord’s will and then he raised
no question, but did at once just as he was told to do. “So I prophesiedas He
commanded me.” It is a prime qualification in a servant of God that he should
do exactly as he is bidden—not to think how he would like to do it, nor to
follow the plan that his own wisdom suggests, but just to do as he is told, as
Ezekieldid. “So I prophesied as He commanded me.” 10, 11. And the breath
came into them, and they lived, and stoodup upon their feet, an exceedingly
greatarmy. Then He said unto me, Sonof man, these bones are the whole host
of Israel: behold they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are
ourselves are cut off. “There is no hope for us. We are dead and, worse than
dead. Our case is hopeless. there is no possibility of restorationfor us.” 12.
Therefore prophesy and sayunto them, Thus says the Lord GOD;Behold, O
My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your
graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. There was to be a house of Israel
after all. The nation seemedto be dead and buried, but God would revive and
restore it. This is a promise which may apply to a church when she gets into a
very low
Sermon #3104 Binding Up Broken Hearts 7

spiritual state and it looks as if she could never do any more good. “Behold, O
My people, I will open your graves.”And to you, dear friends, who are very
heavy of heart, full of despair and who seemas if you were as goodas dead
and buried, God speaks in this promise! Therefore believe His word as though
it had been directed to you, personally, “Behold, O My people, I will open
your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into
the land of Israel.” 13. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have
opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out of your graves.
Greatdeliverances and almighty quickening reveal God to us and make us
know how gloriously greatJehovahis! 14. And shall put My Spirit in you,
and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall you know
that I the LORD have spokenit, and performed it, says the LORD. When the
Jews getback to Canaan—asthey will—they will then not only know that
Jehovahis God, but also that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah!May the Lord
hasten that blessedconsummation in His own time! 15, 16. The word of the
LORD came againunto me, saying, Moreover, you son of man. Notice how the
Lord constantly calls the prophet, “sonof man.” When Goduses His servants
much and greatly honors them, He always takes care to keepthem humble by
reminding them of what they are in themselves. So, Ezekiel, you have
prophesied to the dry bones, and they have lived through your prophecy, but
it was not by your own powerthat you did this. You are nothing but a son of
man, God must have all the glory of this wondrous work! 16. Take you one
stick, and write upon it, ForJudah, and for the children of Israelhis
companions:then take another stick. Or rod. 16. And write upon it, For
Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israelhis companions.
They were divided into separate companies. Theyfirst wandered awayfrom
God and then they wanderedawayfrom one another. 17. And join there one
to another into one stick;and they shall become one in your hand. As he held
them in his hand, they were to grow into one and, when all the churches get
into the hand of Christ, there will be perfect unity betweenthem. Things that
are near to the same thing are near to one another. But until the Lord shall
come and take His divided Judah and Ephraim into His own hands there will
be no true unity betweenthem—but there will be then. 18, 19. And when the
children of your people shall speak unto you, saying, Will you not show us
what you mean by these? Say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I

will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes
of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah,
and make them one stick, and they shall be one in My hands. No church will
long continue in the enjoyment of the blessing of unity unless it continues in
nearness to Christ. Communion with Christ means the communion of
Christians with one another—we canonly get true union and true communion
in that way. 20-22. And the sticks whereonyou write shall be in your hand
before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I will
take the children of Israelfrom among the heathen, where they have gone,
and will gatherthem on every side, and bring them into their own land: and I
will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel;and one
king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither
shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. When Christ comes,
there shall be this true unity in Israel. Where Christ has already come, there
is this true unity in His church. And as Christ comes to all of us, He will take
awaythe evil that divides us from Himself, and divides us from the rest of His
people, and so we shall be one in His hands. 23. Neither shall they defile
themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor
with any of their transgressions:but I will save them out of all their dwelling
places, whereinthey have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be My
people, and I will be their GOD. This applies first to literal Israel, and then
spiritually to all the chosen. Whata weighty and comprehensive promise it is!
We are to be savedfrom our idols, to be savedfrom the most loathsome sins—
“detestable things.” To be savedfrom our household sins—“Iwill save them
out of all their dwelling places wherein they have sinned.” Where do we go,
my brothers and sisters, without finding sin? Sin in our bed and sin at the
board, sin in the shop, and sin in the street, sins when we are in company and
sins when we are alone in the field, sins everywhere! Yet the Lord Jesus Christ
is able to meet us in every place and to cleanse us. “So shall they be My
people, and I will be their God.” What a wonderful declarationthis is—we are

the Lord’s people, He is our God! We are His portion and He is our portion.
Oh, that everyone of us might have a share in this double blessing! 24. And
David My servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one
shepherd: they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and
do them. Oh, for the one King to reign over the one people, who shall keepthe
one law, and walk in holiness and humility before the one Lord! 25. And they
shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob, My servant, wherein your
fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children,
and their children’s children forever: and My servant David shall be their
prince forever. Surely God does not treat the saints now worse than he treated
Israelin the days of old, so we may go to Him in prayer for our children and
for our children’s children. 26. Moreover, I will make a covenantof peace
with them; it shall be an everlasting covenantwith them. Oh, that blessed
word, everlasting!A salvationwhich is not everlasting is not worth having—
any promise that is not fulfilled, any grace that canfail—is not God’s promise
or God’s grace. 26, 27. And I will place them, and multiply them, and will set
My sanctuaryin the midst of them forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be
with them: yes, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. In the 23rd
verse, the Lord’s promise was, “Theyshall be My people, and I will be their
God.” And here divine grace seems to ring the changes by reversing the
order—“I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Godis evidently so
pleasedwith this declarationthat He repeats it, only turning the sentences
round the other way. 28. And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do
sanctify Israel, when My sanctuaryshall be in the midst of them forevermore.
Adapted from The C. H. SpurgeonCollection, Version1.0, Ages Software.
PLEASE PRAY THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL USE THIS SERMON TO
BRING MANY TO A SAVING KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST!

“Binding Up The Brokenhearted”?
Postedon 2016/01/13
by Shawn Thomas
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me … He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted…”. (Isaiah 61:1)
The Lord Jesus quotes Isaiah61:1 in Luke 4:18 regarding His ownministry.
He fulfilled its prophecy Himself when He came. But what does this phrase
“bind up the brokenhearted” really mean?
“Binding up the brokenhearted” was part of Jesus’anointedministry aim
according to this passage,and since our ministries are to follow “in His steps”
according to I Peter2:21, what does it mean we are to be doing?
“Bind up” is a Hebrew word, “chabash,” whichBrown, Driver & Briggs
indicates means: “bind, bind on, bind up.” Exodus 29:9 uses it of the priestly
headgearthat was to be “bound” on Aaron and his sons, and of the turban
that Ezekielwas to bind on his head (24:17). In Jonah 2:6 it is also used of the
seaweeds whichwere wrapped around Jonah’s head. So it means to wrap
something around tightly and securely. It is also used in Hosea 6:1 of
wrapping a bandage around a wound. In Ezekiel34:4 it is used of binding the
broken.
The picture Isaiahuses here is of a heart that is “broken.” (BDB = “shabar”
literally means “brokenin pieces.”)And he says that the Messiah(Jesus)
when He came would “bind” those broken hearts back together: wrap them
up, bandage them; bind them back together. Psalm147:3 says this is indeed
what He does:“He heals the brokenheartedand binds up their wounds.”
Many of us as God’s people have experiencedthis ministry of Jesus as He has
healed our own broken hearts. And as His followers, we are to do the same for
others. Anointed and filled with the same Holy Spirit that filled Jesus, we are
to follow “in His steps” (I Peter 2:21) and do what He did: proclaim the gospel
to the humble, freedom to captives — as well as “bind up the brokenhearted.”
We are to help them put their hearts back together, “wrapping them back up”

with love so that they may heal. Of course, we are personally unable to heal
hearts at all, but we can point them to Jesus, who fulfilled this prophecy, and
who still touches and heals hearts.
But we are to take our part of this ministry seriously. In fact, in one of the
uses of this word in Hebrew, in Ezekiel34:4, God criticizes the shepherds of
Israelbecause “the broken you have not bound up.” So this is not just a
ministry that we are to commend in others. Jesus came to bind up our
wounded hearts — and He is serious about us being a part of doing the same
thing for others in our turn.
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"Reaching, Teaching, Caring:Following the Footsteps ofJesus" (Matthew
4:23 sermon)
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"The Goodness ofGod in the Midst of Affliction" (Psalm 119:65-72sermon)
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About Shawn Thomas

My blog, shawnethomas.com, provides brief devotions from own personal
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2 Responsesto “Binding Up The Brokenhearted”?
Mimi Mitten says:
2018/10/15at1:45 pm
I’ve been seeking God’s healing from a late in life divorce. Thank you for
sharing this.
How do we best position ourselves for the Holy Spirit’s healing of our heart?
Sometimes people do not understand and are not always available to support
us.
Reply
Shawn Thomas says:
2018/10/15at5:51 pm
You are exactly right; some people don’t understand and even if they do they
are not always available to help. That is why although God can use certain
people to minister to us, He Himself must be our primary source ofcomfort —
which is just what this scripture indicates, that HE (the Lord Jesus)will bind
up the brokenhearted. Psalm147 says “HE heals the broken hearted, and
binds up their wounds.” The best way for us to position ourselves for His
healing is to put ourselves continually before Him in His word and prayer.
Psalms especiallywill become so real to you, and some of those scriptures, as

well as others, will take on new and deepermeaning to you as they become
agents of God’s healing grace to you through the powerof His Holy Spirit.
Take refuge in His word, and let Him minister to you continually. Don’t even
think about replacing that human relationship right now — too many jump
immediately into another relationship and often make huge mistakes. Seekthe
Lord in His word & prayer, as well as godly Christian encouragersand
counselors (emphasis on “godly, Christian”, not everyone is!) and Godwill do
what He says. Usually not in an instant, but over time, He will indeed heal
your heart and bind up your wounds — and often what He will end up doing
is when you are sufficiently healed, He will then use your experience to
minister to others who find themselves in your same situation. But that’s for
the future … for now, seek Him continually in His word and prayer. I am
praying for you tonight.
Christ did not die for an idea. He died for a person, and that personis you.
But there again, we have been led astray. Ask any number of people why
Christ came, and you'll receive any number of answers, but rarely the real
one. "He came to bring world peace." "He came to teachus the way of love."
"He came to die so that we might go to heaven." "He came to bring economic
justice." On and on it goes, much of it basedin a partial truth. But wouldn't it
be better to let him speak for himself ?
Jesus steps into the scene. He reaches back to a four-hundred-year-old
prophecy to tell us why he's come. He quotes from Isaiah 61:1, which goes like
this:
The Spirit of the SovereignLORD is upon me, because the LORD has
anointed me to preach goodnews to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from
darkness for the prisoners.

The meaning of this quotation has been clouded by years of religious language
and ceremonialdraping. What is he saying? It has something to do with good
news, with healing hearts, with setting someone free.
Christ could have chosenany one of a thousand other passagesto explain his
life purpose. But he did not. He chose this one; this is the heart of his mission.
Everything else he says and does finds its place under this banner: "I am here
to give you back your heart and setyou free." That is why the glory of God is
man fully alive: it's what he said he came to do. But of course. The opposite
can't be true. "The glory of Godis man barely making it, a personhardly
alive." How can it bring God glory for his very image, his own children, to
remain so badly marred, broken, captive? https://www.ransomedheart.com
To Bind Up the Brokenhearted
By Georges A. Bonnet
In the 1990s my employment with the Church took our family to Africa,
where I was assignedto help with relief efforts in Burundi, Rwanda, and
Somalia. This was during a devastating period of famine, brutality, and war,
and the suffering was overwhelming.
Thousands were in refugee camps. Hundreds of orphaned children lived in
rudimentary shelters they constructedthemselves. Cholera, typhoid, and
malnutrition were ever present. The stenchof waste and death added to the
hopelessness.
I felt driven to offer all the help I could. The Church workedwith the
International Committee of the Red Cross and other organizations, but I
couldn’t help wondering sometimes if our efforts were making a difference in
the face of such widespreadatrocityand tragedy. It was hard to shake feelings
of helplessness anddiscouragement, and often when I retired for the night, I
cried.

It was during this discouraging time that a familiar passage took ona deeper
dimension for me. Citing Isaiah, it tells us that the Saviorwas “anointedto
bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the
opening of the prison to them that were bound” (D&C 138:42).
I had seenand spokenwith many people who were “brokenhearted” in the
most striking ways. They had losttheir loved ones, homes, and peacefulway
of life. And yet many of them showedsigns of having been “bound up.” For
instance, often when we approached a makeshifthome, its inhabitants would
ask, “Will you pray with us?” The people seemedto find happiness and peace
in making supplications to the Lord.
Of course, we cannot look for the impact of the Atonement only in this life. It
also comes after. I know there is redemption for the dead and resurrectionfor
all because of the Savior. The pain we experience in this life—however
extreme—will be removed and healedthrough the Atonement.
Mormon and Moroni, who lived in times of greatslaughter and death, wrote
about having hope anchoredin a loving God whose mercy and justice surpass
all understanding (see, for instance, Moroni 7:41–42). Studying these
prophets’ statements bolsteredmy own faith. When I wonderedif our efforts
were making a difference, I felt assurancethat the Savior’s grace is the
ultimate redemptive power. Our best efforts may be limited, but His are
infinite and eternal.
There’s no doubt that the world’s conditions create many forms of despair,
but none are beyond the reachof the Redeemerto heal. All of us can have the
sure hope that through the Atonement of Christ our hearts can be bound up
and made whole. With this knowledge, Icould go on in my work, knowing
that His efforts always succeed.
All of us can have the sure hope that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ
our hearts can be bound up and made whole.
O My Father, by Simon Dewey

Allow God to Heal Your BrokenHeart and Bind Up Your Wounds
Psalm147:3 – He heals the broken heartedand binds up their wounds
Isaiah61:1- He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted
There is healing for the broken hearted. I don’t know about you, but that
really comforts me. God has promised to healyour broken heart and to bind
up your wounds. These verses have really impacted me over my journey of
healing and I pray that they will impact you also.
Ask God to Bandage and Sew up Your Wounds
He will bandage your wounds
The words “bind up” in both verses come from the Hebrew word “chabash”
which means “to tie, bind, to restrain, to bandage”. I believe God reached
down into my innermost being and touched my wounds. It felt like He had
bandaged them and had began to heal me from the inside out. To think of
God bandaging up my wounds is a comforting thought. He can and will do
the same for you, God loves you so much and He will take the time to
personally reachdown and bind up or bandage all your emotional wounds.
“Heal” in Psalms 147:3 is the Hebrew word “raphe” meaning, “to heal, to sew
togetheror mend.” Have you everhad to have stitches? Why does the surgeon
need to stitch our wounds? It is to hold them togetherso they have time to
heal.
We can’t physically see the healing God does inside of our bodies, but He is at
work and is sewing you togetheragain “stitchby stitch” so that over time you
receive complete healing.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm147 3)
“He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted.” (Isaiah61 1)
What Does it Mean to be Broken?
When I lookedup the dictionary, the meaning I gotfor “broken” was this:
reduced to fragments; fragmented; ruptured; torn; fractured; not functioning
properly; out of working order. Is this how you feel? Do you feellike your
heart has been reduced to fragments? Ruptured, torn, fractured? IT
REALLY HURTS! It’s like your heart has been shatteredinto many pieces.
You may feelcrippled emotionally and exhausted physically. Ask God to help
you, to strengthenyou and to heal you. Hand it all over to Him, trust in Him
and allow Him into those broken places.
Imagine Him putting back the pieces!
Allow the GreatPhysician to do Heart Surgery
God, who is the greatestPhysicianever, will come in and perform heart
surgery on you. Can you picture Him lovingly fitting all those little pieces
back togetheragain? God will mend your brokenheart!
Healing is a process though, so try to be patient, it may take time, but God’s
timing is always perfect. He will heal you and strengthen you and perfect you.
Just open up your heart to Him and allow Him to do surgery on you. You
won’t regret it, I know because He fixed me! www.gen3x.org/
The Brokenhearted
Contributed by Michelle Holsingeron Mar 8, 2008
based on 14 ratings

(rate this sermon)
| 9,858 views
Scripture: Isaiah61:1-3
Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Summary: Jesus was sentto bind up the broken hearted, so why so many
brokenheartedpeople?
1 2 3
Next
The Brokenhearted
Isaiah61:1-3The Spirit of the Lord GOD [is] upon me; because the LORD
hath anointed me to preach goodtidings unto the meek;he hath sentme to
opening of the prison to [them that are] bound; To proclaim the acceptable
year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance ofour God; to comfort all that
mourn To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty
for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness;that they might be calledtrees of righteousness,the planting of the
LORD, that he might be glorified.
So why do we see some many who appear to be broken hearted
Hebrew (bind up) Chabash-to bind up, restrain
English dictionary Bind - bind v. bound (bound), bind·ing, binds
v.tr.

1. To tie or secure, as with a rope or cord.
2. To fasten or wrap by encircling, as with a belt or ribbon.
3. To bandage:bound up their wounds.
4. To hold or restrain with or as if with bonds.
5. To compel, obligate, orunite: bound by a deep sense ofduty; bound by a
common interest.
6. Law To place under legalobligationby contractor oath.
7. To make certain or irrevocable:bind the deal with a down payment.
8. To apprentice or indenture: was bound out as a servant.
9. To cause to cohere orstick together in a mass:Bind the dry ingredients
with milk and eggs.
10. To enclose and fasten(a book or other printed material) betweencovers.
11. To furnish with an edge or border for protection, reinforcement, or
ornamentation.
12. To constipate.
13. Chemistry To combine with, form a chemicalbond with, or be takenup
by, as an enzyme with its substrate.
v.intr.
1. To tie up or fasten something.
2. To stick or become stuck: applied a lubricant to keepthe moving parts
from binding.
3. To be uncomfortably tight or restricting, as clothes.
4. To become compactor solid; cohere.
5. To be compelling or unifying: the ties that bind.

6. Chemistry To combine chemically or form a chemicalbond.
Hebrew (brokenhearted)Shabar - to break, break in pieces
a) (Qal)
1) break, break in or down, rend violently, wreck, crush, quench
2) to break, rupture (fig)
b) (Niphal)
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1) to be broken, be maimed, be crippled, be wrecked
2) to be broken, be crushed (fig)
c) (Piel) to shatter, break
d) (Hiphil) to cause to break out, bring to the birth
e) (Hophal) to be broken, be shattered
I believe I do that scripture no harm by saying
“He hath sent me to hold and bandage up the ones who have been broken,
wrecked, shattered, maimed, crippled or crushed.”
You see I began to question God and say“God if you were sent to bind up the
brokenheartedthen why so much brokeness in our lives not only today, but
even in the Word.
Look at David who in Acts 13:22 is said to be a man after God’s own heart,
but in I Sam 30 He comes home to find his city has been burned and his wives

and the wives of his men taken away. vs. 4 Then David and the people that
[were]with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power
to weep. I think they were heart broken.
Job Ch 1 “that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and
eschewedevil. We see in just a few verses downlost all of his livestock, mostof
his servants, and his children in one day. vs. 20Jobarose,and rent his mantle,
and shavedhis head, and fell down upon the ground, I think he was heart
broken.
Josephin Gen 37 was betrayed by the people who should have loved him the
most, his own family. I think he may have been heart broken.
Abraham askedto sacrifice his ownson in Genesis 22. Do you think his heart
achedover the thought of it? While he was building the fire and his sonis
saying we have the woodand fire but where is the sacrifice?
Mary whom the bible in Luke Chapter 1 was told she was favored by God,
who now watches herfirst born being tormented beyond recognition. Do you
think she was heart broken?
I believe there are two reasons why we see such many broken hearts today.
#1 - God is willing to hurt your feelings to save your soul.
I’m sure there was apart of Abraham that didn’t understand why God would
make him wait so long for a sonand then ask him to sacrifice him. But I
believe I understand. When God found a man willing to give his son for God,
God was then bound to give his sonfor man. I’m sure there was a part of
Mary crying out in disbelief of what she was seeing as they nailed her baby to
the cross. However, Godunderstoodthat by taking one son, he would save
trillions of sons to come. The only level we can even come close to
understanding this on is with the discipline of our own children. We are
willing to warm their backsides whenthey run in to a streetto keepthem
from the pain of being ran over by a vehicle. You see a broken heart canbe
mended, but an unsaved soul is bound for hell. You see no parent what’s to
hurt their child, but we are willing to hurt them in a waywe know will heal,
then to have them hurt in a waythat leads to death. I don’t howeverwant you

to get the impression that all the heart ache in the world is causedby God, it
isn’t. The majority of it is causedby our own disobedience. Ex. I’m
heartbrokenover the factI have to go to jail, but I stole the carall the same.
I’m heart broken over the bad relationship I have with my spouse, but I
refuse to apologize. I’m heartbroken over the fact that I feellike God never
answers any of my prayers, but I don’t go to church, I don’t read the word
and the only time I pray is when I need something. Do you understand what
I’m saying? It was our separationfrom God in the gardenthat allowed
heartache to enter in, howeverthe cure for our heartache also beganin
another Garden , Gethsemane. Godnever promised their wouldn’t be broken
hearts, however, he did sayhe would hold them and bandage them up. Jesus
was sent to do what?
Isaiah61:1-3The Spirit of the Lord GOD [is] upon me; because the LORD
hath anointed me to preach goodtidings unto the meek;he hath sentme to
opening of the prison to [them that are] bound; To proclaim the acceptable
year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance ofour God; to comfort all that
mourn To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty
for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness;that they might be calledtrees of righteousness,the planting of the
LORD, that he might be glorified.
He was sent to preach goodnews, bind up the broken hearted, so set the
captives free, to proclaim the lord, comfort those who mourn.
Would you agree that Jesus did all of those things during his 33 years here on
this earth? Yes of course.
#2 - We aren’t carrying on the ministry of Jesus to the extent God would have
us to.
Mark 16:15-20
15 And he saidunto them, Go ye into all the world, and preachthe gospelto
every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not
shall be damned.
17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast
out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents;and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not
hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19 ¶ So then after the Lord had spokenunto them, he was receivedup into
heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
20 And they went forth, and preachedevery where, the Lord working with
[them], and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
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John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works
that I do shall he do also;and greater[works]than these shall he do; because
I go unto my Father.
We are to carry on the works that Jesus did. So lets look again at what he
came to do:
New Testament
Luke 4:18-19The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me
to preach the gospelto the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to
preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set
at liberty them that are bruised,
19To preachthe acceptable yearof the Lord.

What could motivate this man Jesus to endure all that he did in order to
perform these works? Whatwas his motivation in times of hardship? LOVE
So what could motivate us to carry on the ministry that Jesus began. The
same thing that motivated him. LOVE
The Bible says God is Love.
Paul wrote this in the book of II Cor NLT
“How painful it was to write that letter! Heartbroken, I cried over it. I didn’t
want to hurt you, but I wanted you to know how very much I love you.”
Paul didn’t want to hurt them, but he wantedthem to understand I sentthe
letter because I love you. We have all heard of tough love. I know some people
who believe in tough love and I also know some people who are tough to love.
If we are going to carry on the ministry of Jesus of binding up the
brokenheartedwe must learn to love even the unlovable. I encourage you to
begin to study the love of God. I’m reading a book right know calledLove
101. Jesus lovedthe unlovable. He loved the prostitute, he loved the leper, he
loved the tax collector, he loved the crippled, he loved the outcasts, he loved
the demon posed. The only way for us to show the love of Godis to have an
encounter not just with God but with those Godcame to love. Jesus loved
those who no one else wanted to love. We all have people we think the farther
I can stayaway from them the better, but that isn’t the ministry of Christ. He
said give me the worstof the worst, those are who I came for. Who are we
reaching out to? Middle class working married couple with a couple of kids.
Mostchurches are. If we are going to carry on the ministry of Jesus we must
take a look at what He came to do and who he came for? We have only looked
at one part of his ministry and a small part of the people he came for. He
came to bind up the broken hearted. Let’s ask Godto open our hearts and
minds to see the broken hearted. Let’s ask God for the compassionand love it
takes to bind up their broken hearts. Dave said something that has really
made me think about the church as a whole. Mosttelevisionevangelistare
saying canyou help our ministry canyou partner with us and send your
money to help us. But what we should be saying to the world is your in need of
help and we can help you! In order to help the world we must know what they

need. What is this world in need of? What commodity in this societyare we
lacking most of today? LOVE Paul says that love never fails. To never fail
under any kind of circumstance or situation or with any kind of relationship is
making an awesome claim.
Let me give you a definition of Love is an actiondirected to another person
that is motivated by our relationship to Jesus Christ and is given freely
without a personalreward in mind. If the love that we are capable of giving is
in direction proportion to strength of the relationship we have with Jesus
Christ, how strong is your relationship with Christ? You cananswerthis
question by examining your “Love Life”. Do I give love freely? Do I give love
willingly? Do I give love unconditionally? This is what the world needs. Love
given freely, love given willingly, and love given unconditionally, for this is the
love of Christ. Please spendthis week examining your “love life”. Are you
capable and willing to “to hold and bandage up the ones who have been
broken, wrecked, shattered, maimed, crippled or crushed? God’s love is a love
that continues to give love even when it knows that that love will never be
given in return. We must be less like the publicans and more like Jesus.
Jesus said
Matthew 5:46Forif ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not
even the publicans the same?
47And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more [than others]? do not
even the publicans so?
48Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heavenis perfect.
I encourage youthis week study God’s word on love in I Cor Ch 13 and look
for opportunities to show God’s love.
We eachhave the capabilities to show God’s love in every situation, not
because ofour own strength.
Romans 5:5 And hope makethnot ashamed; because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

The love of God is in my heart, but I must make a decisionto allow that love
to cultivate and grow. I must make a decisionto allow that love to come out
instead of my emotions. I must chose to love as Christ loved. I must carry on
his ministry and part of that ministry is loving the brokenhearted. Holding
them and bandaging their brokenness.
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GRIEF SCRIPTURES
"Blessedare those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Matthew 5:4
“Praise be to the God and Fatherof our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
compassionand the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so
that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves
receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
“The Lord is close to the brokenheartedand saves those who are crushed in
spirit.- Psalm 34:18
He heals the brokenheartedand binds up their wounds.-Psalm 147:3

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no
evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.- Psalm
23:4
in the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul. -
Psalm94:19
For whateverthings were written before were written for our learning, that
we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope-
Romans 15:4
And provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crownof
beauty insteadof ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of
praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be calledoaks ofrighteousness,
a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.-Isaiah61:3
"There is a time for everything, and a seasonfor every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot. A
time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance."
Ecclesiastes3:1-4
"He was despisedand rejectedby men, a man of sorrows andfamiliar with
suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we
esteemedhim not." Isaiah53:3
"Come to me, all you who are wearyand burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in
heart and you will find rest for your souls. Formy yoke is easyand my burden
light." Matthew 11: 28-30
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass
through the rivers, they will not sweepoveryou. When you walk through the
fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”-Isaiah 43:2
"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not
despairing." 2 Corinthians 4:8

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet
inwardly we are being renewedday by day. For our light and momentary
troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So
we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seenin
temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4-16:18
"The Lord will give strength to his people;the Lord will bless his people with
peace." Psalm29:11
"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a Godof justice. Blessedare all who waitfor him!" Isaiah
30:18
"ForI know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah29:11
My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.- Psalm
119:50
"In all their affliction, He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved
them; In his love and in his mercy he redeemed them, and he lifted them and
carried them all the days of old." Isaiah6:19
"In you, oh Lord, I have taken refuge;let me never be put to shame;deliver
me in your righteousness.Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue;be
my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me." Psalm31:1-2
“I considerthat our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the
glory that will be revealedin us.”- Romans 8:18
“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who
sleepin death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no
hope. Forwe believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that
God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleepin him. According to
the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the
coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command,
with the voice of the archangeland with the trumpet call of God, and the dead

in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be
caught up togetherwith them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so
we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one anotherwith these
words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[a]or
mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passedaway-Rev
21:4 https://www.hopeforthebrokenhearted.com/
Binding Up the Brokenhearted
by Melody Green
We satfacing on her bed. I could see pictures of a little blond boy on her
dresser. She was crying and I held in my pat answers. How could I relate to
her pain? I knew Jesus could - but I couldn’t. I was barely a mother, my
firstborn still kicking under my heart. Her three yearold son was dead. It was
a drowning accident, and she was devastated.
Little did I know, four years later, the child I was pregnant with that day - my
three year old son- would be dead as well. And, along with him, his two year
old sister... and my husband. It was a flying accident, and this time I was the
one who was devastated. Only then did I get a glimpse of my friend’s pain.
And only then, did I fully understand God’s wisdom in keeping me from
offering her a handful of easyanswers. Ifound that sometimes there just
aren’t any.
There are many ways a heart canbreak - death, divorce, rejection, illness,
abuse, sin, injustice, failure - the list goes onand on. Everyone will experience
a broken heart at some time. Some will never fully recover. I’m sure the Lord
has alreadyused you to minister to those who are hurting, but I believe He

wants to use you in even greaterways. Perhaps I should say, He wants to
make you more "comfort-able" orbetter able to give comfort as lavishly as
He does.
HOW "COMFORT-ABLE" ARE YOU?
Binding up the brokenhearted. It’s part of being a Christian, yet so often we
are uncomfortable when facedwith someone’s tragedy. Manytimes we feel
awkwardbeing around those who are grieving, or broken, or wounded. We
want to comfort them, but don’t really know how. Often we’re at a loss for
words or with perfectly goodintentions, blurt out something we (or they) wish
we’d never said. We wonder if we should talk about the difficulties - or avoid
them. And all too often, we end up doing nothing because we feelinadequate -
thinking we need to have all the answers orjust the right scriptures before
God can use us.
I’ve walkedthrough some very difficult and painful situations in the past few
years, and I’m so grateful for the grace ofGod - and the people of God. I’ll
share briefly in case you’re not familiar with my testimony.
In 1973, I married Keith Green, and in 1975, we became Christians. In 1977,
we founded LastDays Ministries and I lost my first child through an early
miscarriage. Thenin 1982, Keith and two of our children, Josiah(3), and
Bethany (2), died in a small plane crash. I was left behind with my one year
old daughter, RebekahJoy, and new ministry responsibilities. I was also six
weeks pregnantwith RachelHope. The next five years were filled with
activity, adjustments, and difficulties - a lawsuitregarding the plane crash,
investigations and false accusations aboutmy pro-life work, intense attacks of
the enemy, a broken engagement - and most recently, a Texas tornado that
causedmajor damage and setback to all of Last Days Ministries.

I’m grateful that God has been so abundantly faithful in every situation I’ve
faced- but walking through the fire is not fun for anyone! Sometimes, whenI
didn’t think I could make it, the Lord used men and women with wisdom and
maturity to pour His resurrectionlife back into my heart. As many have
reachedout to me in different ways, I’ve seenwhat has borne goodfruit, and
what hasn’t. It’s some of those insights, along with biblical principles, I want
to share with you.
OUR BODY
"So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one
of another." (Rom. 12:5) God made the human body in a unique way.
Whenever there’s a wound, all systems go on alert. The blood rushes to the
scene and the whole body is calledto attention. Healing begins immediately. I
believe that’s exactly how Godwants the body of Christ to respond to its
wounded.
Isaiah61:1 paints a powerful portrait of God’s heart, "The Spirit of the Lord
God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring goodnews to the
afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted..." WhenI think of
"binding up," I think of something done very gently and carefully - to wrap,
or encircle, or bandage. It takes time if done properly. Today, our Band-Aids
come in little tin boxes - my children like the ones with pictures. I’m amazed
at how just placing one over a scrapedknee stops tears almost miraculously.
However, putting a Band-Aid over a severedartery would be deadly. Since we
live in a quick-fix society, we’re sometimes reluctant to take the time and tears
proper treatment requires. However, we must evaluate the injury before
deciding on a treatment.
RADICAL MERCY
When we think of being radical, we usually think of having radical faith,
boldness, commitment, or zeal - but let’s not leave out radicalmercy,
compassion, andgrace. In our reactiontoward what’s been called"easy
grace," we can’tforgetwhat Jesus did at the cross. EveryChristian has

experiencedGod’s amazing grace. And the thing that makes it so amazing is
that it’s so radical! No one has earned or deserved the mercy they’ve received.
Jesus was anointedto bind up the brokenhearted - but we often find it hard to
love eachother when we see weaknessorsin. Sometimes it’s easierto believe
God will cleanse,heal, and restore the most degenerate sinner, than it is to
believe Him to do the same thing for a repentant brother or sister. But we can
be so inconsistent. When we sin, we beg for (and expect) God’s mercy. But
when someone else sins, our thoughts often race towards swiftjudgment.
James 2:13 warns, "For judgment will be merciless to one who has shownno
mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment."
WHEN THERE’S SIN
God always has redemptive purposes - even when sin is involved. Moses wasa
murderer. David committed adultery, then had someone killedto cover it up.
Mostof us would have written these guys off immediately. But look at the
redemptive heart of God in these tragic and sinful situations. As these men
saw their sin and repented, God workedwith them and loved them right on to
fruitful lives as His chosenleaders. It didn’t happen overnight, but it did
happen as they were testedand their characterand maturity proven. It’s hard
to imagine the Bible without the inspiration and example of Moses and David.
The enemy is the "accuserofthe brethren" and when someone falls, he’s right
there to assure them that God is finished with them. That’s why we need to
speak encouragementand hope into their lives - telling them they can make it,
that we believe in them, and that Godis not finished with them. We also need
to help them walk through any necessarysteps, whetherit’s repentance,
restitution, confession, orchurch discipline - with the goalof healing and
restorationin God’s way and God’s time. A lot will depend on their
willingness to see their sin - and their response to God. When Jonah ran from
God, he ended up in the belly of a big fish. But when Jonahrepented, God

delivered him and spoke the same messageto him a secondtime. We serve a
God of secondchances.
God is a redeemerand a healer. There’s a wonderful promise in Isaiah 42:3,
"A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not
extinguish." Let’s be tender with the bruised and dimly burning of the world -
no matter how they gotthat way. The enemy wants to extinguish them. God
wants to healthem.
SYMPATHIZE
When wrong choices contribute to someone’spain, we’re often afraid to
sympathize, thinking we might look like we’re condoning their sin. Jesus
didn’t have this fear. "Forwe do not have a high priest who cannot
sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things
as we are, yet without sin." If Jesus, being sinless, cansympathize with us,
then how much more should we sympathize with eachother?
Bumps and bruises are a part of growing up, and my girls have had their
share. My attempts at "consoling"them used to include trying to talk them
out of their feelings if I thought they were overreacting, making a joke to
divert their attention, or saying things like, "Oh, it doesn’treally hurt that
bad." I found these tactics usually made them cry even harder because they
wanted to prove they were hurting.
Later, I started to acknowledgetheir pain - no matter how slight it seemed.
I’d simply say, "That looks like it hurts," or "I’m sorry that’s hurting you,
honey," and they’d calm down. It seemedthat beyond their pain, they wanted
to know I cared and that I believed they were hurt. Aren’t we all like that?
Romans 12:15 says, "Rejoicewith those who rejoice, and weepwith those who
weep." So, whensomeone is hurting, don’t make jokes ortry to talk them out
of it. Even worse, don’t tell them they shouldn’t be hurting. This only adds

condemnation to the pain. We need to recognize the reality of their pain -
whether we think it’s totally warrantedor not. It’s not our place to judge their
feelings - but to pour healing oil over everything that hurts.
IDENTIFY
When we’re comforting someone, we should think about how we’d feel in the
same situation, and how we’d want to be treated. And if there’s sin, let’s
remember we’re also capable of falling. The Bible says no temptation can
overtake us "but what is common to man." We canfind the root sin in any
situation and identify it in our own life. For example, the root sin of adultery
might be lust -the root of abortion might be selfishness. Is there anyone who
hasn’t been tempted by lust or selfishness?Hopefully, with God’s grace we
won’t fall - but if we’ll identify the root sin in our own heart, we canbuild a
bridge of understanding. However, if we sit back smugly thinking, "I could
never do that!", we’ve built a wall. And since pride comes before a fall, we’ve
also become candidates for a fall of our own. "Therefore lethim who thinks
he stands take heed lesthe fall." (1 Cor10:12) There’s no room to be proud of
all the sins we "haven’t committed." Every Christian is a sinner savedby
God’s amazing (radical!) grace.
When someone has sinned, we can identify with them by sharing our own
struggles in similar areas - showing compassionand understanding. We might
say something like, "I understand how you were tempted in that situation... I
might have been (or have been) tempted too." This is not condoning sin, but
extending an open hand, instead of a pointed finger. From that platform of
love, we can even minister correctionif it’s needed.
If we won’t identify with those who fall, God can’t use us to minister deeply to
them. Why? Because we think we’re better than they are. The Bible word is
"self-righteous."Rememberthe tax-gatherer and the Pharisee? "The
Pharisee stoodand was praying thus to himself ‘God, I thank Thee that I am
not like other people:swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-

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