We trace, via the raising of a girl to life, stages in receiving the gift of salvation. First, recognition of Christ; second, the birth of faith; third, surmounting setbacks; fourth, sincerity; fifth, the vital filter of faith; sixth, how Christ acts; seventh, immediate life.

‘And behold there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and when he saw him he fell at his feet and besought him greatly saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death. I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her that she may be healed, and she shall live.’ And our subject is ‘Access to God,’ and hopefully, time permitting, we shall come through the healing of the daughter of Jairus and just into the beginning of Mark chapter 6, which begins with the Saviour’s second return visit to Nazareth and his reception there.

But back to verse 22 of Mark 5: spiritual access to God. Now spiritual access to God begins always with a sense of need, and we won’t be dealing with that, so much as those things that immediately arise out of it: a sense of need. In the case of the ruler of the synagogue – one of the rulers of the synagogue – his need was the dying state of his 12-year-old daughter. That was his desperate need, and it woke him up.

The problem, the situation, was so grave [that] he knew there was no hope for the girl except the hope that presented itself with Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. Said to be the Messiah, who worked in this very city, Capernaum, such mighty miracles, and who spoke so wonderfully and amazingly. He is surely the promised Messiah.

And it focused his mind and woke him up. The desperate need made him realise it was no use at all, going to the priests, to whom he had familiar access. It was no good engaging in some ritual, even of the God-given worship of the Jews in olden time. That would not cure his daughter. Only this Messiah, this prophet of God could help him.