[This book was found on our library
shelves and is as applicable today as it was in 1925. It provides a solid refutation of
the false claims of the so-called "faith-healers." The book is copyrighted;
however, the book is out of print and the copyright is over 50 years old. "We feel
assured the truth as set forth in this volume is greatly needed, and we believe the Lord
will graciously use this testimony for His Word, and the witness against this present-day
healing delusion." - A.C. Gaebelein, 1925]
The Healing Question
An examination of the claims of
Faith-Healing
and Divine Healing systems in the
light of the Scriptures
and History
By
ARNO CLEMENS GAEBELEIN
Editor of "Our Hope"
CHAPTER II
The Miracles of Healing by the Lord Jesus Christ
"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be
unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing;
for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert" (Isaiah
35:5, 6). These words are a prophecy predicting the blessings and the glory of the
promised kingdom. He through whom these great blessings, described in this entire chapter,
as well as elsewhere, will ultimately be accomplished appeared on earth as man, in the
form of a servant. That blessed One is Himself the greatest miracle. His whole life from
the moment of conception by the Holy Spirit, when He came upon the Virgin of Nazareth, to
His ascension in His glorified human body, is beyond our powers of conception or
explanation. Here is where the modernistic-rationalist makes his fatal mistake. Instead of
believing in the supernaturalness of the Lord Jesus Christ and worshipping Him, the
modernist tries to explain His Person. He cannot be explained. In order to bring the Lord
Jesus Christ down to the level of common humanity the modernist denies His miraculous
birth, His miraculous life, His miraculous resurrection and ascension, as well as the
miracles he performed. To accomplish this the rationalism which is being taught in many
institutions of learning impeaches the Gospel records. They are not trustworthy. The
miraculous element is legendary. It was added by others to the original story of Christ,
to surround Him with the halo of Deity. It is astonishing that men, who claim ripe
scholarship, can make such absurd and false claims.
[page 11] If they are scholars they must know that the Gospel records as we possess
them belong to the most reliable historical documents in the possession of the race. The
claim that the miraculous is spurious in the four Gospels is a falsehood. If there is no
miraculous Christ, who performed miracles of various kinds, then the Old Testament with
its miracles and prophecy must also be branded a falsehood (as is done by modernists).
This is the road which leads into the night of atheism.
We are concerned exclusively with the miracles of healing, which our Lord performed
during His ministry on earth. We shall first of all briefly record them as given in the
Synoptics and the Gospel of John.
Matthew 4:23-24. "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their
synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of disease
among the people. And His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought unto Him
all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, with those which were
possessed with demons, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and He
healed them." This is the first time we find His miracles of healing mentioned in the
Gospel of Matthew. We note that the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom, announcing the
nearness of the promised kingdom, is closely connected with the healing of diseases.
Matthew 8:1-4; Mark i:40; Luke 5:12-14. Here a leper is healed by Him.
"Jesus put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will, be thou clean. And
immediately his 'leprosy was cleansed." He speaks as the sovereign Lord, with a
majestic, omnipotent, "I will." When Miriam, Moses' sister, was stricken with
leprosy, Moses cried to the Lord, Heal her now! She had to be excluded for seven days,
then she was permitted to return to the camp. A greater [page 12] than Moses is here! He
healed by the finger of God, the sign that the Kingdom was come upon them (Luke 11:20).
Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10. The healing of the centurion's servant who was sick
and ready to die is the next miracle. He was sick of the palsy and was grievously
tormented. While the Lord had healed the leper by touch, He did not come near the sick
servant; He healed him by His word. The significance of this will be pointed out
elsewhere.
Matthew 8:14-15; Mark i:30-31; Luke 4:38, 39. He healed Peter's mother-in-law,
who was sick with a fever. "And He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she
arose, and ministered unto them." Like the healing of the leper, the cure was
instantaneous. The fever dropped down to normal in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.
Nor was she weak after the fever had gone. She arose at once and be an to minister to the
company, the evidence that a perfect cure had been made.
Matthew 8:16, 17; Mark i:32-34; Luke 4:40, 41. That evening brought a great
demonstration of His power to heal. Many demon-possessed people were brought to Him. He
cast them out by His word, and healed all that were sick. The fifty-third chapter of
Isaiah is quoted. The perversion of this text by the divine healing systems will be fully
dealt with in another chapter, as well as the great prophetic meaning of that famous
prophecy in Isaiah.
Matthew 8:29-35; Mark 5:1-21; Luke 8:26-40. Matthew gives an account of two men
possessed with demons; Mark and Luke speak only of one. There were two but one of them
must have been the more prominent and the most afflicted. The Lord singled him out as His
special witness. Another solution of the difficulty may be found in the dispensational
Jewish character of the Gospel of [page 13] Matthew. He also speaks of two blind men
healed; Mark and Luke of only one, that is Bartimaeus. The two demon-possessed and the two
blind men picture the spiritual condition of all Israel, the house of Judah and the house
of Israel.
Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:3-12; Luke 5:18-26. Another paralytic is healed, after the
Lord pronounced the forgiveness of his sins. It was again an instantaneous cure, with the
return of perfect strength, for he was able to carry his bed.
Matthew 9:20-23; Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-48. The Lord is on the way to raise the
ruler's daughter from the dead. A woman who was diseased with an issue of blood for twelve
years, touched in faith the hem of His garment, believing that she would be made whole.
She was healed immediately as the Lord felt that virtue had gone out from Him.
Matthew 9:23-25; Mark 5:35-43; Luke 8:49-56. These passages contain the first
evidence that the Lord Jesus Christ has the power to raise the dead. Jairus's daughter had
died. She was not in a cataleptic state. There were eyewitnesses who knew she was dead.
When He said, "Weep not; she is not dead but sleepeth" they laughed Him to
scorn, knowing that she was dead. There were also eye-witnesses that when he took her by
the hand and said "Talitha cumi"! the twelve year old girl arose and walked.
Matthew 9: 27-31. Two blind men appealed to Him for healing. "Then He
touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were
opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it."
Matthew 9:31-33. The healing of a dumb man possessed with a demon followed
immediately upon the healing of [page 14] the two blind men. The dumb spake in such a
manner that the multitudes marveled, saying, "It was never so in Israel."
Matthew 9:35; Mark 6:5. He continued in His Galilean ministry of preaching the
kingdom and healing every disease and sickness among the people. In Nazareth, His own
city, He laid hands on a few sick folk and healed them. He marveled because of their
unbelief.
Matthew 10:1-10; Mark 6:7-13; Luke 9:1-6. As the whole land, every town and
every village had to hear the message of the kingdom, not by any means the Gospel of
Grace, as it is proclaimed after His finished work on the Cross, but the message of the
literal kingdom promised to Israel, He sent forth His twelve disciples. He gave them
power, His own power, over unclean spirits, and to heal all manner of diseases and
sicknesses. He gave them but one text to preach, "The kingdom of heaven is at
hand," with the command, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead,
cast out demons; freely ye have received, freely give." Miracles of healing were then
performed by the twelve, just as the Lord Jesus had performed them, for it was His power
through them, which operated. How this commission is misused by divine healers with their
unscriptural claims is elsewhere dealt with in this volume.
Matthew 11:5. This passage shows the many miracles performed by Him in the
presence of witnesses, attesting His Messiahship.
Matthew 12:10-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11. A withered hand is restored by Him,
not in a gradual process, but instantaneously.
Matthew 12:22-24; Luke 11:14. Another afflicted one with dumbness and blindness,
produced by demon-possession, was healed by Him. All careful students of the Gospel [page
15] of Matthew know that the twelfth chapter is the great divide in this Gospel. The
message of the kingdom had been rejected. Indications showed that the King Himself would
be rejected. After the twelfth chapter the message of the kingdom being at hand is no
longer heard. The King begins to speak of the mysteries of the kingdom and also of His
coming passion. It is therefore very significant that in chapters 13 to the end of this
Gospel fewer miracles are recorded, while in the beginning of Matthew miracles upon
miracles of healing are found.
Matthew 13:58. He did not many mighty miracles there because of their unbelief.
They did not believe in Him as the promised King-Messiah and there was no demonstration of
His power.
Matthew 14:34-36. He had spent the night on the mountain top. His disciples were
on the sea and the ship was tossed with waves. In the fourth watch He came. In the morning
another great healing scene took place. The dispensational aspect is pointed out later.
Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30. This is the first definite miracle of healing
after the kingdom message had been rejected. It is a heathen woman of Syro-Phenicia who
appeals to Him for her daughter. He answered her not, because she used His title as
"Son of David," to which she had no right. But He healed her daughter as soon as
the mother appealed to Him as Lord and manifested her faith in Him.
Matthew 15:29-31; Mark 7:31-37. A great multitude was healed immediately after
the healing of the Svro-Phenician daughter.
Matthew 17:14-21; Mark 9:14-29; Luke 9:37-43. A demon-possessed son is delivered
right after the transfiguration. [page 16]
Matthew 20:29-34; Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43. The healing of these two blind
men, one of whom was Bartimaeus, is the last miracle of healing recorded in the Gospel of
Matthew.
In the Gospels of Mark and Luke we find a few miracles of healing which are not
mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew.
Mark 1:21-28; Luke 4:31-37. This incident happened in the synagogue of
Capernaum. We notice especially that the unclean spirit confessed the Lord Jesus Christ as
the Holy One of God. There was perfect deliverance.
Mark 7:32-37. Mark records this miracle exclusively. The deaf man with an
impediment in his speech is completely healed after the Lord had put His fingers into his
ears and touched his tongue and uttered the word "Ephphatha."
Mark 8:22-26. This miracle is also peculiar to Mark. He spit on his eyes, put
His hands on him, and after He put His hands on him another time, the man saw perfectly.
Luke 7:11-16. This miracle is reported only by Luke. It is the second time, when
our Lord manifested His divine power in raising the dead.
Luke 8:2. Mary Magdalene, one of our Lord's most devoted followers, was healed
by Him of evil spirits and infirmities. We do not know at what time it occurred. The fact
of the miracle is mentioned in this verse.
Luke 10:1-12. As He sent forth the twelve so He sent forth seventy disciples
into the harvest. In connection with the preaching of the kingdom they were to heal the
sick.
Luke 13:10-17. This miracle is not recorded elsewhere in the Synoptics. The
woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years, bound by Satan, was
instantaneously and perfectly loosed. [page 17]
Luke 14:1-6. The man healed of dropsy in the house of a Pharisee is also
recorded by Luke only.
Luke 17:11-19. The cleansing of the ten lepers is likewise peculiar to the
Gospel of Luke. They obeyed is command and "as they went they were cleansed."
Luke 22:50-51. All the Gospels record the action of Peter in smiting the servant
of the High Priest and cutting off his right ear, but only Luke states that the Lord
restored the cut off ear by a miracle. Nothing was needed to stop the hemorrhage, nor a
bandage to keep the ear in place, to give the severed ear a chance to knit itself in
place. It was an instantaneous cure.
And now we turn to the fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John. None of the miracles
of healing recorded in the Synoptic Gospels appears anywhere in the fourth Gospel. The
omission is explained by the purpose of this Gospel. But while the many miracles of the
Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are omitted, the Holy Spirit through the pen of the
beloved disciple gives the account of four miracles which do not appear in the other
Gospels.
The first miracle in the Gospel of John is the turning of water into wine at the
marriage of Cana in Galilee, and the second, marked out as such, is the healing of the
nobleman's son.
John 4:46-54. The nature of the disease is not stated, but the fact is given
that when the Lord spoke the word, at the same hour the fever left him.
John 5:1-15. The healing of the impotent man, who had been in that condition for
thirty-eight years. When the Lord Jesus said, "Rise, take up thy bed and walk,"
he was immediately whole. As a result of this miracle the Lord gave that magnificent
self-witness, in which He reveals His Deity.[page 18]
John 9. The healing of the man born blind. He made a paste of clay,
anointed his eyes, and after the man had washed in the pool of Siloam he had perfect
sight.
John 11:1-44. The raising of Lazarus from the dead, after he had been dead for
four days, so that the sister of Lazarus declared, "Lord, by this time he stinketh,
for he has been dead four days." This is the greatest of all the miracles our Lord
performed. It is also the minutest in description, and so well authenticated that only the
most out-spoken infidels, to whom some of the religious modernists of our times belong,
can deny it.
The passages we have quoted from the four Gospels contain the record of the different
miracles of healing our Lord performed in His three years' ministry. We do not know how
many He healed. Several times we read of multitudes who came to Him, and that He healed
them all. There may have been hundreds of sick folks who crowded around Him. Not one of
those who sought His help was ever turned away. Undoubtedly the Holy Spirit did not report
all His miracles of healing (John 21:25). Certain Apocryphal New Testament writings,
notably the Evangelium Infantae, contain also supposed miracles of healing, but
they are entirely untrustworthy.
The four Gospels tell us that He raised three persons from the state of physical death,
the young daughter of Jairus, the widow's son at Nain, and His friend Lazarus. He healed
and cleansed completely those afflicted with that dreadful disease known as leprosy. He
healed those who were constitutionally blind, deaf and dumb. Paralysis of long standing,
dropsy, epilepsy, different forms of insanity and fevers were healed by His divine power.
A withered arm, dried up so that it hung lifeless, was completely restored, and a member
of the body, an ear which had been [page 19] severed by the stroke of a sword, was
miraculously put back into its place. We do not think that even a scar war. left.
We doubt not but every disease and every infirmity known in those days was healed by Him.
It is also noteworthy that of the individual cases no two were exactly alike. Some
suffered more than others; some came personally to Him; others had their needs presented
by relatives and friends; some appealed to Him in faith and others made no appeal. Most of
those healed were Israelites; several were Gentiles. The greatest praise was given by a
Samaritan, the greatest faith displayed by a Roman officer, and by the Syro-Phenician
mother who appealed for her daughter. He often healed by touch; sometimes He healed
without touching the sick one; at other times the sick touched the hem of His garment.
Most were heated in His immediate presence, others were healed being miles away from where
the Lord ministered. He never used the well known oriental remedy, oil. His disciples
evidently did (Mark 6:13). One man born blind He sent to wash in the pool of Siloam, after
He had covered his eyes with a paste of clay; He spit on another man's blind eyes and put
His fingers into the cars of a deaf man. Why He did it in this way we do not know, unless
it was for the reason of showing us that He was not bound to any form; He could do as it
pleased Him. Then in the place where His rejection was the most pronounced, in His own
country where He was brought up, He could not do mighty works, and He marveled on account
of their unbelief. But there was no faith manifested in connection with the three
resurrections from the dead. Though He said to the ruler, "Be not afraid, only
believe" there is nothing to show that he believed that the Lord would bring the dead
child to life.
[page 20] He halted the funeral procession at the gate of Nain, and, moved with
compassion, He raised to life the widow's son. But there was no faith displayed by anyone,
nor a single prayer offered for the resurrection of the young man. Mary and Martha, while
they believed on Him as the Christ, the Son of God, did not manifest strong faith that
Lazarus would be raised from the dead.
We also note the many occasions where the Lord Jesus Christ forbade the wider
publication of His miracles of healing. Most of them were done in an unostentatious
manner. And what He preached He also practiced. When He sent out His disciples, delegating
to them His own divine power to heal, He commissioned them in these words, "Freely ye
have received, freely give." He made no charges, nor received money from those whom
He healed.
We also call attention to the fact that many diseases, afflictions and infirmities the
Lord healed were the result of demoniac possession. It would be a very serious error to
say, as is being taught by divine healing fanatics, that every bodily pain or sickness
today is the result of the direct work of demons.
Demon possession was a terrible curse in the days our Lord was on earth. The whole
nation was aware of this terrible affliction, and maintained a special class of exorcists
whose business it was to deal with these cases. The unseen world of evil spirits must have
anticipated the coming and the ministry of the Son of God in the Holy Land, and in taking
possession of a multitude of victims, tried to oppose and hinder the Lord. They knew Him,
for they confessed Him as the Son of God. Some had more than one demon; Mary Magdalene had
been delivered of seven; some had legions, The poor victims suffered untold agonies. Some
wandered around naked, had their abodes among graves, [page 21] cut themselves with
stones, had supernatural strength. They had fits, fell into the water and into the fire,
foamed at the mouth, gnashed with their teeth, had paralysis agitans, trembling from
head to foot, and were otherwise afflicted. That demon possession today is not only
possible but an actual and most solemn fact, we shall more fully demonstrate when we deal
in this volume with the Pentecostal-Healing delusion.
The Lord Jesus Christ manifested His power in casting out these unlawful tenants of the
human soul and delivering all their victims.
The Meaning of our Lord's Miracles of Healing
The miracles of our Lord are, in the first place, the evidence of His Deity. By
these miracles of healing He revealed the attributes of His Godhead. Each one of them
manifests His omnipotent power. He never prayed that a certain miracle might be granted
unto Him. He commanded–"I will; be thou clean!" "I say unto thee,
Arise!" "Talitha cumi," "Ephphatha...... Receive thy sight." When
He uttered words of praise before the tomb of Lazarus it was not for the sake of asking
His Father to raise Lazarus, but an audible expression of His intimate fellowship with the
Father. He had witnessed to His Sonship, that He is one with the Father, equal in all
things with the Father. He spoke of doing the same works which the Father doeth.
"For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son
quickeneth whom He will" (John 5:21). In connection with one of these miracles He
also manifested His Deity in forgiving sins (Matthew 9:11,12).
In the second place His miracles are the evidences and credentials of His
Messiahship. When John the Baptist was troubled with doubt in prison, and sent forth his
disciples [page 22] to the Lord Jesus with the question "Art Thou He that should come,
or do we look for another?" the Lord said "Go and show John again those
things which ye do hear and see. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the
lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the Gospel
preached unto them" (Matthew 11:1-6). The kingdom promised to Israel should bring,
according to the prophetic testimony in the Old Testament, the healing of the blind, the
lame and the deaf (Isaiah 35). The inhabitant of the kingdom would no longer have to say
"I am sick" (Isaiah 33:24). The King had therefore to evidence His Messianic
claims by these powers of the kingdom. The Jews ask for a sign (1 Corinthians 1:22). They
want to see before they believe. The message of the Messiah concerning the kingdom had to
be accompanied by miracles of healing. This is the reason why the Lord sent forth His
disciples and conferred upon them His own divine power, to heal the sick, cleanse the
lepers, to drive out demons and even to raise the dead. But this commission was for that
time exclusively. It is an important fact, pointed out before, that in the Gospel of
Matthew, the Gospel of the King and His Kingdom, is divinely arranged in such a way so as
to show how the Lord Jesus, as the promised Messiah, the Son of David, offered the kingdom
first of all. It had to be thus, for He had to be rejected as the King by the people. The
great majority of miracles of healing are recorded in the first twelve chapters of that
Gospel and are connected with the message, "the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
In the third place in these miracles of healing the Son of God, the Messiah and
King of Israel, besides manifesting His divine power and evidencing His Messiahship, also
foreshadowed what the blessings of the kingdom will be [page 23] when the prayer is
answered, "Thy kingdom come," by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to receive
that kingdom from the Father's hands. As we have seen, sickness, pain and death are in the
world on account of sin. It is part of the curse which rests upon man; all creation groans
likewise under that curse and has shared in man's ruin. But Christ in His blessed
sacrificial death bore that curse. The crown of thorns is symbolical of it. . In order
that His redemption might be shown to be a perfect redemption, the curse of sin, disease
and death, the curse as it rests upon all creation, must some day be removed. When He
comes again and all things are put under His feet, that time of blessing and glory will be
reached. If in the days of His humiliation diseases, infirmities, demon powers and
the power of death were completely overthrown by His Word and power, how much greater will
be the victory in the day of His glorious manifestation!
The dispensational aspect of some of the miracles of our Lord is indicated, especially
in the Gospel of Matthew, in the peculiar arrangement. We just hint at it. Matthew did not
write his Gospel in a chronological way. Therefore he massed miracles together under the
guiding hand of the Spirit of God, as if they had followed one the other. But it was done
for a specific purpose. We take the eighth chapter. The leper is cleansed first. He
touched him and healed him instantaneously . He represents typically the nation Israel. He
came to heal them of spiritual leprosy. In the silence of the priest to whom the cleansed
leper showed himself, we see the fact that Israel did not respond to the Purpose of the
King. Then a centurion, a Roman, approached Him. He believes and his suffering servant is
[page 24] healed without the Lord going to him in person and touching him. Then the Lord
said, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." Upon this He
announced the casting out of the children of the kingdom (Israel) and the coming in of the
Gentiles from the east and the west, receiving the covenant blessings of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. Who fails to see in this the present age in which Israel is set aside and the
Gospel goes forth to the Gentiles? Then He entered a house next; Peter's mother-in-law is
sick with a fever. He touched her. She arose and began to minister unto them. Here is a
picture of what will happen some day, when the Lord will heal Israel of her sin-sickness
and restlessness. Israel is represented by the Prophets as a sick woman. When He comes
again He will touch Israel with His healing touch and Israel will be raised up to
minister. Then follows immediately the healing of all. Not one was sent away disappointed,
nor is there a word said about conditions of healing. "He healed all that were
sick." This will be the case after Israel is converted and restored.
Equally striking is the dispensational aspect of Matthew 9:18-26. A ruler, a Jew,
requests the Lord to come and to raise up his daughter, who was at the point of death, in
the eyes of her father as good as dead. On the way to raise her, she passed away. But
while He continues in the road to raise her up another miracle happens. The woman with the
issue of blood touched Him and is healed. Then He proceeds and raises the dead daughter of
the ruler to life. The ruler's daughter, about to die, is another prophetic type of
Israel, the daughter of Zion. She dies nationally and spiritually, but the Lord is on His
way to raise her up. The woman who touched Him and was healed represents typically the
Gentiles who believe on Him, who touch Him in faith.
[page 25] Then again in Chapter 14, in the closing verses, we see in the ship filled
with disciples, battling with the waves, the wind contrary, a picture of His own during
this age. It was night, as it is also night now. But in the fourth watch of the night,
when the day was about to dawn, He came walking across the stormy sea. Peter went forth to
meet Him. Beginning to sink, the Lord saved him, and when they came to the ship the wind
ceased. He is worshipped as the Son of God. After this there was another great
demonstration of His healing power. Here too we see foreshadowed the present age and
what will follow when He comes. In the fifteenth chapter, after He had healed the
daughter of the Syro-Phenician mother, a Gentile, great multitudes came to be healed. The
great multitudes healed after the Gentile had been delivered, foreshadow once more the
blessings of the coming kingdom.
In the fourth place the miracles of our Lord, besides bringing untold physical
blessings to those who were healed, illustrate the ruin of sin, the condition of Jew and
Gentile by nature, and His power to deliver from these spiritual diseases. Leprosy shows
typically the loathsomeness of sin and its terrible defilement, excluding from the
presence of God. Blindness illustrates the blind condition in which the natural man is,
blind to every spiritual truth ' and paralysis illustrates the helplessness of the sinner
to do anything for himself, he can neither stand nor walk. Deafness shows spiritual
inability to hear, and dumbness inability to praise his God; the withered arm is the type
of the natural man's inability to work and serve. Fever is typical of the restlessness of
sin and the burning thirst of the soul. The woman bowed down with a spirit of infirmity,
always forced to look downward and not heavenward, illustrates the fact that sin crushes
and bows down the [page 26] creature destined to be in fellowship with God. And death is
the picture of the spiritual death in which man is by nature, and the eternal death,
separation for ever and ever from God. Our Lord meeting all these physical conditions
showed that He has the power to meet also the spiritual needs of His lost creature.
Before we leave this subject we point out a few other facts. Nowhere did our Lord make
healing the leading feature of His ministry. He did not use His power to heal to gain
fame, but He discouraged in every way the publicity of what He had done. There was not a
certain class of the sick which he singled out and healed, and others who were sick that
He did not heal, but sent them away still suffering and disappointed. No! He healed them
all. He did not appoint certain healing meetings, nor certain times of the day, nor did He
ask for certain preparations, but He healed at any time and wherever the sick appealed to
Him. There were no outward phenomena connected with His miracles of healing, such as
falling down and becoming unconscious, or "the gift of tongues," which the Lord never
mentioned nor promised to His disciples; nor were there convulsions or fits. The
convulsions, falling down to the ground, foaming at the mouth, were the evidences of demon
power. When He healed there was instantaneous delivery; no need of waiting days and weeks,
nor was there a gradual cessation of the fever and the symptoms. We mention these facts to
show later the great contrast which exists between the miracles of our Lord and those of
the present day men and women who make the claims of continuing His ministry.
Chapter 3:
Miracles of
Healing in the Book of Acts
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