Last month we considered Christ preaching the gospel of the kingdom (Mt 4:23). At the same time, we are told, He was “healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people”. This work of healing is very prominent in the Gospels: blind people were made able to see, deaf people to hear, dumb people to speak, and lame people to walk properly. Indeed all kinds of illness and disability were cured; some who died were even brought to life again. These were, of course, acts of great kindness to those who were afflicted, and to their relatives. But there was a higher purpose behind these healing miracles; they were not only a revelation of the Saviour’s divine power over the bodies and minds of those to whom He showed such kindness; they illustrated His power to heal the disabilities and the sicknesses of the human soul.
We read of an evening at Capernaum when the people “brought unto [Jesus] many that were possessed with devils” (Mt 8:16). We read of many instances of devil-possession during Christ’s public ministry. From the beginning of human history, Satan had done his utmost to oppose God and to prevent God being glorified. And he had done his utmost also to cause spiritual damage to human beings. That was why he came into the Garden of Eden in the form of a serpent: to bring Adam and Eve, and all their posterity, into a state of rebellion against God in the hope that, at last, they would be with him and the other fallen angels in hell for ever.
Now the Son of God had come into the world in human nature, and the number of instances of devil-possession in Judea and Galilee at that time must have been part of the demonic opposition to the Saviour. Matthew Henry comments that this was wisely ordered, “that Christ might have the fairer and more frequent opportunities of showing His power over Satan and the purpose and design of His coming into the world, which was to disarm and dispossess Satan, to break his power, and to destroy his works; and His success was as glorious as His design was gracious”. Satan was the “strong man armed”, as Jesus described him (Lk 11:21), who was doing all he could to resist the saving work of Christ. Christ was “stronger than he” and came
to “overcome him”, and one demonstration of this was that, on this particular evening, “He cast out the spirits with His word” (Mt 8:16).
Sinners in every generation are led captive by the devil “at his will” (2 Tim 2:26) and no more than the devil-possessed in Christ’s time on earth are they able to escape the clutches of the “strong man armed”. But strong though the devil is, Christ is infinitely stronger, and His deliverance of the devil-possessed from the evil spirits that dwelt in them points us to the even more glorious deliverance of sinners from the devil’s spiritual influence. Christ works by His Word and by the Holy Spirit to set sinners free, giving them grace to believe in Himself as the One who came into the world to save sinners, the One who “suffered for sins, the just for the unjust”.
Likewise Jesus “healed all that were sick”, and so He heals all spiritual diseases, of every kind. And the Apostle Matthew goes on to quote from Isaiah these words, “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses,” words which, he states, were fulfilled in Christ. We have to remember that sickness is the result of sin; if this was not a fallen world, there would be no illness or disability. So Matthew, in quoting from Isaiah, is emphasising the fact that, in healing those who were ill, Jesus was dealing with some of the effects of sin. And He is able to take away sin itself because He took upon Him the guilt of those sins, and accordingly suffered unto death. Whatever particular disability or illness He cured that evening in Capernaum, or at any other time or place, He was showing His wonderful power and willingness to cure the diseases and inability that afflict sinners in their souls.
When Jesus was answering the messengers sent by John the Baptist, He told them to tell John: “The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up” (Mt 11:5). Then He added, “The poor have the gospel preached to them”. We can again see that physical healing was intended to illustrate the effects of gospel preaching. People were physically blind; they could not see around them; they could not see the One who could give them their sight. But they received their bodily eyesight through the power of Christ. So sinners are spiritually blind; they do not see the danger they are in, of walking blindly down the broad road to a lost eternity. Yet Christ heals such individuals; working by the Holy Spirit, He opens the eyes of their souls so that they see their danger and are made able to trust in Christ as the Saviour of sinners, who calls, “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Is 45:22).
Again there were lame people; at least some of them, one assumes, would not have been able to come closer to Christ by their own efforts. Similarly sinners are unable to come to Christ – that is, to believe in Him. They have
no power to do so. Yet Christ calls to them: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28), and the Spirit makes them able and willing to come. The legs of their souls, one may say, are given strength in a way that corresponds to the healing of the lame people at Capernaum, and they do come to the Saviour.
Others were physically deaf; they could not hear the sounds around them; they could not hear the voice of the One who called sinners to Himself. And sinners are spiritually deaf; they cannot receive the warnings spoken to them by preachers; they cannot hear the call of the gospel in their souls. But Christ can heal them, by His Spirit applying the Word to their souls and making them able and willing to respond by faith to the call of the gospel.
Let us consider also the man who had a withered hand, whom Jesus met in the synagogue. Jesus commanded him to stretch out his hand, which he was totally unable to do. Yet the man did stretch out his hand – only because the Saviour, in conjunction with the command, gave him power, so that he was able to obey. He was healed; his disability was removed. Similarly, the call comes to sinners to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, which they are totally unable to do. It may seem pointless to call sinners to do what they cannot do, but the duty of preachers is to set the good news about Christ Jesus before their hearers and direct them to believe. The point is that, where the Lord has a purpose of mercy towards a sinner; He will give the necessary power, and the sinner will believe and be saved.
This healing took place on a Sabbath, and the Saviour took the opportunity to provide some teaching about what may be done on a Sabbath. May we not also say that His use of the Sabbath for healing points to the fact that the New Testament Sabbath is the day the Lord has specially chosen to perform works of spiritual healing? It is the day when people gather to hear the Word of God expounded; it is therefore the day when the call of the gospel is more often addressed to sinners than on any other; it is thus the day when we may expect that Christ heals more souls than on any other.
Finally, we must notice that all the sick people who were brought to Jesus that evening in Capernaum were healed. No case was too difficult. So, whatever disease may afflict our souls, we must come to the Saviour for healing. Whatever particular effects the disease of sin may have in our case, we must come to the Saviour. However we may be tempted that our case is unique, let us not lose sight of the fact that no case has ever proved too difficult for Christ. Most certainly, our case is not too difficult for this divine Saviour. He still commands us to come to Him to have our souls healed. May we seek grace to obey Christ’s gracious commands, so that we may be healed from the terrible disease of sin and all the inability associated with it!